Aviation

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) on Thursday blamed the Obama administration for failing to come up with an answer to the sequester, which he said is forcing people at a major Air Force base to work in buildings with no lights on.

On the House floor, Turner showed a picture of people working in darkened hallways of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

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Lawmakers flooded the FAA with pleas to keep open their local towers, documents obtained by The Hill show.

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Boeing has resumed deliveries of its 787 "Dreamliner" to airlines, the company said on Tuesday.

Boeing said it delivered a new version of the plane, which was grounded for months by Obama administration transportation officials, to the Japanese airline ANA.

ANA was flying one of the initial 787s that developed battery problems that prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other international aviation agencies to order airlines to stop flying the airplane model worldwide.

Boeing said on Tuesday that it had made its first delivery of a 787 since the FAA and other agencies began approving its redesign of the plane's lithium batteries. 

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Billionaire Warren Buffett is warning against investing money in airline companies, according to a Forbes Magazine report.

Buffett made the comments at the annual meeting of Buffett's Nebraska-based firm Berkshire Hathaway, the magazine reported on Monday.

The widely respected business man called airlines "a death trap for investors."

“Investors have poured their money into airlines and airline manufacturers for 100 years with terrible results,” said Buffett, who is often referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his business savvy.

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With the final conflict involving the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) sequester budget cuts appearing to be resolved, lawmakers will turn their attention this week to issues involving freight transportation and space navigation.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a “Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation” on Wednesday. The hearing, titled “Coordinating Federal Efforts to Improve Freight Transportation,” will “examine what efforts the Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers have made to coordinate freight transportation policy, and what challenges exist for greater coordination among federal departments and agencies,” according to officials committee.

The panel will also hold a hearing on Thursday on the FAA’s progress on implementing safety provisions that were included in the $63 billion funding bill that was passed for the agency last year.

Republicans argued the closures were unnecessary because of legislation passed last month that provided funding flexibility.

The starting bid for the McDonnell Douglas DC9-32, which formerly served as Air Force One, is $50,000.