The month of September
can usually be characterized in one word: wet. This month was no
exception.
In 2024, the Atlantic hurricane season heated up, and airlines and airports had to scramble to work around its effects. That included a travel disruption at Atlanta’s busiest airport.
Perhaps the biggest news,
however, did not happen in the air, but rather in a boardroom. The Department
of Transportation approved
the merger between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
The month started off
with a bang as the Labor
Day holiday set all kinds of aviation records.
In what has become an
almost weekly problem, there
was another unruly passenger.
Perhaps adding more fuel
to the fire about overworked air traffic controllers, a pair of Delta planes collided
on a taxiway.
At the
risk of stranding several million passengers who aren't ready, the
government delayed the implementation of the Real ID program.
At one point, Air
Canada said it would seek government assistance in its strike with the
pilots.
Sometimes it doesn’t pay
to do the morally correct
thing, as a United Airlines whistleblower
was allegedly harassed and called a snitch for her actions.
The Airlines Reporting Corporation
released figures from the previous month and said airline ticket sales hit a whopping
$8 billion.
In another development
that bears watching, Southwest
Airlines continues to struggle financially and has had to change some
routes and cut some employees. One frustrated investment group even
called for a special meeting at the airline to discuss replacing CEO Robert
Jordan.
There has also been
an unfortunate rise in the number of sexual assault cases on airplanes.
Boeing is
facing a new problem with its best-selling model.
And after just one week,
the labor strike is already
taking its toll on the airplane manufacturer.
And finally, a United
States Senator will
introduce a proposal to Congress that revolutionizes the way we collect
points and miles in the airline industry.
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