Continental, a firm believer in employee incentives, has launched an attendance program to reduce "lost hours" at its Richmond reservations center by 25%, excluding family medical leaves. Lost time costs the carrier's reservations division $3 million a year. The incentive program includes benefits ranging from movie passes to TVs/VCRs and exotic hotel packages. It apparently stops short of the Ford Explorers Continental gave away last week to seven employees with perfect attendance records.
United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines reported a 1.2% dip in traffic in July, according to preliminary results, for a total of 31.4 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 5.8% to 66.6 million available seat miles, resulting in a load factor decline to 47.2% from 50.6%. Traffic was up 3.2% for the first seven months and capacity 5.3%. The load factor fell one point. July 1996 July 1995 7 Months 1996 7 Months 1995 RPMs 31,435,000 31,829,000 200,866,000 194,559,000
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service thinks major engine overhauls are capital expenditures rather than expenses, and tax attorneys agree that even though the theory only represents IRS's opinion in a single case, it could easily be applied broadly throughout the industry with multi-million-dollar effects.
Reno Air carried a record 475,887 passengers in July and its traffic jumped 38% to 298.5 million revenue passenger miles. Available seat miles increased 33%, however, so growth in the load factor was held to 2.7 percentage points. Even so, President and Chief Executive Robert Reding said the 71% load factor "shows we have established our market niche in our hometown of Reno/Tahoe, and have become the preferred airline for many West Coast travelers." Reno operates 26 MD-80s and three new MD-90s.
U.S. Regional Airline Industry Passenger Traffic Activity First Quarter 1996 First First % Quarter 1995 Quarter 1996 Change ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 States/Hawaii/Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands Revenue Passenger Miles 2,622,792,117 3,285,886,080 25.3 Available Seat Miles 5,721,103,864 6,431,225,604 12.4
Sabre Group Holdings Inc. registered at the Securities Exchange Commission yesterday to conduct an initial public offering of Class A common stock to raise funds primarily to pay AMR Corp. some of the debt resulting from spinning off Sabre from American and the other AMR subsidiaries (DAILY, April 18). In connection with the reorganization, completed on July 2, Sabre issued an $850 million subordinated debenture payable to American and transferred to AMR.
Northwest recorded a 10.2% rise in revenue passenger miles during July over the previous July and an 11.4% increase in RPMs for the first seven months of the year. The load factor for the month rose 1.2 percentage points on an 8.5% increase in available seat miles. For the first seven months, the load factor was up 2.2 points on an 8.1% gain in capacity. July 96 July 95 7 Mths 96 7 Mths 95 RPMs 6,641,300,000 6,024,944,000 39,779,260,000 35,694,158,000
KLM and LatinPass have "agreed to move forward" on signing a participation agreement to become partners in each other's frequent flyer plans. LatinPass is used by 15 Latin American and Caribbean airlines, with affiliates USAir, Avis, AT&T, Diners Club, American Express, InterAmerican Car Rental, Holiday Inn Worldwide and Radisson Hotels International. Eduardo Gallardo, program director, said, "We have selected KLM as a potential European partner because of the carrier's extensive worldwide route structure and its broad and long-term experience in Latin America."
Aerolineas Ejecutivas, a Mexican air taxi operator of executive aircraft, applied for an exemption to provide charter passenger service with small aircraft between Mexico and the U.S. The carrier also requested stopover privileges and relief from the requirement to obtain advance approval for each Mexico-U.S. flight. Offering highly personalized service to a select group of executives and companies using business aircraft, Aerolineas Ejecutivas said it plans to operate about 20 roundtrips between Mexico and the U.S. per month with an average load of four passengers.
Air cargo grew 2.6% in June and 1.5% for the first half of the year, according to the Air Transport Association. Year-to-date growth "does not reflect the growth rate that the industry had been anticipating. However, all growth is a positive sign for the industry," said ATA President Carol Hallett.
TWA's revenue passenger miles were up 12.8% in July from July 1995 to 2.92 billion. Capacity growth was slower, 8.7%, leading to a rise in the load factor of 2.7 percentage points, to 74.5%. Scheduled traffic rose 13.1% to 2.91 billion RPMs, led by domestic scheduled traffic at 14.6%. Charter traffic fell 45.3% on 42.9% less capacity. July 96 July 95 7 Mths 96 7 Mths 95 RPMs 2,920,000,000 2,589,100,000 15,868,800,000 14,248,300,000
United's attempt to persuade DOT to rescind its order granting immunity from U.S. antitrust laws to the American-Canadian International alliance drew an expectably stiff response from American. United said considerations of due process require DOT to consider the United-Air Canada immunity request simultaneously and questioned the order because it did not come to that conclusion.
