December 2007 Archives

Winners and losers: lots of blogivators like to list losers and winners at the end of the year (for example, ‘Big Loser: Saddam Hussein’) but we sort of question the value of these compilations. We’d like to offer one or two, and here to lead of our list is a guy who probably qualifies as both a winner and a loser: Jim Whitehurst was number two to Jerry Grinstein at Delta, and was one of the two leading candidates to replace Grinstein, who came in with the stated intent of leaving as soon as Delta got out of bankruptcy. At one point Whitehurst, an architect of Delta’s European expansion and a chief rallier of the troops, told the media that he would probably stay at the Atlanta-based Delta even if he didn’t get asked to succeed Grinstein. And the other internal candidate, CFO Ed Bastian, said similar things. Well, neither won the job and Delta chose former Northwest Airlines chief executive Richard Anderson to follow Grinstein. Bastian stayed and was promoted to president as well as chief financial officer, while Whitehurst left. We know Jim wanted the job; he told us in August that he did. But rather than sulk in his tent, Whitehurst went out and found a new job. He will take over a well-known software developer on New Year’s Day.

There use to be a time when the air transport industry shut down over the 10-14 days of the festive season/turn of the year.

Not any more. Just look at the happenings over the past five days since 24 December or Christmas Eve:

* It may be in pole position to take over Alitalia, but Air France-KLM has sealed another deal in the meantime, agreeing on 24 Dec to acquire Belgian regional VLM. This will make the Franco-Dutch giant the number one carrier at London City Airport, the downtown airport that serves the UK capital mostly with regional jets and turboprops.

It’s an ill blizzard that blows no good. The blizzard that swept through the American heartland the days before and after Christmas forced carriers to cancel flights left and right, stranding holiday flyers in the traditional airport Christmas story (“we had to sleep in the floor for days and nights and never got to see Aunt Sally”). United, the major carrier at the heartland’s biggest airport, Chicago O’Hare, was forced to cancel several hundred flights, and by Christmas the airline had cancelled about 5% of its schedule. The airline blamed weather, including the snow, dense fog and clouds in the Windy City. Although it satisfied the ever-hungry news media such as local TV stations, this was definitely not good news for people travelling on United, but United’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association found nourishment for its long-running 'blame the bosses' feud with management about anything that happens at United.

Even luxury it would seem is far from immune. Luxury goods from Gucci to LVMH to Lamborghini are supposed to be able to survive end even thrive in the typical economic downturn, but the fuel crisis, rising competition and problems of its own making having caught up with one of the new generation of luxury airlines that have captured a growing share of North Atlantic premium travel. MAXjet, which offered all business-class flights between London Stansted and the States, shut down and went into bankruptcy a few weeks after it suspended its shares on a London exchange. MAXjet, which competed with all first-class Eos and Silverjet on the London route, began service in late 2005 with Boeing 767s outfitted with about 100 business-class reclining seats, but repeated mechanical problems with its fleet and the resulting cancellations hardly helped. MAXjet had a net loss of $49.5 mllion in the first six months of the year, as it was hit by higher maintenance and fuel prices. It lost of $79 million (net) in 2006, its first full year of operations, on revenues of $41.1 million.

‘Meta’ means beyond or after, and now two of the travel industry’s major meta-search services will merge in a $196-million deal that combines powerful Internet selling sites. The two-year-old Kayak.com is buying sidestep.com. in a deal that was expected to close Friday. These two sites search hundred of individual airline, hotel, and car-rental sites to allow consumer comparison shopping. Much like this real-life kayak, the wesbite prided itself on its transparency. When meta-search emerged at the turn of the century, some observers predicted that this type of aggregation of aggregators would shake the on-line world; it hasn’t, and the meta-search share of the on-line travel market has stayed at the same level of about 15% for the last few years.

These days, it’s getting harder and harder to be an old airplane. Or an old aviation writer. But let’s try with this note about major birthday: the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Boeing 707. It was actually Friday, December 20, 1957 when Boeing test pilots made their first seven-minute flight from Boeing Field (no relation to this blogger) in Renton; the weather in Seattle (they have that a lot up there) forced them to land but they did a 71-minute flight later that day. Boeing notes that this was actually the prototype Model 367-80 or ‘Dash 80,’ which never entered commercial service itself, although it gave birth to the 707 series of jetliners. This marked the point in commercial aviation history “when propellers gave way to the jet age and air travel became affordable and available,” Boeing says.

UPS - that rather large parcels express company - has sent out a yuletide press release proclaiming its 100th year of delivering seasonal joy to one and all.

