Earnings in the accommodation sector, meanwhile, will begin to recover this year but remain relatively flat. They are forecast to come in at $465-million in 2010 from $470-million in 2009.

Source : financialpost.com

McDonald said Zambezi Airlines would take advantage of the projected shortage of accommodation in South Africa to come up with services that would enable soccer fans to camp in the country and fly back and forth for the 2010 World Cup games.

The observation comes amidst fears that Zambia would not benefit from the biggest soccer event in the world.

“We have so far approached Southern Sun to see how we can work together to come up with packages for those who may decide to camp in Zambia,” McDonald said. “What is going to happen is that many people may not find accommodation in South Africa and will be forced to stay in the neighbouring countries. That means we may have a large number of people coming here. What we will do is come up with a schedule that will enable people fly from Lusaka for the games and come back here after that. We are very excited about that because we know that many people will make Zambia their base.”

He said his airline, which does not service domestic routes currently, would use its larger aircrafts to take the visiting soccer fans to some tourism destinations.

“We are talking about a large number of people so we will have to use our bigger carriers to take people, on the days that there will be no games, to places like Livingstone to view our tourist attractions,” he said.

McDonald said Zambezi Airline was talking to Proflight, a domestic airline, to plan on how the two could work together in transporting the tourists to destinations in various parts of the country.

And Kenya Airways country manager Rose Kiseli said the Nairobi-based airline had written to the FIFA for legal approval for promotions for soccer fans who would be visiting South Africa for the World Cup.

Kiseli said it was an exciting time for airlines on the continent as they stood to benefit from the World Cup.

“What makes us very proud is the fact that as African airlines, we shall be carrying five of the continent’s teams to the World Cup,” she said. “All African airlines will definitely see an increase in passengers going in and out of South Africa and countries where some teams may camp in.”

She said Kenya Airways would work with Zambezi Airlines to connect the expected increase of tourists to different destinations in the country.

She also said Kenya Airways would assist local airlines in improving standards as a way of assisting the country to have the ban to land in the Eurozone lifted.

Kiseli said challenges facing the airline industry were immense and the aviation industry must continuously seek solutions and strategic alliances that focused on forging new avenue streams.

“We have seen how the industry has streamlined operations in order to control costs but also to be more efficient,” she said. “The possibility to cooperate with Zambezi Airlines for Kenya Airways means more opportunities to provide seamless and extensive connecting product for our markets, which is in line with our route expansion and effective service delivery strategy.”

She said the partnership with Zambezi airlines meant that the latter could fully exploit the potential known to all of Zambia’s geographical location as a regional hub.

“Partnerships that foster the development of the aviation sector in Africa must be focused on delivering opportunities for growth and value to local airlines,” said Kiseli. “Access to robust route network will cushion low seasons as well as create avenues for in bound and out bound economic movement for Zambia…Consolidation will strengthen the industry.

The round of consolidation experienced in the last few years has been a step in the right direction. Strategic alliances aimed at mitigating the many challenges that the industry faces will be critical in building on the successes we all worked tirelessly for.”

The carrier said on Tuesday that January passenger revenue for each mile it flew rose 10.5 percent. That gain is three times bigger than the airline industry as a whole.

Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells says revenue from corporate travelers rose 13 percent in February. And sales of premium seats on international flights jumped 25 percent that month.

Still, Mikells says it may take another year for demand to return to pre-recession levels.

Shares of United parent UAL Corp. rose $1.36, or 7.8 percent, to $18.88 in morning trading.

source : AP

“New Delhi and Mumbai sectors will be serviced by Air Asia X, low cost long haul carrier via new Airbus A330, while Amritsar and Kolkata will be serviced by AirAsia, low cost short haul airline by Airbus A320 aircrafts,” Kathleen Tan, head, (regional head – commercial), AirAsia, told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Earlier in January, the airline launched six direct flights to key metro cities including Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur and from Penang to Chennai. At present, AirAsia operates 148 flights per week from India and after commencement of four flights to Bangkok, the number of flights operated out of India would be 156 flights per week.

AirAsia, which is following the model followed by Jetstar Airways, Ryan Air, Tiger Airways and Southwest airlines, to charge extra for baggage, is also looking to generate revenue from charging extra for food, assigned seating, hotel bookings and car booking from passengers. “We will be giving between 30-50 per cent discount to passenger booking ticket on our airline,” Tan said.

The baggage charges on an AirAsia X flight ranges from Rs 450 to Rs 1,800 for 15 kg to 30 kg, which can be paid by the passenger while booking the ticket on the airline. For AirAsia flight, the charges range from Rs 290 to Rs 724 for baggage weighing 15 kg to 30 kg.

She further said that the airline would be offering direct debit facility to Indian passengers booking through ICICI Bank and State Bank of India debit cards from next month. “We will also accept bookings done by Indian passengers using Mastercard, Visa card and American Express cards shortly,” Tan added.

The airline is also mulling to set up company-owned direct channel for marketing and sales in India. AirAsia, which operates flights with average of 70 per cent to 75 per cent load factor on all Indian routes is expecting more than 80 per cent occupancy on the back of attractive pricing, as compared to full service carrier operating out of the country. It will be offering fares starting at Rs 4500 one-way from Mumbai to Bangkok.

The revision in the agency’s annual forecast follows an “unprecedented” drop in operations last year, when take-offs and landings fell 10.4 percent, said Nan Shellabarger, the agency’s director of aviation policy and plans.

“We’re faced with an economic scenario we haven’t seen in my time in the forecasting business,” Shellabarger told reporters in a briefing in Washington. “There is no rapid recovery in demand predicted.”

The revision marks the third consecutive year the FAA has pushed back the expected date for 1 billion passengers, a milepost that compares with 704 million for the fiscal year that ended in September and the lowest in five years.

