Delta Connection Comair will upgrade to jet aircraft two of its seven daily flights between Toledo Express Airport and Cincinnati, beginning Nov. 15. Comair will operate the service with the Canadair Regional Jet, which offers all passengers a window or aisle seat.
TWA has introduced electronic ticketing systemwide on the Worldspan computer reservations system, one month ahead of schedule. Travel agents will be able to access the feature using Sabre or Apollo in December and using SystemOne by early next year. TWA, which estimates ticketless travel will save it $5 million a year in processing costs, is offering 1,000 frequent flyer miles for every roundtrip ticket issued using the new system through Dec. 31.
Delta took in $3.5 million in charter revenues in September, its second-highest month ever. The record is $3.6 million in March 1991, when Delta transported soldiers from Desert Storm.
Greater Los Angeles World Trade Center Association inducted Robert Hood, president emeritus of Douglas Aircraft Co.; Frederick Smith, chairman, president and chief executive of FedEx, and Charlie Woo, chief executive of Megatoys, into the World Trade Hall of Fame in Long Beach, Calif. They were chosen for their historic contributions to the region's economy and dedication to global trade expansion.
United States Parachute Association appointed Edward Scott director- government relations. World Airline Entertainment Association elected David Svatos, TWA, president; Joe Leach, Delta, VP, and Marcy Beaubelle, AEI Inflight, secretary, and re-elected Linda Palmer, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, treasurer. Women in Aviation, International named Peggy Baty the association's first full-time president and chief executive.
Delta Dream Vacations is offering packages on the new Delta Express operation. Delta Express flies from eight cities to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa and West Palm Beach. Susan Barrows, head of marketing for Delta Express, said, "Leisure travelers seek low fares and simplicity in travel, but they want value-added items, such as seat assignments, SkyMiles and a convenient schedule."
Wall Street received positively the initial public offering of 20.2 million shares of AMR Corp.'s Sabre Group Holdings Inc. unit Friday, in a transaction that will raise at least $545 million for the American Airlines parent. Shares of Sabre were trading six points above the $27 initial trading level on Friday, which financial experts pointed to as an unmistakable sign that Sabre would continue to perform well. AMR Corp. will retain an 84.2% share of Sabre following the IPO.
Wall Street expects third quarter airline earnings to rise only slightly from last year's figures, due to higher fuel costs and other volatile issues that affected each carrier differently. But the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, still should produce record profits for most carriers, analysts said. Susan Donofrio of NatWest Securities forecasts quarterly net earnings for the 10 major U.S. airlines will reach $1.59 billion, up from $1.17 billion in the same 1995 period. Airlines will begin issuing numbers tomorrow.
French carrier Air Liberte never knew how valuable it was to Europe until it started flailing financially. No fewer than four major companies have expressed interest in purchasing its assets since it was placed in receivership by a French court three weeks ago. Virgin Express is the latest, trailing British Airways, AOM and French travel company Nouvelles Frontieres.
Gulfstream International's traffic growth has caught up with its capacity increases and the carrier in September enjoyed its first load factor increase since January. The Miami, Fla.-based regional flew 8.7 million revenue passenger miles - up 56.8% from the prior period's 5.5 million - while capacity rose 47.6% to 19.1 million available seat miles from 12.9 million in September 1995. As a result, the load factor increased 2.6 percentage points to 45.4% from 42.8%. The number of passengers carried increased 57.7% to 45,365 from 28,763.
Citing the need for U.S.-France discussions about requested service increases, DOT has extended the time in which it will act on Air France's proposed 1996/97 winter service to the U.S. Filed on Sept. 10 as required, Air France's winter timetable includes frequency increases over last year's schedules. In the absence of a bilateral agreement, Air France may inaugurate flights 30 days after filing its schedule with the department. DOT said, however, the U.S.
SkyWest Airlines said its traffic grew 8.3% in September to 57.1 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 7.1% to 117.1 million available seat miles, and the load factor increased 0.6 percentage points to 48.8%. SkyWest carried 210,174 passengers during the month. For the first nine months of the year, RPMs rose 28.9% to 531 million while ASMs rose 17.9% to 1.019 billion, resulting in a load factor increase of 4.4 points to 52.1%.
AirTran Airways traffic increased 100% in September to 64 million revenue passenger miles from 32 million in September 1995 while capacity rose 48% to 103 million available seat miles. The load factor jumped 16.2 percentage points from 45.7% to 61.9%. AirTran carried 75,082 passengers during the month, a 101% increase. For the first nine months of the year, RPMs were up 185% to 731.6 million and ASMs rose 152% to 1.109 billion. The load factor gained 7.8 points to 66%. AirTran, part of AirWays Corp., was spun off as an independent company last September.
