Travel Industry Association, taking a close look for the first time at the travel habits of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, found that minority groups tend to have the same general travel preferences as all travelers but exhibit very specific "differences in the details."
Carnival Air Lines will begin service this winter to Washington Dulles, offering daily 737-400 nonstops from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport. It also intends to operate daily service to New York LaGuardia from Fort Lauderdale, starting both services Dec. 19.
Southwest continued its reign as the U.S. airline industry's top on-time performer for the sixth consecutive month with an 84.1% record for June. Overall, the nation's 10 largest carriers posted a 74.7% on-time rate in June, down from 78.9% in May and 75.9% in June 1995, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, published last week. USAir placed second at 76.6%, followed by Delta at 75.6%. Alaska trailed the field with a 67.3% record.
Aer Lingus is holding a seat auction on the Internet for its flights between New York and Ireland. Last Wednesday, the Irish carrier began offering a limited number of seats to the highest bidders at http://www.aerlingus.ie. Each day, it will provide information on specific flight and seat availability and the current highest bid.
Continued VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is by far the most dangerous flight activity, according to an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association analysis of general aviation weather accidents. "More than 80% of all VFR-into-IMC accidents were fatal," according to the study, and 27% of all fatal accidents involved VFR-into-IMC flying.
Taiwan's state-run cargo clearance service will be privatized by midmonth and converted into Trade VAN Networking Service Co., a joint venture between the central government and 28 private firms. Known previously as the Ministry of Finance's Cargo Clearance Automation Planning and Promotion Task Force, the organization was formed in 1990 to develop a computerized service to automate air and sea cargo customs clearance. It will be 40% government-owned and have paid-in capital of NT$1.5 billion (US$54.5 million).
Cessna Aircraft unveiled its new 172 Skyhawk, returning to the single- engine piston aircraft market after a decade. The manufacturer said the base price, $124,500, is "well below the inflation-adjusted cost of a comparably equipped version in 1986." The 712R is powered by a new, fuel- injected Textron Lycoming IO 360 engine, developing 160 horsepower. The only options are upgraded avionics and wheel fairings. Standard equipment includes avionics and safety enhancements "that were not even available 10 years ago," said Gary Hay, vice chairman.
Mountain West and WestAir pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association conducted informational picketing at Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle airports. The pilots of the Mesa Air Group divisions, which operate as United Express, have been in contract negotiations for more than a year.
The Delta Master Executive council, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association at Delta, Friday elected Capt. Dennis Dolan chairman and First Officer James Stava vice chairman. First Officer Robert McCallum was re- elected secretary/treasurer. The officials will serve two-year terms, effective immediately.
American's AAdvantage Funds are being offered through Fidelity Investments. Individual investors, financial advisers and 401K plan participants can access the low-cost mutual funds - AAdvantage Growth and Income, Balanced, International Equity and Limited-Term Income - through a Fidelity account.
Although the U.S. and the U.K. did not schedule further negotiations when last week's meetings ended, the talks have not broken down, a U.S. official said. The U.S. plans to see what happens during the next couple of weeks, when the two sides exchange information or working papers, before figuring out when to meet again.
Reversing itself, Indonesia approved United's proposed service to that country from Osaka late last week. The carrier still needs clearance from Japan for the fifth-freedom service.
Canadian Air Cargo and American Airlines Cargo have signed an alliance, effective Sept. 1, that will link their Canadian and U.S. hubs. Canadian Air Cargo will act as general sales agent for American Airlines Cargo in Canada, and American will act as the Canadian carrier's agent in most of the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. Discussions relating to Europe and other points are continuing. The alliance creates a network of more than 420 destinations.
Canadian Airlines and British Airways will expand their code-sharing service between western Canada and London this fall. BA will place its code on Canadian's daily DC-10 flights from Calgary to London beginning Sept. 9. On Oct. 27, Canadian will code share on BA 747 nonstops to London from Vancouver, Canadians first daily nonstops in the market and the only flights in the market with first-class service. In September, Canadian will offer connecting service to London through Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto from Victoria, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa.
The new Tourism Industries office in the U.S. Commerce Department predicts 15.01 million Canadians will visit the U.S. in 1997, 15.38 million in 1998 and 15.54 million in 1999. A story in The DAILY's Travel&Tourism supplement gave incorrect numbers (DAILY, Aug. 1).
Emery Worldwide said it has acquired the Finnish multi-modal forwarding and transport company Finncargo Services Ltd. The division, based at Helsinki's International Airport, will operate as Emery Worldwide (Finland).
The House on Friday overwhelmingly passed anti-terrorism legislation (H.R.3953) that would direct FAA to deploy commercially available explosives detection devices on an interim basis while it develops a fully certified system. FAA would be required to issue regulations increasing security standards on passenger aircraft having fewer than 61 seats. The bill also would authorize more rigorous background checks on security screening personnel and would require FAA to establish performance standards for security personnel. Other aviation-related provisions would:
American said Friday its revenue passenger miles grew 1.6% in July from the same 1995 month, giving it a 2.6% increase for the first seven months. Capacity dropped 2.7% for the month, producing a 3.2-percentage-point increase in load factor. The rise in the domestic load factor was 5.1 points. Domestic traffic growth was strong at 4.9%, but international traffic fell 4.9%. Atlantic RPMs were down 13.3% - a slightly greater drop than the 12.5% decrease in capacity in the Atlantic market. Pacific traffic dropped 3.8%, while Latin American traffic grew 4.1%.
Charter operators are expressing "mass confusion over items such as the conditions of the North American Free Trade Agreement," prompting the National Air Transportation Association to schedule a conference on NAFTA and other issues, VP Andy Cebula said. The conference is scheduled Sept. 19-20 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, with presentations from FAA, Customs, the National Transportation Safety Board and top aviation officials from Mexico.
American requested authority to operate combination service between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. Beginning Nov. 1, the carrier proposes providing nonstop service six days a week on the route, using 139-seat MD-80 aircraft. "Since no other U.S. carrier presently operates between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Jose del Cabo, American's proposed service is consistent with the governing bilateral agreement," said American, noting that the bilateral allows one U.S. carrier to be authorized for service in any single U.S.-Mexico city-pair.
Worldspan will handle some of Microsoft's transaction processing as well as making its database on airline schedules, fares and available to the software giant as part of the companies' online alliance, the computer reservations system told DOT. Microsoft will reformat the database for its online travel booking product, which is meant to be user friendly to the public. Worldspan provides services to travel professionals with specialized training.
