Could this be the Amtrak of the airwaves?

Shoestring budget? Check.
Board of directors stuffed with political appointees eager to put their stamp on the company's operations? Yup.
A resultant spottiness of service that leads people to question the company's relevance? Mm hmm.
New chief executive with a lot on his plate? You betcha.

Read this New York Times feature on the Voice of America and see what you think.

Washington Union Station treatment for JFK's TWA terminal?

The iconic TWA building at JFK International Airport closed to air travelers 5 years ago. Now its owners, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are looking for a developer to revive it - not just preserve the shell but bring the spaces back to life.

Where might they look for inspiration?

[Aviation Director William DeCota] said the developer would be responsible for renovating the terminal (this includes asbestos removal), restoring historical elements to “strict maintenance and preservation guidelines,” undoing recent alterations, adapting the building in a “minimally intrusive manner,” finding tenants and operating the new center — whatever it turns out to be. Perhaps the principal model is the commercial redevelopment of Union Station in Washington.

Why Amtrak doesn't serve St. Louis Union Station

It's this simple: The station's owner doesn't want trains there. And may even pull the last tracks out - presumably to make double sure that they won't come back.

NY-DC: The flight that's never on time

Today's Washington Post examines the effects of congestion on short-haul airline service in the East--specifically Delta flight 5283, operated by Comair. "Its average delay: 1 hour and 19 minutes. Actual flying time: 53 minutes."

Your conductor liked this passage, which concluded the piece:

Susan Cypra, a 37-year-old consultant, was on Washington-bound Delta Connection Flight 5283 on Tuesday. She took the same flight a month ago, and it was an hour late, she said.

At first, she said, the flight seemed like a good deal: It left at a convenient time and cost less than comparable trips out of New York's other airport, La Guardia.

But as she sat on the cramped commuter jet and listened to the pilot announce there were 25 planes ahead of them for takeoff, Cypra began to reconsider her decision to fly the country's least punctual flight.

She quickly did the math in her head: The cost and time of a cab ride to the airport, and then time lost in security, waiting at the gate, lingering on the taxiway and finally getting into the air. She arrived in Washington at 8:22 p.m., 50 minutes after the scheduled arrival, according to the airport monitors.

"I'm not going to take this plane again," Cypra concluded as she left the airport. "I'm going to take the train."

Washington Post: Federal money upgrades 86 train stations

One catch: They're in Iraq. "But few trains run because of security concerns."

Northwest's "loss per passenger" $67 last quarter

That's a $1.179 billion loss divided by 17.6 million passengers boarded in the months of July, August and September.

Of course you'll never see a pseudo stat like "loss per passenger" in a Northwest news release or a stock analyst's commentary, and for a very simple reason: It doesn't tell you anything worth knowing. So why do people in the anti-Amtrak crowd still push it?