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Tag: Airlines

  • Man sentenced for selling fake airplane parts for popular engine

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    The head of a London airline parts firm was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison Monday after selling more than 60,000 fake aircraft engine parts, a fraud that triggered worldwide safety concerns and briefly grounded planes.

    Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, 38, pleaded guilty in December to fraudulent trading, admitting he falsified paperwork about the source and condition of engine parts sold by his company, AOG Technics, between 2019 and 2023.

    Prosecutors said more than 60,000 suspect parts entered the global aviation supply chain as a result of the scheme. Many of the parts were linked to CFM56 engines, widely used in Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The discovery of the fraudulent components in 2023 led to planes being temporarily grounded and prompted calls for tighter industry oversight.

    Judge Simon Picken said Zamora Yrala’s actions amounted to a “more or less complete undermining of a regulatory framework designed to safeguard the millions of people who fly every day.”

    Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, former director of AOG Technics Ltd., departs from Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    According to prosecutors, AOG Technics sold falsified parts totaling roughly $9.3 million (£6.9 million) — about 90% of the company’s revenue — causing an estimated $53 million (£39.3 million) in losses across the aviation industry.

    Fan blades for CFM56 turbofan aircraft engines

    Fan blades for CFM56 turbofan aircraft engines following production at the Safran SA aircraft engine plant in Gennevilliers, France, on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. (Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    American Airlines alone suffered about $31 million (£23 million) in losses tied to engine repairs, replacement leasing and aircraft downtime, prosecutors said.

    ‘SECURITY-RELATED SITUATION’ GROUNDS FLIGHT TO VACATION HOT SPOT, PASSENGERS CONFINED FOR HOURS

    Prosecutors said CFM International’s co-owners, GE Aerospace and Safran, lost about $4 million (£3 million) and $780,000 (£580,000) respectively, and suffered reputational damage.

    Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala wearing suit, sunglasses and holding a phone while walking

    Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala was at the center of a global investigation into bogus airplane parts. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Zamora Yrala was also barred from serving as a company director for eight years and faces confiscation proceedings aimed at compensating affected companies.

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    His attorney told the court he had “cut corners in order that he could trade more easily” and did not fully grasp the consequences of his actions.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related Article

    American Airlines accused of ‘running red lights’ before horrific Potomac River plane crash near DC

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  • Southwest says its has

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    Southwest Airlines is still working out kinks in its boarding process two weeks after the discount carrier switched to assigned seating.

    Southwest officials told CBS News that one of the main issues the airline is troubleshooting is overhead bin space. In some cases, customers who are part of the airline’s loyalty program and others who paid for extra legroom are finding they don’t have storage above their seats because early boarders are taking up the overhead compartments at the front of the plane. This is forcing them to walk back several rows to store their bags. 

    The issue, which could slow boarding and deplaning, has sparked ire among loyal Southwest customers, with some taking to social media to voice their complaints.

    “On a Southwest flight for work and it’s actually awful. New process is terrible. I’m in row four. Boarding group 5, no overhead bin space until rows 20. Actually insane. @SouthwestAir,” one X user wrote on Monday.

    Some flyers are also expressing frustration with how seats are assigned. Southwest announced in July 2024 that it was scrapping its decades-old policy, which allowed customers to choose cabin seats on a first-come, first-served basis. The airline now offers assigned seats, while giving passengers the choice to pay for certain seats, including those offering more legroom.

    One X user said Thursday that his two-year-old was assigned a seat in a row without any family members. “My wife and two kids (5 and 2) are flying @SouthwestAir today. And because I refuse to pay for seats, their seats were auto-assigned,” he wrote. “My 2 year old in his own row without his mom or sister.”

    Southwest says its own research found 80% of its flyers preferred assigned seats. The airline spent years testing the boarding process using computer simulations and in-person tests meant to mimic real-world conditions.

    Southwest is now making adjustments to address some of the issues that have cropped up, an airline official told CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave. The changes are expected to be rolled out in the near future and will likely involve having premium and elite flyers board earlier.

    “I think that we should expect some hiccups — that’s inevitable,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, told correspondent Kris Van Cleave in a January interview. 

    “It’s going to be a huge change,” he said. “The airline is abandoning a 50-plus-year-old business practice and adopting something that is tried and true by every other airline in the U.S., so hopefully it works well. There will be some teething pains; that’s to be expected. But Southwest says that they are prepared for it.”

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    Aimee Picchi

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  • Man Boarded Air France Flight Outta Phoenix With Phony Ticket, 7 Driver’s Licenses & 20 Credit Cards: Cops – Perez Hilton

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    According to federal authorities, a man allegedly managed to slip through security at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and board an international flight to Paris without a valid ticket, setting off a chain of events that raised serious questions about airport safety.

    The incident unfolded on Sunday, when Qais Ahmad Tillawi allegedly showed up at the airport claiming he had a boarding pass for Air France Flight 69. The plane was scheduled to depart for Paris around 3:50 p.m. that day, and at first glance, nothing seemed wildly out of place. But behind the scenes, red flags were already stacking up.

    Related: Lamar Odom Arrested For DUI — Details

    An FBI affidavit uncovered by multiple media outlets said Tillawi purchased a boarding pass online around 2:00 p.m. and checked in just a couple minutes later, only for the airline to cancel the pass at 2:19 p.m. due to what they described as an “unauthorized credit card.”

    What happened next is deeply unsettling. Around 2:37 p.m., Tillawi allegedly arrived at the airport in a rental car, left it abandoned at the curb, tossed two (?!) jackets into a trash can, and headed straight for the security checkpoint at TSA. Despite the canceled ticket, he allegedly made it through security and into the sterile area of the airport just before 3:00 p.m. Yes, really.

    By the time he reached the gate, at least one customer reportedly noticed something was off and described his behavior as suspicious, per People. Still, he somehow made it onto the jet bridge. When an Air France employee tried to verify his boarding credentials, the system flagged his pass as invalid. But Tillawi allegedly refused to hand over his passport or any other documents, showing it only from a distance and then holding it unnecessarily close to the agent’s face before being waved through.

    Somehow, he got on the plane — and once there, things quickly escalated. Instead of taking a seat, Tillawi allegedly paced through the economy cabin and refused to speak with flight attendants or the captain. He also would not provide his name.

