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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 27 2007, 1:40 PM EDT (current) | Anonymous | 49 words added |
| Jan 15 2007, 1:37 PM EST | Anonymous |
Changes
Key: Additions Deletions
I really dont think that republic airways is a good chice of regional partner for frontier, they lack quality flight attendants and good customer service. Hopefully frontier will find this out sooner than later. But I feel the emb a/c is a good plane for the frontier express subsiiary.
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This week's question for readers:News reports indicate Delta is discussing a merger with Northwest Airlines while it continues to fight off a hostile bid from US Airways. Our question: Would you rather see Delta stay independent, merge with Northwest, or merge with US Airways – and why? Send replies to skyguide@aexp.com. |
AIRLINES
Takeover mania heats up; Delta reportedly talking to Northwest
The urge to merge grew stronger in the airline industry last week as US Airways and AirTran both upped the ante in their hostile takeover bids for Delta and Midwest Airlines respectively. Meanwhile, news reports revealed that executives from Delta and Northwest are now quietly discussing a merger.
Delta management has been fighting to remain independent and to reject a proposed acquisition by US Airways - which last week raised its bid for Delta by 20 percent to $10.3 billion. But the Wall Street Journal quoted one executive in the Northwest talks as saying a merger between Delta and Northwest is a “promising third option.” According to the New York Times, “A Northwest bid would probably be preferable to Delta managers because the two airlines’ route networks overlap less than with Delta and US Airways. A combination with Northwest is therefore likely to lead to fewer grounded planes, if any.” Northwest last week filed a reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court; it calls for the airline to emerge from Chapter 11 in the second quarter, but says nothing about a possible Delta merger.
Delta said US Airways’ increased offer would increased the combined companies’ debt load by $1 billion – US Airways plans to borrow $5 billion to cover is offer – and still doesn’t address other concerns. A committee of Delta’s unsecured creditors issued a statement wary of Delta’s go-it-alone plan, urging the company to “desist from taking actions intended to deter other companies from proposing transactions with Delta that may result in greater creditor recoveries than under a stand-alone Chapter 11 plan.” Delta got a boost from its pilots last week, who vowed to fight a US Airways merger.
Meanwhile, AirTran Holdings last week increased the value of its bid for Midwest Airlines by 18 percent, to $345 million. But instead of making the offer to the Midwest board, it is offering to buy shares directly from stockholders. Midwest urged shareholders to take no action on the offer until they hear from the company’s board, which promised to review the terms and make a recommendation to shareholders within 10 business days. But the company also filed papers with the SEC last week outlining the benefits of Midwest’s existing growth plan, which it said would maximize shareholder value with the airline remaining independent.
United wins coveted China route
The U.S. Department of Transportation last week tentatively awarded the newest U.S.-China route authority to United Airlines for Washington Dulles-Beijing service, ending months of intense lobbying by four U.S. carriers for additional access to the burgeoning Chinese market. Unless anyone raises a significant objection to the award in the next two weeks, it will become final, and if it does, United said it is prepared to start operating daily flights between the two capital cities on March 25. The airline plans to use a three-class, 347-seat 747-400 on the route, and to offer online connections to 16 cities in China through code-shares with Air China and Shanghai Airlines. The three other airlines that had applied for new China authority were American, which sought a DFW-Beijing service operating via Chicago O’Hare; Continental, which wanted a Newark-Shanghai non-stop route; and Northwest Airlines, which sought to operate between Detroit and Shanghai.
JetBlue to launch San Francisco service in the spring
JetBlue Airways plans to break into a major transcontinental market on May 3 with new service at San Francisco International Airport. The low-cost carrier plans to operate four daily roundtrips between SFO and its base at New York JFK, and one daily flight between San Francisco and Boston. Previously, JetBlue limited its Bay Area presence to Oakland and San Jose; it already has service to New York and Boston from both of those airports. In the SFO-JFK market, JetBlue will be going head-to-head with heavyweights United, American and Delta; SFO-BOS is dominated by United and American. One of JetBlue’s four eastbound SFO-JFK flights will be a redeye, as will its eastbound SFO-BOS flight.
