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Air travel is never particularly glamorous, but nowadayswith long lines, cramped seats, and the larger prospect of flight cancellationsit feels less appealing than ever. A recent survey by the travel site Expedia found that 55 percent of Americans find commercial flight “more daunting than filing taxes or visiting the dentist.”

One smaller airline is thriving by giving customers a better experience at a price comparable to the major carriers’. Naturally, the larger companies are petitioning the federal government to shut it down.

Rather than big commercial jets flying out of major airports, the regional airline JSX flies smaller planes that look like private jets out of smaller private terminals. Most flights, like its popular Burbank to Las Vegas route, last only a couple of hours, though it also offers a flight from Miami to New York.

At the smaller terminals, passengers walk right out onto the tarmac to board the plane and don’t have to go through Transportation Security Agency (TSA) checkpoints. In fact, JSX checks passengers against the TSA pre-check database ahead of time and brags that travelers can show up as little as 20 minutes before departure. This saves more than just time: Passengers on flights that require TSA checkpoints pay for them with a per-ticket fee. JSX fares run from $300 to $800, roughly equivalent to a commercial flight and cheaper than a first-class ticket.

JSX gets away with this by taking advantage of a loophole in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations: Flights with 30 or fewer passenger seats can be classified as “public charters” and therefore aren’t subject to the same rules. The carrier won FAA approval to operate as a public charter in 2016; its original fleet consisted of 37-seat passenger jets from which it removed seven seats, meeting the FAA maximum and giving passengers extra legroom. Ticket prices include drinks, snacks, WiFi, and checked bags.

Passengers are thrilled: Last year, JSX was the only regional airliner in the world to win a five-star rating from the American Passenger Experience Association, winning top honors for the third year in a row. A Forbes contributor called JSX flights a “new, simple, and wonderful solution” to air travel woes.

But not everybody is pleased. In May, American Airlines asked the Department of Transportation (DOT) to “provide regulatory clarity,” charging that JSX’s business model “degrades our nation’s aviation system and distorts competition.” Southwest Airlines said that “there needs to be one level of safety for anyone flying on a scheduled passenger carrier.” The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), the world’s largest pilot union, accused JSX of “abusing a loophole that should be closed in the best interest of safety.”

In August, the FAA announced that it would consider changing the regulations that let JSX operate, declaring that it “intends to initiate a rulemaking to address the safety risks.”

The major carriers’ complaints are not persuasive. American may claim that JSX “distorts competition,” but there’s nothing stopping Americanor any other airlinefrom doing the same thing, offering short-hop flights on smaller planes that passengers can get to and from quickly. Yet the company prefers to complain that an upstart has found a way to eat into its market share without spending as much money as would be required to operate as a major carrier.

ALPA doesn’t like that JSX is exempted from regulations like the “1,500 hour rule,” which says pilots and co-pilots must have at least that many hours of flight experience before they can fly commercially, plus regulations on how much downtime a pilot must have between flights. But Gary Leff of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center points out that JSX has “30,000 hour captains mentoring sub-1,500 hour co-pilots.” And since they are “largely one and two hour flights,” the company’s “pilots mostly sleep in their own bedsfar better for fatigue than at nearly all” major carriers.

In an email seen by Reason, JSX CEO Alex Wilcox asked customers to submit public comments to the FAA opposing new regulations. Wilcox called the effort “a brazen attempt to regulate JSX out of business” and said that “JSX has a flawless safety record and far exceeds applicable safety, security, and regulatory standards.” He has also told The Dallas Morning News that “not once in our nine-year operating history has anyone at TSA, FAA or DOT ever raised any concern with the way in which we operate.”

In his email to customers, Wilcox notes that in Dallas, where American, Southwest, and JSX are all headquartered, “American has an 86% market share at [Dallas Fort Worth International Airport] and Southwest has a stunning 96% market share” at Dallas Love Field Airport. He accuses American and Southwest of operating a “de facto duopoly in Dallas that they surely want to preserve. That they’d stoop to trying to convince regulators and lawmakers that safety is in jeopardy, in order to maintain their duopoly, is shameful.”

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Bell uses overtime to win 10th NASCAR Cup race

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3 hours ago

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February 25, 2025

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Bell uses overtime to win 10th NASCAR Cup race

  • Associated Press

Feb 23, 2025, 08:03 PM ET

HAMPTON, Ga. — Christopher Bell edged Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson in overtime Sunday in another close NASCAR Cup Series finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bell led only the final lap in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and had a slight edge on the outside when the caution light came on in overtime after a wreck by Josh Berry.

