Alaska Airlines' July traffic was up 11.9% to 881 million revenue passenger miles, compared with July 1994 on 15.3% higher capacity. The load factor dropped to 65.5% from 67.5%. The other Alaska Air Group carrier, Horizon Air, posted a 14.2% traffic increase to 83 million RPMs. Its load factor dropped to 61.7% from 66.6%. Horizon carried 364,700 passengers, up from 341,500 in the same 1994 month. Alaska Airlines July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94
Gulf Air said it will start service from Houston Intercontinental Airport to Arabian Gulf points and Cyprus, via New York, on Oct. 29. It flies from New York to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, via Cyprus, using A340s.
Southwest Airlines' traffic increased 7.8% in July to 2.2 billion revenue passenger miles as available seat miles increased by 9.9%, resulting in a dip in the load factor from 73.2% to 71.8%. Its traffic for the first seven months of the year was up 6.9%, but the load factor was down 3.9 points to 65.3%. Capacity for the period rose 13.2%. July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94 RPMs 2,182,449,038 2,025,419,399 13,380,777,804 12,521,770,094
Atlantic Coast Airlines' traffic fell more than 19% in July, according to preliminary results issued by the United Express operator. It flew 31.7 million revenue passenger miles, compared with 39.3 million in July 1994. Capacity was down a little more than 19%. Chief Executive Kerry Skeen said he was pleased with the overall revenue performance because of "substantial improvement in our passenger yield as compared to last July." July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94
USAir Group regional carrier Jetstream International Airlines said it has leased 17 Jetstream 31 19-passenger aircraft to Chautauqua Airlines and will replace them with 32-passenger Dornier 328 aircraft. Chautauqua, based in Indianapolis, is an independent USAir Express operator. The transaction enables Jetstream to "focus its energies on the new Dornier 328 and to supplement USAir's marketing strategies in Pittsburgh," said Keith Houk, VP-USAir Express division.
United's systemwide and domestic traffic remained flat in July, while Pacific revenue passenger miles rose 4.2%, Latin American RPMs were up 1.9% and transatlantic traffic dropped 7.3%. Total RPMs were down 0.1%, to 10.447 billion, from July 1994.
United is offering 10,000 bonus miles until Dec. 1 to frequent flyers on its San Francisco-Sydney flights who stay at least three nights at any of eight Radisson hotels in Australia. Mileage Plus members must fly on a paid roundtrip ticket from the U.S. to Australia, with no discount on the hotel accommodation.
The 10 core board members of Nav Canada were named at a meeting last Friday in Ottawa. Nav Canada is the newly formed non-share capital corporation that is negotiating with Transport Canada to purchase and operate the Canadian civil air navigation system. The board ultimately will have 15 members - five appointed by national aviation user associations, three by the federal government, two by air navigation system (ANS) unions, four directors-at-large chosen by the core board of 10 and the president and chief executive.
Like several U.S. carriers, British Airways reported a record net profit for the three months ended June 30 - 101 million (US$160 million), a 57.8% increase over the same period in 1994. Reporting on the quarter, the first in BA's fiscal year, Chairman Colin Marshall said the carrier found "good demand" on long-haul routes in particular, and Club Europe, its short-haul business service, continued to strengthen.
Fine Airlines opened an office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to support the all-cargo carrier's service between Miami and San Juan. The new office is the carrier's 24th and the 10th it has opened this year. "The San Juan business is the latest step in our rapid expansion throughout the hemisphere," said J. Frank Fine, president of the company.
Marriott International is the first hotel participant to subscribe to Sabre Travel Information Network's premier level of participation, Direct Connect Availability. Travel agents at 29,000 locations worldwide can access and book true-last-room availability at any Marriott Hotel and Resort, Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott Vacation Club and Fairfield Inn. Residence Inn by Marriott will be added within a month. Agents can access rate information, room inventory and information about each property.
Airbus Training Center in Toulouse will open restaurant facilities next year capable of serving 800 meals a day that suit the "cultural requirements and tastes" of airline personnel from all over the world.
China Eastern Airlines, faced with the preference of many Chinese business customers for Japanese service, has hired seven Japanese flight attendants on a trial basis for its Shanghai-Tokyo and Shanghai-Osaka routes. Chinese carriers are losing business as Chinese customers flock to the Japanese competition. If Japanese flight attendants reverse the trend, more will be hired.
Non-federal sector of the travel/tourism/recreation industry has little awareness of how the government helps it, according to a Tourism Policy Council working group survey of customer needs. Only 17 of 59 government agencies listed in the survey were recognized by two-thirds of the respondents. The most frequently used programs were those of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, cited by 75%, and the National Park Service, 65%.
Complying with DOT regulations, Continental notified the department that it is not operating two of the 14 U.S.-Germany frequencies allocated to it for the summer 1995 season, due to maintenance requirements of its DC-10-30 aircraft. The carrier relinquished the frequencies for this season but expects to be able to get and operate 14 frequencies next summer. (OST-95- 365)
Southwest has established preferred partnerships with Alamo, Budget and Hertz to give its frequent flyer program members credits toward free tickets with every car rental. Currently, Southwest Company Club award tickets are given only for air travel - one every eight roundtrips or 16 one-way flights in a 12-month period. Cars must be rented within 24 hours of taking a flight.
Air Travel Card has a home page on the Internet, the Air Travel Card Control Tower, that offers product information and a forum with news on corporate travel trends. Some airlines' home pages are hyper-linked to the Control Tower. Corporations can file electronically for an Air Travel Card account and apply for insurance products. The World Wide Web site is http://air-travel-card.com/atc/home.htm.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has signed up to participate in Worldspan Airline Source, the highest level of automated distribution services offered by the Worldspan computer reservations system. When Virgin completes the upgrade later this year, availability requests made by Worldspan travel agents will be routed instantly to the carrier's database with no additional keystrokes. Flight information will be gathered within two seconds, and agents will receive immediate electronic acknowledgment when a flight is booked.
Air Inter has added travel outside France to its France Pass program, which has offered unlimited travel within the country during a one-month period. With a France-Europe Pass, travelers may enhance travel inside France with flights to two European destinations outside the country, choosing from among London, Dublin, Madrid and nine other cities. The France-Europe Pass costs $459.
Reno Air plans to launch daily nonstops Oct. 3 between Albuquerque and Los Angeles, with continuing direct service to San Jose, and Oct. 5 between Palm Springs and San Jose, with continuing direct service to Seattle. The carrier will operate four daily Los Angeles-Albuquerque flights for $77 each way, and the single daily flight between Palm Springs and San Jose will cost $69. The carrier will offer companion fares in both markets.
Machinists Union says job security is the key issue in contract negotiations with Boeing. "Thousands of jobs are being wiped out as Boeing announces big new orders, and as productivity and profits go up," lead negotiator Bob Gregory said as talks opened Friday in Wichita. The current contract expires Oct. 3.
DOT issued a final order Friday approving the transfer of Evergreen's U.S.-China all-cargo authority to Federal Express. The department granted Evergreen an interim exemption, for up to six months, to continue to conduct all-cargo operations in the U.S.-China market until FedEx obtains the necessary approvals from the Chinese government and is ready to begin service.
