Leaving On a Jet Plane? Check In Here Before Boarding!

Where in the world do you want to go?

Travel guru Rick Steves took us on a whirlwind Grand Tour with your calls and his expertise at roaming the world, which he does on radio, TV, online and in the books and DVDs being made available to folks contributing to KPCC; you can find out all about that at kpcc.org.

Traveling with kids, traveling alone, traveling on the cheap -- he does it all, and he told us all about the best hints and tips for getting the most out of our vacation bucks, especially important since Americans have so little vacation time compared to the rest of the world.

On Monday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's here to size up how the city council may vote on the LAPD budget, and maybe he'll drop a hint or two about what he's looking for in a new chief, after William Bratton, CBE [Commander of the British Empire] departs the scene at the end of the month.

In the meantime, if you haven't shown KPCC some love lately, go to kpcc.org and put your money where your ears are.

How much U.S. dollars does it cost to buy an airplane?

A used Cessna 150 will run you about $25,000. That's a single engine, shoulder wing, 2-seater. It's a "training" plane. As basic as you can get. Cessna's weren't under production for a while. They are again, but not this one.

A used Piper Arrow might be more like $45,000. That's a lwo-wing, single engine, 4-seater.

A used Beechcraft King Air, a nice twin-engine turbo-prop, 6 or 7-seater, might run you more like two and a half or three million.

And if you want to buy new, well, obviously the prices can skyrocket from there. 

Boeing posts $1.6B loss in 3Q on plane charges

Airplane maker Boeing said Wednesday it lost $1.6 billion in its third quarter as charges from its delayed 787 and a new version of its 747 jumbo jet weighed down results. It also slashed its profit forecast for 2009.

Shares of the Chicago-based airplane maker fell $1.29, or 2.5 percent, to $50.60 in pre-market trade.

Weak demand for air travel and cargo services has undermined demand for Boeing's jetliners since the global economy deteriorated late last year. Some customers have been forced to cancel or delay plans to buy new aircraft.

But Boeing, the world's second-largest commercial plane maker after Europe's Airbus, has had its own problems, too: production setbacks have delayed its eagerly awaited 787 and 747-8 jets, resulting in hefty charges.

The company said its quarterly loss amounted to $2.23 per share. During the same period last year, Boeing earned $695 million, or 96 cents per share. A labor strike and problems with suppliers reduced year-earlier profit by 60 cents per share and revenue by an estimated $2.1 billion.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $16.69 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a loss of $2.12 per share on revenue of $17.16 billion. Wall Street estimates typically exclude one-time charges.