Pity poor San Diego. It's losing six daily flights by Southwest, its largest carrier with a 35% market share, it's losing one of its two flights to the Hawaiian Islands, and now it's lost its only link to Europe with the collapse of Zoom Airlines. Zoom linked the city on the ocean with London's Gatwick, and was San Diego's hopes for a replacement of British Airways - which stopped flying the route several years ago. The sudden collapse of Zoom came just days after San Diego, the busiest single- runway airport in the states, celebrated its eightieth anniversary. A statement on Zoom's website blamed high fuel prices. Zoom had announced the twice weekly service to Gatwick just last December.
]]> Zoom only had three planes, but it also leaves plenty of Canada stranded. It's interesting that Zoom is the first long-haul, low-fare venture to fail since Oasis died in April, but it's the third
transatlantic speciality carrier to go under since December. It also served Fort Lauderdale, and had served New York until recently.]]>
Yes, but do they have those Gotham buskers? We ask because a neat new website dubbed metrotwin has emerged, a site that's about both London and New York, and a site that's from the airline that says it carries more travellers between the two metropoli than any other. But British Airways is so far relatively subtle about its sponsorship. BA's digital marketing manager, Chris Davies, says that it will rely on user-generated content for the unique element of the site: "it twins recommendations in each city, which users recommend. So if you are looking for the Selfridges of New York, or NYC version of your favourite Sushi restaurant in London, you'll find it on metrotwin.com."]]>
Davies adds in an interview with e-consultancy that "the site is not about driving traffic to ba.com as a primary objective." We hear that the entries will be rated by the users, and that entries will be down to the neighborhood level. But ya sort kinda have to wonder if people don't fly between the two cities to find what's unique, not what's similar.
Southwest has finally published its winter schedules, starting January 11, and it's taking about 6% out of the system - the airline's deepest cuts in a long time, although company spokespersons are saying that the carrier may add some of the flights back in March. Southwest had for a long time aimed at growth in the 8-10% annual range, but it has slowed that rate to just 4% in 2008 and may be flat for all of 2009. In all, the airline's new schedule will eliminate 196 flights system wide and add six. That's still a softer swipe than other carriers are taking to their schedules, such as United's 16% cut or American's 12%, and if you look very very closely, you really can't find a pattern to the trims except that some very early and very late flights will end, according to scheduling manager Bill Owen. 
Why now? Out in California, where so many interesting things come from, a group calling itself theairlineoilspin.com has set itself up, "to encourage the public to see through the industry's spin on the issue." The airlines, they say, "have failed to prepare for rising oil prices by continuing to fly older, less fuel-efficient planes unlike many of their competitors in other parts of the world. And even though the airlines promoted multiple pieces of legislation that would place limits on some types of oil speculation, many of the bills supported by the industry include loopholes that allow the airlines themselves to continue speculating. At the same time, the industry has benefited from more than $8.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies since 2001." Some indictment. But....]]>
So who are these guys, we wonder? Well, they answer the phone SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and say they are part of a coalition that calls itself the Reaching Higher Coalition. This (Reaching Higher) coalition recently issued a report denouncing subsidies paid to airlines and calling for higher living standards for their employees. And they are enlisting Kate Hanni's Coalition for an Airline Passenger Bill Of Rights, says (oil spin) coalition spokeswoman Lily Wang. They seem to have designed their site to counter the airline-inspired StopOilSpeculationNow, and the airlines' spokesman, Dave Castelveter, countered their arguments. The role of speculators in driving up the price of oil is fairly well agreed upon, he says, and more importantly, though, he says, "The carriers do have hedge positions, both short- and long-term. Some of the hedge positions that were in place post 9/11 were unwrapped through the bankruptcy court process. Given the recent drop of fuel prices, it is clear that the hedge option can have as many liabilities attached as benefits." ]]>
Where angels fear to tread....Skybus 
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United Airlines plans another first: the first airline to start charging for food on international flights. In an internal memorandum, the airline says that it will expand its BOB (Buy on Board) program to international flights out of its main East Coast hub, Washington Dulles (except for Kuwait). in United Economy, offering fresh and nonperishable items. This change comes the same time that United will begin charging for food in its domestic business class, raising prices, ending some of the food service in its premium transcontinental product, p.s., while also cutting flight attendant staffing to FAA minimums. The changes start in September and continue in October. ]]>
forums are full of chatter, and our friend Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research says, "There's just something schizophrenic about united management. You just don't alienate your premium customers this way, and I've already head from some of the corporate accounts, who are complaining." ]]>
