Travel Industry Archive

In case you’ve been living in a cave this week, the Pacific Northwest is now under about 100 million feet of snow. Many, many flights were canceled, and there are a lot of stranded people around the country. As you can imagine, plenty of people are interested in knowing what’s going on, and airlines can do a better job of reaching them. If you’ve never used Google Trends...

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Southwest wants to fly to Canada – Southwest Airlines Co. announced Monday it applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for permission to fly to Canada so it can use its code share agreement with Canadian WestJet Airlines Ltd., but the certificate will also allow Southwest to use its own planes. Southwest previously announced plans to partner with carriers that fly to the...

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I’m not sure why, but I’ve never had any interest in Twitter. The idea behind this is that you send “tweets” or what is effectively microblogging short bursts of info in real time. I’ve had some friends think this means we really want to know exactly what their washing in the laundry on a Sunday afternoon or what they’re looking at one the web. I...

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Encore Las Vegas, Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s latest $2.3 billion development, opens 8 p.m. tonight in one of the biggest economic slumps the Las Vegas Strip has seen. That hasn’t stopped chief executive Steve Wynn’s enthusiasm for the project, including being featured in its national commercials, sitting atop the resort. “I’ve always opened up hotels in boom periods...

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Looks like President Elect Obama has decided to reach across the aisle but stick within his own state for his nomination for Secretary of Transportation. Former Congressman Ray LaHood (R-IL) has been named as Obama’s pick to lead the agency, despite his limited interaction with the world of aviation. Evan Sparks has a good posting listing LaHood’s record on aviation, and it’s...

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Continental flight crashes in ravine, dozens injured — A Continental Airlines flight at Denver International Airport caught fire Saturday night after take off. The Boeing 737 plane headed for Houston careened off the runway, caught fire and rose in the air before dropping quickly down, landing in a nearby ravine. Its 107 passengers and five crew members had to escape by emergency slides...

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IATA is looking something like the harbinger of doom these days. Every time I receive a report from them, it’s all bad news. This time it’s the October premium traffic report. Global premium traffic fell 6.9 percent from the previous year. Fortunately for the airlines, the oil benefit is still going to more than offset this, but it’s still bad news. And yes, premium...

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MGM Mirage to hire 12,000 for new CityCenter project – MGM Mirage Inc. reported it will hire 12,000 workers for its new CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip, and is asking more than 3,000 workers it laid off in the last year to apply.  CityCenter is a $9.2 billion development with a casino, luxury hotels, condos and shopping slated to open late next year. MGM Mirage’s...

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Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke’s roots are showing. Menke, who was previously with Air Canada, has brought that carrier’s fare structure down south to his current company Frontier. The airline announced yesterday that it would begin offering three levels of fares: Economy, Classic, and Classic Plus. I’ve been a big proponent of this type of “productized”...

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The luxury segment of the hospitality industry has come to grips with the recession by offering steep discounts, hotel credits or a third or fourth night free. The drop not only in wealthy vacationers, but also corporate travelers, has hit the segment hard. “Overall, Hawaii has always relied on peaks and valleys, but at this point with the economy there are no peaks and valleys....

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