Wichitans may see an unusual paint scheme on one of the aircraft used by Allegiant Air to service its Wichita to Las Vegas route.
One of its planes serving its Las Vegas destination has been especially painted to feature the Blue Man Group on its exterior. The plane will fly to Wichita from time to time, a spokesman said. A second Blue Man Group plane will be based at the Orlando Sanford International Airport.
The planes were painted with the “Bald and Blue” icon trio to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a partnership between Allegiant and the Blue Man Group, the airline said. Allegiant offers in-flight ticket sales to the group’s show at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas as well as through its call center and website.
Allegiant’s fleet also uses Blue Man Group branded cups, napkins, overhead bins, service carts and in-flight crew uniforms.
Thirty-seven projects at Kansas public use airports have been selected for funding under the 2010 Kansas Airport Improvement Program.
The projects will be for maintenance, runway, facility and equipment needs at the non-primary public use airports — airports classified as having less than 10,000 passenger boardings a year.
The Kansas Department of Transportation will contribute $3.54 million in funding for the projects, that require local matching funds of about $2.57 million. Total investment will be about $6.1 million.
In 1999, one in four Kansas airports had a pavement condition that ranked “poor” or “failing,” said KDOT director Ed Young. That number has dropped to less than one in 20 runways.
In south-central Kansas, airports receiving money include Augusta, Benton, Great Bend, Hutchinson, Oxford, Rose Hill, Wellington and Wichita’s Jabara and Riverside airports. Money will also be available to reconstruct taxiways at Cessna.
Boeing’s biggest customer said he thinks Boeing and Airbus should cut production by up to 30 percent, or they’ll risk having to finance the airliners themselves, according to Reuters.
Steven Udvar-Hazy, the International Lease Finance Corp. chief, thinks a 25-to-30 percent cut makes sense, the report said.
A Boeing spokesman told Reuters that the company may have to trim production in 2010, but not in 2009.
Which airline has the best arrival times? Which has the worst? Which has the most mishandled bags?
Those questions will be answered in the annual Airline Quality Rating that looks at the performance of the nation’s 17th largest airlines. The ratings will be released Monday, April 6.
The study looks at arrival times, denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints. The study is by Wichita State University business analyst Dean Headley and Saint Louis University aviation expert Brent Bowen.
As part of the research, Headley and Bowen conducted opinion surveys of more than 5,000 frequent travelers.
Check back April 6 for the results.
