Turkey bird flu ‘is deadly strain’
Turkey bird flu ‘is deadly strain’ — The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Turkish poultry and is likely present in Romania, the European Commission has said. (CNN)
Frequent travelers keep track of flu — With memories of SARS still fresh, the travel industry  and travelers themselves  are nervously tracking the avian flu virus that’s spread among birds in Asia. (USA Today)
$11 million a day spent on hotels for storm relief — Straining to meet President Bush’s mid-October deadline to clear out shelters, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night, a strategy local officials and some members of Congress criticize as incoherent and wasteful. (The New York Times)
Gas prices keep coming down — Gasoline prices dipped nearly two cents a gallon for the second straight day Thursday while diesel prices moved slightly lower, according to a daily report issued by travel club AAA, ahead of the government’s weekly energy inventory report. (CNN/Money)
Northwest seeks court OK to reject contracts — Northwest Airlines asked a bankruptcy court Wednesday for permission to reject labor contracts if workers don’t agree soon to $1.4 billion a year in concessions. (USA Today)
Grass-roots effort kept airline out of Boeing Field — The surprise decision this week by King County Executive Ron Sims to reject Southwest’s expansion plan for the county-owned airport has been hailed as a testament to grass-roots organizing that crossed neighborhood boundaries and forged unusual alliances. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
O’Hare project still on hold, FAA releases initial funding — While a federal court order keeps expansion at O’Hare International Airport at bay, funding dollars are rolling in and proponents are fighting to get the project back up and running. (Elk Grove Times/Pioneer Press)
Airline biometric ID system gets a demo in Germany — Two German companies have developed a new biometric system for identifying airline passengers during the boarding process. (IDG News)
Air travelers face long delays because of rain — A rough day is in store for air travelers Thursday as poor weather continues to plague the Northeast for the sixth straight day. Delays began early in Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York LaGuardia. (USA Today)
Delta’s Comair to cut up to 1,000 jobs — Delta Air Lines Inc.’s regional unit Comair said Thursday it will cut up to 1,000 jobs and trim its fleet by up to 30 aircraft in support of Delta’s overall bid to reduce expenses in bankruptcy. (Reuters)
Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers — Ryanair, the no-frills airline, is under fire from disability campaigners for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted passengers from a plane just minutes before take-off. (The Independent)
Northwest regional carrier Mesaba files for bankruptcy — Regional carrier Mesaba Airlines followed Northwest Airlines into bankruptcy on Thursday, a victim of Northwest’s cuts as the big airline shrinks to try to fix its own financial problems. (AP)
Bar owners plan to defy curfew — French Quarter bar owners plan to challenge the city’s midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew the only way New Orleans knows how: with a party. (AP)
FAA upgrading radar to keep planes on controllers’ screens — The Federal Aviation Administration said it is upgrading radar equipment to help prevent aircraft from disappearing from the computer screens of air traffic controllers. (The Washington Post)
Carrie Charney, John Frenaye, Charles Leocha, Marge Purnell, Valerie Schneider, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra, Richard Wong.