Travel Industry Archive

At the end of August, Continental will begin flying 737s to Hawai’i. This isn’t the first 737 to make the trip, and it’s only a temporary move, but it is still very significant in terms of the evolution of the 737. For years, Hawai’i flying was the domain of widebodies with at least three engines. Without anywhere to stop in between the west coast and Hawai’i,...

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The union for Alaska Airlines’ pilots has approved a contract that restores much of the pay cuts imposed on them in 2005, thus ending a long and often-contentious bargaining process. Separately, shareholders of the airline’s parent company have approved the pay structure for senior executives in one of corporate America’s early “say on pay” votes. First, the...

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Delta, Air France and KLM sign deal — Delta Air Lines Inc., Air France and KLM Group signed a deal today, combining their two different agreements into a “trans-Atlantic powerhouse” that could raise $12 billion a year in revenue. The three airlines will share costs, branding, governance and advertising. Three chief executives and a management committee are slated to head...

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The way American tells the story, they’re adding all kinds of flexibility and benefits for their customers with one way awards, but of course, that is hardly the motivation. This is all part of a dance for the airline, which wants to do whatever it can to make sure people continue to accrue more and more miles. Many media outlets picked up the story here as added flexibility with no...

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It’s been a tumultuous May for the debt-laden MGM Mirage and now its public face, chief executive Kirk Kerkorian, lost his controlling interest last week  after the company offered 165 million shares of stock in an equity offering to raise money. Kerkorian bought 14.3 million shares, costing around $100 million, but still saw his stake drop from 54 to 38 percent. (The Los Angeles...

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There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not we’ve “hit bottom” in terms of air travel demand, and now that March numbers are out, I really hope so. The airlines can’t handle much worse than this. IATA’s estimates for March show premium traffic down 19.2 percent with revenues down 35 to 40 percent. Sheesh. The 19.2 percent drop was better than...

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Southwest flight attendants ratify contract — Southwest Airlines Co. flight attendants approved a new contract Monday with pay raises of 3 percent and more retirement contributions. The Transport Workers Union, which represented the attendants, said the contract was ratified by 89 percent of voting workers. The pay raises will take place in the first three years of the contract and is...

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While it may not be surprising that Delta saw higher complaints in March as its integration with Northwest moved forward, some of the other ones with higher year-over-year numbers might surprise you. It was a good month for most airlines, but JetBlue, ExpressJet, and Hawaiian all saw their numbers rise. Before we get too far into this, it’s important to consider that we’re dealing...

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The aerospace industry hit a landmark today, with the first flight of the first A320 built in China. Airbus’ goal is to build as many as four A320s a month at what is its first assembly line outside Europe. China is the growth story in aerospace. Boeing’s most-recent market forecast projects a $390 billion market for airliners in China over the next 20 years, which would make it the...

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DOT numbers are out, and when it comes to complaints, Delta and its new partner Northwest found themselves losing ground. I suppose that’s fairly common in the early stages of a merger, but it’s still not good news. For the month, seven of the nineteen reporting airlines showed complaints rising year-over-year, and four of those were related to Delta in some way. Delta itself came...

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