Delta Airlines is warming up to the ho-ho-ho season early this year with an in-flight safety video chock-full of holiday cheer and seasonal gags.

The video, which features celebrities such as the Abominable Snowman, Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge, is an effort to encourage frequent flyers to pay attention to the “buckle up” speech. It’s the second in a series of funny “pay attention” videos from Delta. Who said airlines are humorless?

The video will begin airing Tuesday on both domestic and international flights aboard 757 and 737 aircraft.  Watch closely for a special cameo of one of TVs most popular game show hosts.

When Delta Airlines added a Lincoln flight to Atlanta in the summer of 2009, one of the biggest complaints was that the schedule set up the flight to fail.

The single daily flight left in the afternoon, which made it difficult for travelers to make connections and get to other destinations the same day.

Delta canceled the flight after only two months, because  passenger numbers did not come in as high as hoped.

This time around,  it appears Delta is setting the flight up for a better chance of success.

Though plans still are being worked out, and Delta has not confirmed the flight yet, Lincoln Airport Executive Director John Wood gave some details to Airport Authority members at Thursday’s monthly meeting.

Wood said Delta plans to start the flight on about June 1 and will use a 65-seat regional jet that will have a small first-class section. Most important, Wood said Delta has told him the flight will have have an early-morning departure, and the return flight will be late at night.

He said Delta officials told him they hoped to have the flight in the company’s reservation system   in December.

The airport has received a $750,000 federal Small Community Air Service Development to provide a revenue guarantee to Delta, but officials are hoping they don’t need it.

Wood said a big factor in the success of the flight would be whether business travelers use it.   “We hope to get a lot of business support,” he said.

Lincoln Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Birdsall said  if Delta does come through with an early-morning departure, there should be a lot of business use of the flight.  “Early morning is the best possible scenario,” Birdsall said.

She said a southern route had been a “big missing component” at the airport, and people in the business community were very excited to learn the airport would be getting Atlanta service.

Wood said  if the flight is successful, Delta officials have told him they will consider adding a second daily flight.

Cover Story: Hoop City 2013: 20 Questions – pt. 1

By Kevin Lipe

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A Seattle-bound Delta Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Pasco early Tuesday morning after an alarm indicated a fire in the cargo hold.

The Boeing 757 was headed to Sea-Tac Airport from Atlanta when the warning light came on in the cockpit.

No fire was found.

The plane landed safely. None of the 152 passengers or crew was hurt.

A new plane was brought in to fly the passengers to Seattle.

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A Seattle-bound Delta Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Pasco early Tuesday morning after an alarm indicated a fire in the cargo hold.

The Boeing 757 was headed to Sea-Tac Airport from Atlanta when the warning light came on in the cockpit.

No fire was found.

The plane landed safely. None of the 152 passengers or crew was hurt.

A new plane was brought in and safely flew the passengers to Seattle.

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Delta Airlines announced on Tuesday that it will reduce the number of peak-day departure flights leaving the Memphis International Airport from 64 to 40, beginning December 3rd.

Delta staff will also be reduced by 312 workers. Employees are being offered retirement or relocation options. The flight attendant base in Memphis will be forced to close.

There’s no word yet on what flights Delta will cut.

“This is not completely unexpected news, but it is nonetheless disappointing,” said Scott Brockman, chief operating officer for the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. “This is also an opportunity to bring additional low-cost air service providers to Memphis, as well as expand service with existing carriers. Southwest Airlines will soon make its debut, and Frontier Airlines has announced its return in March. That’s a good start, but we’re committed to continued, relentless pursuit of additional frequent and affordable air service.”

Earlier this year, Delta announced Memphis would no longer be a hub.

A Seattle-bound Delta Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Pasco early Tuesday morning after an alarm indicated a fire in the cargo hold.

The Boeing 757 was headed to Sea-Tac Airport from Atlanta when the warning light came on in the cockpit.

No fire was found.

The plane landed safely. None of the 152 passengers or crew was hurt.

A new plane was brought in to fly the passengers to Seattle.

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PASCO, Wash., Oct. 22 (UPI) — A Delta Airlines jet made an emergency landing at Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Wash., after an alarm indicating a possible fire went off, officials said.

All 185 people aboard the Boeing 757 were safe, Pasco Fire Department Battalion Chief Thomas Tviet said.

The plane was en route from Atlanta to Seattle Monday, and a second plane was brought into the airport to take the passengers to their final destination, KIRO-TV, Seattle, reported Tuesday.

After the alarm went off in the cockpit indicating a possible fire in the cargo bay, crew inspected the plane and found no evidence of fire, CBS News reported.

Two Delta Airlines flights made unplanned landings Monday night in unrelated incidents.

A Delta flight from Atlanta made an emergency landing at Tri-Cities Airport in Washington state after a false alarm with one of the plane’s cargo bay sensors on Monday night.

The plane was carrying 183 passengers to Seattle when it made the emergency landing, according to local NBC News affiliate KNDU. The flight’s captain said that there was no fire on board the Boeing 757, the station reported.

An indicator light in the plane’s cargo bin went off, Delta Airlines spokeswoman Sarah Lora said on Tuesday. The plane landed as a precaution, she said.

No one was injured in the incident and another plane took the passengers of Flight 2329 to their destination early on Tuesday morning.

In a separate incident on Monday night, a Delta flight to Atlanta returned to Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport after smoke was seen in the area of a coffee machine.

The aircraft’s pilots said there was no indication of any additional fire aboard the plane, according to air traffic control recordings. A smoke extinguisher was used after smoke was spotted “coming from a coffee pot,” a pilot says in the recordings.

None of the plane’s 121 passengers were injured in the incident, according to the Delta spokeswoman. A flight arrived in Atlanta at about 1:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to Delta’s website.

NBC News’ Jay Blackman contributed to this report.