Tag: air travel

British Airways Extends Suspension Of Israel Flights As More Houthi Missiles Target Airport

Another ballistic missile fired from Yemen has targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel on Friday, in reportedly the third such attack on Israel within 24 hours.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced the fresh attack in a televised statement, saying “The Houthi forces targeted Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic ballistic missile” and that the attack “successfully achieved its goal.”

While the Houthis have repeatedly claimed “hypersonic” missile attacks over several weeks, there’s as yet no evidence that they possess this advanced technology. Still, it has become clear that Israel’s advanced air defense systems at time have trouble intercepting the inbound projectiles, as a May 4th attack demonstrated.

The Houthis spokesman claimed of this new Friday attack that it caused “millions of Zionist settlers to flee to shelters and halted airport operations.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged an inbound missile, which set off warning sirens in central Israel, but did not indicate any ground strikes or damage:

Early on Friday morning, sirens blared across Tel Aviv as a result of the Yemeni missile. The Israeli army said in a statement that it intercepted the missile. 

A Yemeni missile was also intercepted by Israeli air defenses on Thursday afternoon, following an earlier missile attack, which Tel Aviv also said it intercepted.

The Houthis have been stepping up attacks on Israel in recent weeks, and after a few major waves of Israeli strikes on Yemen, which destroyed the international airport in Sanaa. 

While such Israeli retaliation has clearly caused much damage and death inside Yemen, the constant Houthi fire is also impacting Israel – at least on an economic and logistical level. 

Times of Israel reports Friday on more foreign carriers suspending operations at Israeli airports:

British Airways joins the growing list of companies extending their cancellation of flights to and from Israel following the Houthi missile strike near Ben Gurion Airport at the beginning of the month.

Hebrew media reports that British Airways has extended its suspension until the end of July.

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As crisis grows at U.S. airports, feds are buying replacement parts on eBay or 3D printing them

America’s air traffic control system is blinking red with warning after a midair collision, several harrowing outages, and a staffing shortage. Now Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is adding to the worries by revealing the Federal Aviation Administration is resorting to using eBay and 3D printers to replace parts for antiquated computer systems. 

The secretary told the the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday that the technology holding together American airports is so outdated, the federal government does not have reliable suppliers that can replace vital components.

“We do try to buy replacement parts on eBay for this really old equipment,” Duffy told the senators. “Sometimes, we can’t even buy it on eBay, so we’re trying to use 3D printing to craft replacement parts for the system that we use.”

Duffy first drew attention to this ongoing issue last week in an interview with CBS News. He noted the FAA turned to eBay because “we can’t buy parts for new” for the aging equipment. 

Because of the worrying state of the nation’s airports, Duffy announced earlier this month an ambitious three-year plan to revamp air traffic control systems with a focus on modernizing communications technology, surveillance systems, and digitization. To do this, the administration will seek “upfront appropriations” from Congress to fund the much-needed updates. 

You can read the Transportation Department’s three-year plan below: 

Brand New Air Traffic Control System Plan.pdf

The plan emphasizes fast-paced modernization was necessary because risks increased the longer the U.S. remained reliant on the aging systems, especially at a time when air traffic is increasing and spaceflight is making a comeback. 

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Mile High Marxist Bernie Sanders Proves There Is No Climate Emergency

Give the devil his due: Senator Bernie Sanders never misses an opportunity to remind Americans about our planet’s supposed peril. In a 2023 MSNBC op-ed, he whined: “The climate crisis is not just an environmental issue. It is a matter of justice, of health, of economics, and of national security.” According to Sanders, climate change is a moral and existential threat demanding sweeping government intervention and dramatic changes in personal behavior.

Except, of course, when it comes to how he lives his own life.

Sanders’ recent “Fighting Oligarchy” tour paints a very different picture. While crisscrossing the country decrying the evils of capitalism, Sanders traveled by—you guessed it—private jet. According to a new analysis from Power The Future, the senator’s 16-stop tour spewed an estimated 62.15 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

To put in context, that’s more than the average American produces in five years.

