Tag: US (Page 7 of 8)

President Trump Issues Order Ground Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft

March 13, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday grounded Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets, citing new satellite data and evidence from the scene of Sunday’s crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that killed 157 people, the second disaster involving the 737 in less than five months.

It was the second time the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has halted flights of a Boeing plane in six years. It had grounded the 787 Dreamliner in 2013 because of problems with smoking batteries.

Shares of the world’s biggest plane maker, which were up earlier in the session, fell 2 percent to $370.48. The shares have fallen about 13 percent since Sunday’s crash, losing about $32 billion of market value.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co, which has the largest fleet of 737 MAX aircraft, fell 0.4 percent.

“The agency made this decision as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analyzed today,” the FAA said in a statement, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the planes would be grounded.

“This evidence, together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning, led to this decision.”

The grounding will remain in effect as the FAA investigates.

Boeing, which maintained that its planes were safe to fly, said it supported the move to temporarily ground 737 MAX flights.

The United States joins Europe, China and other countries in grounding Boeing’s newest plane since the Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed soon after taking off from Addis Ababa.

The still-unexplained crash followed another involving a Boeing 737 MAX in Indonesia five months ago that killed 189 people. Although there is no proof of any link, the twin disasters have spooked passengers.

The grounding was welcomed by air workers in the United States.

“He (Trump) did the right thing by grounding this fleet, both for air travelers and aviation workers,” John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, which represent aviation workers and flight attendants, told Reuters shortly after the announcement.

“Our members are excited, and are no longer concerned about stepping into a workplace which could lead to the end of their lives, potentially.”

NEW SATELLITE DATA

Canada also grounded 737 MAX jets on Wednesday, saying satellite data suggested similarities to the previous crash involving the same plane model in October.

U.S.-based aircraft-tracking firm Aireon provided the satellite data to the FAA, Transport Canada and several other authorities, company spokeswoman Jessie Hillenbrand said.

Aireon’s space-based system can monitor data from aircraft equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transponders. The data is considered less detailed than that in black boxes, which look at systems running inside the plane.

Earlier on Wednesday, Germany’s federal agency responsible for investigating air accidents said it would not analyze the black box from the Ethiopian Airlines plane, casting uncertainty over the process of finding out what may have caused the disaster. The U.S. FAA said the black boxes were headed to France later on Wednesday.

Ethiopian Airlines spokesman Asrat Begashaw said it was still unclear what happened on Sunday, but its pilot had reported control issues as opposed to external factors such as birds.

“The pilot reported flight control problems and requested to turn back. In fact he was allowed to turn back,” he said.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Kumerra Gemechu in Gora-Bokka, Ethiopia, David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Doina Chiacu in Washington, Omar Mohammed and Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Tim Hepher in Paris; Jamie Freed in Singapore; Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Aditi Shah in Mumbai; Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Angela Moon in New York; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne, Frances Kerry and Bill; Rigby; Editing by Gareth Jones, Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool)

Norwegian Air to Shut Bases & Axe Routes to Cut Costs

January 16, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

OSLO, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Budget carrier Norwegian Air will axe a number of routes in Europe and to the U.S and the Middle East, shutting several bases as part of a cost-cutting plan announced last month.

The fast-growing carrier has been under pressure over the past 18 months to control costs and shore up its balance sheet as it looks to crack the transatlantic market by undercutting established rivals.

“The company has reached a point where it needs to make necessary adjustments to its route portfolio in order to improve the sustainability and financial performance in this very competitive environment,” Helga Bollmann Leknes, Norwegian Air’s Chief Commercial Officer, said in a statement to Reuters.

The airline will close its bases in Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife in Spain, as well as in Stewart and Providence in the United States. It will also shut the 737 base at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, but keep its 787 Dreamliner base there.

The company did not give a specific number of jobs that would be cut, but said it would seek to minimise redundancies.

The flights affected are operated by Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 models. Flights operated by Boeing Dreamliner planes are not affected, Norwegian said.

“These aircraft are primarily used on European routes, but also some longer routes between Europe and the U.S. and Europe and the Middle East,” Norwegian Air said in the statement, adding that this would start in April and would continue “for the best part of 2019”.

The measures announced on Wednesday are part of a cost-saving programme of 2 billion crowns ($234 million) announced in December, Norwegian said.

