Travel agents believe 1996 will bring at least as much spending by travelers as in 1995, according to a nationwide survey of agents conducted by the American Society of Travel Agents. ASTA found that 48.9% of agents expect travelers to spend more next year than they did this year, and 40.9% expect flat spending. Sixty percent of respondents said international bookings were up. The results of the survey were released at the start of ASTA's 65th Annual World Travel Congress in Philadelphia.
FAA said it has created an Aviation Weather Division to strengthen its ability to prevent accidents and reduce delays attributable to weather, which the agency said account for 73% of all delays. The new division, part of FAA's Air Traffic Services, brings together weather experts from the offices of Regulation and Certification and Air Traffic Services. The announcement followed a National Research Council report, issued Tuesday, calling on FAA to take the lead in improving the dissemination of weather information to pilots.
Airlines are offering more special fares for fall/winter and Thanksgiving travel. USAir has reduced tariffs by up to 35% to Denver from nearly 60 cities in the Southeast, Florida and western Pennsylvania for travel through Dec. 15. The tickets require a 21-day advance purchase. Reno Air is marketing "gobble" fares for travel Nov. 23-25. Tickets must be purchased one day before departure. America West is reducing fares before Thanksgiving, for travel Nov. 8-20. They do not have an advance-purchase requirement but require a three-day minimum stay.
United's systemwide passenger traffic rose just 0.8% last month from October 1994 on 5.3% more capacity, producing a load factor decline of 3.1 percentage points to 70.9%, but the company said there is more to the overall picture than simply the number of revenue passenger miles flown. "The modest traffic gain last month should not be allowed to camouflage the improved yield environment we are continuing to experience this fall as compared to last year," said United President John Edwardson. The number of passengers boarded systemwide increased 3%.
Air passenger volume between the U.S. and South American has grown 80% since 1990 and will nearly double by 2000, according to Bob Booth, president of Aviation Management Services. Passenger volume is expected to grow at a rate of 14.5% annually through 2000.
Tower Air's scheduled passenger traffic increased 70.6% in October on 50.5% more capacity, pushing its passenger load factor up 8.6 percentage points to 73.1%. The number of passengers carried increased 73.7%, and block hours flown rose 16.8% to 4,126. Through the first 10 months of this year, Tower's scheduled passenger traffic rose 28.1% on 28.5% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 0.2 points to 75.2%. Oct 95 Oct 94 10 Mths 95 10 Mths 94
USAir's load factor jumped 6.7 percentage points in October from a year ago to 67.5%, the second month in a row the airline has set a load factor record and the sixth straight month of year-over-year load factor improvement. The airline's traffic declined 2.1% and its capacity dropped 11.7%. "We have been reporting consistently increasing load factors as a result of our rightsizing program that began this past summer," said Chairman Seth Schofield. "These load factors, combined with increasing yields, are helping return USAir to profitability," he said.
BAE Automated Systems Inc. has reached an agreement with United on completion of the automated baggage system at Denver Airport (DAILY, Nov. 2). BAE notified United early last week that it considered the system to be "substantially complete" under its contract with the airline. United disagreed. The agreement, reached Thursday, provides that substantial completion is to be achieved by Nov. 15, but it allows for a "cure period" of 45 days thereafter.
Dutch carrier Transavia Airlines placed a $288 million order for eight Boeing 737-800 aircraft and took options on an additional 12. The first of the twinjets is scheduled for delivery in 1998. The aircraft will be configured to carry 182 to 188 passengers, capacity between the 737-300s and the 757s Transavia already operates. The new airplanes will be used initially for nonstop charter service in Europe and around the Mediterranean coast. Total 737-600/700/800 announced orders stand at 214, and 737 orders have reached 3,238, Boeing said.
FAA will open on Monday an office intended to keep closer track of suspected unapproved aircraft parts, Peggy Gilligan, deputy associate administrator for regulation and certification, said yesterday. William Machado, manager of the aircraft evaluation group for the New England Region, will head the Suspected Unapproved Parts Program Office temporarily "to get us up and running as quickly as possible," Gilligan said.
