Virgin America Named Official Domestic Airline of SF Pride Parade's ... - MarketWatch (press release)

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Virgin America, San Francisco's hometown airline, today announces its partnership with SF Pride, the nation's largest LGBT event, for the fifth year in a row. As the "Official Domestic Airline of SF Pride," Virgin America will once again partner with the local LGBT Pride Celebration Committee for the world-famous, one-of-a-kind SF Pride Parade and Celebration - complete with a contingent of hundreds of Virgin America teammates celebrating the long tradition of inclusiveness in San Francisco on the airline's "The World is Your Runway" themed float. In addition, Singer and San Francisco native Aubrey O'Day - formerly of Danity Kane and most recently, Celebrity Apprentice, will take to the 'runway' to help Virgin America teammates celebrate atop the airline's float in the annual parade. The float will also include a live DJ with music spun by local San Francisco DJ, Fifty Pound Note.

SF Pride Parade-goers will also be able to join in the fun by striking a pose in a Virgin America aircraft window cut-out for snapshots that will be featured on Virgin America's SF Pride photo album on Facebook. The airline is also inviting its followers around the country to tweet the airline a photo of their interpretation of Virgin America's "The World is Your Runway" theme using the hashtag #VXPride.

"We've worked with SF Pride ever since our launch and this event is always one of the most popular with our teammates," said Luanne Calvert, Vice President of Marketing at Virgin America. "As San Francisco's hometown airline, we couldn't be more proud to continue to be part of the incredible tradition and celebration that is SF Pride."

As the Official Domestic Airline of SF Pride, Virgin America has welcomed onboard those traveling to San Francisco from all over the country to take part in the festivities. Virgin America offers hip moodlit cabins and touch-screen personal entertainment systems (with 700 hours of entertainment content, on-demand food and beverage ordering, shopping and more). With WiFi on every flight, parade-goers can update their Facebook status or tweet about their journey on Virgin America - and even chat up fellow Pride-Paraders on their flight at 35,000 feet, via the airline's seat-to-seat chat system .

"SF Pride is the celebration of the best that is within us - the diversity and depth of the LGBT community," said Brendan Behan, Executive Director of the LGBT Pride Celebration Committee "We are excited to welcome back Virgin America as our official domestic airline sponsor. Virgin America's commitment to make flying good again goes hand in hand with their partnership with the world-class event that is San Francisco Pride."

This year marks the 42nd Anniversary of SF Pride, which will be held this weekend.

Since its launch in August 2007, Virgin America has created 2600 new jobs and grown to serve multiple destinations across North America. The airline has a fleet of 52 A320 Family Airbus aircraft - with 60 additional aircraft slated for delivery from 2013-2019. Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. (Dulles), Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Cabos, Cancun, Chicago, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, Portland and Washington Reagan National (as of August 14, 2012). Known for friendly service, beautifully designed cabins and inventive amenities, like touch-screen entertainment at every seat, Virgin America has swept the major reader-based travel awards since its launch, including "Best Domestic Airline" in Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards.

About Virgin America: Headquartered in California, Virgin America offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel. Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 'Readers' Choice' Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 'World's Best' Awards. The airline's base of operations is SFO's sleek and sustainable Terminal 2. The airline's new aircraft offer interactive in-flight entertainment systems and power outlets near every seat. Virgin America was the first airline to offer Gogo(TM) InFlight Internet on every flight and hosts the largest in-flight entertainment library in the U.S. skies, via the touch-screen Red(TM) platform. For more, visit: www.virginamerica.com

SOURCE Virgin America

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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IATA Reports September 2011 Airline Traffic

IATA member traffic results for September 2011 show diverging trends for cargo and passenger traffic.

Passenger traffic was 5.6% higher than the same month last year and stronger than the 4.6% year-on-year growth recorded in August. Air freight on the other hand posted a 2.7% contraction for September compared to September 2010. This is a further deterioration from the 2.4% decline recorded in August.

Tony Tyler, IATA?s Director General and CEO, said, ?September?s strength in passenger demand was a pleasant surprise. Freight demand contracted for a fifth consecutive month and this trend is in line with falling business and consumer confidence. We are still expecting a general weakening in passenger traffic as we head towards the year-end.?

International Passenger Markets

International air travel volumes rebounded to levels reached in July, following a dip in August. The sharp decline in business confidence in most economies, and the weakness in US and European consumer confidence, suggest reluctance for both business and leisure travel. Continuing strong air travel markets may reflect the robust conditions in emerging markets and travel booked earlier in the year when there was more economic optimism.

Passenger load factors stood at 79.5% in September, slightly below the 80.1% recorded for the same month last year. Highest load factors were recorded in North America (82.6%) and Europe (82.4%). The load factor for Asia Pacific airlines slipped to 76% as the region absorbs the largest number of new aircraft deliveries.

Latin America carriers reported the largest increase in demand at 10.6% (up from a 6.4% increase in August), supported by robust economic conditions.

European carriers saw a 9.2% increase, slightly behind the 9.5% increase in capacity. This comes despite the continuing Eurozone crisis. The weak Euro is enhancing Europe?s attractiveness to tourists and creating export opportunities for business.

