Passengers surge at state's top airports
The state's two largest commercial service airports posted double-digit percentage increases in passenger traffic last month.
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field saw 146,837 passenger departures and arrivals in February, an 11.88 percent jump from the 131,241 passengers in the same month in 2018.
February marked the 12th straight month that Clinton National saw passenger traffic rise compared to the same month a year earlier, said T.J. Williams, the airport's air service development director.
For the first two months of 2019, passenger traffic at Clinton National totaled 300,247, which is 11.26 percent more than the 269,853 recorded in the same period last year.
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport at Highfill reported an even larger increase in passenger traffic in February, 118,105, or 13.74 percent more than the 103,954 reported in the same month in 2018.
The February total helped push total passenger traffic in the first two months of 2019 to 231,996, a 10.94 percent increase over 208,683 passengers Northwest Arkansas Regional saw in the same period last year.
-- Noel Oman
Ex-airline executive named to lead FAA
WASHINGTON -- Stephen Dickson, a former Delta Air Lines executive, was nominated by the White House to become the permanent head of the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency facing scrutiny after two deadly crashes in less than five months.
Dickson was chosen amid calls worldwide for the FAA to explain its approval of the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane, the jet involved in the disasters. Earlier this month, an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed, killing 157 people.
Dickson retired as Delta's senior vice president of flight operations this fall after 27 years at the company. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer, Air Force Academy graduate and F-15 fighter pilot, according to Delta.
The FAA has been run by Daniel Elwell, the acting administrator, since January 2018. Previously, he was the agency's deputy administrator and was appointed to the role by President Donald Trump in June 2017.
Axios reported last year that Trump had toyed with the idea of naming his personal pilot, John Dunkin, to the top FAA position.
-- The New York Times
U.K. fines UBS $37M for years of errors
LONDON -- UBS Group AG was fined a record $37 million by a regulator in the United Kingdom for failings related to 136 million transaction reports between 2007 and 2017.
UBS didn't provide complete and accurate information in connection with about 87 million reportable transactions, and filed reports on another 49 million that weren't required, the Financial Conduct Authority said Tuesday.
"Firms must have proper systems and controls to identify what transactions they have carried out, on what markets, at what price, in what quantity and with whom," said Mark Steward, the authority's executive director for enforcement and market oversight. "If firms cannot report their transactions accurately, fundamental risks arise, including the risk that market abuse may be hidden."
UBS said it was pleased to resolve the issue.
"Although there was never any impact on clients, investors or market users, the bank has made significant investments to enhance its transaction reporting systems and controls," the bank said in an emailed statement.
The authority fined 12 financial institutions for failures in transaction reporting between 2009 and 2015, though the UBS penalty is more than double the highest previous fine.
-- Bloomberg News
Fox Corp. trades; Disney deal finishes
NEW YORK -- Fox Corp., the Fox assets that are not part of Disney's $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets, began trading as a stand-alone company on Tuesday.
The New York company also appointed several people to its board of directors, including former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Chase Carey, a former executive at Twenty-First Century Fox.
Disney's acquisition of Fox assets was set to close at 11:02 p.m. Tuesday, more than a year after the mega deal was first proposed in December 2017.
Fox Corp. consists mainly of Fox Broadcasting, Fox Sports and Fox News. Disney is acquiring the Fox movie business, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox 2000, as well as the rights to the Alien and Planet of the Apes franchises, James Cameron's Avatar and Marvel's X-Men, Deadpool and the Fantastic Four. Disney also gets Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21, with shows including The Simpsons and Modern Family.
Fox Corp. will trade under "FOX" and "FOXA" on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
-- The Associated Press
Asia braces for fall armyworms' arrival
THA MUANG, Thailand -- Fall armyworms, a longtime American pest, are munching their way around the globe, raising alarm now in Asia.
Experts say the insect was first found outside the Americas in 2016, in Africa, where it has infested up to half of some crops of corn, sorghum and millet. It's now spread through Yemen and South Asia to Thailand and China.
The worms can cause damage at all stages of a corn crop, but the worst may be when the larvae, pinky-sized caterpillars turn sweet corn cobs to mush. The incursions of the alien species threaten to upend the balance between costs and returns in Thailand and elsewhere.
In its native regions, from Argentina to northern Canada depending on the season, the bug's natural enemies -- predators, parasites and pathogens such as bacteria or viruses -- help keep it in check. But the new habitats may lack some of those defenses, the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization says.
-- The Associated Press
Court tosses $4M award against Zillow
SEATTLE -- A federal appeals court has thrown out a $4 million copyright infringement ruling against the Seattle-based online real estate company Zillow.
Zillow faced a 2015 lawsuit from Rosemont, Ill.-based VHT, the nation's largest professional real estate photography studio. VHT said Zillow's use of its photos violated VHT's copyright.
A federal jury awarded VHT more than $8 million, an amount a judge later cut in half. Friday, however, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that award and sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Seattle for further proceedings.
In a statement Tuesday, Zillow attorney Ian Crosby called it a major win.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 03/20/2019