Stephen Crable has become chief of staff of the National Mediation Board, a position created as part of the board's year-long reorganization. Crable, sworn in by NMB Chairwoman Maggie Jacobsen, is a private arbitrator/mediator and lawyer with 20 years of experience in labor/management relations. As chief of staff, he is the top career- management official responsible for integrated labor/management dispute resolution under the Railway Labor Act.
New York City will join the two traditional sites - Washington, D.C., and Chicago - for the Destinations Showcase trade shows in 1996 sponsored by the International Association of Convention&Visitor Bureaus (IACVB). Exhibitors are exclusively from convention and visitor bureaus and their convention centers. The show brings together meeting professionals and representatives of destinations around the world. The Washington show will be held Feb. 8 at the Sheraton Washington Hotel, the Chicago show Sept.
South African Airways, in an effort to promote tourism in East and South Africa, will present 19 half-day workshops for travel professionals in 15 U.S. and Canadian cities this October. The presentation is limited to 50 travel agents per event. Focusing on major tourist destinations, the workshops will detail special techniques for selling long-haul trips to Africa. SAA Senior Manager-Americas Joos Engelbrecht said, "Southern Africa is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after tourist destinations and emerging business markets in the world."
Northwest is upgrading equipment flying its Detroit-London Gatwick route to increase capacity by about 25%. Operating the route since April, the carrier will switch five of its seven weekly flights from a 267-seat DC-10 to a 360-seat 747-200, effective Oct. 29. From Dec. 15 through April 6, it will operate nine weekly flights in the market, with two daily departures on Fridays and Sundays, all using DC-10s. Demand for World Business Class seats has been strong, the carrier said, and load factors in the city-pair have been high.
Midway Airlines has signed a marketing agreement with Great Lakes Aviation by which the regional carrier will provide feed to Midway's Raleigh/Durham base. Great Lakes will operate under the name Midway Connection beginning Oct. 1. Points to be served will be announced next week. The Minneapolis- based regional will operate 30-passenger Embraer Brasilias and 19-passenger Beech 1900s in Midway livery. Passengers on Midway Connection will receive American's AAdvantage frequent flyer miles.
American appointed Craig Kreeger VP-pricing, yield management and distribution planning. Kreeger has worked for American for 10 years, previously as managing director-yield management operations.
Indianapolis has come through in offering enough incentives to American Trans Air to stay in the city instead of yielding to the beckoning of Orlando and St. Petersburg to move south (DAILY, July 10). The state of Indiana has committed to $18.7 million in incentives from the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) program, which provides credits against state corporate tax to be paid by newly created jobs.
Boosted by higher fares and lower costs, the 10 largest U.S. passenger airline companies posted combined second quarter 1995 net earnings of $993.4 million on total operating revenues of $19.44 billion. In the second quarter last year, the same 10 carriers - the nine majors and Alaska Air Group - managed net earnings of just $24.3 million on revenues of $18.32 billion. Their second quarter 1995 operating profit soared to $1.99 billion from $679.2 million.
Laker Airways has asked DOT for authority to provide scheduled service between Freeport, Bahamas, and the co-terminal points of Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C, and Detroit. The Bahamas-based carrier also asks to serve the two U.S. destinations as co-terminal points on its currently authorized Freeport-U.S. service. Laker operates 727-200 aircraft to the U.S. (Docket 48288&OST-95-378)
Second Annual Interactive Travel Marketing conference, sponsored by AIC Conferences, will be held Oct. 19-20 at the Hotel Nikko, San Francisco. The conference will focus on selling travel products and services through alternate distribution channels - electronic media. Invited speakers include top executives from America Online, Sabre, Southwest Airlines, Apollo Travel Services, Holiday Inn, Amadeus/System One and Worldspan. Registration costs $1,095 if made before Aug. 15. For more information, call 212-952-1899 or 800-409-4AIC.