In fact, Sanders’ emissions from just one tour equal the annual emissions from 15 gasoline-powered cars. It’s the carbon equivalent to driving a gas-powered SUV 150,000 miles, or more than 6 times around the Earth at the equator. And this from a man who wants to regulate what kind of stove you use in your kitchen.

When questioned about the blatant hypocrisy, Sanders didn’t offer contrition. He doubled down. “You think I’m gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United… while 30,000 people are waiting?” he snapped at Bret Baier.

This isn’t the first time Sanders’ climate preaching has clashed with his jet-setting lifestyle. During the 2020 Democratic primary, his campaign shelled out over $1.2 million on private jet travel. Then, as now, the justification was the same: it’s okay when Bernie does it because his cause is righteous.

Let’s call this what it is: Mile High Marxism. Sanders flies high above the rest of us, belching carbon into the atmosphere while demanding working families pay more for energy and drive electric vehicles. He insists there’s a climate emergency but behaves like there’s no emergency at all.

The green movement is filled with elites just like Sanders—people who use the language of crisis to amass power while living above the consequences of their policies. They want to ban gas cars, restrict domestic energy production, and ration electricity, but they’ll never give up their jets, SUVs, or lakefront mansions. It’s not about saving the planet. It’s about control.

Consider this: if the planet were truly teetering on the edge of climate catastrophe, would the loudest alarmists be the least willing to change their own behavior? If climate change were the existential threat they claim, wouldn’t they at least attempt to lead by example? Instead, we get moral lectures from the tarmac.

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After Blaming Trump, Pete Buttigieg Implicated in Washington National Air Traffic Control Scandal

As Pete Buttigieg attempts to stand up a 2028 presidential campaign by growing a patchy beard, he might want to consider that his record could be a major liability. 

On Wednesday, it was revealed that a key hotline between the Pentagon and the air traffic control at Washington National Airport has been inoperative since 2022. But what would have been a mundane failure turned deadly in January when a military helicopter collided with a regional airliner, killing 67 people. That phone line would have typically been used by the Department of Defense to report when its aircraft were in the vicinity and what their intentions were.

A hotline connecting air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport and their counterparts at the Pentagon has been “inoperable” since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed Wednesday, further evidence of poor safety coordination between federal agencies responsible for the airspace where a midair collision in January killed 67 people.

The line is maintained by the Defense Department, and the aviation agency was not aware of the outage during the three years it was down, Franklin McIntosh, the FAA’s deputy head of air traffic control, testified at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Aviation officials discovered the hotline wasn’t working after May 1, when controllers at National ordered two passenger jets to abandon landings because an Army helicopter was circling nearby at the Pentagon.

Hotlines between adjoining air traffic control sectors and airport towers are common across the national airspace to help with coordination, and the line to the Pentagon would have served the same purpose. Who was in charge in 2022 when it went offline and then spent the next three years not being repaired? That would be Pete Buttigieg, whose most notable action as transportation secretary was taking a long “paternity leave” without letting the public know he was leaving his job as a cabinet official for several months.

Now, we know why Buttigieg rushed to blame the Trump administration after the January crash. 

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Bernie Sanders Exposes Himself As An Elitist Fraud

Bernie Sanders was called out during a Fox News interview about repeatedly traveling on private jets during a tour he’s called “Fight the Oligarcy,” and his answer exposed him for the completely fraud he is.

As we previously highlighted, Sanders spent (or used taxpayer funds, it isn’t clear yet) more than $220,000 in the first quarter of this year flying to the events on private jets, while complaining about Elon Musk.

When he was challenged on this behaviour by host Brett Bair, Sanders scoffed at the idea that he could possibly fly commercial.