($1 = 8.5325 Norwegian crowns)

(Written by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Terje Solsvik & Elaine Hardcastle)

U.S. Air Force Accepts First Boeing KC-46A Pegasus Tanker

January 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SEATTLE, Jan. 10, 2019 – The U.S. Air Force has accepted the first Boeing [NYSE: BA] KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft, setting the stage for the aircraft’s delivery to McConnell Air Force Base, in Wichita, Kan., in the coming weeks.

“The KC-46A is a proven, safe, multi-mission aircraft that will transform aerial refueling and mobility operations for decades to come. We look forward to working with the Air Force, and the Navy, during their initial operational test and evaluation of the KC-46, as we further demonstrate the operational capabilities of this next-generation aircraft across refueling, mobility and combat weapons systems missions,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “I want to thank the men and women of the Air Force and across the Boeing tanker team who made this happen.”

During extensive flight testing, six KC-46 completed more than 3,800 flight hours and offloaded more than four million pounds of fuel to A-10, B-52, C-17, KC-10, KC-135, KC-46, F-15E, F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft. The Pegasus has been rigorously tested throughout all aspects of the refueling envelope and in all conditions, including day, night and covert.

With the signing of what’s known as the DD250 paperwork, the delivery activities can proceed. McConnell Air Force Base will receive the first four KC-46 aircraft, all of which are ready for delivery, with four subsequent aircraft destined for Oklahoma’s Altus Air Force Base, beginning as early as next month.

Boeing is on contract for 52 of an expected 179 tankers for the Air Force. Beyond the first aircraft that was accepted today, nine aircraft are undergoing customer acceptance testing with the remaining aircraft of the contracted amount in production.

“This is an exciting and historic day for the Air Force and Boeing, as we hand over the first of many KC-46 tankers,” said Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg. “I’m proud of the dedication and commitment by our enterprise-wide team, and we’re honored to provide this valuable and capable aircraft to our customer. We look forward to continuing to build and support the KC-46 for the Air Force—and other customers across the globe—for decades to come.”

The KC-46, derived from Boeing’s commercial 767 airframe, is built in Boeing’s Everett, Wash., facility.

For more information on Defense, Space & Security, visit www.boeing.com. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense and @BoeingSpace.

Story and image from http://www.boeing.com

Air Italy Flights Rekindle U.S. Carrier Anger

December 19, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

ROME (Reuters) – Air Italy will start flying to Chicago next year, a move likely to revive a dispute between its minority shareholder Qatar Airways and U.S rivals trying to squeeze Gulf operators out of their domestic market.

Formerly known as Meridiana, Air Italy is the country’s second-largest airline, behind ailing Alitalia [CAITLA.UL], and state-owned Qatar Airways holds a 49 percent stake in it.

Air Italy will fly to Chicago three times a week from Milan Malpensa airport starting from May 14, 2019, Chief Operating Officer Rossen Dimitrov told Reuters.

Since 2015 the largest U.S carriers — Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), American Airlines Group (AAL.O) and United Airlines (UAL.N) — have argued their Gulf rivals are being unfairly subsidised by their governments, distorting competition.

Gulf airlines have always denied those accusations and in May the companies reached a voluntary agreement, saying they would not add new flights to the United States.

However, Air Italy has been flying to New York and Miami since June and will start serving San Francisco and Los Angeles from April 2019.

That has drawn criticism from an alliance of U.S.-based airlines grouped in the “Partnership for Open & Fair Skies”, that Qatar Airways is using Air Italy to offer additional flights between the U.S. and Europe, despite the agreement.

“Once again, Qatar is using Air Italy as a Trojan horse built from subsidized cash to avoid its commitments to the Trump administration and launch new … routes,” said Scott Reed, campaign manager for the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies.

In an emailed statement, Reed called on U.S. President Donald Trump to intercede on the behalf of U.S. airlines.

Dimitrov tried to dismiss any suggestion that Air Italy was acting improperly, noting that Qatar Airways was a minority shareholder.

“They do not dictate what we do and where we go. They do not manage us,” he said.

He added that he would be happy to work with the U.S airlines under code-share agreements, from which both sides would benefit, “rather than spending time and money fighting each other”.

