Aviation

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A passenger at Kansas City's International Airport has been charged after faking a bomb threat on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11.

No charges will be filed against passengers on a Detroit flight that made an emergency landing after they were locked in a bathroom on Sept. 11.

Airline delays were down over the summer.

A Southwest Airlines maintenance contractor has been fined by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Without an extension, the government would be unable to collect the federal gas tax, which brings in about $100 million per day. 

With the committee of lawmakers tasked with proposing $1.5 trillion in budget cuts before the end of the year scheduled to meet this week, the group that lobbies for aerospace companies will encourage Congress to spare defense spending in its  forthcoming debt reduction attempts.

The Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association will hold a news conference Wednesday at the National Press Club in the capital city to discuss what it calls  "the devastating job losses, national security threats and infrastructure implications that would result from budget cuts put in motion by the debt-ceiling deal."

Speakers at the AIA news conference event include AIA President James Albaugh, who is also the CEO of airplane manufacturer Boeing, and David Hess, president of aircraft engine manufacturing company Pratt & Whitney.

The fight over the funding of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) retakes center stage this week, with the House expected to vote on a short-term extension of the beleaguered agency's funding through December.

The bill, a 22nd extension of an FAA appropriations bill that expired in 2007, is expected to contain back pay for workers who were furloughed last month when the agency was partially shut down for nearly two weeks.

The House GOP's bill does not contain controversial labor provisions that have stalled a new long-term FAA bill or cuts to the flight subsidies for rural airports that held up the last round of FAA funding this summer.

Romney said the NLRB lawsuit against Boeing was an "egregious example" of the president's failed labor policies.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Jitters on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced a flight to make an emergency landing in Denver.

Security was boosted on Amtrak trains as well.

More D.C. residents are ditching their cars.

Researchers argue that it's drivers, not cars, that waste fuel.

The House of Representatives will vote next week on a bill to extend funding of the Federal Aviation Administration through December and provide backpay to workers who were furloughed for nearly two weeks during a partial shutdown of the agency earlier this month.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) introduced a short-term extension of FAA funding, the 22nd for the beleaguered agency since 2007, that extends FAA funding through Dec. 31. The measure runs longer than the last three-week measure, but cuts the FAA's overall budget by 5 percent.

The measure does not include controversial labor provisions or cuts to the flight subsidies for rural airports that held up the last round of FAA funding this summer.

An impasse in Congress over the current extension led to the agency being partially shut down for 13 days in August. About 4,000 workers were furloughed, and an estimated 70,000 construction workers were placed out of work.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said during a Thursday hearing that he would likely announce a bill to extend the funding of the Federal Aviation Administration this week.

The beleaguered FAA is currently operating under a short-term extension of the funding levels that were approved for it in 2004. That funding is set to expire Sept. 16.

The last time the agency’s funding ran out, an impasse in Congress over the current extension led to the agency being partially shut down for nearly two weeks in August. About 4,000 workers were furloughed.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Automobiles could be the next target for computer hackers.

A flight from Dallas to Washington was canceled because of suspicious behavior from two passengers.

Talks are ongoing on the proposed extension of Washington's MetroRail to Dulles International Airport.

Swedish car company Saab has filed for bankruptcy.

Unions for aviation workers gathered at a Washington, D.C., airport Wednesday to urge lawmakers to break the cycle of short-term funding bills for the Federal Aviation Administration.  

Funding for the agency is set to run out next week, when the funding bill passed in August expires. That measure, which ended a partial shutdown of the FAA that furloughed about 4,000 workers, was the 21st short-term extension of an appropriations bill that expired in 2007. 

Standing near the ticket counters of Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, members of the Air Line Pilots Association, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the Association for Flight Attendants and the Allied Pilots Association pressured lawmakers to not pass a 22nd.

"We cannot continue to function with this band-aid approach to aviation funding and safety," Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak said.