The Amadeus computer reservations system and Resinter, the automated reservations service for the Accor Group of hotels, have renewed their agreement to work as marketing partners. Amadeus said the goal of this year's pact is to increase significantly the number of Resinter bookings made through Amadeus, specifically in France, Germany, Spain and Thailand. The two companies will set up a Resinter-Amadeus help desk in Spain and will jointly train travel agents to make hotel bookings and provide training for Resinter sales and other staff.
With the comment deadline closing next Wednesday on FAA's flight and duty time proposal, many in industry say life-style affects pilot fatigue more than the work schedule. The following comment was filed anonymously at FAA: "The fatigue factor I see, and am concerned about, is one generated by USAir pilots living in 47 of the 48 contiguous states. For some reason, they have shunned North Dakota. We have crew bases in BOS-PIT-BWI-DCA-CLT and LAX, but no one lives there. They all commute to work and will travel anywhere to best exercise their seniority.
As New York Kennedy Airport renumbers its passenger terminals, American and American Eagle are renumbering their gates. American will operate in Terminals 8 and 9, which have been Terminal 3. American will operate international, Caribbean and Miami flights from Gates 1-10, Concourse A, and Gates 20-23, Concourse B, Terminal 8. Flights to other domestic points, Puerto Rico and Canada, and most of Eagle's flights, will operate from Terminal 9.
Hilton Hotels Corp., IBM and TelePort Corporation have unveiled a virtual conferencing TeleSuite, bringing videoconferencing to the hotel industry by enabling users to experience life-size, "virtual personal contact." The TeleSuites are in two Hilton properties - the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. Hilton will expand the system to other hotels across the country. During the conference, all participants appear simultaneously on screen without delay, and seem to be sitting across the table from one another.
FAA, asked by Congress to compare rescue and firefighting requirements at civil facilities with those required by the military, is soliciting public comment on some of the issues involved. The agency said it has done its own studies on the requirements and responsibilities of airports and officials charged with providing rescue and firefighting service at military and civil airports.
Continental Chief Executive Gordon Bethune said yesterday the proposed alliance between British Airways and American is anti-competitive, and he pressed Continental's case for more access in regulated international markets. He likened an American-BA merger to one between American and United, which would never be allowed, and said the same prohibition should apply to American and BA.
Former FAA Administrator and NTSB member Donald Engen will be named director of the National Air and Space Museum today. Engen, who also has been president of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation, is a retired vice admiral who holds the museum's Dewitt Ramsey Chair for Naval Aviation History.
Travel and Tourism Research Association will hold its 27th annual conference June 16-19 at the Bally's Las Vegas Hotel. Sessions include standards for measuring tourism, ecotourism, the current status of the gaming industry, international tourism research and marketing to honeymooners and travelers with children.
The American Automobile Association kicked off a nationwide campaign yesterday to improve U.S. highways and airways, including a proposal to take the transportation trust funds off budget and reinstate the airline ticket tax. AAA branches will work with transportation officials and policymakers to find local solutions to problems caused by aging highways and the congested air traffic control system.
Visa and Barnett Bank of Florida are marketing Visa TravelMoney - a prepaid debit card enabling travelers to get cash anywhere in the world. TravelMoney is an electronic alternative to travelers cheques, they said, and is to be used at ATM machines. Travelers determine how much money they will need and purchase a card for that amount. The card is discarded after its prepaid value, which cannot be increased, is depleted.
Travel management firm Rosenbluth International has acquired Business Partners International, a $13.4 million travel agency in Brussels. The acquisition is Rosenbluth's sixth in a year.
French tour operator FRAM said it would purchase Air France's charter subsidiary Air Charter if the company were privatized. FRAM Chairman Georges Colson said his company would team up with other tour operators to take over Air Charter, but FRAM would hold a majority stake. Stressing that Air Charter is his company's main service provider, he said FRAM would stop cooperation with Air Charter if it were bought by a rival tour operator. FRAM posted a profit of 52.2 million French francs in 1995, down 19% from 1994, with sales totaling 2.011 billion francs, down 4.3%.
Association of Flight Attendants has received the news it expected from United - over the union's strong objection, the carrier plans to go forward with opening two more foreign flight attendant bases (DAILY, June 11). United AFA Master Executive Council President Kevin Lum said the airline is choosing a path of confrontation. The union believes the existing five bases already have cost 1,800 U.S. jobs.
