Flights

JetBlue Airways Corp., the dominant airline at Boston's Logan International Airport, may expand to Providence and eventually Worcester, even as it plans to boost service out of Logan from the current 100 to 150 daily flights. Meeting with reporters after a speech at the Boston College Chief Executives' Club of Boston yesterday, JetBlue chief executive Dave Barger said the Massachusetts Port Authority approached him about operating out of Worcester Regional Airport, which the authority oversees, along with Logan.

GENEVA - An experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight Thursday, aiming to reach North Africa next week. Pilot Andre Borschberg planned to take the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to Madrid by Friday. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the aircraft for the second stretch of its 1,554-mile journey to the Moroccan capital Rabat. Fog on the runaway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland, delayed the takeoff by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype...

Round-trip airfare between Boston and Philadelphia is doubling as Southwest Airlines discontinues the route this week and once again leaves US Airways as the only carrier flying nonstop between the two cities The lowest regular round-trip nonstop fare will jump to $520 from about $260, according to airline websites. Southwest will discontinue the Boston to Philadelphia route as of Saturday. Southwest has dropped five routes out of Philadelphia this year, including Manchester, Providence, Pittsburgh, and Jacksonville.

WASHINGTON — A Democratic-controlled Senate panel Tuesday approved a $2.50 increase in airline security fees that would double the per-passenger fee for those taking nonstop flights. The move by the Senate Appropriations Committee would increase the fee on a nonstop round-trip flight from $5 to $10. Fees on a one-way, nonstop ticket would increase from $2.50 to $5. Passengers who change planes to reach their destinations would continue to pay $5 each way. A similar move last year failed because of opposition by Republicans, and the current effort faces long odds in an election year.

I assumed I had seen it all with Liberty Mutual. Once you learn about the chief executive's $50 million-a-year compensation package, the fleet of corporate jets, the $90,000 flights to Hawaii, the tens of millions of dollars for senior managers, the board of directors that doesn't feel the need to utter one public word of explanation, what more can there be? But as we've seen, there's always more, a fact that was never more apparent than when I was flipping through a mound of permit applications, building records, and engineering drawings on file in the Boston Inspectional Services...

Prices are pretty good, but the window for travel dates is not wide, and sale fares don't appear to be available on all routes. You must book by midnight on the JetBlue site for flights May 22-June 21. There are blackout dates and flights are not available for every day of the week. Here are some sample one-way fares from Boston: $49 to Buffalo; $55 to Newark, NJ; $60 to New York; $120 to Dallas / Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale; $130 to Denver; $140 to Phoenix, Austin, Texas, New Orleans; $147 to Bermuda; $150 to Tampa; $154 to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; $160 to Seattle; $166 to Cancun,...

South Carolina-based public charter airline Direct Air has canceled all flights and there was no word Tuesday on when they might resume. Myrtle Beach International Airport director Mike LaPier told The Sun News all operations by Direct Air were suspended Monday night. He said the flights were canceled because of a fueling issue. It was unclear how many people were affected. The airline serves 17 cities in the Midwest, East and South. There was no answer at Direct Air headquarters telephones early Tuesday.

When you open up a can of worms, you should expect to see things that crawl. I just wasn't prepared for the extent. I decided to see whether any other insurance companies in Massachusetts, preferably mutual companies, had their own corporate jets, just to add context to the fact that Liberty Mutual has an air force ready to satisfy the utterly critical need of flying its grossly overpaid executives to some of the most celebrated resort destinations...

WASHINGTON -- Domestic air travelers could be surfing the Web by 2006 with government-approved technology that allows people access to high-speed Internet connections while they fly. "We are pushing the frontiers in order to bring the information age to all corners of the world," Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell said yesterday after a unanimous vote approving the new technology for US airlines. "We want it on the land, in the air, and on the sea. " The FCC also voted to solicit public comment about ending the ban on in-flight use of cellphones.