    According to the affidavit:

    “Out of concern for the aircraft and the passengers, the captain ordered Tillawi to disembark the aircraft. Tillawi refused, without a verbal response, and typed on his phone, ‘Send the USA marshal.’”

    At that point, the captain made the call to involve law enforcement. Passengers were de-boarded, and Phoenix cops eventually escorted Tillawi off the aircraft. The FBI then took over the investigation.

    What authorities allegedly found at that point only added to the alarm. Agents say Tillawi was carrying around 20 credit cards, seven driver’s licenses from California and Arizona, a US passport, a Jordanian passport, a Jordanian military service book, and what appeared to be fake employment badges from major institutions including Deloitte, IBM, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

    Sorry, WHAT?!

    Tillawi now faces federal charges for interfering with a flight crew and entering a secured airport area without authorization.

    Related: Man Arrested In Investigation Into Woman’s Death Snaps Mugshot In UNBELIEVABLE Hoodie

    But the story doesn’t end there. According to the affidavit, agents also spoke with his brother, who claimed Tillawi had attended Arizona State University, spoke fluent English, and had been fired from PricewaterhouseCoopers back in 2024.

    The brother also alleged Tillawi struggles with drug addiction and has been diagnosed with psychosis — and that he was previously detained in Dubai for suspicious behavior and temporarily committed for mental health treatment. Wow.

    Let’s just hope he gets the help he needs — and that cops get to the bottom of whatever the heck is going on.

    [Image via MEGA/WENN]

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    Perez Hilton

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  • Flight cancellations today top 9,900 amid winter storm — most in a single day since COVID pandemic

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    Flight cancellations are continuing to mount today as the U.S. is being hit with dangerous winter weather from a storm moving across the country.

    Airlines have canceled more than 9,900 U.S. flights for Sunday, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware. That’s the most for a single day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and more the double the number of U.S. flights that were canceled for Saturday. 

    The National Weather Service says the storm is bringing widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Southern Rockies to New England through Monday. 

    “Extremely cold air will follow, prolonging dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts into next week,” it said on Sunday. “Severe thunderstorms may produce damaging gusts and tornadoes across the eastern Gulf Coast states Sunday morning and afternoon.”

    More than 1,800 U.S. flights have already been canceled for Monday. 

    A snow removal machine is seen working on the tarmac of LaGuardia airport in New York on Jan. 25, 2026. 

    CHARLY TRIBALLEAU /AFP via Getty Images


    Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advised travelers that snow began at midnight and said no flights can come or go while its team clears snow from the airfield. It warned of widespread cancellations Sunday. 

    Even before the winter storm arrived in North Texas, flight cancellations at both major airports there piled up. Dallas Fort Worth international Airport said airlines were expected to operate a reduced number of flights Sunday and encouraged passengers to check their flight status with their airline as schedules could change. 

    “DFW’s teams are actively treating roads, bridges and airfield surfaces to maintain safe operations,” it said in a statement.

    LaGuardia Airport in New York said on its website that “significant travel impacts” from the storm were expected. 

    Airports in Atlanta, Charlotte and Philadelphia were also expecting disruptions. 

    Flight tracking service Flightradar24 said American was the most impacted airline this weekend, followed by United and Delta. 

    Major U.S. airlines were issuing travel waivers, allowing customers to change their plans without penalty. 

    Kathryn Krupnik

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  • Winter storm already disrupting U.S. travel as airlines cancel flights

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    Airlines are starting to cancel U.S. flights ahead of the massive winter storm that’s forecast to bring a mix of ice, snow and frigid conditions to a 2,000-mile expanse of the country this weekend.

    Delta Air Lines said late Thursday that flight cancellations “are necessary at select airports in North Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee to ensure the safety of our customers and people.” 

    According to flight tracking service FlightAware, airlines had scrapped 956 flights by 3 p.m. Eastern time, with an additional 2,255 flights already canceled for Saturday. Many of the disruptions are occurring at Texas airports, including 1,121 cancellations scheduled for Saturday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, FlightAware data shows.

    Major U.S. airlines are issuing travel waivers ahead of the storm, allowing customers to change their plans without penalty. 

    Delta said it has issued a travel waiver for the eastern U.S., including Boston, New York and Philadelphia, in addition to its previous waiver covering parts of central and southeastern U.S. states. Waivers allow travelers to rebook their flights, subject to some restrictions. 

    American Airlines on Wednesday said that passengers flying to, through or from 34 U.S. airports may change their flights for free if they bought tickets before Jan. 19 and are booked on flights between Jan. 23 and Jan. 25. Eligible customers can’t change their origin or destination cities, and must make any changes by Jan. 25. 

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  • WestJet reverses course on tighter seat layout plan following criticism

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    WestJet announced Friday it is canceling a new aircraft layout plan that involved adding more seats to some of its planes.

    WestJet, a partner of Delta Airlines and Canada’s second-largest carrier, said it added the seats to ease ticket prices. Instead, it fueled passenger frustration.

    A video of a couple crammed into the seats of their WestJet flight took off on social media, with over one million views since their daughter, Amanda Schmidt, posted it about three weeks ago.

    “If they’re selling a seat for a human, it should fit a human,” Schmidt told CBS News. “It’s inhumane, basically, to make people travel like this.”

    WestJet said it had added an extra row of seats to nearly two dozen aircraft since last October, claiming it would help bring down ticket prices. The reconfiguration removed about two inches of space between rows.

    In its about-face Friday, WestJet said in a news release it will end “densified seating” and “return to its prior standard seat pitch for economy cabins on these recently reconfigured aircraft by removing one row of seats.”

    “WestJet tried seat pitches that are popular with many airlines around the globe as they serve to provide affordable airfares,” WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a statement. “It’s in our DNA to try new products. At the same time, it is just as important to react quickly if they don’t meet the needs of our guests.”

    WestJet isn’t the only airline trying to fit more people on board. Spirit Airlines has long had seats that don’t recline, while Frontier Airlines advertises that its seats are “pre-reclined.”

    There are no requirements in the U.S. for airplane seat size or the space between seats.

    “The low-cost carriers are actually trying to cram as many people in an airplane as they possibly can,” former National Transportation Safety Board chair Robert Sumwalt, a CBS News transportation safety expert and analyst, said.

    According to Sumwalt, having tight seating could potentially cause issues in an emergency situation.

