transportation department

The Trump administration is backing away from a threat to ban all flights to the U.S. by Chinese airlines

The government is telling airlines and passengers how it will enforce rules governing animals that people bring on planes. The Transportation Department said Thursday that airline employees can bar any animal they consider a safety threat. Airlines, however, can be punished if they ban an entire dog or cat breed, such as pit bulls.

Two people briefed on the matter say the Trump administration is banning U.S. flights to all Cuban cities but Havana in the latest move to roll back Obama-era easing of relations.

The Trump administration miscalculated potential damages from train derailments when it canceled an Obama-era rule requiring the installation of more advanced brakes by railroads hauling explosive fuels, The Associated Press has found. A government analysis used by the administration to justify the cancellation omitted up to $117 million in estimated future damages that could be avoided by using electronic brakes,...

Federal regulators have rejected the idea of setting minimum standards for airline seats and legroom as a safety measure. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that it saw no immediate safety issue that requires new regulations. It cited seven recent accidents in which passengers were able to evacuate.

U.S. airlines are getting better at many things except getting you to your destination on time. They are losing fewer bags. Complaints are down. And on the anniversary of a man getting dragged off a plane because a crew member needed his seat, airlines are bumping fewer passengers. That’s the upshot of a report issued by academics who analyze numbers...

President Donald Trump is donating his fourth-quarter salary in 2017 to the Transportation Department to help address the nation’s infrastructure. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is accepting the check from the president in the amount of $100,000. The donation announced Tuesday in the White House briefing room comes a day after Trump released a plan to rebuild crumbling roads, bridges and...

The railroad industry is playing down expectations that a safety technology that could have prevented recent deadly train crashes will be in operation across the United States by the end of the year. Indeed, freight and commuter rail officials speak as if there never was any plan to complete their work on the technology known as positive train control, or...

The U.S. government is urging the world airline community to ban large, personal electronic devices like laptops from checked luggage because of the potential for a catastrophic fire. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a paper filed recently with a U.N. agency that its tests show that when a laptop’s rechargeable lithium-ion battery overheats in close proximity to an aerosol...

Two aviation officers involved in the infamous United Airlines dragging incident at O’Hare International Airport have been fired from the job, officials revealed Tuesday.

Federal officials have decided not to punish United Airlines over an infamous incident in which a passenger was dragged off an overcrowded plane. The Transportation Department said it found no evidence that United violated the passenger’s civil rights and not enough evidence that it violated rules regarding bumping passengers.

Maryland has launched its pilot program for a phone-based digital driver’s license.

The D.C. transportation department is looking at ways to make New York Avenue safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. News4’s Adam Tuss talks with people about their experiences on the busy road, and what they want the city to do.

Canceled and delayed flights rose in April on the nation’s leading airlines, and so did consumer complaints, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation....
The rate of canceled flights nearly doubled to 1.6 percent in April compared to the same month in 2016. Delta Air Lines accounted for nearly half the cancellations — it was crippled for...

Delta Air Lines scored the best for on-time flights in the latest government rankings, and United and American weren’t far behind. Virgin America had the highest rate of delayed flights, and discount carrier Spirit Airlines drew the highest rate of consumer complaints. The Transportation Department released figures for March on Tuesday. The report covers the 12 largest U.S. airlines.

The airlines are getting better at sticking to their schedules and are losing fewer bags. Their customers seem to be complaining less often. Those are the findings of an annual report on airline quality being released Monday by researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The researchers use information compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation to rate...

A year ago, the U.S. government was campaigning for an international ban on shipments of rechargeable batteries on passenger planes because the batteries can self-ignite, creating intense fires capable of destroying an airliner. “The risk is immediate and urgent,” Angela Stubblefield, a U.S. aviation official, declared then. Today, that urgency has evaporated as safety regulations stall under President Donald Trump’s...

The District of Columbia is beginning its annual campaign to fill potholes.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Friday the government has opened a price-gouging investigation involving five airlines that allegedly raised airfares in the Northeast after a deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May disrupted rail service.