American Airlines Expands Business ExtrAA Program
American Airlines introduced their redesigned Business ExtrAA program today, which allows cargo customers the opportunity to earn travel awards for booking cargo shipments. The redesigned program allows cargo shippers to earn travel awards for all shipment regardless of booking. The prior program allowed shippers to earn points for shipments booked online only.
Via www.aa.com:
“At American Airlines Cargo we are focused on maintaining and rewarding customer loyalty. We believe the enhanced Business ExtrAA program for AA Cargo provides an excellent way to add value and to let our customers know how much we appreciate their business,” said Dave Brooks, President – American Airlines Cargo Division.
Customers can earn 2,000 points for every $40,000 USD in eligible shipping revenue on American Airlines up to an annual maximum of 200,000 points.
Air France to slash jobs
Airline layoffs and restructuring haven’t been unusual events during the recent global economic downturn with Air France being the latest carrier to announce layoffs. Air France said it will eliminate 1,500 jobs and slash capacity by 5 percent in order to bring down costs and match seating to reduced levels of demand.
A majority of the layoffs will come from the airline’s freight division.
With regard to cargo, which has been severely impacted by the steep decline in world trade, a restructuring plan is underway, including a much more significant reduction in capacity (of some 15%), also aimed at improving the load factor.
Source – Air France press release
Delta Airlines is back in the all cargo business…
…thanks to a recently announced joint venture with the Air France KLM group. The terms of the 10 year agreement will allow the carriers to jointly operate their trans-Atlantic business by “coordinating operations and sharing revenues and costs of their trans-Atlantic route network”.
Via Delta.com:
“This strategic partnership puts us in a good position compared with other major alliances, which are extremely active on the world’s leading long-haul market. By integrating our trans-Atlantic operations, we will give our passengers what they desire: more choice, more frequencies, more convenient flight schedules and superior customer service,” said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, president and CEO of Air France KLM. “By optimizing the use of our pooled resources, this joint venture will help us weather the current economic situation and protect our product offering.”
News of the joint venture came just weeks after Delta announced the grounding of the entire Northwest freighter fleet. The new JV will provide Delta with access to the freighter equipment of Air France, KLM and Martinair.
Here are the highlights of the JV from Delta’s official press release:
* More than 200 daily transatlantic flights (100 roundtrips)
* The joint venture represents approximately 25 percent of total trans-Atlantic capacity.
* Over 400 destinations in Europe and in North America
* Annual revenues estimated at more than US$12 billion (approximately 9.3 billion euros, reference year 2008/09).
* Over 100,000 employees at Air France KLM
* 70,000 employees at Delta
* The venture is a long-term, evergreen arrangement that can only be cancelled with a three year notice, after an initial term of 10 years.
Delta Airlines posts loss; plans to ground freighters
Not exactly great news for my favorite airline. Today, Delta reported a $794 million first-quarter net loss, or $0.96 per diluted share. Delta cited slower demand for travel brought on by the current recession as reason for the loss.
“Despite the worst economic recession in our lifetime, the fundamental strength of Delta’s business allowed us to deliver breakeven results this quarter, excluding fuel hedge losses and special items. These results would not be possible without the hard work of all Delta employees – they are running a great airline while executing a seamless integration in the midst of this very difficult economic environment.,” said Richard Anderson, Delta’s chief executive officer. “We remain focused on making disciplined decisions about capacity, costs and capital, achieving merger synergies and finding new sources of revenue.”
On the cargo side of the business, cargo revenue declined 44 percent or $146 million during the first quarter. Again reasons for the decrease were attributed to the current global recession, decline in fuel surcharge revenue, and decreased demand for air cargo services.
As a result, Delta has announced plans to ground it’s entire fleet of 14 B747-200 freighter aircraft effective Dec. 31, 2009 due to that fleet’s age and inefficiency.
Delta also announced plans to reduce international capacity by 10%, compared to the prior year, beginning in September 2009.
