Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has said that airlift security strategies, adopted by Jamaica to increase arrivals from existing and emerging markets, are yielding good results.
Speaking at the weekly Post Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday (July 1), Mr. Bartlett said that for the Fall period, Air Jamaica sold some 3,000 seats within the first two weeks of a sales programme which only began on June 16.
He said that this stemmed from a Fall stimulus programme with the national carrier, which will allow for special sales initiatives. He also noted that plans by Air Jamaica to pull out of the Los Angeles gateway, due to a new airlift arrangement, will soon be finalised.
“We are about to conclude an arrangement with US Airways coming out of Phoenix, and that will give us the connections to all the gateways in that western corridor. In addition, JetBlue is to announce shortly, some new routes which will enable us to utilize their network in the west, so as to fully cover the entire West Coast,” Mr. Bartlett said.
Providing more details on the matter, officials from the Ministry said that the arrangement will work by way of revenue guarantees, rather than by letters of credit or cash.
The strategies adopted involve seat support, such as marketing behind the gateways to marketing support within the particular airline and tour operators. The service will operate from 31 gateways in the western section of the United States, as well as some Canadian cities.

Thursday, 02/07/2009 –For all those in the tri-state area looking for a summer holiday to the Caribbean, or for those who simply want to go home for the summer, Air Jamaica, Barbados and STS Vacations have introduced the Bajan Invasion vacation package.
From July 2 to August 30, Air Jamaica will operate two weekly flights between New York and Barbados. Starting at $500 per person (plus tax $82.70), inclusive of hotel and airfare, travelers can enjoy a three-night Barbados escape just in time for the island’s famed Crop Over celebration.
Air Jamaica’s twice weekly flights will depart from John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) each Thursday and Sunday at 12:50 a.m. and arrive in Barbados (BGI) at 5 a.m. The return flight will depart Barbados at 6:30 a.m. and arrive at JFK at 11:30 a.m. Included in the package is a three-night stay at The Rostrevor Hotel, roundtrip airport transfers, and a complimentary Gourmet Card.

July 2, 2009 –Boeing said on Thursday it had 17 cancellations for its commercial aircraft in the last week, including a previously reported cancellation of 15 of its delayed 787s.
The company’s latest weekly update of orders on its website also showed nine new orders for its commercial aircraft.
For the year to date at June 30, Boeing had 85 gross orders and 84 cancellations, for a net total of one plane for 2009.
Boeing also said in a statement on Thursday that it delivered 125 commercial aircraft during the second quarter, bringing total deliveries to 246 for the year to date.
The 2009 second-quarter delivery tally compares with 126 commercial aircraft delivered in the year-earlier second quarter.
Deliveries for commercial planes do not “seem to be anything unusual,” said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities.
“Where I think we really don’t have visibility, which is more of a driving concern for the stock, is what orders are going to be, deliveries potentially in 2011 and beyond.”
Boeing’s shares have retreated since the plane maker announced last week that it would postpone the test flight of its 787, which had been set to take place during the second quarter.
The company cited a structural flaw, but did not give an expected future flight date for the 787, which is already two years late.
Of the 17 plane orders dropped in the latest week, 15 were tied to the previously reported cancellation of 787s from Australia’s Qantas Airways. Qantas cited the flagging economy for its move, not the latest delay.
The company’s shares closed USD$1.40, or 3.3 percent, down at USD$40.83 on the New York Stock Exchange. Boeing shares are down about 4 percent so far this year.

(Reuters)

July 3, 2009 –A US federal appeals court this week affirmed a decision by a lower court to prevent Delta Air Lines from ending a flying agreement with a regional carrier, court documents show.
The court’s preliminary injunction will remain in place while the case proceeds in district court, the regional carrier, Mesa Air Group, said in a statement on Thursday.
In 2008, Delta cancelled its agreement with a Mesa subsidiary saying it had poor completion rates. Mesa contended those cancellations stemmed from Delta’s decision to run Mesa flights out of John F Kennedy Airport and were beyond the airline’s control.
Mesa’s subsidiary, Freedom Airlines, cancelled hundreds of flights after its move to the airport, which is known for congested air traffic.
“The evidence showed that Delta induced Mesa to agree to Delta’s coordinated cancellations by promising not to count such cancellations against it,” the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said in its decision.
“And then, having benefited from Mesa’s willingness to extend Delta this courtesy, attempted to cancel the parties’ contract on the theory that this promise was invalid as a matter of law.”

