Flights

In less than four hours, JetBlue Airways sold out all four special "Carmageddon" flights between Burbank and Long Beach on Saturday. The marketing ploy was posted on JetBlue's website at 12:30 p.m. PDT, and by 4 p.m., the airline announced that the sale was over. "Our special Saturday flights between LGB and BUR are sold out!" the company posted on Twitter. JetBlue offered the 20-minute flights, two each way, to coincide with the closure of the 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass this weekend.

Gretchen Hoffman When customers tell Laurene Miller they want to be a flight attendant for Halloween, Miller doesn't think twice before launching into a barrage of questions: "Dead or alive? Domestic or foreign? Hugh Hefner's airline or a normal one?" "I try to get them to verbalize what's on their mind," said Miller, owner of Armies of the World. "Halloween should be lots of fun. We want them to walk out of here and take the prize." For Miller, that means thinking out of the box. Whether a customer walks in with some of his or her own clothing and a detailed vision of the ideal costume or needs an idea, she's ready to help.

AIRPORT DISTRICT — Proposed cutbacks for Southwest Airlines — Bob Hope Airport’s largest carrier — are due to take effect May 10, but the impact on the airport could be offset by its burgeoning revenue, airport officials said. Southwest Airlines, which accounts for up to 65% of departing and arriving flights, will cut four flights a day from its Burbank schedule, citing the country’s economic woes, Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Rodgers said. One daily round-trip flight from Phoenix, another from Sacramento and two from Oakland will be canceled, she said.

Ben Godar The Burbank City Council plans to send letters to two airline carriers asking them to stop offering Sunday morning flights before the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport's voluntary 7 a.m. curfew, and is hoping Glendale will do the same. United Airlines currently offers a 6:40 a.m. flight to San Francisco, and American Airlines offers a 6:49 a.m. flight to Dallas. City staff has drafted letters to both carriers asking them to end the early flights and, pending approval at tonight's council meeting, will send them, City Atty.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale) urged the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday to begin the process of prohibiting all aircraft flights over the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1 and all major events at the Rose Bowl. Schiff said the prohibition of flights would be a smart precautionary measure after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The ban would cover the Rose Parade, which attracts about 300,000 spectators near the beginning of the parade route each year, and the Rose Bowl, which has a capacity of 94,000.

Airplanes at Bob Hope Airport were grounded Tuesday evening because of a reported power outage or communication breakdown at the Federal Aviation Administration's Los Angeles Center air- traffic control facility in Palmdale, airport officials said. Airplanes arriving when the stoppage was enacted shortly after 5 p.m. were allowed to land, but departing flights were put on hold, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. The grounding was still in effect as of late Tuesday.

Southwest Airlines celebrated 20 years at Bob Hope Airport on Thursday with games and prizes for employees, and live entertainment for passengers aboard some flights by characters from Le Reve, a Las Vegas act. Southwest, the main carrier at Bob Hope Airport, has had reduced passenger counts for much of the prolonged recession, as have nearly all other airlines that use the airport. Employees for the airline also marked the anniversary by volunteering at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Paul Clinton BURBANK -- Four months of internal strife has not taken a toll only on United Airlines. Burbank Airport travelers have shared in some of the misery. Between two to four of the company's 15 flights per day were canceled during the past week, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. United also saw day-to-day delays of more than 40 minutes on many flights, Gill said. "It is having an impact, but not any kind of paralyzing impact," Gill said.

"Flights will violate curfew" (May 5) describing United Airlines making life noisier for Burbank residents until June 8 also describes the increasingly noisy airspace above Glendale's western edge, including the Rancho. A daily 5:30 p.m. Fed Ex flight overhead drowns out conversation during its easterly takeoff. Helicopter flights over the Rancho area have increased so much in the past four years that, without exaggerating, it's like living right next to Van Nuys Airport.

Airport says it?s not badly affected Two of Bob Hope Airport?s 17 scheduled Southwest Airlines flights to Oakland were canceled Wednesday, after a review of the airline?s maintenance records prompted 38 of its Boeing 737s nationwide to stay on the ground, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. Southwest grounded the crafts to determine whether required testing had been done, Southwest said. The move comes a week after the airline was fined $10.2 million by the Federal Aviation Administration for continuing to fly planes after the carrier had reportedly discovered it had failed to perform required inspections.

