British Airways claimed to be the first company in the U.K. to use the "latest" online advertising methods to begin promoting the airline's new inflight improvements. Online advertising was developed in cooperation with Unicast and DoubleClick, and the site was designed by Agency.com. BA highlighted DoubleClick's trademarked "Superstitials" product that it will use in the campaign's launch this week.
DOT is requesting applications from U.S. carriers interesting in code-share opportunities available under the open-skies agreements reached with Ghana and Turkey and additional combination service agreed to by the U.S. and Colombia. Seven U.S.-Colombia frequencies are available immediately for U.S. carriers. DOT wants applications by April 10 and will later solicit applications for 2001 and 2002 opportunities.
Interline e-tickets are "a year or year-and-a-half away" from wide use, said Continental President Greg Brenneman yesterday."Early in 2001" passengers will see the new benefit of transferring among airlines without paper. "You'll have the ability to get a paper ticket, but you'll have to pay $100 for it," he joked.
Qantas plans to invest A$400 million on products and services, including a new A$300 million Rockwell Collins inflight entertainment system for its international long-haul fleet. Qantas Deputy Chief Officer Geoff Dixon also announced this week that the airline will spend more than A$30 million on airport lounge developments in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore as well as for a range of catering improvements.
The U.S. would suspend its ICAO hushkit complaint against the European Union if the EU suspended its hushkit rule indefinitely, Alan Larson, undersecretary of state, told the International Aviation Club, but it is "prepared to litigate the issue to the end if that is the course the EU prefers. The administration has assembled a top-notch litigation team and appropriate budget backing. With the generous offers of assistance from industry, I am confident we have the war chest we need to see the case through to the end."
Oneworld alliance has announced that LanChile and Aer Lingus will become members in the next few months. The group said after its quarterly meeting in Santiago, Chile, that an exact date will be published in a few weeks after final computer tests. A Vancouver, Canada-based central management company for oneworld will start working next week. The oneworld central management agency is headed by Peter Buecking, formerly sales and marketing director at Cathay Pacific.
The government of Papua New Guinea plans to sell its financially strapped national carrier, Air Niugini. According to Liauweke Morout, a senior manager at ANG, privatization is slated in November and completion three months later. Morout declined to give details of potential foreign ownership but indicated that the government wants the local people to own at least 30%. The government has not indicated that it would like a controlling stake. This paves the way for a possibility of a foreign investor.
Qantas plans to purchase the flight catering operations of Caterair Airport Services in Brisbane and Cairns. The two centers were established in 1990 under a joint venture between Qantas and Caterair International, which later became LSG Sky Chefs. A joint venture will continue to operate at the Caterair Sydney Center, the company said.
Sabre Holdings plans to begin repurchasing shares of its publicly held common stock. The repurchased shares will be used in part to cover shares issued in the company's employee stock plans. The company previously disclosed through filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its board authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of the common stock over a two-year period.
Northwest named Lizabeth Shultis VP-marketing programs and worldwide advertising, and Susan Edberg VP-reservations sales and services, both effective immediately. Edberg and Shultis will continue to report to Tim Griffin, executive VP-marketing and distribution. Edberg previously held the position of managing director-WorldPerks marketing and international advertising. Shultis was the previous VP-reservations sales and services. Both assumed their former positions in February 1999.
Aviation groups in a joint letter asked the Federal Communications Commission to thoroughly review issues related to GPS and ultra-wideband (UWB) communications and radar systems. The industry told the FCC that it is concerned about any activity that could potentially interfere with its use of GPS for navigation, positioning and timing. Domestic UWB applications have the potential to raise the noise floor in the band used by GPS at critical phases of flight and at unpredictable times and locations, they said.
FAA issued a set of rules designed to reduce the noise from air tour aircraft in Grand Canyon National Park by redirecting routes from "especially sensitive" areas of the park and temporarily limiting growth in commercial air tour operations. The new routes are expected to go into effect this fall.