(Reuters)

Virgin Atlantic is giving its support to the Caribbean which is calling for a review of the decision to increase the United Kingdom’s Air Passenger Duty (APD).

LONDON, England, July 2, 2009 - Virgin Atlantic is giving its support to the Caribbean which is calling for a review of the decision to increase the United Kingdom’s Air Passenger Duty (APD).
Chief executive Steve Ridgway says he’s concerned about the level of tax on flights to the Caribbean and believes that if the new rates are implemented as planned in November the region will see a sharp downturn in travellers who are being forced by government to pay much more to leave the UK.
He said the APD will be highly damaging, not only to airlines and those who directly employ thousands of people in the tourism industry, but also to many countries.
“The Caribbean relies on the jet engine to power its economy and higher APD will only weaken its position. The planned APD hikes must be abandoned and the tax scrapped when the European emissions trading scheme comes into force in three years’ time,” Ridgway suggested.
Caribbean governments and tourism officials have been lobbying against the increases that would place long haul destinations like Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean in one of the highest bands, with economy class passengers facing a tax of £50 (US$82) per ticket as of November 2009, and the amount increasing to £75 ($123) in 2010. The proposed tax for premium economy, business, and first class tickets, will be double that amount.
Ministers and members of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) who met with industry partners in London and also lobbied members of the British Parliament for a review of the classification criteria.
Meantime, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has also called on the UK government to scrap the planned increases. Their interest, however, is ensuring that UK aviation is able to compete on a level playing field.

July 1, 2009 –Air France’s first-quarter sales have fallen sharply, calling into question the airline’s target for a 2009/10 operating loss of EUR129 million euros (USD$181.5 million), French newspaper La Tribune reported.
“The revenue loss will widen in the first quarter of the 2009/10 fiscal year,” La Tribune quoted an Air France-KLM source as saying in an advanced copy of its Thursday edition.
Sales have fallen nearly 20 percent since April as the global financial hit business travel, La Tribune said.
Several sources cited an 18 percent drop in passenger traffic and a 35-38 percent fall in cargo activity in May, adding that June was also “bad” and the level of bookings until September “disappointing,” La Tribune said.
“Air France-KLM’s (quarterly) results will not be finalised before the end of the month so we do not make any comment,” a spokeswoman said. Air France-KLM is due to report first-quarter results on July 30.
Sales at the Franco-Dutch airline fell 12.2 percent in the final quarter of the 2008/09 fiscal year ended March 31.
Citing an internal document, La Tribune said: “We (Air France-KLM) will need to wait until the 2011/12 fiscal year to find profitable growth again.”
Faced with difficult economic conditions, the airline could cut 4,480 jobs by 2011 instead of 2,467 initially expected — a large part of which will be carried out through attrition.

(Reuters)

