Travel and tourism industry friend Rep. Toby Roth (R-Wis.), author of legislation to create a national tourism office, announced this week he will not seek re-election at the end of the year. Roth is chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on international economic policy and trade.
International Lease Finance Corp. said yesterday it placed 38 firm orders and eight options for Airbus Industrie aircraft and 18 orders and two options for Boeing aircraft. The ILFC order brings life to the dormant A330 series. ILFC ordered 13 A330-200s, one A330-300, 12 A340-300s, three A319s, six A320s and three A321s. The A330-200 orders are the first for this longer-range version (6,400 nautical miles) of the twin-engine aircraft.
January's winter storms and record snowfalls in the Midwest and on the East Coast exacted their tolls on airline service as the nation's major carriers recorded a 62.7% on-time record - the lowest since data collection began. The previous low was 66.4% in December 1987, three months after DOT started collecting on-time data, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, issued Tuesday. Southwest posted the best record at 77.9% followed by Alaska at 72%.
International travelers have given the U.S. the highest marks of any nation in a survey ranking an unusual travel benefit - really good toilet paper. The fourth annual Quilted Northern Toilet Paper Report found the U.S. ranked No. 1 for good and abundant bathroom tissue by 73% of those polled. Russia tied for last place with British "100" paper. The U.S. also won in the "best bathrooms" category, and the worst were said to be in China and the Middle East.
Hertz has added Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean as participating locations in its frequent flyer programs. Members can earn 500 bonus miles when renting a car in those countries within 24 hours of a flight. Double miles will be available April 15 through June 15. Participating airlines include Alaska, American, British Airways, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets O&D Passengers Third Quarter 1995 1995 1994 Average Market Market Passengers Rank Rank City-Pair Per Day 1 2 Honolulu - Kahului 8,543 2 1 Chicago - New York 8,506 3 3 Los Angeles - New York 8,132 4 4 Boston - New York 6,195
Fortis Aviation was appointed by Global Aircraft Leasing to offer for sale or lease two 747-100 aircraft built in 1970 and 1971 and delivered new to Aer Lingus. The aircraft were D-checked in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and all Section 41 work has been completed.
TravelWeb will be launched today on the World Wide Web by hotel chains offering booking capabilities at more than 6,000 hotels worldwide. Airline ticket and rental car access will follow.
Precision Standard's Pemco World Air Services subsidiary has contracted with Ansett to perform a heavy maintenance check and major interior and avionics modifications on a 767-200.
A Boeing marketing executive said yesterday the "recovery is under way in the commercial airplane industry," but the company is cutting 1,500 aircraft from its estimate of the replacement aircraft market and expects nearly half the U.S. Stage 2 fleet to be hushkitted. Despite the reduction, Boeing said in its 1996 market forecast it expects airlines to need 15,900 aircraft over the next 20 years, up 500 over last year's forecast. Nancy Bethel, VP-marketing, estimated the orders at $1.1 trillion, up from the $1.04 trillion Boeing forecast last year for 15,400 units.
Travelers to and from Taiwan set records in 1995 as foreign visitors totaled 2.33 million and Taiwanese traveling overseas numbered 5.18 million, about one-fourth of the island's population. The tendency to leave home places the Taiwanese, per capita, among the world's most frequent travelers.
Travel Guard International has compiled a list of "weird but true" vacation mishaps that were filed as claims by policyholders and paid by the company. The claims involve a man on his honeymoon who was knocked unconscious by a coconut, a large rat that carried off a vacationer's dentures and hearing aid from the night stand in his hotel room, and a man whose wallet and watch were stolen from the beach as he rescued a swimmer from drowning.
