JetBlue had planned to start flights in and out of Los Angeles International (LAX) later this month, but not anymore. Starting up new service at an airport is never cheap, but the airline indicated the recent out-of-control fuel costs have now made service to LAX virtually impossible.

JetBlue will however, continue flying to and from these Los Angeles area airports: Burbank, Long Beach and Ontario.

In fact, if you already have JetBlue tickets for flights in or out of LAX, you will be re-booked on flights to Long Beach. I would contact the airline immediately to get the process going.

Last week I posted a note on which cities lost the most scheduled fall air service - a sneak peak at some of the underlying research I was doing for an article.

This week I thought it was only fair to highlight those cities on the flip side — which have gained more scheduled fall air service.

More air service is always a good sign for airline ticket prices as the main driver of price is competition. Amidst massive cutbacks related to the rise in fuel, a few cities have actually gained service — whether they were underserved or whether an airline is trying to steal some market share — these cities are definitely benefiting:

Under a new Department of Transportation initiative, the city of Chicago will receive $153 million to reduce traffic congestion. The DOT states that the “innovative proposal will reduce gridlock through the use of congestion pricing for street parking spaces and faster, more reliable bus service…”

I don’t argue that Chicago should get the money. Anyone who has spent some time in the Windy City knows how backed up things can get downtown on both sides of the river, as well as on the Dan Ryan and other highways. However, I would like to see the same type of money and effort put forth to handle air traffic problems at Chicago O’Hare. O’Hare is generally viewed as the second busiest airport behind Atlanta Hartsfield, and it’s used as a point of connection for domestic and international travelers on their way to destinations all over the world.

We as travelers are giving money to the FAA each time we fly, and money could be used to reduce traffic at O’Hare and other major airports throughout the country. Keep reading to see how much we’re shelling out to the federal government and how it should be used…

I was looking over an analysts report this morning on Allegiant Airlines and was struck by the chasm between “the lowest of low cost airlines” and the legacy airlines.

Allegiants fuel bill went up at approximately the same percentage as the un-hedged legacy airlines and they still squeezed out a pretty impressive profit.

For those that are not familiar with Allegiant they fly a fleet of MD-80’s (just shy of 40 planes) with service to Vegas, Reno, Phoenix and popular Florida destinations from under served smaller cities, to leisure destinations at off the beaten path airports.

They tend to fly leisure travelers with non daily flight schedules and from all accounts tend to do a pretty good job at it — I am wondering if we’ll end up with more “Allegiants” in the near future for those cities that have been given up on by the bigger boys… Congrats Allegiant for hanging tough in what is definitely the most “trying” environment in history for air travel.

Last year, Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) had its biggest year ever, in part thanks to the 5.5 million international passengers that came through its new Terminal D.

Now, DFW is hoping for more — after all, Terminal D can handle 12.8 million a year; and in recognition of all this international traffic, the airport has been named one of 20 “Model Ports” by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

One thing Model Ports is supposed to do is streamline the customs process, and I think we can all get behind that. Keep reading.

The battle between the FAA and the airlines continues to heat up. After going head-to-head over aircraft maintenance, flight cancellations, and their own “cozy” relationship, the fight has now moved to New York’s LaGuardia airport.

The Department of Transportation has proposed that FAA will auction slots (operating rights for flights) at LaGuardia in the hope that it will relieve congestion at the airport and in the New York area in general. The three major New York area Airports (LGA, JFK, EWR) have been under scrutiny for some time, as massive delays from these airports directly affect departures and arrivals at airports all over the country.

DOT and FAA also believe the slot auctions will increase competition and lower airline ticket costs for travelers. Of course, this means some airlines will lose some of their operating rights. Needless to say, most of the airline industry is not pleased.

Keep reading to see how the airlines are attacking the auction proposal and to learn what all of this hullabaloo means for you…

The Air Transport Association really doesn’t like the Department of Transportation’s idea to allow airports to charge bigger bucks for landing fees at the most popular travel times.

And, the ATA (a trade group which represents all the major carriers) may sue.

Well, something has to be done.

The situation can’t continue (think JFK and Newark). Keep reading for more details.

London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was set to be the new gateway for British Airways’ long-haul flights. With Open Skies kicking off, Terminal 5 looked to be ready to go. The folks at Heathrow were excited, British Airways was excited, airport execs in the US were excited, and international travelers were excited. After all, Terminal 5 was going to make check-in more convenient, connections faster, and travel to and from Heathrow on BA simply easier to deal with.

So, how did it all work out? Well, not quite how Heathrow and British Airways had hoped. Instead of making life easier for international travelers, Terminal 5 descended into chaos and has left travelers stranded, baggage misplaced, and British Airways losing money.

After five days of service, things don’t seem to be getting better. Keep reading to see what British Airways is doing to try to make things right…

From the classy corps at Consumerist comes word of an AirTran flight that, uh, forgot a few things…like some of their paying customers.

It seems a young couple flying from Baltimore to Boston learned their AirTran flight was going to be delayed. But, being savvy fliers, they knew enough to get to the airport on-time anyway (as we all know by now, “delays” can and do change).

When they got to the gate area, they learned, yes indeed, the flight was still delayed for 2-hours, so they walked down the airport corridor to get some wings (no pun intended).

They sat where they could hear AirTran announcements. Guess what they heard?

Check out this post about “Airport Theme Songs” on our sister-blog, “Standard Upright Position”.

The things you learn about your airports!

And please–leave a comment.

The more over-the-top, the better.

Saw this on the always informative Gadling website:

It seems the long awaited “new” Chicago airport is moving forward a bit (about time; it was officially decided that the Chicago area needed a new airport 20-years ago).

