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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Aer Lingus To Leave oneworld

Irish carrier Aer Lingus, one of the first members of the alliance oneworld, has announced its desire to pull out of the group, which is headed by British Airways and American Airlines. "Alliance membership has inevitably become less relevant for the airline over time, with an increasing number of customers availing of our new direct services at low fares," Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said.

Why is Aer Lingus leaving? There are a few reasons. The first is that it's getting more expensive to be in an alliance. Malev Hungarian, Royal Jordanian and JAL are all joining oneworld, and it's not cheap to integrate each others' computer systems.


But the more important reason is the fundamental shift in the carrier's strategy. It was still a full-service airline aimed primarily at business travelers when it joined oneworld back in 2000. But times have changed, especially after the events of 9/11, and Aer Lingus became a low-fare airline. Cabin services are now different from most of the other oneworld carriers.

On the operational side, the amount of passengers on Aer Lingus that came from other oneworld airlines has fallen to about 6 per cent.
Aer Lingus has said, however, that the airline would continue to seek ties with some existing partners, but outside of the alliance.

I think this is a good move for Aer Lingus, which has reported profits since 2001, when it came close to filing for bankruptcy. It has certainly learned (and benefited) from the idea that it is good to change when the market dictates change. Aer Lingus changed its business model after 9/11 and has seen positive results. Leaving oneworld, then, seems like a logical further step.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

United To Move World HQ?

United Airlines, according to economic development corporation World Business Chicago, might move its headquarters from Chicago to Denver. UAL is currently based in Elk Grove Village a suburb of Chicago. World Headquarters for United has been in the same location since 1961.

All United would say is that it is seeking to 'consolidate its facilities', as a spokeswoman put it. UAL wouldn't speculate if it would move to Denver or San Francisco, as several news articles have stated it might. If United does leave Chicago, it would most likely leave for Denver - where the airline's CEO said his company's 'second home' is.

Yet another option for the airline is to stay in Chicago. United - which is one of the largest employers in Illinois - might move its facilities to the downtown area. And you can bet that the airline, which in the Chicagoland area calls itself 'Chicago's Hometown Airline', is being persuaded by city and state officials to keep WHQ in Chicago.


Mayor Daley refused to comment until after United made its decision, which is expected by Labor Day. The director of World Business Chicago had this to say:
"I think the mayor, the governor of Illinois and the entire business community of Chicago will weigh in, just to tell (United) how important they are and how much we love them."

But if United does move its headquarters out of the Windy City, they had better be prepared to wait, according to TV personality Conan O'Brien: "United Airlines is considering moving its headquarters from the Chicago area to another city. The good news for Chicago is that United is leaving from O'Hare Airport, so their departure will be delayed six years."

Monday, May 15, 2006

ANA To Start Domestic LCC

Japan's All Nippon Airways' chief executive has told the Financial Times that the airline plans to launch two, separate low-cost international and domestic airlines by 2009. "In 2009 competition will increase and low-cost carriers, particularly from elsewhere in Asia, will start flying into Tokyo," said the CEO. "We have to be well prepared for it." The international routes would be inside Asia.

The possible main reason behind the launch: Tokyo's Haneda Airport will open a new runway in 2009, which is seen as a way to lower high landing fees.

This seems like a good move for ANA, which has picked up business from rival JAL after the latter suffered through a string of safety problems in the past few years. ANA is also facing increased pressure from other Japanese low-cost carriers. No word yet on what the new airline might be named.

Saturday, May 6, 2006

Revenge in Russia

Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot has announced that it will purchase Airbus A350 airliners, when only a few months ago it had said it would purchase Boeing's 787. The reason? The U.S. has opposed Russia's potential membership in the World Trade Organization, and this move by Aeroflot is seen as politically motivated.

In December 2005, according to the newspaper Vedomosti, Aeroflot was considering a purchase of 22 Boeing 787s. But as relations between the U.S. and Russia deteriorate, Aeroflot's switching sides is no surprise. Especially when the fact that the Russian government owns 51% of Aeroflot is revealed.

Airbus wouldn't comment, and Aeroflot wouldn't say much beyond that the contracts haven't been signed yet. "We haven't chosen the planes yet," a spokeswoman for Aeroflot said, but I think that Aeroflot will go ahead with the A350 purchase.


Boeing, which has been trouncing Airbus in the orders area, seemse to be suffering from American diplomacy at the moment. Beside the Aeroflot situation, there's trouble for Boeing in Asia: China Airlines (which is based in Taiwan) might cancel its order for Boeing's new 747-8 after a spat between the Taiwanese and American governments over transit stopovers for the Taiwanese president.


Airbus, on the other hand, is seemingly immune to diplomatic events like these, mostly because it is a multi-national consortium of European manufactures as opposed to Boeing, which is based in the U.S.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

The Frequent-Flyer Program Turns 25

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the start of AAdvantage, the frequent flyer program of American Airlines. Even though it seems like every airline nowadays has a FFP, the idea was a foreign concept twenty-five years or so ago.

On the eve of the deregulation of the industry in 1977, executives at American Airlines knew that there had to be a better way to gain the loyalty of their top customers. United Airlines gave customers a wall plaque on which they could add a star for every hundred thousand miles they flew. Michael Derchin, head of the airline's marketing department, devised a plan. Seemlingly simple enough today, it was a radical idea at the time: the more a passenger flew, the more miles he or she got. It took a few years to get the kinks worked out (and to get adequate computer systems introduced), but on May 1, 1981, the world's first frequent flyer program debuted.


United Airlines rolled out Mileage Plus eleven days later. And the rest is history.

Olympic Airlines To Change Its Name?

Olympic Airlines has been in quite a bit of trouble recently. After the Hellenic government's failed privatization bid back in 2004, when it aimed to privatize the state-owned Greek flag carrier, Olympic finds itself in more troble with the government.

This time, it's over illegal loans. The European Union alleges that hundreds of millions of euros were illegally given to the airline through loans by the Hellenic government.
Kathimerini, a Greek English-language newspaper, reports that the government has submitted a business plan to the EU in which Olympic Airlines would cease to exist but have its network taken over by a new airline, Pantheon Airways. (For an in-depth look at the name, head over to Strategic Name Development's blog.)

But to make things more confusing, Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said in an interview that the Olympic brand name might not be disposed of after all. “It is our objective to keep the name, despite the fact the [would-be new] company is known by the code name Pantheon,” he said.

Monday, May 1, 2006

Swan(Song) For An Airline

First off, I apologize for my absence. I've got lots of catching up to do with this blog. Hopefully the few readers I've got haven't abandoned me yet.

That said, today's big story: the final flight of Song Airlines. Song was the low-cost arm of Delta Air Lines. First flying on April 15, 2003 (mostly to stave off stiff competition from jetBlue at JFK), it tried to emulate jetBlue's model (except with Boeing 757-200s instead of Airbus A320s). For a while, the lime green 757s flew from the hubs at JFK and Orlando. Yet there was a strategy change at Delta (it was no secret that Song didn't live up to the airline's expectations), and in October 2005 Delta announced that it would fold Song back into mainline Delta. That process was completed yesterday, as flight 2056 flew from Las Vegas to Orlando.