The number of Americans who bought travel online in 2000 grew to 21 million people, nearly doubling the Internet travel market for the second consecutive year, according to PhoCusWright's annual survey released this week. The group estimates that the online travel market was $12.9 billion in 2000 and it predicted to rise more than $20 billion next year. The survey reports what makes shoppers choose one service over another when it comes to buying travel online, what inspires loyalty and what features make them most likely to return.
Since five major airlines unveiled plans to create Orbitz, our competitors both online and off-line have been complaining to Washington about the potential for anti-competitive harm. In fact, there are real competitive problems in travel distribution systems that are damaging to the industry and raise travelers' costs. But Orbitz is the solution to those problems, not the cause of them.
Carriers will likely have new Part 234 requirements on reporting the causes of cancellations and delays once the Air Carrier On-Time Reporting Advisory Committee completes its report, due to be submitted to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater on Nov. 21. In late August, Slater announced formation of the task force, coordinated by Stephen Van Beek, DOT associate deputy secretary, as part of a government-industry effort to improve customer service by providing more precise, accurate, transparent and timely reporting metrics for consumers and groups analyzing such data.
Frontier Airlines has upgraded its web site services and online flight information at Fontierairlines.com. Enhancements include improved booking capabilities, more information and comprehensive historical data for small and medium-sized businesses. Frontier customers can receive updated flight status information via text messaging pager, cellular phone, Palm Pilot or other wireless text messaging devices. The system uses EDS's Versatile Internet Booking Engine (VIBE) which increases the site's bandwidth, enabling more users to access the site at any given time.
Rudolf Hengefeld has replaced Philip Saunders as head of marketing and sales at British Airways' German subsidiary Deutsche BA. Saunders returned to BA and has taken on the job of General Manager World Sales Delivery. Hengefeld served as BA's leisure sales manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Denver Airport last week became the first facility nationwide to receive FAA approval of an airport competition plan, a legislative requirement imposed on the 40 busiest U.S. airports as a prerequisite for raising passenger facility charges above $3. Airport officials said FAA Wednesday approved the airport's competition plan and amendment to raise the fee cap to $4.50 per passenger, the maximum allowable under the Aviation Investment and Reform Act (AIR-21).
US Airways revealed this week that it believes its merger with United will gain approval during January, a month later than it predicted.US Airways, in its securities filing, made no promises on the approval timing. Airline sources said both carriers are closely watching who will win the U.S. presidency to determine their lobbying strategies.
Five Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation member countries took a first step beyond bilateral open skies, agreeing to a multilateral pact that the U.S. hopes will set the stage for globalizing open skies. Together with the U.S., Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, all U.S. open-skies partners, yesterday announced the agreement in principle at the APEC forum in Brunei.
Datalex, in a move to grow its presence in the corporate travel market, signed a deal to acquire a 50% ownership stake in Yatra Corp. As part of the transaction, Datalex will provide Yatra with working capital, and Yatra will have access to Datalex's sales and marketing resources. Both companies claim they will continue to focus on their respective core businesses. Minneapolis-based Yatra will continue to sell software to travel agents and corporations, while Datalex will focus on offering the corporate booking tools to third parties, such as airlines.
Lufthansa CEO Juergen Weber told The DAILY yesterday that the airline plans to divest its 20% stake in struggling carrier Lauda Air. Lauda's main stakeholder, Austrian Airlines, currently owns 36% and has made clear that it wants to take full control of Lauda to turn the airline around and use synergies with its own operation. Austrian has approached Lufthansa to negotiate the sale of the stake. Weber said he is hopeful that the deal will be finalized before yearend.
Avolo this week closed on a $9 million second round of financing led by East River Ventures and also included Citicorp, KIRNAF Ltd., Riverside Management Group and Cedar Grove Investments. Avolo is an independent online marketplace for aerospace, allowing companies to facilitate, manage and track the buying and selling of aircraft parts and services via the Internet. "Our customers are leveraging Avolo's services to deliver strong business benefits to their organizations," said Andrew Fedak, CEO of Avolo.
British Airways' CEO Rod Eddington has made the first significant change to his senior management team six months after taking over. The airline's second in command, Commercial Director Carl Michel, will leave the company by yearend. Michel, previously CEO of Deutsche BA, was brought in a year ago by Eddington's predecessor Bob Ayling. Earlier this year, Michel was involved in the negotiations between BA and KLM on a possible merger that eventually failed.