One of Glendale's most historic buildings - a place from which Charles Lindbergh flew the first Los Angeles-to-New York flight and where P-38 Lighting pilots trained for World War II dog fights - is being restored by the Walt Disney Co. The Grand Central Air Terminal, located on Disney's Grand Central Creative Campus off of Flower Street, will be given a total makeover to restore its appearance from the 1929-1959 period while also serving as...

From the ads and trailers, you might think that “Flight” is some sort of legal thriller, with Denzel Washington's character being unfairly accused or even framed; and you'd be about 10% right. In fact, “Flight” is primarily a moral character drama of the subspecies “addiction.” Its greatest suspense centers on how low the hero's self-sabotage will take him. Washington plays Whip Whitaker, an experienced airline pilot who for many years has managed to hide his alcoholism from his corporate overlords.

The latest draft of a federal appropriations bill “will catalyze” the U.S. Forest Service to issue its findings on whether to lift a ban on nighttime water-dropping flights to combat wildfires, according to a recent announcement by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank). Schiff, whose district includes large swaths of land scorched by the 2009 Station fire that critics say could have been more quickly contained with nighttime air attacks, has been taking the Forest Service to task for its prolonged review of the ban. Contending the agency has consistently missed internal deadlines to deliver its findings, Schiff said in a statement that he secured language last week in the latest markup of the Department of the Interior appropriations bill that calls on the Forest Service to complete the night-flying operation studies within 90 days of the spending plan being approved.

The latest draft of a federal appropriations bill “will catalyze” the U.S. Forest Service to issue its findings on whether to lift a ban on nighttime water-dropping flights to combat wildfires, according to an announcement issued today by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank). Schiff, whose district includes large swaths of land scorched by the 2009 Station fire that critics say could have been more quickly contained with nighttime air attacks, has been taking the Forest Service to task for its prolonged review of the ban. Contending  the agency has consistently missed internal deadlines to deliver its findings, Schiff said in the statement that he secured language Thursday in the latest markup of the Department of the Interior appropriations bill that calls on the Forest Service to complete the night-flying operation studies within 90 days of the spending plan being approved.

A business dispute between two aviation companies at Van Nuys Airport is threatening emergency helicopter flights for injured and severely ill children from around Southern California to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The disagreement could result in flight delays or even cancellations, according to executives at Helinet Aviation, which owns and operates 15 helicopters at the airport. Flights carrying donated organs for transplantation could also be affected, Helinet executives said.

BURBANK - The captain of a US Airways Airbus jet ordered his craft evacuated Sunday morning, stopping the plane during takeoff due to an engine malfunction, airline officials said. The Phoenix-bound craft had 67 passengers and five crew members aboard, said US Airways spokesman Bill McGlashen. The emergency call came in about 7 a.m., as the plane began taxing down the runway. “During the early part of the takeoff, the captain had an engine indicator light,” said McGlashen.

Here we go again. A less-than-transparent airport paid for a “secret survey” about replacing the existing terminal (“ Poll findings boost terminal proponents ,” March 18). They seemed to have left out “expansion” in the questioning of residents. For decades we've heard the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority drum beat for a new “safe” terminal, yet during this period, the Federal Aviation Administration has allowed millions of passengers to fly in and out of Bob Hope Airport in spite of a so-called “unsafe” terminal location.

A Burbank woman who just had to paint her nails on a Southwest flight to Houston was reportedly arrested after getting in an argument with a flight attendant. The woman, Jeanie Daniels, was detained for 10 hours upon arriving at Hobby Airport Feb. 26 before a judge dismissed the suggested charge of using "abusive profane language," according to a CBS Los Angeles report . Daniels, en route to visit her boyfriend, was painting her nails in her seat when a flight attendant asked her to stop.

La Crescenta resident Christina Padilla, 19, often dreamed of a major platform for her artwork, but her audience was largely confined to family members, teachers and classmates. Now, a piece by the 2011 Crescenta Valley High School graduate, installed on the facade of the Bob Hope Airport on Dec. 1., is being viewed by hundreds of thousands of travelers coming through the Burbank transportation hub during the holiday season. “It still doesn't feel real,” Padilla said Monday.

The number of passengers using the Bob Hope Airport in September remained flat compared to a year ago, stemming at least temporarily a downward spiral in traffic at the airfield for 2011, officials reported. American Airlines and United are also canceling some flights because of corporate restructuring and rising costs, which could impact local passenger numbers in the future, airfield officials said. The airport handled 360,321 passengers in September, compared to 360,538 the same period last year, according to the latest figures released to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday.