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News Roundup
This is a roundup of news and other interesting pieces that I’ve come across over the last few days. Flying is 30% more expensive than 2019, Malta welcomes visitors, LAX Centurion Lounge reopens, gushing water mid-flight, new double decker planes, and Fed hikes interest rate by 0.75 percentage point.
Airline bookings slip in May, prices 30% higher than 2019
U.S. airline bookings slipped 2.3% in May from a month earlier, the second consecutive monthly drop this year, while fares soared over 2019 levels, according to an Adobe report published Tuesday. Consumers spent $8.3 billion on domestic tickets last month, up 6.2% from April.
United Airlines on Monday said that searches for international trips rose 7% in the 72 hours since the White House announced it would scrap the international testing requirements, noting the “majority of searches by U.S. travelers were for near-term travel this summer to destinations in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.”
Malta Reopens for Summer
The Maltese islands will be reopening for summer 2022 restriction-free, with all of the COVID-19 rules that have been in place since 2021 being relaxed or completely removed. Malta’s current COVID-19 numbers are at less than one percent of what they were during the peak of the pandemic. Over 90 percent of Maltese island residents have been fully vaccinated, with nearly 80 percent of them have also received a booster, making Malta one of the safest summer destinations in Europe.
Amex is finally reopening the Centurion Lounge in Los Angeles
The Amex-branded lounge in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will reopen at 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday, June 15, according to an Amex spokesperson.
When it reopens, the Centurion Lounge will welcome flyers between 6 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. each day. “We aim to expand these hours over the next couple of months,” according to an Amex statement shared with TPG.
Passengers aboard British Airways flight to DC panic as water gushes from ceiling
Frantic passengers aboard a British Airways flight from London to Washington, DC, may have been wondering whether to grab their life jackets — after water cascaded into the cabin of the giant plane from the ceiling.
The chaotic scene aboard Flight BA292, a double-decker Airbus A380 flying at 30,000 feet, on Friday was captured in video posted by the Sun.
“No f—- way!” one flight attendant exclaims as the waterfall drenches the cabin shortly before the flight landed in DC.
New double decker airplane seat?
Alejandro Núñez Vicente’s Chaise Longue Airplane Seat concept started small scale last year, as a college project for the then 21-year-old. A nomination in the 2021 Crystal Cabin Awards — a top prize in the aviation industry — swiftly followed, and the design became the focus of a flurry of online attention following a CNN Travel article.
Since then, Núñez Vicente’s been making waves in the world of aviation. He’s paused his master’s degree to pursue the project full time. He’s in talks with big-name airlines and seat manufacturing companies. He’s been granted some hefty investment that’s allowed the project to develop.
Fed hikes interest rate by 0.75 percentage point, biggest increase since 1994
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday launched its biggest broadside yet against inflation, raising benchmark interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point in a move that equates to the most aggressive hike since 1994. Ending weeks of speculation, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee took the level of its benchmark funds rate to a range of 1.5%-1.75%, the highest since just before the Covid pandemic began in March 2020.
The Fed’s benchmark rate will end the year at 3.4%, according to the midpoint of the target range of individual members’ expectations. That compares with an upward revision of 1.5 percentage points from the March estimate. The committee then sees the rate rising to 3.8% in 2023, a full percentage point higher than what was expected in March.
