American Airlines to Offer Flight $99 One-way Fares Between New York and L.A.

American Airlines will offer flights between New York and Los Angeles for $99 each way in January and February as part of a new partnership to bolster tourism in the nation’s two largest cities, officials announced Thursday.

American executives said they hope to lure airline travelers during a period that’s usually slow for the travel industry as part of the airline’s partnership with LA Inc. and NYC & Co., the convention and visitors bureaus for both cities.

About 926,000 New Yorkers visited Los Angeles last year, while 851,000 Angelenos visited the Big Apple last year, according to statistics compiled by LA Inc. and NYC & Co.

NYC & Co. and American Airlines announced similar partnerships with Chicago and Miami.

“This relationship is important for our business, and we are committed to working with local tourism organizations and hope to attract more visitors and commerce to each of these cities,” said Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of American Airlines.

Tickets must be purchased by Saturday and are valid for round-trip flights from Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International, Burbank’s Bob Hope and Orange County’s John Wayne airports to either New York’s John F. Kennedy or LaGuardia airports.

The discounted fares will be in effect Jan. 5 to Feb. 25, except for two blocked-out periods, Jan. 15-17 and Feb. 18-21. Fares are nonrefundable and require a Saturday night stay.

Southern Californians bound for New York will be able to purchase two-for-one tickets to Broadway and off-Broadway plays, while more than 80 hotels are offering discounts of up to 35 percent if rooms are booked by Nov. 2.

“Los Angeles is a key market for New York City,” said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Co.

“Los Angeles and New York City have always shared so many commonalities,” he said. “We look forward to cultivating our partnership in the year ahead.”

In turn, New Yorkers coming to Los Angeles will also be offered discounts to restaurants, hotels and local attractions.

“Across the 3,000 miles that separate us, L.A. offers distinctively different products for New Yorkers to experience and we hope they’ll take advantage of this great deal and visit,” said Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA Inc.

American Airlines and American Express Launched Corporate Platinum Card for Executive Business Travelers

American Express and American Airlines today announced the launch of a new American Express/Business ExtrAA Corporate Platinum Card.

The new card is designed for mid-sized organisations looking to balance the comfort of their executive business travelers and reduce their corporate expenses.

The new Business ExtrAA Corporate Platinum Card includes benefits for companies and executive business travelers who will receive one American Airlines domestic companion ticket per year along with access to the Admirals Club and concierge services.

American Airlines to Launch Daily Flight From New York JFK Airport to Budapest

American Airlines is to launch a daily flight from New York JFK airport to Budapest: the first American Boeing 767-300 intercontinental aircraft is planned to land at Budapest Airport on 4 April 2011. This is part of the global flight development plan, the details of which and of the trans-Atlantic cooperation of American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia Airlines were announced in London.

American Airlines shall connect their hub in New York John F Kennedy airport to the capital of Hungary by a daily flight commencing in April 2011. As member of the One World airline association, American Airlines considers Budapest an important destination in Eastern Europe, as passengers may continue their journeys using the network of Malév, another member of One World, from here to further destinations. Reservations for the Budapest-New York flight may be made from next week on, while Malév is preparing the so-called code-share agreement also for this flight, thus its passengers can use the network of American Airlines directly and at favorable prices.

The new trans-Atlantic flights were announced in London following the decisions of both the American and the European Union competition authorities approving the trans-Atlantic business cooperation of American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. This means a total of 91 flights a day under the flag of One World. This also means that a strong competitor will face the two other major airline associations, Sky Team (Air France/KLM, Delta, Aeroflot, CSA etc.) and Star Alliance (Lufthansa, SAS, Continental, United, Air Canada, Austrian, Swiss etc.) on their trans-Atlantic routes.

The Budapest Airport airline development team has been working hard to add new overseas flights to the routes of the Hungarian capital for more than two years. Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport welcomed the achievement after personally being involved in the negotiations and noted the contributions made to this success by the Hungarian National Tourism Organization and Malév. “The vision of just a few people in the alliance and network planning team at American Airlines lifted the profile of Budapest within their Fort Worth headquarters as being a One World hub with significant growth potential and we are delighted with their confirmation of this big step.”

