DOT yesterday cited lack of U.S.-U.K. open skies as the reason for dismissing a request by Continental that the department deny or defer final action on DOT's conditioned approval of antitrust immunity for United, BMI British Midland, Austrian, Lufthansa and SAS. DOT, noting that the approval could serve to "help the U.S.
Expedia's board this week confirmed it received a letter from its majority shareholder, USA Interactive, announcing USA's plan to make an "exchange offer" in the near future for the shares of Expedia that it does not currently own. USA also said it plans simultaneously to launch exchange offers with its two other subsidiaries, Hotels.com and Ticketmaster, as it tries to boost its ownership to up to 100% in each of them.
Star alliance staff and its member airlines will be working over the summer to develop proposals to lower expenses, says Star CEO Jaan Albrecht, following a meeting with the alliance's CEO board in which cost reduction topped the list of member concerns. Over the past five years, Star has been focusing on generating revenue, he says, but now CEOs are looking "for anything that would allow them to trim unit costs."
American Trans Air plans to offer non-stop service from Indianapolis to New York LaGuardia and Phoenix beginning Sept. 16. The carrier will offer two daily flights to New York and one flight to Phoenix, as well as connecting opportunities via Chicago Midway. In November, the carrier also plans to boost its daily frequencies from Indianapolis to Las Vegas and several cities in Florida. Starting Nov. 19, ATA will offer a second daily non-stop flight to Orlando, St. Petersburg and Ft. Myers, Fla. All of the new flights will be operated by Boeing 737-800s. -SL
US Airways pilots agreed to some of the key wage concessions the airline sought, according to a counter-proposal presented by the Air Line Pilots Association Monday night. The pilots also proposed a significant relaxation of scope restrictions.
Great Lakes Aviation this week eliminated travel agent commissions for tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada. "We maintained our 5% commission structure, even when the major carriers eliminated travel agency commissions earlier this year," said President Doug Voss. "As the discount carriers eventually discontinued paying commissions, and we continued to see increases in use of Internet booking products, it has become clear that we must follow the industry in order to maintain a competitive position."
NTSB sent two large pieces from the tail of American Airlines Flight 587 to a Ford Motor Company facility for sophisticated X-ray testing as investigators continue to determine what role, if any, the structure played in the accident.
The airline industry will have to deal with a number of important issues outside its control before it can return to profitability, IATA Director-General and CEO Pierre Jeanniot told the World Air Transport Summit, last week in Shanghai. He also predicted that the best the global airline industry can hope for this year is to cut last year's $12 billion loss in half, by sticking close to challenging estimates of traffic, capacity, yield and unit cost.
Former Continental President Greg Brenneman this week was named president and CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting company. PwC Consulting is the management consulting and technology services business of the parent company. Brenneman will report to the chairman of PwC, Samuel DiPiazza, until the separation of PwC Consulting from PricewaterhouseCoopers later this year. PwC Consulting this summer is expected to launch an initial public offering and likely will change its name.
Action by the U.S. Senate yesterday ensured availability of federal loan guarantees for airlines this fiscal year and kept the guarantee program at $10 billion. The 91-4 vote drew a sigh of relief from US Airways, which based its restructuring plan on the loan program as put together by Congress last fall to provide financial backing for the airline industry, hampered in its post-Sept. 11 recovery efforts as it sought capital from a reluctant financial market.
Alitalia will boost weekly frequencies between Brazil and Italy to seven, citing market demand from the first of the year. Of the new frequencies, Sao Paulo-Milan will be operated from Friday to Tuesday and Sao Paulo-Rome on Wednesday and Thursday. The airline also will increase seat capacity by replacing Boeing 767s with MD-11 trijets configured for 283 passengers, with 30 in business class and 253 in economy. "Everyday we are getting more involved in Brazil," said Lucca Martucci, Alitalia's CEO for Brazil.
FAA has issued a proposal for comment that would give airlines an expanded window to reserve slots for unscheduled flights at airports covered by the high-density rule (HDR). The draft advisory circular would prevent abuses that have been occurring under the current system, and would also streamline the reservation process, FAA said.
CanJet Airlines confirmed yesterday that, pending regulatory approval, it would relaunch low-fare service this summer to six Canadian cities. The restart of independent operations on June 20 comes after the now-defunct Canada 300 acquired the airline (DAILY, May 2, 2001). CanJet aims to start scheduled service to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Moncton and St. John's with a fleet of 120-seat Boeing 737-200s. On June 20, CanJet's first aircraft will begin service between Toronto, Halifax and St. John's.
American recently lost two executives who left to join other U.S. carriers. Alaska Air named Jeff Jones VP-technical support, effective immediately. Jones comes to Alaska from American, where he was managing director-aircraft engineering at AA's Tulsa, Kansas City and Fort Worth facilities. Jones will assume responsibility for aircraft engineering, maintenance programs, fleet management, quality control and maintenance training. Midwest Express named Thomas Irwin VP-flight operations. Irwin comes from a 34-year career with TWA, where he was VP-Flight Operation.
Continental and KLM reached a deal Monday to extend and expand their marketing and code-share partnership until May 30, 2003. The carriers also revealed they are pursuing a joint venture of their transatlantic operations, similar to the structure between KLM and Northwest.
Giovanni Bisignani has been elected to succeed Pierre Jeanniot as director general and CEO of the IATA at the organization's annual general assembly in Shanghai.
FAA Monday night declared its latest build of STARS operational at Syracuse, clearing another hurdle on the path toward getting the first fully functional version of the system in place this fall.
U.S. and Uganda yesterday reached an open-skies accord that includes seventh-freedom cargo rights and passenger intermodal rights, according to a senior DOT official. The agreement is effective now on the basis on comity and reciprocity.
