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☆ Republican senators want Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott to stop their 'petty bickering': 'Can't we all just get along?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott are feuding over the Florida Republican's "12 point plan" yet again. "I don't think we need petty bickering within the Republican conference," said Sen. Cruz of Texas. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images"They're good at that," observed Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, referring to Biden's use of the plan. mused Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on Twitter over the weekend. "If you want to go out and say that you want to change Social Security and Medicare, go right ahead," said Hawley.

☆ Biden telecom board nominee says industry out to block her from position
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Gigi Sohn, who was nominated in October 2021, will have her third hearing for the job before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. Her written remarks said she will seek to answer the question, "Why am I still President Biden’s nominee for the 5th seat on the FCC?" In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the open internet net neutrality rules. Republicans have questioned Sohn's role as a board member of a nonprofit that operated a transmission service called Locast. "The work of the Commission - from net neutrality to closing the digital divide - is too important for this nomination to be delayed any further," said Senator Ed Markey.

☆ Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott on his relationship with Mitch McConnell after a failed challenge to lead Senate Republicans: 'Well, he just kicked me off a committee. So that was pretty petty.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Rick Scott said it was "petty" of Sen. Mitch McConnell to take him off the Commerce Committee. McConnell in a separate Fox News interview denied retaliation and said he had "no animus toward Rick Scott at all." And I gave it to two other senators, no particular reprisal in mind, no animus toward Rick Scott at all," he added. "That was the Scott plan. That was the Rick Scott plan.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) on Thursday faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers, with one lawmaker calling the situation an "unmitigated disaster." While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen called it an "unmitigated disaster" that had a "devastating impact on families." Watterson said it has received about 284,000 cases from passengers impacted by meltdown and reimbursed more than 273,000 -- leaving 10,782. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up."

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing on Thursday investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers. The airline and its pilot union offered sharply contrasting reasons for the low-cost carrier's massive travel disruptions. While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up." The meltdown caused the cancellation of almost 17,000 flights and is estimated to have cost the airline more than $1 billion.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) faced harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a hearing on Thursday investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2 million customers. Senator Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, called the cancellation of more than 16,000 flights "an epic screwup." While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Cantwell said Southwest Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the hearing, "didn't want to show up." Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), said that the union has been sounding the alarm about the carrier's crew scheduling technology and "outdated" operational processes for years.

☆ Live updates: Southwest Airlines executive testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Chris Isidore | Aditi Sangal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Fixes to the Southwest Airlines' crew scheduling system that failed spectacularly during the service meltdown in December will be live "tomorrow," said Andrew Watterson, Southwest's chief operating officer, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday. "With regard to this event, our crew scheduling system had a particular fault," Watterson said. "Tomorrow, the fix will go in, it will be live on our production system. But Watterson cautioned the scheduling system was not the only thing that failed and caused the problems. "We believe our winter operations resiliency was the root cause, and that will take longer to address," he said.

☆ Southwest faces Senate hearing over holiday travel chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Passengers check in for a Southwest Airlines Co. flight inside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on August 10, 2022. Southwest Airlines ' chief operations officer is scheduled to face questions from a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier's December meltdown that stranded thousands of passengers over the holidays. Andrew Watterson plans to apologize for the travel chaos before the Senate Commerce Committee. The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Casey Murray, will tell the panel that the carrier ignored warning signs about its operation, according to written testimony reviewed by CNBC. Core values were forgotten," Casey Murray said in written testimony ahead of Thursday's hearing.

☆ Southwest explains its meltdown to Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —Congress is set to receive new evidence Thursday of internal chaos at Southwest Airlines over the Christmas holiday meltdown. The Senate Commerce committee is set to question Southwest executive Andrew Watterson, alongside Southwest pilot union president Casey Murray, Sharon Pinkerton of the Airlines for America trade group, Paul Hudson of Flyers’ Rights, and economist Clifford Winston of The Brookings Institution. It’s a mess down here.”A photograph of the message, which shows the extent of the airline’s breakdown, is included in testimony the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union, SWAPA, plans to present at the hearing. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized and the airline offered reimbursements for passengers’ costs, along with bonus points. The union criticized the airline for giving executives stock options in the wake of the meltdown while employees lost profit sharing pay because of the airline’s financial hit due to the meltdown.

