Feds Ask Court To Reopen AMR Predatory Pricing Case
The U.S. Department of Justice last week requested reinstatement of a predatory pricing case that charged American Airlines with adding money-losing capacity on four routes from its Dallas/Ft. Worth hub to drive out lower-cost competitors. A lower district court dismissed the case last year, opining AA was an effective competitor but not in violation of antitrust laws (BTN, May 7, 2001). In last week's petition to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, antitrust regulators said "The district court failed to understand that AA's capacity increases were predatory," and that the court did not consider whether the airline added capacity for any other reason than to eliminate its rivals. "The government's extensive evidence showed that they did not."
Navigant To Unveil New Data Warehouse
Englewood, Colo.-based mega agency Navigant International next week will upgrade its data warehouse and computer network, said CIO Neville Teagarden. The new multimillion-dollar infrastructure will enable the company to host an upcoming crop of new technology tools. "We've upgraded all of our computing systems and network architecture and improved security, availability and capacity," Teagarden said. The network will support an updated ReportFLYR 2.0 reporting system called RFX and other products that will be rolled out over the course of the year.
CO, Amtrak Create Domestic Air-Rail Codeshare
Continental Airlines and Amtrak in mid-March will launch the first codeshare agreement in the United States linking a rail carrier with a major domestic airline. Continental will place its code on Amtrak's Acela Regional and Keystone trains, connecting its Newark International Airport hub to Philadelphia, New Haven and Stamford, Conn., and Wilmington, Del. The airport's new rail terminal will facilitate connections as Continental draws more travelers into his hub and potentially away from US Airways' Philadelphia stronghold. Amtrak and Continental also agreed to link frequent traveler programs. Air-rail codeshares already exist outside of the United States, particularly in Europe where rail travel is not only cheaper but also more suited to the close geographical proximity of major cities. Amtrak last year signed Icelandair as its first airline codeshare partner.
CIGA Properties On The Block Again
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide last week announced it had put its portfolio of 25 high-end CIGA hotels on the block. Many are historic properties in such locations as Florence and Rome, operated by Starwood under its Luxury Collection and/or Westin banners. The decision originally was announced a year ago, but Starwood now is prepared to sell the properties individually or in clusters, rather than as an entire portfolio.
GDSs Aid U.S. Passenger Screening Efforts
Galileo International and Sabre are working with the Office of Homeland Security and other U.S. government agencies on screening systems to match reservations databases with suspect watch lists. The systems would send reservation information to a secure environment for cross-referencing against multiple government lists, using sophisticated matching processes. Galileo is developing its project in conjunction with Las Vegas software house Systems Research & Development, which specializes in helping casinos with security screening. Galileo president and CEO Mark Miller said that because 95 percent of scheduled air reservations are made through GDSs, "they are a unique repository of information that enable us to cross-reference passenger information appropriately to criminal watch lists." Miller said Galileo was sensitive to concerns about data ownership and privacy.
Raytheon Opts For GetThere-Powered CTO, Sabre nets Q4 profit
Southlake, Texas-based Sabre Holdings last week said its GetThere subsidiary of Menlo Park, Calif., snared the nation's ninth largest account—the largest that had not yet chosen a self-booking solution—Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon Corp. Raytheon will use the Corporate Travel Online tool that its agency, Amercian Express, co-branded with GetThere. According to Sabre, GetThere's clients on average booked 13 percent of their tickets online in the fourth quarter, up 70 percent from 4Q00. For Sabre, overall bookings in the fourth quarter dropped 19.4 percent, but the GDS still earned a $4 million profit excluding one-time items. GetThere pulled in revenues of $9 million, up 10.3 percent year over year. Sabre officials said GetThere's bookings more than doubled in 2001. Sabre delayed GetThere's profitability target by one quarter, to the first quarter of next year.