Summary: <br> Call it a PR stunt if you must, but the record for fastest US transcon flight fell last week, and the airports involved are an interesting pair.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Flights from Santa Monica are becoming increasingly rare, especially as the city does things like shorten the runway as it tries to shut the facility completely. Still, <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-04-26/falcon-8x-sets-smo-teb-speed-record" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">it is an impressive record, especially considering the congested airspace around NYC that was involved</a>. That congested airspace also included JFK arrivals and some <a href="http://longisland.news12.com/story/40494087/nassau-aviation-committee-created-to-combat-jet-noise-and-air-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Long Island residents are unhappy about the major airport they have just 10 miles away</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Also in this episode:<br> <br> <br> <br> * The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey <a href="https://reason.org/aviation-policy-news/aviation-policy-news-164/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appears to have violated some laws with regard to funneling landing fees away from operations at Newark Airport</a>. Also, some interesting commentary about how the airlines' lobbying group is misrepresenting some details around passenger facility charges (PFCs) and where the money comes from and goes to.* Another impressive BizAv flight was a nonstop on the <a href="https://www.bombardier.com/en/aerospace/commercial-aircraft.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bombardier</a> <a href="https://www.bombardier.com/en/media/newsList/details.bba_20190516_bombardiers-global-7500-jet-demonstrates-unmatched-.bombardiercom.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global 7500 from London City to Los Angeles</a>.* <a href="http://blog.wandr.me/tag/Hyatt/">Hyatt</a> and <a href="http://aa.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Airlines</a> have a new partnership that might be useful for some challenge-related games* US carriers were allocated a <a href="https://paxex.aero/2019/05/haneda-slot-delta-united-big-winners/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dozen new slots at Tokyo's Haneda Airport for Summer 2020 operations, with Delta and United winning big</a>* JFK Airport finally has an on-property hotel. The TWA Hotel at T5 – housed in the old TWA terminal – is now open. Lots of little kinks to still work out to get to full operations but it is there. Also, some questions around how long that will last.* Should Machu Picchu have an airport nearby? <a href="https://www.secretflying.com/posts/outrage-as-work-begins-on-new-international-airport-for-machu-picchu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Construction is starting and a lot of people are pretty pissed</a>.* <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2019/05/14/mcdonalds-austria-double-mini-u-s-embassies-tourists/3672262002/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">US residents in Austria have a new and unlikely (or maybe not so unlikely) place they can turn for help: McDonald's</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Some follow-up from last week's conversation about the Delta/Union sparring and plenty of other bits in this week's show, too. Enjoy!<br>
