Air Taxis

ImagineAir Air Taxi launches Service in the Southeast

ImagineAir today announced the launch of its on-demand, air taxi service to the hundreds of convenient, community airports across the southeastern United States. Using a fleet of new Cirrus SR22-GTS aircraft, ImagineAir now provides regional travelers all the benefits of personal air travel at a fraction of the cost of traditional charter aircraft.
Instead of wasting time driving long distances or dealing with the hassles of commercial air travel, ImagineAir clients can now drive to their nearest local airport and be airborne in a matter of minutes. For business travelers, two- and three-day road trips can be a thing of the past. With ImagineAir, they can visit clients in several different cities in a single day, giving them more productive time at the office as well as more quality time at home with their families. And ImagineAir's leisure travelers will discover the pleasure of spending less time getting to their destination and more time being there.
"We want to change the way people think about travel," says Ben Hamilton, President of ImagineAir. "By the time you add up the expense of hotels, meals, and lost productivity, associated with most business travel, it makes good financial sense to take advantage of ImagineAir's affordable, efficient air service."
For example, three passengers can fly from the Atlanta area to Charlotte, NC, for a morning business meeting and then to Hilton Head, SC, for an afternoon round of golf, returning to Atlanta in time for dinner. By taking advantage of the ImagineFare discount for same-day travel, the total flight cost is only $1,532. To find out the exact cost of your upcoming travel needs, go to the reservations page on ImagineAir's website (www.flyimagineair.com/resv/) and enter your destinations and agenda. The price quote you receive is guaranteed.
Customers can save even more becoming an ImagineAir FlightCard member. Four levels of FlightCards are available, offering discounts of up to 20%. For example, a Platinum FlightCard member and two other passengers can fly one-way from Augusta, GA, to Kiawah Island, SC, for only $447!
ImagineAir is the first on-demand aircraft operator to launch a dynamic, online reservations system that allows customers to instantly price and book flights on the company website (www.flyimagineair.com). And the price is right - ImagineAir clients are charged only for the miles they fly. That's it - no aircraft repositioning charges, pilot waiting fees, or other hidden expenses associated with other charter services. Additionally, there are no price penalties for last-minute flights with ImagineAir. The cost is the same whether the flight is reserved six months in advance or with only a few hours notice.
The Cirrus SR22-GTS is a luxurious, three-passenger aircraft with a cruising speed of over 200 miles per hour. The Cirrus is equipped with parachute for the whole plane, making it among the safest, most technologically advanced aircraft ever built. Starting in 2008, ImagineAir will expand its fleet to include Eclipse 500 very light jets (VLJs), which can accommodate up to five passengers and fly 1300 miles non-stop.

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AIRLINES

Midwest Air board rejects AirTran’s takeover offer

The board of directors at Midwest Air Group – parent of Midwest Airlines – turned down an offer by AirTran Airways to acquire the company and merge the two airlines. Midwest said that after a “thorough review” of AirTran’s proposal, the board determined that the offer “is opportunistic and undervalues Midwest,” especially in view of the latter’s long-term growth plan and its improving results. Midwest said that for 2006, its traffic increased 21.5 percent, while revenue per passenger was up 5.4 percent. The company turned in net income for 2006 of $5.4 million, compared with a 2005 loss of $64.9 million; 2006 operating revenue jumped more than 27 percent to $664 million. Midwest’s growth plan includes the formation of a new regional partner carrier agreement with SkyWest and the addition of two more MD80s to its mainline fleet this year. Midwest’s pilots also came out in opposition to the merger last week. In response to the board’s rejection, AirTran repeated its call for Midwest stockholders to tender their shares. Midwest also announced last week that it will begin service to a new city in April with the launch of twice-daily 717 non-stops from its Kansas City hub to Seattle.

ExpressJet plans to launch new stand-alone airline

ExpressJet, a Continental Express partner carrier operating out of Continental’s hubs at Houston, Newark and Cleveland, said last week it plans to begin a separate, stand-alone airline operation using a fleet of 44 50-seat Embraer regional jets. According to press reports, ExpressJet’s feeder agreement with Continental has been significantly downsized, leaving the carrier with a lot of idle airplanes. The company reportedly will use the small jets to connect as many as 24 cities in the Midwest, Southeast and West. Company officials did not reveal any specific routes or even a name for the operation, but only said the new entity would fly between city-pairs that currently have no non-stop service. Details should be announced very soon. ExpressJet also dedicated more than a dozen regional jets to a new corporate charter business.