    “It certainly stands to reason that if you decrease the amount of space between the seats, it’s going to make it more difficult for someone to get out in the event of an emergency,” Sumwalt said.

    WestJet does not have a timeline for when the work will be completed. It said impacted aircraft will have their seating reduced from 180 to 174 seats.

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  • WestJet cancels plan to add more seats to its planes

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    WestJet cancels plan to add more seats to its planes – CBS News









































    Watch CBS News



    WestJet reversed its plan to add extra seats to its planes after the idea didn’t fly with many passengers. Ali Bauman has the story.

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  • Jeppesen ForeFlight in Arapahoe County cutting a large number of workers

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    Jeppesen ForeFlight, based in Arapahoe County, laid off a large number of employees on Wednesday, raising concerns among some airline pilots who rely heavily on the company’s products, according to industry and employee reports.

    The company has declined to provide the number of jobs being eliminated, and it hasn’t filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which is required when a company eliminates 50 or more jobs at a single work site.

    Citing anonymous employee reports, one industry publication, AeroTime, estimated the cuts were around 30%, which would translate to more than 540 workers from an estimated headcount of more than 1,800 employees.

    Employees commenting on Reddit put the layoffs at closer to 40% to 50% of the headcount, according to Aviation International News.

    “I was laid off via email, after 20 years with the company … classy place,” said one former employee on Reddit.

    The company disputed those figures while declining to provide a precise number.

    “Jeppesen ForeFlight made changes to streamline our operating model, which will support continued investment in product innovation and customer experience. While we are not sharing specific numbers, the current percentages being relayed through media are misleading and overstated,” the company said in a statement.

    The company said it was supporting all affected employees with severance, benefits and resources through the transition and that “safe, reliability and our customer commitments remain unchanged and remain our top priority.”

    JeppesenForeFlight is the leading provider of navigation and other software to the airline industry. Some pilots expressed concerns about the ongoing reliability and future quality of the company’s popular products, while others were taking a wait-and-see attitude, according to AeroTimes.

    Last fall, the private equity firm Thoma Bravo paid $10.55 billion in cash for Boeing’s Digital Aviation Solutions, which included ForeFlight, Jeppesen, AerData and Oz Runways.

    On Nov. 3, Thoma Bravo announced it had combined Jeppesen and ForeFlight into a new company called Jeppesen ForeFlight. Shortly after, the company’s CEO Brad Surek raised eyebrows when he told AvBrief.com that AI would be the company’s “north star” as it created a roadmap for future offerings.

    Thoma Bravo describes itself as one of the largest software-focused investors in the world, with over $181 billion in assets under management as of June 30.

    The firm has generated strong returns for its investors, but is also known for aggressive cost-cutting and large and undisclosed layoffs. Among the euphemisms it has used in the past are “strategic organizational changes” and “staffing optimization effort.”

    In 1934, airline pilot Elrey Borge Jeppesen founded a company to provide the first standardized aviation navigation charts, which proved a hit with other pilots.

    The company moved its headquarters from Salt Lake City to Denver in the 1940s. In the 1960s, it set up shop at 55 Inverness Drive East, where it has remained.

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    Aldo Svaldi

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  • Weight loss drugs could save airlines money on fuel as Americans slim down

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    Airlines could have weight loss drug manufacturers to thank for savings if passengers become lighter, allowing carriers to spend less money on fuel.

    As GLP-1 medications for weight loss become accessible to more Americans, they are expected to have a slimming down effect on society. The implication for airlines is lower fuel consumption and therefore cost savings, a recent analysis from Jefferies Research Services shows.

    Fuel costs are directly related to the weight of planes, including passengers, their luggage and other essential cargo. A heavier plane requires more fuel, while a lighter aircraft uses less.

    Airlines have always taken steps to keep aircraft as light as possible and limit fuel consumption, from serving pit-less olives to using thin or light paper stock, according to the Jefferies analysis.

    Airlines “have a long history of searching for unique methods to reduce the weight of the aircraft, in turn reducing fuel consumption and limiting an airline’s largest cost bucket,” analysts said in the report.

    They have no ability to limit how much passengers weigh, however.

    If weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy lead to a 10% slimmer society, the analysts found that would translate to total airline passenger weight declining by 2%. For airlines, this means 1.5% in fuel savings, plus a 4% boost to earnings per share, according to the analysis.

    Jefferies used the example of a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft to model the savings. It weighs 99,000 pounds empty and can carry 46,000 pounds of fuel. If it seats 178 passengers with an average weight of 180 pounds, plus about 4,000 pounds of other cargo, its total takeoff weight reaches 181,200 pounds. By contrast, if passengers slim down by 10%, to weigh an average of 162 pounds, that aircraft’s total weight drops to 177,996 pounds.

    Jefferies found that translates to $580 million in fuel savings annually for the top four carriers in the U.S. — American, Delta, Southwest and United. Those airlines are expected to spend $38.6 billion combined on jet fuel this year.  

    Jefferies conducted the study in response to pharmaceutical companies developing weight loss pills and following a 2023 report it released studying the effects of weight loss on fuel costs.

    “With the drug now available in pill form and obesity rates falling, broader usage could have further implications for waist lines,” analysts said.

    Edited by

    Alex Sundby

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  • Some airlines serve

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    Airlines are serving “potentially unhealthy water” to passengers, according to a new study, with researchers recommending that travelers stick to bottled water and avoid drinking coffee or tea served on aircraft.

    The nonprofit Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity, which examined more than 35,000 water samples served by 10 major and 11 regional airlines over three years, also urges passengers to avoid washing their hands in aircraft bathrooms and instead stick to using hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol.

    Among major U.S. airlines, three — American Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit — earned a “D” rating from the group, according to the analysis. Delta and Frontier were the top-ranked major carriers, both earning “A” grades for their water.

    Water quality may not be a top-of-mind airline safety issue with passengers, but it’s nevertheless an “important public health consideration,” the Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity noted in its analysis. Drinking potentially contaminated aircraft water can result in issues such as gastrointestinal illness and exposure to pathogens, the group added. 

    What the study found

    The analysis found that 2.7% of samples tested positive for total coliform, a group of bacteria that’s found in the digestive tracts of humans and animals, as well as in plants and soil. 

    “Testing for coliform bacteria is important because their presence in drinking water indicates that disease-causing organisms (pathogens) could be in the water system,” the Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity said in its report.

