Tag: record (Page 2 of 4)

Virgin Australia Hosts Wedding in the Sky

February 21, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

A Virgin Australia flight from Melbourne to Sydney has played host to the airline’s first-ever mid-air wedding today, for Melbourne couple, Elaine Tiong and Luke Serdar.

Stunned passengers, onboard flight VA841, looked on as Elaine walked down the aircraft aisle wearing a striking white ensemble, before Australian actress, singer and now well-known wedding celebrant, Tottie Goldsmith, solemnised the nuptials, with the couple officially tying the knot at 40,000 feet, as the aircraft flew over Canberra in the ACT.

Dubbed, a Wedding in the Sky, Elaine, 35, a stylist, and Luke, 36, an electrician, who hail from Prahran in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs, said they were looking for an unconventional wedding without the fuss.

“We actually had planned to marry onboard a Virgin Australia flight on Valentine’s Day, but we had to postpone when the Victorian lockdown came into play just 24-hours before the big day, so after a false start, we couldn’t be happier to finally tie the knot today,” said Luke.

As a result of strict COVID-19 regulations, the couple first kissed as husband and wife upon disembarkation of the aircraft in Sydney, where they were finally able to remove their face masks.

Virgin Australia is well-known for their mid-air celebrations. From onboard marriage proposals, to Australia’s first-ever fashion show on a passenger flight, to achieving a Guinness World Record with the Black Eyes Peas performing at 41,000 feet, and now a Wedding in the Sky.

Delta Named Best Airline for American Travelers by USA Today

February 19, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

USA TODAY 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards announced their list of best airlines, airline amenities and airports of 2021 – naming Delta (NYSE: DAL) the best airline for American travelers, the Delta Sky Club at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as the best airport lounge and Delta flight attendants as the best cabin crew.

Nominees in all categories are chosen editorially by a panel of experts. Once the nominees were selected, readers could vote once per category, per day for four weeks. The winners indicate which airlines, airline amenities and airports make getting to your destination a pleasure rather than a pain.

The Delta Sky Club at New York-JFK features a Sky Deck overlooking Terminal 4, free WiFi, fresh food, premium drinks and more. During the ongoing pandemic, guests can expect to see a new standard of Club cleanliness that includes the same Delta CareStandard practices found throughout the airport and onboard aircraft. This includes but is not limited to: individually packaged fresh food options; plexiglass partitions at check-in, at the bar and between seating areas; limited capacity and blocked seats to promote more space; and enhanced cleaning measures. Learn more on delta.com

In September 2020, the airline opened its newest and largest Delta Sky Club as a part of Salt Lake City International Airport’s newly opened terminal. Delta’s support of the new Salt Lake City Airport build is part of the airline’s ongoing strategy to modernize our hub infrastructure and customer experience by investing more than $12B in airport projects.

Air Canada Reports 2020 Annual Results

February 14, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Air-Canada-Reports-2020-Annual-Results-Feb-12-2021

United Airlines to Offer Only Nonstop Flights Between Orange County and Honolulu

February 13, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) today announced new convenient options for Hawaiian getaways this summer, offering the only nonstop flights between Orange County, California and Honolulu. The new route joins United’s previously announced service between Chicago and Kona and New York/Newark and Maui. With the additional new flights, United will offer nonstop service on more than 20 routes between the mainland and Hawaii. United’s Orange County – Honolulu service will be available for purchase on united.com beginning Saturday, February 13, 2021.

United has served Hawaii for more than 70 years and was the first airline to introduce service between the mainland and Kona and Maui in 1983. United remains a pioneer to the Hawaiian Islands with the launch of first-ever service between Chicago and Kona and between New York/Newark and Maui this summer. The new flights enable convenient travel times for customers connecting in Chicago and Newark from across the Midwest and East Coast. United’s service between Orange County’s John Wayne International Airport and Honolulu will be the only nonstop flight between Orange County and Hawaii and provides even more options for Southern Californians to get to Hawaii.

New Hawaii Summer Service

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png

CSX Corporation Announces Increase to Quarterly Dividend

February 12, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX) today announced that the Company’s Board of Directors has authorized an 8 percent increase in its quarterly dividend, from $0.26 to $0.28 per share. The new $0.28 quarterly dividend is payable on March 15, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 26, 2021.

About CSX and its Disclosures

CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation company. It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions to customers across a broad array of markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural, and consumer products. For nearly 200 years, CSX has played a critical role in the nation’s economic expansion and industrial development. Its network connects every major metropolitan area in the eastern United States, where nearly two-thirds of the nation’s population resides. It also links more than 230 short-line railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports with major population centers and farming towns alike.