The opening of the Chicago route next year is part of a wider plan, announced in May, in which the airline aims to grow its fleet and passenger numbers fourfold by 2022.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti and Alberto Sisto; Editing by Keith Weir and Crispian Balmer)

Image from http://www.airitaly.com

United Announces New Nonstop Between Denver and Frankfurt

November 29, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

DENVER, Nov. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines (UAL), the U.S. carrier with the most service to Germany, today announced it will begin its 15th daily nonstop flight between the United States and Germany from its hub at Denver International Airport. The airline announced it will begin year-round service between Denver and Frankfurt, Germany, beginning May 2, 2019, subject to government approval. Tickets are now available for purchase on united.com.

United’s new service between Denver and Frankfurt is the only nonstop service from Denver to Germany by a U.S. carrier and is the airline’s ninth flight between the United States and Frankfurt. United currently operates daily nonstop service between Frankfurt and its hubs in Chicago, Houston, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles.

Denver (DEN) – Frankfurt (FRA) starts May 2, 2019
Flight	Frequency	City Pair	Depart	Arrive	Aircraft
UA 182	Daily	DEN – FRA	3:40 p.m.	09:20 a.m. ⁺¹ ^day	Boeing 787
UA 181	Daily	FRA – DEN	11:05 a.m.	1:20 p.m.	Boeing 787

From Denver, United will connect more than 60 cities across the Western United States including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Seattle to Frankfurt.

“United is committed to expanding our global network for our customers and our employees and we are excited to continue this growth with the addition of new service between Denver and Frankfurt,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s vice president of International Network. “From the mid-continent United States to the rest of the world, United offers customers more choice and more international flights and destinations than any other carrier.”

United Airlines has served the Denver community since 1937 and is the only airline to continuously operate service in Denver – operating 6.5 million flights and serving more than 580 million customers.

“We are appreciative to have such a great partnership with United Airlines and that they continue to grow and invest in Denver with the addition of this new year-round transatlantic service,” said DEN CEO Kim Day.

United Airlines in Germany

United Airlines has continuously served Germany for more than 28 years, when the airline began daily service between Frankfurt and its Chicago and Washington Dulles hubs. In addition to United’s new daily service between Denver and Frankfurt, the airline offers customers daily, year-round service to Frankfurt from its hubs in Chicago, Houston, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. United also operates daily nonstop service from Munich to Chicago, Houston, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles, and year-round nonstop service between New York/Newark and Berlin/Tegel. Additionally, United offers seasonal service between Munich and San Francisco. All flights are conveniently timed to connect at United’s U.S. hubs with an extensive connecting network to destinations throughout the United States and beyond.

United Airlines in Denver

Denver International Airport, a United hub since 1937, offers customers more than 400 flights daily across its domestic network and more than 15 international flights to key business and leisure destinations in five countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The airport is the region’s key gateway to international economic and tourism development.

Customers traveling to the U.S. from Frankfurt can conveniently connect to hundreds of U.S. destinations including easy connecting services between Denver and Jackson Hole and Aspen, popular ski destinations for European visitors.

About United

United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,700 flights a day to 356 airports across five continents. In 2017, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 148 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 760 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 546 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”.

SOURCE United Airlines

For further information: United Airlines Worldwide Media Relations, 872-825-8640, media.relations@united.com

Hawaiian Holdings Announces Investor Day Webcast

November 29, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

HONOLULU, Nov. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA), parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (“Hawaiian”), announced today that it will webcast presentations to investors to be given by Hawaiian’s leadership team on December 11, 2018. The webcast will begin at approximately 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The webcast will be open to the public through a live audio webcast accessible in the Investor Relations section of Hawaiian’s website at HawaiianAirlines.com. For those who are not able to listen to the live webcast, the presentations will be archived for 90 days on Hawaiian’s website.

About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian® has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 14 years (2004-2017) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and TripAdvisor have placed Hawaiian among the top of all domestic airlines serving Hawai’i.

Now in its 90^th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawai’i’s biggest and longest-serving airline. Hawaiian offers non-stop service to Hawai’i from more U.S. gateway cities (12) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides approximately 170 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, with a total of more than 250 daily flights system-wide.

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com. Follow Hawaiian’s Twitter updates (@HawaiianAir), become a fan on Facebook (Hawaiian Airlines), and follow us on Instagram (hawaiianairlines). For career postings and updates, follow Hawaiian’s LinkedIn page.

