News from Travel Technology Update:
The mini-explosion of new travel meta search players has occurred largely in the leisure market. But a young company called Enable Solutions is setting its sights on the business traveler. Its product, dubbed mySmartTrip, is designed to accommodate business travelers' needs as no other travel meta search engine does, according to Stephen Joseph, chief executive officer. But it has another salient feature that might make suppliers sit up and take notice: It costs them absolutely nothing.
China Eastern Airlines took delivery of its first two 737-700s that have been modified for operations at high-altitude remote airports such as Lhasa and Bangda. The modifications include 1 hr. of additional emergency oxygen supply and enhancements to the cabin pressure control system that allow operations at airports located at up to 14,500 ft. CEA's Yunnan subsidiary operates 737-300s, 737-700s and 767-300s in domestic and international services. It has ordered four 737-700s with the modifications, all of which are leased from ILFC.
Air Bosnia, which went bankrupt nearly two years ago, resumed services last week. The airline, which is majority controlled by the government, is expected to be renamed BH Airlines and plans to operate to Turkey, Switzerland and Germany. It operates two 66-seat ATR 72s. It agreed last month with Hypo Alpe Adria bank on a settlement for most of its 20 million marka ($12.4 million) debt.
Malev launched an online booking service for its business customers that will offer discounts on published fares, specified routes and booking dates as a percentage or fixed amount, benefiting small to medium-sized businesses. Separately, Amadeus announced the successful implementation of Amadeus Electronic Ticket Server at Malev.
Air Mauritius placed an order for three CFM56-5C4/P-powered A340-300Es, with deliveries to begin in the last quarter of 2006. The airline also took two options. The aircraft will be configured with 36 premium-class seats and 264 seats in economy. At present, the carrier's fleet includes five A340-300s and two A319s for its long- and medium-haul routes respectively.
Continental Airlines will begin new weekly nonstop service between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles Dec. 16 using a 737 in a two-class configuration.
Singapore Airlines will launch a six-times-weekly service between Bangkok and Tokyo in September, giving travelers the option of stopping off in the Thai city en route to Japan or Singapore.
Airlines won another round in their continuing legal battle to keep deep venous thrombosis from being classified as an "accident" for which they may be found liable under international aviation law. Last Thursday, the High Court of Australia upheld an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court of Victoria that dismissed a lawsuit brought by a passenger who claimed he developed a case of DVT that led to a stroke on a roundtrip journey between Australia and the UK in 2000.
Republic Airways Holdings, parent of Chautauqua Airlines, will purchase 10 Embraer 170s and assume leases on 18 others belonging to US Airways, along with other assets, for around $100 million, the carriers announced last week. The aircraft will be flown in the US Airways Express codeshare network. They currently are operated by MidAtlantic Airways, a US Airways subsidiary, which will be shut down, ATWOnline has learned. Half of the pilot positions for the new aircraft will be allocated to furloughed US Airways crews under the existing Jets for Jobs protocol.
Air New Zealand launched a broad reform of its long-haul fare structure that offers significantly lower prices while eliminating many restrictions such as minimum and maximum stays and weekend stay requirements. At the same time, the fares are priced to encourage customers to purchase in advance, said Gus Gilmore, ANZ VP-The Americas. Under the new Advance Deal policy, "Our lowest fares will be available further out," he told ATWOnline.
British Airways will increase its fuel surcharge today owing to high fuel prices. The long-haul surcharge on tickets sold and issued in the UK will rise from £16 ($29.16) to £24 per sector, while the short-haul surcharge goes from £6 per sector to £8. "The continuing rise in global oil prices to almost $60 a barrel means a further surcharge increase is regrettably unavoidable. We now expect our fuel bill for this financial year to be around £1.6 billion," Commercial Director Martin George said.
UK Civil Aviation Authority report on the impact of granting fifth freedom passenger services to foreign airlines at regional airports (not London) concluded that the balance of benefits to the UK from greater liberalization of fifth freedoms to and from those airports is "likely to be positive." CAA's assessment, which is based on seven representative case studies, admitted that the different stakeholder groups are affected in different ways, with consumers and airports benefiting while UK airlines will be affected negatively.
