Latest news with #airtravel
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
From Las Vegas to Tokyo, a record 72 million Americans are predicted to hit the road and skies for the Fourth of July
AAA projects a record 72 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the nine-day Independence Day holiday period — from June 28 to July 6 — with new highs expected for both drivers and air travelers as summer travel reaches peak season. The auto club forecasts nearly 62 million people will drive over the Fourth of July weekend, representing an increase of 1.3 million from last year. Air travel is expected to rise more than 1% over last year's record numbers. "The top 10 heaviest travel days in TSA history have all happened within the past year, and we expect to see more heavy volumes this summer," said Kristie Jordan Smith, a Transportation Security Administration official at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. How technology at airports is reducing wait times The Independence Day travel period is expected to be the summer's busiest travel stretch. Airport officials are implementing new technology to reduce wait times. At DFW, customs officials report wait times are down 25% thanks to enhanced passenger processing technology that uses facial recognition, now operational at nine airports nationwide. CBP will soon test a program allowing customs to review X-ray images of checked bags from London flights, eliminating the need for connecting passengers to clear security twice in Dallas. "This program streamlines and improves the travel experience for our customers, saving them time and reducing the complexity of clearing security while continuing to maintain the highest security standards," said Jim Moses, Senior Vice President DFW Hub Operations at American Airlines. DFW is the airline's largest hub. AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said travel demand reflects both practical and emotional factors. "We're seeing travel in record numbers because travel isn't just an economic and practical decision, it's also an emotional decision," Diaz said. "People don't have to spend a lot of money when they go on these trips, but people want to get away and not be home." According to Priceline, top summer destinations include Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo and London.
CNN
6 hours ago
- CNN
Escalating crises are redrawing the air map of the world. Here's what that means for flyers
Look at a map of the world showing all the airplanes currently in the air and what stands out most — apart from the staggering number of aircraft up there — are the gigantic holes in the sky where no flights can be found. These no-fly zones usually occur where there's a risk to aircraft safety from events on the ground. The escalating conflict in the Middle East is the latest global situation to punch holes through air traffic flows, a situation that aviation experts say is costing commercial airlines time and money as they reroute or cancel flights. It's a reminder that, even when cocooned in a metal tube at 40,000 feet, watching a Hollywood movie and being served dinner and drinks, air passengers remain inescapably tied to the events happening far below them. Global travel is subject to the whims of international geopolitics at most times, but never more so than in the sky. However, after contending with a string of conflicts going back to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and beyond, the disruption of war has become a fact of life that airlines have become adept at dealing with. And natural disasters, like the current volcanic eruption near Bali, Indonesia, can be much more troublesome for the air carriers, one analyst says. 'Airspace closures have become quite common,' said Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based aviation consultant. 'It's almost like the new normal for airlines to have to navigate this kind of thing,' he told CNN, mentioning the recent flare-up of tensions between India and Pakistan, last year's strikes by Israel and Iran and the war in Ukraine as just some of the manmade events that have disrupted air travel in recent years. As live air tracking maps from websites like FlightRadar24 show, there are now gaping holes over Israel, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine with most traffic squeezed into corridors that skirt around those countries. There is still some international air traffic over Russia, but this mainly consists of Chinese carriers like Air China, Xiamen Air or Cathay Pacific. Russian airspace bordering Ukraine has been closed to all commercial airlines since the start of the invasion, so China's European routes primarily enter or depart above the Baltic Sea, near St. Petersburg. 'Airlines have departments of people constantly looking at airspace issues and assessing risk,' Sobie said, adding that each airline has different variables on how they operate. 