For media inquiries, please visit Hawaiian Airlines’ online newsroom.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hawaiian-holdings-announces-investor-day-presentation-webcast-300756300.html

SOURCE Hawaiian Airlines

US Safety Board Hearing On Southwest Engine Explosion

November 14, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Nov 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is set to hold an investigative hearing on Wednesday about a midair incident in April during which an engine on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 exploded over Pennsylvania, killing one passenger.

Dallas-based Southwest has been under intense scrutiny in the months since an engine on a flight headed from New York to Dallas blew apart, shattering a plane window, flinging shrapnel and killing passenger Jennifer Riordan, one of 149 people aboard.

The episode, which has raised concerns about the safety of similar engines, was the first fatality on a U.S. commercial passenger airline since 2009.

The all-day hearing in Washington will focus on the fan blade design and development history of the engine type that failed, a CFM56-7B made by CFM International, a transatlantic joint-venture between General Electric Co and France’s Safran SA, the NTSB said.

The hearing will also focus on engine fan blade inspection methods and engine fan blade containment design and certification criteria, the NTSB said.

Representatives from Chicago-based planemaker Boeing, CFM, and Southwest Airlines are due at the hearing.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The hearing comes as Indonesian authorities investigate last month’s deadly Lion Air crash involving a newer version of Boeing’s best-selling single-aisle aircraft, the 737 MAX.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle)

Image from www.boeing.com

General Dynamics Tops Profit Estimates

October 24, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Oct 24 (Reuters) – U.S. aerospace and defense company General Dynamics Corp beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by higher demand for its IT services by U.S. government agencies.

The company closed its $9.7 billion purchase of IT services-heavy CSRA Inc in the middle of the year. This was the first full quarter for General Dynamics to report the results of that business as the U.S. government is in the midst of a broad modernization effort.

Revenue rose at all of the company’s businesses, with its information technology unit recording the biggest jump.

Revenue from the IT business more than doubled to $2.31 billion, as integration of the unit continued and the business won several contracts during the quarter. Major wins during the quarter for the unit included a $330 million contract from the U.S. Census Bureau and a $210 million contract from the Centers Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Profit margins at the IT services business slipped from 9.5 percent to 6.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Total operating margins for General Dynamics were 12.5 percent, down from 14 percent in the same period last year.

Revenue from the company’s aerospace division, which makes business jets, rose 1.8 percent. Total new Gulfstream deliveries, a key metric for investors, fell to 27 from 30 compared with the third quarter last year. But compared with the second quarter, deliveries rose by one jet and large-cabin Gulfstream deliveries rose to 21 from 18 in the second quarter.

Net earnings rose 11 percent to $851 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.89 per share, beating Refinitiv estimates of $2.76.

Total revenue rose 20 percent to $9.09 billion, but fell short of estimates of $9.38 billion.

The company’s total backlog at the end of third-quarter 2018 was $69.5 billion, up 4.9 percent from second-quarter 2018. The biggest backlog contributor came from a $3.9 billion contract from the U.S. Navy for the construction of four (DDG-51) guided-missile destroyers.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Susan Thomas)

Harris & L3 To Merge, Become 6th Largest US Defence Contractor

October 15, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

By Jarrett Renshaw and Harry Brumpton

(Reuters) – Military communication equipment providers Harris Corp (HRS.N) and L3 Technologies Inc (LLL.N) announced on Sunday an all-stock merger that will create the United States’ sixth-largest defence contractor with a market value of $34 billion.

Increased defence spending under U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress is driving contractors to pursue mergers so they have more scale to bid on bigger projects, spanning everything from upgrading computer systems to space exploration.

In August, Trump signed a defence policy bill that authorized $639 billion in military spending such as buying weapons, ships, aircraft and paying troops.

“We are in an environment where the economy is pretty strong, we know defence spending is coming up, the 2019 (federal) budget is up 3 percent over 2018, 2018 was up 9 to 10 percent over the prior year,” Harris Chief Executive William Brown said in an interview.

“I think there is an increasing need for more investment, more end-to-end solutions,” Brown added.

The transaction values L3 at $15.7 billion, slightly above its market capitalisation at the end of trading on Friday of $15.3 billion. Harris has a market capitalisation of $18.2 billion.

L3 shareholders will receive 1.3 shares of Harris common stock for each of their shares. As a result, Harris shareholders will own about 54 percent of the combined company, with the remainder owned by L3 shareholders.

