United Parcel Service has been awarded its largest contract, $1 billion over five years, to make small-package air deliveries and some ground shipments for JCPenney. "To our knowledge, this is the largest distribution contract ever announced in the industry," said Ed Brockwell, VP-national accounts. He said UPS will bring new technology and logistics to the contract, and it will assign a full-time team from engineering, finance, information services and customer service to the client.
Ongoing talks with Japan may disrupt DOT plans for an in-house review of its Asia policy during the last week of July. Currently being organized, the retreat-like meeting is expected to last at least two days and bring together DOT experts with strategic planners from the airlines, "to talk about the big picture in Asia and develop a comprehensive approach to what we're doing," a DOT official said. The goal is to get everyone thinking five, 10 and 20 years ahead rather than to develop a near-term wish list, the official added.
Representatives of key legislators and the Clinton administration debated FAA reform yesterday, with financing reform increasingly the axis of debate. In a panel discussion at an Airports Council International-North America/American Association of Airport Executives legislative conference, David Schaffer, majority counsel of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, urged continued industry support for legislation (H.R.842) to take the aviation, highway and two other trust funds off budget.
Rosenbluth International has acquired South African travel agency Gundelfingers Travel, which has provided travel services for Rosenbluth clients for the past two years. Rosenbluth has appointed Gundelfingers Chairman Barry Saxton VP-international. Saxton will oversee all Rosenbluth's operations outside the U.S. from a London office. Gundelfingers associates will manage the South African operation.
Revamping the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA) should be a priority at the White House conference on Travel and Tourism in October, according to state and travel industry officials. Preliminary recommendations from 23 states show that more than half believe the USTTA, in danger of having its funding cut by the new Republican Congress, needs a substantial overhaul. USTTA also could become a private/public organization (DAILY, March 2).
American Society of Travel Agents will host a weekend retreat for past participants of its Travel Management Academy Aug. 18-20 in Phoenix at the Pointe Hilton Resort at Tapatio Cliffs. Attendees of the reunion will discuss the benefits offered by the academy and ways to improve the curriculum. Graduates should call Verlette Mitchell at 703-739-2782.
Status of Airline Labor Contracts As of July 12, 1995 Flight Airlines Pilots Engineers Attendants ABX IBT-7/31/95 -- -- In negotiation Alaska ALPA 12/1/97 -- AFA 3/14/99 Aloha ALPA 11/30/96 -- AFA (8/31/93) In negotiation
The American Society of Travel Agents, which asked President Clinton early this week to restore full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, praised his announcement Tuesday that the U.S. will work to normalize relations (DAILY, July 12). ASTA board members met recently with government and tourism officials in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi for the first time in 25 years, and ASTA President Jeanne Epping told Clinton they found a "sincere spirit of cooperation....Travel and tourism builds bridges of understanding and appreciation between nations.
The first 45 of 305 cabin attendants hired by All Nippon Airways on a lower-wage, contract basis began flying recently on Japan domestic routes. The remaining 260 will go to work on domestic and international routes by mid-September. The contract cabin attendants, whom ANA calls Sky Service Attendants, were hired on one-year contracts that are renewable twice. After the three years, they will have an opportunity to become full-time flight attendants, ANA said.
American Trans Air's consolidated (scheduled and charter) passenger traffic rose 13.6% on 12% more capacity in June, producing a load factor increase of one percentage point to 71.3%. The number of passengers boarded increased 24.8%, but the length of the average trip dropped 9% to 1,689 miles. Through the first six months, the carrier's passenger traffic rose 28.2% on 27.2% more capacity, boosting the load factor 0.6 points to 70.5%. The number of passengers boarded rose 26.6%.
Maps of the world, including descriptions of 20,000 historical, cultural, geographical and social features, are available on CD-ROM from DeLorme Mapping, Freeport, Maine. DeLorme's Global Explorer software program includes a network of world air routes that enables users to plot a route between any two cities in the world, and receive the distance, plus two options for likely commercial air routes. If the cities chosen do not have a commercial airport, the program draws a line to the nearest airport.
Aeromexico's passenger traffic was down 19% in May to 693.8 million revenue passenger kilometers, and it fell 18.7% in the first five months of this year to 3.41 billion RPKs. The number of passengers boarded declined 19% in May to 560,168, and 17.8% for five months to 2.7 million. Cargo traffic jumped sharply in both periods, however. It increased 21.6% in May to 8.1 million freight ton kilometers and was up 26.4% for the five-month period to nearly 38.2 million FTKs.