Traffic carried by Middle East carriers rose by 9.1%, ahead of a capacity increase of 8.5%--a step change from the 15% capacity increases seen in recent years.

 Asia Pacific carriers saw a 4.3% increase in demand, well below the 6.3% increase in capacity. Despite strong domestic growth in India and China, growth rates for international markets slowed.

North American carriers recorded a 1.2% increase in demand, the weakest among the regions. It lagged behind a 2.9% increase in capacity.

African carriers experienced a 5% increase in demand, closely matching the 5.2% increase in capacity.

Domestic Passenger Markets

 Domestic markets rose strongly in September at 3.8% (up from 2.2% in August). This was also significantly stronger than the 2.8% increase in domestic capacity.

India led the way with 18.4% growth, although slightly below the 20.1% increase in capacity. This was followed by China at 9.7% (more robust than the 8.1% increase in capacity) and Brazil where a 7.5% increase in demand was well below the 14.6% increase in capacity.

The recovery in Japan?s domestic market following March?s earthquake and tsunami stalled in September with traffic 14.5% below previous year levels. This is a step back from the 12.3% decline recorded in August.

Carriers in the US domestic market cut capacity by 0.7% but recorded an increase in demand of 1.6%.

Air Freight (Domestic + International)

 Freight volumes have fallen significantly during the third quarter. By September, freight volumes were 5% below those carried at the end of the first quarter. This represents a deterioration in trade and economic conditions. Inventory to expected sales ratios have risen and shipments by air are being cut.

Asia Pacific carriers are the largest players in air cargo and have been the hardest hit with a 6.3% decline in demand compared to September 2010. This is despite robust economic growth in many countries in the region. The disruptions to supply chains as a result of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake continue to dampen air freight in the region.

European carriers also recorded a contraction in demand of 2.4% while North American carriers reported that September freight traffic was flat compared to the previous year.

Bottom Line

Despite stronger than expected growth in passenger markets during September, the industry is bracing for more difficult times ahead. IATA?s recent Airline Business Confidence survey reported a significant decline in profitability expectations over the next 12 months. More worrying is the expectation that unit costs will increase with little optimism for yields. The majority expected no change in passenger yields while 90% of respondents were split equally among those expecting cargo yields to remain the same or decline. IATA is expecting profitability to decline from $6.9 billion in 2011 to $4.9 billion in 2012 for a margin of just 0.8%.

Airlines play a key role in connecting global business. At this time of economic uncertainty in many parts of the world, US plans to raise an additional $36 billion in aviation taxes over the next decade could not be more misguided. Last month the UK recognized the harm that its GBP2.5 billion Air Passenger Duty was doing in Northern Ireland and announced a major cut. It?s time to apply that lesson at a more global level. Increasing the cost of doing business by making air transport more expensive destroys competitiveness. Governments should protect the 33 million jobs and $3.5 trillion in economic activity supported by aviation with a sound policy framework?not by suffocating the industry with taxes,? said Tyler.

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SIA Names its New Low Cost Airline Scoot

Singapore Airlines has unveiled that the name of its new low cost airline will be Scoot Airlines.

 SIA first announced that it would launch a new low cost airline in May of this year.

The new airline will compete directly with AirAsia X, the long haul affiliate of the hugely popular Malaysian low budget airline AirAsia, as well as other low cost long haul airlines in the region.

Operations are expected to begin within the next six months, though no firm date has been fixed. The airline is wholly owned by Singapore Airlines, but will be operated independently and managed separately from SIA.

Scoot will use Boeing 777-200 aircraft, but more details of its branding, terminal to be used, products, services, and exact route network have not yet been revealed.

AAPA Reports Asia Pacific Airline Traffic for September 2011

Preliminary traffic figures for the month of September 2011 show sustained growth in international air passenger traffic, whilst international air freight markets continued to soften.

According to figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Asia Pacific based airlines flew a total of 16 million international passengers in September 2011, a growth of 5.4% compared to the same month last year, underpinned by business and leisure demand on Asian routes.

 Measured in revenue passenger kilometre terms (RPK), international passenger traffic grew by 5.2%. With available seat capacity expanding by 6.8%, the average international passenger load factor fell 1.1 percentage points to 77.3%.

As a result of a slowdown in trade activities, Asia Pacific international air cargo demand, in freight tonne kilometre (FTK) terms, declined by 6.5% compared to the same month last year. Offered freight capacity contracted by 1.3%, resulting in a 3.5 percentage point decline in the average international air cargo load factor for the region?s carriers to 63.8% for the month.

 ?Overall, for the first three quarters of the year, Asia Pacific airlines saw a 3.7% increase in the number of international passengers carried, whereas international air cargo demand fell by 4.1%,? said Mr. Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General. ?Resilient Asian economies, with relatively strong domestic spending power, helped support leisure and business travel markets. However, a slowdown in export demand, as a result of the ongoing European economic crisis and softening North American economies, contributed to the fall in overall cargo traffic. As a result, Asian airlines have seen only modest revenue growth this year. At the same time, airlines have had to grapple with a 40% increase in jet fuel prices, squeezing what are typically already very thin margins.?

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