shrinking schedules
Since September 11, 2001, some 21 U.S. airports lost all scheduled service, according to a new report, and many large airports' flight schedules were reduced nearly twice as much as the drop in passenger demand. The study by Reconnecting America, a group promoting intermodal transportation, said large airports with the biggest drops in weekly flights were Boston (down 23 percent); Los Angeles, Washington Dulles and Newark (each down 20 percent); and Miami (down 19 percent). It was even worse for some smaller airports: Flight schedules were slashed by 36 percent at Myrtle Beach, S.C.; 31 percent at Eugene, Ore. and 30 percent at West Palm Beach, Fla.

rising regionals
Meanwhile, regional airlines are adding small jet service at a recordpace, according to the Regional Air Service Initiative. The group said the number of U.S. airports with regional jet service grew from 197 in 2001 to 223 in 2002, and that carriers initiated new regional jet service in 183 city pairs last year-nearly half of them first-time non-stop service. Only 17 percent of new regional jet services were replacements of turboprop flights, the group said. Most new RJ routes were hub-based, but many were new point-to-point services bypassing hubs, like Tallahassee-Tampa and Boise-Phoenix. The longest new RJ route: Newark-Oklahoma City, at 1,325 miles.

accident or not?
Courts in the U.K. and Australia have issued conflicting opinions on whether the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots in the veins of long-haul airline passengers legally constitutes an "accident," for which the airlines could be held liable under terms of the Warsaw Convention. The British court threw out a case filed against 27 airlines by 55 victims of deep vein thrombosis, the so-called "economy class syndrome." But an Australian court allowed a similar case against Qantas to go ahead, ruling that such incidents do meet the definition of an "accident."

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