Boeing’s Dreamliner begins its roll to the end of the runway and its first flight. America’s airlines post smallest traffic drop of last 18 months. Airport improvement fund may add jobs to the economy.
Long overdue, Boeing Dreamliner taxis toward its first test flight
After two years of delays, Boeing Dreamliner may make its first test flight next week.
But once the jet takes off from its factory in Everett, Wash., the company faces another high-stakes test: From the moment the Dreamliner is airborne through roughly the next 12 months, Boeing will race the clock to test the new aircraft in high altitudes, subzero temperatures, desert heat and emergency scenarios.
Even a small slip risks further delaying the certification the Dreamliner needs from the Federal Aviation Administration before Boeing can deliver the long-overdue aircraft to customers.
U.S. airlines post smallest traffic drop in 18 months
Southwest and Continental led the big six in seeing a smaller traffic drop in what may be a sign that the travel slump may be ending.
Traffic, measured in miles flown by paying passengers, slid 1 percent in November, the smallest decline since June 2008. Southwest today posted a 12 percent increase, while Continental’s traffic climbed 2.8 percent.
“It is encouraging,” said Robert Mann of R.W. Mann & Co., a Port Washington, New York-based aviation consultant. “What we need is people back working and able to spend on air travel, and businesses profitable and willing to invest not only in jobs but in travel. All those things are generally positive.”
Airport improvement Program funds would spur economy, jobs
Saying that it will spur the economy and create jobs, the Airports Council International North America urged US lawmakers “to fund airport infrastructure projects.”
“The improvement of airport infrastructure helps increase safety for the traveling public, is an investment in the future of our national transportation system and creates construction jobs today while paving the way for job creation in the future,” ACI-NA President Greg Principato wrote in a letter to members of the Congressional Jobs Now Caucus. “We ask that the Caucus consider additional airport infrastructure funding as you work on a new economic recovery package as one way to continue helping create jobs and hasten our country’s economic recovery.”
(Photo: SkilliShots/Flickr Creative Commons)
