Airline News - North America

Airguide Online, July 14, 2008

7/14/2008

Airlines have asked their customers to lobby Congress on legislation that would more tightly regulate speculative futures trading, which carriers as well as some energy experts blame for higher oil prices and recent price spikes. Crude prices topped USD$145 a barrel on Friday. James May, chief executive of industry trade group, the Air Transport Association, led a number of travel industry executives on Friday in a formal plea to lawmakers to enact energy trading legislation before the August congressional recess. May estimated that a USD$30 per barrel reduction in oil prices could be enough to stabilize an industry that is bleeding cash. But he said re-establishing lost jobs and services would require a steeper price decline. 7/12/2008

Air Canada

Terrorists plotted to blow up Canada-bound passenger planes over the mid-Atlantic in 2006, according to allegations that surfaced in a British courtroom Wednesday at the start of what police are calling the world's biggest terrorism trial. Two Air Canada flights - one bound for Montreal and the other destined for Toronto - were allegedly among the targets of the Britain-based cell, whose members said in recorded videos they were angry about the "war against Muslims" in Afghanistan and Iraq. London police said the terrorists intended "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," but counter-terrorism investigators were tipped off by informants and installed surveillance cameras in the suspected bomb factory before moving in to make arrests on Aug. 9, 2006. 7/14/2008

Alaska Airlines, Frontier Alaska

Alaska Airlines announced a partnership with Frontier Alaska under which customers of the commuter airline will have access to Alaska's loyalty program and the option to book through travel to certain markets from this fall. 7/7/2008

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines plans to discontinue SkyWest Airlines flights between Yakima and Salt Lake City, effective Aug. 31. The airline cited rising fuel prices as the reason behind reducing select flights. SkyWest is a Delta Connection partner. Delta has served the Yakima market from Salt Lake City through SkyWest since June 2007. The airline has operated two daily round-trip flights between Yakima and Salt Lake City. SkyWest currently employs 14 people at the airport. The company said in a statement Tuesday that those employees will be offered opportunities to transfer to other positions. 7/17/2008

Delta Air Lines

Delta.com, as a full-service travel gateway, offering travelers the opportunity to choose from thousands of trip amenity options, allows Delta to better serve its customers while benefiting from ancillary revenue. Each iSeatz-powered solution is comprised of a flexible booking engine and extensive network of sourced suppliers that it individually designs and deploys for each of its clients. By partnering with iSeatz, leading companies can leverage its network of Marketing Partners, which provides immediate access to more than 60,000 hotel properties, all of the major car rental agencies and more than 600 destination services products, as well as iSeatz' proprietary inventory. For more information, visit www.delta.com or www.iSeatz.com. 7/17/2008

United Airlines

United Airlines has postponed opening a route to Russia from the United States by six months due to high jet fuel prices, a source with the Russian Civil Aviation Agency said on Monday. Market prices for jet fuel have soared this year alongside crude oil, which, industry experts say, will make carriers cut jobs, sell part of their fleet or go bankrupt. In Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of crude oil, jet kerosene prices in some airports have exceeded those in Europe, prompting the anti-monopoly service to launch an investigation into the local aviation fuel market. United Airlines initially planned to launch flights to Russia from the US at the end of October. The source said America's second-largest airline now plans to start flying next March. It will join the other three airlines now operating direct regular flights between Russia and the United States - Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot. 7/8/2008

US Airways

On a recent US Airways flight from New York to Jamaica, coach passengers nursing their drinks were greeted with ads on their tray tables promoting General Motors' OnStar navigation system. Later, a flight attendant strolled up and down the aisles offering applications for US Airways-branded Bank of America credit cards. An announcement was made over the public-address system notifying passengers of the 500 extra bonus miles they'd get by signing up onboard. Reported by The Seattle Times. 7/14/2008

US Airways

US Airways Group will drop flights to four cities in Oklahoma, Oregon and Florida. Service will end Sept. 3 to Oklahoma City; Medford, Ore.; and Panama City, Fla.; and service to Eugene, Ore., will end Oct. 1, spokesman Philip Gee said Friday. 7/13/2008

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