The combined company, L3 Harris Technologies Inc, will have about 48,000 employees and customers in over 100 countries, the companies said. The merger is expected to close in midyear 2019, they added.

The new company’s board of directors will have 12 members, consisting of six directors from each company. Brown will serve as chairman and chief executive officer, and L3 CEO Christopher Kubasik will serve as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer for the first two years following the closing of the deal, the companies said.

In the third year, Brown will transition to executive chairman and Kubasik will become CEO. After that year, Kubasik will be both chairman and CEO.

“The aerospace and defence industry is continuing to see a lot of change over the last year or so, and many people have believed for a long time this combination made sense and we have worked hard to make that happen,” Kubasik said in an interview.

A string of deals have taken place in the sector. In June, U.S. defence contractor Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) acquired Orbital ATK Inc for about $7.8 billion, giving it greater access to lucrative government contracts and expanding its arsenal of missile defence systems and space rockets.

In April, weapons maker General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) bought CSRA Inc for $9.7 billion to expand its government services business, after CACI International Inc (CACI.N) withdrew its offer for CSRA following a bidding war.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) is acting as financial adviser to Harris and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is serving as principal legal counsel, with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acting as special counsel to the board of directors. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) is acting as financial adviser to L3 and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal counsel.

(The story adds expected closing date in paragraph 8, detail about new company’s leadership in paragraph 10)

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Harry Brumpton in New York; Additional reporting by Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)

Airlines Win, Passengers Lose As Congress Drops Reasonable Fee Rule

September 24, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. airline industry scored a win on Saturday as bipartisan congressional legislation dropped plans to mandate “reasonable and proportional” baggage and change fees, but included other new passenger protections.

After weeks of negotiations, a 1,200-page bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was unveiled early Saturday that would require the FAA to set minimum dimensions for passenger seats — including legroom and width — and prohibits airlines from involuntarily removing passengers from flights after they’ve cleared the boarding gate.

In April 2017, video went viral on social media of 69-year-old passenger David Dao being dragged from a United Airlines flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after he refused to give up his seat to make room for crew members. United apologized and promised not to remove seated passengers to make room for other passengers.

But airlines had heavily lobbied against new rules limiting fees. U.S. airlines revenue from baggage and reservation change fees increased from $5.7 billion in 2010 to $7.5 billion in 2017. Other fees are not reported to regulators.

The compromise bill did not include language adopted by a Senate Committee in 2017 that would have required the reasonable fee rules. It was struck in a compromise unveiled by Senate Commerce Committee Republican chairman John Thune and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster, a Republican, along with the top Democrats on the two committees Senator Bill Nelson and Representative Peter DeFazio.

Congress is set to vote on the measure next week ahead of a September 30 deadline.

American Airlines Group Inc became the latest major airline on Thursday to hike checked bag prices by $5 for the first bag to $30, joining Delta Air Lines Inc, United and JetBlue Airways Corp.

Airlines for America, an airline trade group, has said the fee provision would result in “government-mandated price controls” and should be rejected and the Trump administration also strongly opposed the provision.

The bill also requires the U.S. Transportation Department to set new rules authorizing commercial drone deliveries and gives the Justice Department and Homeland Security Department new authority to disable or destroy drones if they pose a threat to government facilities after the Trump administration warned it did not have the legal authority it needed to address threats.

Under the bill, airlines must refund passengers for services they paid for but did not receive and will enshrine in law a prohibition on passengers making mobile phone calls while in flight or using e-cigarettes.

The bill requires airlines to allow passengers to check strollers if they are traveling with a small child and require regulators to determine if it is unfair or deceptive for airlines to tell passengers “that a flight is delayed or canceled due to weather alone when other factors are involved.”

It also makes it unlawful for any person to place a live animal in an overhead storage compartment, prompted by outrage over the death a dog in March in an overhead compartment of a United flight. It also gives the Transportation Department authority to require airlines to allow pregnant passengers to board earlier.

The bill would also authorize a return of “supersonic” transport with reduced sonic booms, and provides for an additional $1.68 billion in immediate funding for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Florence.

It also directs the FAA to establish an Office of Spaceports to provide guidance, support licensing for spaceports, and promote infrastructure improvements for future space travel.

The bill also addresses sexual misconduct in aviation by creating a task force to review practices and increases civil penalties for interfering with cabin or flight crew members.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

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