Essential Travel News for 5/14/07

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AIRLINES

Southwest sets initial San Francisco schedule

Southwest Airlines has set August 26 as the date for its start-up at San Francisco International Airport, and said the initial destinations it will serve include San Diego, Chicago Midway and Las Vegas. The carrier already has a sizeable operation across San Francisco Bay at Oakland International, but it noted that Southwest’s 18 daily departures planned for SFO represent “the airline’s largest initial new-city schedule in its history.” The schedule calls for three flights a day to Chicago, eight to San Diego and seven to Las Vegas. Southwest will use two gates in SFO’s Terminal 1 for the new service. To mark its San Francisco debut, Southwest is offering 21-day advance purchase sale fares from SFO, Oakland and San Jose for travel August 26-October 31. Sale fares start at $39 each way to San Diego, $59 to Vegas and $99 to Chicago.

Southwest’s return to San Francisco International is one more step in a surge of low-cost-carrier activity there this year. Earlier this month, JetBlue Airways started flying out of SFO to New York Kennedy and Boston; and start-up carrier Virgin America hopes to get off the ground this year with low-cost service to New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas.

Delta will add, expand nine LAX routes in July

Delta Air Lines said it plans to begin or expand non-stop regional jet service on July 1 from Los Angeles International Airport to nine cities in the western U.S. and Canada, the latest step in a continuing build-up that has doubled the airline’s operations at LAX in the past year. All the new service will be operated by Delta Connection/ExpressJet Airlines, using 50-seat regional jets with 100 channels of free XM Radio. The new service includes one daily flight to Boise, four to Denver, four to Phoenix, four to San Jose, one to Spokane and one to Vancouver. In addition, Delta Connection will increase LAX-Oakland service from two flights a day to four; LAX-Sacramento from two to four; and LAX-San Francisco from four a day to six. Effective July 1, Delta and Delta Connection will offer 100 weekday departures from Los Angeles International to 48 destinations – a gain of 105 percent from the same time a year earlier. That includes 17 destinations in Mexico and Central America. A Delta official told a financial conference last week that the airline intends to make LAX its second-largest gateway to Latin America, after Atlanta; and to use it as a base for expansion of routes to Asia.

JetBlue eyes more services in southern California; gets new CEO

JetBlue Airways is likely to begin new service at more southern California airports, the company’s chairman said at the annual shareholders’ meeting last week. David Neeleman told the meeting that JetBlue is already operating the maximum allowable number of flights at Long Beach airport, south of Los Angeles (28 a day), so it is looking at new route opportunities out of Burbank, Ontario, San Diego -- and possibly Los Angeles International, where it currently has no flights. The airline currently operates one daily roundtrip from both Ontario and Burbank to New York JFK; it has daily service from San Diego to both JFK and Washington Dulles, with plans to add San Diego-Boston service June 28 and San Diego-Salt Lake City July 27. Shortly after the shareholders’ meeting, Neeleman announced he will step down as the airline’s CEO, a move he said was initiated by the company’s board of directors. Neeleman has been the driving force behind JetBlue, as well as its CEO and chairman, since it was founded. He will stay on as chairman, focusing on long-term strategic matters, and will be replaced as CEO by David Barger, the airline’s president.

Northwest’s creditors back reorganization plan; unions object

Northwest Airlines said last week that the company’s creditors have overwhelmingly voted in favor of its reorganization plan, putting the airline one step closer to emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it hopes to do in June. The bankruptcy court is expected to hold a hearing on the plan this week. As part of that plan, Northwest will have a new board of directors and will issue new shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The disposition of those shares drew objections last week from the airline’s three largest unions representing pilots, flight attendants and ground workers. The unions say the plan gives too much of the stock to management – with five percent of the company going to the top 400 executives. The unions were especially rankled to learn that CEO Doug Steenland would get more than $26 million in restricted shares and stock options. In a court filing, the pilots’ union said that indicates that “the principle of shared sacrifice is dead and buried” at Northwest, where unions agreed to substantial wage and benefit cuts during the bankruptcy process.