Delta Air Lines Wins Record 10th Business Travel News Award

November 16, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

For the 10^th year in a row, corporate travel professionals have named Delta the No. 1 airline in the annual Business Travel News Airline Survey, with significant improvements over the airline’s already-leading 2019 scores.

The survey asks corporate travel professionals to rank airlines on a number of important attributes, from customer service to distribution. This year, the survey also asked participants to rank how well each airline responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, including overall response, effective communication and flexibility. Delta earned its top marks for pandemic response, customer service and communication, while also improving its score substantively in all other categories. Again this year, Delta led in all categories, and is the only airline to sweep all categories for seven consecutive years.

Delta is the only airline in survey history to win 10 consecutive times, thanks to its industry-leading employees.

“It’s always an honor to earn our customers’ trust and respect, but to receive this award in 2020 – when the stakes have never been higher – is incredibly gratifying,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian. “In the face of historic challenges, we’ve stayed true to Delta values and have put our employees and our customers first. This recognition tells us we’re on the right path, and I could not be more thankful or more proud of the Delta team.”

Delta’s actions in 2020, including many steps we’ve taken to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, have been guided by the airline’s “listen, act, listen” approach, which includes hearing customer feedback, taking action and then listening to make sure we got it right.

Based on survey feedback, some of the actions Delta customers have most valued in 2020 include:

– Blocking middle seats through Jan. 6, 2021 to provide space for safer travel

– Unparalleled service from Delta’s corporate sales team and employees throughout operation

– Providing constant communication to corporate customers, including personalized airport tours and Corporate Customer Town Halls so attendees could hear directly from Delta leaders and partner medical experts

– Rigorous mask compliance and more than 100 layers of safety via the Delta CareStandard

– Flexibility, from offering industry-leading flexibility to plan, re-book and travel to eliminating change fees to being the first airline to extend Medallion status and offer extensions for Delta Sky Club Memberships

Business Travel News is the leading global source of business travel information and intelligence, reaching more than 44,000 corporate executives who are responsible for setting travel policy, managing and buying business travel/meetings for their companies.

Happy 100th Birthday, Qantas Airlines!

November 15, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS) today marks 100 years since it was founded in the Australian outback.

On 16 November 1920, two veterans of the Australian Flying Corps, Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, together with local grazier Fergus McMaster, founded what would later become the national carrier.

This happened just 17 years after the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers, two years after the end of World War One and at the tail end of the last major global pandemic, the Spanish Flu.

The new airline focused on conquering the “tyranny of distance” that was a major barrier to the growth of modern Australia. Its early chances of success were uncertain, to the point early backers called their investment “a donation”.

Initially carrying mail between outback towns, the airline was flying passengers to Singapore by the 1930’s. By the end of the 1940’s its strategic importance saw it nationalised and in the 1960’s, it was an early adopter of the jet aircraft that mainstreamed global travel. Qantas invented business class in the 1970’s, switched to an all-747 fleet in the 1980’s, was privatised in the 1990’s, founded Jetstar in 2004, went through major restructuring in 2014 and, by 2020, had recently completed several important ‘firsts’ in non-stop travel to Europe and the US.

Qantas is the oldest continuously-operating airline in the world and the only one that (normally) flies to every single inhabited continent on earth.

Planned centenary celebrations have been significantly scaled back due to the impact of COVID-19, but Qantas will still mark the occasion with a low-level flyover of Sydney Harbour on the evening of its anniversary.

The flight path is expected to pass near Rose Bay where our Empire Flying Boats took off for Singapore between 1938 and 1942.

Qantas Chairman, Richard Goyder, said: “The history of Qantas shows it’s no stranger to a challenge or a crisis. That’s often when its role as the national carrier has really come to the fore.

“We want to use this moment to say thank you to all those who have supported Qantas over the years. And, in particular, to the many people who have dedicated some or all of their careers to this great company.”

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said: “Around the world, Qantas is probably best known for its safety record, endurance flying and long list of aviation firsts. But for Australians, there’s nothing quite like seeing the flying kangaroo at the airport, waiting to take you home. We hope to be doing a lot more of that in the months and years ahead.”

Boeing Delivers Interceptor Proposal to U.S. Missile Defense Agency

August 12, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Today, Boeing [NYSE: BA] submitted its offer to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) competition, proposing a design that leverages the company’s more than 60-year track record and expertise in strategic missile and weapon systems.