US Airways offer for Delta faces a critical week

The battle for control of Delta Air Lines reaches a critical point this week. US Airways CEO Doug Parker said his company’s $9.7 billion bid for Delta would be withdrawn unless the Delta unsecured creditors’ committee agrees by February 1 (Thursday) to seek postponement of a scheduled February 7 court hearing on Delta’s plan to emerge from Chapter 11 as a standalone company. The Cincinnati Enquirer on Saturday (January 27) reported that the committee’s nine members are split on what to do. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that some Delta creditors who once supported the hostile US Airways offer are starting to sour on the deal. At a Senate hearing on the issue last week, some legislators also appeared cool to the idea of a US Airways-Delta merger, especially over the prospect of reduced airline service in competitive markets as well as the potential loss of jobs at the combined company. Meanwhile, Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein last week insisted that despite media reports to the contrary, Delta is not negotiating with Northwest Airlines as a potential alternative merger candidate.

Possible pilot strike looms at Comair/Delta Connection

Negotiations between pilots and management at Delta’s Cincinnati-based subsidiary Comair, which operates as the Delta Connection, are coming to a head this week. If no agreement is reached on wage concessions by week’s end, Comair could impose new wages and work rules unilaterally; and if that happens, the pilots could walk out. However, Comair has also asked the judge in its bankruptcy court to declare that a pilots’ walkout would be illegal, and that decision could come later this week as well.

Spirit Airlines will double its fleet in six years

Business must be booming at low-cost Spirit Airlines. The carrier, which has a route network focused on hubs at Detroit and Ft. Lauderdale, said last week it ordered another 30 A319s from Airbus, to be delivered from 2009 through 2013. The new order, combined with earlier orders for seven A319s and seven A321s yet to be delivered, will increase Spirit’s total fleet to 70 Airbus aircraft – more than twice its current size. “These new airplanes affirm Spirit’s position as the leading low-cost carrier to the Caribbean and Latin America,” said CEO Ben Baldanza. Spirit last week also said it will add new routes out of Ft. Lauderdale this spring to St. Maarten; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and San Jose, Costa Rica.

JetBlue, AirTran adding service to new cities

Both JetBlue and AirTran Airways last week unveiled plans to add new cities to their route maps. JetBlue - which earlier this month began service to Florida from Newburgh, New York’s Stewart International Airport - will start flying out of New York’s Westchester County Airport in White Plains on March 28 with non-stop service to Orlando; on April 2, it will add flights from White Plains to Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
AirTran will add St. Louis to its network starting May 8 when it launches four daily STL-Atlanta roundtrips, followed June 7 by daily STL-Orlando service. And on May 24, AirTran will add a new route to San Diego, with two daily roundtrips from Atlanta.

Frontier, United expanding at Denver

Both Frontier Airlines and United Airlines are planning to add new services out of their Denver hub in the coming months. New non-stop markets for Frontier include Hartford, starting March 3; Louisville, beginning April 1; and Vancouver, effective May 5. The Louisville flights will be operated by Frontier partner Republic Airlines, using Embraer 170s. Frontier also said it will lay on additional frequencies in 20 markets this year. Meanwhile, United said it will kick off new United Express service February 14 between Denver and Huntsville, Ala.; April 24 between Denver and Dayton; and June 7 between Denver and Kalispell, Mont. In addition, United will resume Denver-Raleigh/Durham service April 24.

INTERNATIONAL

Discount carrier eyes New York-London route

Travel Weekly, a trade publication that keeps an eye on filings at the Transportation Department, reported that low-cost Zoom Airlines has filed for permission to start flying between New York JFK and London Gatwick this summer, operating a 767. Founded as a Canadian airline, Zoom operates on several routes from Canada to the U.K. and France; but the Bank of Scotland reportedly bought a minority stake in the company with plans to establish a Zoom UK operation. The JFK-LGW service would apparently be the first route from that new entity. The UK’s Observer newspaper said that in addition to Gatwick-New York service, LGW-San Francisco was another “likely” route for Zoom UK. Although there was no word on fares yet, the British newspaper noted that starting fares on Zoom’s UK-Canada routes are as low as 99 pounds ($194) each way. The Observer said ticket prices on Zoom would include meals, and that it would offer two-class service.


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