☆ Southwest plans to tell Senate it's confident in its schedule after holiday meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Southwest Airlines plans to apologize before a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier's December meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers around Christmas. "In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operational resilience," Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said in written testimony, which was reviewed by CNBC, ahead of Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The debacle made for an $800 million pretax hit and drove the carrier to a net loss last quarter. Watterson plans to tell the committee that the carrier has made short-term improvements to communicate more easily with crews when things go wrong and has improved tools that keep track of the operation's stability. With those mitigation tools, "we are confident in our flight network and the schedules we have published for sale," Watterson plans to say, according to the testimony.

☆ Southwest pilots detail the Christmas meltdown chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Congress is set to receive new evidence Thursday of internal chaos at Southwest Airlines over the Christmas holiday meltdown. It’s a mess down here.”A photograph of the message, which shows the extent of the airline’s breakdown, is included in testimony the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union, SWAPA, plans to present at a Senate Commerce committee hearing. “No updates here,” another cockpit computer message to pilots read. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized and the airline offered reimbursements for passengers’ costs, along with bonus points. The union criticized the airline for giving executives stock options in the wake of the meltdown while employees lost profit sharing pay because of the airline’s financial hit due to the meltdown.

☆ Southwest CEO Jordan finds himself in eye of storm after airline's holiday debacle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rajesh Kumar Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CHICAGO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines Co's (LUV.N) CEO, faces the biggest challenge yet in his 35-year career at the airline that has built a customer-friendly reputation. Southwest's struggles reached a notable low on Jan. 28 when comedy sketch TV show "Saturday Night Live" lampooned the Dallas-based airline's technology and service. The carrier will now answer to U.S. Congress on Thursday when Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee. In October, Jordan, who started his career at Southwest in 1988 as a computer programmer, put Watterson in charge of the airline's operations. Last week, Jordan also named a chief information officer who will help manage the airline's technology investments, upgrades and system maintenance.

☆ U.S. Senate panel sets new hearing for Biden telecom nominee
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Pete Marovich/Pool via REUTERSWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday set a third confirmation hearing for the Biden administration’s nominee to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission that has been vacant for more than two years. President Joe Biden last month renominated Gigi Sohn, a former FCC senior official under President Barack Obama, to serve as a commissioner. Biden first nominated Sohn in October 2021 but she was not confirmed despite hearings in 2021 and 2022. The Senate Commerce Committee said Tuesday she would appear at a hearing on Feb. 14. In July 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules.

☆ Southwest to testify at U.S. Senate hearing after meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson will testify on Feb. 9 before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee after a holiday meltdown forced the budget carrier to cancel thousands of flights. The hearing titled "Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections" will also include Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Captain Casey Murray, Sharon Pinkerton, a senior official with Airlines for America, an industry group, and Paul Hudson, who heads Flyers' Rights, a passenger advocacy organization. The hearing will review causes and impacts of recent air travel disruptions including the Southwest December holiday operational woes that resulted in more than 16,000 flight cancellations. Southwest Chief Executive Bob Jordan has repeatedly apologized for the mass cancellations and said the carrier is looking at all options to prevent a repeat. The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) is investigating whether Southwest engaged in "unrealistic scheduling of flights" in December.

☆ Southwest faces Senate hearing next week following holiday meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

John and Lori Ingoldsby, who drove to Denver after the first leg of their flight on Southwest Airlines was canceled, wait for a flight to finish their trip at Denver International Airport on December 28, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. Southwest Airlines ' chief operating officer, Andrew Watterson, will face questions from a Senate panel next Thursday about the carrier's holiday meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers. Southwest said the hearing date overlapped with "a previous commitment" for CEO Bob Jordan. The incident has drawn increased scrutiny from Washington and capped a year of on-and-off disruptions in air travel, due to bad weather, staffing and technology issues. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee chair, had previously said she planned to hold a hearing on flight disruptions following Southwest's holiday travel chaos.

☆ U.S. House committee to hold aviation safety hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - A Federal Aviation Administration safety official, National Transportation Safety Board chair and head of the largest pilots union are among those who will testify on Feb. 7 before Congress. Associate FAA Administrator for Aviation Safety David Boulter, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, Air Line Pilots Association President Jason Ambrosi, National Business Aviation Association CEO Ed Bolen and General Aviation Manufacturers Association CEO Pete Bunce are among the witnesses, the committee said Wednesday. Billy Nolen, the head of aviation safety, has been acting FAA administrator since April 1 when Steve Dickson left halfway through his five-year term. The Senate Commerce Committee has yet to schedule a hearing on President Joe Biden's FAA nominee who has drawn fire from Republicans. Last month, the FAA named two dozen experts to review Boeing’s safety management processes and safety culture.