“Boeing’s NGI proposal delivers unmatched performance, affordability and reliability for the nation and the warfighter,” said Norm Tew, Missile and Weapon Systems vice president and general manager, and Huntsville site senior executive. “Building upon our prior investments and proven technologies, our innovative proposal offers a creative, compelling and game-changing technical approach to outpace, out-innovate, deter and defeat rapidly evolving advanced threats.”

If selected, Boeing will utilize its proven capabilities along with a best-of-industry team to ensure its unique offering is delivered to the warfighter on time.

“Boeing is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that greatly expand this key missile defense capability, ever focused on supporting the warfighter,” said Tew. “We are leveraging our unparalleled mission knowledge to design, develop and deliver a low-risk, highly-effective solution for the MDA.”

The NGI will be used to maintain ready deterrence and ensure the continued protection of the U.S. homeland from intercontinental ballistic missiles. A contract award is expected later this year.

Cathay Pacific Posts Record $1.27 Billion First Half Loss

August 12, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Cathay Pacific aircraft are seen parked on the tarmac at the airport, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Hong Kong

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd reported a record HK$9.87 billion ($1.27 billion) first-half loss and said it did not expect a meaningful recovery in passenger demand for some time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The figure was in line with the HK$9.9 billion forecast it had flagged last month and included HK$2.47 billion of impairment charges.

Revenue plunged 48.3% to HK$27.7 billion in the six months ended June 30 as it slashed passenger flying to a barebones schedule due to lower demand and border restrictions, though it added more cargo-only flights as freight yields rose 44.1%.

The airline, which received a $5 billion rescue package led by the Hong Kong government, has so far refrained from large-scale job cuts but has warned it is reviewing all aspects of its business model with an update expected by the fourth quarter.

“Inevitably this will involve rationalisation of future planned capacity compared to pre-crisis plans, taking into account the market outlook and cost structure at that time,” Chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement on Wednesday.

It has rearranged its aircraft order book with Airbus SE to delay deliveries, is in advanced talks with Boeing Co to do the same and has begun sending one-third of its fleet outside Hong Kong for storage in less humid conditions.

The airline said last month that it had reduced its monthly cash burn to about HK$1.5 billion from between HK$2.5 billion and HK$3 billion while maintaining a minimal flying schedule.

Cathay is expected to report a full-year loss of around HK$13.6 billion, according to the average of 13 analysts polled by Refinitiv before it released its half-year results.

The airline’s shares had surged 9.3% on Wednesday ahead of the earnings announcement, which was made while trading was suspended for the market’s lunch break.

“It is laggard buying on some traditional economy stocks,” Steven Leung, a sales director at UOB Kay Hian, said of the rise.

($1 = 7.7506 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Jamie Freed; additional reporting by Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Trump Proposes Cutting Amtrak Funding, Boost Infrastructure

February 10, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The White House budget released on Monday proposed cutting funding for passenger rail carrier Amtrak, while calling for a significant boost in infrastructure spending.

The proposal would cut Amtrak funds by more than 50% over 2020 levels. It could cut funds to the congested northeast corridor from $700 million to $325 million and cut long-distance train funds from $1.3 billion to $611 million and then phase out support for long-distance trains.

Trump has proposed similar cuts in prior budgets and been rejected, and Democrats are not likely to go along. Trump has sparred with Democratic lawmakers over a $13 billion infrastructure project to build and repair tunnels and bridges in the New York City area known as “Gateway.”

In November, Amtrak said for the year ended Sept. 30, it had set records for ridership, revenue, and financial performance, including 32.5 million customer trips, a year-over-year increase of 800,000 passengers.

Amtrak reported a loss of $29.8 million in the year through September 2019 compared with a loss of $170.6 million in the prior fiscal year.

The Trump budget calls for $810 billion in highway, transit, safety and other surface transportation funds and then an additional $190 billion for a wide range of programs including $25 billion for rural water, broadband and other projects. It does not specify how to pay for the repairs or for funding an estimated $107 billion shortfall in the highway trust fund through 2026.

The budget again also calls for eliminating an Energy Department clean vehicle loan program that boosted Tesla Inc , Nissan Motor Co and Ford Motor Co during the last industry downturn, but has not funded a new project in almost a decade.

Start-up Lordstown Motors Chief Executive Steve Burns told Reuters last month the company wanted to apply for a $200 million loan from the Energy Department program to retool a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. Burns met with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette for an hour to discuss the proposal last month. Lordstown is partially owned by start-up Workhorse Group Inc.

The budget also again proposes killing the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that phases out for automakers after 200,000 EVs are sold. The White House blocked an effort in December by congressional Democrats to expand the credit to additional vehicles.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Archives