Tropical Storm Wilma forms in Caribbean
Tropical Storm Wilma forms — Tropical Storm Wilma formed Monday in the northwestern Caribbean, tying the record for the most storms in an Atlantic season. (AP)
How high can business-class airlines fly? — British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are about to have their status as the UK’s main carriers of transatlantic premium traffic challenged when two airlines launch their business-only class flights, with the first taking to the skies on Tuesday. (BBC News)
Some Gulf hotels refuse booked guests — Waves of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina have been a financial windfall for hotels near the battered Gulf Coast, but now many business travelers are struggling to find rooms of their own. (USA Today)
U.S.: No nation properly prepared for bird flu — No country is properly prepared for a bird flu pandemic, the U.S. health secretary said in Indonesia on Monday, adding that efforts were being stepped up to boost a network of surveillance to detect the virus. (Reuters)
Bankrupt airlines and consumers’ rights — Most experienced air travelers know that their rights are spelled out in an airline’s contract of carriage. But with three of the nation’s major airlines - Delta, Northwest and United - flying under bankruptcy protections, are those contracts still valid? And are troubled carriers under any obligation to follow them? (The New York Times)
Flight attendant calls in threat to get day off — A SriLankan Airlines stewardess called in a bomb threat because she wanted a day off, a newspaper reported Sunday. (AP)
Big lease firm orders 20 Boeing 787s — International Lease Finance Corp., the largest provider of leased airplanes in the world, has ordered 20 new 787 jets, at a cost of $2.4 billion, from Boeing Corp., according to a media report Monday. (MarketWatch)
Kids dazzled by the Strip — While the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has found that visitors with children make up only 10% of tourists, the city remains on the must-see list for many families. (AP)
Oil, gasoline rise on Wilma concerns — Crude oil and gasoline rose on concern a tropical storm may enter the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting oil output that’s 67 percent below normal following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Bloomberg)
EU, U.S. try to get ‘open skies’ talks off the ground — The European Union and the United States resumed on Monday long-stalled talks on opening up the huge transatlantic air market to greater competition, aiming to strike a deal by the end of the year. (AFP)
Britain ‘prepared’ for bird flu — British is one of the best prepared countries to deal with a human pandemic of bird flu should one occur, the Health Secretary said. (BBC News)
Forecast models widely disagree on Wilma’s track — Tropical Storm Wilma unexpectedly formed in the western Caribbean early Monday and triggered some nervous buying by energy traders, but weather models showed widely divergent paths for the storm. (Reuters)
Restructuring ball back in American’s court — As American prepares to release its third-quarter results on Wednesday, it faces the likely prospect of soon having the industry’s highest labor costs (after having the lowest costs just two years ago) – not to mention the looming prospect of another restructuring. (Dallas Morning News)
"http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Rita-Bus-Explosion.html">Driver of storm evacuation bus faces charges — The driver of the bus that caught fire while fleeing Hurricane Rita has been charged with criminal negligent homicide in the deaths of 23 passengers, a spokesman for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department said Monday. (AP)
Carrie Charney, John Frenaye, Charles Leocha, Marge Purnell, Valerie Schneider, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra, Richard Wong.