    E. coli was identified 32 times across the 21 airlines, the group said.

    The Environmental Protection Agency established the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule, or ADWR, in 2011, which applies to U.S. carriers with onboard drinking water systems for passengers and crew. The rule requires airlines to test for coliform bacteria and possible E. coli, as well as to disinfect and flush each aircraft’s water tank four times a year. 

    But the EPA rarely levies civil penalties to airlines that violate the ADWR, the study noted.

    American Airlines told CBS News it is “closely reviewing” the findings. 

    “American’s potable water program is fully in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR),” the carrier told CBS News. “A recent EPA audit showed there were no significant findings with our program, and we have not received any violations for any potable water cabinets or trucks that we use.”

    JetBlue said in a statement that it follows processes outlined by the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure safe water. The airline added that it serves bottled drinking water on its flights.

    Spirit didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

    Airlines for America, a trade group that represents airlines, said its members adhere to federal guidelines for assessing the safety of drinking water.

    “The top priority of the airline industry is the safety of all passengers and crew members,” the group said in a statement to CBS News. “U.S. airlines follow the guidelines of several government agencies — the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocols for testing drinking water, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements to routinely check water systems and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements applicable to water systems — to ensure the water onboard an aircraft is safe and reliable for consumption.”

    On its website, the Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity describes its mission as “creating a more equitable food system that will improve health outcomes.”

    Major airlines, ranked best to worst

    The group’s study scored each airline on a scale of 1 to 5, with points reduced for violations such as finding a contaminant in their water samples.

    1. Delta Air Lines Incorporated (5.00, Grade A)
    2. Frontier Airlines Incorporated (4.80, Grade A)
    3. Alaska Airlines Incorporated (3.85, Grade B)
    4. Allegiant Air Limited Liability Company (3.65, Grade B)
    5. Southwest Airlines Company (3.30, Grade C)
    6. Hawaiian Airlines Incorporated (3.15, Grade C)
    7. United Airlines Incorporated (2.70, Grade C)
    8. Spirit Airlines Incorporated (2.05, Grade D)
    9. JetBlue Airways Corporation (1.80, Grade D)
    10. American Airlines Incorporated (1.75, Grade D)

    Regional airlines, ranked best to worst

    1. GoJet Airlines Limited Liability Company (3.85, Grade B)
    2. Piedmont Airlines Incorporated (3.05, Grade C)
    3. Sun Country Airlines (3.00, Grade C)
    4. Endeavor Air Incorporated (2.95, Grade C)
    5. SkyWest Airlines Incorporated (2.40, Grade D)
    6. Envoy Air Incorporated (2.30, Grade D)
    7. PSA Airlines Incorporated (2.25, Grade D)
    8. Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation (2.15, Grade D)
    9. Republic Airways Incorporated (2.05, Grade D)
    10. CommuteAir Limited Liability Company (1.60, Grade D)
    11. Mesa Airlines Incorporated (1.35, Grade F)

    Edited by

    Alain Sherter

    Sarah Ploss

    contributed to this report.

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  • Woman boards Delta flight. Mid-way she looks over, can’t believe what seatmate is doing to pass the time: ‘This feels dangerous’

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    A woman flew with Delta, expecting to have a relaxing flight. However, she looked over to her seat neighbor and noticed them doing something incredibly dangerous and a little outrageous.  Saying nothing in her video, @abernathy_habit let her face speak for itself. As she panned over to her seatmate, she managed to capture the woman actively curling her hair. With what? A curling iron that she plugged into Delta’s on-flight outlets. 

    She then posted the clip to TikTok on Dec. 31, 2025. Many commenters asked how the woman sitting in an aisle seat wasn’t stopped by Delta’s flight crew or even banned from the aircraft. Since then, the video has garnered 3.5 million viewers.

    Why is a curling iron a fire hazard?

    One of the reasons commenters were so deeply appalled by the woman’s brazen use of a curling iron on board a Delta Airlines flight is that it creates an obvious fire hazard. The electrical system could quickly catch fire with one wrong mishap or movement. This should make it a “big no-no” on an aircraft. 

    Any fire onboard an aircraft can immediately risk the lives of passengers, no matter how small it is. On an aircraft, there is no direct escape unless the plane lands. Smoke and combustion can quickly endanger the lives of passengers, as there are no windows or additional airways that people on board can rely on. Generally, that means that a fire can have its strongest impact when it starts somewhere like a plane. The lack of escape for everyone on board means that it can almost immediately become an “unstoppable” force as soon as it starts. 

    What did Delta say?

    The airline confirmed as much in an email to The Mary Sue. A spokesperson for Delta stated, “The safety of our customers and crews is our No. 1 priority and as such, Delta crew members are empowered to determine the acceptability of items used by customers onboard the aircraft. Delta prohibits the use of any device that interferes with the normal operation of aircraft equipment or impacts the safety of our customers or crews. If a customer’s item is found to be unacceptable for use, Delta crew members will kindly request the customer discontinue use of the item.”

    They later confirmed that any personal electronic devices that produce or emit heat are not allowed to be operated at any time on Delta flights.

    “That would, of course, include hair dryers, straighteners, and curling irons. Additionally, corded electric shavers are allowed to be used by customers in onboard lavatories as there is a dedicated outlet for that specific device.”

    What other issues could occur when someone uses a curling iron on a flight?

    Curling irons also require slightly higher voltage than what a “plane outlet” might usually take. In recent years, aircraft have offered customers complimentary outlets to use to charge their portable devices. But these outlets are not generally used for larger electronics. Flight attendants sometimes even warn passengers not to use them for that purpose. 

    Many commenters mentioned this, reiterating that outlets provided by airlines are specifically for low-voltage portable charging.

    As one commenter stated, “There was a literal announcement from the pilot on my last flight that the plug ins on planes are for phones only. [They told us not] to not curl straighten or blow dry your hair.” 

    Multiple flight attendants also stated that this wasn’t a best practice. “As a flight attendant… DO NOT do this. PLEASE,” commented one viewer. 

    Another added, “Flight attendant here, you can’t do that. Those outlets aren’t meant for things like this.” 

    @abernathy_habit ? @delta this feels dangerous… #fyp #delta #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ original sound – abernathy_habit

    Can a flight crew stop a fire once it starts?

