Denver International Airport has unveiled plans to add a Westin hotel and train station to downtown Denver. This will complete the original vision for the airport.

The new Westin will be the airports only onsite hotel and will have 500 rooms and a conference center.

The airport is located 25 miles east of downtown Denver. Currently the only options for traveling to downtown are taxi, rental car, or bus. The RTD FasTracks Rail Station, expected to be completed by 2016, will link the terminal to downtown Denver.

The new plans include a signature rail bridge, and an open air plaza with space for vendors, and improvements to the existing concourse baggage and train system.

Denver International Airport is one of the most envied facilities in the industry.” said Kim Day, Denver Manager of Aviation. “With the addition of the rail connection to our city core and terminal hotel, we will truly be competitive with major international airports worldwide. The design compliments the existing iconic architecture and provides and enhanced passenger experience while improving connectivity for passengers and employees alike.

According to a press release, FasTracks is RTD’s voter-approved transit program to expand rail and bus service throughout the RTD service area. FasTracks will build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county District. The FasTracks investment initiative is projected to create more than 10,000 construction-related jobs during the height ofconstruction, and will pump billions of dollars into the regional economy.

Denver International Airport (DEN) is the 10^th busiest airport in the world, and the 5^th busiest airport in the US.

Denver International Airport is serviced by

• Aeromexico
• Air Canda
• AirTran Airways
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Continental Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• Great Lakes Aviation
• JetBlue Airways
• Luftansa
• Mexicana
• Midwest Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines
• US Airways

Source: http://business.flydenver.com/pr/DIAPR_100825g.pdf

United Airlines and Continental Airlines merger just got closer to a reality!

The Department of Transportation will make the final decision as the Department of Justice (DOJ) gave on Friday the approval for the two airlines to merge.

The DOJ feels that the two airlines have complementary routes that would have limited number of routes competing for nonstop service.

Stay tuned as the merger fever heats up with American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Jet Blue and USAirways still trying to decide what to do now that Delta and Northwest have merged and this current merger is almost surely going to get approved.

The Justice Department greenlighted the planned merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines on Friday, paving the way for the creation of the world’s biggest airline.

In a statement, the Justice Department said it was satisfied that the airlines did not have so much overlap in their routes that consumers would be harmed by higher prices and limited flight choices.

The combination of the country’s third and fourth biggest airlines means the number of industry players – and options for fliers – continues to shrink. Upon completion, the proposed $3.17 billion merger will leave just four traditional carriers in the United States, and possibly three if American Airlines responds by bidding for US Airways, as some analysts predict.

Source: Washington Post

Your flight leaves in 4 hours. Should you leave for the airport now, or do you have a few more minutes to spend with your family or catch up on emails? If you’re wondering if the security line is wrapped around the corridor or if you will breeze through in just a few minutes, check your iPhone. My TSA is a new, US Government created app, designed to provide you with this information and more.

Type in the airport or 3 letter code, and the new TSA iPhone app gives you real time airport security wait time on your phone. It also answers many questions about what you can take on the flight in your carry on, what is restricted, what is banned, and fully explains the carry-on liquid rules.

Helpful tips include how to best pack your carry-on for x-ray viewing so that TSA officials can easily see what it contains. Here you’ll find tips like

• Wrap your cords rather than leaving them in a tangle
• Don’t place electronics on top of each other
• Don’t wrap gifts, as TSA officials may have to unwrap them

that will keep things moving along. The iPhone application has tips for dressing, such as wear slip on shoes and place jackets, sweaters, and belts into the bins provided.

iPhone users can go to http://apps.usa.gov/tsa-app/

Non-iPhone users can find this information on the web site, http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm

Air traveling can be very intimidating. As you are rushed from one place to another to make the flight on time, someone new to traveling can be easily overwhelmed. After finally making it to the aircraft, nervous emotions begin to take over as the worst case scenario is often played in a first time traveler’s mind.

This behavior, strange as it may be, can really shine some light on how great air traveling really is.

Here’s something we experienced air travelers tend to forget: When you take a moment to think about it, flying is really cool.

Take a look at this article and maybe you as an experienced traveler will remember what your first time was like. If you are new to traveling, maybe you can fly comfortably in the skies knowing there is not anything to worry about.

Source: CNN

United Airlines plans to demonstrate new fuel-saving methods on two flights between the U.S. and Europe on Saturday.

The airline says it expects to save about 940 gallons of fuel, about 3 percent of the fuel it would usually burn, on the flights. The testing includes a trip from Frankfurt to Chicago on a United 777, and a return trip on the same plane. Both are regular flights with paying passengers.

Commercial flights usually stay at a precise altitude. But this flight will drift up and down as much as 3,000 feet. That way the pilots won’t need to burn extra fuel maintaining a precise altitude. It also lets them choose the best altitude depending on wind and other conditions, said Joe Burns, a United captain and managing director of technology and flight tests.

He said those small adjustments wouldn’t make much difference on a short domestic flight, but they add up on an eight- or 10-hour overseas flight.

“A thousand feet can make a big difference in our fuel burn,” he said.