World Airways parent WorldCorp will act soon, perhaps within a month, to try to increase the value of the airline's stock, WorldCorp Chief Executive Coleman Andrews told investors yesterday. Investors have suggested a spinoff of World Airways or WorldCorp's home banking business, US Order, but Andrews said that option is not attractive for tax reasons. Andrews said the company is investigating four other possibilities for the airline but refused to elaborate.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena said yesterday he "called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to immediately and fully investigate the brutal shootdown by the government of Cuba of two unarmed American civil aircraft on February 24." Meeting with ICAO officials in Montreal, Pena said he "documented how the Cuban action was a total disregard for the ICAO principle not to use weapons against civil aircraft in flight." Urging ICAO "to adopt a resolution deeply deploring these actions," Pena added that he "expressed, in the strongest possible terms, the moral out
Value Airlines, a New Zealand startup that hopes to provide no-frills, low- fare service among Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland this fall, wants to lease two hushkitted 737-200s from the U.S. It also is looking for equipment and services for baggage handling, ground services, ticketing and reservations, and computer systems.
Japan Airlines and Vietnam Airlines will code share in the Osaka-Ho Chi Minh market on some flights starting April 2. The two carriers, which currently operate three weekly roundtrips in the market each, will each be able to offer service to their customers five times per week under the agreement. On two other days of the week, the airlines will operate their flights independently. JAL operates a 266-seat DC-10 on the route, while Vietnam Airlines flies a 245-seat 767. Both carriers offer two-class service on the route.
Western Pacific Airlines carried 123,548 passengers and achieved a 53.9% load factor in February, its 10th month of operation. Revenue passenger miles totaled 102 million and available seat miles 189.1 million. Tom DeNardin, VP-sales and marketing, said, "Given the fact that this time of year is traditionally slow industrywide, we are equally pleased with our February numbers since our yield per passenger mile is well above our expectations and WestPac expanded its service by 10% in February with new service to Nashville, San Antonio and San Jose."
British Airways' traffic rose 13.4% last month, compared with February 1995, on 12.3% more capacity. The carrier flew 4.1 million revenue passenger miles in February 1996 on capacity of 6.2 million available seat miles. Load factor was 66.6%, up 0.6 points. The number of passengers rose 7.6% to 2.3 million. For the period April through February, the carrier's traffic was up 9.5% on 6.7% more capacity. BA flew 54.5 million RPMs for the period, on 74.2 million ASMs. Load factor was 73.4%, up 1.9 points.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena and FAA Administrator David Hinson went to Montreal yesterday to testify before the International Civil Aviation Organization on the Feb. 24 shootdown of U.S.-registered aircraft by Cuban military aircraft.
Worldwide airport passenger traffic rose 4.7% and cargo volume increased 6.1% during 1995, compared with the same period in 1994, according to the Airports Council International, Geneva. Aircraft movements grew 1.8%. The preliminary 1995 ACI traffic report includes data from 411 airports worldwide. Chicago O'Hare remained the busiest airport worldwide in passengers and operations with 67.25 million passengers and 900,278 movements. Memphis Airport led the world in cargo volume with 1.71 million metric tons.
Domenico Cempella has set the tone for his tenure as chief executive of Alitalia by reducing the carrier's executive committee from 14 members to five. Cempella, the former chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma who took control of the loss-plagued carrier on Monday, should have a free hand at reform since Chairman Renato Riverso has come under increasing pressure to resign. Cempella's predessor, Roberto Schisano, agreed to leave the board late last week after Alitalia said it would drop a lawsuit against him claiming he failed to stem the carrier's losses.
DOT is finishing up a report on new entry that will "document its impact on fares" and "identify those cities in which competitive conditions may favor new entry, but where it has not yet occurred," according to Mark Gerchick, DOT deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs. "Despite their small size, these carriers are having a profound competitive impact," he told the International Aviation Club yesterday, and DOT "now estimates that the direct savings in lower fares to travelers resulting from low-cost, low-fare carriers in the U.S.
USAir has reduced fares to Denver from almost 70 cities in the Southeast, Florida and western Pennsylvania by more than 30% for travel April 16 through June 6. Tickets require a 21-day advance purchase and a Saturday night stay. Fares are as low as $408 roundtrip to Pittsburgh, Orlando, Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham and Charlotte.
