Philadelphia International Airport

City officials have selected a joint venture of three companies to manage the planning and construction of the multi-billion-dollar expansion of Philadelphia International Airport. CH2M HILL, a Denver-based engineering and construction firm, will be the lead company, and will work with minority-owned companies Delon Hampton & Associates of Washington D.C. and CMTS Inc. of Dallas. The city has agreed to pay the team $25 million for the first four-year term of the project. The project-management team will oversee the complex financial, engineering, design and scheduling elements in preparing for the expansion of the city-owned airport, airport chief executive officer Mark Gale said Thursday.

Three US Airways employees at Philadelphia International Airport have been fired, and a number of others disciplined, for selling their employer-issued "buddy" passes for a profit on flights between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv, Israel. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia are investigating, US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said. The three employees fired were a US Airways manager, a fleet service agent, and a customer service agent, Lehmacher said. "Several employees were involved in a fraudulent ticket scheme that involved using employee travel benefits to and from Tel Aviv," he said.

AWAITING THEIR FLIGHT, attendants prepare for a Midway Airlines run from Philadelphia International Airport. The airline launched its connecting-flight hub here yesterday, adding 12 daily departures to Florida cities from Philadelphia.

USA3000, Philadelphia's hometown airline and a sister company to Apple Vacations Inc., will stop flying its own aircraft from Philadelphia to Cancun and Punta Cana the middle of this month. Instead, Frontier Airlines will pick up the USA3000 flights several times a week to those destinations, operating a charter service for Newtown Square-based Apple Vacations. "The service still remains the same, just the paint job changes," said Timothy Mullen, president of Apple Vacations.

Workers examine the damaged nose of a United Airlines jet that made a forced landing at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday after running into turbulance. Some airport workers said it was hail but officials could not confirm that. The plane also sustained a cracked windshield. No one was injured, according to police.

A three-car crash near Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday night caused a major traffic backup on I-95 north. No one was injured but the road was closed for about an hour, according to state police at Media. The crash occurred at 5:37 p.m. - Susan Snyder

A plane reporting fumes in its cockpit about 9:15 p.m. has made a safe landing at Philadelphia International Airport. U.S. Airways Flight 436, en route to Las Vegas, made an emergency landing and was secured about 15 minutes later, according to airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica. There were no injuries.    - Anthony Campisi

Philadelphia will be the US Airways hub for nonstop flights to Asia if the airline launches service to China, Japan or Turkey, airline officials said. Currently, the only nonstop flight to Asia from Philadelphia International Airport is a US Airways flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. Philadelphia is the largest metro area in the country without nonstop service to other cities in Asia. Service to Beijing, Istanbul or Narita, Japan, will await the delivery of new long-distance planes in the next several years and would also depend on fuel costs and government approvals, officials said.

Workers who push passengers in wheelchairs at Philadelphia International Airport filed complaints with the U.S. Transportation Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) alleging that their employer, PrimeFlight Aviation Services, and three airlines that contract with it failed to provide proper training and equipment to safely do their jobs. The complaints, filed Thursday, allege violations of the federal Air Carrier Access Act and ask the Transportation Department to impose fines and order US Airways, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines to force PrimeFlight to correct the problems.

Just as air travel makes the world seem smaller, the airline industry itself continues to shrink - at least, in terms of the number of carriers with logos emblazoned on commercial jets. After four airline consolidations over the last five years, the Philadelphia region now faces the loss of its most familiar service through the planned merger of US Airways and American Airlines. At some point over the next two years, American Airlines' red-white-and-blue bird insignia will replace the US Airways flag.

Philadelphia International Airport, which curtailed flights for the superstorm, is back in business. At 1 p.m. Tuesday, Delta Air Lines resumed nine flights in and out of Philadelphia. Lufthansa Airlines landed a 4:30 p.m. jet from Frankfurt, and sent a 6 p.m. return flight to Germany. US Airways Group, which operates 430 daily departures from Philadelphia, planned to resume a normal schedule Wednesday morning. Airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica confirmed that Delta began flying Tuesday, as did Lufthansa.

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney will arrive in Philadelphia tonight on a campaign swing. According to his schedule, Romney will hold an "arrival event" at Atlantic Aviation at Philadelphia International Airport at 9:15 p.m. before spending the night at a nearby hotel. On Friday, Romney is slated to appear at a rally at Valley Forge Military Academy & College in suburban Wayne.  

Spirit Airlines, the low-cost carrier known for its cheap fares and its add-on charges, will start regular service between Philadelphia and Dallas-Fort Worth next year. The flights will begin with four days a week in April and increase to daily service in June, Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said Monday. Spirit currently is the only scheduled airline flying out of Atlantic City International Airport, but Atlantic City officials said they did not expect the new Philadelphia competition to affect the casino city.

Boeing's long-awaited new 787 Dreamliner, touted as the fuel-efficient, passenger-friendly plane of the future, made its first visit to Philadelphia on Wednesday to strut its stuff. Built largely of graphite fiber and epoxy resin composite materials to be lighter and easier to maintain, the sleek twin-engine, long-range Dreamliner burns less fuel, emits fewer harmful emissions, and offers a cabin designed to better mimic life on earth. In flight, the passenger compartment is pressurized to simulate 6,000 feet above sea level, compared with the current standard of 8,000 feet.

Flight attendants for Air Wisconsin, which operates as a US Airways Express carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, ratified a new labor contract with the airline Thursday, according to the union that represents the 300 flight attendants. Terms of the four-year pact were not disclosed, but the union said it included "increased compensation and improvements to scheduling and quality of life issues. " From hubs in Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Raleigh, N.C., and Norfolk, Va., Air Wisconsin operates nearly 500 daily flights as US Airways Express, serving 70 cities in the United States and Canada.

Alaska Airlines ranked first and US Airways ranked last in customer satisfaction among traditional airlines, according to the latest survey by J.D. Power & Associates, released Wednesday. JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines were tops among low-cost carriers, with Frontier Airlines ranked lowest. The study measured overall customer satisfaction based on performance in seven factors: cost and fees, in-flight services, boarding/deplaning/baggage, flight crew, aircraft, check-in, and reservations.

City officials have selected a joint venture of three companies to manage the planning and construction of the multi-billion-dollar expansion of Philadelphia International Airport. CH2M HILL, a Denver-based engineering and construction firm, will be the lead company, and will work with minority-owned companies Delon Hampton & Associates of Washington D.C. and CMTS Inc. of Dallas. The city has agreed to pay the team $25 million for the first four-year term of the project. The project-management team will oversee the complex financial, engineering, design and scheduling elements in preparing for the expansion of the city-owned airport, airport chief executive officer Mark Gale said Thursday.