TourExpo '96 will hold its East Coast trade show in Miami Beach Oct. 25-27. A joint venture between Travel Agent magazine and the United States Tour Operators Association, the show is designed to bring tour operators and suppliers together with travel agents. TourExpo's inaugural show was held in San Francisco in March. USTOA President Robert Whitely said, "This is in keeping with our plan to let travel agents know they can increase their income by increasing leisure sales and selling the tour operator product." For more information, call 212-681-2807.
Travel Industry Association's Pow Wow-Europe, to be held in Madrid in September, will promote eight U.S. destinations as part of its Visit USA Tourism Academy. The destinations are California, Florida, Georgia, Las Vegas, Texas, South Carolina and, to be promoted jointly, Boston/Massachusetts and Pennsylvania/Rhode Island. This year's event is developing into a forum for introducing tour operators from new markets in Eastern Europe to the U.S., TIA said, in addition to its usual role of targeting European buyers who want to learn more about selling the U.S.
American Express has issued its first Global Shopping Monitor - a survey of international travelers' shopping plans during their summer vacations - which claims one out of two travelers will "do some serious vacation shopping." Of 1,800 travelers questioned, 86% from Hong Kong said they plan to shop, followed by 59% of those from Brazil, 51% from Mexico and 50% from Australia.
Seven Circle Resorts intends to build a $150 million-$200 million resort complex in Summerlin, 25 minutes from the Las Vegas strip. The facility will include a 300-room luxury hotel, restaurants, specialty outlet stores, a health club/spa, casino and meeting complex. Construction is expected to be completed by fall 1998. The resort will separate the casino from the hotel portion of the complex, which will be designed in a Mediterranean style. Seven Circle also has secured 50% of available tee times at a new TPC golf course at nearby The Canyons.
The National Transportation Safety Board accused the French-Italian manufacturer of ATR commuter airliners and the French aviation regulatory agency of covering up flight characteristics data that could have prevented the fatal crash Oct. 31, 1994, of a Simmons ATR 72 at Roselawn, Ind. The Bureau Enquetes-Accidents, the French equivalent of NTSB, said the safety board produced an "unbalanced" report and accused it of "cutting off [the] dialogue" between the two safety agencies "about profound discrepancies...
FAA issued a proposal yesterday to require airlines to increase flight data recorder parameters from 11 to 17 for older aircraft and to 88 on aircraft certified in the future. FAA said it will cost about $316.4 million to upgrade recorders on nearly 6,000 turbofan and turboprop aircraft in the U.S.
With its planned July 4 startup date past, Pan Am is pressing DOT to speed up consideration of its certificate application. "While recognizing that a July 4th startup date no longer is feasible, it continues to be imperative for Pan Am to begin service in July," said the carrier. "The application has been pending for over 90 days and no issues have been raised that challenge the financial fitness or managerial competence of the company," it argued. The only answers "were filed by Kathleen R.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Maintenance Expenses First Quarter 1996 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses Alaska $ 23,941,000 8.32 America West 37,600,699 9.85 American 340,439,000 10.00 Continental 131,040,000 11.10
ValuJet said yesterday it supports legislation to provide whistle-blower protections for aviation employees along the lines of H.R.3187, pending in the House and supported by the Clinton administration (DAILY, July 10). At a House Transportation aviation subcommittee hearing on the bill, the Air Transport Association said H.R.3187 "is both unnecessary because of existing legal protections and could have unintended, contrary consequences."
GETS Marketing Company of Luxembourg now displays the schedules of Bellview, Flying Enterprise and T.A.T. European Airlines in its global distribution system. The three new airlines bring the total number of GETS participants to 312. GETS is owned by 51 member companies that distribute automation services to travel agents.
Pacific Bell has introduced the Official Prepaid Visitor Card for San Francisco, a calling card in three languages that enables tourists to call any city in the world from any point in the U.S. and Canada. The cards, which are available in English, German and Japanese, are sold for $10, $20 and $50 from special "cardmobiles" at tourist spots throughout the city, including Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square cable car turnarounds and Twin Peaks, by bilingual staff.
American and the TACA Group of carriers are asking for a statement of authorization and necessary route authority to begin operating proposed code-share services. American and the TACA Group - Aviateca, Compania Panamena de Aviacion, Lineas Aereas Costarricenses, Nicaraguense de Aviacion, TACA de Honduras S.A., and TACA International Airlines - signed an alliance agreement last month proposing to launch code share services between the U.S. and Central America and other cooperative programs beginning Nov. 1 (DAILY, June 28).
