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The former chief pilot for the airline is convinced that human intervention was to blame for the disappearance of the plane a year ago this Sunday. But he said he had no reason to believe the captain, a longtime friend, would have done it.

U.S. federal telecommunications regulators are pushing ahead with efforts to bring faster Internet service to commercial and private airline flights. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday started deliberations on a proposal that would offer a new type of in-flight broadband service promising U.S. fliers higher Wi-Fi speeds and better connections.

Budget airline easyJet PLC says it has acquired a ton of ash from Icelandic volcanoes for use in an experiment to test ash detection technology.

If you fly, chances are you have a story to tell about an uncomfortable airline seat. Vicki Morwitz does. Hers involves a long-haul plane trip, a minuscule economy-class enclosure and a circuitous routing that deposited her at her destination feeling exhausted and irritated.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave formal approval on Thursday for a new lithium-ion battery system for Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner, ending a three-month ban and clearing airlines to fly the plane with passengers again.

American Airlines grounded flights across the country Tuesday because of an outage of its main reservations system. Thousands of passengers were stranded at airports and on airplanes.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered an inspection of more than 1,000 U.S.-registered Boeing 737 jets to examine the tail planes for a potentially faulty part, which it said could cause pilots to lose control of the aircraft if it failed. The airworthiness directive (AD) issued by the FAA calls on airlines and other operators to replace tail plane fixing pins with improved pins following concerns over how their protective surface coating was applied.

A federal bankruptcy judge has at least temporarily blocked a proposed $20 million severance payment for the CEO of American Airlines as part of the company's merger with US Airways. The judge ruled Thursday that the proposed payment to CEO Tom Horton exceeded limits that Congress set for bankruptcy cases in 2005.

Airline passengers are getting grumpier, and it's little wonder. Airlines keep shrinking the size of seats to stuff more people onto planes, those empty middle seats that once provided a little more room are now occupied and more people with tickets are being turned away because flights are overbooked.

US Airways is blaming a dip in revenue on federal budget cuts, Reuters reports. The carrier says it thinks the cuts have reduced demand for last-minute tickets, which typically go for the highest fares.