US Airways and American urged DOT Wednesday to establish an expedited carrier selection proceeding to allocate the seven U.S.-Italy frequencies available April 1. US Airways said none of the four applicants for the frequencies - itself, American, Delta or Tower - has provided traffic data and other information DOT usually requires for an award. American said its Chicago-Rome proposal would replace Alitalia's nonstops in the market, lost when Alitalia moved most of its international service to Milan.
Continental will add "significant enhancements" to its OnePass frequent flyer program, including a new Platinum Elite level, a lower mileage requirement for a free domestic ticket, more confirmed upgrade opportunities for Elite members and elimination of blackout dates for EasyPass rewards, the carrier said last week. Continental, which is planning a reciprocal frequent flyer program with Northwest subject to regulatory review, said it is improving the OnePass program to increase the types of benefits customers prefer.
Northwest will begin Detroit- and Minneapolis/St. Paul-Houston service with three daily DC-9 nonstops in each market, beginning Jan. 31. Service will be aboard DC-9 aircraft.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey estimates that bird and wildlife strikes to aircraft cost the U.S. civil aviation industry more than 500,000 hours of aircraft downtime, $250 million in direct aircraft damage and $77 million in other costs per year. Garvey is calling on industry to help collect information for a national data base to help control the problem.
Brazilian airline TAM took delivery of its first two A330-200s last week. It has five firm orders and five options on the aircraft, which will enable TAM to start long-range intercontinental services, initially between Sao Paulo and the U.S. TAM plans service later to Paris and other European destinations.
The Canadian government, in a rebuttal before the World Trade Organization (WTO), has disputed claims by Brazil that it has engaged in improper export subsidies for Canadian-built civil aircraft. The WTO last week in Geneva conducted four days of hearings on the Brazil claims as well as those of Canada concerning Brazil's ProEx interest-rate equalization program for aircraft exports (DAILY, Oct. 30, Nov. 13).
Air France is launching a winter fare sale for travel to seven European cities. Fares from New York, Boston and Washington start at $298 roundtrip, or $338 roundtrip from Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston or Miami. Sale fares from Los Angeles and San Francisco are $398 roundtrip. Travelers who book before Dec. 1 will receive the biggest savings, said Jean-Louis Pinson, VP and general manager-U.S. The discounts are valid for travel to Barcelona, Brussels, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rome. Travel must occur Nov. 20-Feb. 28.
Continental raised objections last week to DOT's tentative decision to award Delta the one available U.S. carrier designation to South Africa and proposed award of the service to itself instead. The carrier said giving the service to Delta would "perpetuate the dominance of the largest airlines and the largest alliances on U.S.-South Africa routes where new competition is critically important." DOT's tentative selection of Delta delays Continental's ability to establish a foothold in Africa and compete with other U.S. carriers there, Continental said.
Pilots from American and Reno Air want to meet with management to get a better picture of how American plans to incorporate Reno into its operations once it acquires the carrier (DAILY, Nov. 20). The pilots themselves met last week to talk about their unions - Allied Pilots Association at American and Air Line Pilots Association at Reno - and their internal processes and bargaining history. American expects the Reno deal to be completed by the end of first quarter 1999.
Travel agent sales processed for October 1998 were even with those of October last year at $5.8 billion, Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) said. Domestic fares were up 1% to $3.8 billion, while international fares were down 2% to $1.6 billion. Domestic commissions dropped 3% to $251 million while international commissions rose 5% to $238 million. Average weekly sales per agency location increased 6% to $32,089 and credit card billings grew 1% to $4.8 billion. Electronic tickets processed through ARC accounted for 30.16% of the total volume by the end of October.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, urged incoming Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.) last week to adjust majority-minority ratios on committees in the new Congress to represent Democrats' increased strength. In a Nov. 23 letter, Oberstar said, "I am extremely concerned by the Republican majority's recent track record on establishing committee ratios and by press reports indicating" Livingston would make "only limited adjustments" to the ratios.
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer issued a statement Wednesday from Geneva welcoming World Trade Organization deliberations of Brazil's trade dispute with Canada, charging that Canada "unfairly subsidizes the Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier.
Southwest will deploy Orbix by IONA Technologies as its middleware solution. The carrier said Orbix will help it integrate business applications that have been developed using different programming languages and database management systems.
Load factors for U.S. airlines will increase to 70.9% for 1998, up 0.4 percentage points, according to the Air Transport Association.The gap between the actual and breakeven load factor will grow 0.1 points to 62.5%. This year will be the fifth straight year of load factor gains and the actual/breakeven spread will be the biggest since deregulation 20 years ago.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) said last week it plans to bring a formal complaint at the Justice Department against carriers that have capped travel agency commissions for international ticket sales. ASTA directed its Washington, D.C., attorneys to prepare a complaint against "one or more airlines" that recently capped commissions on international ticket sales made in the U.S. at $100 per roundtrip and $50 one-way.
