Hurricane Season Taking Toll On Airline OperationsA particularly volatile Atlantic hurricane season is battering airline financial performance and wrecking schedules. AirTran Airways, whose Orlando facilities were damaged by Hurricane Frances, said the string of storms "has had and will continue to have a major near-term economic impact on the state, with the affected area encompassing about 51 percent of our normal traffic flows." The airline now predicts a loss for the third quarter. JetBlue Airways, which also derives a large portion of system revenue from routes to and from Florida, said it anticipates a "significantly lower" profit, partly due to weak near-term bookings to Florida. Delta Air Lines lost $25 million from two earlier storms hitting the state, said CEO Gerald Grinstein, "and we had to cancel 1,019 flights for Frances." Last week, airlines canceled flights along the northern Gulf Coast as Hurricane Ivan came ashore.
Travel Management Cos. Align With T&E VendorsTQ3Navigant signed an agreement to distribute American Express corporate cards to its U.S. customers, mirroring a marketing relationship American Express launched in February with TQ3 Travel Solutions to distribute the card and other payment solutions to TQ3 customers in several countries. Prior to the arrangement, Navigant had a marketing agreement with Diners Club. "This is a logical extension of the TQ3 deal in Europe," said a TQ3Navigant spokesperson. TQ3Navigant officials also said that their priority now is to develop tools to reconcile the card and agency data similar to those American Express plans to offer by year-end to clients that use both its agency and card services
(BTN, Aug. 2).Meanwhile, Carlson Wagonlit Travel Denmark partnered with Copenhagen-based EPostTrip to act as the travel management company's "exclusive provider of expense management services to existing and prospective customers." Carlson Wagonlit Travel Denmark said it would provide EPostTrip to clients through its Web portal. EPostTrip offers Web-based T&E software and expense-related services to corporate clients in Europe.
Southwest To Grow Chicago, Philadelphia SchedulesSouthwest Airlines on Oct. 31 will add 14 new flights on top of previously announced schedule changes, including two new flights between Chicago Midway and both Los Angeles and Oakland and one additional daily flight between Midway and both Orlando and Tampa. By late next month, it also will be running 41 daily flights from Philadelphia, the maximum possible without additional gates. Southwest next month plans to eliminate 88 scheduled flights and redeploy aircraft to other routes. Analysts speculate the carrier may seek additional expansion opportunities on the East Coast.
AWA To Trim Transcon FlyingAmerica West Airlines on Oct. 31 will suspend nonstop service between Boston and San Francisco and cut to one daily frequency between Boston and Los Angeles and between New York JFK and San Francisco. "Obviously, transcon competition has been fierce," said an AWA spokesperson, adding that the changes could be reversed next summer. "While it would be premature to declare the transcon crisis over, America West's action follows United Airlines' partial retreat
(BTN, Aug. 2)," said J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Jamie Baker. "As such, it appears the direction of transcon capacity change continues to move in JetBlue Airways' favor."
European Commission Awaits IATA ActionThe International Air Transport Authority will meet European Commission and travel agency leaders on Oct. 18, the latest deadline set by Commission officials for IATA to address buyer and agency grievances. The Commission had told IATA to come to an agreement by July 19 on how it would introduce pan-European accreditation for multinational agencies. Other items on the list for change include establishing a single European billing and settlement plan and relaxing restrictions on cross-border satellite ticket printing. After no agreement was reached in July, the Commission pushed back the deadline for resolution of the conflict to October. Informed sources expect no further progress by next month. Without an IATA agreement, the Commission could create a new deadline or take legal steps against IATA. Following the recent removal of IATA's immunity to prosecution for operating as a cartel, others in the travel industry also could bring a lawsuit. In recent weeks, regarding the question of harmonizing airfares, IATA confirmed it will remove sales indicator codes from global distribution systems. These codes set rules for fare construction and vary from country to country. The change will apply to indirect flights and trips involving more than one airline.