“That last lap of the race we were at our best,” Bell said.

The 30-year-old Oklahoma driver has 10 career Cup victories.

Austin Cindric led in his Team Penske Ford before he and William Byron, the Daytona 500 winner last week, wrecked with three laps remaining, setting up the overtime.

Kyle Busch finished seventh, ending his hopes of snapping a winless streak in the Cup Series. Busch won the Atlanta Truck Series race Saturday but is still looking for his first Cup win since 2023 after having his NASCAR-record 19-year streak with at least one win end last year.

Larson failed to finish the past four and five of the past six Atlanta races and was involved in accidents in each of the six.

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates claimed the spotlight in NASCAR’s first two weeks. Chase Elliott won The Clash on Feb. 2 before Byron avoided late wrecks to win the Daytona 500.

Larson’s string of bad luck ended Sunday after he qualified only 17th. Larson, the 2021 Cup champion, surged late to win the second stage.

WRECKS FOR ELLIOTT, SUAREZ

Elliott was in the top 10 when his Hendricks Motorsports Chevrolet hit the wall late in the second stage and then hit Brad Keselowski‘s RFK Racing Ford, ending Keselowski’s race. Elliott finished 18th.

Daniel Suarez, who edged Ryan Blaney and Busch in a thrilling three-wide finish in Atlanta’s 2024 February race, had his hopes for a repeat win end when he was involved in a seven-car crash early in the third stage. Cole Custer, Ty Gibbs, Cody Ware, Noah Gragson and J.J. Yeley also were involved.

Blaney was in contention before his late one-car spin caused a caution, but he rallied to finish fourth.

SHARP DRESSED MAN

Billy Gibbons, the lead guitarist and singer for the rock group ZZ Top, served as the grand marshal and gave the “start your engines” command.

NEW DEAL FOR HEIM WITH 23XI

The 23XI Racing team announced a multiyear deal with Corey Heim as a development driver. Heim will drive a limited number of Cup Series races in the No. 67 Toyota and also will compete in Xfinity races, including next week at Circuit of the Americas. His first Cup race with the new deal will be at Kansas Speedway on May 11.

Heim made three Cup starts for 23XI last year and has a Truck Series win at Daytona this year. He finished 23rd in Saturday’s Truck Series race in Atlanta.

UP NEXT

The Cup Series moves to Austin, Texas, and Circuit of the Americas next Sunday.

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Hill wins Xfinity, maintains dominance at Atlanta

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3 hours ago

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February 25, 2025

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Hill wins Xfinity, maintains dominance at Atlanta

  • Field Level Media

Feb 22, 2025, 11:22 PM ET

HAMPTON, Ga. — The Atlanta Motor Speedway is Austin Hill‘s home track, and the Georgia native proved again Saturday night that he absolutely “owns it.”

Hill dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 on the Atlanta high banks, leading 146 of the 163 laps to claim his first victory of the early 2025 season while driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sponsored by the race’s title sponsor.

Hill has won four of the past six Atlanta races — the last three consecutively and five in all — including a sweep of both events last year. Although his laps led total is impressive, he really had to work for this trophy after losing the lead briefly on a restart with three laps to go.

With a timely tap on the rear bumper of Hill’s Chevrolet from Parker Retzlaff, Hill was able to push forward and take the lead entering the first turn on the final lap. He held on to the win by 0.216 seconds, having to fend off reigning series champion Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing’s veteran Aric Almirola, who both led at various times on the final restart.

“Thank you to Parker Retzlaff for giving me that push, and then once I got clear and into [Turn] 1, I was just wide open and I was hoping they weren’t going to build up momentum,” Hill said. “To be able to do this is something special.”

Hill’s five Xfinity Series wins at Atlanta tie a record set by former Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. His eight wins at drafting tracks tied a series record with a pair of NASCAR Hall of Famers: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.

Hill swept the two stage wins for the second time in as many races this year.

With teammate Jesse Love fastest in qualifying, RCR swept the pole and race wins for the second time. No other team has won a pole position or hoisted a trophy in 2025. It also marks the 99th Xfinity Series victory for NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Childress’ team.

Hill and Love led all but four laps in the race.

This is Hill’s 11th career win, and after holding the point for the vast majority of the race, he ultimately earned it the hard way — a last-lap pass.

“He definitely had the dominant car, but I thought we might snooker one away,” Almirola said of racing Hill in those final three laps. “But it just wasn’t meant to be.”

JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and Big Machine Racing rookie Nick Sanchez rounded out the top five.

A final-lap accident on the backstretch created chaos for several of the night’s most consistent top-10 front-runners.

Jeb Burton, rookie Daniel Dye, Leland Honeyman Jr., rookie William Sawalich and Harrison Burton ultimately rounded out the top 10 at the checkered flag. Kaulig Racing rookie Christian Eckes earned the fastest lap bonus point.

With the victory, Hill takes a one-point lead over Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed, who was eliminated from a top-10 finish in that multicar accident on the last lap and placed 14th. Love, last week’s Daytona winner, finished 16th.

The Xfinity Series returns to competition next Saturday in the Focused Health 250 at the Circuit of the Americas road course. Former Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

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Briscoe aims to move past penalties in Atlanta

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3 hours ago

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February 25, 2025

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Briscoe aims to move past penalties in Atlanta

  • Associated Press

Feb 22, 2025, 02:04 PM ET

HAMPTON, Ga. — A massive fine left Chase Briscoe facing a huge points deficit heading into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Even so, Briscoe insists he feels no new pressure. He said he already felt an urgency to win this week because those are the expectations at Joe Gibbs Racing, his new NASCAR home.

“I feel like I’m in a must-win situation just starting at JGR,” Briscoe said Saturday. “Like you need to be winning at JGR. … So yeah, I don’t feel like it changes anything from that standpoint.”

Ryan Blaney won the pole on Saturday for Sunday’s race. Two other Team Penske drivers, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, will start second and fourth, respectively.

“Hopefully the first stage you can control, but it’s not going to stay that way the whole race,” Blaney said of the potential for the teammates to help each other.

Briscoe won the pole for last week’s Daytona 500 and finished fourth before NASCAR announced Wednesday that its inspection found Briscoe used a modified spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota in time trials. Joe Gibbs Racing was docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 playoff points and fined $100,000. Also, crew chief James Small was suspended for four races.

Small is still coordinating Briscoe’s plan for Sunday’s race as the team appeals the devastating penalties. Briscoe was left with negative 67 points and dropped from 10th to 39th in the standings.

“You know, if we don’t win the appeal, you’ve kind of used up your mulligans,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe acknowledged that he “bummed” on Wednesday before realizing he had to approach the Atlanta race with the same goal for his No. 19 Toyota.

Daniel Suarez won in Atlanta last February, edging Blaney and Kyle Busch in the race’s closest finish. Suarez beat Blaney by only 0.003 seconds, the narrowest margin at any 1.5-mile track.

Logano won Atlanta’s second race last year in the opener of the NASCAR playoffs.

Briscoe qualified 25th in his Toyota. Suarez will start 29th.

Josh Berry qualified third as Ford drivers earned 10 of the top 11 spots in the lineup. Busch qualified sixth in his Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

Hendrick drivers aim for 3 straight wins

Chase Elliott, who won in Atlanta, his home track, in 2022, opened this season by winning the Clash. Byron will start 16th, Kyle Larson will be 17th and Elliott 19th as Hendrick Motorsports drivers will be looking for a third straight win to launch the season.

The last year a team won the Clash and the first two points races was in 1997 when Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon swept the first three races.

Preece looks to stay grounded

Ryan Preece, who will start 11th, said “I feel fine” following a scary crash at Daytona in which his No. 60 Ford became airborne and flipped. It was the second time his car flipped at Daytona, following another terrifying crash in 2023 that left him with two black eyes the following week.

Preece had no black eyes Saturday but said he hopes he doesn’t have another similar scare.

“I joke with my wife that I’m like a cat with nine lives right now,” Preece said. “You don’t want to use all nine of them.”

New iron man

Martin Truex Jr., who retired from full-time racing after last season and finished 38th in the Daytona 500, will have his Cup Series-leading streak of consecutive starts end at 685, the sixth longest all time. The streak began at the 2006 Daytona 500.

Logano will take over the longest active start streak in the Cup. Atlanta is his 578th consecutive race.

TV ratings slam dunk win

NASCAR celebrated its TV ratings win for last week’s Daytona 500, despite a lengthy rain delay. The Daytona 500 telecast on Fox earned a 3.42 household rating with an average of 6.8 million viewers to finish ahead of the NBA All-Star Game and the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off game between the United States and Canada.

The rating excluded the rain coverage during the delay of more than three hours. NASCAR said the rain delay coverage averaged 4.95 million viewers and if considered as a separate event would have ranked as the week’s No. 2 telecast, behind only the Daytona 500.

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