Like the rest of the economy, air travel lost significant altitude in November.

Airline traffic reports this week show some hefty drops in travel last month – United Airlines passenger traffic was down a whopping 17%, for example. And even Southwest, often more recession-proof than other carriers, said demand weakened in November. Southwest’s load factor fell a dramatic 6.1 percentage points.
The flight cuts that airlines made because of high oil prices provided fortuitous because of the economic slump. United cut its system-wide capacity by 14.2%, and may have even pushed fares higher because it had fewer seats to sell. Continental said its unit revenue edged up 1%-2%.

Besides the flight reductions and economic softness, another factor weighing down November numbers was the fact that — because of a late Thanksgiving — a busy holiday travel day fell in December this year, rather than November. But even with that technicality in mind, it’s clear the severe weakness is pushing airlines toward bigger cuts in capacity next year.

Here’s a look at airline November traffic compared to November 2007. Have you seen more empty seats on your travels?

Source: the companies

This year the two most crowded international airports in the world opened significant new terminals for major tenants: Terminal 5 at London Heathrow [pictured, above] for British Airways and Terminal 5 at New York’s Kennedy International for JetBlue Airways.

This week’s Middle Seat takes a look at the two T5’s. There’s lots to like, and some shortcomings that will leave you scratching your head. And while there are similarities between the two — white and gray seem to be the universal colors for new airport terminals — there are also vast differences.

One big difference between the two seems to be the price it cost to build them. The London palace cost six times as much as the spartan New York depot and took much longer to build. And just try finding a power port for your laptop — they abound at JetBlue’s terminal.

New terminals have been opening at many airports — Detroit, Indianapolis and others just this fall. Some recent airport building projects have been grandiose and expensive, raising complaints from airlines that have to pay higher landing fees for extravagance. Some have been bare-bones barns designed for discount airlines.

All this raises questions about what travelers really want in airport terminals? Since fliers spend increasing amounts of time at airports, do you want gleaming, attractive structures with lots of amenities? Or do you want clean, simple, low-cost buildings? What is most important to you? Food? Seating? Distance you have to trudge? WiFi? Power outlets? Clean bathrooms, perhaps?

Tell us which of the new terminals gets it right, and which ones miss the mark, in the comments section below.

Photo: Getty Images

Department of Transportation

Thanksgiving turkeys? Well, American and United posted some of the lowest rates of on-time arrivals among the major airlines last Thanksgiving, according to numbers crunched by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Southwest, Frontier and Delta fared better.

Southwest, Delta and Frontier were your best bet for arriving on time last Thanksgiving, while American and United posted some of the lowest rates of on-time arrivals among big domestic carriers.

That’s according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which crunched some of the numbers for us. (The same data is available in a pretty user-friendly format here, if you want to poke around yourself.)

Of course, technically speaking, Aloha — which filed for bankruptcy protection back in March — and Hawaiian were tops in on-time arrivals last year. But we look past them since they’re always number one, which is largely a function of the fact that they fly in a virtual aviation paradise.

Frontier — which, alas, has also since filed for bankruptcy in April — and Southwest, both with 82% posted some of the best on-time arrival rates from Nov. 16 to Nov. 27. (That’s how the Bureau of Transportation Statistics defines the Thanksgiving travel season.) Delta came just behind with 80% on-time arrival. Among the large mainline carriers, American and United pulled up the rear, both posting 70% arrival rates.

As we mentioned before, the weather gods can intercede heavily in human affairs when it comes to Thanksgiving travel. United ran into some snags at O’Hare, where only 65% of its Thanksgiving season flights arrived on-time, according to government stats. Weather problems on the night before Thanksgiving caused some delays in the flights from the Northweast to O’Hare, news reports said at the time. LaGuardia was also a bit of a hurdle for United last year, only 53% of the carrier’s arrivals pulled up to the gate on time. (That was a bit worse than LaGuardia’s on-time rate for all carriers, which, at 63%, wasn’t great either.) LaGuardia also dragged on American Airlines last year, where only 62% of its arrivals were on time. The problem, it seems, was bad weather that dogged travelers in the Northeast trying to get home after the holiday weekend.