The name (at least, so far): South Surburban Airport (I know, doesn’t exactly rock my world, either).

Good news: this could really ease things at O’Hare.

Bad news: well, I have a couple of interesting nuggets of info, if you keep reading…

Coming this August (or September), Mexico’s Viva Aerobus will begin offering daily flights from Gary, Indiana to Monterrey, Mexico (Gary is considered a “Chicago” airport, since it’s just 35-minutes from downtown Chicago).

The point is to take advantage of the big Hispanic population in Chicago (Hispanics made up 26% of the city’s population when they last took the census in 2000).

In the meantime, the Gary airport is going to have to get busy, and fast. Keep reading, and I’ll tell you what they have to do, and what it’ll cost.

What do you want from an airport? Planes that leave on time, of course! But what about concessions?

Well, if you find yourself at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport (DFW), you are in the right place.

Especially if you like Irish pubs, impressive art, and strolling through a winery.

Yep, they have all that at DFW, and more (so keep reading…)

You see air travel stories in the darnedest places; I saw this one in the New York Post’s famed “Page Six” gossip column:

Here’s the scene: comedian Chuck Nice was at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport over the weekend, when it was announced his flight to New York was delayed.

That’s when Nice started spouting Shakespeare; and that’s when airline personnel gave his act a very, VERY bad review.

Dept. of Transportation Mary Peters has vowed to “prevent a repeat of the horrors” experienced by airline passengers traveling through Newark’s Liberty Airport last summer, with the result that flights there will be capped.

Airlines serving Newark have agreed to this temporary cap, and, to spread their flights out; what this means is, there will actually be 30-more flights per day than last summer at Newark, but at less busy times of the day.

This should ease the sometimes horrific delays at the airport. But what about competition? Click “more” to find out.

It used to be that a layover at an airport was a time for maybe grabbing a bite to eat or grabbing a paper at the bookstore. Of course, those days are gone. A layover means a few extra minutes to get some work done.

So, which airports do you want to find yourself in if you just have to get wired while waiting for your next flight to take off? Forbes has put together a list of the 30 most WiFi friendly major airports in the world. They measured passenger traffic as related to WiFi stations, pay vs. free, and a variety of other factors to come up with their “overall best” list.

Keep reading to see which airports with WiFi made it into the Top Ten…

Starting in May, JetBlue will begin flying out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The lower cost carrier will add 3-flights a day between LAX and New York and one between LAX and Boston.

But, wait just a minute! Doesn’t JetBlue already fly out of Los Angeles??? Keep reading!

See Rick Seaney’s new column on ABCNews.com on merger mania!

Ever wonder which airports have connecting flights to the most countries? We’re speaking, of course, about the giants, the huge hubs, those with the most competition & cheap flights.

I’ve been to some of them; I’ll bet you have to.

Number one on the list connects to 106-countries — the airline tickets must need an U.N. Interpreter …Give up? Just click more for the answer.

One of our FareCompare writers who attended the Los Angeles Times Travel Show over the weekend reports that folks at the LA airport (LAX) are pretty excited about the coming of the Airbus A380.

They already have one new gate ready to go for this Godzilla of a plane (and it’ll also be able to handle Boeing’s Dreamliner); a second gate will be completed by the end of the year.

These are big, BIG gates.

So which airline will be arriving at LAX in this giant plane? Keep reading…

2007 wasn’t the best year for airline and airport performance. Anyone who took a vacation or a business trip probably picked up on it. There was a lot of waiting, a lot of lines, a lot of frustration, etc.

Well, now the DOT has made it official: 2007 was worse than 2006. It was worse for on-time percentages (worst ever, actually), worse for baggage handling, and worse for customer complaints.

Keep reading for the latest stats from the BTS (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)…

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released their airfare data for the third-quarter of 2007.

BTS notes that the 3rd quarter 2007 has the highest average airfares since the third-quarter of 2006, .8% higher than the latest averages.

Remember this is the quarter that didn’t include the huge run up in fuel costs — Q4 2007 (not reported yet) which had about 10 airfare increases.

The average third-quarter airfare for domestic travel was $328 (business and leisure travel) — .7% higher than the $326 average of the second quarter.

These airline ticket prices will jump dramatically when Q4 information is published — we have been tracking new four year highs at the end of 2007 and now in early 2008.

Keep reading to see which airports enjoyed the biggest average airfare decreases in the third-quarter, and which airports had to deal with the biggest airfare average increases…

You’ve probably been reading about this in the news: there is the potential for “chaos” as one British paper put it, if an airport workers 48-hour strike goes into effect on January 17 (and there may be 2-shorter work stoppages leading up to this).

If no agreement is reached with the union, the 48-hour walkout could hit Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports.

Check the BAA’s site (this company owns 7-UK airports) for details.

I think I’m going to make this an annual tradition: say good-bye to the old year with a list of the best and worst in commercial aviation over the past 12-months.

You’ve heard of some of these incidents, but others are obscure or just downright funny.

I’ll give you my “worst” list now, since most of us say, “give me the bad news first.”

Click “more” for a fun read, and add your own ideas in the comments section.

The Philippines is considering allowing more low-cost carriers into Clark Airport (they call this “pocket open skies” as it would benefit just that airport).

According to an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (a leading newspaper there), this would be a boon for overseas Filipino workers who could travel back home more often.

It could also mean more tourists dollars pumped into the local economy, since they would spend less for airfare.

While obviously this is small example of changes in the wind — I expect to have many more posts in the near future on the U.S./European “Open Skies” kicking in next March, and what it will mean for all of us.

In a recent Newsweek story on airports around the world, what country’s airports were described this way?

“Citizens queue in interminable lines and suffer humiliating treatment at the hands of surly authorities”

The answer may surprise you!