With Boeing's 787 Dreamliner planes still grounded around the world, analysts are asking how much money the company stands to lose. Carol Hymowitz has been covering Boeing for Bloomberg News, where she's the editor-at-large.

From astronaut flutists to a string quartet played on helicopters, here are five far-out examples of airplanes and aerospace technologies in classical music.

According to the Department of Transportation: "The nation’s largest airlines set record marks during the first half of this year for on-time performance, the fewest long tarmac delays, and the lowest rates of canceled flights and mishandled baggage."

The press release goes on to say: "The 15 largest U.S. airlines posted an 83.7 percent on-time arrival rate during the first six months of 2012, the highest mark for any January-June period in the 18 years the Department has collected comparable data. The previous high was 82.8 percent in January-June 2003."

You can read the full report here.

Also this morning, a department within the DOT (the Bureau of Transportation Statistics) released data breaking out June's on-time numbers by airport. The upshot: you want to fly in or out of Salt Lake City, and avoid Newark. "Salt Lake City (90.59) had the highest and Newark (68.51) had the lowest on-time departure performance of the 29 busiest airports in June."

Other highlights:

• There was one international flight with tarmac time of more than four hours: Air Canada Flight 711 from New York LaGuardia to Toronto, which was on the LaGuardia tarmac on June 25 for 248 minutes before taking off.

• In June, the most delayed flights were: JetBlue Flight 24 from New York JFK to Syracuse and JetBlue Flight 23 from Syracuse to New York JFK. Both flights operated 10 times during the month and were 30 minutes late or canceled 80.0 percent of the time, averaging 81 minutes late.

You can see that data here.

Jad Mouawad, airline correspondent for The New York Times, kicks off the January series on flying and the airline industry with a discussion on how the industry has restructured over the past decade.

Wichita, Kansas has been known as the "Air Capitol of the World" since the 1920s. Building aircrafts for the army and for the jet-set, the city is to airplanes what Detroit is to cars. But, after September 11th, new orders plummeted, and Wichita-based manufacturers cut over 15,000 jobs between 2001 and 2004. The latest blow to the industrial city came on Wednesday when Boeing announced plans to close its Defense, Space and Security facility.

(image courtesy of U.S. DOT)

Airline pilots will fly shorter shifts and get longer rest periods under new rules issued by the  Federal Aviation Administration Wednesday.

The rules update current pilot work schedule regulations -- which largely date back to the 1960s -- to reflect studies on how much time pilots need for rest and an understanding of how travel through time zones and the human body clock's response to light and darkness can affect performance.

"This new rule gives pilots enough time to get the rest they really need to safely get passengers to their destinations,” said FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta.

The new rules come nearly three years after a Colgan Air jet flown by two exhausted pilots crashed outside of Buffalo, killing 49 people -- a day U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called "one of my worst days in this job."

Carriers have two years to adapt to the new rules. The FAA estimated the cost to the industry at $297 million over 10 years.

Cargo carriers -- who do much of their flying overnight -- are exempted from the new rules. The FAA said forcing cargo carriers to reduce the number of hours their pilots can fly would be too costly compared to the safety benefits. The FAA is encouraging cargo carriers to opt into the new rule voluntarily

Congressman John Mica, who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, issued a statement tepidly praising the new rules, but said: "Pilots must take personal responsibility for coming to work rested and fit for duty.  The government cannot put a chocolate on every one of their pillows and tuck them in at night.”

You can read more about the new rules on the FAA's website here.

(Additional reporting from AP)

Delta flight lands safely at JFK after engine failure.

Survivor of Chinese plane crash describes descent, malfunctioning exits on Embraer (LA Times)

Poor Visibility may have caused Alaska crash that killed former Sen. Stevens (WSJ)

China Railway in talks to build $30 Billion South African bullet-train (Bloomberg)

LA mayor backs law requiring motorists to give cyclists three feet on roads (Streets Blog)

Twin Cities asks: Are two tiers of bus service really fair?  (Star Tribune)

LA city officials debate parking regulations that will keep food trucks away from restaurants (KPCC)

With perfect BBQ weather already here, it's an ideal time to dig out your kaftan and get some world music tunes pumping on your stereo. And there’s no one better at making you want to groove and grill than 'Sir' Victor Uwaifo. The 'Sir' is entirely unofficial, but ...

A sound portrait of the world at 6,000 feet from recreational pilots and radio producers Kim Green and Hal Humphreys.