ExpressJet starts latest round of expansion

ExpressJet on May 14 starts the next phase in the ongoing expansion of its independent regional jet airline operation. This week, the carrier’s new city-pairs include El Paso-Ontario, Calif.; Birmingham-New Orleans and Birmingham-Raleigh/Durham; New Orleans-San Antonio; New Orleans-Jacksonville; New Orleans-Austin; New Orleans-Kansas City and New Orleans-Raleigh/Durham; Ontario-Monterey; San Diego-Monterey; and Bakersfield-San Diego. The airline operates 50-seat regional jets. For details, go to http://xjet.com.

FAA/SECURITY

TSA official sees carry-on liquids ban continuing for some time

If you were hoping the Transportation Security Administration would soon ease up on its rules that strictly limit the amount of liquids or gels you can carry onto a plane, forget it. A TSA official told a travel conference in Miami last week that she expects the regulations to remain in place “for the foreseeable future, at least,” according to press reports. According to the TSA rules adopted late last year, any carry-on liquids or gels must be in bottles of three ounces or less, and the bottles must be in a one-quart, zip-top plastic bag, with a limit of one bag per passenger. The problem, the official said, is that TSA has yet to find any technology that would let screeners identify specific liquids that could potentially serve as ingredients in explosives.

Clear opens ‘Registered Traveler’ sign-up kiosks in the Bay Area

The Clear program, which offers membership in the so-called Registered Traveler plan, has set up enrollment kiosks in the lobbies of the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and the Hyatt Regency San Francisco at the Embarcadero Center. The kiosks will be staffed from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekdays. Travelers who ante up $99.95 and pass a security pre-screening by the Transportation Security Administration will get biometric ID cards that give them access to expedited screening at airports where Registered Traveler is in operation. Currently, that includes San Jose, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Orlando and New York JFK Terminal 7, but the company notes that it will be expanded soon to Newark and two more JFK terminals. In addition, the Albany, N.Y. and Little Rock, Ark. Airports selected Clear to run their RT program, and it should become operational there “soon,” the company said. San Francisco, Washington Reagan and Washington Dulles are also expected to begin RT security lanes this summer, the company said.

INTERNATIONAL

MAXjet plans expansion beyond London

MAXjet, which operates all-business-class, low-fare 767s from the U.S. to the U.K., reportedly plans to broaden its network with new service to the Middle East, Asia and Africa from its base at London Stansted. According to press reports in Britain, MAXjet intends to start selling shares on a London exchange to raise funds for the expansion. MAXjet currently operates to Stansted from New York, Washington and Las Vegas, and recently announced it will begin service from Los Angeles at the end of August.

Continental pushes up start date of new India route

Continental Airlines, citing “a positive market response” to its March announcement of new non-stop service between Newark and Mumbai, India, said last week it will move up the launch date of that route from October 30 to October 1. The airline will initially fly the route four times a week, with eastbound departures on Sundays, Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, and will boost the schedule to daily service on October 28. The non-stop 777-200 flight will take just under 15 hours eastbound and more than 16 hours westbound.

AIRPORTS

Delta adds helicopter transfer option between Manhattan and JFK

Delta passengers flying out of the airline’s international hub at New York JFK can now book helicopter transfers from Manhattan to the airport. Delta is partnering with US Helicopter Corp. on the latter’s shuttle flights from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (near Wall Street) and the Atlantic Metroport at East 34th Street and the East River. The service will deliver Delta flyers to the airline’s Terminal 3, Gate 11 at JFK. Passengers will check in for their Delta flights and clear airport security at the Manhattan heliports. The eight-minute helicopter flights from Manhattan will operate 27 times a day on weekdays with one-way fares starting at $159. Book through Delta at 800-221-1212 or online at www.flyush.com. The flights will be bookable via Delta’s web site starting May 31.

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