'Even airspace that's open, some airlines might deem it as not safe' and reroute accordingly, he said. Often that rerouting involves significant diversions. Pilots must be able to fly far enough away from danger zones that unexpected weather conditions do not accidentally push them over the line, or on-board crises force them to make emergency landings in the wrong place. Increasingly, in an age of cyber warfare, there's also the potential danger of GPS jamming or spoofing around combat zones — with satellite navigation systems at risk of being tricked into showing false locations. No matter the airline, flight disruptions cost money — a lot of it, said Tony Stanton, consultant director of Strategic Air in Australia. For example, he said the current conflict in Iran and Israel is forcing carriers to add two hours on to nonstop flights from London to Hong Kong. Even for relatively efficient long-haul jetliners like Boeing's 777 or Airbus' A350, that means using up considerably more fuel. 'To put that into perspective, whilst many factors affect fuel burn, a B777 burns around $7,000 per hour of fuel as a rough estimate,' Stanton said. Besides fuel, airlines may see increased costs for crew time, new charges to overfly different airspace as well as lost revenue from delays and cancellations. And those losses cannot be quickly recouped because most passengers have booked their tickets weeks or months in advance of the event that's causing the problems. Adding those costs into future ticket sales may not be possible because supply and demand on routes may have changed since the conflict began, the analysts said. 'The business of running a profitable airline is not easy,' Stanton noted. While the current Mideast conflict has seen commercial flights to Iran and Israel stopped entirely, airlines that would once fly over those destinations are having to change routes. Sobie said that the biggest effect proportionately has been on short-haul flights between Central Asia and Mideast destinations like Dubai or Doha. Those flights might have spent two hours of a three- or four-hour flight in Iranian airspace before the fighting began, he said. Many flights that would have crossed Iranian, Iraqi, Jordanian or Israeli airspace are rerouting to flight corridors over Saudi Arabia, Egypt and up into Turkey, Stanton said. 'FlightRadar24 clearly shows how air traffic is currently being pressed into two narrow corridors, particularly a corridor to the south of the conflict zones.' That can mean more work for air traffic controllers, who are fitting more aircraft into smaller spaces, said experts. Accommodations can be made by adjusting things like flight altitudes and take-off times, they said — however, these factors too can have an impact on price, with prime airport 'slots' for take-off and landing costing airlines yet more cash. The analysts also noted that more people and planes are flying today than ever before, and that makes handling any disruptions for conflict more difficult. For instance, air traffic in the Persian Gulf region is three times what it was just a few years ago, Sobie said. The potentially tragic stakes of crossing certain airspace regions were starkly highlighted in July 2014 when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area of Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels. The incident claimed the lives of all 298 people on board. Adding to the air carriers' concerns is the lack of certainty on when conflicts end. For instance, the war in Ukraine started in February 2022, and route changes and cancellations that resulted from that are still in effect. Flight restrictions imposed after flare-ups between Iran and Israel last year were short-lived, Sobie said. Even with the uncertainty of war, Stanton noted there are bigger worries for air carriers, like volcanoes. 'The most common other phenomenon impacting air routes is volcanic eruptions like what we see in Bali today,' Stanton said. Clouds of volcanic ash contain silica, which can fuse to jet engine parts with catastrophic consequences, can be blown over long distances in high-altitude winds, he said, noting that the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland affected more than 10 million passengers and cost airlines over $1.7 billion. As thick clouds billowed out of Eyjafjallajökull, the skies over the North Atlantic — one of the world's busiest aviation routes — fell silent, with air traffic dropping to levels that wouldn't be seen again until the Covid pandemic a decade later. 'A volcano's eruption can have much greater impacts than a conflict zone,' Stanton said. CNN's Barry Neild contributed to this report.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Teenager taken to hospital after being hit by lightning in New York's Central Park
Severe thunderstorms impacted New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. throughout Thursday afternoon and evening. A Teenager was struck by lightning in New York City's Central Park while standing under a tree. The injured teen was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center with neck injuries and was reported to be in stable condition. The National Weather Service issued warnings for large hail, damaging winds, and continuous lightning, advising people to move indoors immediately. The severe weather caused significant air travel delays at major East Coast airports, including JFK, Ronald Reagan Washington National, and Philadelphia International.
