The annual cost of airline delays has reached $9 billion, twice the entire budget of the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, said U.S. Transportation Dept. Secretary Mary Peters.
Starting Nov. 1, JetBlue will accept only credit and debit cards for inflight purchases. The carrier is using technology supplied by LiveTV to handle the purchase of alcoholic beverages and future inflight offerings.
Lufthansa is adding routes more quickly than expected to its Duesseldorf base. The airline will launch services to six additional European destinations in summer 2008, among them Usedom, Newquay and Jersey.
Dutch government plans to introduce a tax of EUR11.25 on passengers departing from Dutch airports for intra-European flights and EUR45 on intercontinental flights are facing strong opposition from airlines, unions, consumer organizations, private enterprise representatives and tourism organizations.
IATA yesterday reported the strongest growth in both passenger and cargo traffic for the past 16 months. Passenger traffic was up 8.6% in August and cargo demand rose by 6%. Passenger load factor was at 80.3%, 0.9 points higher than last year.
American has added Hawaiian cuisine to its first-class menus on flights to Hawaii, effective immediately, in dishes created by Hawaiian chef and TV host Sam Choy. New offerings include Macadamia nut pancakes, habachi chicken and wasabi salmon. American flies to Honolulu, Kahului, Lihue and Kona in Hawaii.
A six-month pilot program for employee screening is scheduled to begin at six airports in January, depending on how much funding Congress includes for the effort in the final Dept. of Homeland Security FY 2008 appropriation bill.
Lufthansa Technik Tulsa struck a new five-year accord with US Airways to supply technical support for thrust reversers on the carrier's 102 Airbus A319s/A320s.
ExpressJet is protesting the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s denial of the airline's request for confidential treatment of its operating data, arguing that DOT's conclusion that competitors won't use the information is incorrect. The carrier wants confidential treatment of load factors and other data for its new branded flying, reasoning its needs that information withheld for a year to ensure its potential competitors don't have access to the information. (See related story below.)
A second cruise line is about to drop travel agent commissions on airline tickets, which will affect online air bookings. Royal Caribbean, operator of Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, will discontinue its 5% commissions Nov. 1. Carnival Corp., which started the trend, will eliminate the commissions on Oct. 15. Agents represented by the American Society of Travel Agents say they will have to shift to sources of more dependable and affordable air. (DAILY, Sept. 17).
Online leisure and unmanaged business travel in Canada has more than doubled in two years -- worth an estimated C$6.5 billion last year -- and should double again by 2009, a new study by PhoCusWright predicts.
The U.S. could sign its first open-skies deal with a country in the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) -- Croatia. After two days of talks with Croatia in Washington, there are no major obstacles reported to be holding up a deal. The Croatia delegation left with only a few outstanding issues, none of which would be a deal breaker, a government source said. He expects a response within a few weeks to the draft text.
AMR Corp. will continue to improve its debt ratio by prepaying $545 million in aircraft debt in the fourth quarter. The airline will make the move to strengthen its balance sheet by eliminating about $25 million in annual net interest expense. It also will release 16 aircraft used to secure the loan, which was obtained in December 2002 and will mature in December 2012. American Eagle made a $32 million aircraft debt prepayment in the last quarter, bringing AMR's prepayment of debt on its Canadair regional jets to $159 million this year.
The Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC) has cut the price it charges for processing fingerprint and doing name-based background checks for aviation workers by $2 to $27. "It is important to them that we keep real costs low while at the same time increasing the efficiency and functionality of the process to securely vet aviation workers in accordance with federal mandates," said Charles Barclay, president of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), which owns TSC.
Growth in U.S. citizens' travel to Europe is lagging travel to other regions, but is being offset by larger increases in Europeans traveling to the U.S., says Donald Martin & Company in a transatlantic statistical update. Overall traffic in the market soared in August, with the major carriers seeing average increases of 8.9%. In June, the best month this year, visits to the U.S. by Europeans and other non-residents were up 12%. [email protected]
Aeroflot is offering a 3% discount on all tickets reserved or purchased on its Web site. The carrier says it has sold about 80,000 tickets through its Web site in the year to date, with sales totaling US$40 million.
ExpressJet tells the U.S. Transportation Dept. that its flights from Colorado Springs to San Diego, offered as part of its independent flying, are attracting passengers who formerly had to connect through Denver and Phoenix. The new flights "eliminate the need for a connection and require considerably less travel time." The carrier is petitioning DOT to review staff action related to its denial of confidential treatment of ExpressJet's operating data. [email protected]
Vietnam Airlines intends to buy 12 more Boeing 787s after its initial order of four and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for 10 A350-900 XWBs and 20 A321s.
Hawaiian received DOT approval to fly between Manila and Honolulu, and plans to launch flights in March 2008 using 264-seat Boeing 767s. When it requested the agency's blessing, Hawaiian said its service would bring competition to a market served by two carriers -- Northwest and Philippine Airlines (DAILY, Aug. 31). Separately, Hawaiian heads to court this week to try to collect damages from Mesa. Hawaiian believes Mesa used information it obtained during Hawaiian's bankruptcy to develop the model for its inter-island carrier Go.
Pluna, the re-born Uruguayan national airline, is working on a new image and updated passengers services, as reported by DAILY affiliate AvNews Latin America and Caribbean. Pluna retained Australia's Cato Partners to design its new image and branding. Regarding fleet changes, Pluna is adding an additional Boeing 737 NG and changing its existing 757 for a new leased 767 with redesigned business class and better seating. Finally, it has launched electronic ticketing with Sabre throughout the region.
