Airline bookings up at Vail; Pension cuts needed for JAL survival?; Southwest traffic up

Airline bookings up at Vail; Pension cuts needed for JAL survival?; Southwest traffic up

Like this story? Share it with Yahoo! Buzz

Here is the weekend news round-up. It includes recent aviation-related stories posted on USATODAY.com. The stories listed below include only those not already covered in the Today in the Sky blog.

Click on the headline links to see more details.

Vail airport officials encouraged by advance bookings

AP: Vail business leaders are cautiously encouraged by an increase in winter season advance bookings to Eagle County Airport. Terminal manager Chris Anderson says winter flight bookings are up 4.5% from last year. The airport has added a weekly Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit and another day of service from Miami since it finished a runway extension this summer. Last year, the airport saw a 3% drop in early bookings from 2007.

LOCAL REPORT: Winter flight bookings lift off in Vail (Vail Daily)

RELATED LINK: Aspen to see boost in flights for ski season (The Aspen Times)

Japan Airlines' survival may hinge on pension cuts

Reuters: JAL's pension shortfall, which it estimated at 330 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in March, is threatening to push Asia's largest airline into bankruptcy unless its 9,000 retirees are forced to have their payouts cut, lawyers and analysts said.

Southwest Airlines traffic inches higher in October

AP: Southwest Airlines said Thursday traffic in October rose a modest 1.9% even as the discount carrier aggressively cut flights, so there were fewer empty seats than a year ago.

LOCAL REPORT: Southwest Airlines passenger loads set October record (The Dallas Morning News)