Readers, how was your Thanksgiving travel last year? Are there any airlines you absolutely will or won’t fly this Thanksgiving? And how early are you setting out for the airport, if you’re planning to fly?

Zagat

JetBlue and Continental topped new ratings out from consumer-research and recommendations outfit Zagat Monday, finishing first in the “best airlines” categories for economy and premium-class carriers, respectively. (Virgin America finished first among “mid-sized domestic airlines.)

Zagat based the results on responses from roughly 9,950 frequent fliers and travel professionals, who rated 85 major world airlines. Respondents pegged JetBlue as the top U.S. economy flier, and Continental as the top “premium-class” carrier. JetBlue also took top honors for best domestic in-flight entertainment, while Continental took first place for best “value for the money” among international carriers.

Southwest also turned in a solid performance, finishing first in five categories, “best airline website,” “best consumer on-time estimates,” “best frequent flier program,” and among domestic carriers “best value for the money” and “best luggage policy.”

As an aside, Zagat also published a number of the comments that respondents offered on the state of individual airlines. Zagat, however, coyly cut the carriers’ names out, saying “our lawyers say [the comments] are not suitable to print with the airline’s name.” Readers, care to hazard any guesses on which comment pertains to which carrier?

— “The Rhett Butler of airlines: they just don’t give a damn”
— “Bathrooms smell like the lion house at the zoo on a hot day”
— “Domestic economy is a mobile prison lacking the food and the exercise yard”
— “Next they’ll charge for using the air vents, seat belts and bathrooms”
— “Did I get fatter or did their seats get smaller?”
— “Too bad passengers can’t chip in for a flight attendant friendliness upgrade”
— “Just another cattle car, but the cows usually get more respect”
— “They don’t allow guns in the airport because passengers would shoot the desk clerks and be acquitted”
— “Hot food in coach — so retro!”
— “Would rather flap my arms than book this airline”
— “Gets you where you’re going… sometimes”
— “Trying hard to encourage us to drive”

Duane Woerth, then the President of the Airline Pilots Association, during testimony on Capitol Hill in 2003. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

There are a few more names floating around this morning in connection with key transportation jobs in the next administration, and a onetime pilots’ union leader is a top contender to head the Federal Aviation Administration, according to people close to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team.

That could prove to be an interesting pick at a time when smooth relations between labor and management will be critical to the agency’s modernization plans. That’s according to a report from The Wall Street Journal’s Andy Pasztor and Christopher Conkey.

Airline consultant Duane Woerth, who was president of the Air Line Pilots Association from 1999 to 2006, has met with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar and has his tentative support, according to people familiar with their discussions. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who heads an aviation subcommittee, is slated to meet with Woerth in the next few days.

Woerth, who was a Northwest Airlines 747 pilot, was defeated in his bid for a third four-year term as president of the Air Line Pilots Association in October 2006, according to the Associated Press. He then went to work advising Northwest officials in the carrier’s Washington D.C. office.

People familiar with the matter say Woerth doesn’t have a lock on the job and the situation could change, especially if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decides to push hard for Robert Herbert, an aide, for the top FAA job. (Herbert had been previously reported to be a candidate for the position.)

Still, the Journal reports that Woerth has the strong backing of various unions seeking to cash in political capital for their aggressive support of Obama’s candidacy. But Woerth, who frequently prodded the agency to step up air-safety efforts, also has garnered bipartisan endorsements on Capitol Hill and enjoys the backing of some aircraft makers and airline-industry officials.

Other names mentioned in connection with key transportation jobs in the Obama administration include Debbie Hersman, a Democratic member of the National Transportation Safety Board, who is likely to be nominated to be its next chairwoman, according to people familiar with the matter. Unions are also excited that former FAA administrator Jane Garvey, a senior member of Obama’s transition team overseeing aviation issues, remains a leading candidate to head the Transportation Department.

Whoever ends up with the FAA job, they will face the daunting challenge of transitioning the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure over to new technology. Such changes are considered crucial to improving the performance of the nation’s aviation infrastructure. Improvements to the ATC system would likely be warmly welcomed by carriers with key hubs in the congested New York City area — for example Continental at Newark Liberty or JetBlue at Kennedy International.

