American will discontinue its hard-won Philadelphia-London service April 2, after only seven months, because of British Airways' recent announcement that it will launch a second daily flight in the market May 1. "We are taking this action with considerable regret because American's marketing efforts on the route were beginning to pay off," said Gerald Arpey, American's senior VP-planning. "However, the additional British Airways capacity...will make it impossible for us to earn a profit on the route," he said.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic December, 12 Months 1994 (000) December December % 1994 1993 Change America West Revenue Passenger Miles 975,634 959,685 1.7 Available Seat Miles 1,570,559 1,494,038 5.1 Load Factor (%) 62.1 64.2
Air L.A. has signed a letter of intent that gives it a 30-day option to acquire the assets and operations of St. Paul-based startup Capitol Air in a $1.5 million stock transaction. Capitol Air, which recently dropped service between St. Paul Downtown Airport and points in the Midwest, will resume service Jan. 30 under the Capitol name between St. Paul and Chicago Midway. "Air L.A. has built much of its operations around its code-sharing agreement with Aeromexico and service to the Hispanic community in the Southwest," said Air L.A. Chairman Wayne Schoenfeld.
The nine U.S. major combination carriers flew 4.3% more revenue passenger miles in 1994 than they did in 1993 despite operating 0.3% fewer available seat miles. The result was a load factor increase of 2.9 percentage points, to 66.5%. In December, the majors' passenger traffic increased 6.5% on 2.5% more capacity, increasing the load factor 2.5 points. (See charts on Pages 97-98 of the hard copy of this issue.)
Continental executives continue to stand behind their money-losing Continental Lite product, insisting it only needs further fine-tuning. President and Chief Executive Gordon Bethune, speaking at a Wings Club luncheon yesterday in New York, said the short-haul services account for nearly one-third of the carrier's available seat miles, and new markets account for 81% of the losses.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-2 yesterday that members of American's frequent flyer program can seek damages in state courts on breach-of-contract claims based on changes made in the program in 1988. An American spokesman said the carrier is "disappointed" with the ruling, but "we believe we did nothing wrong and we will vigorously defend the case on its merits in state courts." Other airlines that made similar changes - involving capacity controls and blackout days - also could face challenges in state courts.
FAA Administrator David Hinson yesterday praised a voluntary move by Delta to require one level of safety for its commuter flight crews. The airline told FAA Jan. 9 that it plans to have its Connection carriers meet the requirements of large jets.
An interagency forum to exchange information on aircraft noise will be held March 2 in San Diego. The public forum is sponsored by the Federal Interagency Committee on Aviation Noise. It will be chaired by DOT and includes NASA and the Defense and Interior departments. The first such forum was held last July in Atlanta. Government agencies will present their latest research, and members of the private sector are invited to present their views at the San Diego meeting, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Southwest will add 1,000 jobs in Oklahoma City when it builds a new reservations center north of the airport terminal on 12 acres of land owned by the Oklahoma City Airport Trust. The new $10 million facility, Southwest's ninth reservations center, is scheduled to open in May.
Travel agency giant Carlson Wagonlit has acquired Dodwell Travel of Hong Kong in the first of a number of acquisitions planned this year. The agency said it is concentrating its expansion on the Pacific Rim market. Dodwell reported sales of $17 million in 1994.
The relationship between Amadeus and the Worldspan/Abacus partnership, which looked nine months ago like it could evolve from a technical collaboration into a merger of the three computer reservations system companies, has cooled substantially and has not moved beyond what Worldspan officials describe as "certain technical enhancements." In December 1992, the European CRS Amadeus agreed to collaborate with Worldspan and Singapore-based Abacus to form a technical alliance that resulted in GlobalServe, a link between the Amadeus data center in Erding, Germany, and the Wo
Sixteen members of the Air Transport Association told Illinois Gov. James Edgar yesterday that they oppose further planning and construction of a third Chicago area airport near Peotone. The facility's proposed location is "35 miles from the Chicago central business district and nearly 60 miles from the center of the area in which the majority of Chicago air travelers reside," the carriers said in a letter. They also said that "their passengers and shippers have invested huge amounts - measured in the billions of dollars - at O'Hare and Midway.