Those flight writers sure can yak. Anytime, anywhere. They can’t keep their tongues still when it comes to airlines and airliners. This is a good thing, though because some of them are truly knowledgeable. Take, for instance, our colleague Mary Kirby, who writes for us, for Flight International and for our sister on-line service, ATI. Mary’s an expert on in-flight entertainment and just did a podcast on IFE and connectivity. You can listen to it through the link just above. Mary (left) is pretty well-known in IFE circles. Mary’s colleague, whose picture we will not show here, but who resembles a well-known jolly chubby guy (right), was on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, one of the most listened-to morning shows in the nation. Though not quite as jolly, he was talking about the new federal proposals to limit flights at New York JFK. You can listen to whatsshis name through this link (above).

Drunk by noon. That’s how the Washington press corps described itself back in the bad good old days and even into the ‘70s. They’re a much more serious lot now, perhaps too serious, with grown-up manners and a code of behaviour. But around the holiday season, they lighten up a little. They did the other day when the airlines, in the form of their trade group, the Air Transport Association, called a ‘press conference.’ The ATA and its chief, Jim May, wanted to respond to the proposals from the DoT and FAA to limit flights at JFK and the other New York City airports, a big story. But by mid-afternoon, when May took to the microphone, some reporters were quite well relaxed. We’re not saying it was Christmas spirits, just the spirit of the season. So, when a reporter from the Bloomberg news agency asked the first question, a reporter from The New York Times broke the protocol that demands respectful silence when another reporter is speaking and blurted out jokingly, “hey, that’s the question I was going to ask!” The room burst into laughter, as the two are friends, and one journo noted that the prestigious New York Times could ask the same question as often as it wanted.

Skybus, the Ohio-based startup that bills itself as an ‘ultra low-fares’ airline, prides itself on ancillary revenues such as charges for seat assignments and checked bags. It’s also painted a few of its planes for advertisers. Other carriers have done this as well, but Skybus is taking the ancillary idea step farther: it’s selling ‘sponsorships’ to convention and visitor bureaus, in return for which flight attendants make announcements on behalf of the CVB. Its first has been for a suburb of Columbus, its home town, a little place called Canal Winchester. We’ve been there and it is about a scenic as you can get in Central Ohio, and Canal Winchester does have a few unique features, including a barbershop museum and hall of fame.We figure that Skybus needs the revenue, because according to its first-ever revenue-and-results filings with the Transportation Department, it lost just over $16 million on revenues of $22 million in the quarter that ended 30 September.

Patchwork quilt: that’s the phrase lawyers use to argue against differing laws in different states that apply to their operations or services. For instance, airlines are now in court in New York State arguing that the the empire state really shouldn’t be able to apply its own passenger rights bill to flights in that state. Their argument invokes a principle of law called federal pre-emption, a doctrine that says that federal law applies to nationwide services; each state couldn’t and shouldn’t have rules on, say, television sets sold in its borders. The New York State law requires airlines to provide food and drinking water as all as fresh air and light and waste- removal services to people whose plane is stuck on tarmac for three hours or more. The law stems from the infamous JetBlue incidents of last February and March when thousands of passengers were stuck on planes during a New York JFK ice storm for as long as 10 hours.

UK low-fares giant easyJet is to offer customers who pay a little bit more to board their aircraft first a dedicated check-in desk, the latest in a string of moves demonstrating the drift of many players away from the pure low-cost model.

Whatever next? A business class? A loyalty programme?

Frontier Airlines finally won long-awaited approval to inaugurate its turboprop feeder unit, Lynx. The Lynx unit has made its first Q400 flight between the airline’s Denver hub and Billings, Montana, and other routes from Denver to places like Rapid City (South Dakota) Sioux City (Iowa) and Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Wichita (Kansas) followed. Frontier had hoped to start the Lynx service last summer, but the FAA approval process took longer than expected. The Lynx Q400s include tails painted with small wildlife in a four-footed commitment to the animal theme of Frontier’s mainline Airbus fleet. We wondered if that lengthy delay would interfere with the carrier’s theme – young animal offspring – but Frontier evidently believes that when you’re a small animal, you’re forever young.

Finally an airport project that nobody can argue about. Down in Houston, the oil capital of the United States, the airport has long had a nice display of eight columns, placed out near the Bush Intercontinental airport back in the 1990s. The “skins” on the 24-foot columns represent the countries that were present at the G-7 economic summit in 1990 – Japan, Germany, France, Canada, the U. S., Italy, Great Britain, and the European Community. Each column leans at a 10-degree angle toward a central point representing Houston, and the distance between each spike and this central point represents the distance from Houston. They’ve been out at the airport for 16 years, having been moved there for temporary display. As the airport notes, “days turned into months and then years” Rick Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System says, “It was never planned for the Light Spikes to become a permanent exhibit at the airport, but once they were here it was pretty evident that they fit in pretty well.” But by this winter it was apparent that a facelift was past due, notes the airport system, which also runs the close-in Hobby airport known so well to Southwest flyers.