America West Airlines and US Airways moved one step closer to a merger after the US Dept. of Justice cleared the proposed venture last week. "The Antitrust Division has concluded that the proposed merger of America West and US Airways would not reduce competition, and therefore has decided to close its investigation without issuing requests for additional information," DOJ said in a statement.
Lufthansa Systems CEO Wolfgang Gohde announced Friday the global launch of a comprehensive solution called Future Airline Core Environment as LHS positions itself as a full-service IT provider of future-oriented applications in a rapidly evolving business environment. The new product, which Gohde claimed will deliver "significant cost savings" for airlines, supersedes the widely used Lufthansa Systems MultiHost passenger system.
FAA Air Traffic personnel at the Dallas/Fort Worth Terminal Radar Approach Control Center "systematically covered up operational errors" for several years but FAA now has corrected the situation, the US Office of the Special Counsel stated Friday. OSC became aware of the activity through the actions of an 18-year air traffic controller at the facility who told the office that many incidents of separation errors were neither reported nor investigated. The DOT Office of the Inspector General was asked by OSC to investigate and confirmed that the controller's allegations were true.
Rush by Indian Airlines to buy aircraft is continuing with Air Sahara announcing that it intends to order 40 airplanes for delivery over the next five years to bring its fleet to 65. They likely will be 777s and 737s. Last week, Air Sahara announced plans to begin daily services between Delhi and London from September/October with two 777-200ERs leased from ILFC for five years.
National Mediation Board ordered a recess in UPS's labor negotiations with its pilots, represented by the Independent Pilots Assn., the airline announced. There can be no strike or work stoppage while the parties are in recess.
KLM reached a collective labor agreement with the unions representing its ground and cabin staff for the period spanning Jan. 1, 2005, to April 1, 2007. The accord includes a phased and structural wage boost of 2.75%, with a one-off increase of 4% for July 2005. The parties also agreed to an adjustment of the rules regarding other social provisions such as pensions and health insurance. Additionally, they agreed to fill in further specifications on the different rosterings before Jan. 1, 2006.
SITA INC won a five-year, $7 million contract for IT support to baggage management at London Gatwick following a competitive tender. BagManager allows the three ground handlers--Aviance UK, Groundstar Gatwick and Servisair/Globeground---and any of the 80-plus airlines using LGW to run an automated reconciliation system of baggage through the North and South Terminals using some 250 wireless handheld scanners. The system is expected to handle 10 million bags in 2005 and will be scaled up to match expected growth over the next five years.
Pratt & Whitney achieved European Aviation Safety Agency engine validation of its PW6000, which will power the A318. Pratt said the engine is on track to be certified for use on the aircraft in October.
Adria Airways and Air France Industries announced that Adria will perform maintenance work on A319, A320 and A321 aircraft for AFI. This year, Adria's technical maintenance center will service 10 aircraft for AFI.
Air Transport Assn. member airlines flew 58.82 billion RPMs in May, up 7.2% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.3% to 74.65 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 78.8%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 6.5% to 274.26 billion, ASMs grew 2.7% to 357.79 billion and load factor gained 2.7 points to 76.7%.
Declining growth rates will take a mounting toll on European low-cost carriers, according to an analysis by McKinsey & Co. presented Thursday in Frankfurt. Lucio Pompeo, author of the study, stated that the booming industry is at a crossroads; "Few will survive," he warned. The study cited three reasons for falling LCC profitability: Increasingly saturated markets, aircraft orders exceeding likely demand and the growing competition among scheduled airlines, charter companies and LCCs.
Rockwell Collins sensors, radar and satellite communications were selected by Shenzhen Airlines for its six new A319s/A320s. The agreement calls for an option on 14 additional aircraft with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2006. Rockwell was selected by China Eastern Airlines to provide sensors and radar equipment on 20 new A330s with deliveries beginning next year. Rockwell's GLU-920 Multi-Mode Receiver and WXR-2100 MultiScan Hazard Weather Detection System are included in the avionics package.
