Bob Hope Airport faces tough times – Burbank Leader
I was asked for my comments on Burbank Airport’s new proposed transportation center.

YOUR MONEY: New route maps at New York-area airports – Reuters
A reporter saw my post on winners and losers in the Delta New York LaGuardia slot swap and asked for more details.

What the US Airways–American Airlines Domain Names Really Mean – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
I love the speculation out there that buying domain names means US Airways/American is a done deal. Not quite. But it does tell us a little about what US Airways is thinking.

In the Trenches: Hiring Locally or Afar? – Intuit Small Business Blog
As I look for employees, I find myself looking at long distances for some candidates. That brings up some questions.

Travel Style: Brett Snyder (aka Cranky) – JohnnyJet
Johnny is starting to do these short interviews and I was one of the ones lucky enough to be asked about how I travel. There’s one thing in there that might surprise people – I’ve never stepped foot on one very large continent.

Air travel tax refund procedure still fuzzy – CNN Out of the Office
It was a double CNN week as the editors decide to move forward next week’s post on tax refunds to go this week instead.

Fliers won’t get air travel tax refund – CNN Out of the Office
And it became a triple week, when I had to update this after Congress made the taxes retroactive and decided the no refunds would be given.

Ontario officials concerned over continued dropoffs of passengers, flights at ONT – Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
I was asked to comment on the continuing decline of traffic at Ontario airport. Really not the most accurate quotes, so let me clarify. Southwest isn’t cutting two more routes from Ontario in January – it’s reducing frequency on two more routes (Phoenix and Vegas). I also have no idea what that AirTran quote even means.

How Airlines Battled Through the September Traffic Blues – BNET Headwinds
September is a four-letter word in the airline industry because it’s a terrible month for demand. So far, it looks like the airlines did a decent job of fighting through it this year.

Drop in ONT flights bodes ill – San Bernardino Sun
All the newspapers serving the area around Ontario Airport are running stories on the airport’s problems, and this one quoted me.

Allegiant Rebrands to Make You Forget It’s an Airline – BNET Headwinds
Allegiant has been focusing on packaging for ages, but now it’s trying to make that a stronger sell to customers.

Southwest Pilots Have Tentative Deal to Fly Larger Airplanes – BNET Headwinds
Southwest pilots have tentatively agreed to fly the 737-800. I still can’t figure out why this is being discussed publicly when no order has been announced.

Southwest Ads Shift From Bag Fees to Change Fees, and Face a Tougher Sell – BNET Headwinds
Southwest is looking to pimp its no change fee policy now. It’s a tougher sell, but it’s a good idea if the airline is going to continue to avoid having them.

Memo to Airlines: Looks Like You Can’t Cram Any More Butts Into Seats – BNET Headwinds
Load factors have started to level off as airlines have realized they can’t get much above where they are in terms of loads.

The iPad is the Greatest Thing in Inflight Entertainment (Or is It?) – BNET Headwinds
Some think the iPad is the new giant of inflight entertainment. I think it’s just the beginning of more and better options.

All Airports Want Low Fare Airlines — but Not All Can Keep Them – BNET Headwinds
Huntsville is failing at keeping its low fare airline, which proves once again that not everyone can support that kind of service.

The Battle of Ontario: How to Mismanage a Small but Really Expensive Airport – BNET Headwinds
Ontario Airport has put out a report and the findings aren’t pretty. There is a lot of cost-cutting that needs to happen.

How to Mismanage an Airport, Part II: High Overhead, Outrageous Salaries – BNET Headwinds
In part II, we look at specifics of Ontario’s bloat.

Ontario’s Air Traffic Glut Draws Anger Toward LA – BNET
Ontario’s traffic keeps dropping, and the solution might involve kicking LA World Airports to the curb.

Airlines Show Concerns About Winter Demand Levels – BNET
Sales are starting to come out fast and furious, and the pricepoints are low. This may be a long winter.

US Airways Walks Away From Las Vegas, Slashes Jobs – BNET
US Airways has put the final nail in the coffin in Las Vegas, but more importantly, a lot of people are losing their jobs. Not good.

JetBlue Has Big Plans for Boston – BNET
JetBlue is ramping up Boston big time. Giddyup!

For Cranky readers, head on over to the Airfarewatchdog Blog to see my first article for them, “Confessions of a fat fingered airline pricing analyst.” It’s been awhile since I last worked as an airline pricing analyst, but this was a fun look back on those days.

So what is it that’s so incredible it’s going to reshape the landscape of Los Angeles aviation? Well, not much. The big Ontario announcement is that ExpressJet is going to make Ontario its largest operation when it launches in April. That’s not really news though, because it was already announced last week by the airline. It is really nice for the people that live out that way, but I’m not convinced it’s going to do much to relieve LAX. You can still fly to most of ExpressJet’s Ontario destinations on other airlines from LAX for less money. A lot more needs to happen before Ontario can seriously relieve LAX.

Oh, but wait, there’s more. They will also announce that Palmdale airport will once again get commercial service. United Express will start twice daily regional jet flights to San Francisco thanks to more than $2m in revenue guarantees. This one was disappointing to me, because I don’t think San Francisco is the right market.

Apparently Delta also competed for the flights and they would have gone through Salt Lake City. That would have given connections throughout the country. A flight up to San Francisco makes connections to Asia or the Pacific Northwest worthwhile, but other than that, it’s not ideal. I always thought that a US Airways flight to Phoenix would give the most connecting opportunities, but they didn’t even try for the flights.