<B>InsideTrack</B>
<B>Strike Deadline Today At Comair</B>
Absent a new agreement with management, the pilots union at Comair, a wholly owned Delta Air Lines subsidiary, was free to strike at 12:01 a.m. this morning. The pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, last week easily voted down a contract proposal that management said would have made Comair's pilots the highest paid in the regional airline industry. Federal-mediated talks were continuing at press time and there were no indications of a Presidential intervention, a development that staved off a Northwest Airlines mechanics strike until May. Comair began proactively canceling flights last week to prepare for the strike. Delta, currently dealing with its own disgruntled mainline pilots, said it would not interfere in negotiations.
<B><A NAME="2">AA To Levy paper Ticket Surcharge</B>
American Airlines on April 9 will begin charging customers an extra $10 for paper tickets, according to published reports citing an upcoming Business Week article. The move, which has not been confirmed by the carrier, is similar to a failed attempt two years ago by Delta Air Lines to impose a $1 per segment surcharge on all bookings made outside its Web site (BTN, Jan. 25, 1999).
<B><A NAME="3">TRX Drops IPO, Reports 2000 Growth</B>
TRX Inc. on Thursday withdrew its Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement and said it "will close a large private equity offering" this month. "While the company has undergone remarkable growth, financial market conditions preclude TRX from completing an initial public offering of its stock at this time," said a statement. The company reported 2000 revenue growth of 120 percent, driven by 70 percent growth in transactions processed, from 4.3 million in 1999 to 7.3 million in 2000. TRX said that in 2000 it provided automated transaction processing support for more than 7 million corporate travel transactions representing nearly $5 billion in airline sales.
<B><A NAME="4">Galileo Expands E-Ticket Interlining</B>
Galileo International last week made available interlined electronic tickets from several airline partnerships. Galileo-connected agents now can book the flexible tickets for America West Airlines and Continental Airlines flights in the United States, and Air Canada and United Airlines flights in the United States and Canada. In certain European countries, the tickets are available for flights within the Qualiflyer Group--consisting of Swissair, Sabena, TAP Air Portugal and Crossair--and Lufthansa/Austrian Airlines flights. Unlike Galileo, Worldspan offers interlined e-tickets between Northwest Airlines and Continental, the largest domestic interlined e-ticket system to date. Sabre also offers e-ticket interlining for Continental and America West flights, and United and Air Canada flights.
<B><A NAME="5">Itravel Sinks Just As Ship Comes In</B>
The financiers giveth, and the financiers taketh away. Just a matter of weeks after being chosen by GetThere as a preferred online fulfillment alternative (BTN, March 12), Kansas City-based Itravel is closing shop due to a lack of funding. "We would have been profitable by the third quarter of this year," said vice president of business development Jay Jackson. "But the venture capitalist we were working with backed out at the last minute and everything unraveled at that point." Jackson said Itravel now is shopping its assets, including a 90-employee call center, to other travel management companies. Some mega agencies have expressed "some interest," he said. Itravel is attempting to preserve its 1,000 mostly small-client relationships, last week operating with 10 travel agents rather than the usual 40. "We're aggressively working to transition those customers to other providers," he said.
As far as GetThere goes, "It's a good case for the non-exclusive approach to fulfillment partnerships," according to a company spokesman.