Investigators Cite 43 Violations of Tarmac Delay Rule
The U.S. Department of Transportation has levied a record $4.1-million fine against American Airlines (AAL) for unlawfully holding passengers aboard delayed aircraft for excessively long periods of time. American Airlines was determined to have repeatedly violated the DOT's Tarmac Delay Rule (Second Final Rule on Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections-EAPP #2) which sets forth U.S. air-carriers—barring a limited number of exceptions germane to safety and security—may not hold domestic flights on airport tarmacs for more than three-hours.
Air travelers across the E.U. contended with flight delays, cancellations, and the uncertainties occasioned thereby when technical difficulties rendered the United Kingdom’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) system largely unusable on Monday, 28 August 2023. In a statement, Britain's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) set forth a technical issue had restricted the flow of aircraft in and out of the U.K., thereby inducing the delay or cancellation of at least five-hundred flights.
Old Bird Sees New Life as Next-Gen Airline Testbed
Thanks to the recent delivery of an aged MD-90, Boeing has begun the hands-on conversion work in developing its Transonic Truss-Braced Wing under the NASA Sustainable Flight Demonstrator program. The company showed off the jet's final configuration before its upcoming retrofitting, which will revamp the familiar lines of the MD-90 into the experimental X-66A aircraft. The plane will be the first in a line of experiments aiming to help the US achieve a net-zero rate of greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation industry, a rapidly approaching target for aeronautical markets around the world. Flight testing should begin sometime in 2028.
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