Continental's October systemwide jet passenger traffic declined 10.5% from October a year ago on 14.9% less capacity, producing a load factor increase of 3.2 percentage points to 65.7%, the highest October load factor in company history. Reporting its October traffic, in which domestic revenue passenger miles dropped 13.2% and international RPMs fell 1.9%, management said the airline's operational performance continues to exceed internal forecasts. Oct 95 Oct 94 10 Mths 95 10 Mths 94
Delta has applied to provide scheduled service between Cincinnati and Montreal beginning in 1996 - the second year of the two-year phase-in of open skies service to the Canadian city. The carrier is proposing two daily roundtrips on the route with 727s but reserves the right to use other aircraft, if necessary. (Docket OST-95-796)
Even if the UAL board decides Monday to try to acquire USAir, a formal bid is unlikely until early 1996 or later.In a message to pilots this week, the airline's ALPA unit said discussions between United management and employees could take as long as 60 days before an offer could be made. An analyst who attended a presentation by United yesterday said the carrier is not actively looking at any other airlines.
DOT issued a consent order assessing a compromise civil penalty of $10,000 against BWIA International Airways for violating fare advertising regulations. The department said BWIA did not state the entire price for service in August advertisements in the New York Times and the Miami Herald promoting fall discount fares from New York and Miami, respectively, to points in the Caribbean. "In a small-print section separate from the listed price, the advertisement stated the 'Passenger facility charges and taxes are not included in the fares,'" noted DOT.
Hawaiian Airlines has signed a letter of intent with a private investor group for $20 million in new equity in exchange for 18.18 million shares of Hawaiian Class A common stock. The transaction will leave the group with a 60.9% stake in Hawaiian and six of the 11 seats on its board. Hawaiian Chairman Bruce Nobles declined yesterday to identify the group, saying only that it invests in a lot of businesses, including airlines occasionally.
British Airways was forced this week to cancel 36 flights from Terminal 1 at London Heathrow Airport because of an unofficial work stoppage by passenger check-in personnel protesting the airline's weekend use of language students to aid non-English-speaking passengers. The flights affected were to U.K. and European destinations.
Representatives from more than a dozen airlines are at Boeing in Seattle this week to start fleshing out ideas for the future of the 747-400, including larger versions of the airplane.
AlliedSignal said it plans to move its Prescott, Ariz., avionics operations to existing facilities in Olathe, Kan. About 200 employees will be affected and can apply for jobs in Olathe or at other company units.
DOT has tentatively allocated the 16 available all-cargo frequencies in the U.S.-Russia market to Polar Air Cargo, Evergreen and Federal Express. Granted eight frequencies, Polar will begin immediately operating scheduled New York-Moscow service, via Prestwick, Scotland, and Anchorage-Khabarovsk service, via Taipei, Hong Kong and Seoul, using Boeing 747F aircraft. FedEx was allotted four frequencies to provide New York-Memphis-Moscow service, via Paris and Frankfurt.
United, which inaugurated its E-Ticket system nationwide in September, will offer the ticketless service to international travelers soon, Chairman Gerald Greenwald told the American Society of Travel Agents World Travel Congress this week. The biggest issue facing the industry is change - cost cutting, outsourcing and service fees - and to be successful, the industry must tap into changing technology, he said.
American's systemwide passenger traffic rose 0.8% last month from October a year ago on 2.5% more capacity, resulting in a load factor drop of 1.1 percentage points to 66.1%. The number of passengers boarded declined 6.4%. Michael Gunn, senior VP-marketing, said the lower loads in October were "offset in part by higher yields, which have resulted from an improved pricing environment.
The government of Peru, in a diplomatic note, has petitioned the U.S. to dismiss a complaint by Fine Airlines seeking sanctions against Peru for barring the all-cargo carrier from operating within its borders.
Northwest flew 12% more systemwide revenue passenger miles last month than in October 1994 on 5.7% more capacity, raising its load factor 3.9 percentage points to 69.7%. The number of passengers boarded rose 8.8% Northwest's domestic traffic increased 6.6% on 3.2% more available seat miles, and its international traffic was up 20% on 9.7% more ASMs. Oct 95 Oct 94 10 Mths 95 10 Mths 94 RPMs 5,207,934,000 4,650,919,000 52,650,114,000 48,943,342,000