    Flight crews are trained to deal with fires effectively and quickly. But it is better not to take any risks to begin with. That’s one of the reasons that lithium battery fires, which are now a weekly occurrence on flights, are so concerning. There are so many lithium battery-powered devices overheating in air spaces that fires have become commonplace emergencies on flights. It’s especially risky in the cargo hold, as no one can stop the fire once it starts there. The only option is to notice the smoke and land the plane as quickly as possible. 

    Overall, @abernathy_habit’s seatmate engaged in an incredibly dangerous activity. She probably should have waited until she was back on the ground to continue curling her hair. Although some commenters thought that @abernathy_habit should have let her be and ignored her curling. 

    We’ve reached out to @abernathy_habit via TikTok direct message.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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    Rachel Thomas

    Rachel Joy Thomas is a music journalist, freelance writer, and hopeful author who resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • Delta Just Published a 300-Page Coffee Table Book as a Thank-You to Its People

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    Last month, Delta Air Lines announced it would be selling a limited edition coffee-table book celebrating its centennial year. On Saturday, a copy of the book arrived at my home, and I spent the day reading through the stories and looking through photos that illustrate the history of the first U.S. airline to reach 100 years.

    At first glance, Delta: 100 Years & Climbing looks like exactly what you’d expect from a major airline celebrating a milestone birthday. It’s large, heavy, beautifully produced, and filled with striking photography. It’s an object designed to make a statement just by sitting on a coffee table.

    Of course, if you spend a few minutes with the book, you realize the statement might be something different from what you thought. This isn’t really a story about airplanes, routes, or even corporate longevity. It’s a story about people. And more specifically, the book is a thank-you note—rendered in heavy paper, rich photos, and archival ink—to the employees who built and sustained Delta Air Lines across a century of change.

    Focus on people

    Sure, the book traces the airline’s evolution from a 1920s crop-dusting operation to a massive carrier connecting hundreds of millions of passengers a year. It moves decade by decade, documenting fleet changes, branding shifts, and the moments that defined the transformation of an industry. For Aviation enthusiasts and loyal customers, there is plenty to admire. But the story of the book isn’t technology or growth. It’s faces.

    The book is really about generations of employees who show up again and again as the reason the airline exists at all. In other words, this is corporate history told from the inside out.

    This is so incredibly smart because most corporate anniversary content doesn’t work this way. Usually, they are treated as marketing campaigns designed to grab attention. They look backward just long enough to justify an effort to come up with a slogan about the future. Employees might be mentioned or included in a photo spread, but rarely are they positioned as the main characters.

    Delta did the opposite. It made its employees the whole point.

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  • These are expected to be the busiest days to fly this holiday season

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    The holidays are set to pack runways and highways alike, with a record number of Americans on the move in late December.

    An estimated 122.4 million people are expected to travel over the busy holiday period – between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1, according to AAA. Airlines expect 52.6 million passengers to pass through U.S. airports, while 110 million Americans will hit the roads.

    But some days will see heavier travel than others. Here’s what you need to know.

    Busiest air travel days

    This year has already seen eight of the busiest travel days in TSA history, and a December date could join them. Dec. 1, 2024, is the only December date to make the top 10 list with 3,088,836 passengers screened.

    These are expected to be the busiest travel days this holiday period, according to Airlines for America, a trade association that represents the airlines:

    • Friday, Dec. 19
    • Saturday, Dec. 20
    • Sunday, Dec. 21
    • Friday, Dec. 26
    • Sunday, Dec. 28.

    American Airlines says Friday, Dec. 19 will be its busiest travel day, operating more than 6,400 flights. Meanwhile, United Airlines expects the Saturday after Christmas to be its busiest, flying more than 10 million passengers this season.

    About 2.9 million passengers will fly daily over the next two weeks, Airlines for America estimates. 

    Watch out for holiday travel scams

    Lawmakers are issuing a dire new warning about travel-related scams, where fraudsters are creating fake websites and impersonating airlines and hotels. The goal is to trick you into paying for fake reservations – or even to steal your identity. 

    Some of these bad actors are using links that appear to be from a major airline with a link to rebook your travel. Don’t click on any links sent from unknown parties or visit any third-party sites that aren’t reputable.

    Here are some ways to protect yourself from scammers:

    • Use your airline’s official apps for the latest information or phone numbers
    • Be on the lookout for fake customer service numbers
    • Be mindful about what you post on social media, as scammers can easily pose as customer service representatives to try to trick you

    “Criminals are persistent during the holiday season, targeting travelers with scams involving fraudulent car rentals, airline tickets, hotel reservations, and more. Recognizing these schemes is an important step toward protecting millions of Americans and safeguarding billions of dollars,” Kathy Stokes, AARP senior director of fraud prevention, said in a statement.

    If you are being pressured to act quickly, and if the price is too good to be true, it probably is.

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  • Air traffic control towers will ‘never’ reach full staffing levels under current system, FAA chief says

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    The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) chief told lawmakers Tuesday that U.S. air traffic control towers are unlikely to ever reach full staffing levels if the agency continues operating as it does now, acknowledging persistent shortages during a House aviation subcommittee hearing.

    “The honest answer, sir, is, if we continue with business as usual, never,” Bryan Bedford said when Rep. Hank Johnson Jr., D-Ga., asked when air traffic control towers would be fully staffed.

    “We’ll never catch up. The system is designed to be chronically understaffed,” the FAA chief added.

    AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS MISS FULL PAYCHECK BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, DUFFY SAYS

    FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford listens during a hearing of the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

    Bedford explained that the FAA has been facing significant challenges in staffing air traffic control towers due to controller retirements, burnout and the agency’s retention problems.

    He said the FAA must expand its training pipelines and invest more in developing new controllers to help alleviate the shortages.

    Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., questioned Washington’s habit of treating more funding as the default solution, pointing to outdated FAA technology, including some systems that still rely on floppy disks.

    “We built up the envy of the world without a centralized bureaucracy. And it seems from where I sit, sir, that sort of the bureaucratic systems that were written and implemented to prevent failure have all but enshrined failure,” said Knott. “When you’re still using floppy disks, that makes everybody less safe, that makes the agency less effective.”

    NEWARK AIRPORT PASSENGERS FACE LENGTHY DELAYS DUE TO STAFFING SHORTAGES

    An instructor guides a student through a radar simulation showing aircraft movements.

