Apollo Travel Services has developed Booking Cars and Hotels, a computer- based training course for travel agents who want to increase their rental car and hotel bookings. The tutorial is co-sponsored by Alamo and Best Western.
Association of Flight Attendants is applauding the actions by all major U.S. carriers to offer seats at half price for children under the age of two flying in safety seats within in the U.S. and to Canada. The AFA has sought regulations requiring the use of safety seats for the last 10 years. The half-price offer was launched last week by American - a non-AFA carrier - and matched by the other majors (DAILY, July 3).
Aero International (Regional) and Thomson Training&Simulation last week formally opened a new ATR Training Centre for the Asia/Pacific region on Thai Airways premises in Bangkok, Thailand. The center "is well adapted for all ATR aircraft including the latest versions, the ATR 42-500 and the ATR 72-210A," AI(R) said.
The National Air Transportation Association, not the National Air Carrier Association, is wary of a possible Environmental Protection Agency move to target aviation gasoline as a major polluter (DAILY, July 3).
Nonstop consolidation of the aerospace industry continued last week with the pre-holiday announcement that Lockheed Martin Corp. will acquire Northrop Grumman Corp. for $11.6 billion in stock. The combined company, which will keep the name Lockheed Martin, will have $36 billion in annual sales and 230,000 employees, a work force larger than that of the new Boeing when it absorbs McDonnell Douglas on Aug. 4.
Smyrna, Ga.-based World Technology Systems is offering a plan to boost service to under-served small- and medium-sized communities. The community would pay for initial advertising and, with World Tech, plan its own route system. World Tech would develop a marketing and advertising campaign to generate local support for the service. The company then would contract with regional or charter carriers that would lease or buy aircraft, at a favorable rate, from British Aerospace Asset Management-Turboprops, with which they then would operate the routes, World Tech said.
Sabre has issued its Internet-enabled version of Turbo Sabre, a point-of- sale tool for corporate and specialty travel agents. The product line enables agents to link to AgentExplorer, Sabre's private Web site providing travel data.
ValuJet Airlines flew 135.1 million revenue passenger miles in June, a 172% increase over the 49.6 million flown in the same month last year. Its May traffic was down 34.7% from last May and April RPMs fell 59%. Capacity in June jumped 106% to 254.9 million available seat miles from 123.6 million, boosting the load factor 12.8 percentage points to 53%. ValuJet carried 267,404 passengers, up 177% from last June. In the second quarter, traffic was down 29.5% to 384.9 million, ASMs fell 28.5% to 700.7 million, and the load factor decreased 0.8 points to 54.9%.
Alaska Airlines has changed its boarding policy and will release seats reserved for passengers who do not check in at least 20 minutes prior to the scheduled departure. The new policy takes effect Thursday. Bill Ayer, senior VP-customer service, marketing and sales, said customers say they want their flights to depart on time, and "that's why we're asking for their help to keep our planes on schedule throughout the day."
KLM's potential breakup from Northwest (DAILY, July 3) has led to instant rumormongering among aviation mavens on both sides of the Atlantic. In one scenario, KLM and American link up, as do British Airways and Northwest, if the BA-American alliance does not succeed. "This [scenario] actually could pass muster with the authorities, unlike the current mess," a British official said.
Central American carriers have formally applied to exercise their rights under the open skies agreement signed by countries in the region and the U.S. Aviateca of Guatemala, COPA of Panama and NICA of Nicaragua applied to serve any points between the U.S. and their respective countries, as did TACA from El Salvador and Honduras.
Executive Airlines President Tom Del Valle has been tabbed to become managing director of American's Los Angeles operation. AMR said Del Valle's successor at Executive would be announced shortly. Del Valle began his AMR career with American as a flight attendant 21 years ago.
Mesa Air Group flew nearly 127 million revenue passenger miles in June, a 9.7% increase from the same 1996 month, as capacity rose 11.1% to 217.5 million available seat miles.
Europe is abuzz with still more collaboration intrigue in regional-aircraft manufacturing. Most recent scuttlebutt aligns Saab with British Aerospace. The two companies already are teamed on Saab's Gripen fighter program in what is termed a happy relationship. At the same time, BAe's relationship with the Aero International (Regional) consortium is seen as fraying, especially over the issue of a new family of regional jets. Saab, meanwhile, reportedly has some "fresh studies" under way regarding "new market requirements" with results expected by yearend.
Fresh from last month's national elections, in which they installed a left-wing government, a majority of French voters still supports the privatization of flag carrier Air France and state-owned manufacturer Aerospatiale, according to an opinion survey carried out by French polling organization BVA and published by Paris Match, the weekly newsmagazine. In the poll, 70% favored full or partial privatization of the national airline and 59% spoke out for privatizing the aircraft manufacturer.
Airclaims is distancing itself from the Air Travelers Association's "Airline Safety Report Card." The association cited U.K. insurance giant as the source of raw data it used in preparing the report. But Airclaims said it has "never attempted to rank airlines by accident rates" and "does not believe such rankings serve any useful purpose or are able to provide any meaningful guide" on airline safety.
Atlantic Southeast further outlined its CRJ strategy this week, announcing Atlanta-Detroit-New York Kennedy flights, effective Dec. 1, hard on the heels of Atlanta-Cleveland-JFK. The Cleveland-JFK service will replace Business Express, which wanted out of the market. In Detroit-JFK, ASA will go up against three daily TWA frequencies, the only service in the market. One analyst speculates that either the JFK segments were disdained by Comair or Delta is more interested integrating or even merging the two Connection carriers.
American has named Jane Allen to the newly created position of VP- flight service, responsible for food and beverage, duty-free and flight service operations, including "leadership of American's 20,000 flight attendants." Allen has been VP-employee relations since 1992. President Donald Carty said, "Jane knows how to get things done, and she's been a strong advocate for employees. I know our flight service employees, particularly our flight attendants, will benefit from her leadership." If approved by the AMR board, she will take over her new position this summer.
FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive following another incident in which a Boeing 747 fuse pin fractured. The agency said the AD is "intended to prevent failure of the strut and separation of an engine from the airplane due to fracturing of the fuse pins." At least one fatal accident has been blamed on fractured fuse pins. Aircraft powered by General Electric and Pratt&Whitney engines are involved. The latest AD supersedes a previous order and reduces the time allowed for replacing the pins.
Virgin Atlantic unveiled its first aircraft incorporating the Union Jack into a new livery, the carrier's first change since it was launched in 1984. Chief Executive Richard Branson said Virgin was "literally inundated with phone calls" asking it to incorporate the flag after British Airways redesigned the tails of its aircraft. Virgin describes the new look as "Britannia with attitude" and expects to incorporate it in all 20 of its aircraft - 11 747s, eight A340s and one A320 - by the end of August.
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines posted a three- percentage-point rise in the June load factor to 53.7% from 50.7% as traffic jumped 18% to 38.4 million revenue passenger miles and capacity increased just 11.4% to 71.4 million available seat miles.
Boeing contacted with DigitalXpress to provide direct broadcast satellite services for employee training and corporate communications. DigitalXpress offers satellite-to-desktop digital video, audio and data information distribution systems. Phil Condit, Boeing chairman, said that as the company grows, "we have to be more creative in how Boeing people around the world communicate with each other." Participating locations use a small, low-cost antenna and integrated receiver/decoder for secure transmissions.
