<B> Inside Track</B>
<b>ARC Mulls Corporate Accreditation</b>
The directors of the Airlines Reporting Corp. heard status reports on a proposal to separately accredit corporate travel departments, without requiring them to be open to the public (<i>BTN</i>, July 28, 1997), but will take no action until a staff report is finished in mid-February. Said vice president Kathleen Argiropoulos, "We are certainly interested in moving forward with the proposal, and I'm extremely optimistic."
At its December meeting, ARC's board approved a proposal allowing travel agencies to share facilities as a cost-cutting move while still retaining their individual accreditation, under a one-year test. The board reasoned that this limited joint operation will allow agents with complementary businesses to concentrate on their sales efforts while consolidating many overhead expenses. Although agencies may currently share office space under ARC rules, they must do so under a common ARC accreditation number and otherwise function as a single agency for ARC purposes.
In other news at the board meeting, the staff reported that some 1,740 agency locations now participate in the electronic sales reporting program, with an increasing number of agents expressing interest.
<a name="story2"><b>Continental/Northwest Still Alive?</b>
Although Continental and Northwest said talks of a codesharing deal have ceased, Northwest's pilots late last week still were considering their options in union meetings. The Northwest pilots have the contractual right to refuse the deal, which reports indicated in December could include Northwest taking a 14 percent stake in Continental.
<a name="story3"><b>Greenwald Eyes Clock, Slows Shuttle Expansion</b>
Illustrating the importance of flexibility to business travelers, United Airlines chairman and CEO Gerald Greenwald said in an interview with BTN last week that a daily average of 500 United passengers at O'Hare who already have received boarding passes do not board their flight. He said that number demonstrates a need for gate readers, which United is testing, to give the airline "a more accurate count of who's getting on."
Greenwald said streamlined boarding procedures would help the airline improve its on-time performance. The carrier moved from a rate of 61 percent on time in 1996 to 66 percent in 1997, and United is targeting 70 percent for '98. Historically, United ranks near the bottom of the list of major airlines for on-time performance, largely due to the weather in its hub locations of Chicago, Denver and San Francisco.
Regarding the Shuttle by United, Greenwald acknowledged "it's not as low-cost as we'd like, and it's not quite as successful when flying between non-hub cities, but I'd expect to see the number of flights continue to grow." The Shuttle, which operates 466 flights a day, last year expanded in Denver and Greenwald noted that "there is more potential there." He said the operation is "very successful" when connected to a hub, but that "unless some competitors make a move against us, the expansion will be a slow one."
<a name="story4"><b>AA Takes Ticketless to Europe</b>
American Airlines on Jan. 17 will become the first carrier to offer electronic ticketing on all of its flights between the United States and Europe. AA's ticketless product is available in Sabre and Worldspan, and the carrier expects other CRSs to adopt it in the coming months.
A spokesman for United, which actually sold its e-ticketing system to AA, said it could roll out to all of its European destinations as well but is holding back because so many passengers connect with codeshare partners beyond the destination city, rendering e-ticketing useless until interlining practices become possible. He said, however, that United will roll out electronic ticketing to its European cities this year and that it is already available to London.
<a name="story5"><b>Airlines Enjoy Record Demand</b>
Just as United Airlines predicted record earnings for 1998, several U.S. carriers reported records in traffic, load factor and revenue passenger miles for 1997. The numbers, reported last week, were highlighted by Delta Air Lines' achievement of over 100 million passengers for the year--an industry first. Delta reported a 6.1 percent increase in RPMs, and a 71.8 percent load factor.
Continental reported its highest December (67.8%) and annual (70.9%) load factors ever, along with a traffic increase for 1997 of 12.7 percent. US Airways also posted all-time records in load factor (71.3%) and RPMs.
<a name="story6"><b>BTN Exec. Editor Beats Production Deadline</b>
Business Travel News Executive Editor Mary Ann McNulty delivered a healthy baby girl on Friday, Dec. 19. Gillian Claire weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 oz. Our congratulations to Mary Ann, Steve and Gillian's brother Alexander.