Hawaiian Airlines set July 18 as the record date for its rights offering. Under the proposed offering, which still has not been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission, shareholders as of that date other than the company's main shareholder, Airline Investors Partnership L.P., will receive one subscription right for each share of common stock held.
Qantas, which has operated to Taiwan only through a subsidiary for more than four years, has resumed service to Taipei under its own name and logo now that it is privatized. Use of the subsidiary, Australia Asia Airlines, began in October 1991 because Beijing objected to a Taiwan presence for Qantas when it was Australia's national airline. With privatization late last year, flights to Taiwan under the Qantas name are permitted once again.
The Puerto Rico Tourism Company reports hotels are operating normally after Hurricane Bertha strafed the area this week leaving only limited property damage. But officials from Florida to North Carolina, who were tracking the storm's progress yesterday, evacuated hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors along the Eastern Seaboard. Popular tourist spots in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, now in their peak season, were evacuated yesterday.
Southwest maintained for the fifth month in a row its position as the on- time leader among the majors with an 88.6% record in May. Overall, the nation's 10 largest carriers posted a 78.9% rate in May, down from 80.2% in April and 80.7% in May 1995, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, issued last week. Continental placed second at 84.7%, followed by Alaska at 81.6%. TWA trailed with a 66.9% record. Data still include delays caused by mechanical problems. Consumers filed 577 complaints for the month, up from 548 in April and 554 in May 1995.
Nice Systems Ltd. said the German Air Navigation Service selected its digital voice logging system for the new Langen center. The system will be delivered in September with a capacity of more than 440 channels. The NiceLog system was selected over the past year by air traffic authorities in the U.S., Hong Kong, Israel, Hungary, Norway, Holland, Iceland and Romania, the company said.
UPS has expanded UPS Customhouse Brokerage in Miami into "the first U.S.- based, full-service brokerage operation." The facility will provide customs clearance for international shipments regardless of carrier or mode of transportation. Other services include formal and informal entries, brokerage consulting, transportation arrangements, binding rulings requests, in-bonds, export services and management reports.
America West reported record traffic for June, but its load factor slipped 2.6 percentage points. Traffic for the month was up 6.8%, but capacity grew faster, 10.6%, forcing the load factor down to 72.3%.
Boeing said it delivered 62 commercial jet transports in the quarter ended June 30 - 23 737s, eight 747s, 12 757s, 12 767s and seven 777s. Total deliveries year to date is 102 - 38 737s, 11 747s, 19 757s, 19 767s and 15 777s. One non-commercial 767 also was delivered in the second quarter, the third of four to be modified as 767 AWACS for Japan. Boeing projects total deliveries for the year of about 215 aircraft.
Canadian Transport Minister David Anderson said his country has signed a "technical arrangement" on aviation maintenance with the 18 member states of the Joint Aviation Authorities. "This technical arrangement is the first in the world to be signed between the Joint Aviation Authorities and another country," Anderson said. "It will allow Canadian aviation operators and those from JAA countries to have maintenance carried out in each other's approved facilities.
The Canada Transportation Act, designed to eliminate unnecessary regulation in transportation and place greater emphasis on commercial decision-making in the transport sector, went into effect July 1. Transport Minister David Anderson said the act creates a new Canadian Transport Agency to replace the National Transportation Agency and completes deregulation of the domestic air sector by removing the unnecessary vestiges of economic regulation in the North.
The southern U.S. and Bahamas expected little impact yesterday from Hurricane Bertha, which blew through the Caribbean with 115 mile per hour winds and caused several deaths. On Monday, all three airports in the U.S. Virgin Islands were closed, and navigational instruments at the airport in San Juan were operating only for emergency landings on one runway. Airlines serving the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico canceled their flights Monday but were resuming operations yesterday. American and American Eagle began restoring service early in the day to St. Martin, St.
British Airways World Cargo said it became a full profit center after signing an exclusive agreement to buy all of the carrier's belly-hold cargo capacity worldwide. World Cargo will pay for all identifiable costs related to cargo carriage by the BA fleet, said Kevin Hatton, managing director. "It means cargo divisions only pay for the facilities they use and those costs they can influence. Ultimately, it increases accountability, responsibility and control."