Fearful flyers have so much more to be afraid of these days in the post 9/11 era. And it starts as soon as they get near the airport, with those nice friendly signs saying ‘Welcome to (fill-in the name of your airport). The security level is (fill-in the blank).’ This level is a sign of how strict the airport security points will be that day. The Homeland Security people like to remind you of the security level with a five-step, colour-coded series of conditions ranging from low (‘keep your shoes on’) to severe (‘take your clothes off, please. Yes, everything.’). Well, now an artist named Chrissy Conant has found a way to help the fearful (and who amongst us isn’t truly fearful?) deal with their security stresses. The New York-based artist has a blanket with all of the levels and conditions, which she says is about “dealing with her ultimate fears and insecurities.”

What better advert for Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class service than the Spice Girls disembarking from their Virgin Los Angeles flight at Heathrow looking like this!

All that in-flight pampering (remember Virgin offers a personal beauty therapist) can certainly pay off as Emma (with ankle strapping), Geri, Mel B and Mel C and Posh Spice can testify.

How much use they made of Virgin’s bar I can’t say, but us mere mortals tend to roll off a 10-hour red eye looking and feeling generally pretty grotty whether or not we’d imbibed with a Bloody Mary or two.

Dave Barger turned in his business class ticket on Aer Lingus last night for a first class ticket on Lufthansa.

The JetBlue chief executive had been scheduled to join Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion in Dublin this morning to announce their long-planned transatlantic tie-up. But, in a last minute schedule change, Barger (pictured above) ended up instead flying to Frankfurt to attend a press conference with Wolfgang Mayruhber, the chief executive of much larger European carrier Lufthansa, to announce that Lufthansa is taking a 19% stake in JetBlue.

Barger’s decision to meet up with Mayruhber instead of Mannion forced Aer Lingus to postpone at the last second its press conference with JetBlue, which was to include a tour on a JetBlue Airbus A320 which JetBlue had specially flown into Dublin for the event.

Ryanair, which is normally the instigator when it comes to taking legal action, is facing a possible legal challenge of its own from the Spanish Women's Institute over the publication of a calendar featuring scantily clad Ryanair flight attendants.

The Women's Institute, a branch of the Spanish labour ministry, says the calendar represents the flight attendants as "sexual objects" and points out that there are no half-naked men featured, despite the fact that a significant number of men work as flight attendants. It is taking legal advice and plans to complain to Irish and EU authorities.

Ryanair has defended the calendar because it is for 'charidee' and says none of the flight attendants were forced to take their clothes off. Well that's a relief! I hope for their sake Ryanair took them somewhere warm to do the poses - imagine how cold it would be posing in a bikini on the tarmac at Dublin Airport! Brrrrr.

On a more serious note and at the risk of being branded a raging feminist - a term which has somehow become an insult, despite the fact that if it wasn't for the feminist movement and women like Emily Pankhurst we'd all be chained to the kitchen sink with no right to vote - I have to say I do find it a bit depressing. Some things just never change.

C'mon Ryanair - next time let's have a bit of equality!

Does it pay to guess? Should you pay to guess? Well, the owner of a new website thinks as much. Taxiway Echo, which just went live, offers predictions of what the next route or routes from a US airport will be. Some predictions are free, while premium members ($45 a year) get even more predictions. Owner Bob Engelhardt says he is about 75% on target, but had a less than bulls-eye accuracy his first day out. Engelhardt, who calls himself “a lifelong aviation enthusiast,” listed five cities as possible new destination from Dallas/Fort worth, but evidently didn’t tell American Eagle about his choices (Akron/Canton, Ohio; Buffalo or White Plains, New York; or Tallahassee or Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla.). Instead Eagle named Grand Junction, Colo., in an announcement made at about the same time that Taxiway Echo went live. Engelhardt says he is right about three-fourths of the times on mainline routes, but less on regional service. A forum lets members discuss the predictions, and Engelhardt will also offer a weekly pod-cast.

We tip our hat today to a federal guy who has been an influential figure in aviation. Jeff Shane isn’t retiring, but is going back to private law practice. While some are sceptical of people who make a career that alternates government service with private business practice, Shane proves that Washington’s much derided ‘revolving door’ is more myth than reality. The undersecretary of transportation for policy since March 2003, Jeff served DoT in earlier administrations, and at one point was at the state department as deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs. He has recently said that he will leave government service sometime in early 2008.

What Chicago Midway lacks in size it makes up for in age and history. The Second City’s smaller airport hit the scene first, on this day in 1927, when O’Hare was still a grove named Orchard Place, as in ORD. That year, 800 arrivals and departures carried mostly airmail and express cargo through what was then Chicago Municipal Field. The airport was renamed in 1949 in honor of the World War II Battle of Midway and in 2002, the name was updated, adding international, to reflect the airport’s cross-border offerings, notes our colleague Megan Kuhn. Today the airport boasts 300 daily flights and is the Windy City’s low-fares alternative to O’Hare, with Southwest, ATA Airlines and AirTran all making Midway their toehold in the City in the Lake.