    An instructor helps a student navigate radar-based air traffic training during an advanced simulation. (Fox News)

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    Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., said she saw floppy disks still in use during a recent visit to the FAA’s terminal radar approach control facility on Long Island, which manages traffic into New York’s major airports.

    Bedford told lawmakers the FAA has committed by year-end more than $6 billion of the $12.5 billion it received under the “big, beautiful bill,” including investments in telecommunications infrastructure and new radar surveillance systems that will be deployed over the next two and a half years.

    Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.

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  • Airbus plane software issue expected to cause flight delays during busy Thanksgiving weekend

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    Thousands of Airbus A320 airliners around the world might require a software update, potentially causing flight delays or cancellations during the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

    The emergency update stems from an incident Oct. 30 when a JetBlue flight traveling from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, experienced an issue with its flight controls. The plane dropped about 100 feet in seven seconds, according to preliminary flight data from Flightradar24, and was diverted to Tampa, Florida.

    Between 15 and 20 people were injured and taken to area hospitals upon landing, according to Vivian Shedd, a spokesperson for Tampa Fire Rescue.

    Airbus identified an apparent issue relating to “intense solar radiation,” which “may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls” and recommended an emergency software update to the A320 family of aircraft – a common passenger plane for U.S. carriers.

    The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, the EU’s equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration, issued an emergency order Friday grounding Airbus A320 family aircraft containing a certain hardware and software combination. 

    The order goes into effect Saturday at 7 p.m. EST. At that point planes awaiting the updates would be essentially grounded. The order allows for the planes to be flown up to three times without passengers to get them to a location for the fix. 

    Airbus sources told CBS News that 5,000 to 6,000 airplanes will require software updates.

    The FAA is expected to issue an emergency order soon.

    Several U.S. carriers use the Airbus A320 family in their fleet. Spirit and Frontier only fly the A320 family of planes, with many popular carriers maintaining several hundred in their fleet.

    Delta flies about 315 A320 jets, United has about 200 planes and American has around 480 planes. 

    United told CBS News the order does not impact its Airbus fleet. Delta expects only a small portion of its A320 fleet, less than 50 aircraft, to be impacted by the updates.

    American Airlines said in a statement to CBS News that about 340 planes need the update and “work is underway,” with completion expected by Saturday.

    “Though we expect some delays as we accomplish these updates, we are intently focused on limiting cancellations — especially with customers returning home from holiday travel,” American said.

    Airlines for America, the trade association for the leading U.S. airlines, predicted that carriers will fly a record 31 million passengers from last Friday, Nov. 21, through this coming Monday. The FAA says it expects this year’s Thanksgiving holiday travel period to be the busiest in 15 years.

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  • This Airline Is Now Offering More Legroom for Less

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    Delta Air Lines just launched its new ‘Comfort Basic’ tickets for select domestic flights. The option is now the cheapest route to a seat in the roomier Comfort cabin.

    For customers deciding on tickets, the Comfort Basic option will pop up next to Comfort Classic and Comfort Extra. It offers extra legroom, free alcoholic beverages, specified overhead bin space, and Zone 3 boarding. 

    Passengers will also earn rewards that are currently unavailable to Main Basic ticket holders. SkyMiles and Medallion Qualifications Dollars are up for grabs, and ticket holders will be permitted entrance to the airline’s lounges. 

    But the ticket doesn’t come without restrictions. Seats are assigned, not selected, after passengers check-in, and no one with this ticket type is eligible for first-class upgrades. Same-day changes are not permitted, and cancelling a trip will trigger a fee, as it would for Main Basic.

    Customer Reactions to Delta Comfort Basic

    This new ticket marks Delta’s 12th fare option across its five cabins. While it gives flyers another choice in price and benefits, some customers are concerned about having too many decisions to make. 

    “[R]ight now, having this many different class types is confusing as h–l for me and I fly [around] seven times a year,” one Reddit user said. “I can only imagine what it’s like for the average person.”

    Others are excited about the prospect of more space for less money.

    “If you want extra legroom but don’t care about anything else, this is great,” another user said. 

    Future Upgrades

    Either way, Delta plans to continue adding to the list of fare products.

    The airline said it could offer the same three levels that it now offers in the Main and Comfort cabins—Basic, Classic, and Extra—in its more premium cabins down the line. 

    “I think the segmentation that we’ve done in the main cabin is kind of the template that we’re going to bring to all of our premium cabins over time,” Glen Hauenstein, Delta president, said in July. “It’s all about giving people more choice, more pricing options, and more products and services in every cabin.” 

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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  • Here’s how to still eat healthy at the airport and on a plane

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    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he’d like airlines to start serving something other than pretzels and buttery cookies.

    “I would love some better snacks,” Duffy told the conservative news site Blaze Media on Tuesday. “I would love a little healthier snack on the airplane.”

    Most airlines no longer serve free meals, but they do still hand out snack food and juice, soda and coffee to passengers. American Airlines, the biggest airline operating out of Philadelphia International Airport, gives people a choice between small bags of pretzels and packages of Biscoff cookies — or both.

    Pretzels may be convenient, but they are generally low in nutrients, high in sodium and are made with refined carbs that leave people unsated and ready to snack again soon.

    Biscoff cookies are high in added sugars and saturated fat – although they do not contain trans fats and have lower calorie and saturated fat contents compared with Oreos and Chips Ahoy! cookies.

    Duffy made his complaint as a passing comment, not as part of an official policy change, according to the New York Times. But his remarks spark the question: How can people eat healthier when flying?

    Here are some tips:

    Go nuts

    Many airlines no longer serve peanuts or peanut products due to allergies, but some carriers still offer other types of nuts. While salted varieties present sodium concerns for people with high blood pressure and other medical issues, nuts are high in protein. If available and allergies are not a concern, choose the nuts. 

    Drink up

    Due to low humidity levels in airline cabins, people are at risk of getting dehydrated during flights, so drinking lots of water before, during and after flying is key, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Hydrating well can also help mitigate jet lag and fatigue. The general rule of thumb is 8 ounces of water for every hour of flight, according to AARP.

    Stay away from alcoholic and caffeinated drinks because they can disrupt sleep, which may already be hard to come by on flights. Also, caffeine is a stimulant, so anxious travelers should avoid it, Condé Nast Traveler advises.

