Sky Talk

Here comes Delta

After wallowing in the financial dumps for many years, Delta Air Lines has re-emerged from bankruptcy and is now shooting for the top spot in a bunch of different categories, including on-time performance, debt-load, etc.

Jim Whitehurst, the chief operating officer for the Atlanta-based airline, was in town today talking with Delta's roughly 900 employees working here. He tries to swing by here once a quarter. He mentioned in an interview with the Star-Telegram how Delta has "by far the best on-time performance" compared other other network carriers, and is not far behind in the category of revenue per available seat mile.

But when it comes to customer satisfaction, it depends on who you ask.

The University of Michigan said in a recent survey that Delta was next to last in on-time performance, but here's what Whitehurst says about that:

We’re all scratching our heads. They're not being very forthcoming with the methodology. It was, I think, 250 interviews total. We do thousands every month. If you look at a more scientific-focused survey like J.D. Power, we were second to Continental by 2 points and a big gap down to number 3. We’ll see J.D. Power come out again in a couple of weeks. And we certainly expect to be at or near the top in that as well. So, the more focused airline surveys we actually do very very well on.

Here's one other little tid-bit from Whitehurst, if you're interested in the in-flight entertainment options available. Delta already has 48 aircraft flying now with those in-seat video monitors that allow travelers to watch video on demand, live TV shows and trivia games against other passengers in the cabin. Starting this fall, the airline plans to put the monitors in another 50 airplanes and will offer the service for all flights that are at least three or three and a half hours long.

-David

Sabre upselling hotel rooms

Sabre Travel Network said today that it's helping travel agents make more money off commissions by upselling hotel rooms -- getting travelers to pay for a little better room than they were planning.

The Southlake-based company is one of the world's largest dat abases of airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and cruise packages used by travel agents. A relatively new tool in Sabre's database that's helpful to travel agents is called Hotel UpSell.

Sabre says Hotel UpSell is helping agents boost their commission revenue by more than 12 percent. So far, there are about 5,000 hotels loaded into the UpSell system. That's up from 1,700 hotels at the end of 2006. Sabre hopes to have 6,500 hotels by the end of this year.

-David

Kids, go to your hotel room

Well, you knew it had to come to this. As much as we pamper our kids -- many with their own cell phones, computer and cable TV -- now junior can have his own specially decorated hotel room at 10 different Omni Hotels around Texas.

You can read more about it here.

But if you can't afford the sticker price (anywhere from $249 to $339 a night) for the kids suite, just remember your kiddo gets pampered at Omni regardless. In addition to the free backpack (made out of cardboard) that comes with a bunch of small toys, every kid staying in the hotel also gets free milk and cookies when the maid comes in to turn down the bed in the early evening.

But don't worry about the milk being safe, one Omni official said.

They deliver the milk in a plastic carton and serve it on ice, said Caryn Kboudi, a hotel spokeswoman.

What else will they think of?

--David

Travel demand still strong worldwide

Amid all the recent hand-wringing over softening demand for domestic travel, the International Air Transport Association points out that worldwide, demand for travel was up nearly 7 percent during the first four months of the year.

Cargo demand, meanwhile, was sluggish, with about 3 percent growth. According to Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO:

While we saw slight changes in April, the story for the first four months of the year is stability. For passenger traffic, demand is better than expected, supported by a relatively strong global economy. Freight demand is showing much more price sensitivity than previously. The cargo business is still growing, but competition with other modes of transport is severe. And sea shipping is taking a greater proportion of the benefits from the economic boom.

- Trebor

More AAirplane rumors

Rumors have been flying around aviation circles for months that American is going to place a big jet order this year that includes the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Here's the latest one. I'd take all of these unconfirmed reports with a healthy dose of skepticism until there's an official announcement - American keeps their aircraft plans very close to the vest.

That said, Gerard Arpey is clearly focused on the fleet - he moved up an order for 47 Boeing 737s to replace American's aging MD-80s, and the airline has a very flexible contract with Boeing that would allow it to acquire new planes on short notice.

- Trebor

Questioning Southwest's business model

Bob McAdoo, an airline analyst with Prudential Equity Group, dinged Southwest Airlines yesterday, suggesting that the carrier's business model just isn't working. The airline's shares are unchanged right now, however, suggesting that Wall Street isn't as worried as some analysts.
- Trebor

Just in time for the UFO convention

American Eagle is launching the first jet service to Roswell, N.M., since 1970 with nonstop flights from D/FW scheduled to begin Sept. 5. The airline will fly two daily trips between the two cities on 50-seat ERJ-145 aircraft.

Those Eagle pilots may want to keep their eyes peeled - who knows what they might see as they approach Roswell International Air Center?

- Trebor

American versus Northwest

It looks like American will be taking on Northwest this fall in the New York-to-Minneapolis market, and is also taking a poke at the rival carrier in Chicago.

American announced that it will launch new nonstop service from LaGuardia Airport to Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport on Sept. 5. Northwest dominates that market, and is currently listing seven nonstop flights on its schedule. American is also beefing up its service between John F. Kennedy Airport and Minneapolis, and is adding Minneapolis flights from Chicago O'Hare Airport.

Northwest is based in the Minneapolis area, and operates a major hub at the airport there. The stepped-up competition is coming just as Northwest prepares to exit bankruptcy protection with lower costs and a slimmed-down operation.

American has been working to boost its New York presence for some time now, with schedule enhancements at all three of the city's airports, as well as more advertising in the Big Apple.

- Trebor

One more downtown Fort Worth hotel

You can now expect the long-talked-about Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel & Spa to re-open around the end of this year. The New York-based hotel chain said this morning that construction will start next month. It also gave a few more details on the bells and whistles inside. The twin-tower hotel, which is owned by Presidio Hotel Group, is remodeling all 430 guest rooms. Each will have a 32-inch flat panel HD television and high-speed wireless Internet access. There will also be two restaurants, an 8,000-square foot luxury spa and an athletic center featuring a yoga room, Pilates studio and five treatment rooms. It's all part of a $46 million renovation that will receive a $21.5 million tax break from the city over the next 20 years.

Read about all the changes here.

The hotel is just the latest to be remodeled or built new in downtown Fort Worth over the past couple years. An Embassy Suites and a Hilton recently completed heavy renovations and an Omni is being built next to the convention center.

--David

The hunt continues

AirTran continues its pursuit of Midwest Airlines, a Milwaukee-based carrier that has a small presence at D/FW (and is best known for serving hot, fresh-baked cookies during flights). AirTran, which also services D/FW, has been trying for months to buy Midwest, but that airline's management and board has resisted.

Now, AirTran is hoping to stack the deck a little more in its favor. The carrier is attempted to get three pro-AirTran directors elected to Midwest's board. According to this story in the Business Journal of Milwaukee:

AirTran president and chief operating officer Robert Fornaro said he's confident that if AirTran gets its three candidates elected to Midwest's board, the new board members would be able to sway the opinions of some of the remaining directors in favor of AirTran's offer.

"If there are some truly objective board members, perhaps they'll consider the offer," he said. "The board won't be as cozy as it is now."

Otherwise, AirTran could hold out for another year and run a slate of three additional directors to challenge sitting Midwest board members whose terms are set to expire at the 2008 annual shareholders meeting.

What does it mean locally? Some analysts have suggested the buyout could mean more low fares at D/FW, because it would add service to a new AirTran hub in Milwaukee. So it's worth watching to see what happens in this fight.

Midwest's response to AirTran's takeover bid can be found at the aptly named site  www.savethecookie.com/.

- Trebor