The flight is also being planned with a flight-planning system that computes the best route, altitude and speed depending on the wind and the plane’s weight, which changes during the flight as it burns fuel. Other changes include only filling the drinking water tanks high enough for the planned passenger load and flight time, instead of automatically filling them to the top.

“It’s just a matter of putting it all together and seeing what we could do if we could really optimize all our flights,” Burns said.

The flight has clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration as well as air traffic authorities in Canada and Europe. One issue that keeps airlines from using some of those fuel-saving practices all the time is that they can make it harder for air traffic controllers to keep the required minimum distances between planes.

United and its regional partners burned 564 million gallons of jet fuel last year, costing almost $1.19 billion.

Several airlines have been testing ways to cut their fuel bill.

A year ago, American Airlines tested fuel-saving technology on a Paris-to-Miami flight. It took a direct route guided by global-positioning technology instead of staying on the aerial highways normally used by jetliners. That plane climbed continuously out of Paris instead of at intervals of 2,000 feet or more at a time. It also descended gradually into Miami instead of the usual stair-step decline.

Alaska Airlines also tested a gradual descent into Seattle in August, along with other fuel-saving measures.

United used synthetic fuel on a test flight in April.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100604/ap_on_bi_ge/us_united_airlines_fuel

 Weary airline passengers may see some travel improvements if a new wave of passenger protections is adopted.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a proposal Wednesday that would require more accountability from air carriers — from increased compensation for bumped passengers to full disclosure of baggage fees and transparent price advertising.

Under the rule, the maximum compensation for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights would rise from the limits of $400 and $800 to $650 and $1300. Eligible compensation amounts depend on the length of the delay from the original scheduled arrival time, with a wider window allotted for international flights.

Among the 18 largest U.S. airlines, the rate of involuntarily bumped passengers in the first quarter of 2010 jumped to 1.73 per 10,000 passengers, up from 1.35 per 10,000 during the same period in 2009, according to DOT statistics. The number of involuntary bumpings has been climbing since 2007.

Capacity cuts prompted by the economic recession mean passengers who are bumped may have to wait longer to squeeze onto another packed flight.

Travel expert George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, said the rule is likely to have an effect on overbooking, but the increased penalties may drive airfares up.

“I applaud the DOT for increasing the limits, which may discourage [airlines] from overbooking as much, but maybe the DOT should have said ‘well, don’t overbook,’” Hobica said.

The rule also calls for more thorough disclosure of fees and advertising that reflects an airline ticket’s full price.

“Our proposed rule would drastically improve the consumer information airlines are required to post so that the consumers know what they are getting for their money,” LaHood said at a news conference.

The rule would require baggage fees to be prominently displayed and fully disclosed, and passengers would be eligible for refunds of those fees when bags are not delivered on time.

Passengers would be allowed to make and cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty under the rule. Carriers would be able to decide whether to provide refunds for passengers who cancel within that timeframe or to allow customers to make and hold reservations for 24 hours without payment, according to DOT officials.

The proposal also expands upon the tarmac delay rule that went into effect in April. Foreign airlines operating at U.S. airports would be required to develop contingency plans for tarmac delays and publish them to their websites. The rule also would be expanded to small and nonhub airports for U.S. carriers.

The new regulation was devised to respond to common passenger frustrations.

“There’s no secret about what people get irritated about when they go to buy a ticket, when they get on an airplane, when they get stuck on an airplane,” LaHood said.

“Anybody that’s flown knows what the problems are with flying, and we tried to incorporate the most egregious, the most serious in this rule.”

LaHood anticipates implementing the rule in the fall, following a 60-day public comment period and review of the feedback. The DOT encourages consumers to comment on the rule on regulationroom.org.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/02/airline.passenger.protections/index.html

A drop in airline capacity caused by the recession is the main factor in the dip in delays, a GAO study says.

Washington — Flight delays decreased 6 percent from 2007 to 2009, largely because airlines put fewer planes in the sky because of the recession, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office.

But even with the decrease, at least one in four U.S. passenger flights arrived late — typically an hour late — at five major airports: Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy in the New York area, Atlanta Hartsfield in Georgia and San Francisco International in California, according to the report.

Those five airports — along with Chicago O’Hare International in Illinois and Philadelphia International in Pennsylvania — accounted for almost 80 percent of departure delays at all major airports in the United States.

Flight delays have been a fact of life for air travelers for almost two decades. The only reprieve came after the 2001 terrorist attacks led to a decline in the number of flights.

Air travel was slowly returning to its pre-2001 levels when the industry was hit by the country’s economic woes.

Most of the delays are attributable to old and familiar problems: inclement weather, heavy air traffic volumes and airline issues, such as baggage loading, crew issues or maintenance.

The GAO said NextGen, the FAA’s modernization of air traffic control systems, could help reduce delays in the next two to three years. “However, the extent to which these actions will reduce delays at individual airports … is unclear,” it said.

Meanwhile, the number of flights experiencing tarmac delays of more than three hours has decreased. Some 903 flights had delays of more than three hours in 2009, compared to 1,654 flights in 2007. In March, the Department of Transportation imposed a rule that requires airlines to allow passengers stuck on planes to get off the plane after three hours.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/05/26/flight.delay.report/index.html