Southwest Adding Service In Florida, St. Louis

Southwest Airlines announced today that it will begin service to the new airport in Panama City, Fla., in May 2010 and that it is expanding again in St. Louis.

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Southwest Introduces ‘Green’ Jet

Southwest Airlines is flying a jet refurbished with lightweight, recycled cabin materials from Dallas to Seattle today.

The Boeing 737, which Southwest calls  its “green plane,”  is 520 pounds lighter than the airline’s standard jet. It doesn’t sound like much — the equivalent of just a few hefty passengers — but it will save 10,000 gallons of fuel a year, and cause a corresponding drop in carbon emissions, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced at the airline’s Media Day in Dallas.

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NTSB Urges Sleep Apnea Screening

The National Transportation Safety Board believes that airline pilots should be screened for sleep apnea, along with truck and bus drivers, train engineers and merchant sailors, the Associated Press reports.

The NTSB cited several incidents involving drivers and pilots with sleep apnea, including one last year when two go! airlines pilots fell asleep for at least 18 minutes and cruised over their destination at Hilo, Hawaii.

The Associated Press cites a study that found that at least 7 percent of Americans have at least some form of sleep apnea.