Aviation Report

Sea-Tac Airport, it’s not just for travelers anymore. On Friday, the Port of Seattle launched a program allowing visitors past security, even if they aren’t booked on a flight, to greet loved ones at their gate or to see them off. The visitors — up to 50 each day — can also dine at one of the airport’s restaurants or shop in the so-called air-side area of its terminal. The “SEA Visitor Pass” program  allows those without tickets to reach the domestic-travel gates provided they meet Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirements, according to the Port of Seattle. Sea-Tac is one of the first airports in the nation to reintroduce the practice since it was suspended in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.  The program gives visitors access to passenger-only areas that lie beyond the security checkpoints run by the federal government. “For me it is nostalgic,” Lance Lyttle, managing director at Sea-Tac,   said by phone. “As a child I used to go to the airport and watch lo

OCTOBER 11TH marks a new milestone in international aviation. Or rather, the return of an old one. Singapore Airlines has relaunched the world’s longest commercial-airline route, a flight between Singapore and Newark International Airport, which is just outside New York. The 10,400-mile flight will take about 18 hours and 45 minutes, eclipsing by nearly an hour the current longest flight, between Auckland and Doha on Qatar Airways. Singapore ran flights to and from Newark until 2013, when it scrapped the route amid rising oil prices that cut into profitability. These days, oil prices are nearly as high as they were then, and yet ultra-long-haul flights seem to be making a comeback. The Auckland-Doha route kicked off last year. In March, Qantas launched a non-stop service between Britain and Australia, currently the world’s second-longest route at 17 hours. In November, Singapore Airlines plans to begin a non-stop flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, with the Singapore-bound flight

TWO decades ago, David Neeleman founded JetBlue Airways, promising to “bring humanity back to air travel.” It has since grown to become one of America’s largest airlines. But stories of poor service and a lack of humanity still abound in the country’s aviation industry. And so it appears that Mr Neeleman is back and preparing to launch a new airline. Airline Weekly, a magazine, reports that Mr Neeleman, with $100m in financial backing, plans to create a new carrier called Moxy. The airline will aim to fill a niche in the American market by offering low-cost direct services between smaller airports, while providing more comfort and perks than the country’s no-frills budget airlines. In some ways, it is an ideal time to enter the market. As Airline Weekly points out, every major  American airline is currently profitable. The industry has not lost money in more than a decade. The Moxy team noted in a presentation seen by Airline Weekly that the American economy grew by more than a