Rosenbluth International has opened a second IntelliCenter at its office in Wilmington, Del. The centralized reservations center handles calls from multiple accounts throughout the U.S. Its first IntelliCenter opened in Fargo, N.D., two years ago. The company is considering opening two more centers and is reviewing locations. The Wilmington facility could create 100 new jobs.
The International Civil Aviation Organization predicts air services in the Asia/Pacific region, currently the fastest-growing in the world, will increase significantly throughout the first decade of the next century. "According to recent forecasts by ICAO's Asia/Pacific Area Traffic Forecasting Group, transpacific aircraft movements are likely to grow by 4% compounded yearly," Assad Kotaite, president of the Council of ICAO, said Tuesday at the Global NAVCOM Symposium and Exhibition in Singapore.
MasterCard International and the American Society of Travel Agents will sponsor an Internet training seminar for travel agents July 12 in Washington, D.C. The seminar is designed to provide agents with an overview of marketing on the Internet, how to locate new clients online, how to design a home page and how to access ASTA's Web site, ASTAnet.
Continental Micronesia President and Chief Executive Don Breeding will retire Jan. 15 and VP-finance Jim Ream is expected to be named executive VP and chief operating officer at CMI's board meeting June 25, Continental told employees. After Breeding retires, Ream will be the new chief.
Aerovics is seeking authority to conduct charter passenger operations between Mexico and the U.S., with stopover privileges and relief from the requirement that it obtain advance approval for each Mexico-U.S. flight. The Mexican air taxi company plans to operate the service using its four corporate aircraft - a 16-seat Gulfstream G-IV, a six-passenger Dassault Falcon 100, a 10-passenger Beechcraft King Air 300 and an eight-passenger Eurocopter AS365N2 Dauphin 2 helicopter. The carrier estimated that it will operate fewer than 75 roundtrips between Mexico and the U.S.
U.S. carriers are trying to accommodate the failure of the U.S. and Japan to address either direct or beyond service issues in two days of talks that ended Tuesday in Tokyo (DAILY, June 4). United CEO Gerald Greenwald noted that little was accomplished but said "an opportunity for real progress does exist, beginning with scheduled talks on June 27-28 in Washington." He urged a three-step approach - approve pending applications for Osaka- Jakarta service, allow U.S.
Airbus Industrie is pitting a shortened version of its A330 twin against Boeing's 767 - five years late, according to a senior executive - and the company expects the downgrading of military airbases in the Northern Pacific to make its A340 more competitive against the Boeing 777 for service between North America and Asia.
Bell Atlantic is expanding its in-hotel television programming, called InfoTravel, to nine Chicago hotels. The company launched the television product a year ago in some Washington, D.C., hotels, and 13 are now signed up. Guests, using the TV remote, can choose a restaurant, hear about local entertainment options, locate the nearest shopping area and pick up customized maps from the front desk. The service is advertiser-supported and free to users and the hotel.
With an 87% record, Southwest led the majors in on-time performance for the fourth month in a row in April. Overall, the nation's 10 largest carriers posted an 80.2% rate, up from 75.9% in March but not as good as the 81.3% in April 1995, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, released this week. Northwest placed second at 84.2%, followed by United at 83.3%. TWA came in last with 75.5%. Data still include delays caused by mechanical problems as DOT determines whether to once again exclude that information from the on-time ratings.
Aer Lingus is a new member of Delta's SkyMiles program. The carriers began code sharing May 1 on Aer Lingus's daily flights between New York and Shannon and Dublin.
Air Canada has opened two lounges in Vancouver Airport's new terminal. The facilities, for international and transborder business travelers, include business centers equipped by Xerox. The 500-square-meter international lounge, in the international departures area, accommodates up to 111 passengers. The 240-square-meter transborder lounge seats up to 58 passengers for the carrier's 169 weekly flights to the U.S.
National Council for Women in Aviation has joined the National Aeronautic Association as an affiliate member. The council, established to increase opportunities for women in aviation and aerospace, opens its membership to men and women.
Northwest's cost control plans have moved the airline within striking distance of matching Delta's unit costs, leading the fourth largest U.S. carrier to believe it may end up with a lower operating cost structure than its Atlanta rival. Delta's 1995 cost per available seat mile was 8.59 cents, compared with Northwest's 8.71, United's 9.42, American's 10.21 and USAir's 10.22. Delta's goal is 7.5 cents per ASM.
