A "perfect storm" of events in Las Vegas over the Presidents' Day weekend led to long lines for Southwest customers at McCarran International Airport on Feb. 19-20. Among the events happening over the weekend were the NBA All-Star game, celebrations for Chinese New Years and the Magic International annual convention, which brought in a record number of travelers.
Skybus last week asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for a temporary waiver on the dormancy restrictions of its operating certificate as it completes its FAA certification process. The carrier won DOT approval on March 14, 2006, but cannot launch service without FAA's endorsement. Usually, if carriers don't launch service within one year of receiving DOT's approval, the agency can revoke its support for dormancy.
Touting its environmental record, EasyJet says its point-to-point service results in lower emissions that a two-flight trip via a hub. EasyJet estimates its direct flights from Berlin to Madrid could result in 19% less CO2 emissions than flying the same route through Paris Orly. It acknowledges, however, that some of its passengers buy combinations of flights if a direct EasyJet flight doesn't exist.
Spirit will continue its Latin American and Caribbean expansion out of Fort Lauderdale with new scheduled service to Peru and Trinidad & Tobago, slated to start in May. Flights to Peru from Fort Lauderdale would begin May 1. Spirit would deploy 144-seat Airbus A319s on routes to Lima and Chiclayo, offering Lima service daily and the Chiclayo flights twice weekly. The low-fare carrier will tread on American's turf with the Lima route, which is also served by Lan Chile, Copa and Lan Peru.
UPS last week set a timeline for deciding if it will go ahead with its order for 10 Airbus A380 freighters, agreeing to give Airbus a decision later this year. The announcement is good news in that its sole customer for the A380 freighter is still on board, but bad news in that a cancellation remains a possibility. UPS said its original A380 order was based on a detailed evaluation of its requirements, and these factors haven't changed. However, the company has been "evaluating various options" since Airbus revealed A380 production delays.
While JetBlue continues its recovery from 1,100 canceled flights from the mid-month storms (see story on Page 4), US Airways is tallying its cancellations. On Feb. 14, cancellations reached 428 for mainline and 1,259 for Express flights -- more than half for that operation. "Employees dealt with stranded and frustrated passengers -- not to mention thousands of bags through the weekend. Nevertheless, customer letters rolled in during the days after, with compliments for employees throughout the Northeast," the carrier said.
Unlike some opponents challenging Virgin America, CEO Fred Reid says that to JetBlue and Southwest's credit, "they would rather try to stop us the old-fashioned way -- in the marketplace -- with both JetBlue and Southwest announcing plans to enter our planned home of San Francisco, rather than lobby DOT or Congress to get us turned down."
An expected rebound in oil prices is leading American to predict that mainline unit costs will drop slightly during this quarter but increase for the full year. Unit costs will likely be down 1.3% in the first quarter from the same period last year, and will rise 1.4% for 2007. These estimates are based on the December forward curve, which indicates a first-quarter fuel price of $1.83 a gallon for the quarter and $2.12 for the full year. -AS
Senior European Union and U.S. officials today are kicking off another round of talks on passenger name record (PNR) data transfer and hope to hammer out a deal before the current interim agreement expires at the end of July. Earlier this month, European ministers failed to agree on a negotiating brief on the issue (DAILY, Feb. 16). A senior EU official told The DAILY that a mandate has been ironed out, although details of the brief were not available at press time. Long-Term Fix
You can now register online for AVIATION WEEK events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) APRIL 17-19 -- MRO Military 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Ga.
Frontier and JetBlue are adopting a few legacy-carrier strategies to handle operational bottlenecks -- such as dropping more flights ahead of bad weather -- in the wake of storms this winter that plagued those airlines' lone hubs and put the two consumer favorites uncomfortably in the headlines.
Delta CEO Jerry Grinstein tells employees the airline needs the feed of its Connection carriers and their aircraft operated at regional carrier costs. "However, we also have to improve the product, so, it means adding first class to the larger RJs." Grinstein also says Delta wants to fly new 100-seat aircraft at mainline with "competitive rates."
Subsidiary SkyWest Airlines names Russell Childs to replace Ron Reber as president and chief operating officer and appointed Eric Woodward VP-controller.
U.K. carrier Zoom Airlines hit back at Delta for questioning its citizenship, calling the airline's objections a "blatant attempt to protect Delta's monopoly position" in the London Gatwick-New York Kennedy market.
Air New Zealand has more than 20 potential international routes under consideration for long-term growth, says Roger Poulton, VP-Americas. The carrier wants to introduce at least one new international destination a year. This year, it plans to launch Auckland-Vancouver seasonal flights in November.
