LAX to unveil new warning system on taxiways, runway
In an effort to reduce runway incursions at one of the nations’s busiest airport, the FAA and local officials have installed a new warning system.
The $7-million system relies on radar that is connected to status lights along a runway and eight taxiways deemed to have the highest risk for aircraft accidents. If the radar detects a potential conflict between two planes or an aircraft and a motor vehicle, the lights automatically turn red, alerting pilots to the risk.
“Runway status lights provide a last line of defense against runway incursions,” said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman in Los Angeles. “The first, and best, line of defense is proper airfield geometry — the kind of geometry we now see on the south airfield. We strongly believe that Los Angeles World Airports should reconfigure the north airfield similarly.”
US Airways chief says airline industry needs to get smaller to get profitable, improve service
US Airways Group Chief Doug Parker said that airlines “needs to get much smaller to stay viable, and consolidation is one of the keys to bringing the sector back to profitability.”
Speaking at the carrier’s annual meeting in New York, Parker applauded the merger of Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines — saying the creation of the world’s biggest carrier was a major step toward better streamlining the industry. But he noted that the combined company has less than one-quarter of the U.S. market, leaving a great deal of room for further consolidation.
Travel slump pushes Delta, American toward 5 percent seat capacity cut
Analysts say that after the summer travel season is over, US Airlines like American and Delta may have to cut capacity to increase fares.
About two-thirds of any reductions probably will come on overseas routes where planes are emptier, said Kevin Crissey, an analyst at UBS Securities LLC. Carriers may announce capacity cuts as soon as tomorrow at a conference in New York hosted by Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit, analysts said.
A 12-month slide in traffic among the biggest U.S. carriers means there are still too many seats to support higher prices. A new round of cuts would build on the elimination of 10 percent of U.S. airlines’ capacity since the start of 2008, including the parking of 500 jets.
May marked the fifth straight monthly decrease in revenue from each seat flown a mile at Continental and Tempe, Arizona- based US Airways Group Inc., the carriers that most consistently report the number on a monthly basis. The drop partly reflects a decline in yield, or average fare per mile, as carriers compete for fewer travelers.
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