Director Aviation Kam Jandu who has been working with his colleagues to realize this project since 2009 said, “Adding another long haul carrier is an achievement in itself under the present circumstances of aviation, but more than that, the appearance of a major One World carrier in Budapest further broadens the offer, and sends a strong indication to other airlines on the market that it is worth putting the Hungarian capital on their list of destinations.”

Based on their business data in the first six months of 2010, American Airlines is the fourth largest airline in the world, which, together with its American subsidiary, American Eagle, serves 250 destinations with a huge fleet of 851 aircraft. The base of the company is at Forth Worth, Texas, which is the eighth busiest airport globally (with 56 million passengers in 2009), but it also has important centers at JFK New York, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles and Miami. Besides their inland flights in the US, American Airlines is traditionally very strong in the Caribbean and the Latin-American regions.

American, British and Iberia Promise Better Deals on Trans-Atlantic Flights

A new airline alliance announced better deals on flights between the US and Europe.

Reportedly, more access to cheaper fares, bigger choice of flight times and easier connecting journeys shall become reality for transatlantic fliers with the launch of the new joint business between American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia.

According to media reports, the CEOs of the three oneworld® airlines met in London for the official start of the new trilateral relationship, which enables oneworld to compete far more effectively with other global alliances on routes between Europe and North America.

The new routes: American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia announced four new routes that will start from next April as an early benefit of the new joint business. They are: New York JFK-Budapest and Chicago-Helsinki (operated by American), London Heathrow-San Diego (operated by British Airways) and Madrid-Los Angeles (operated by Iberia).

The participating airlines have also placed code shares on a significant number of additional routes, greatly increasing the number of destination choices available to customers. American will add its code to 322 British Airways and Iberia flights serving 101 destinations, British Airways will add its code to 2063 American and Iberia flights serving 181 destinations and Iberia will add its code to 354 American and British Airways flights serving 96 destinations.

There will be further opportunities to increase code shares in the future. In total, customers will be able to travel more easily on the airlines’ combined route network, which will serve more than 400 destinations in 105 countries with around 5,200 daily departures.

Additional customer benefits include:
- Greater access to a wider choice of fares
- Coordinated schedules on joint routes to provide customers with better flight choice and timings
- Dedicated support teams for customers transferring at five of the airlines’ hubs: New York JFK, London Heathrow, Madrid, Chicago and Miami.
- Online check in and boarding pass printing with either the airline operating the flight, or the one the ticket was booked through
- Integrated online flight information on all three airlines’ websites
- Increased opportunity to earn and redeem frequent flyer benefits on transatlantic flights
- More integrated account management for corporate customers

Gerard Arpey, chairman and chief executive of AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines, emphasized: “We’ve been waiting for 14 years to be able to bring these benefits to our customers and it’s great news that we can now put our plans into action. Our revenue-sharing partnership will further boost one world, in what has been a momentous year for the alliance, and enable us to reduce costs and attract new business. It will provide additional stability for the airlines and our customers, employees and shareholders and allow us to invest in new products and services”.

British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines Sign Agreement

The long-awaited alliance between British Airways, Iberia and America Airlines is finally nearing. The carriers have signed the final agreement to start the venture, according to the British party on Wednesday, and they could start sharing revenue as soon as next week, though a specific date hasn’t been announced.

Under the terms of the deal, a share of the revenue for a booked transatlantic flight will rebound to each of the airlines, despite the fact that only one of them will ultimately operate the service. This co-operation will include all transatlantic services operated by the group of carriers on routes between the US, Mexico and Canada. It will also apply to counties in the European Union, as well as Switzerland and Norway. With their transatlantic businesses combined, the carriers estimate yearly revenues to be worth £4.4 billion.

This deal will help put the Oneworld Alliance, for which the 3 airlines are all part of, on an equal footing with the SkyTeam and Star Alliance groups. Both of these have already been given approval to operate a transatlantic consortium by the US Department of Transport, and they have been doing so for years. These partnerships, however, have been operating without European regulatory approval, as the deals are still be examined.

Oneworld, on the other hand, was given clearance from the Department of Transport in February this year. They have since gained clearance from other European regulators, with Brussels being the final one in July. At the same time, British Airways and Iberia were given approval to created a merged company.