    Carbonated drinks may also cause burping and flatulence, unpleasant for the consumer and fellow travelers, AARP warns.

    BYO

    The best and least expensive bet for eating healthy in the airport and on the plane is to bring your own food.

    Registered dietitian Andy De Santis recently told the Healthy that he packs chicken sandwiches on whole-grain bread — a fiber-protein combo — when he flies.

    Other high-protein foods, such as greek yogurt, flaxseed crackers and seeds, are also handy and healthy.

    Health editor Ally Head recently shared her home-packed travel snack selections with Marie Claire: a Tupperware container full of carrot, celery and other vegetable sticks, olives, cheese cubes, a spinach side salad and whole-grain carbs, such as pumpernickel bread.

    Condé Nast Traveler offers these tips for how to pack food for the plane:

    • Airlines generally allow people to bring solid food, such as snacks, dried fruit and sandwiches, in their carry-on luggage.

    • Don’t bring ice packs or frozen food.

    • Avoid wrapping food in aluminum foil because it can set off security alarms.

    • Liquids of 3.4-ounces or less are allowed through security.

    • Otherwise, pack an empty water bottle to drink from while waiting at the gate and to fill before a flight.

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  • The Most Popular iPhone Travel App Is an Overnight Success 12 Years in the Making

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    A few weeks ago, Flighty quietly pulled off something remarkable. In the middle of a nationwide travel meltdown, it rocketed to number one in the App Store’s Travel category, and number 17 most popular overall. During what was one of the most chaotic weeks of travel in recent memory, it seemed as though everyone was suddenly depending on the same app.

    If you only looked at the charts, you might think Flighty came out of nowhere. The thing is, there’s a lot more to the story. First of all, Flighty has long been a favorite among frequent travelers, pilots, and anyone else who cares about knowing everything you could know about their next flight. I recommend Flighty to anyone I know whose plans include getting on a plane.

    The real story, however, is that Flighty is the product of a 12-year journey that started on an oil rig, wound its way through a brief stint at Apple, and eventually arrived at the exact moment when millions of travelers needed it most. It is, you could say, an “overnight success” that just happened to have taken more than a decade. Which, by the way, is how these things almost always work.

    A data-obsessed weather app

    Long before Flighty, its founder, Ryan Jones, was a mechanical engineer working in the oil industry in East Texas. And then the iPhone happened. Somewhere between long shifts and long drives, Jones found himself following a handful of indie developers on Twitter and realized that most apps are just made by normal people, not giant software companies.

    So he gave himself six months to make one. Not only that, Jones wanted to prove he could make an app that made it into the top 100 apps on the App Store. That’s a big bet for someone who didn’t even know how to code. But he had an idea: take weather data—something inherently nerdy and hard to parse—and make it visual.

    That idea became Weather Line, a beautifully simple weather app that turned forecasts into a clean line graph that looked like it was designed for the iPhone on purpose. The app launched in 2013, and proved something important. Jones told me that the experience “gave me the confidence that there wasn’t this secret group of people in California who only knew how to build software and make great products, and like no one else could figure it out.”

    On the contrary, he could just make something great, and people would use it. As for his goal, Weather Line reached number 17 on the App Store charts.

    Then, he took detour number two and “accidentally” got hired at Apple. For two years, he sat inside one of the most product-obsessed companies in the world, absorbing how it thinks about design and product. That would become incredibly important for what came next.

    The app he wished he had

    Flighty didn’t start with a grand plan. It started in an airport Chili’s.

    Jones has told this story before: he was stranded during a brutal delay and couldn’t get reliable information from anyone—not the gate agent, not the airline, not the apps that were supposed to help. The data clearly existed. It just wasn’t getting to the people who actually needed it. So he decided to build the app he wished he had.

    He tweeted about the idea that night and ended up assembling a small distributed team that would spend the next few years obsessing over a single problem: turning an overwhelming amount of aviation data into something normal people could understand instantly.

    “I think what I’m great at is taking nerdy data and making it really simple and visual on small screens,” Jones told me. “That’s what Weather Line was. That’s a lot of what Flighty is.”

    Flighty launched in 2019, and from the beginning, it has always done one thing better than anything else: tell you what’s happening with your flight. I cannot even tell you the number of times I’ve been sitting in an airport and Flighty let me know a flight was delayed or canceled long before the airline did.

    There’s no magic behind that. It’s the same instinct that powered Weather Line—making something complicated, simple enough for everyone to understand. In this case, it just happens to be applied to a much harder domain.

    It also required a different kind of superpower: learning how to negotiate with the obscure companies that sell flight data to airlines, hedge funds, and large industrial customers. That experience became one of Flighty’s not-so-secret advantages. The team figured out how to get world-class data, stitch it together, and wrap it in a design that makes it feel obvious.

    Success is a long game

    What’s most interesting about Flighty is that none of this came with the typical trappings of a startup “success story.” There’s no giant funding round or massive ad spend. The team is seven people. Marketing is mostly people sharing screenshots because the product gives them something worth sharing.

    Even the business model is unconventional. Flighty offers a free tier, along with monthly and annual subscriptions of its Pro tier. But there’s also a flexible weekly plan—one of the only legitimate uses of weekly subscriptions, in my opinion—that aligns with how people actually travel. The annual and lifetime plans serve the frequent-flyer crowd while the free tier gives people a taste without forcing them into a trial they’ll forget to cancel.

    Still, nothing compared to what happened during the shutdown.

    Becoming an overnight success

    When flights started melting down, Flighty didn’t have to reinvent itself. It simply did what it always does—only this time, millions more people were watching. Downloads and subscriptions grew and, for a brief window, the most popular travel app in the world was the one built by a handful of people who spent a decade getting ready without knowing it.

    From the outside, that looks like luck. But when you zoom out, it’s the opposite.

    This is what it looks like when someone brings a very specific set of skills—visualizing data, designing for clarity, negotiating for obscure inputs, sweating the details—and applies them to a hard problem that almost everyone would like solved.

    The truth is, “overnight success” is almost never about timing alone. It’s usually about what happens when someone keeps going long enough for all of those oddly specific experiences to line up at the right moment. For Flighty, that moment was a government shutdown that wreaked havoc on travel.