America West's June traffic rose 7.5% on 8% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 0.4 percentage points to 74.9%. The number of passengers boarded rose 5.6%. Through the first six months of this year, America West's traffic increased 5.2% on 7.8% more capacity, causing its load factor to slip 1.7 points to 68%. The number of passengers boarded increased 4.7%. "Our passenger load factor continues to be among the highest in the industry," said Maurice Myers, president.
FAA issued approval for the first commercial, passenger-carrying airship operations to the Lightship Group, which plans to offer service to the public in the "near future," Southern Region Administrator Carolyn Blum said yesterday. The company plans to conduct worldwide operations with eight A60+ airships built by American Blimp Corp., Hillsboro, Ore.
Kiwi International Air Lines yesterday named former Braniff and Pan Am executive Russell Thayer as its new chairman, and Thayer and the board that unanimously elected him declared that the airline's "crisis phase" has drawn to a close. John Anderson, acting chairman, will resume his operational duties as VP-support services.
Members of the International Association of Convention&Visitor Bureaus tomorrow will formulate a "cohesive message" for the national White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, to be held Oct. 30-31. Tomorrow's meeting kicks off IACVB's Oasis for Industry Evolution conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The association represents 414 CVBs in 30 countries.
American's domestic passenger traffic rose 4.3% on 0.7% less capacity last month, causing its domestic load factor to increase 3.3 points. American's international traffic increased 11.7% on 11.5% more capacity. Atlantic traffic rose 7%, Pacific traffic 5% and Latin American traffic 19.4%. June 95 June 94 6 Mths 95 6 Mths 94 RPMs 9,125,287,000 8,568,988,000 49,844,251,000 46,822,383,000 ASMs 13,149,464,000 12,794,368,000 76,144,622,000 74,667,660,000
The Asia/Pacific region must liberalize industries directly related to travel and tourism to cope with the tremendous growth expected, Geoffrey Lipman, president of the World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC), told the Singapore Pacific Economic Cooperation Council this week. "Aviation is the infrastructure of travel and tourism, and restrictive aviation schemes have no place in the `new age of travel.'" Asia must ensure that airlines are released from government control and that air traffic control is liberalized, he said.
The City of St. Louis, Mo., and the St. Louis Airport (St. Louis Parties) are boosting TWA's bid to operate scheduled combination service between St. Louis, on the one hand, and Mexico points Cancun, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, as well as Montego Bay, Jamaica, on the other. Noting they were leaders in the effort to liberalize the U.S.- Mexico bilateral, which opened St.
The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), which represents as many as 20,000 of British Airways' 53,000 employees, is threatening to strike during the peak of the summer travel season to protest BA's proposal to replace national union negotiations with localized bargaining (DAILY, May 30). An undetermined number of TGWU-represented employees - estimates range from 100 to 1,000 - picketed outside BA's Annual General Meeting yesterday, and union officials said later they will begin polling the membership soon on whether to strike during the U.K.
Continental Express will offer van service six times a day between Trenton- Mercer Airport and Newark, beginning Aug. 15. The service is free of charge for passengers connecting to a Continental flight at Newark. Passengers park free at the Trenton airport, where their bags are checked. OnePass frequent flyer members receive 500 miles each way for the van ride. Continental Express operates similar ground service from Lehigh Valley Airport to Newark.
Tower Air's systemwide scheduled passenger traffic rose 28.5% last month from June 1994 on 30.7% more available seat miles, depressing the passenger load factor 1.3 percentage points to 74.9%. The number of passengers increased 27.2%. For six months, traffic rose 42.6% on 43.6% more capacity, and the number of passengers boarded was up 39.3%. June 95 June 94 6 Mths 95 6 Mths 94 RPMs 329,000,000 256,000,000 1,439,000,000 1,009,000,000
Apollo Travel Services has begun taking orders for LeisureApollo, a new software product that brings Leisure-Shopper to cruise-only travel agencies. LeisureApollo is designed to give non-CRS-automated agencies the ability to book vacation products in a fully integrated, real-time, global database of major vendors, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises.
As the U.S. prepares for another round of talks with Japan, U.S. legislators urged DOT officials yesterday to take a firm approach to the negotiations. Speaking at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on global aviation challenges Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) said, "The aviation dispute the government of Japan created by recently denying `beyond rights' for Federal Express and United Airlines must not be tolerated....The United States must stand firm." Calling the issue "a clear-cut case of a nation...abrogating its treaty obligations," Sen.