Amtran Inc.'s traffic - scheduled and charter - for December was up 39.4% to 594.5 million revenue passenger miles, compared with the same month in 1993. A corresponding 36.8% increase in available seat miles produced only a 1.1% rise in load factor, from 60.3% to 61.4%. For the year, Amtran's RPMs increased 28% to 7.2 billion and ASMs were up 26.9% to 10.4 billion. The carrier showed great improvement in its scheduled service in December, with revenue passenger miles leaping 102.7% and the number of passengers carried increasing 58% to 231,401.
Sabre Travel Information Network (STIN) has developed a low level of participation designed to capture the business of low-fare airlines that have not been interested in computer reservations systems (CRSs), announcing Southwest yesterday as the launch customer. Southwest said it is endorsing Sabre as its preferred CRS - Sabre is the only CRS in which the airline participates - and will help market Sabre to travel agencies.
The virtual grounding of ATR fleets that sparked a public debate on safety by American Eagle's Allied Pilots Association members has now hit Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast.ASA flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, plan to picket Atlanta Hartsfield today to protect scheduling changes - some of them made to incorporate ATR aircraft moved from north to south because of flight restrictions - that resulted in fewer days off.
Air Canada banned smoking in its 16 North American Maple Leaf Lounges, effective Jan. 1. "This initiative is based on customer feedback," said Mary DiBiase, product manager. "The Maple Leaf Lounges are an extension of our cabin's on-board no-smoking policy," she said. Air Canada eliminated smoking on all flights systemwide in January 1991.
American Society of Travel Agents will hold its international conference, Islands of Opportunity, in Manila Feb. 25-28. ASTA said travel agent surveys show a substantial increase in travel booked to Southeast Asia, and sessions will focus on the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Reno Air's traffic for the fourth quarter jumped 47% to 420.9 million revenue passenger miles from the same 1993 quarter on 38% more available seat miles. The carrier transported 589,288 passengers in the quarter, 51% more than in the fourth quarter 1993. The load factor was up six percentage points from 50.3% to 56.3%.
America West Express service will be offered to Des Moines, Iowa, and Spokane, Wash., beginning April 10, to provide feed to America West's Phoenix hub. The new service, operated by a newly formed Mesa Air Group division, Desert Sun Airlines, will be operated with 78-passenger Fokker 70s twice a day. On April 14, the carrier will begin operating four weekly flights between Des Moines and Las Vegas. Desert Sun will offer introductory fares of $99 each way for the first week of service. America West discontinued its own service to Des Moines in September 1992.
DOT is moving its public docket section on Friday from Room 4107 to PL401 on the plaza level of DOT's Nassif Building in Washington. Filings will be accepted on Friday at the new location, but no dockets will be available for review until Monday, Jan. 23.
Hilton Hotels Corp. is offering its HHonors members double points and double miles for business-rate stays in a Hilton Hotel when using the American Express card. The promotion, called the double double dip, begins Jan. 23 and runs through April 30. Participating HHonors members are Air Canada, Alaska, America West, Delta, Mexicana, United and USAir.
Continental is overhauling its OnePass Elite frequent traveler program by overriding changes that were not well received by members last year. The carrier said the new program includes more opportunities for upgrades and increased mileage bonuses.
Vanguard Airlines will begin service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Milwaukee from Kansas City Jan. 30. It plans to operate three daily nonstop flights to each city and will extend its "take a friend for free" promotion to the destinations on roundtrip flights during February. Vanguard Chief Executive Bob McAdoo said passenger response to its new service at Denver, Kansas City and Salt Lake City "has been terrific." It will offer $49 one- way fares during off-peak travel times to DFW and $39 to Milwaukee.
Osaka's offshore Kansai Airport escaped the major earthquake that hit the Kobe and Kansai regions of Japan, airline officials said yesterday. Northwest said it has resumed a full flight schedule to Osaka, and a Japan Air Lines spokesman said the airport was "not affected" by the quake. "Our operations have not been interrupted," the spokesman said. "The only problem we encountered was in ground transportation and getting flight crews to the airport.
ATR Marketing said FAA extrapolation of the force required to keep ATR aircraft from rolling was "erroneous" (DAILY, Jan. 12). Anthony Broderick, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, said mathematical extrapolation based on ground tests in Toulouse showed the force required to keep the aircraft from rolling could exceed 100 pounds.
