Hawaiian Airlines last week launched interline electronic ticketing with Island Air for interisland travel. The new e-ticketing agreement further boosts the code-share partnership established between the two carriers in August. "Hawaiian's agreement with Island Air means we have now extended the technology and convenience of paperless ticketing to travelers of all six islands," said President Mark Dunkerley. E-tickets for Hawaiian are scheduled to be available at all domestic travel agencies by end of December.
ATA expects to enter a "fairly robust growth mode" when it has completed its restructuring, airline CEO George Mikelsons says, but "absolutely needs to cut its labor costs" first. New partner Southwest has urged ATA to cut costs, but Mikelsons said it didn't suggest anything that ATA was not already planning.
JetBlue on Jan. 1 plans withdraw from the Sabre global distribution system -- the last GDS the airline used to sell tickets -- as part of its strategy to trim costs wherever possible.
Northwest last week retired its last DC-9-10 from daily scheduled service, marking the last time the type will fly in the U.S. While a few cargo operators will fly the aircraft, another passenger operator is Aero California in Mexico, Northwest says. The airline will hold on to two of the 78-seat planes for flying extra weekend flights through Jan. 2. NW still has nearly 150 larger variants of the DC-9.
AMR Investment Services President Bill Quinn was named winner of Institutional Investor magazine's Award for Excellence in Investment Management for corporate pension funds.
Red tape at India's Ministry of Civil Aviation that has delayed the construction of the new Bangalore Airport by 26 months may cause the airport's building costs to spiral even before the project gets off the ground. Siemens Project Ventures (SPV) Consortium had secured construction for the project at a cost of INR13 billion (US$297 million). The private sector holds a 74% stake in the project, while the Karnataka state government and Airports Authority of India each hold 13%.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will introduce three weekly Airbus A330-300 services to Calcutta, starting Jan. 28. Calcutta is the seventh Indian destination in the carrier's network. The enhanced air services agreement between Malaysia and India gave MAS rights for Calcutta flights. The Malaysian carrier had planned to start flights last April, but Air-India exercised its veto power and the launch was delayed. The Indian flag carrier has the final word as to when foreign airlines can introduce new services into the country.
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation on Friday officially classified JetBlue and Comair as major carriers with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Comair joins American Eagle and ExpressJet in the majors category, and JetBlue joins Southwest and America West as the latest low-cost carrier in the grouping. Including cargo carriers, the list for 2005 now comprises 17 airlines classified as major carriers, according to the DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The bankruptcy hearings on US Airways' 1113(c) and 1114 motions to abrogate its labor accords and retiree insurance benefits finished Friday, with a decision from the judge not expected until Jan. 6.
Embraer's 127 deliveries of 50- and 70-seat jets to airline customers through mid-December far outpace Bombardier's 33, data from Airclaims show. Bombardier is still weighing whether to start competing in the 110- to 135-seat jet market with a new C-Series product line in 2010.
Continental says it will save $22 million from labor cost cuts for the airline's reservation agents and Chelsea catering employees. The carrier said work rule changes reduced the size of wage cuts, and benefits will also be reduced. Combined with cost cuts for management and clerical staff announced previously, Continental now has $70 million of the $500 million it wants to shave from total labor cost.
DHL will lift its Domestic Air Express and International Express rates by 2.9% next year. A 3.4% increase keeps pace with rate hikes "throughout the express and parcel shipping industry," but this will be offset by a 0.5% cut to DHL's indexed fuel surcharge.
Singapore-based regional low-fare airline Jetstar Asia, which launched daily flights to Taipei last Thursday, plans to fly to another destination in Taiwan -- Kaohsiung -- within the next six months. (See related story on Page 6.) Jetstar is the first low-fare airline to offer flights to Hong Kong and Taipei and Chief Operating Officer Con Korfiatis says the carrier will extend its network to cover Manila, Shanghai, Jakarta and Surabaya next month. -WD
ExpressJet has taken delivery of two more Embraer regional jets this month, bringing total 2004 deliveries to 21. CEO Jim Ream says ExpressJet also plans to add another 21 planes to its 245-aircraft fleet in 2005. Deliveries of the last eight Embraer jets on firm order are scheduled for the first half of 2006.
South African Airways plans to start new service to Washington Dulles as early as summer 2005 in preparation for joining Star Alliance, says CEO Khaya Ngqula. He told The DAILY in Bangkok that SAA will keep its existing service to New York and Atlanta for the time being. The carrier faces some technology and regulatory hurdles before it joins Star, but it hopes to become a member by the end of next year..
Delta is "looking carefully" at whether subsidiaries Atlantic Southeast or Comair should remain part of the company or be sold off, says CEO Jerry Grinstein. Both regional carriers are valuable, he told the Wings Club in New York, "but they are also assets." While executives made clear nothing is imminent, Grinstein says, "We don't have to own them to get the benefits from them."
L-3 Communications Security & Detection Systems sold several of its multi-view tomography (MVT) explosives detection systems to Australia's Qantas Group, the Woburn, Mass.-based company said yesterday.
Mexicana is beefing up its Mexico-U.S. service, with plans to add a new nonstop flight between Las Vegas and Los Cabos, Mexico. Mexicana is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Transportation Dept. for the new service, but it announced its plans this week, saying the it would operate the two-hour 35-minute flight three times a week using Airbus A319 aircraft configured for 12 executive and 108 coach seats.