Japan Airlines' pilots called off their strike late Tuesday after originally threatening to strike for a second day. The unions held negotiations with the airline, but JAL's management "refused" to make any concessions on the unions' request for a basic pay increase of 3%, the airline said. The work action had no effect on JAL international or domestic passenger flights on Tuesday or yesterday, and only one scheduled cargo flight was canceled yesterday. The JAL Cockpit Crew Union has 1,320 members and represents pilots below the rank of captain.
House aviation subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) said yesterday that he will examine the 21% increase in air traffic controllers' operational errors reported for the first five months of fiscal 2000. "I'll look into that," he told The DAILY after learning that controller mistakes had risen to 432 from 356 during the same period a year ago. An official of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association blamed the increase on new equipment, pressures from airlines and a more stringent evaluation of operational errors.
Singapore Airlines this week introduced its "virtual reality" web site, which offers views of all three cabin classes. The site added a 360-degree steerable camera of the cabins displaying "panoramic views" the features of each class from many angles.
Northwest, saying it plans to apply for one of three U.S.-Vietnam third-country code shares available to U.S. carriers, told DOT it opposes applications filed by Delta and United because grant of those requests would preclude a third U.S. carrier from being designated. A total of 21 weekly roundtrip frequencies are available for allocation to U.S. carriers. Delta asked for seven to code share with Air France, and United wants 14 for service with Thai Airways (DAILY, March 17, 23).
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, on a three-day mission in Europe, praised the existing air agreement with France because it covers intermodal -- air/rail -- transport. "We do not have an open-skies" agreement with France, said Slater, but the existing accord "is probably one of the most visionary agreements that we have." A recent amendment to the U.S.-France bilateral "will foster the development of Charles de Gaulle as the first true intermodal hub for passenger service," Slater said.
All Nippon Airways presented an improved financial outlook this week due to improved revenues and reduced operating costs. ANA revised its fiscal year revenue forecasts from 903 billion yen to 906 billion yen and reduced the company's original recurring loss forecast from 12 billion yen to 5 billion yen. Net loss forecasts for the year ending March 31 were revised by almost 13 billion yen from the projected 24 billion yen to 11 billion yen.
United's redesigned web site was awarded best airline Internet site honors in the Gomez Advisors Spring Airline Scorecard, but the report released this week notes that most airline sites still need a great deal of customer service improvements. New site developments and technology enhancements are the hot trend, the group said, as U.S. airlines "compete fiercely" to attract and retain customers through their own web sites.
United and its Air Line Pilots Association unit are working to reach a tentative agreement by April 12; failing that, both sides have agreed to jointly approach the National Mediation Board for assistance.
China Xinjiang Airlines ordered three Boeing 757-200s for delivery beginning in May 2001. The aircraft, which will be configured for 201 passengers in two classes, will join six other 757-200s and two 737-300s. Boeing said 335 or its aircraft are operated by 17 airlines in China, accounting for 67% of the commercial fleet in that nation.
Pilots at Delta are worried that the company is focusing all growth on its regional subsidiaries and none on the mainline. The fear was underscored yesterday when Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines announced the largest order for regional jets in history, totaling 500 Bombardier Canadair RJs worth $10 billion over the next 10 years. "This [order] underscores the importance of enhancing the Delta pilot scope clause in these [current] negotiations," said Delta Air Line Pilots Association unit spokeswoman Karen McGuffey.
Delegates to an international symposium in Bonn rejected dependence on a single technology in favor of retaining a diversity of systems as advanced navigational technologies become operational. The March 22-23 conference, an initiative of the Germany Federal Ministry of Transport, was organized by the German Institute of Navigation and supported by the Northwest Europe Loran-C System (NELS) inter-governmental consortium.
China Southern Airlines will roll out electronic ticketing this week for some of its intra-China flights on its newly redesigned, Chinese-only, web site at www.cs-air.com. The airline claims it is the first and only airline in China to offer e-ticket flights. Initially, only three Chinese cities will be available for one-way or roundtrip e-ticket flights -- Guangzhou, Beijing and Changsha.
