Air Tahiti Nui, celebrating new Airbus Los Angeles-Tahiti service, is offering exclusive consumer packages for travel through Pleasant Tahitian Holidays Jan. 1-March 31, 1999. Special prices are available on Tahiti/Moorea and Radisson Seven Seas-Paul Gauguin Cruise holidays.
American yesterday announced plans to serve Dallas/Fort Worth-Los Cabos, Mexico, this winter, beginning Dec. 15. It will operate 139-seat MD-80s on the route twice daily. American serves seven other cities in Mexico.
Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday stopped the roller coaster discussions to acquire a major stake in Philippine Airlines (PAL), saying the differences of opinion were too great. The carriers had held out hope until last week that they could reach a compromise (DAILY, Dec. 1), but Cathay said that "a number of major differences" with PAL could not be resolved. While Cathay did not detail the differences, they are thought to involve PAL's staffing and the potential structure of Cathay's investment.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers First Quarter 1998 Short 97 Avg Haul Mkt Nonstop Psgr Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day (% Share) 1 2 Honolulu - Kahului 100 6,809 Aloha (57.0) 2 3 Boston - New York 183 6,555 Delta (40.5)
Amadeus has implemented electronic ticketing on American for Amadeus's U.S. travel agency customers. E-ticketing will include all American destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Asia and Europe. Canadian Airlines also has implemented e- ticketing. Fifteen global carriers, nine of them U.S. majors, now offer e- ticketing in Amadeus.
Boeing President Harry Stonecipher told reporters yesterday that "we see really no market growth, the growth rate has dropped out from under us." Stonecipher was explaining the sharp production cutbacks the company revealed the day before (DAILY, Dec. 2). He said Boeing Chairman Phil Condit and he had talked with Asian customers, and "it is not a pretty picture. It is not improving.
United States Travel Agent Registry (USTAR) board of directors filed a formal complaint at DOT this week charging Continental with unfair methods of competition in selling air transportation with regard to its commission caps. USTAR, which is developing the Genesis computer reservations system, has filed similar complaints against United, American and Delta for capping commissions on international ticket sales by U.S. travel agents. Responses are due Dec. 17.
Spain has scuttled the adoption of two important sets of European Union air transport legislation because of a 285-year old dispute with the U.K. over the Rock of Gibraltar, a British enclave in the Iberian peninsula. EU transport ministers, meeting Dec. 1 in Brussels, were expected to reach an agreement on new legislation aimed at increasing compensation for passengers denied boarding and on new rules imposing systematic ramp checks for foreign aircraft suspected of non-compliance with international safety standards.
American's traffic for November grew 3.1% on 1.9% more capacity, which boosted the load factor 0.7 percentage points to 67.7%. The carrier's domestic routes experienced traffic growth of 3.7% on 0.7% less capacity, pushing the load factor up 2.0 points to 67.9%. International traffic increased 1.7% in November on 4.9% more capacity, which lowered the load factor 2.1 points to 67.4%. Both the Atlantic and Pacific divisions experienced load factor declines. Atlantic traffic rose 1.4% on 6.6% more capacity, depressing the load factor 3.7 points to 72%.
House aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) is expected to meet with key staffers next week to develop the panel's agenda for next year, congressional sources said yesterday.One of the subcommittee's early items is likely to be legislation to reauthorize FAA for the remainder of fiscal 1999 to replace the six-month authorization agreed on before Congress adjourned.
The 10 largest U.S. carriers posted an 81.7% on-time record in October, up from 78.9% in September and 81.5% in October 1997, according to DOT's latest Air Travel Consumer Report. The airlines had a mishandled baggage rate of 4.39 complaints per 1,000 passengers in October, down from September's rate of 4.41 and a little higher than October 1997's 4.34. Consumers registered 805 complaints about service in October, a 21% decrease from the 1,026 complaints in September but 23% more than the 614 in October 1997.
China Airlines' acting president, Sandy Liu, confirmed that the carrier could report an operating loss in excess of NT$980 million (US$30.15 million) for 1998. Analysts in Taipei say the loss could be even larger, possibly exceeding US$35 million. Liu said the February crash of a CAL Airbus at Chiang Kai-shek Airport was largely responsible for the loss. The load factor fell from 82% in 1997 to 52% the month following the crash. CAL, which is in midst of a major restructuring, should break even or show a profit in 1999, Liu said.
