Delta tests face scanners in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS -- Delta Air Lines says it is the first U.S. airline to use facial recognition technology to speed the process of checking baggage.
Four self-serve kiosks for checking bags debuted Monday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, including one that uses facial recognition technology to match travelers with their passport photos.
The new kiosks are only for checking bags and don't replace security lines, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said.
Travelers use their boarding passes to print check-in tags for their bags at the self-serve kiosks. Those with a passport can use the facial recognition feature. A Delta agent will check the IDs of those who don't have a passport. The bags are then loaded onto a belt.
The airline invested $600,000 in the four kiosks being tested throughout the summer, Delta spokesman Ashton Morrow said Tuesday. The self-serve bag drops have the potential to process twice as many customers per hour, according to Delta.
Carl Peterson of Rosemount is a Delta Priority member who flies once a week for his job. He told the Star Tribune that initially he isn't a fan of the new kiosks.
"I'm pretty used to my routine," he said. "I don't see any advantage unless it helps with lines."
Chris Svee of St. Paul was heading to Boston for his job in events catering.
"This will take a little getting used to," Svee said.
The airport is Delta's second-largest hub.
-- The Associated Press
Chicago gets new airport security chief
CHICAGO -- Chicago has hired a new security chief for its airports, including O'Hare International Airport where officers dragged a passenger from a United Airlines plane in April.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said Tuesday that Andrew Velasquez will be managing deputy commissioner for safety and security in charge of O'Hare and Midway international airports.
The city's aviation department said Velasquez will oversee critical emergency responses and coordinate with federal, state and city agencies in addition to managing security at the airports. Chicago Aviation Commissioner calls Velasquez "extremely qualified" for the job given his resume, including managing a team of 1,000 employees at the federal level.
Velasquez's hiring comes two months after the previous head of airport security, Jeffrey Redding, was fired. No official reason has been publicly provided for Redding's dismissal.
-- The Associated Press
New city sought for ex-Pilot staff's trial
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Tuesday called for the trial of the former Pilot Flying J president and members of the sales staff to be moved from Knoxville, where the company is based, to Chattanooga.
The lawyers said they want the federal trial to begin on Oct. 31.
Pilot -- a truck stop chain owned by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam -- has paid a $92 million federal penalty and spent $85 million on a class-action settlement with 5,500 trucking companies in connection with a scheme to cheat customers out of promised discounts and rebates.
Ten former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty. Eight other former employees are going to trial.
-- The Associated Press
Tokyo will close, relocate fish market
TOKYO -- The doors of Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market -- the world's biggest -- are set to close after more than 80 years.
But maybe not for good.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Tuesday that the world-famous site of early-morning tuna auctions will be relocated to an area that used to house a gasworks in the Toyosu district near Tokyo Bay. The metropolitan government plans to then give Tsukiji near the upmarket shopping area of Ginza a face-lift and reopen it to tap into its name recognition, Koike said.
Koike gave no time frame for the move, saying it would take place after discussions with those involved, but said the current market would be redeveloped over the next five years.
The capital's government will also explore whether the fish market can continue to operate in Toyosu, which is equipped with state-of-the-art refrigerating and freezing capabilities. The market's future had been in murky waters since 2001, when the city decided to move it to the Tokyo Bay site. The relocation plan was delayed because contaminated soil had to be removed from the new site -- a process that was completed in October 2014.
-- Bloomberg News
Hyperloop firm, S. Koreans reach terms
CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has struck its first commercial deal: licensing its technology to a Korean consortium whose plans include building a near-supersonic train connecting Seoul to a city about 200 miles away.
Hyperloop is a technology that would use magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, founded in Los Angeles in 2013, raised $30 million from Edgewater Partners last year. Its higher-profile rival, Hyperloop One, also based in Los Angeles, has raised $141 million in equity. Both are based on an idea first promoted in 2013 by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who isn't involved in either company.
The amount of income that Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will make from the project connecting the port city of Busan depends on how much of its technology gets integrated into the transportation system, said Dirk Ahlborn, the company's chief executive officer. It could be as little as zero if none of the supersonic train systems are built by the consortium, which includes a Korean government engineering institute and a university. If several of the company's technologies are used, such as its vacuum, track and capsule technologies, the deal could become lucrative, he said.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies signed the agreement, which could include work on a Seoul-Busan line, with the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology and Hanyang University. The deal encompasses research, testing, licensing and development.
The Korea Railroad Research Institute said in January that it was working with Hanyang University and other groups to build a rapid train system that could reduce travel between Seoul and Busan to as little as half an hour.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 06/21/2017