AirTran Airways Adds Nonstop Flight Service From Baltimore to San Juan

AirTran Airways is stepping up its Caribbean service out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, increasing nonstop service to San Juan, Puerto Rico to two daily flights.

AirTran, which agreed this week to be acquired by Southwest Airlines Co., currently offers weekend-only nonstop flights from BWI to San Juan, with one flight on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Effective April 5, AirTran will begin operating a morning flight and an evening flight from BWI to San Juan seven days a week.

American Airlines also currently flies from BWI to San Juan.

AirTran currently offers five flights per week from BWI to Cancun.

The expanded service was announced as part of a broader expansion of AirTran routes between other cities, including Orlando, Tampa, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Akron, Ohio.

Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran is BWI’s second-largest carrier, with 3.3 million passengers last year. Dallas-based Southwest is the largest carrier at BWI, accounting for 10.9 million passengers in 2009, or 52 percent of the airport’s total.

Southwest intends to acquire AirTran for $1.4 billion. Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s top aviation official, said BWI could gain more international flights from the merger.

Delta Airlines Plans Improved Facilities for New York Airports

Largely due to the massive volume of airline passengers in the New York Metropolitan area – a major hub for financial and cultural affairs – New York is now considered to be one of the most important and competitive aviation markets in the world; and Delta wants to be crowned king of the castle.

Currently in competition for number one airline are Delta, American Airlines, Continental, and JetBlue. To get ahead of the competition, Delta is making major changes at two of its New York airports – LaGuardia and John F Kennedy.

At LaGuardia, where Delta is in charge of Terminal D, the airline has announced a major upgrade to its food and dining areas; adding full-service restaurants, wine bars, and designer pizza parlours as well as upscaling its fast food offerings.

At John F Kennedy, Delta plans to vacate its current home in Terminal 3 and head to better, brighter ground. (Terminal 3 is well-known to travellers as an old and dark building that is long past its sell-by date.) Instead, Delta will be housing its International flights in a $0.2 billion US expansion of Terminal 4, with the airline’s domestic flights continuing to run from Terminal 2. As for Terminal 3 – the plans are to demolish the old girl; as Pan Am Worldport she served Kennedy well, but it is time to say goodbye.

The scheduled renovations will begin later this month and are expected to take about two years to complete.

New York has long been a favoured holiday and business destination for UK travellers.

JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines Top Major Airlines in Quality

Large airlines are faring better, but smaller airlines are top performers

Discount carriers JetBlue, Southwest and Frontier – a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings rank among the top airlines in terms of quality and service, despite their small size – showing these medium airlines are proving formidable foes to traditional carriers.

The much larger airlines – American, Delta, United, and US Airways – ranked the lowest in customer satisfaction, in that order. The survey indicates that older airline fleets and legacy employees tended to cause negative consumer perceptions.

That’s according to a new USA Today analysis of Transportation Department consumer complaints, consumer reports of Zagat Survey and J.D. Power and Associates, and the Airline Quality Rating system of professors at Wichita State and Purdue universities. All the reports were mostly consistent in identifying the airlines’ overall performances.

While certainly a blow to the big-name carriers, the news isn’t really that surprising. The traditional airlines have huge overheads, such as high labor costs, larger fleets, more connecting flights and international routes. To maintain or increase profits, the result is passing that bill to their customers, with paying for baggage and better coach seating being the prime examples. Smaller airlines don’t bother, and tout their strength of service and no fees with customers.

That strong consumer satisfaction and loyalty is showing up in the airlines’ profit margin. JetBlue and Southwest – both just a decade old – have posted strong earnings compared to their big-boy competitors, all during the last two years of an economic downturn in which travel was on the decline. JetBlue’s second-quarter profit was $30 million (10 cents a share), compared to $20 million (7 cents a share), in the same period a year ago.

Southwest reported second quarter 2010 net income of $112 million ($.15 per diluted share), compared to net income of $91 million ( $.12 per diluted share) for the second quarter last year. A mainstay at the company since 1986, CEO Gary C. Kelly is a respected leader, named one of the best CEOs in America for 2008 and 2009 by Institutional Investor magazine. Though he’s only been at the position since 2008, he’s carried the company through difficult times. LUV is up +6% since the end of August.