Northwest grounds its last DC-10
After flying DC-10s for 34 years, Northwest Airlines last week grounded the last one. The carrier had been using it for daily non-stops between its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub and Honolulu, but it replaced the aging plane with an Airbus A330. Last October, Northwest pulled the last of its international DC-10s from service when it switched to an all-Airbus fleet on its transatlantic routes. The Honolulu DC-10 retired last week was 27 years old; the average age of Northwest’s growing fleet of A330s is just two years, the company said. The A330s have lie-flat seats in business class as well as interactive on-demand entertainment programming and individual video screens at each seat in both classes,
Frontier gets a new regional partner
Denver-based Frontier Airlines said last week it has signed a new regional partnership agreement with Republic Airlines, which will replace Horizon Air as the provider of regional jet services to feed Frontier’s mainline operations. While Horizon has been flying nine 70-seat CRJ-700s for Frontier, Republic will operate 17 Embraer 170s, also a 70-passenegr aircraft. The Horizon service will be phased out through the end of 2007, and the full republic Embraer 170 fleet should be in Frontier’s service by 2008. Frontier CEO Jeff Potter said the Embrear jet fleet to be operated by Republic “perfectly complements the 10 Q400 aircraft that will be operated for us by our subsidiary, Lynx Aviation.” Frontier announced last year that it planned to begin a wholly-owned subsidiary to fly 10 74-seat Q400 turboprops to points within 650-700 miles of Denver.
American stops selling some tickets through Expedia
Do you use Expedia to buy airline tickets? If so, don’t try to book anything but a domestic economy flight on American Airlines. The carrier said on Friday (January 12) that it will no longer sell international tickets or domestic first class or business class tickets through Expedia.com “or any other website powered by Expedia.com” to U.S.-based flyers. Only domestic coach tickets on American will still be available through Expedia. The airline said tickets already purchased through Expedia will still be good. American offered no explanation, and Expedia made no reference to the change on its site. It is not unheard of for a major airline to pull out of a major online travel agency when they are trying to renegotiate terms of their distribution agreement.
INTERNATIONAL
Caribbean carrier halts operations
Caribbean Sun Airlines, based at San Juan, Puerto Rico, plans to stop flying this month, the company announced. Effective January 16, it will terminate service between San Juan and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and on January 31 it will discontinue all flights to other island destinations. Caribbean Sun is a sister company of Caribbean Star Airlines, based in Antigua. Caribbean Star is not affected by the Caribbean Sun shot-down. “Major U.S. carriers currently expanding service to the (Caribbean) region are increasingly emphasizing non-stop services,” said CEO Skip Barnette. “The trend toward over-flying San Juan has greatly diminished the strong demand we formerly enjoyed from connecting passengers. The local market is simply too small to sustain a profitable operation.”
Hong Kong low-fare airline reportedly plans Oakland service
A new era of low-cost transpacific travel could start as soon as June, according to wire reports from Hong Kong. The stories said that Oasis Airlines, a new Hong Kong-based carrier that started flying a 747 to London Gatwick late last year, plans to launch service between Hong Kong and Oakland by June 2007. Stories quoted Oasis CEO Stephen Miller as saying the airline would initially offer four flights a week, increasing to daily by August. Oasis hadn’t yet set prices for the planned U.S. route, but its London-Hong Kong fares start as low as $128 each way. According to the wire reports, Miller said Oasis has started talking with JetBlue and Southwest about a possible partnership for connections beyond Oakland.
AIRPORTS
BWI adds WiFi throughout the airport
Officials at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport said they expect to finish deploying WiFi access throughout the facility by March 2007. BWI’s WiFi installations are being provided by Concourse Communications Group, an operator of neutral-host wireless systems that was acquired last year by Boingo Wireless. Last month, the wireless service became available in BWI’s Concourses A/B and A, and earlier this month it kicked in for Concourse B and the Observation Gallery. Concourses C, D and E should be finished by March, airport officials said.
Alaska, Horizon will overhaul check-in at Sea-Tac
Alaska Airlines and partner Horizon Airlines will spend $18 million to overhaul passenger check-in areas at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this year, eliminating the traditional check-in counters and replacing them with “customer-friendly islands of check-in kiosks and bag-check stations,” a spokesman said. The new design embodies the “Airport of the Future” concept that Alaska Airlines introduced three years ago at the Anchorage Airport, where it reduced congestion and cut passenger waiting times in half, the company said. By removing check-in counters and relocating offices to the mezzanine, Alaska said it will expand passenger space in the terminal from 9,000 square feet to 14,000. Alaska and Horizon handle nearly half the passengers at Sea-Tac.
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