Let’s stick this one in the “I told you so” file. Back in June, I said, “I’m sure that the second that subsidy is gone, United is out of there.” I was right.

United started flying to Palmdale on June 7, 2007 and committed to stay for 18 months. The flights never did well, but LAWA did get United to double the number of flights. Of course, LAWA knew the writing was on the wall, because they applied for another federal grant to keep United in town beyond the 18 month point. The feds weren’t exactly supportive (PDF):

This year, 10 applications either did not meet the basic criteria for participation outlined above and were determined ineligible for selection, or the application itself was deemed incomplete. Most often, the applicant sought additional funding for the same, or essentially the same, project that was funded in a previous grant.

Yep, that’s you, Palmdale. So guess what, the last day of flights is December 6, 2008 . . . 18 months after they started. I know this source isn’t confirmed, but see if you can book the flights past December 6. You can’t, and that’s proof enough for me.

I can’t say I’m sorry about this. The only thing that bothers me is that so much money was wasted in trying to force this service to work. Hopefully now LAWA will move on and focus back on the local airports that matter.

To be honest, I’m really surprised that it took this long for an airline to do this, but if anyone was going to take the plunge, it’s Spirit. The airline has decided that it’s time to plaster aircraft interiors with advertising. Welcome to the subway in the sky.

From what I can gather, Spirit will now sell ads on overhead bins, seat backs, tray tables, the area above the windows, bulkheads, napkins, cups, menus, boarding passes, soap dispensers, and yes, even trash bags. And if you can suggest another place to put it, I have no doubt that they will.

The benefit to passengers is clear. More ad revenue means that the airline can make money on lower fares (though check out today’s post on BNET for a little more on their profitability). As long as you’re willing to endure ads everywhere, this can benefit you. And really, Spirit is the right airline to do this.

But what about for advertisers? It cracks me up the way Spirit sells onboard advertising in the press release. “Why pay for a five-second gaze time on a billboard when you have more than 2,000 times the viewing exposure aboard a three-hour flight?” Yes! I’m in. I think it’s time to revisit my original Skybus plan . . .

The preliminary report is in, and it appears that the Spanair aircraft that crashed on takeoff last month did not have its flaps extended. While it’s not clear if this was actually the cause of the accident, if it were, it would be eerily similar to the crash of Northwest 255 more than 20 years ago, as Chris B first mentioned in the comments in my first Spanair post. So what exactly are flaps and why do they matter? I think it’s time for a brief tutorial. I encourage other to jump into this discussion in the comments section.

At left, you can see a Spanair MD-80 taking off the right way, with its flaps extended for takeoff. But I should back up. What are flaps? If you look at the back half of the wing, you’ll see that there are hinges and then pieces of the wing tilted slightly downward. Those are the flaps, and what they do is create a larger surface area for the wing on takeoff. This helps create more lift at slower speeds, so basically the airplane can takeoff earlier than it would without the flaps. NASA has a simple but effective tutorial on this subject.

Airplanes can take off without flaps, but they just need to get going faster. So, if you have a really long runway, you might be ok. But hot weather also reduces lift, and different aircraft types need different distances to get in the air. So, it’s not cut and dry. I’m sure right now, the authorities are running the numbers to see what exactly happened here.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there is a flap warning when they aren’t extended for takeoff, but it could possibly have been malfunctioning, ignored, or misinterpreted. We just don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough.

(Photo credit: EC-GNY Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-80 by David el Nomo via Flickr)

“The Germans marched into Brussels today as they discussed further cooperation with the Italians.”

I can’t say I ever thought that statement would be looked upon favorably, but that’s exactly what we’re seeing now. Yesterday, Lufthansa purchased a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines and they continue to talk about rescuing Alitalia. This would be good news for both those airlines and for Star Alliance, but the other alliances aren’t going to be so happy. If you have miles with SkyTeam or on American, you’ll want to watch closely.

First, let’s look at the Brussels Airlines deal. You may not have even heard of Brussels, but you probably knew the name Sabena. That airline, one of the oldest in the world, failed earlier this decade. From its ashes, Brussels Airlines was created but in a slimmed down form. After being combined with the floundering Virgin Express, Brussels now focuses on flights within Europe and down to former Belgian colonies in Africa. They currently codeshare with American on US flights, but that’s likely to be coming to an end.

Lufthansa will take 45% of the airline immediately with the opportunity to buy the rest of it by 2011. The airline will operate similar to the way Swiss does. Brussels will remain a separate brand with its own headquarters. It’s safe to assume that the airline will join Star Alliance and will ditch American. Actually, we know that Brussels will join Star Alliance. Lufthansa chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber said, “Belgium and Germany as well as the Star Alliance member-airlines will profit from the merger.”

So if you have American miles and you want to fly Brussels, you might want to book soon. Nothing has been announced and they’ll likely give some notice before the partnership ends, but it’s going to happen. Just be ready.

Meanwhile, Alitalia continues to sink deeper into the abyss. The Alitalia unions incredibly would rather all lose their jobs than cut their wages and lose some jobs. So, they won’t agree to the restructuring and the previous coalition has walked away for now. So what does PM Berlusconi do? He looks to Lufthansa, calling them an “ideal partner.”

Yeah, ok. So if you’re a SkyTeam mileage earner, Alitalia could end up leaving, but I’d be more concerned that they cease to exist instead. Don’t book them until (if) this situation is resolved.

I was up in the Pacific Northwest this past weekend, and on my way home yesterday, I had a chance to walk around the Portland Airport. Since this place has been rated the best airport in the US by many, I thought I’d walk around to see what was so great. Sure there were short security lines and all that, but I was looking for things that really made the airport stand out. Here’s what I thought were the top 5 features.

5) Green-tastic

You’d think a place that gets far more rain in a year than should be legal wouldn’t care about water conservation so much, but they do. They’ve even installed the dual-flush handle on their toilets. Pull up for #1 (and less water) and push down for #2 (with more water). I have to wonder how many people pay attention to which way they flush, but hey, it’s a nice effort nonetheless.

4) Pull Up a Seat

It’s bad enough when you have to take your shoes off at security, but it’s the ultimate in frustration when you can’t find a place to sit down to put them back on. I’m not sure why the TSA has decided to be so friendly here at PDX, but it’s very nice to see that there are big benches just past security where you can sit and recompose yourself. Why can’t other airports do this? Maybe it’s a space issue, or maybe there’s just someone more compassionate running the show in this town.

3) Be Entertained

As I passed security, I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t in a Nordstrom store. Yesterday, William Fischer was tickling the ivories on this piano, and I found out that it was just part of an entertainment series that the airport puts on regularly. Nothing like live music to soothe the harried traveler. Then again, I wasn’t so harried yesterday but you get my point.

2) Get Online Free

This is becoming more and more popular around the country, but I still don’t see it nearly enough. Go to PDX and you’ll have free wi-fi throughout the airport. In addition, they have business centers with workstations to get things done. I think the other feature I find most useful here is the place to charge your cell phone/ipod. Sometimes finding a plug in the airport can be such a pain.

1) Public Transit to the MAX

There’s nothing I love more about an airport than good public transit access, and this has to be one of the best. The MAX light rail comes right in to the airport. How close? This picture was taken from behind security on one of the concourses. So yeah, it’s close, and it’s easy. You can get just about anywhere in the Portland area from here. Coming from LA, where our airports have some of the worst public transit connectivity around, this makes me very jealous.