A team of experts hired by ValuJet has found no safety problems since it began evaluating the carrier May 29, according to the head of the team. Both the safety czar, retired Air Force Gen. James Davis, and ValuJet President Lewis Jordan played down elements of a preliminary report finding numerous problems at the carrier, which Jordan hinted was leaked by FAA to the press.
System One Amadeus has about 50 letters of intent from travel agencies that want the computer reservations system's customized World Wide Web site. The product, Private Label, allots each agency an individual site, capable of airline bookings and other services. It began developing its first Private Label Web site 45 days ago for seven customers, and said all of them will make individual launches in the next 30 days. System One Amadeus has its own Web site, which directs consumers to individual agencies. It will be able to book airline travel in August.
American Society of Travel Agents Scholarship Foundation has awarded a doctoral candidate at Clemson University, Anthony Sheppard, its $5,000 Golden Flame Award for excellence in verbal and written communication. His paper "Non-traditional schools and family vacations: implications for the travel industry," studies the impact of year-round schools on vacation planning.
Lufthansa has taken over the share of TUI, Germany's largest holiday and travel company, in Start, the German computer reservations system. In exchange, the airline transferred its holding in German tour operator Airtours to TUI. Lufthansa now owns two-thirds of Start, while the remaining shares are in the hands of Deutsche Bahn AG, the German railway company.
Traffic at BAA plc's seven U.K. airports approached 8.2 million passengers in May, 4.6% more than in May 1995. Growth was strongest in traffic to Ireland, 17%, and within the U.K., 9.6%. Scheduled traffic to Europe, up 5.5%, "is gradually returning to the growth experienced prior to the opening of the Channel Tunnel," the airport management company said. European charter traffic was down 12% due to "continued weakness in the U.K. package holiday market, with European destinations most affected." Long-haul traffic gained 7%.
Six workers engaged in constructing a bridge on a rail link to Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport died when a metal platform collapsed and they plunged 60 feet to the ground. A government spokesman said the cause of the accident still is under investigation.
TWA and Transbrasil plan to begin code-share operations this fall, offering U.S.-Brazil service through New York Kennedy Airport. Under a memorandum of understanding subject to government approvals, Transbrasil will lease a TWA 767 aircraft for flights four times per week on a JFK- Miami-Brasilia route and three times per week on a Washington Dulles-JFK- Brasilia route. Transbrasil will operate the aircraft between the U.S. and Brazil, and TWA will code share on the flights.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic October 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 844 13.33 809 682,423 American Trans Air 310 4.07 2,003 621,291
Sabre Decision Technologies is marketing EC Slots, an automated slot request and management system available to aid airlines flying into and out of Europe. Sabre said the system is one of the first to address growing European air traffic, as well as new requirements imposed by Eurocontrol. EC Slots enables airlines to send and receive flight plans, slot approvals and revisions. Sabre said the system improves an airline's ability to get an optimal slot. The system also generates reports on problem areas.
Hong Kong Tourist Association is presenting an exposition at Universal CityWalk in Universal City, Calif., called "Hong Kong wonders never cease." The exhibit, to run through June 16, features performances unique to Hong Kong culture and highlights the ties that link Hong Kong and Los Angeles through trade, tourism and entertainment. A contest for a trip for two to Hong Kong, and other prizes, can be found on the association's Web site at http ://www.hkta.org.
American Chairman Robert Crandall and his new partners from British Airways continued to preach the virtue of their proposed union yesterday, but it became clear that BA's relationship with its other major U.S. partner, USAir, is beginning to fray. Crandall told reporters at a breakfast meeting in Washington that BA and American want to discuss several proposals with USAir but cannot do so because USAir refuses to sign a confidentiality agreement safeguarding against disclosure. British Airways, which owns almost 25% of USAir, is playing down the differences.
The American-British Airways alliance agreement, which is expected to soften the U.K. position in stalemated aviation negotiations with the U.S., is hardening the U.S. stance. Immunity from U.S. antitrust laws, a keystone of the partnership plan, will depend not only on an open skies U.S.-U.K. aviation agreement, but also on greatly improved access for U.S.