July 2, 2009 –Despite renewed efforts by New York officials to keep skies around the city’s airports clear of wildlife, a passenger plane was damaged after hitting a bird as it landed this week in what is a growing industry problem.
While the flight landed safely at La Guardia airport on Tuesday, it became one of about 7,000 planes a year in the United States to be involved in a so-called bird strike, of which 14 percent suffer damage, industry data show.
The problem costs the US industry up to USD$650 million a year and the global industry USD$1.2 billion annually, said Michael Begier, national coordinator of the US Department of Agriculture’s Airport Wildlife Hazards Program.
“It’s a problem that has been increasing,” Begier said. “We’re flying a lot, we have quieter planes, and we have a lot more wildlife. We’re all competing for the same airspace.”
Begier did not provide specific figures, but said bird strikes have increased over the past few decades.
A global spotlight was shone on the the battle of birds and humans to share the sky when a US Airways jet struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from La Guardia airport and was forced to make a spectacular landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan.
“I think when people hear the word ‘bird strike’ now they know what it means,” Begier said.
The water landing sparked new efforts to deal with the everyday problem of planes striking birds. Last month, New York began culling 2,000 geese from around the city’s two main airports.
“The incident served as a catalyst to strengthen our efforts in removing geese from, and discouraging them from nesting on, city property near our runways,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said when unveiling the plan.
The measures also include a trial of a bird radar at John F Kennedy Airport.
Since 1912, there have been nearly 500 people killed around the world in plane crashes caused by birds, Begier said.
The birds don’t have to be large to be a threat. Begier said the two worst losses of life were caused by planes hitting flocks of the small European Starling. The crashes in Boston in 1960 and The Netherlands in 1996 killed more than 100 people.
Three quarters of bird strikes occur around airports.
Begier said the best way to address the problem was to make those habitats unappealing to birds, including using loud noises to scare them away on a day to day basis. A “last resort” was to cull wildlife.
“We know we that we can mitigate the problem and we can definitely reduce it at airports,” Begier said. “But there’s always a chance that there could be an incident.”

(Reuters)

July 2, 2009 –British Airways has put in a request for mediation in its dispute with unions over cost-cutting proposals, the Unite union said. It is not clear, however, whether the negotiations over conditions for cabin crew, check-in and ground staff would resume after the Unite union said talks through conciliation service ACAS needed to be agreed by both parties.
“There has been no discussion yet with us about reconvening talks through the conciliation service ACAS,” Unite said in a statement.
The talks between British Airways and unions ended without resolution by BA’s deadline of Tuesday night but Unite said they would restart on Wednesday.
In a separate statement, Unite said it was angry and bemused after BA failed to turn up to talks on Wednesday.
“We will continue to be available to discuss these (proposals) over the coming days and weeks,” it said.
British Airways is urgently seeking to cut costs after reporting a record annual operating loss of GBP220 million pounds and has already asked staff to work for free or take unpaid leave in July.

(Reuters)

Jul 01, 2009 –American Airlines will reduce mainline seating capacity by 7.5 percent in 2009 versus 2008, compared to previous expectations for a 6.5 percent year-over-year decline, Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO, said in a speech at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch 2009 Global Transportation Conference.
These additional cuts represent a decline in mainline capacity for the second half of the year of about 2 percentage points beyond the company’s previous guidance. As a result, in the second half of 2009 AMR expects mainline domestic capacity to decline approximately 7.5 percent and international capacity to decline by 5.5 percent compared to the second half of 2008.
At the same time, the airline continues to execute on its plan to replace its narrow body fleet with Boeing 737-800s, which are 35 percent more fuel efficient per seat than the MD-80s they will replace.
Based on an update to its agreement with Boeing, American now plans to take delivery of eight additional 737s for a total of 84 new aircraft, with a modified delivery schedule that includes 76 737s in 2009 and 2010, including planes it has received, and eight 737s in 2011.
Source: caribbeannewsdigital.com

Jun 30, 2009 –Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will relaunch weekly nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Havana next week. Departures will be from Los Angeles International Airport at Terminal 6. Cuba Travel Services, Inc. had to shut down their nonstop Los Angeles to Havana flights due to the Bush administration’s “foreign policy”.
It has been able to restart the service since the Obama administration reversed the Bush’s policy to allow Cuban Americans to once again visit family annually and without limitations on the definition of who is considered family.
In addition to servicing the Cuban American community on the West Coast under the Office of Foreign Assets and Control and U.S. Treasury guidelines, Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be able to provide a more accessible route and cost-effective travel services to journalists, government officials and researchers that qualify under a general license and sports teams, religious organizations, educational facilities and other organizations or individuals who qualify for and are issued a specific license to travel.