Travel Industry Archive

Hilton Hotels Corp. launched its new extended-stay hotel, Home2 Suites by Hilton, with an average price of about $100 a night. Hilton is joining other chains in filling the lower-cost, extended-stay niche and the company reported it already had 10 franchise applicants. The first of the hotels is expected to start construction this year with approximately 100 slated to be built by 2012....

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There’s no question that the fourth quarter will be ugly for many airlines, but let’s not include Allegiant in that group. Allegiant put out some stellar numbers yesterday regarding its fourth quarter performance, but there are a few cautionary flags to consider here. First, some details. Revenues surged 21 percent propelling income to an incredible 373 percent gain. That’s...

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Though there was a lot of bad news for Southwest during the quarter, there was one bright spot. Revenues were up nicely, and that is good news for those who believe that the “no-fee” strategy is the right way to go for the airline. We knew from previous guidance that Southwest had a good October, and revenue per available seat mile (RASM) was up a whopping 14 percent. The airline...

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Southwest’s fourth quarter earnings call was probably one of the more anticipated calls of the quarter. There had been plenty of discussion about how its hedges would hurt the airline and whether it would be able to turn a profit. We now know the answers to both those points. We knew that the hedges would lose some amount of money for the airline, and it hurt enough to put them into the...

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500 pilots retired from American Airlines in 2008 — About 500 American Airlines pilots retired in 2008, taking advantage of a contract loophole that gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars by retiring within 90 days of a stock market peak. So many took the deal that American had to take out a charge of $103 million in the fourth-quarter of 2008 to cope with the mass...

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I’ve heard good and bad things about proposed Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, but today at his confirmation hearing (where he was easily confirmed), there was a lot of good going around. LaHood stated that “it has to be a priority” to fix the horrendous labor relations problem with the nation’s air traffic controllers. He continued, “I’m trying to...

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Burlington Northern surpasses Union Pacific — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. surpassed Union Pacific Corp. in annual sales last year to become the biggest U.S. railroad. Burlington, based in Ft. Worth, Texas, had revenue rise in 2008 to $18.02 billion, narrowly beating out Omaha-based Union Pacific’s $17.97 billion. Both railroads boosted revenue last year by raising rates....

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Delta Air Lines is a powerhouse at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, making up about 70 percent of the airport’s flights, and it has no problem flexing its muscles. With Delta’s 30-year lease up in 2010, the carrier is already suggesting that any proposed fee increases aren’t acceptable, including threatening to move operations to Memphis or...

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United released fourth quarter results yesterday, and as expected, they weren’t pretty. Overall the airline lost a whopping $1.3 billion, though only a mere $547 million after all special charges are pulled out. What were all the charges? Fuel was a big chunk, and it really cut into the airline’s cash position. How bad were those hedges? Here’s just a taste from Holly...

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Earlier today, we talked about Delta’s on-time problems in November, but there was another airline that had problems in the month, despite what the results say at first glance. That airline was Hawaiian. At first glance, Hawaiian looks great. It was number one among all reporting airlines with 89.6 percent of flights arriving on time. But Hawaiian is usually in the 90 percent range, so...

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