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Biden admin prioritized ‘social engineering’ over air traffic safety, key aviation Republican says

The chairman of the House’s Aviation Safety Caucus is accusing the former Biden administration of helping fuel the current air traffic control (ATC) crisis, by its choice to fund progressive diversity initiatives instead of modernizing the aging system.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that the former administration’s marquee bill, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, was among several “missed opportunities” to fund a revamp of the ATC system.

“That was before I came to Congress, but, you know, you had just mistaken priorities in that, all this DEI policy, DEI staffing, that all got baked into the cake,” Langworthy said. “They could have taken that money and spent it on real modernization of what is critical infrastructure in this country.”

“We had the longest period of incident-free aviation in this country’s history, where we didn’t have a commercial air crash from the time the crash happened in Buffalo, in my district, back in 2009, to just this year, and what happened at [Ronald Reagan Airport]. And it was avoidable,” he said.

It comes after a blackout at Newark Liberty International Airport reportedly caused a roughly 90-second outage to its air traffic control screens.

And earlier this year, a military helicopter collided with a passenger plane coming from Wichita, Kansas, in a deadly incident just off the shores of the nation’s capital.

Langworthy clarified that he does not believe DEI policies “necessarily” directly hit ATC.

“It’s what they spent the money [on]. I mean, you know, there’s infrastructure projects, ones in my backyard, where they want to bury and tunnel over our main artery in the town because it’s going to reunite a community somehow,” he said.

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Socialist Bernie Sanders Doubles Down on Use of Private Jets — Says He Can’t Be Expected to Wait in Line at Airports

Senator Bernie Sanders is making no excuses for his use of private jets.

Lastm onth, it was reported that he had spent over $200,000 on private jets to travel to events during his anti-Trump “FIght Oligarchy” tour.

In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Sanders defended his use of these aircraft, saying he can’t be expected to wait in line at airpots.

Here is a transcript of the exchange:

BAIER: Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), she said you shouldn’t be using oligarch, it’s over people’s head.

You’ve gotten criticized from other people, the Free Beacon says, Bernie Sanders spent 221,000 on private jets fighting the oligarchy tour paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders, that you’ve spent millions of dollars in campaign funds on private jet travel over the years.

How do you push back on both of those things?”

SANDERS: When’s the last time you saw Donald Trump during a campaign mode at National Airport?

BAIER: No, no, no. It doesn’t. But he’s also not fighting the oligarchy.

SANDERS: No. You run a campaign and do you three or four or five rallies in a week, the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people, you think I’m going to be sitting on a waiting line at United waiting while 30,000 people are waiting? T

hat’s the only way you can get around. No apologies for that. That’s what campaign travel is about. We’ve done it in the past, we’re going to do it in the future.

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Real ID Is Not About Keeping You Safe

Today, after nearly two decades of implementation and delays, the federal government’s new identification requirements for traveling by plane domestically or entering federal buildings technically go into effect. This federally-compliant ID card—known as Real ID—can only be attained with specific records and documents laid out by the federal government. It’s labeled by a black or gold star in the upper right corner.

Even though DHS Secretary Kristi Noem promised that, at least initially, people without a Real ID will only have to face some “extra scrutiny” at security checkpoints, it’s safe to assume that, as the full requirement sets in over the next several weeks and months, some number of people will show up to airports unaware that they no longer have the documents required to board their plane. And, because the process of getting through most domestic airports was grueling enough before the deadline, many expect air travel to be especially arduous during the transition.

Because of the absoluteness of this new requirement and the harsh punishments for non-compliance—just picture what would happen to you if you tried to get into a federal building or onto a plane without the accepted forms of ID—it can be easy to write off the Real ID requirement as some new rule that, while annoying, is probably being implemented for a good reason.

It’s not.

As mentioned above, the Real ID Act was passed twenty years ago in 2005. It was one of the many measures rolled out in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that was presented to the public as being necessary to ensure that similar attacks would never happen again.