The FAA job traditionally goes to an industry executive, high-ranking military officer or government official. It would seem that a former commercial pilot would have plenty of attributes that could recommend him for heading up a government agency. Ability to multi-task? Check. Command personality traits? Check. Experience managing public expectations? Captains have to keep passengers abreast of reasons for delays and other flight issues.

Many of our readers are pilots, and we’d like to hear from you: What do you think of the possibility that one of your own may head the FAA?

On Thursday, JetBlue filed for U.S. regulatory approval to form the low-cost airline’s first labor union, a move that pilots say will position them to cope with future management that may be less friendly to labor, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

All right pilots, we know you’re out there. What do you think?

Photo: Associated Press

The Department of Transportation published the culmination of a nearly year-long effort to gather facts on the lengthy ground delays that caused a lot of headlines back in 2007. Unfortunately, the report seems to be woefully short on specifics. Don’t believe us? See for yourself.

Consumer advocates had hoped for rules that would put distinct limits to the amount of time carriers can keep passengers waiting on the tarmac during flight delays. You may not remember, but a handful of high-profile snafus in late 2006 and early 2007 made headlines after passengers were left languishing for hours in planes stuck on the tarmac. (If you were one of those passengers, I’ll bet you remember plenty, though.)

The Associated Press sums up the report saying the task force — the snappily entitled National Task Force to Develop Model Contingency Plans to Deal with Lengthy Airline Onboard Ground Delays, or as we like to call it, the NTFDMCPDLAOGD, for short — “approved voluntary guidelines Wednesday for airlines and airports dealing with passengers stranded for hours on the tarmac but produced no fixed limit on how long they can be delayed before being allowed to leave planes.” The AP reports:

Perhaps the best-known example of lengthy ground delays came in 2007, when a Valentine’s Day ice storm in New York left passengers stranded aboard JetBlue planes at John F. Kennedy International for hours, prompting a public relations debacle for the carrier. JetBlue’s episode came on the heels of a similar situation in which passengers were kept on an American Airlines flight in Austin for more than eight hours. (Hanni, quoted above, was one of the passengers on that flight.)

While the DOT’s report doesn’t offer much in the way of improvements for travelers, the good news is that there are indications that extremely lengthy ground delays — which were always a small portion of overall operations — have been declining. Between January and September, the latest month of available data, 815 flights waited three hours or more to take off after they left a gate. That’s down 32% from the prior year. (It’s important to note that those 815 flights are only part of the extreme-delay problem. BTS doesn’t record flights that land and then sit for prolonged periods, or flights that divert to another airport and sit.)

But as Scott wrote in an April Middle Seat column, the decline in lengthly delays comes largely because airlines are now quicker to cancel flights, which isn’t exactly an ideal situation for a passenger either.

Guinness World Records

Svetlana Pankratova takes Manhattan. (Love the signage in the background.)

Being airline nerds, when we heard about Svetlana Pankratova, the Russian-born former pro basketball player who — according to the publisher of the Guinness Book of World Records — is the world’s longest-legged woman, we naturally wondered about one thing: How does she survive commercial flights?

In her brief appearance on NBC’s Today show Monday morning, Pankratova, 36, did field one question on the subject, saying she opts for aisle seats whenever possible. But surely Pankratova had more to say about folding her 51.9-inch stems — nearly 4-foot-4-inches of her six-foot-six frame — into an airline seat.

We tracked her down during her visit to New York City, where she’s promoting the latest edition of Guinness’ record book. She only had a few minutes before she headed to the airport to catch a flight to Brazil, but she was gracious enough to take a call from the Terminal. Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

MST: So, how do you manage on long flights?

Pankratova: It’s sometimes very tough. I have to either ask for emergency exits or, the aisle seats, you know. If not, it’s really difficult. I haven’t really traveled in the middle seat for a long, long time. I always have to really make myself comfortable. Especially on long trips … because if not, there’s no choice. I have to get up and walk up and down. Even with the aisle seat, I still want to put my legs, you know like, outside a little bit … It’s really not so comfortable either.

MST: How do you usually snag these seats? Do you have to pay?