The global airline industry will take at least three years to recover from a travel slump, the International Air Transport Association said last month.

Airlines are in a “tenuous recovery” and may earn a profit this year as revenue improves and business-travel picks up, US Airways Group Inc. President Scott Kirby said today at an FAA conference.

U.S. airlines lost $60 billion from 2001 to 2009, according to the Air Transport Association, a trade group for U.S. carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc., AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co.

The FAA conducts the annual forecast to help plan its long- term needs for staffing and equipment.

‘Sluggish’ Spending

Consumer spending and economic growth will be “sluggish,” with gross domestic product rising 1.5 percent in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the FAA said. The agency projected 2.4 percent GDP growth in the 2010 forecast issued last year.

The agency also forecast today that unemployment will remain high and oil prices will exceed 2009 levels in the near term.

Even with those pressures, the industry is “poised in a way it hasn’t been for a very long time” said Gary Chase, an analyst with Barclays Capital in New York.

U.S. carriers have slashed costs by parking 500 planes and eliminating more than 30,000 jobs over the past two years. The group should return to profitability as the business cycle improves, Chase said.

‘Competitive Dynamics’

More consolidation is needed, though it is hard to predict when that will occur, said Kirby of US Airways.

Continental Airlines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek said today at a separate JP Morgan conference in New York that he is watching “competitive dynamics” in the industry and would consider merging with another carrier if “it’s in our bests interests to bulk up defensively.”

Continental and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines called off merger plans in April 2008, which Smisek said was the right move at the time. It would be “premature” to make a decision on consolidation right now, Smisek said today.

Take-offs and landings will fall 2.7 percent in the current fiscal year, the FAA projects. Domestic enplanements, or the number of passengers on planes, will rise 0.4 percent this year and 2.5 percent annually during the 20-year period, the agency said.

International enplanements will increase 0.9 percent this year and will reach an average of 4.1 percent for the remainder of the forecast period, the FAA said.

The FAA has pushed back its forecast for reaching 1 billion passengers several times in the past decade.

In 2001, six months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the FAA said the country would surpass 1 billion passengers by this year. In 2002, the FAA slid the projection to 2013. In 2008, the agency moved it to 2016 from 2015. Last year, the FAA moved the milepost to 2021 from 2016.

1. Hawaiian Airlines, 86.7 percent
2. Alaska Airlines, 85.8
3. United Airlines, 83.7
4. Frontier Airlines, 83.2
5. Continental Airlines, 82.3
6. Delta Air Lines, 81.4

7. Southwest Airlines, 80.1
8. Mesa, 80.0
9. American Airlines, 79.8
10. AirTran Airways, 79.5
11. US Airways, 79.4

Industry average, 78.7

12. Atlantic Southeast, 78.3
13. ExpressJet, 76.0
14. SkyWest, 74.6
15. JetBlue Airways, 74.5
16. Comair, 73.0
18. Pinnacle, 73.0
19. American Eagle, 72.8

Southwest’s estimate on Friday came after two other airlines said earlier this week that the poor weather cost them about $55 million in lost revenue.

Continental Airlines Inc. estimated the storms cost it $25 million after it closed operations at its Newark, N.J., hub.

US Airways Group Inc. pegged its storm loss at $30 million. It was vulnerable because it has more flights along the East Coast than any other airline.

The storms caused airlines to cancel thousands of flights and to delay many others. Flight-tracking firm FlightStats.com tallied 7,400 canceled flights at the seven largest airports affected by the weather.

The Apple app store is filled with applications that allow travelers to access flight information, including the ability to check flight status.

Southwest Airlines also offers an iPhone app which provides some of the same functionality of the Alaska/Horizon app, though the Southwest version notifies customers when a fare alert is available on a selected route.

US Airways had the widest traffic decline at 4.7 percent, and said the storms reduced its revenue by about $30 million last month. UAL Corp.’s United Airlines said yesterday its traffic slid 0.5 percent in that time, and that the storms lowered revenue by $40 million.

US Airways, Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines Inc. and other big carriers scrubbed a total of at least 20,000 flights in February because of storms, according to figures provided by the airlines. Those cancellations will cost the group at least $100 million in lost revenue, estimates Helane Becker, an analyst at Jesup & Lamont in New York.

“That won’t derail the recovery at all,” Becker said. “The underlying business was still fairly strong for February.” Traffic for the group rose in January for the first time since May 2008 in a sign travel demand is starting to grow.

Continental said its revenue for each passenger flown a mile increased 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent last month, exceeding the 4 percent to 5 percent projection of Michael Linenberg, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York. Scrubbing flights and booking passengers on other planes resulted in a 1 percentage point gain in unit revenue for the month, Continental said.

Airlines canceled about 6,000 flights on Feb. 10, representing 12 percent of all scheduled trips in the U.S. that day, as the Washington area received more than 10 inches of snow that forced both Dulles and Reagan National airports to close. Thousands more were canceled in the days before and after.

The group scrubbed at least 5,000 flights in early February during separate storms in Chicago and Washington, and other bad weather in the Southeast at the end of the month forced airlines to cancel at least 1,500 flights.

The following table shows the largest U.S. airlines, ranked by traffic, and their February gain or decline in miles flown by paying passengers on main jet operations compared with a year earlier. The figures are from the carriers’ reports.

Source : businessweek.com

Southwest will offer five daily flights, expanding its current service from Logan to Baltimore and Chicago’s Midway Airport.

Airline spokesman Brad Hawkins says Southwest is aggressively courting business fliers currently using US Airways, which has a hub in Philadelphia. Some passengers currently pay walkup fares exceeding $1,000.

Southwest is working with the Massachusetts Port Authority to add a third gate at Logan’s Terminal E to support the new service this summer.