Airlines | featured news

Fees for checked bags reducing volume handled at airports.

Airlines lost 1.3 million fewer bags in 2008, as more passengers wheeled, dragged and toted their luggage aboard planes to avoid paying new fees to check bags, federal data show.

Is a toilet an optional extra when you're at 30,000 feet? Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary seems to think so — as his no-frills carrier plumbs new depths by thinking of charging customers to use the aircraft loo.

Engine failure may have been a factor in Wednesday's plane crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Dutch investigators say.

A Turkish Airlines plane with 135 people aboard slammed into a muddy field while attempting to land at Amsterdam's main airport Wednesday. Nine people were killed and more than 50 were injured, many in serious condition, officials said.

A federal aviation official says the plane that crashed into a house near Buffalo, killing 50 people, was on autopilot when it went down, a possible violation of airline policy.

Passengers from the "Miracle on the Hudson" emergency landing last month poured onto the set of "Good Morning America" today to personally thank Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III and his crew for saving 155 lives.

The crew of a US Airways jetliner disabled by birds that knocked out both its engines over New York calmly told air controllers: "We're gonna be in the Hudson" before splash landing in the river, according to tapes of the account released on Thursday.

Last summer's spike in aviation fuel prices led to the highest average U.S. air fare in 13 years at $362 during the third quarter of 2008, a federal report states.

British Airways says it will allow limited cell phone use on a London-New York flight due to start in September.

JAL and Singapore Airlines will reduce flights, another sign of how the economic crisis is sapping demand.