Midway is rich in history, and was long the city’s main commercial airport. Moviegoers who saw Alfred Hitchock’s 1959 classic 'North by Northwest' may remember Cary Grant, escorted by spymaster Leo G. Carroll, walking out onto the Midway tarmac to catch a Northwest Airlines flight. Some of its history embraces aviation’s sadder side. Back in December 1972, Midway was the site of a United Airlines crash that killed a member of congress and Dorothy Hunt, the wife of later-indicted Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt. Found in the Boeing 737’s wreckage was a purse belonging to Mrs. Hunt containing over $10,500 in cash.

Okay, we was wrong. We said a few weeks back that Delta’s new blog, Under the Wing, was less than thrilling, but the folks down in Atlanta have come up with something that’s not only cute, but is in effect really darling. The Delts have produced a series of videos called planeguage with a sort of Second Life style that use semi-cartoon, semi-drawing characters to give viewers some sense of what basic standards of courtesy are needed for flyers. You woulda thought that by now people would know, but Wing-readers (are they called Winglets? Underlings?) raise such issues as the seat-recline wars – what’s etiquette for breaking someone’s knees? Or overhead wars: should people stand in the aisle and block everyone else while trying to get their carry-on into the overhead bin, or should they put it over row 6 when they’re actually seated in row 27?

AirAsia's prolific publicity machine has been busy taking pictures at the recent Langkawi Airshow in Malaysia, and it is only fair to share them.

The carrier upped its Airbus A320 commitments at the event to a wopping 175 firm orders.

Then AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes got to hang out with the top guns of the UK's Red Arrows display team.

Rural areas, small towns and medium-sized airports have long had a strong say on Capitol Hill. The US system is designed to balance big-city states and populous states with rural areas, and the farm states have always had a stranglehold on the some of the key congressional committees. In the Senate, the aviation subcommittee has long been in control of rural state senators, but that is changing. The surprise retirement of a key Republican, Mississippi’s Trent Lott, will change that. Lott, whose state has only one fair-sized airport, that in Jackson, had chaired the aviation subcommittee until the democratic takeover last year. Then West Virginia’s Jay Rockefeller took over, continuing that sparsely populated state’s tradition of interest in aviation. Now with Lott leaving just in time to avoid new laws that limit paid lobbying by retired senators, the aviation subcommittee has a new Republican senior member and she is, to put it diplomatically, deeply interested in the future of the big hubs at D/FW and Houston as well as airlines named American, Continental and Southwest.

Most traveller surveys gauge things like how big the seat is. So we were a bit befuddled when a survey popped up naming delay-plagued Philadelphia as a great spot for connecting, and also said that Dulles, the international airport near Washington, was a great spot for connecting even though it was designed as an O&D airport and even the hubbing carrier there, United, advises extra time for connections. Then we read closely (the way bloggers are supposed to) and surprise we found that the survey was about ‘making connections’ in the boy/girl (or other combination) sense. The survey came from a company called AXE, which makes a cologne and body spray for men that tries to identify itself with the stubbly, slightly grungy, nearly criminal look that some younger males believe represents their feral best. AXE said Philly, Delay Central’s Newark and some other frankly gosh-awful airports were great places for young men and young women to connect. Philly was great because “thanks to some of the nation’s longest and most frequent flight delays, getting stuck in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ gives you a chance to hang your hat in one of 16 bars and seven lounges…” AXE also likes the airport in Columbus, Ohio, where “the college set can ease the stress of holiday travelling in the airport’s mediation room". These connections, we must presume, are not to discuss Nietzsche or the late Beethoven string quartets, are they?

Not so long ago in London you couldn’t walk to the corner store without hearing someone talk about Heathrow Express. “Fast” blah, “15 minutes to the centre of London” blah, “every 15 minutes” blah, “relaxed” blah. That is true and certainly in the almost 10 years the Heathrow Express has been running, it has been a lifeline for (mainly) business travellers using Heathrow airport.

Ever feel like you’ve been doing your job forever? Well, you’ve probably got nothing on Patti Smart, who has just retired from her job as stewardess for Aloha Airlines after more than 50 years’ service.
Yes, 50 years.
Not surprisingly, things have changed in that time. “You’re supposed to have the same niceness, the same warmth, the same caring,” Smart said. “But it’s faster now.”

US carriers are finally starting to invest in upgrading their premium cabins but it may be too little too late.

I recently flew in American’s new business class seat from London Stansted to New York JFK and back. For my initial experience at Stansted see my last blog.

While it’s a clear improvement over American’s old business class seat it still falls well short of the latest generation of seats now offered by top carriers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.