Air travel slows in Nov., freight inches up

    INTERNATIONAL air passenger traffic fell by 1.5 percent in November compared with October, although it remained 4 percent up on November 2010, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Friday.

    In its monthly report on air industry activity, IATA said the international travel market had grown only 0.5 percent since May, although domestic air travel had increased more strongly. The international passenger market has grown fastest in Latin America, and the Middle East this year. But Europe has slowed sharply, with year-on-year growth of 4.9 percent in November, barely half the 9.5 percent in the year to date.

    Verizon ditches $2 fee after customer uproar

    VERIZON Wireless has reversed its decision to charge a US$2 fee for telephone and online bill payments, bowing to a storm of criticism from consumers and the U.S. communications regulator.

    The biggest U.S. wireless operator retracted its decision Friday, just a day after it announced the fee for one-time payments, which was to have begun Jan. 15. The consumer victory comes after Bank of America recently decided against a new US$5 monthly fee for debit card users after consumers and lawmakers protested the charge.

    Boeing wins US$3.48b U.S. missile contract

    BOEING Co. beat out Lockheed Martin to retain its position as the prime contractor for the U.S. long-range missile shield, the Pentagon said Friday.

    The U.S. Defense Department said it was awarding Boeing a US$3.48 billion, seven-year contract to develop, test, engineer and manufacture missile defense systems.

    A team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. had vied with Boeing to expand and maintain the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, or GMD, hub of layered antimissile protection. Boeing partnered with Northrop Grumman Corp. to retain the work.