Long Beach Airport Garage and Terminal Plans Move Forward
The airport is starting to put forth more concrete plans, and it’s sounding pretty good.

Southwest Pushes WestJet Codeshare, Shifts Priorities
WestJet announced yesterday that Southwest was delaying its codeshare to focus on other things. What are those other things?

Too Many Korean Airports Are Being Built
Korea keeps building airports and many of them are sitting there empty.

Should Airlines Pay More Attention to Their Online Reputations?
Online reputations are important, and one study says airlines need to do a better job.

United’s Labor Negotiations Platform Explains What It Wants for Employees
United’s Labor Negotiations Platform is out there for the public to review. This post focuses on what United says it wants for its employees.

What United Wants For the Company In Its Labor Negotiations
And here is what United says it wants for the company.

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe Discusses the Airline’s Clothes-Free Ad Campaign
I sat down with Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe to discuss the airline’s latest ad campagin, which has become a global phenomenon.

United Releases Weaker Revenue Guidance
United announced that like Continental (though not quite as severe), it is seeing large revenue drops as demand continues to decrease.

NBAA Attacks JetBlue’s Bigwig Ad Campaign
The NBAA has gone on the attack, and JetBlue’s Bigwig campaign is the target. This does not seem like a smart move.

Republic Takes Half of Mokulele’s Equity
Looks like Mokulele’s time as an independent carrier is up. Republic is cleaning house and taking over.

What I Missed at US Airways Media Day
Since I was in Dallas with Southwest, I missed the fun at US Airways Media Day. Here is what I missed, according to other bloggers.

Phoenix Aviation Symposium Tackles Foreign Ownership of US Airlines
Day one of the Phoenix Symposium saw some interesting debates, including one on foreign ownership that’s not likely to be solved any time soon.

Hawaiian Still Having Major On-Time Problems
On the surface, Hawaiian appears to be doing well in the world of on-time performance, but when you dig down, you see that’s not the case.

News and Notes from Continental’s 10-K
Digging through Continental’s 10-K, there is plenty to talk about including all kinds of fun notes about the fleet, distribution channels, and more.

More On Premium Traffic’s Steep Decline
The IATA Premium Traffic Monitor is out, and will it surprise you to hear that things keep getting worse? I thought not.

JetBlue Launches Smart Campaign to Become the Airline for Bigwigs
JetBlue has put out a hilarious couple of spots supporting its campaign to be the replacement for the CEOs corporate jet.

Continental Reports “Significant” Yield Degradation, US Airways Doesn’t
The news from Continental is ugly this March, and it’s enough to scare anyone. But US Airways isn’t feeling the pinch nearly as much.

Branson Announces Fourth Destination, Still Short of Plan
Sun Country has recently announced service from the new Branson Airport to both Minneapolis and Dallas. It’s good news for the airport, but they still need more.

Virgin America’s Ownership Question
I thought this would be a good time to dive deeper into Virgin America’s ownership issues. What exactly is going on and how will it turn out?

Should Continental Continue to Host Events for Its Best Fliers?
Continental just finished up its annual FlyerTalk event. It’s not cheap, but should they continue to spend this money on their best customers?

V Australia’s Decision on Which Business Class Seat to Use
You would have thought that V Australia would choose the seat Virgin Atlantic pioneered, but they didn’t, and there had to be good reason.

US Airways’ Strong December On-Time Performance
December was a miserable month for just about everyone thanks to awful weather, but US Airways ended up outperforming.

AirTran Adds Flights in Milwaukee
Midwest keeps shrinking but AirTran is jumping in to pick up the slack. The airline announced a slew of new flights.

LAX and United Agree to Free Up Gates
United and LAX have finally settled their long running dispute over gates and more. This can only improve things for passengers at the airport.

Finding Good Usage Numbers for Onboard Wireless Internet
Airlines are cautiously rolling out tests of onboard wireless, but when will we see reliable usage numbers so they can make decisions? Soon.

Is Southwest’s SI Swimsuit Model Airplane Backfiring?
If you see a half-naked woman on a Southwest airplane, it’s not an illusion. It’s an SI swimsuit model, but was it a good idea?

Virgin America Should Be Considered “American” for Now
Alaska is questioning Virgin America’s “American-ness” but I find myself defending the airline. This is just an attempt to push them out of business.

Spirit has been pretty quiet lately, and that should scare all of us. This is an airline that thrives on getting itself free PR, and it usually does a very good job with it. But maybe their old tricks just aren’t working anymore. So what do they do? Step it up a notch. The airline has now decided to sell ads on flight attendant aprons. Free PR + extra revenue = Awesome.

You know that this means, don’t you? It’s time to step up the Cranky in-cabin ad program that I wanted to launch on Skybus.

Spirit already sells ads on its aircraft interiors, so this is a next somewhat-logical step for the airline that has made it clear nothing is sacred. I’m waiting to see Spirit’s chief Ben Baldanza sell advertising on his forehead. Something tells me if he could, he would.

The flight attendants are balking at having ads all over their bodies because they think it will diminish their standing as being there “primarily for our safety” as we hear every time we get on a plane. But this in no way hinders their ability to get things done. If this is really on aprons as reported, they won’t even be wearing them unless they’re doing an inflight service. And trust me, if there’s a situation that requires flight attendants to actually perform out-of-the-ordinary safety duties, people will still look right at them for help.

So, I just don’t see it as such a big deal for Spirit. They’ve made it quite clear what they want to do, and this completely fits with their image. Now if I can only get a discount for my grand plan . . . .

[Original photos from superbomba via Flickr and Wikipedia]