Air Canada, following the lead of U.S. major airlines, said last week it will no longer pay base commission for tickets issued in Canada, the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets issued for travel on Tango by Air Canada will not be affected by the new structure, the airline said.
German regional carrier Augsburg Airways plans to significantly cut its capacity and also reduce its work force. The airline is likely to ground three to four aircraft and must cut the work force accordingly, Managing Director Olaf Dlugi told The DAILY. The carrier, which operates mainly under the Team Lufthansa brand, has informed the workers' council and will make final decisions as early as next week.
United in May plans to replace its on-board Coca-Cola beverage products with Pepsi, following the signing of an exclusive, multiyear deal with the Pepsi-Cola Co. In addition to offering the company's drinks on all flights, United and Pepsi will develop joint marketing, promotional and sales programs. "The Pepsi-Cola Co. has been a major corporate customer of United's for some time," said Larry De Shon, senior VP-onboard service.
Oneworld alliance recently launched the "Worldflyer" fare program aimed at small and medium European business customers. The product is now available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Worldflyer enables companies to pre-purchase blocks of tickets for future travel by its employees on specific European routes. Worldflyer tickets are available in books of 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50, depending on the route. "The more tickets your company purchases, the higher the discount offered," the alliance said.
The leadership of UPS Teamsters Local 2727, which represents the company's mechanics and related workers, will send out a survey asking members why they overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract offer. The membership voted 83% to reject the TA, and a vote against automatically included a vote to strike. The union represents about 1,100 employees.
Boeing, through its FlightSafety Boeing Training International joint venture, will team with Advanced Interactive Systems Inc. to offer flight and cabin crew security training programs. The major training elements include determining the seriousness of an occurrence; crew communication and coordination; appropriate self-defense response; use of protective devices provided to crews; psychology of terrorism for coping with hijackers and passengers; live situational training, and flight deck procedures or aircraft maneuvers to defend the aircraft.
Cathay Pacific on April 1 will begin enforcing a seven-kilogram-per-person limit (about 15.4 pounds) for carry-on baggage, not including laptops, cameras and "certain other small personal items," the carrier said. The move is based on a uniform set of rules crafted by Association of Asia Pacific Airlines members based on a recent safety and security review. The new limit will be "carefully enforced" to help cut down on problems that result from excessive or heavy bags in the cabin, Cathay said.
Boeing, which some in the industry saw as a prime contractor candidate for FAA's lucrative En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program, has instead joined a Lockheed Martin-led team bidding for the work, the companies said yesterday. Other high-profile members of the team are Computer Sciences Corp., Harris Corp., and Northrop Grumman. Lockheed Martin will serve as lead integrator, and the team will include "a full range" of other technology companies.
Switzerland's new airline Swiss is expected to announce a bilateral alliance with American today, but it will not yet commit to joining oneworld, according to industry sources. Swiss also said it would release details of a multi-billion dollar, long-haul aircraft deal for the Airbus A340-300 or the Boeing 777-200 to replace the airline's 13 MD-11s, starting next year.
KLM plans to begin phasing in electronic tickets on April 3. Passengers initially will be able to purchase e-tickets for flights from Amsterdam to 37 destinations served by KLM and partners. E-tickets will be available through the normal booking channels, including travel agents, KLM ticket offices, KLM reservations and its website. E-tickets will not be available for special offers via the KLM website until later this year. It will gradually extend its range of e-ticket destinations, as well as the number of countries where KLM customers can purchase e-tickets.
British Airways plans to launch a morning departure from Washington Dulles to London Heathrow, starting March 31. The daily nonstop flight, which will operate with a Boeing 777, will leave Washington at 8:40 a.m. and arrive in London at 9 p.m. local time. The return westbound service departs Heathrow at 7 p.m. and arrives at Dulles at 10:05 p.m. In addition to the morning departure, BA operates two evening flights from Dulles to London. The three daily roundtrip flights restore the BA Dulles-Heathrow schedule to pre-Sept. 11 frequencies.
New marketing promotions are increasing Continental's passenger sales 10% annually, Marisea de Loaiza, Continental regional director for Peru and Venezuela, said last week. She also emphasized that a steady local demand supports establishing a Latin American hub in Lima. Peru generates about 20% of sales in the South American market, after Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, and Continental is seeking alliances with other companies to bolster its current positioning.
Pilots at Mesa Air Group boycotted a recent company investors conference to show their frustration over "lack of progress" in contract talks, union leaders say. ALPA MEC Chairman Andy Hughes said pilots usually attend the event to showcase good labor relations. Talks are stalled by a debate over merging seniority lists with Mesa subsidiary CCAIR, among other issues.
UAL Corp. Friday decided to close its ambitious Avolar business jet operation for good after the parent company terminated the struggle to raise needed funding. The company plans to proceed with an "orderly shutdown" of the operation, and officials said that customers who already signed deals for fractional service were informed of the decision and will receive a complete refund. UAL, which already invested more than $100 million in Avolar's startup, decided to cut its losses to avoid future financial exposure, sources said.
American, stepping up its battle to gain four mainline slots at constrained Long Beach Airport, sent a letter to the city Friday explaining that only a fraction of the slots are in use and it should not be prevented from starting service in June. Even though AA has not won the slots, it intends to start twice-daily nonstop service between Long Beach and both Chicago O'Hare and New York Kennedy on June 15. While American earlier this month was offered some of Long Beach's 25 commuter/regional slots, the airline said it still plans to operate MD-80s on the routes.
Finnair's new Aero Airlines subsidiary will begin flying with the start of Finnair's summer schedule on March 31. Estonia-based Aero will operate six daily roundtrip flights each business day with ATR turboprop aircraft between Estonia's seaport capital of Tallinn and Helsinki. A lighter schedule will be in effect on weekends. Finnair jet service, one flight a day, will continue on the route during the week and on Sundays.
FAA Friday published the immediate-adoptive airworthiness directive ordering special inspections of Airbus A300-600/A310s subjected to "extreme lateral loading" in flight, which the agency defined as exceeding 0.3g. Areas requiring checks include the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, pylons, wing and some fuselage areas. The agency determined the checks were needed after Airbus and American recently found damage to the tail of an A300-600 involved in a May 1997 inflight upset after doing an NTSB-requested ultrasonic inspection (DAILY, March 12).
Alaska Airlines does not plan to start nonstop service between Anchorage and Honolulu, but the route has a place in the carrier's history. Fifty-four years ago next month, the airline flew the first-ever commercial flight between Alaska and Hawaii -- a charter DC-4 carrying 50 passengers. "Low average fares and heavy usage of frequent flyer awards make it less attractive than other, higher-yield markets," the airline said.
Air Jamaica this summer plans to more than double its current service to the U.K. Starting June 1, Air Jamaica will offer daily service from London Heathrow to Montego Bay and four weekly flights to Manchester. The airline currently offers five weekly flights to London. The new flights are starting thanks to the recent acquisition of two Airbus A340s.