The original bill specified that the federal government would refuse to accept any form of ID that did not meet the requirements Congress had passed by May of 2008. But as that date drew closer, few states had implemented the new provisions. Some governors had vocally refused to comply because they opposed what was, in effect, the implementation of a national identification database.

That prompted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to delay the deadline several times—first to 2011, then a complicated range of deadlines from 2013 to 2017 based on age and state of residence, and then to one universal deadline in October 2020.

Then the pandemic hit, and the deadline was extended again to 2021, then 2023, and finally to today, May 7, 2025.

If these new ID requirements were as crucial to the safety of air travelers—and the American public at large—as the federal government has claimed, the sheer time it’s taken to implement would be unacceptable. That alone is a sign that, perhaps, the federal government’s motivations are not what they say.

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Federal REAL ID requirement takes effect Wednesday as airport delay worries grow

On Wednesday, Americans will need a REAL ID to board a domestic flight, enter secure federal facilities or access certain military bases, after the deadline has been pushed back multiple times over a 20-year period.

The requirement for REAL IDs comes from legislation passed by Congress in 2005. The legislation was a recommendation from a commission on terrorist attacks created after Sept. 11, 2001, and was intended to make IDs more difficult to fake. The REAL ID Act established minimum security standards for driver’s licenses and other forms of state-issued identification.

REAL IDs have enhanced security features like barcodes, holograms, and other anti-counterfeiting measures, but they also typically require more documentation to obtain than earlier forms of ID.

Most states require an applicant’s date of birth, proof of identity, proof of a Social Security number and two documents showing residency to issue a REAL ID. A valid U.S. passport or birth certificate, a Social Security card or other federally issued documents or tax documents often satisfy the identity and Social Security requirements.

Americans who don’t yet have a REAL ID can use a passport card or passport book, an enhanced driver’s license, a military ID or select other forms of ID to fly domestically. Minors accompanied by adults carrying acceptable forms of ID also aren’t required to have a REAL ID in order to board domestic flights.

REAL IDs aren’t required to enter federally owned or operated museums, obtain federal benefits or for access to health care, law enforcement or constitutionally protected activities.

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It Takes A Lot Of Jet Fuel To Throw A Funeral For A Climate Alarmist Pope

In his final act as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis, in keeping with his deep commitment to the climate and well-cultivated image of personal humility, could have foregone a papal funeral.

To the thousands of world leaders and dignitaries flying to Rome as required by international protocol, Pope Francis could have extended an invitation to stay home. He could have ordered he not lie in state, preventing the Vatican pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands of faithful to pay their respects. He could have even skipped the motorcade through the streets of Rome. All this, as a memorable gesture to maintain a smaller carbon footprint — one last gift to the planet by not contributing to the climate crisis.

He did not.

In the final moments Francis’ mortal body was on this earth, the Holy Father demonstrated ever more clearly that indeed, there is no climate crisis. There are no personal actions he or the world’s elite would ever, ever, take for the climate. It is all theater.

On climate change, Francis died as he lived: another political hypocrite.

Harsh words coming from me, a Catholic, about the Pope, let alone the recently deceased Pope, but Francis’ climate alarmism, nay his downright climate ignorance, are far, far worse. If Francis’ climate beliefs were ever to become policy prescriptions, most of the world would die, starting with the poor, elderly, and infirm. We can only thank God the Pope no longer has an army.

Francis visited 68 countries during his reign. The jet fuel and the tanks of gas came from somewhere. So too the altars erected in parks and fields so the enormous crowds could gather to his side. For example, at World Youth Day in Manila, the largest ever Mass in history saw 6 million in attendance. Quite a petrochemical-heavy event. Media praised Francis, who braved the pouring rain, driving the gas-powered Popemobile around the grounds wearing a waterproof, plastic poncho.

Thank you, fossil fuels, for making it possible for the Bishop of Rome to be in the Philippines. Thank you, fossil fuel workers, laboring in difficult, even dangerous jobs, for providing him with these resources.

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