Pankratova: No they didn’t charge me or anything like that. If I get to the airport for example maybe I can get an emergency exit seat. If I don’t get there on time, well then, tough luck. Sometimes, they will come up to me and say, I can see you’re not very comfortable, if there are any other seats available. But if it’s completely full there’s nothing you can do. Once I was lucky when I was here in the states playing basketball and I was going back to Russia. And I think they oversold the tickets in economy class and someone came up to me and said we’ve oversold the tickets, we’re going to put you in business class at no charge. I was like “Oh, perfect.”

MST: Do you have a favorite airline? Or one that you use more often for comfort reasons?

Pankratova: There is no favorite airline. I thought Lufthansa was good. Once I traveled with them and they were OK. Actually British Airways, not bad either.

MST: Any tips for others with especially long legs?

Pankratova: Sometimes you can use the Web to book your seat early, 24 hours before your flight … so you can get a good one. This is one of the best things to do.

MST:There are some airlines that are moving to charge for some seats with extra room, such as bulkhead seats or exit rows? What do you think of that? (Check out previous posts on such moves by carriers such as US Airways, JetBlue and Delta)

Pankratova: It never happened to me. I actually never heard about it, charging for extra seat [space]. Of course it depends on how much they ask, but I don’t think it’s really fair because there are different people, and some people with short legs, just normal height and they don’t mind [a smaller seat]. So I think that tall people should really have preference.

Middle Seat readers, do you agree with Pankratova, or do you think tall travelers should have to pay to accommodate their long legs?

[ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27642726#27642726 ]

Morgan Stanley

Awhile back we did a Q&A with an economist who had conducted research for the FAA on its plan to auction off takeoff and landing times at congested New York City area airports. The economist, Peter Cramton, explained how the government sees such auctions smoothing airline operations in the region. (Bottom line: Choice takeoff and landing times would cost more and provide a disincentive to use smaller aircraft at peak flight times.)

This week a note from analysts at Morgan Stanley sheds some light on why airlines are so staunchly opposed to the plan. Here’s the key excerpt:

Morgan Stanley’s eggheads go on to say that the carriers who stand to be most affected by this plan include American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue and US Airways.

When we talked with Cramton, the University of Maryland economist, he stressed that the slot auction doesn’t call for every takeoff and landing time to be immediately sold at auction. (A Morgan Stanley chart, at right, shows the share of takeoffs and landings eyed for auctions at New York’s three main airports.)

And whether or not the takeoff-time auction actually occurs, it’s still — ahem — up in the air, as opponents, in particular the Air Transport Association, a trade group, has filed suit to block the plan, which the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — the agency that overseas the airports in question — has joined.

David Neeleman poses for a picture with a model airplane at a news conference in Sao Paulo back in May. Neeleman, who stepped down as CEO of JetBlue Airways over a year ago, is starting the Brazilian carrier Azul, which was recently certified to operate in Brazil. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

We didn’t get to mention the Associated Press’ brief report Monday that JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman’s Brazilian carrier, Azul Airlines, has been certified to operate in the country.

Azul hasn’t yet told Brazilian regulators whic routes it intends to fly, a government spokeswoman told the Associated Press, but the carrier is expected to begin with service between Rio and Sao Paulo.

Taking a page from the JetBlue playbook, the airline hopes to quickly make inroads into Brazil’s market with low-price tickets and features such as leather seats and in-flight live satellite television. Neeleman has said that the airline will fly in-country at first but could eventually expand to international destinations, according to the AP.

Azul’s plans are yet another indication of continued interest from airlines in the Brazilian market, which is attracting attention in part because of recent regulatory changes as well as its large, robust economy.

Late last month, Continental announced it had filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation to run daily year-round service between its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport and Rio de Janeiro, as well as service between New Orleans and Rio, beginning June 2009. (Continental had previously announced plans for seasonal service between Houston and Rio.)

Delta has also added new routes to Brazil starting in December, from Atlanta to the Brazilian destinations of Manaus and Recife-Fortaleza.

And according to a recent story from the Journal’s Paulo Prada, this month American will launch new flights to Brazil with one route serving Recife and Salvador, two coastal tourist destinations, and another serving Belo Horizonte, a regional economic capital.

The big question for fliers is whether these new flights will result in cheaper tickets. What do you think? Have any of you been shopping for fares to Brazil lately? If so, where to?