Air France will begin daily direct service between Dallas/Fort worth International Airport and Paris Charles De Gaulle in May. The Air France flight will be the second direct flight to Paris offered out of DFW. Air France will operate Airbus 340-300 aircraft on the route.
Top 50 Carriers For Nonstop Travel To/From The U.S. 12 Months Ended March 2000 Onboard Share of Carrier Passengers Total U.S. Departures 1 American 17,776,396 13.3% 145,692 2 United 9,964,647 7.4% 57,988 3 Continental 8,058,163 6.0% 67,711 4 Northwest 7,705,975 5.7% 46,437
Peter Hauptvogel, founder of Germany's European Air Express (EAE), will leave by yearend. After he started the airline, Hauptvogel served as CEO, but after some restructuring and a major shareholder coming in, he became director of sales and revenue management. EAE offers flights from Monchengladbach airport near Dusseldorf to Munich and London, having picked up two routes of now-defunct Debonair.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR AUG 1 - AUG 9, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Uni Air AMC AMC Douglas Aviation Aviation MD-90-30/ V2528-D5 Malaysian Air France GECAS Boeing
Northwest mechanics are so angry at management's decision to reveal to employees details of their contract talks that they will ask the National Mediation Board to release them from mediation so they can strike. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents Northwest mechanics, says a Nov.
Lufthansa passengers will be offered rail travel between Stuttgart railway station and Frankfurt airport, in a pilot project with Deutsche Bahn, Germany's state-owned railway and Flughafen Frankfurt. On March 1, six trains using a Lufthansa flight code will operate on the route daily, with 46 Lufthansa seats available per train. An annual capacity of 220,000 seats will be available. Lufthansa and its partners set up a full check-in facility at Stuttgart railway station and organized air/rail luggage transfer at Frankfurt airport.
U.S. members of global alliances are "far and away" the largest contributor to an alliance's systemwide capacity and number of passengers carried, according to an analysis by BT Alex Brown analyst Susan Donofrio. Donofrio found that in most cases the contribution of a U.S. member to an alliance was more than twice that of the next closest contributor.United, she said, contributes 30% of the total passengers carried in the Star Alliance, followed by Lufthansa at 15%.
Vanguard, JetBlue and Spirit signed agreements with new online travel service SideStep, which will provide increased traffic to their web sites. SideStep, which launched last week, offers competitive referrals for flights, hotel rooms and rental cars. It brings travel buyers directly to the supplier sites to book their travels. JetBlue CEO David Neeleman said SideStep provides the airline with a low-cost distribution channel for more travel options and greater savings on fares.
Embraer, the fourth largest jet maker and Brazil's number one exporter, reported a third quarter net income of $2 billion, more than doubled the same period last year. It is the largest profit in the company's history. The increased profits are mainly due to higher sales of its latest product, the Legacy business jet. Embraer's order backlog at the end of the quarter was worth $22.9 billion, or $10.9 billion in firm orders and $12 billion in options. In July, Embraer enhanced its international presence by listing its ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange.
Europe experienced another quarter of 30%-plus delay rates, according to numbers released yesterday by the Association of European Airlines. Intra-Europe departures delayed by more than 15 minutes reached 30.4% in September, 23.8% in August and 32.2% in July for AEA carriers. The usual explanation for better August performance is holiday-season cutbacks on East-West business frequencies, which reduces conflicts with North-South leisure flows.
Route rights for U.S.-China services available April 1, 2001, will be a challenge for airlines ultimately selected to start by that date in light of DOT's delay in awarding one new designation and 10 additional frequencies. The U.S. negotiated the rights in April 1999, and American, Delta, Polar Air Cargo and UPS and incumbents FedEx, Northwest and United quickly bid. DOT put off announcing a decision, which DOT Secretary Rodney Slater had said he expected by the end of September.
Pro Air and U.S. regulators quietly reached a settlement last week that would get the grounded carrier flying again if it corrects alleged regulatory violations turned up during several audits. The deal calls for Pro Air to drop an appeal of its grounding made to the National Transportation Safety Board and address several items specified by FAA. In return, FAA promises to consider Pro Air's application for reinstatement of its operating certificate within 75 days of the Nov. 7 agreement date, or by Jan. 21.
