Delta's $1 surcharge per domestic segment booked through methods other than the airline's web site amounts to "blaming and punishing the traveling public for purchasing their tickets through channels they clearly prefer," The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) said. Delta said Monday it would add the surcharge for each segment of a domestic ticket booked through travel agents and Delta's reservations, field ticket and city ticket offices (DAILY, Jan.
Kansas City, Mo.-based Vanguard saw a 4% decline in traffic on 11% less capacity for December 1998 over the same month in 1997, boosting the load factor 4.9 percentage points to 65.6%, the highest December load factor in its history. Vanguard flew 58 million revenue passenger miles and 88.3 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 12% to 124,270. Year-to-date RPMs dropped 9% and ASMs 20% over 1997, pushing the load factor up 8.2 points to 59.2%, also a record. Passengers flown grew 15%.
Alaska and Horizon, which recently announced a marketing agreement with American, are forming a similar accord with American partner Canadian Airlines. The pact, effective April 1, will involve reciprocal code sharing and frequent flyer participation.
U.S. Airports Sources of Non-Operating Revenue Large Hub Airports* Fiscal Year 1997 (Dollar Amounts in Thousands) Passenger PFC Facility Per Bond Grant Charges Passenger** Proceeds Payments Atlanta 44,536 1.36 -- 16,507
Europe's high-speed "Chunnel" rail link under the English Channel will get a fresh shot of financial aid from Britain, following a recent decision by European Union competition authorities. The railway, which has drawn away an estimated 12-15% of passenger traffic from Europe's airlines in the business-class market, is one of the EU's 14 high-priority network projects.
National Business Aircraft Association on Monday sent FAA an 18-page document comprising Safety Guidelines&Responsibilities for Fractional Aircraft Owners and Fractional Aircraft Program Managers. The document was developed on a consensus basis with the National Air Transportation Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.
President Clinton and Argentine President Carlos Menem have asked for a timetable under which U.S-Argentina open-skies "negotiations [are] to be concluded by March," James Dobbins, National Security Council senior director for inter-American affairs, said in a press briefing on Menem's visit this week to the U.S. DOT confirmed that further talks are planned for March in Buenos Aires.
American is offering a $98 companion ticket with the purchase of a qualifying fare for customers traveling from San Francisco to Vail/Eagle County. The companion ticket is available with a $198 roundtrip ticket, bought 14 days in advance, and on other fares on the route. Travel must occur before Feb. 14. The travel period for the 14-day advance purchase fare is good through March 28.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines posted an 8.6% jump in traffic on 8.4% more capacity in December, compared with the like month a year ago, pushing the load factor up 0.1 percentage points to 51.3%. ASA flew 85.4 million revenue passenger miles and 166.6 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 5.7% to 326,465. Year-to-date RPMs climbed 12.6% and ASMs 2.9%, causing a 4.8-point rise in the load factor. Passenger boardings gained 6.7%.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) reacted predictably yesterday to reports that DOT will seek an increase in the passenger facility charge ceiling from $3 to $5.Shuster, who wants to take the aviation trust funds off budget, "doesn't understand how you can increase airline taxes when we're not even spending the taxes we're collecting," a spokesman said.
All Nippon Airways and United will expand their code share Jan. 19 to include each airline's roundtrip service between Tokyo Narita and Bangkok, according to an airline source. They began transpacific code sharing Oct. 25, and Tokyo-Bangkok will be their first code share within Asia.
American and Japan Airlines asked DOT for authority to code share between Japan and the U.S. and beyond. The carriers want to begin the first phase - covering 15 international and domestic routes each - of a four-phase plan for expanding their reciprocal code share this year. Beginning May 10, American wants to place its designator code on JAL flights between Tokyo and Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco; Nagoya and Los Angeles; between both Tokyo and Osaka and other cities in Japan, and between the U.S.
Air France and union representatives have reached a draft agreement to introduce a 35-hour work week for ground staff, as requested by a general law reducing time at work that was pushed through by France's Socialist government. The text of the agreement, finalized last weekend after 48 hours of negotiations, is is the hands of the unions, which will discuss it internally. The three-year draft document says the 35-hour week will be introduced Nov. 1. The wages of Air France's 35,000 ground staff will remain unchanged.