Traditional carriers, however, are recently getting back on their feet. While UAL Corp (UAUA and US Air have seen big gains in share price, the truth is a little more complex. In fact, they’ve only recently returned to profitability. LCC has been down consecutively in its earnings report for years, with its only recent positive EPS +1.34%. UAUA may be up +68% year-to-dates against the Dow and NASDAQ, but its EPS was down the last three quarters as well. It’s up +1.95 in the second quarter of this year.

The United and Continental Airlines $3.2 billion merger set for Sept. 17 could also help JBLU and LUV. If the new airline — to be the largest in the U.S. – shuts down hubs in smaller markets, something analysts expect, closures may help the discount carriers even further.

If consumers remember the discount carriers’ quality service, they’ll return again and again, and keep pushing the stock up. Customer kudos and loyalty is a win for the little guys – even as the big guys prepare to reload.

source : investorplace.com

American Airlines Adds Three Nonstop Flight to Rio de Janeiro

In press release, American Airlines said their has added new schedule of nonstop flights three times a week flight to Brazil. Additional services nonstop flights from Dallas (Fort Worth International Airport) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is a seasonal flight service has been running during the month of April. For summer, the airline resumed service in August. For the year 2011 will resume flight services in November 2011.
The aircraft used for flights is Boeing 767-300 jets with 28 seats in business class and 191 in coach.

Peter Dolara, American’s senior vice president, said “These new flights offer a wonderful opportunity for people from Texas, the Southwest, West Coast and Midwest to fly via our largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Brazil’s most popular cultural and tourism destination, Rio de Janeiro.”

“We believe seasonal service via DFW is a perfect complement to our upcoming new daily flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York that begins Nov. 18 and our existing daily flight from Miami International Airport,” Dolara adds. “We also will begin four days a week nonstop service between Miami and Brasilia starting Nov. 18.”

American Airlines to Challenge Proposed Penalty by FAA

Federal officials have hit American Airlines with a record penalty of $24.2 million over maintenance lapses that caused thousands of canceled flights in 2008.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that American failed to take steps to prevent chafing of electrical wires in the wheel wells of its McDonnell Douglas MD-80-series jets.

The FAA says the wiring could have led to fires and fuel-tank explosions.

American vowed to challenge the proposed penalty. Airlines routinely challenge FAA penalties or negotiate to reduce them.

“These events happened more than two years ago, and we believe this action is unwarranted,” said American spokesman Tim Smith. “We are confident we have a strong case and the facts will bear this out.”

American officials have said the dispute is over a minor matter of leaving too much space between clips that held bundles of wire together. Smith said passenger safety was never threatened.

A large safety penalty would add to American’s financial and image problems. Parent AMR Corp. was the only major U.S. airline company to lose money in the second quarter, and it has lost more than $4 billion since the start of 2008 as it struggled against high fuel costs and a slump in travel.

American is also beset by labor issues, with unions representing mechanics and flight attendants talking about going on strike, and pilots openly criticizing the company.

The new penalty stems from early 2008, when FAA inspectors said they spotted problems with the wiring on two MD-80 planes. The FAA says American failed to correctly fix the problem, and inspectors found improper work on most of the planes they checked during follow-up visits to American maintenance facilities.

The airline ended up grounding its entire fleet of about 300 MD-80s and canceling thousands of flights in April 2008 while mechanics worked on the planes.
The FAA said Thursday that American operated 14,278 passenger flights on 286 planes that didn’t meet the wiring standards.

“We expect operators to perform inspections and conduct regular and required maintenance in order to prevent safety issues,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, whose department includes the FAA. “There can be no compromises when it comes to safety.”

American has since been retiring some of the gas-guzzling MD-80 planes and replacing them with more fuel-efficient ones. The FAA said safety officials had made progress working with American to improve the airline’s “maintenance culture.”

If upheld, the penalty against American would top the previous record of $9.5 million that the FAA levied against Eastern Airlines in 1987 for delaying required maintenance work. Eastern went out of business after paying only about $1 million.

As the FAA was focusing on American in 2008, it also proposed a $10.2 million penalty against Southwest Airlines Co. for operating about 1,400 flights before inspecting the planes for cracks. Southwest negotiated that down to $7.5 million.

The actions against American and Southwest came after whistle-blowers in the FAA and members of Congress criticized the agency for being too cozy with the airlines.

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