Times of Oman
8 hours ago
- Business
- Times of Oman
Air passengers in India likely to decline in June, after tragic Air India incident: Report
New Delhi: Post recovery of Air passengers in May 2025 after the cessation of India-Pak hostilities, a report by ICICI Securities says the aviation ministry passenger travel data number indicates further decline in June. "As per daily data reported by MoCA, average daily passengers had seen a decline in May'25 following the geopolitical conflict. However, post-declaration of ceasefire, domestic air travel had returned to normalcy. Average daily passengers again declined post the unfortunate Air India accident on 12 Jun'25," the ICICI Securities report noted. According to the report the average daily passengers in April this year was at 490K, however, a decline was witnessed in May 2025 due to India-Pakistan geopolitical conflict. However, Average daily pax returned to 490l before 12 Jun'25 (before Air India incident), post which it has declined to 460k again. On the international travel side, international air travel has experienced a setback since May 2025, weighed down by geopolitical issues like the India-Pakistan conflict. Recently, Air India has reduced its international services on wide-body aircraft by 15 per cent for the next few weeks. The decision comes after the tragic loss of 241 lives on board Air India-171 flight, which crashed in Ahmedabad. "Air India cancelled 83 wide-body operations between 12 and 17 Jun'25. As per daily data reported by MoCA, average daily international passengers have declined from 118k in Apr'25 to 113k in May'25 and 102k in Jun'25," adds the report. However, ICICI securities believes that the weakness in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) price could offset the weakness seen in passenger demand in May/Jun'25. ATF prices have experienced weakness as average ATF prices declined 8.2 per cent on a QoQ basis in Q1FY26 to Rs 86k/KL vs. Rs 94k/KL in Q4FY25. But now, because of the recent geopolitical crisis, crude oil prices are going up, which can change the dynamics for the airline sector. "On the backdrop of the current geopolitical scenario, crude oil prices have increased approx. 20 per cent since the start of Jun'25 to USD 77/bbl., as on19 Jun'25. This surge in prices may pose a threat to earnings in the seasonally weak Q2 ahead," the report said.
CNET
16 hours ago
- CNET
This Bluetooth Transmitter Lets You Finally Ditch Airline Headphones
If you fly often, you know the drill. You finally settle into your seat, scroll through the in-flight movie selection, and then it hits you: your AirPods won't connect to the seatback screen. That leaves you stuck with the airline's clunky wired headphones that barely work, don't block any noise and make everything sound muffled. It's one of the most frustrating parts of flying, especially on long trips when decent audio can make all the difference. Between the engine noise, crying babies and that one guy snoring in 14C, you need a better option. The good news is there's a simple device that fixes the problem completely and makes flying feel a lot more like streaming at home. If you travel often, you probably already know the struggle: You're settled into your seat, ready to dive into the in-flight entertainment, only to realize your AirPods won't connect to the screen. The airline's wired headphones? Practically useless. They're uncomfortable, have no noise cancellation and let in every engine roar and crying baby within a three-row radius. For long flights, it's a recipe for a frustrating, low-quality listening experience. That's exactly why the AirFly Pro has become a must-pack item in my travel bag. It's a simple Bluetooth dongle that lets you connect your wireless earbuds (like my AirPods Pro) directly to the airplane's entertainment system, no adapters or wired workarounds required. Since I started using it, I've stopped dreading in-flight audio and finally get to enjoy movies the way they were meant to be heard. If you fly often, this little gadget might completely change how you travel. The AirFly Pro lets me truly enjoy in-flight entertainment The AirFly Pro from Twelve South is a minimally designed dongle that lets me connect to the 3.5mm headphone jack on my flight to listen to in-flight entertainment on my noise-canceling earbuds. All I have to do is pair the AirFly Pro with whichever Bluetooth headphones I'm using, like my AirPods Pro, plug the AirFly Pro into the display in front of me -- and I'm all set. I don't even need to use my phone to connect the two devices. Geoffrey Morrison/CNET There are four versions of the AirFly: the AirFly SE, which costs $35 on Amazon and connects to just one set of headphones; the AirFly Pro ($55); the Pro V2 ($60), the newest version of the Pro; and the Pro Deluxe ($62), which comes with an international headphone adapter and a suede travel case. I use the AirFly Pro, and it's been a game-changer for me on flights. I've never had to worry about battery life -- the AirFly Pro lasts for more than 25 hours and can fully charge in 3 hours. I can also pair two separate pairs of headphones to a single AirFly Pro, in case I'm with someone else on a flight and want to watch the same movie or show. And if that's not enough, the AirFly Pro also doubles as an audio transmitter, so I can turn any speaker with a headphone jack, like my old car stereo, into a Bluetooth speaker. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money. Geoffrey Morrison/CNET The AirFly Pro makes a great gift The AirFly Pro is the perfect present to give to someone who's planning to travel this year. Besides my Anker MagSafe battery pack, the AirFly Pro really has become my most treasured travel accessory when I fly, which is why I consider it to be one of those can't-go-wrong gifts. For more travel gear, here are our favorite tech essentials to travel with and our favorite travel pillows.
