Travel Industry Archive

The International AIr Transport Association reported that business- and first-class tickets were down 16.7 percent globally in January, year-over-year. The reason? The struggling economy and less demand for the expensive seats. While searching for more inexpensive tickets has been a long-time business goal, the economy seems to have spurred on the trend. In North America, the drop was 17.6...

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Who’s ready for Continental’s 10-K? Well, here it is. Just a few tidbits to think about today. In 2008, Continental had 50 percent of its mainline operation going international. With the weakening of international demand, it will be interesting to see how much this balance changes. Still no firm date for joining the Star Alliance . . . “We plan to implement these...

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Northwest passenger diagnosed with tuberculosis — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a Northwest Airlines passenger on Flight 51 from Frankfurt, Germany to Detroit was diagnosed with tuberculosis. A CDC spokeswoman said the center is trying to contact 17 passengers seated near the infected passenger so they can be tested. The passenger, who was not identified,...

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The Air Travel Consumer Report for January travel is out, and once again Hawaiian leads the pack with 90.8 percent of flights arriving on-time. But wait, it’s only that good because the interisland operation runs well. If you look at the mainland operation, on-time percentage tanks to around 50 percent. What is going on here? I first wrote about this when I saw the report for November...

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Almost every airline has released reports of capacity cuts, so where do all these planes go? Chances are the jets go to a “boneyard” like one in Victorville, Calif., also known as the Southern California Logistics Airport, which is experiencing record business. And with slashes in airline capacity scheduled for this year, many of these boneyards may be overrun. A boneyard can be...

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How about a little pop quiz? Of the largest US airports, name the five best and five worst for January on-time performance? Just as a note, this looks at what percentage of flights arrived within 14 minutes of schedule for those carriers that report to the DOT. Don’t look below until you’ve had a chance to think about this one. I said think about it first. Sheesh. Ok, here it...

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Some Cuban travel restrictions lifted — The U.S. Senate approved a $410 billion spending bill that eases restrictions on Cuban-Americans visiting relatives — mainly allowing family trips once a year and spending up to $179 a day. Limits on how long people can stay in the island country were also removed. Although the vote doesn’t change restrictions on Cuban travel,  it does...

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Most Americans have now heard about the increasing drug violence occurring along the Mexican border towns. While it hasn’t spread to resort towns, the negative publicity is already starting to hurt Mexican tourism. Airlines are bound to suffer from this, and some will suffer more than others. The change in safety across the border has been remarkable. When I was younger, I certainly...

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Wynn Resorts Ltd. CEO Steve Wynn and his wife, Elaine, are divorcing after 18 years of marriage (they were married twice, so the total is more than 40 years together.) Tabloids and other news sources report that Wynn is seeing British socialite Andrea Danenza Hissom. The divorce, if it happens, will probably end in a settlement that some legal experts say could be the biggest in the...

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At the JP Morgan Aviation & Transportation Conference, Alaska gave us some numbers on the rising unit costs that we knew would result from capacity cuts. The cost increase shows why you only cut capacity if it’s absolutely necessary. Clearly, it’s absolutely necessary right now. Alaska plans its capacity to be down 7 percent in 2009 as compared to 2008. Horizon Air will be...

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