U.S. Airports Sources of Non-Operating Revenue Medium Hub Airports* Fiscal Year 1997 (Dollar Amounts in Thousands) Passenger PFC Facility Per Bond Grant Charges Passenger** Proceeds Payments Albuquerque 8,789 2.73 33,740 2,115
LanChile traffic for November rose 16.7% on 19% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 1.2 percentage points to 60.6%. The airline's passenger total rose 13.8% to 247,611 in November and 2.7 million for 11 months.
German aircraft manufacturer Daimler Chrysler Aerospace (DASA) last week paid the final tranche of government loans it was granted for the development of the Airbus A320, the German Ministry of Finance said. DASA received a total of 3.572 billion Deutschmarks ($6 billion), of which the last payment was DM1.75 billion.
Moody's Investors Service yesterday said the airline industry should have another good year in 1999 after five straight profitable years, but the industry's cycle of "unprecedented profitability has finally peaked." Profits this year will not be as high as last year, the ratings firm said, and it "does not expect much more improvement in the industry's credit quality." It also does not believe 1998's sharp drop in jet fuel prices to yield the record profits the industry enjoyed in 1998.
British Airways plans to equip its airplanes with air-to-ground cardiac monitors in addition to defribillators. The carrier is assessing the feasibility of linking heart-monitoring equipment via satellite to medical experts on the ground. BA would be the first airline to take this additional medical step but is following several carriers with defibrillators. BA will begin installing LifePak500 debfibrillators in April and equip all 250 aircraft within a year.
America West Vacations, a division of The Leisure Company, is promoting vacation packages for the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Prices are good for travel during January and February and do not require advance booking. Packages include roundtrip air on America West or Continental, hotel, facility charges, a Vacation Welcome Pack, optional ground transfers and optional rental car. Sample package prices are $254 from Dallas/Fort Worth or Indianapolis, $314 from Atlanta or Chicago and $334 from Columbus or Newark.
Omni Air International said it has purchased from Lufthansa/Condor a DC-10-30 that will join two DC-10-10s and one DC-10-30 in its fleet. Omni said it will buy a second DC-10-30 from Lufthansa/Condor in June.
Tower Air's traffic grew 7.6% in December on 11% more capacity, compared with the same 1997 month, depressing the load factor 2.3 percentage points to 73%. Tower flew 325 million revenue passenger miles and 445 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 16.8% to 146,000 as total block hours flown declined 17.3% to 3,085. For 12 months 1998, RPMs grew 13.9% on 16.3% more ASMs, lowering the load factor 1.5 points. Passengers flown jumped 21.7% and total block hours were up 3.1%.
Midwest Express saw a 15.7% increase in traffic on 20.2% more capacity for December 1998 over the same month in 1997, which depressed the load factor 2.4 percentage points to 61.6%. The carrier flew 138.9 million revenue passenger miles and 225.3 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 13.5% to 154,319. Subsidiary Skyway Airlines' traffic rose 7.2% to 5.8 million RPMs on 12.5 million ASMs, down 4.3%, pushing the load factor up 5 points to 46.3%. Passengers flown grew 8.2% to 26,078.
AirTran posted a 15.7% rise in traffic on 17.6% more capacity for December over the same month in 1997, depressing the load factor 0.9 percentage points. AirTran flew 254.2 million revenue passenger miles and 456.3 million available seat miles, creating a 55.7% load factor. Passengers flown grew 38.1% to 467,164. Year 1998 RPMs jumped 34% and ASMs 28% from 1997, boosting the load factor 2.6 points. Passengers flown increased 33.2%.
Denver-based Frontier reported a 37.4% jump in traffic on 23.5% more capacity for December 1998 compared with the same 1997 month, boosting the load factor 5.9 percentage points to 57.8%. The carrier flew 134.3 million revenue passenger miles and 232.4 million available seat miles. Passengers carried surged 35.8% to 149,941. Year-to-date RPMs increased 30.5% and ASMs 20.6%, pushing the load factor up 4.1 points. The number of passengers flown jumped 24%.
Air-India Employees Union, representing more than 13,000 of AI's roughly 18,500 employees, has asked the civil aviation ministry to move up the retirement age from 60 to 58 years. India last year introduced a 60-year limit for all its employees. The union said it fears the new limit will result in "demotivation" of AI personnel as vacancies at higher job levels would be blocked. AI management has not issued an official statement on the issue.