British Airways World Cargo said revenues for the year ended March 31 rose 9% to $861.4 million, and it carried 672,000 metric tons of freight, mail and courier traffic. "The results were achieved at a time when key markets, including North America, Western Europe and Southeast Asia, were sluggish," the company said. Leased freighters account for about 9% of total cargo uplift. Outsourced capacity grew by 56% to compensate for lower capacity on line flights, the company said.
Fokker, the Dutch aircraft maker that has been in bankruptcy since March, will build 15 more aircraft, keeping operations going for another year. The court-appointed receivers of Fokker confirmed yesterday that they reached agreements with several airlines for additional airplanes. Most will go to KLM. Without the new orders, Fokker would have been forced to close its assembly line this month. KLM agreed, however, to purchase six Fokker 70 jets. The carrier already has received three of four F70s ordered earlier, giving it a net total of seven on order.
The Air Line Pilots Association's Executive Council has warned union leaders at Federal Express of its concerns over a proposed plan to pressure FedEx into negotiating a better contract by subjecting the company to a public campaign questioning its safety. The strategy, referred to as the Phoenix Plan, was drafted by the new negotiating committee chairman, Jim Camp, who was brought in after FedEx ALPA leaders fired the old negotiating committee, which reached the March 18 tentative agreement the FedEx leadership opposes.
U.S. and Japanese officials have agreed to meet again June 27-28 in Washington after concluding two days of largely unproductive talks in Tokyo yesterday. After a rocky start Monday, negotiations went more smoothly yesterday, industry officials reported. The two sides failed to settle a number of longstanding disputes, however, and the U.S.
United is holding a job fair today at the Renaissance Hotel near Los Angeles Airport, with the intention of filling more than 600 positions this year. Openings are available for reservations, sales, customer service and ramp service employees, building and maintenance mechanics, automotive equipment mechanics and administrative personnel.
Amadeus Global Travel Distribution has launched Complete Access Plus, a hotel product that enables travel agencies to connect directly to the hotel's own inventory system without going through the Amadeus hotel database. The first chain to participate is Radisson Hospitality Worldwide.
SITA has developed two graphics user interfaces for its Flight Operations Services. The Windows graphical display enables users to display the optimum flight plan on a map and provides data on extended-range twin- engine operations, airports and upper-air weather. The revised version of FleetWatch provides information on improved aircraft utilization, on-time performance and increased productivity over a local area network.
United outhired all other U.S. carriers for cockpit crewmembers from April 1995 through April 1996, taking on 785 pilots. Federal Express hired 615 and Northwest 506. The Future Aviation Professionals of America said 8,286 pilots were hired by U.S. airlines during the 12-month period, while 1,758 were on furlough. Those on furlough include about 235 at Delta, which has sent a letter recalling all of them by Oct. 1.
The Business Travel Contractors Corp. (BTCC) is urging immediate reinstatement of the 10% airline ticket tax and announced yesterday its "unequivocal opposition" to proposals to replace the ticket tax with FAA user fees. BTCC, a group of corporations aimed at obtaining better airline fares for its members, is aligning itself on the ticket-tax-versus-user- fees issue with low-cost airlines, including Southwest - the only airline that has signed up for the group's mileage-based domestic airfare structure (DAILY, April 2).
Delta continues to break monthly boarding records one month ahead of the Olympics, not only in Atlanta, where it boarded more than two million passengers for three consecutive months. It set a boarding record in May at Hartsfield Airport by carrying 2,078,191 passengers, beating its March record of 2,066,777. Delta also set best-month-ever records in May at Washington Dulles, Nashville, Savanna, Huntsville, Richmond, Pensacola and Jacksonville. Following the trend, the Delta Shuttle boarded 191,139 passengers, its best month.
Aided by Northwest, KLM reported record net income of 547 million Dutch guilders (US$320 million) for fiscal 1996. A revaluation of its stake in the U.S. carrier added 258 million guilders (US$150.93 million) to the Dutch company's bottom line. The airline also announced plans to acquire additional aircraft for European service and a pact with its pilot union allowing it to contract with other carriers for some of its flying. While Northwest's financial strength bolstered KLM's bottom line, infighting between the two persists.
