JetBlue's Manager-Route Planning Adam Greene says that currently none of the airline's routes overlap with AirTran's and Southwest's on an airport-to-airport basis. But he cautions that the picture could change since all three airlines have ambitious growth plans.
AirTran's yields continue to be "quite favorable," analysts at Raymond James say, since the airline "appears to be benefiting from a reconfigured revenue management system that better balances fares and load factors to produce maximum revenue."
Nav Canada may be able to begin installing a more complete surveillance system for the Hudson Bay basin within a year, using automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology instead of radar.
Columbus-based Skybus Airlines tentatively won from the U.S. Transportation Dept. certificates enabling it to launch low-fare operations from Columbus to points in both the U.S. and Canada (DAILY, Jan. 30). The certificate award should be finalized before monthend, barring any challenges to the tentative order [OST-2005-20072].
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) MARCH 18 -- Airline Pilot Job Fair hosted by AIR, Inc., Sheraton Gateway Hotel, LAX Airport, Los Angeles, 800-538-5627, www.jet-jobs.com MARCH 20-21 -- ACI-NA Spring Washington Conference, co-sponsored by AAAAE & ACI-NA, L'Enfant Plaze Hotel, Washington, www.aci-na.aero, 202-293-3035, email [email protected]
British Airways last week reported an almost flat load factor for February and said "significant promotional activity" is needed to maintain load factor strength. Passenger load factor increased by just 0.4 percentage points to 71.2%, with capacity growing 3% and traffic 3.6%. The airline said the traffic increase comprised a 7.1% rise in premium traffic and 2.9% growth in the non-premium category.
United and Star Alliance partner Swiss will expand their code share to include Swiss's flights from Zurich to Boston, Miami and New York Kennedy and Swiss flights between Geneva and New York Kennedy. The airlines will launch the code share on March 27 [OST-2005-22464].
Promoted Robert Gray to VP-regulatory compliance and government affairs; most recently he was senior director-regulatory compliance and government affairs.
American's February load factor was up 2.8 percentage points to 75%, due partly to a significant cut in domestic capacity, the airline reported last week. Consolidated traffic increased 2.7%, and capacity was down 1.2%. The 3.5% cut in domestic capacity was partly outweighed by a 3.4% rise in international capacity, following the airline's long-term capacity trend. Domestic traffic was up 2.2% and international traffic 3.7%.
Frontier executives believe the holding company they're proposing to create could lay the foundation for several business ventures, such as setting up international subsidiaries. The airline won board approval earlier this month to set up Frontier Airlines Holdings, and a special shareholders meeting is tentatively scheduled March 27 to vote on the plan.
Appointed John Grisik executive VP-operational excellence and technology, named Jerry Witowski to succeed Grisik as segment president-electronic systems and named Brian Gorato to succeed Witowski as president-sensor systems division, effective March 15.
The Jackson-Madison County Airport Authority is urging the U.S. Transportation Dept. to rescind a tentative order ending Essential Air Service subsidies for McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport, disputing DOT findings that the $200-per-passenger subsidy cap continued to be exceeded after several DOT warnings.
US Airways loses the most bags of the major airlines, according to the latest U.S. Transportation Dept. data, with 8.45 reports per 1,000 passengers in January. The average for the 19 carriers was 6.92, better than in January 2005, with Hawaiian and AirTran losing the fewest bags. The six regional carriers were all the bottom of the ranking, led by Atlantic Southeast, which had 19.47 reports.
Aerolineas Argentinas is expected to win nine new routes from Argentina's department of transportation (ST), sources in Buenos Aires said, while AR subsidiary Austral will not fare as well.
Comair flight attendants last week became the latest labor group to warn of a strike, with union leaders declaring their intent to seek authorization from members to strike if management succeeds in swaying the bankruptcy court to reject their contract. Hearings on the contract are scheduled March 27-29 in New York.
Elected William Daley, chairman of the Midwest region for JPMorgan Chase & Co., to its board. Meanwhile, Gen. John Shalikashvili, retired chairman of the U.S. Dept. of Defense Joint Chiefs of Staff and a director since 2000, will retire from the board this year.
Startup carrier Festival Airlines plans to base its operation at Rockford, Ill., Airport, south of Chicago. The carrier hasn't started the certification process with FAA or the Transportation Dept. but wants to fly Boeing 757s to leisure destinations in Florida and the Caribbean. Thomas Glasgow, former FedEx executive and adviser for Blackwater Capital, is president and chief operating officer.
Unions at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano are banding together in their call for more government involvement in helping to keep the carrier operational (DAILY, Feb. 28), claiming that airline President Ernesto Asbun is incapable of managing the carrier. "As being currently managed by Ernesto Asbun, LAB cannot keep flying for 90 days, Corrective action must be taken at once," said union leader Fernando Machicedo. "The government has to assume full management because Asbun's deficient capitalization and mismanagement could bankrupt the company."