Rosenbluth International, one of the world's largest travel management companies, is eyeing the Asia/Pacific region for significant future growth. Rosenbluth said the region accounts for 1%-2% of its $2.5 billion in business annually, a percentage it expects to grow to 15%-20% in five years.
DOT has revoked Sky King's operating certificate after determining that the carrier does not appear to have any plans in the near term to operate service authorized to it. Initially granted its certificate Nov. 26, 1993, the Sacramento, Calif.-based carrier had planned to fly charter operations for sports and entertainment tours and corporations (DAILY, Sept. 20, 1993). (Docket 49129)
Airlines Reporting Corp. has terminated its agreement with Servicios Aereos Rutas Oriente (SARO) of Monterrey, Mexico. ARC will cease processing SARO- validated transactions in travel agents' sales reports Aug. 13.
FAA takes seriously the concerns of industry, Congress and the news media about unapproved aircraft parts, even though it has had "differences of opinion" with them about how serious a safety risk such parts present, Peggy Gilligan, the agency's deputy associate administrator for regulation and certification, said as FAA established a task force to review the problem (DAILY, Aug. 9).
FAA ordered heightened security by all airports and air carriers in the U.S., saying information provided by law enforcement and intelligence agencies makes the step necessary. There was speculation that the tighter security is linked to a U.S. visit next month by Pope John Paul II and other events, including the recent arrest of an alleged Islamic terrorist. Airlines clearly were unhappy with the new round of security measures, following by less than two months the alert imposed at California airports because of bomb threats.
United Airlines' Singapore station was named the recipient of the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board's 1995 tourism award for "best promotion of Singapore by a foreign airline," United's employee newsletter Our Times reports.
USAir's senior safety officer, Robert Oaks, has been named senior VP- operations to succeed Gene Sharp, who is retiring. Oaks will be responsible for all flight-related activities, including crew scheduling, resource planning, systems control and dispatch, and operations engineering. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Malcolm Armstrong will succeed Oaks as VP-corporate safety and regulatory compliance. Sharp will assist Oaks during the transition until the end of the year. Oaks and Armstrong will be based in Pittsburgh.
Mexican hotel chain Grupo Posadas has launched "Fiestabreak" - low-cost vacation packages promoting its 40 hotels. Prices for three-night packages are $312-$731 from Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, including roundtrip airfare on a scheduled carrier, ground transfers, hotel stay and daily breakfast buffet. Seven-night packages range from $443 to $1,171. The promotion applies to the chain's Fiesta Americana and Fiesta Inn hotels and is good through Sept. 3.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regional July 1994 - June 1995 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1994 July Domestic 1,090,970,253 587,575,246 International 403,858,684 238,878,437 System Total 1,494,828,937 826,453,683 August Domestic 1,093,956,218 600,380,325
Continental has told its travel agents it does not intend to participate in a net-fare program being developed by Business Travel Contractors Corp. (BTCC), a move BTCC says has offended some of Continental's best corporate customers. Continental VP-marketing and sales, Bonnie Reitz, wrote the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and the Association of Retail Travel Agents that the airline will continue to negotiate individually with corporate customers and their travel agencies.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Labor Expenses First Quarter 1995 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 80,596,911 24.94 American 1,173,514,000 34.23 Continental 272,252,000 23.34 Delta 991,446,000 34.06
World Airways yesterday filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of 2.9 million shares of its common stock in transactions that will reduce WorldCorp's stake in the charter carrier to 59% from 80%. Of the 2.9 million shares to be registered, World Airways will sell two million and WorldCorp will sell 900,000. About 12 million shares of World Airways stock will be outstanding after the offering.
Swissair and its Aeropers Pilots Union have found "little common ground" in talks on a new contract, which continued through last week, the carrier said. With another round of talks planned for later this month, Swissair wants substantial changes in cockpit crew flight duty regulations and co- determination rights. It said the right of co-determination, and in some cases the union's right to veto, have put it at a severe disadvantage against its competitors.
