Lights out for Earth Hour: Strip hotels to dim or shut off lights during event to draw attention to global climate change
On the evening of March 27, the lights on the Las Vegas Strip will go dark for one hour for Earth Hour.
The World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour, designed to raise global awareness of climate change, will roll across the world and reach the Strip at 8:30 local time, when high-profile hotel-casinos and government agencies plan to dim or turn off their exterior lights for 60 minutes.
Leslie Aun, Earth Hour’s managing director, said Las Vegas’ participation as an Earth Hour flagship city in 2009 proved “critical” to advancing the event and its popularity. Unlike turning off the Eiffel Tower — the real one, in Paris — or Mount Rushmore, blacking out the Strip and surrounding areas requires the cooperation of myriad business executives and public officials, Aun said. That makes Las Vegas an ideal representation of what Earth Hour is all about.
Oneworld trio aims to appease European regulators with London slot leases
American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia plan to lease at least four daily slots pairs at London Heathrow or Gatwick to other airlines.
Early last month the European Commission said it was assessing “the effectiveness of proposed commitments” by the airlines designed to address a formal Statement of Objections issued last September. At that time, the EC identified a number of long-haul routes, mainly between LHR and the US, with potential antitrust issues (ATWOnline, Feb. 2).
Later in February the US Dept. of Transportation tentatively granted antitrust immunity to the oneworld joint venture under the condition that the carriers surrender four slot pairs at LHR for up to 10 years (ATWOnline, Feb. 15). DOT did not suggest LGW was an acceptable alternative. AA and BA repeatedly have resisted ceding slots at LHR.
United makes firm order for 25 Airbus A350s
United Airlines made a firm order of 25 Airbus A350s with deliveries to start in 2016.
The order is half of a 50-aircraft order United announced in December, when it also unveiled plans to buy 25 of Airbus’ rival Boeing Co.’s 787 jets.
At list prices the new jets would be worth more than $10 billion, with about $4 billion for Boeing’s 787-8 and around $6 billion for the Airbus planes.
(Photo: http2007/Flickr Creative Commons)
