Boeing's International Association of Machinists on Tuesday opened contract talks. The current labor agreement expires Sept. 1. The contract covers 25,000 union members in Kansas, Oregon and Washington State who build airplanes for Boeing. Chief IAM Negotiator Dick Schneider said the company has eliminated more than one-third of the IAM membership jobs since the 1999 contract.
Continental inked an exclusive three-year deal with Hotels.com, tying together the carrier's four call centers and those of the discount lodging specialist. Continental's domestic reservations agents will be able to transfer passengers to Hotel.com's agents, enabling Continental travelers to book flights and discount lodging with a single phone call.
Northwest yesterday launched an upgraded feature on its web site, allowing customers to make reservation changes and complete electronic ticket exchanges online at the carrier's site. The new functionality also includes fares purchased online. "This feature gives customers the self-sufficiency they've asked for," said Al Lenza, VP-distribution and e-commerce.
United's wage concessions are "unimpressive," according to JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker. "Proposed near-term wage reductions followed by big raises don't excite us." If ratified, 2005 wages will be higher than under the current contract," Baker said. The concessions are "more of a Band-Aid than the surgery we would have liked to see."
Japan Airlines plans to resume its two weekly roundtrip flights on the Tokyo-Delhi route June 27. Flights have been suspended since June 13 as a result of the "tense political situation" between India and Pakistan.
US Airways and Caribbean regional carrier Nevis Express will launch a code share deal July 15 to offer daily connecting service to Nevis and St. Kitts via San Juan. Nevis operates 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft. It will link with US Airways' daily flights serving San Juan from Charlotte and Philadelphia and weekend service from Pittsburgh. The deal with Nevis is part of US Airway's GoCaribbean initiative, a marketing venture announced this month. -DM
American yesterday said it will go to 100% electronic ticketing in the next 18 months to cut costs and streamline the airport process, and plans to begin charging customers $20 for a paper ticket if the customer qualifies for an e-ticket.
With many key labor and revenue provisions unsettled, United yesterday filed with the Air Transportation Stabilization Board for a $1.8 billion federal guarantee backing a $2 billion loan, describing itself as "the perfect candidate" for the program. United said its "strong and viable business plan," together with concession packages involving management and pilots, should give ATSB confidence the carrier can repay the loan.
Alenia Aeronautica has sent 15 executives to insolvent aircraft manufacturer Fairchild Dornier to expedite a technical and commercial evaluation of some of its business units (DAILY, June 19). The Italian aerospace company, a Finmeccanica subsidiary, is expected to make a decision in principle on whether to proceed with formal offers for Fairchild Dornier units in two to three weeks, according to sources.
KLM, following its strategy of forming regional alliances, entered a cooperation deal with Spanish carrier Air Europa. The airlines will open each other's frequent flyer programs and introduce code-sharing services operated by Air Europa. The carrier will provide connections from Madrid and Barcelona to Bilbao, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Malaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Seville and Tenerife, starting July 1; reciprocal frequent traveler recognition becomes effective Aug. 1.
The full House Transportation Committee tomorrow will mark up a bill that would arm pilots in the cockpit and another that would expand Chicago O'Hare that was introduced by Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) earlier this year. Members are expecting an amendment regarding development of an airport at Peotone, Ill. Details were not available yesterday. The bill reflects a deal reached between Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a democrat, and Illinois Republican Gov. George Ryan. Legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) remains on the Senate floor.
A group of leading airline industry figures is attempting to gather support for a coalition that will press for legislative changes to the current system of airline labor negotiations. Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists has undertaken its own campaign opposing such efforts.
A representative of the attorney general's office of the Canton of Zurich inquiring into the collapse of Swissair collected documents last week from international consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers and from Credit Suisse Chairman and CEO Lukas Muehlemann, a former board member of Swissair. The representative denied allegations according to which Muehlemann was subject to a "house search." Collecting documents on a voluntary basis "is part of the normal procedure," he said. -MT
Horizon Air last week became the latest carrier to offer a passenger guarantee their airport experience will be quick and painless. The Alaska Air subsidiary launched the Express Line Guarantee for Horizon Shuttle passengers traveling between Seattle and Portland. Passengers are guaranteed to get to security screening in five minutes or less, or else they will receive 1,000 frequent flyer bonus miles.
Qantas expects to surpass its 2002 profit projections by more than 10%, thanks to improved productivity, solid domestic performance and a stronger-than-expected international recovery.
America West yesterday put the largest U.S. major airlines on notice that it has no plans to back down from the dramatic pricing changes it made in March despite what it sees as acts of vicious retaliation by the competition. CEO Doug Parker said in Phoenix that since the airline introduced the new pricing scheme in March, the unit revenue gap between AWA and the industry average has continued to widen. The competition is "doing their best to change our mind," Parker said. "It's not working."
The future of the Beijing-based Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. (Ameco) past 2004, once in doubt, is now looking much brighter. A ruckus between two camps within the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has subsided over whether the 15-year agreement governing Ameco, signed in 1989, should be extended, a senior CAAC official told The DAILY.
Hawaiian Airlines last week became the latest airline to stop paying base commissions to travel agents in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The change is effective immediately and applies to all tickets, miscellaneous charge orders and prepaid ticket advices issued for travel on Hawaiian's domestic and international flights.
Delta, beginning Aug. 1, plans to add four daily nonstop, roundtrip flights between Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas; Great Falls and Bozeman, Mont., and Phoenix. SkyWest Airlines will operate the new flights with CRJ200s. After the new service starts, Delta will offer eight daily nonstop flights between Salt Lake City and Phoenix. Delta and Delta Connection will provide two nonstop flights between Salt Lake City and Austin, five between Bozeman and Salt Lake City, and four between Great Falls and Salt Lake City.
The Philippine government and four government agencies are selling their Philippine Airlines (PAL) stakes to majority shareholder Lucio Tan under the terms of a 1996 agreement. The deal requires Tan to buy the government's remaining stake of 4.26% in the airline and the four agencies' combined equity of 2.68% within six years, expiring May 6, 2002. In return the government and the agencies forfeited their pre-emptive rights to a capital call to raise 3.47 billion pesos (US$69.4 million) for fleet modernization.
American named James Beer the company's new VP-Europe, based in London. Beer is an 11-year veteran of AA, most recently working as VP-corporate development and treasurer. Beverly Goulet, previously managing director-corporate development, was tapped to replace Beer.
Workers at Boeing's massive Everett factory last week began assembling the first 777-300ER, loading the plane's wing spar into a tool that drills and measures holes, then installs some 5,000 fasteners. The aircraft, the 423rd 777 to be built, is slated to roll out in November and start a one-year flight test program in early 2003.
