Airlines

Federal safety officials said they were investigating two incidents in which airspeed and altitude indications in the cockpits of Airbus A330 planes might have malfunctioned, including one that took place 10 days before the same type of plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and killed all 228 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said the first incident occurred May 21 when TAM Airlines Flight 8091 flying from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil, experienced a loss of primary speed and altitude information while cruising.

A computer problem disrupted United Airlines flights Thursday at O'Hare International Airport, causing long delays and lines for travelers headed out for the Fourth of July weekend. The outage affected all of United's computers at the airport and also caused about 100 flights to be canceled as of Thursday afternoon, an airline spokeswoman said. The problem with the check-in computers ran from 3 to 10:30 a.m., she said. O'Hare is a United hub, and the problems caused delays at other U.S. airports.

Airlines are cutting fares deeper than usual this fall in an effort to fill seats. American and Southwest both launched fare sales this week, and United is running several sales too. Although it's common for airlines to use discounts to fill planes during the slower fall travel months, the discounts this year are deeper and more widely available than last fall, FareCompare.com Chief Executive Rick Seaney said.

Proposed high-speed rail projects in California can provide a competitive alternative to airlines, especially in the highly traveled corridors between the Los Angeles area and San Francisco, as well as between Las Vegas and southern parts of the state, a new study shows. The research by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., bolsters the argument for building the north-south California high-speed rail project and a so-called maglev or conventional rail system that would link Anaheim or Victorville with Las Vegas.

An airline passenger whose identity was apparently stolen by someone on a federal no-fly list was briefly detained before his fingerprints cleared him, the FBI said. The Delta Air Lines flight from Colombia was diverted to Naval Air Station Key West, and the passenger and his luggage were removed from the plane before it continued to its original destination of Atlanta. The passenger was fingerprinted and released, said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.

Lamar Durrett, who recently took over as president and chief executive of Air Canada from his good friend, longtime colleague and fellow Georgian Hollis L. Harris, has heard the grumbling and the jokes: * In the media and on the cocktail party circuit, Canadians ever vigilant to what they consider undue U.S. influence here ask: Why another American at the helm of this country's flagship air carrier, the one whose planes sport the Canadian maple leaf on their tails?

Major U.S. airlines are testing the market with higher fares as they raise domestic fares 10% and consider passing along the renewed 10% federal passenger excise tax. "The next several days will be very critical on whether airlines get a winning bonanza or not," Julius Maldutis, an airline industry analyst with Salomon Bros., said Monday. United and Northwest raised their base U.S. fares Friday by 10%, following the lead of Continental, which raised fares Thursday.

From his exalted position on the dais, Sen. Sam Nunn fixed his gaze on the lowly congressional witness table where Anthony J. Broderick sat and launched into a stern lecture on aviation safety and honesty such as a minister might deliver to a wayward member of his flock. By the time the Georgia Democrat had finished on that 1986 morning, he had all but accused Broderick, in front of God and country, of deceiving the committee. And what did Mr. Broderick have to say about that?

The Federal Aviation Administration, acknowledging for the first time that its enforcement of airline safety standards is in question, announced historic changes Tuesday in the way it oversees the airline industry. Among them, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena recommended that Congress amend the FAA's legislative charter by eliminating its role in promoting air commerce and making safety its sole mission. In addition, the agency ousted its longtime top safety official, Anthony J. Broderick.

Air Canada and All Nippon Airways Co. signed a code-sharing agreement as part of a plan to capture a larger share of the transpacific market. The carriers said they've asked Japan's Ministry of Transport to allow All Nippon Airways to begin selling seats beginning Aug. 1 on Air Canada's Osaka-to-Vancouver, British Columbia, route. Code sharing helps carriers boost traffic by linking flights in reservation systems.