Strikes by Portuguese air traffic controllers are expected to disrupt international and domestic flights in coming days. Staff are walking off the job for two hours each shift on May 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25 to protest pay cuts at their state-owned company NAV Portugal. The cuts are part of a government austerity drive enacted in return for a (EURO)78 billion ($101 billion) bailout that debt-heavy Portugal received a year ago. Five unions representing air traffic controllers say the company is self-financing and should not be subject to financial restrictions.

The woman who caused a security scare that resulted in a flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., being diverted to Bangor, Maine, will not be charged but will be returned to France, federal prosecutors in Maine said today. Lucie Zeeko Marigot, 41, was investigated by the FBI on possible charges of interfering with a flight crew throughout Tuesday night and into this morning. She appeared before US Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk this afternoon, prosecutors said. But prosecutors told the court that, based on further...

The first Boeing Co. 787 made in South Carolina goes up for a test flight this week. Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger confirms that the first flight is planned for Wednesday. The plane will take off from the Charleston International Airport near the company's new $750 million North Charleston assembly plant. The plane, which was rolled out in a ceremony last month, has been purchased by Air India. The plant should turn out four completed aircraft by year's end. By the end of 2013, the plant should be producing about three-and-a-half of the speedy, light...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight. The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous in a few days with the space station. The unmanned rocket carried into orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space station provisions.

Authorities say an American Airlines flight returned safely to Palm Springs International Airport shortly after takeoff, after reports of smoke or the smell of smoke in the cockpit. Airport Executive Director Thomas Nolan tells the Desert Sun ( http://mydesert.co/Jf5nzP) that Flight 1848 took off at about 11:40 a.m. Monday headed for Dallas and returned about eight minutes later. He says all 136 passengers on board were "safe and sound. " Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the aircraft is a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 twin jet. He says FAA inspectors are...

Prices are pretty good, but the window for travel dates is not wide, and sale fares don't appear to be available on all routes. You must book by midnight on the JetBlue site for flights May 22-June 21. There are blackout dates and flights are not available for every day of the week. Here are some sample one-way fares from Boston: $49 to Buffalo; $55 to Newark, NJ; $60 to New York; $120 to Dallas / Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale; $130 to Denver; $140 to Phoenix, Austin, Texas, New Orleans; $147 to Bermuda; $150 to Tampa; $154 to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; $160 to Seattle; $166 to Cancun,...

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The crash of a Russian-made passenger jet into the flank of an Indonesian volcano has put a spotlight on the notoriously informal atmosphere aboard new aircraft during manufacturer demonstrations - known as "joy flights. " These junkets for potential buyers commonly see passengers join or cancel at the last minute, wreaking havoc to manifests. Pilots eager to show off the versatility of their planes often make lightning-fast ascents and buzz famous landmarks.

Southwest Airlines, which in February said it would launch service from Logan International Airport in Boston by the fall, yesterday detailed its plans, saying it will offer five daily nonstop flights each to Chicago Midway Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, starting Aug. 16. "We are very enthusiastic and optimistic about Boston Logan," said Bob Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president of strategy and...

LONDON — Europe began to emerge from a volcanic cloud yesterday, allowing limited air traffic to resume and giving hope to millions of travelers stranded around the world when ash choked the jet age to a halt. Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency in Brussels, said nearly one-third of flights in Europe were expected to take off yesterday, which represents 8,000 to 9,000 of the continent’s 28,000 scheduled flights. Officials said more would operate today, although how many has not been determined.

The monthlong Revolutionary Revelry festival continues Sunday with kite flying at the town's Chiesa Farm conservation area. Participants in the Lex Fly a Kite event can bring their own kite or buy one at the farm for $5. The event will run from 1 to 5 p.m., and parking will be in the Diamond Middle School parking lot off Sedge Road. Revolutionary Revelry, which began May 1, is being held by the Lexington Tourism Committee and a number of other local organizations to celebrate arts, culture, and recreation in the community.