Airlines are going out of business as fast as a Boeing 737 burns jet fuel. What gives? Here’s a quick recap of the body count. Between March 31 and April 4, three air carriers went belly-up: 60-year-old Honolulu-based Aloha Airlines, 35-year-old Indianapolis-based ATA, and Columbus-based Skybus Airlines which just began service last May. Then on April 10, 14-year-old Denver-based Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy but said it would continue normal operations. And Minnesota-based charter airline Champion Air has said it will stop flying by May 31.

Each company cites a different cause for its predicament. Aloha had just declared bankruptcy a second time in March, two years after emerging from its first bout with Chapter 11. Airline CEO David Banmiller said that rising fuel costs and intense competition for Hawaii vacationers had proved too insurmountable an obstacle. Meanwhile, ATA lost “a key contract for [its] military charter business,” according to an article posted at CNNMoney.com. Low-cost carrier Skybus blames high fuel prices and a weakened US economy. Frontier Airlines is pointing the finger at credit card processor First Data, a company that is holding back the proceeds of ticket sales and creating a cash flow problem.

The common thread in these stories — bankruptcy — is of course not so remarkable for a US-based airline. Filing for bankruptcy has proved a powerful weapon for keeping labor unions from claiming any part of the enormous retirement packages that so many CEOs have walked away with at the end of their airline careers. Rather, what is noteworthy is the cause for the current spate of Chapter 11 filings. These airlines lack the deep-pocketed cash reserves that a Northwest or a Southwest has managed to hoard.

Will low-cost carrier Frontier survive bankruptcy, as many larger, so-called legacy airlines have? We’ll see.

Visualize an art gallery that was almost a big as three football fields. Or imagine one hundred and fifty or so galleries all rolled into one. Wouldn’t that be a form of paradise for an art enthusiast? Well, that’s exactly what MiArt was like. Indeed, it was just the place for people who find themselves perpetually pushed for time, and for whom visiting each art gallery individually would prove utterly unfeasible.

MiArt is Milan’s annual international exhibition dedicated to modern and contemporary art. If you are a modern and contemporary art lover, then the opportunity to see so much in one place translates MiArt into an event that is not to be missed.

For those of you who may be a little unsure as to exactly what the difference between modern and contemporary art is, modern art is the term given to works produced between the late 19th century and around the start of the 1970’s. Contemporary art, on the other hand, is generally considered to be any work produced from the late 1970’s to the present. Admittedly, it is at times a little difficult to decide whether to label items as being modern or contemporary art, as there is some overlap of the periods to which the definitions refer.

Reflecting burgeoning growth in demand for modern and contemporary art of recent years, the MiArt exhibition is now in its thirteenth year. The extent, variety, and richness of the works on view makes a visit an enthralling way to while away an afternoon. Even those who have never found these genres of art particularly interesting, may well come back from the exhibition a convert. Continue Reading…

British Airways CEO Willie Walsh might be wishing it were all an April Fool’s joke. Bloomberg News reports that BA — largest occupant of London Heathrow and sole user of Heathrow’s newly-opened Terminal 5 — is still managing the meltdown of T5’s brand-new baggage handling system. Unable to deliver the world — or rather, the luggage — on time, BA is using Memphis, Tennessee-based Federal Express to reunite passengers with about 20,000 bags. FedEx is moving about 800 bags per day at Heathrow.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Already saddled with the notoriety of being Europe’s worst carrier for lost luggage, BA was going to turn around its reputation. But if anything, the airline’s biz cred has deteriorated. Since T5 opened on March 27, malfunctions in its computerized baggage system have caused more than 300 flight cancellations, and travelers say they will defect to BA’s two biggest competitors at Heathrow — BMI and Virgin.

So… what happened? Opinions are hitting the radio airwaves. American Public Media’s “Marketplace” reports that Everet Meyer of Jacobs Consultancy blames the glitches on inadequate training of workers and, possibly, industrial sabotage too. And John Hansman, director of MIT’s International Center for Air Transportation, says T5’s barcode scanning technology is outdated.

One thing’s certain: BA’s woes are far from over, and could add up to European Union fines of US$10,000 per stranded passenger, according to Larry Miller’s report on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”

Imagine an international travel itinerary NOT routed through major cities. Flying out of Baltimore, instead of Los Angeles. Landing in Liverpool, instead of London. (This exists to some extent already, notes my friend and Volette publisher Joe Tangredi. He’s flown Icelandair from Baltimore Washington International Airport to Reykjavik — which flight has now, apparently, vanished from the carrier’s route map. And Virgin Atlantic now flies direct to Manchester from Las Vegas. But these are the exceptions that prove the rule.)

According to Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the Irish airline Ryanair, the base fare for such an itinerary could be as low as €10. At $1.59 to the euro, that would be $15.90. For a transatlantic flight. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But O’Leary says he plans to start a new airline that will offer just that. Why? … Open Skies. On March 30, the US-European Union “Open Skies” treaty goes into effect, lifting restrictions on transatlantic flights between any two airports in the US and the EU. EU-based carriers such as Ryanair will no longer need to take off or land in their native countries; they can build brand-new routes around any EU city. In yesterday’s Travel section of the New York Times, cheapflights.com travel blogger Jerry Chandler was quoted as saying that “open skies” could foster new, vibrant travel routes in markets that currently don’t exist. With “open skies,” European carriers may compete more aggressively with each other on the Continent. And according to an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal, Heathrow is the Holy Grail for US carriers, because of its access to far-flung geographic regions such as Africa. Between now and June, several airlines — American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and United — will offer direct flights from Dallas, Denver, Raleigh, or Seattle to Heathrow, and potentially — via Heathrow — additional flights to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Record-high fuel prices may severely limit airlines’ ability to lower fares significantly; however, “open skies” may yet prove a boon for segments of the market. For long-haul travelers, these new routes are especially promising. Passengers flying over several continents will save on a priceless commodity: time. Less-restricted travel routes translate into less time going in and out of security checks, and fewer connecting flights along the way. That’s a potential savings of several hours.