    The thing is, Flighty didn’t become the world’s most useful travel app just last week. It was just the moment everyone finally noticed.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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  • Neighbors outraged as LA airport becomes ground zero for AI-driven flying taxis

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    Archer Aviation, a leading developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, just made one of its boldest moves yet. The company agreed to acquire Hawthorne Airport for $126 million in cash. 

    According to Archer’s latest shareholder letter, the deal includes the remaining 30 years on the airport’s master lease and an exclusive option to take a controlling stake in the on-site fixed-base operator, subject to city approval. 

    This historic 80-acre site includes about 190,000 square feet of terminals, office space and hangars. Its location near LAX and major Los Angeles destinations makes it a prime spot for an air taxi network that aims to change how people move in crowded cities.

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    PENNSYLVANIA BILL SEEKS TO LEGALIZE FLYING CARS

    A rendering of Archer’s development plans for Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles. (Archer Aviation)

    Why Hawthorne Airport matters for the new air taxi network

    Archer Aviation plans to use the airport as the main operational hub for its LA air taxi network. The company also plans to prepare the site to support transportation during the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This includes managing everything from takeoff scheduling to ground operations. In its shareholder letter, Archer frames Hawthorne as a “plug-and-play” anchor hub for its LA28 Olympic plans, saying it expects to ramp up aircraft testing, storage, maintenance and charging on-site as it prepares for commercial service.

    The airport will also become a test bed for next-generation AI-powered aviation systems. These tools will help Archer develop smarter air traffic management, faster turnaround times and safer operations in crowded airspace.

    Archer outlines a two-phase plan in the letter. Phase 1 focuses on redeveloping up to 200,000 square feet of hangars and locking in control of the FBO, while Phase 2 layers in AI air traffic and ground management, smart sensor-embedded runways and a more digital, streamlined passenger experience.

    United Airlines CFO Michael Leskinen praised the move and said, “Archer’s trajectory validates our conviction that eVTOLs are part of the next generation of air traffic technology that will fundamentally reshape aviation. Their vision for an AI-enabled operations platform isn’t just about eVTOLs, it’s also about leveraging cutting-edge technology to better enable moving people safely and efficiently in our most congested airspaces. Through United’s investment arm, United Airlines Ventures, we’re investing in companies like Archer that pioneer technologies that will define and support aviation infrastructure for decades to come.”

    Meanwhile, Hawthorne Mayor Alex Vargas celebrated the deal on social media, writing “WELCOME ARCHER TO THE CITY OF HAWTHORNE!”

    AI air taxi

    Archer plans to turn Hawthorne Airport into the main hub for its LA air taxi network. (Archer Aviation)

    Neighbors outraged over ‘AI air taxi’ takeover

    Not everyone is cheering Archer’s plan to turn Hawthorne into a flagship hub for AI-guided flying taxis. A local group called Hawthorne Quiet Skies, made up of residents living around the airport, says it was blindsided by the $126 million takeover and that no one from the company or city bothered to engage it before announcing a “test bed for AI-powered aviation technologies” over homes.

    Neighbors who live just across the street and within a couple of blocks of the runway describe Hawthorne as one of the most tightly packed airports in the country, with homes on three sides and years of complaints about deafening jet and helicopter noise. The city’s own 2021 noise study identified more than 160 homes and roughly 480 people already exposed to unhealthy noise levels, yet residents say there has been “zero progress” on mitigation even as the airport shifted from small private planes to commercial traffic and now an around-the-clock eVTOL hub.

    The group is also raising alarms about Archer’s AI ambitions, pointing to academic research that current machine-learning systems in aviation still struggle to handle unusual conditions and lack formal safety guarantees. 

    They argue that whatever the promises of cleaner, futuristic air taxis, Hawthorne is being used as a live test site without clear safeguards, updated federal noise rules or any serious plan to compensate families if nonstop eVTOL traffic makes their homes too loud to live in.

    CHINA’S FIRST MASS-PRODUCED FLYING CAR DEBUTS

    How Archer Aviation is funding growth and expanding its air taxi program

    Alongside the airport news, Archer reported major financial momentum. The company raised an additional $650 million in equity, which boosted its total liquidity to more than $2 billion. The company’s Midnight aircraft also hit new flight milestones, including a 55-mile flight at over 126 mph and a climb to 10,000 feet.

    Archer also expanded its global technology footprint. It completed the acquisition of Lilium’s patent portfolio, which pushes Archer’s total intellectual property to more than 1,000 global assets. Those patents cover ducted fans, high voltage systems, flight controls and other key technologies.

    International expansion is underway, too. Archer began test and demo flights in the UAE and secured new partnerships with Korean Air and with Japan Airlines and Sumitomo’s JV in Osaka and Tokyo.

    A crowd watches a flying vehicle.

    The airport will serve as a test bed for next-generation AI aviation systems designed to manage busy airspace more safely. (Archer Aviation)

    What this means for you

    Archer’s airport deal suggests that air taxis are moving closer to everyday use. This shift could mean shorter trips across major cities at a fraction of today’s travel time. It could also bring quieter aircraft over neighborhoods compared to helicopters.

    For Los Angeles residents, Hawthorne Airport may become a central point for fast point-to-point travel once certification moves forward. Visitors flying in for major events like the LA28 Olympics could see air taxis as a smooth alternative to gridlocked freeways.

    Businesses may gain new options for rapid transport across the region. The move also signals more investment and jobs in advanced aviation, automation and clean electric travel.

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    Kurt’s key takeaways

    Archer’s acquisition of Hawthorne Airport marks a major milestone in the race to build a real air taxi network, giving the company the aircraft, funding and prime location it needs to push the industry forward. Its focus on AI-driven operations shows how automated aviation may soon play a much bigger role in daily life, even as regulators are still working out how to safely integrate these aircraft into crowded cities. At the same time, the move is already sparking backlash from neighbors who worry about more noise and safety risks and being turned into a test site for AI-guided aircraft without a real say. If Archer can win over regulators, investors and the communities living just beyond the fence line, this step could make the future of urban flight feel much closer, for better or worse.

    If air taxis become a real option in Los Angeles by 2028, would you try one for your daily commute or stick to the ground? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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    Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com.  All rights reserved. 

    Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

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  • New PSA asks flyers to show some manners this holiday season

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    New PSA asks flyers to show some manners this holiday season – CBS News









































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    A new campaign from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seeks to get air passengers to treat each other with a bit more civility during the holiday travel season. Kris Van Cleave has more.

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