Belgium has barred Romanian carrier Tarom from serving Ostend Airport. The Dec. 1 decision, by the Administration de l'Aeronautique, was prompted by the dangerous conduct of a Tarom pilot who flew over a Belgian shopping mall at very low altitude last month. The Belgian authority said Tarom will be allowed to resume services if Romanian authorities take "appropriate measures."
United and its International Association of Machinists unit (IAM) have formed negotiating teams to begin initial talks on a labor contract for passenger service employees. The teams will begin work on Dec. 8, according to an internal company notice. Passenger service employees, which include approximaely 19,500 customer service, reservation sales and service, ticket sales and air freight representatives, elected IAM representation in July.
BFGoodrich said yesterday it will close four facilities as part of a restructuring of its Aerostructures Group. The shutdowns, scheduled in late 1999, will affect a composite bonding facility for commercial aircraft in Hagerstown, Md., two assembly sites in Heber Springs and Sheridan, Ark., that manufacture thrust reversers, fan cowls, inlet cowls and exhaust nozzles, and an assembly-service facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Alaska Airlines posted a 13.2% rise in November traffic on 8% more capacity, which the pushed load factor up 2.9 percentage points to 67.3%. The traffic gain reversed course from September and October, when the airline reported higher capacity increases than traffic gains. Traffic for the first 11 months of 1998 grew 8.8% on 9.1% more capacity, resulting in a 67% load factor. Nov 98 Nov 97 11 Mths 98 11 Mths 97 RPMs 921,000,000 813,000,000 10,313,000,000 9,478,000,000
Continental and Northwest are asking DOT for exemptions to begin code sharing on service to the Caribbean. Continental wants to code share with Northwest on Detroit-Grand Cayman service and Northwest wants to code share with Continental on Newark-Houston and Antigua, and Antigua and Barbuda flights. In separate filings, the two airlines said they plan to start code sharing as soon as possible, and are asking DOT to grant exemption authority quickly so they can seek foreign authority and begin advance sales and marketing activities.
Air France is asking DOT for an exemption allocating it two slots at Chicago O'Hare, so the airline can begin a second daily Paris-Chicago roundtrip March 28. The carrier told DOT it filed an application with FAA on Oct. 13, but at a recent IATA conference in Berlin, FAA said the request would be denied because of the rapid increase in slot requests and rise in activity at O'Hare. Air France said it requires two slots before March 28, and since FAA has not acted on its application, it wants DOT to act quickly.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday the agency will not use "deidentified" digital flight data recorder information to undertake enforcement actions "except in egregious cases." A rulemaking will follow, Garvey said. The new policy is similar to FAA's position during a three- year test of the Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program in cooperation with major airlines and pilots unions. Garvey said the safety benefits derived from using the data "are in the public interest."
DOT is cautioning passengers headed for the Rose Bowl and other college football games that a tour operator marketing an air package that includes game tickets must have the tickets in hand or have a written contract for the tickets before advertising the tour. The department adopted a rule on the matter after the 1994 Rose Bowl, when many University of Wisconsin fans learned that their air tour packages did not include promised tickets and they would have to pay hundreds of dollars more to receive them.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets O&D Passengers First Quarter 1998 97 96 Average Mkt. Mkt Passengers Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Per Day (% Share) 1 1 Los Angeles - New York 7,324 American (35.2) 2 2 Honolulu - Kahului 6,809 Aloha (57.0)
TWA, one of two U.S. airlines recently to post a loss in one of the most profitable quarters in aviation history (DAILY, Nov. 18), is counting on its Aviators frequent flyer program to pull it out of the red by attracting high-yield business travelers. TWA has launched a comprehensive public relations campaign, backed by a $30 million advertising budget. The campaign features print and electronic ads that show smiling faces from aviation history.
Vivid Technologies yesterday unveiled a system that enables security supervisors to evaluate the performance of airport screeners using its explosives detection devices. The Threat Image Project (TIP) system transmits stored bag images to test an operator between "live" bags generated by a Vivid system screening real passenger baggage. Stored bag images contain threat items such as explosive devices, as well as false-alarm objects to evaluate operators' performance and diligence.
Rep. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said he will seek a recount of the Nevada Senate race, which he lost to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a member of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee, by 401 votes. Ensign made the announcement Monday, one day before Senate Democrats, organizing for the new Congress that starts in January, selected Reid to be Senate Minority Whip, the No. 2 leadership position among Senate Democrats.
