Merger partners Midwest and Northwest are extending their code-share relationship to Indianapolis. Northwest will carry Midwest’s code on flights from Indianapolis to Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma and Tampa for travel beginning Jan. 8. The code share is in line with an MOU signed by the carriers last year (DAILY, May 18). Northwest and Midwest already code share out of Milwaukee and Kansas City.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s 2008 Travel Trends Survey finds that five of the top 10 international destinations for 2008 are likely to be in Mexico, and travel to cruise ports in general will likely be in high demand.
Kenya’s international airports in Nairobi and Mombassa were open and operating normally yesterday with daily international flights despite riots and genocide following allegations of election tampering.
Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL Airlines over the holidays signed a contract with Boeing to exercise pending options for 34 737-800NG aircraft, and followed up that news with an order for 40 additional units of the same type for delivery between 2012 and 2014. The 74 aircraft are list priced at US$5.5 billion and will increase GOL’s total order to 161 airplanes, allowing for the return this year of 27 737-200s still in operation.
Unions have called off their threatened strike at BAA facilities after the airport authority offered to make changes in its pension scheme. Unions haven’t accepted the BAA offer, but say there is now a door for negotiations. Strikes were threatened for Jan. 15 and Jan. 17/18. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic next week faces flight disruptions, with cabin crew strikes forcing the cancellation of limited flights. Affected are flights on Jan. 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18.
Lufthansa says it will boost hirings this year even after two years of work force increases. The 2008 plan calls for 4,300 new employees to be brought in house, primarily in the airline operation. The carrier says the expansion will include 2,000 cabin crew and 1,000 for passenger service on the ground. Pilot training should reach 360 students. Lufthansa says the numbers will bring its three-year total to 9,785 employees.
Air France-KLM have begun talks with takeover target Alitalia, to hammer out the details of the planned acquisition. The goal is to try to wrap up discussions by the end of February.
Today is the last day for groups to apply for the Dept. of Transportation’s federal task force on developing model contingency plans for airports and airlines to coordinate during extended delays.
American yesterday reported that its 2007 capacity was down by about 2% across the board, although December capacity fell by less than 1% thanks to an increase in international flying. Full-year capacity was down 2.3%, with domestic decreasing 2.6% and international 2%. Traffic dropped 0.7% for 2007, with domestic down 1.3% and international rising by 0.4%. This translated to an overall load factor growth of 1.4 percentage points to 81.5%, with domestic up 1.1 points to 82.8% and international climbing 1.9 points to 79.2%.
Mexico’s Aerolineas Mesoamericanas (ALMA) is the latest low-cost carrier to signal its intent to fly to the U.S., with plans to launch flights from its Guadalajara base to Las Vegas and San Antonio this year. Flights between Guadalajara and Las Vegas would start the second week of February, while San Antonio service would commence in June. ALMA said it would serve Las Vegas three times weekly but did not specify the offer to San Antonio. Bombardier CRJ-200s would be used on both routes [DOT-OST-2007-0124].
Greater airport efficiency and more expansion top the list of a new HNTB Companies survey on how travelers would fix the air transportation system. HNTB surveyed more than 1,000 travelers to see how their wait at the gate could best be improved. Almost 60% favored more efficient security and check-in facilities, while 33% wanted more efficient movement of people within the airport.
Continental is likely to “roughly breakeven” in the fourth quarter, but it could be the only legacy carrier to do so, according to JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker. The industry could post a combined operating loss of $275 million in the fourth quarter – not too surprising considering the industry has recorded a loss in about half of the last 38 fourth quarters, Baker notes.
A Phoenix-based development group has won a three-way battle to upgrade a 13-acre parcel of land on the west side of Las Vegas McCarran Airport. The airport originally asked for a minimum bid of $616,000 a year, which was what the parcel was appraised for, said airport spokesman Chris Jones. “The public auction took place Dec. 18 during the Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting,” he said. Sealed bids were accepted until Nov. 28,followed by an oral bidding process before the [Clark County] commissioners.”
Singapore Airlines Cargo will carry Japan Airlines code on its all-cargo flights on the Singapore-Osaka-Los Angeles route, pending regulatory approval from the U.S. Transportation Dept. The airline told DOT it inked an agreement with the Japanese carrier wherein it will carry the JL code and block space on the flights for JAL cargo. SIA Cargo said it would implement the code share as soon as the nod was received [DOT-OST-2008-0002].
New air traffic control measures implemented in the last few months by Brazil’s civil aviation regulators to avoid congested airports due to flight delays and cancellations during heavy holiday periods worked well during Christmas and New Year. Airport regulator Infraero reported that at major airports only 6.3% of flights were canceled and 8.4% were delayed at the beginning of the Christmas rush. Infraero reported 85% of flights operated normally during the New Year weekend.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. denied a motion from American seeking review of the its decision to weigh putting seven of American’s U.S.-Colombia frequencies up for grabs in the latest proceedings (DAILY, Dec. 10). American had argued that the move by DOT, prompted by the carrier’s decision to shift the frequencies to other routes (DAILY, Nov. 30), was “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion” and suggested the department was moving away from established precedent on frequency allocations.
German antitrust authorities want more time to consider the proposed acquisition of Condor by Air Berlin. The government says the complexity of the deal is prompting the request, which is not atypical in this kind of a deal. Thomas Cook, which is selling Condor, argues it’s merely a routing request.
BMI will double flights between London Heathrow and Moscow Domodedovo airports due to strong demand but is cutting back on some intra-U.K. routes. BMI began operating to Moscow in October 2006, but demand is strong enough that the carrier believes it can add a second flight for point-to-point demand and transfers to its broader network.
Air Comet Chile (formerly Aerolineas del Sur), encouraged by the success of beefed-up service from Santiago to Concepcion, Balmaceda and Temuco last month, on Jan. 12 will launch an additional long-haul flight from Santiago to Puerto Natales, gateway to Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park. The park attracts major flows of ecotourists from overseas. Internationally, Air Comet plans more worldwide connection options from its current routes to Lima and Buenos Aires, both preferred by Chilean passengers.
The U.K.’s Dept. for Transport has given the green light to 21 airports to ease limits on carry-on baggage. Effective Jan. 7, passengers flying out of airports, including Heathrow, Stansted, London City, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, will no longer be limited to one bag past security checkpoints, according to DFT. Limits of 100 ml of liquids, creams and gels are still in effect, and airlines can still set their own rules on bags taken into aircraft cabins.
AirTran Airways has accepted $3 million in cash and additional incentives from the state of Florida to keep its headquarters in Orlando. The carrier has also agreed to build a new Systems Operations Control (SOC) center at Orlando Airport. “We decided to stay mostly because our people like Orlando. It’s been a great base of operations so far, and we wanted to keep the momentum going with the least amount of turbulence,” said spokesman Dave Hirschman.
The launch and growth of several startups increased competition in Mexico’s air transport market in 2007, and some of those startups will figure into the consolidation that industry watchers expect will take place this year, as legacy and low-cost airlines adapt to operate in the new market.