☆ House Republican opposes Biden pick to run FAA
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Republicans have said Biden's nominee Phil Washington needs a waiver because he does not qualify as a civilian under the law. You can only run on autopilot so long before you run out of gas, you wake up and your over Utah," said Representative Sam Graves, a Republican who heads the committee overseeing the FAA. Graves said the FAA needs to fill key leadership positions and said Washington does not have enough aviation experience to serve as FAA administrator. Before being named to run the Denver Airport in 2021 did not have any significant aviation experience, Republicans complain. Congress plans to take up the issue and whether the FAA needs more money to modernize various computer systems this year.

☆ U.S. FAA says 'unintentionally deleted files' prompted computer outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday a preliminary review found that contract personnel "unintentionally deleted files" disrupting a key computer system and prompting a nationwide groundstop on Jan. 11 that disrupted more than 11,000 flights. The FAA said the issue occurred while personnel were working "to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database." The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews and other users of U.S. airspace with critical safety notices. The system outage occurred on Jan. 10, but the FAA groundstop was not issued until the following morning. Last week, a group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the FAA that the computer outage was "completely unacceptable" and demanded the agency explain how it will avoid future incidents.

☆ U.S. lawmakers call FAA outage 'unacceptable,' demand a fix
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) its computer outage on Wednesday that disrupted 11,000 flights was "completely unacceptable" and demanded the agency explain how it will avoid future incidents. On Thursday, the FAA said its preliminary analysis showed the computer outage was caused by a procedural error related to a corrupted data file. The Senate committee email also said it appears the groundstop actually lasted from 7:21 a.m. Buttigieg tweeted at approximately 8:50am that the groundstop had been lifted, was the NOTAM system full operational at that point?" The Senate email asked "what additional resources does FAA need to expeditiously update the NOTAM system?"

☆ Delta CEO urges Washington to increase FAA funding after 'unacceptable' outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian called on Washington to increase funding for the Federal Aviation Administration after an outage of a pilot-alert system that grounded thousands of flights across the U.S. this week. "Over the past 36 hours, the FAA has been conducting a preliminary analysis into the NOTAM system interruption," the FAA said late Thursday. In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday, Delta's Bastian called the incident "unacceptable." "I don't recall us ever shutting down the national air space due to a similar type of technology outage for several hours." The flight delays and cancellations were the second major air travel disruption in less than a month after bad weather derailed holiday travel late last year.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airline operations returned to normal on Thursday even as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to investigate pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. "FAA operations are back to normal, and we are seeing no unusual delays or cancellations this morning," the FAA said in a tweet. More than 11,300 flights were delayed or canceled on Wednesday in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. As of noon Thursday, 1,400 U.S. flights were delayed and 117 were canceled, according to FlightAware, a typical aviation day given current weather issues. Major carriers Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) all were reporting normal operations on Thursday.

[1/2] Passengers wait for the resumption of flights at O’Hare International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures due to a system outage, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Jim VondruskaWASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airlines said they expect operations to return to normal on Thursday as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambles to pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. More than 11,300 U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. Major carriers such as Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) said they expected normal operations on Thursday. "The health of that agency and its ability to deliver on its mission really is important," he said in an interview.

Passengers stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago greeted the latest air travel disruption with a collective shrug. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system. "We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure to ensure our systems are able to meet demand safely and efficiently," he said. "An FAA system outage is causing ground stops at AUS and other airports across the country," the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said in a tweet. Air France said all of its U.S.-bound flights were operating as planned and were not affected by the FAA computer outage.

☆ U.S. Congress to investigate FAA computer outage that snarled flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The public needs a resilient air transportation system." House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves, a Republican, said the ground stop "highlights a huge vulnerability in our air transportation system." The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year’s FAA reauthorization legislation." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said "the FAA needs to get to root causes so this doesn’t happen again." The FAA authorization is due to expire on Sept. 30 and the outage may put pressure on Congress to complete action.

FAA officials said a preliminary review traced the outage to a damaged database file, but added there was no evidence of a cyberattack and the investigation was continuing. FAA officials said they were working to "further pinpoint the causes" so the problem can be avoided in the future. One issue airlines are facing is trying to get planes in and out of crowded gates, which is causing further delays. He described confusion as airline employees and many passengers were initially unaware of the FAA's moves and flight delays. The U.S. Travel Association, which represents the travel industry including airlines, called the FAA system failure "catastrophic."

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