The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela has arrived in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Thursday's nonstop flight comes seven years after the U.S. Homeland Security Department suspended flights over safety concerns. Flight AA3599 departed Miami in the morning. It arrived around three hours later in Caracas. The resumption follows the U.S. reopening its embassy in Caracas and restoring full diplomatic relations. U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans in January to open airspace over Venezuela. American Airlines was the last U.S. airline flying to Venezuela before suspending flights in 2019.
In Baltic skies, there's a regular ballet of posturing between pilots from NATO nations and Russia. The military alliance regularly sends up fighter jets to intercept Russian flights that NATO says fail to adhere to international norms and endanger other flyers. The Associated Press spoke to French and Romanian pilots serving on a NATO mission in Lithuania. With spring bringing better weather for flying, they're being kept busy, taking to the skies to identify and watch Russian planes. Alliance members take turns policing Baltic skies around the clock, seven days a week.
Air travelers are facing a new reality of higher fees, fewer flights and tough choices about whether a trip is worth the cost. The culprit is volatile oil and jet fuel prices that have been swinging since the war in the Middle East started and fighting near the Strait of Hormuz disrupted global oil shipments. Airlines around the world are responding by trimming schedules and raising fees and fares. Experts say budget carriers and the customers who rely on them will feel the pinch first, but even business travelers and front-cabin passengers won't escape higher costs. Relief may not come quickly even if oil prices start to drop, experts warn, because airlines can take months to adjust fares while they wait for energy markets to stabilize.
The sight of travelers suffering through long security lines at U.S. airports this week have many people showing up way before their flights. But now some airports where the wait times have been manageable despite the partial government shutdown are telling travelers to stop arriving so early. In Ohio, John Glenn International Airport in Columbus says the early birds are only making things worse. The airport says getting there too early can create longer lines and says it's better to space out arrival times to keep the lines moving smoothly. That's welcome news for some travelers. But many wait times at airport security checkpoints remain unpredictable with long lines.
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JOSH FUNK and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press
Federal investigators say a runway warning system didn't sound an alarm before an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that the system didn't work as intended because the fire truck did not have a transponder. The plane carrying more than 70 people slammed into the fire truck while landing late Sunday night. The two pilots were killed and several passengers were injured. But most were able to escape the mangled aircraft. Investigators don't know yet whether the two people in the fire truck heard the control tower's frantic, last-second warnings to stop before pulling into the plane's path.
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
An Air Canada jet carrying more than 70 passengers collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing two pilots and injuring several others. Officials say the fire truck was crossing the tarmac late Sunday after being given permission to check on another plane reporting an odor onboard. Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop. The crash temporarily shut down LaGuardia — the New York region's third busiest hub — during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says LaGuardia is "well-staffed" but still faces a shortage of air traffic controllers.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there's no imminent threat to the state from Iran. ABC News says the FBI warned California that Iran had aspired to send drones to the West Coast in retaliation for war. The FBI later released text of the alert, which noted that the information was based on "unverified information." The White House now says, "No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists." Newsom says California and various agencies plan for worst-case scenarios. Police in Los Angeles and San Francisco say they are monitoring world events for any risks.
By MATT SEDENSKY and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press
Travelers are scrambling for ways out of the Middle East as the Iran war keeps much of the region's airspace closed and flights grounded. The conflict that started Saturday when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran stranded airline passengers in major Mideast cities as well as in countries far from the threat of airstrikes. With commercial flights tightly restricted across much of the Gulf for a fourth day, many were unsure what to do and appealed to their governments for information and exit strategies. The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that it was "actively securing" military and charter aircraft to fly Americans out of the region.