American Society of Travel Agents has updated its Holiday Travel brochure, which describes popular overseas holidays and advises consumers on how to plan travel during the five most heavily traveled times of the year, and how to carry gifts and pack luggage. The society also has updated its Hotel Tips brochure.
Continental and Air France are within days of announcing a global alliance that would boost Continental's international standing and give the French flag carrier its long-sought U.S. partner, Continental executives said yesterday. "We're crossing the Ts and dotting the Is," Chairman and Chief Executive Gordon Bethune said of the pending agreement. "But clearly the deal is not done until it's signed." The announcement could come as early as next week, a Continental source told The DAILY.
Continental yesterday announced firm orders for 60 Boeing 737s with a list price of $1.8 billion which, combined with an order this summer, will put the carrier in full compliance with Stage 3 noise rules by the end of 1999. Continental plans to split its order evenly between the current 737- 500 and the new-generation 737-600. The aircraft, to be delivered between July 1997 and December 1999, are replacements for 60 737-100/200 and DC-9 aircraft. Earlier, Continental placed firm orders for 48 737-700/800 aircraft as part of a revision of a previous order.
Bloomington, Minn.-based Great Lakes Aviation flew 24.7 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 9% increase from September 1995's 22.7 million. Capacity rose slightly faster - 10.3% to 56.2 million available seat miles from nearly 51 million in the prior September, pushing the load factor down one-half of a percentage point to 44%. Enplanements increased 13.8%. Sept. 1996 Sept. 1995 9 Months 1996 9 Months 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Northwest Airlink affiliate Mesaba Airlines flew 35.1 million revenue passenger miles in September, a 33% increase from September 1995's 26.4 million. Capacity increased 16.4% to 71.3 million available seat miles from 61.2 million and the load factor jumped 6.1 percentage points to 49.2%.
Delta is the favorite airline among cyber travelers, according to the Net Traveler Survey, which has been conducted for 17 months by CIC Research. CIC notes that because 75% of the online population are U.S. residents, U.S. carriers are cited most often. Delta was chosen as the favorite by 12% of the respondents, while American drew 11%, United 10%, British Airways 8% and Southwest 5%.
Largest Passenger-Carrying U.S. Regional Airlines, Second Quarter 1996 Revenue Passengers Percent Passenger Percent Rank Airline Carried of Total Miles (000's) of Total ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Simmons 1,548,065 9.6 341,301 9.2 2 Comair 1,202,041 7.4 392,293 10.6
United's travel software, United Connection, has a new 2.0 release featuring SuperShopper, which finds the best available fares for a specific itinerary. United said SuperShopper searches up to 4,800 flights on more than 500 airlines worldwide. United Connection users will receive 500 frequent flyer miles for every roundtrip reserved and purchased on the software and flown by Dec. 31, 1997. United Connection now can be downloaded from United's World Wide Web site, at http://www.ual.com.
Appleton, Wis.-headquartered United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin reported record traffic in September: revenue passenger miles increased 8.1% to 44.2 million from 40.8 million. Capacity, meanwhile, dropped 5.8% to just under 75 million available seat miles from nearly 79.6 million, allowing the load factor to climb 7.6 percentage points to 58.9% from 51.3%. The number of passengers enplaned rose 8.8% to 140,771 from 129,392. Air Wisconsin operates 14 BAe 146 jets as United Express feeding United's Chicago and Denver hubs.
"I must tell you, the issues unearthed by the CRJ and the success of the aircraft for other carriers (notably Comair) were much farther reaching and complex than I had anticipated." Those were the words of Dan Akins, independent consultant to the United ALPA unit's Master Executive Council, which is trying to figure out what to do about regional jets and who might or might not fly them (see story below). "There are so many overlying facets involving pilot and corporate concerns it is difficult to maintain a focus...," he said.
Delta Connection affiliate Comair flew 122.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, up 21% from September 1995. Capacity, meanwhile, rose 16.4% to 224.2 million from 192.6 million, allowing load factor to rise two percentage points to 54.4% from 52.4%. The number of passenger boardings climbed 15.6% to 370,295 from 320,338. Sept. 1996 Sept. 1995 9 Months 1996 9 Months 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
FAA experienced a nationwide failure yesterday of its network of 61 automated flight service stations, preventing aircraft from receiving notices to airmen or weather information. The blackout affected Air Force Two, which was taking Vice President Gore from St. Petersburg, Fla., to Tennessee. The agency's antiquated Model 1 "full-capacity" computer experienced a failure after a database update, The DAILY was told.