Martha DeGraff, an administrative law judge on the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals, has been selected as the master who will preside over Wilcox's appeal of FAA's cancellation of the $475 million Wide Area Augmentation System contract. DeGraff, a member of the GSA board for three and one-half years, will have broad discretion to manage and further develop the case under FAA's new acquisition system rules and dispute resolution provisions.
Continental's percentage increases in jet traffic and capacity during July (DAILY, Aug. 7) were only a fifth of the increases posted by the company's Continental Express subsidiary. During July, the regional operation recorded 85.99 million revenue passenger miles for a 20.9% increase over the 1995 month, and 158.11 million available seat miles for a 17.2% increase. The results below reflect only Continental's jet operation. July 96 July 95 7 Mths 96 7 Mths 95
Delta will reveal today the names of the 15 cities - mainly in Florida and the Northeast - it plans to serve with its new low-cost operation, beginning in October. One clue is that Delta will announce the service, and give it a name, in Orlando, where Southwest has been spreading low fares. Five of the destinations will be in Florida, a Delta source said, and Boston is a very safe bet. Southwest will start service to nearby Providence, R.I., also in October.
USAir's scheduled traffic increased 6.7% in July to 3.6 billion revenue passenger miles and available seat miles fell 7.2%, boosting the load factor five percentage points to 72.7%. USAir's average length of haul for scheduled operations increased 2.6% to 714.1 miles. RPMs decreased 0.4% for the first seven months to 22.3 billion, while ASMs fell 2.6% to 4.9 billion. July 96 July 95 7 Mths 96 7 Mths 95 RPMs 3,573,759,000 3,349,176,000 22,327,176,000 22,414,316,000
India's civil aviation ministry will permit the country's 12 private domestic carriers to lease or buy widebody, double-aisle aircraft. Widebodies currently are limited to the state-owned airlines, Indian Airlines and Air-India, which operate Airbus A300s and A310s. The ministry's decision follows hectic lobbying by the private airlines, whose executives say sagging profitability led them toward fuel-efficient widebodies in preference to the "fuel-guzzling" 737-200s most of them operate.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) called on Vice President Gore to put a representative of small community air service interests on the Aviation Safety and Security Commission. "Expensive new security measures could unintentionally lead to a further erosion of air service in our small communities, and therefore I believe it is imperative the voice of small communities be heard on your commission," Pressler told Gore in a letter.
Burlington Air Express said second quarter revenues increased 6% to $363.4 million and operating profits rose 13% to $16.3 million. For the first six months, revenues were up 7% to $715.4 million and operating profit gained 11% to $25 million. The company said it continued to expand overseas during the first half, with acquisitions in Italy and Hong Kong.
Aeromexpress requested an exemption permitting it to operate scheduled all- cargo service between Leon, Mexico, and Los Angeles, and between Villahermosa, Mexico, and Houston. Proposing to begin the Villahermosa- Houston service Aug. 14 and the Leon-Los Angeles service two days later, the carrier asked DOT to act on its application no later than Aug. 12. If it wins authority, Aeromexpress initially proposes to provide Boeing 727 all-cargo service on Wednesdays between Villahermosa and Houston and on Fridays between Leon and Los Angeles. (Docket OST-96-1623)
ValuJet does not consider Delta's low-fare initiative a direct competitive threat to its operations, which it hopes to resume midmonth with service to five cities from Atlanta. President Lewis Jordan said from what he hears the Delta operation will be fought in Southwest markets, not from an Atlanta base. When ValuJet does come back, it will retain its "fun and friendly airline" slogan instead of switching to a new image, he said.
Sabre Travel Information Network and IBM have agreed to develop jointly a Lotus Notes automated travel booking application based on Sabre Business Travel Solutions software. The Sabre BTS planner application, to be used by travel managers, will include expense reporting functions. The Lotus Notes automated booking implementation will be delivered to customers via Domino, and users will be able to access the product through a Notes client or Web browser.
Delta claims to be the first airline to provide an inflight power source for customers with laptop computers. The EmPower In-Seat Power Supply system, developed by Olin Aerospace Co., will be available to passengers in first class on the carrier's Spirit of Delta 767 during a six-month test.
