Flights

A shortage of pilots forced United Airlines to cancel 16 percent of its flights at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago yesterday, creating a wave of delays across the country that inconvenienced thousands of passengers. The cancellations, involving 156 flights, created one of the more serious disruptions in service since April, when United's contract with its 10,000 pilots expired and many refused to fly overtime in protest. Yesterday's difficulties were particularly surprising because United had reduced its schedule of flights by more than 2 percent to ensure that it would have enough pilots.

Traffic at Baltimore-Washington International Airport came to a standstill early yesterday after a water main broke near the short-term parking garage. The water main, a test line that is part of the airport's $1.8 billion construction project, broke at 4:30 a.m. yesterday and was repaired by 7 a.m., said BWI spokeswoman Amy Knight. During that time - among the airport's busiest hours during a typical day - Aviation Boulevard was closed, blocking all driving access to the terminal. Passengers could do little but wait in their vehicles for the road to reopen.

AirTran Airways is looking to make Baltimore a major stop in its flight plan and moved a little further in that direction Tuesday by adding daily flights to New Orleans and Indianapolis. They were the latest of a number of new flights the airline has announced will come to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. In December and February, it will begin flights to the Caribbean, including to Nassau, Bahamas, and Montego Bay, Jamaica. For the first time this year, it will also begin operating flights to Los Angeles year round instead of seasonally.

The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory for the Baltimore area extending through Tuesday morning. Visibility was reduced to an eighth of a mile at BWI as of 4 p.m. Monday. Forecasters warn it could make for another treacherous commute, with visibility reduced to a quarter of a mile or less. Fog also affected the Monday morning commute, with a dense fog advisory in effect Sunday night through Monday morning. The advisory includes Baltimore and the five surrounding counties: Harford, Baltimore, Carroll, Anne Arundel and Howard.

USAir plans to resume its normal flight schedules by Monday after a marathon bargaining session in Washington led to a tentative settlement yesterday between the company and striking Machinists.Voting by union locals was expected to begin today, and union officials predicted that the proposed contract would be quickly ratified.The tentative agreement reached late yesterday morning between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and USAir apparently satisfied both the union's demands about job security and the financially troubled company's need for pay and benefit reductions.

Troubled carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. announced yesterday that it would add dozens of flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, including from Baltimore, in a bid to boost its overseas and cross-country hub. The move will give cities with limited international departures a bit more access to Europe and beyond and potentially improve the fortunes of the nation's third-largest airline, which continues to lose money after filing for...

Just like many politicians, Spirit Airlines has no problem drawing attention to itself. The airline, based in Miramar, Fla., isn't shy about publicity. That's why it makes perfect sense that it would turn Rep. Anthony Weiner's recent Twitter troubles into fodder for a fare sale. Today, Spirit launched the 'Weiner Sale,' with fares starting at $9 one-way, absed on a round-trip purchase. In marketing the sale, the airline, which offers flights from Reagan National, barely showed any tongue in cheek.

No-frills carrier Southwest Airlines launches twice-daily flights from Baltimore to Los Angeles today, marking the first time the Dallas-based company has challenged major hub airlines in the transcontinental market. Best known for its short flights and Spartan service, Southwest says the first of its twice-daily nonstop transcontinental flights are booked, suggesting passengers are willing to forgo assigned seats, hot meals, inflight movies and the relative comfort of a bigger jet if it means paying $99 to fly coast-to-coast.

FORT WORTH, Texas - AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the world's largest air carrier, will eliminate more U.S. flights in the first quarter to better match demand, and might cut more jobs. Flight and seat capacity in the United States and Canada by March will be 3.3 percent lower than a year earlier, American said. Its earlier plan called for a 0.1 percent reduction. The airline will cut flight frequencies on slower days in some markets, said spokesman Al Becker. AMR lost $2.98 billion in the first nine months of this year, as the Sept.

WASHINGTON - Major U.S. airlines completed just 78.6 percent of flights on time in March, their worst showing since August, as air travel recovers after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Transportation Department said in a report yesterday. "The delays are starting to creep back up and congestion is an issue we're going to see rear its ugly head again," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, a consumer group. "Congestion problems will return." Major airlines have cut fares to boost traffic and recover from the attacks and a slump in corporate travel.