Travel Industry Archive

The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Union Pacific Railroad Co. this week, seeking $37 million in damages from the rail company for not stopping drug smuggling on its trains. Between 2001 and 2006, customs officials on at least 38 occasions found marijuana or cocaine in rail cars at the U.S.-Mexico border, the suit said. About two tons of marijuana was seized, along with...

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Travel spending declined for first time since 9/11 — Spending on travel and tourism fell in 2008 for the first time since 9/11, the U.S. Commerce Department reported.  The report cited canceled vacations, a strong dollar repelling foreign visitors and companies shelving travel as reasons for the decline. Leisure and hospitality establishments lost 33,000 jobs in February and tourist...

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I’ve written several posts around the question of whether or not Virgin America should be considered “American” (here, here, and here, to start). Now, after having some more time to think about it, I thought I’d spend a little more time on this question. As followers of this saga know by now, US foreign ownership rules state that that a foreign entity may only own less...

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Innovation in cruise ship design during a recession? Norwegian Cruise Line’s got it covered. The company’s Norwegian Epic, its new 19-deck ship scheduled for its first voyage in May 2010, will feature the usual luxurious suspects — private villas and spa balcony rooms (with complimentary spa treatments) — but its most innovative move will be its 128 studio...

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Branson’s new, privately-funded airport has been on a roll. The airport just announced that Sun Country will begin serving Dallas/Ft Worth, the fourth destination for the airport which opens in just over a month. This is great news for the airport, though it is still going to end up short of plan without more service. So far, AirTran and Sun Country will be serving the airport as...

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Travelocity is competing for online travel dollars by matching its rivals’ deals, so why is it doing it better? The online company recently copied an Expedia Inc. promotion that drops booking fees on all flights until the end of May.  Great for the consumer, not so great for Orbitz Worldwide and Priceline.com, who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, and are facing steep competition....

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Those who follow Continental got an unexpected surprise yesterday when the airline issued an 8-K with some ominous revenue predictions. According to the filing, Continental reports: Largely as a result of declining business travel, the Company has experienced yoy yield degradation, which has accelerated sequentially since January 2009 and has become significant. As a result, yoy revenue per...

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MGM Mirage Loses $1 billion — MGM Mirage Inc. lost $1.15 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, but chief executive Jim Murren said that hard work will make the struggling company — $13 billion in debt — succeed. “I do not at all harbor any ill feelings towards people who think we will fail, because this is not without risk,” Murren said. The casino operator...

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JetBlue has slowly been rolling out its latest marketing campaign, and it’s a good one. Capitalizing on the anger pointing at executive offices throughout the US these days, JetBlue is positioning itself as the best airline for those CEOs who can no longer afford to fly on corporate jets. This is obviously a spoof, and it’s one that works. JetBlue tries to use this campaign to...

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The IATA monthly premium traffic monitor (PDF) (aka the “report of doom” these days) is out for January and once again the news is not good. While the decline in economy traffic moderated slightly in January, the decline in premium traffic accelerated to negative 16.7 percent. Barbara already wrote about this to some extent today, but I decided to look further at the numbers. The...

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