United Airlines Announces New Routes from its Hubs

United Continental Holdings, Inc., today announced plans to launch year-round and seasonal service on several new routes to begin in the summer of 2012. 

"We continue to capitalize on the combined resources of United and Continental to create a network that gives our customers more flights to the places they want to go," said James Starnes, United's director of domestic planning. "The flexibility of our fleet allows us to put the right aircraft in the right markets to serve new communities and to add additional flights to communities we already serve." 

Daily Service between Washington/Dulles and Honolulu 

United will begin daily year-round service between Washington/Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Honolulu (HNL) on June 7, 2012, the only nonstop service between the two points. The flights will operate using Boeing 767-400 aircraft. 

United, the largest carrier between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii, connects the Aloha State with eight mainland cities, as well as Tokyo, Guam and Majuro, offering nonstop service in 23 city pairs. 

From its Dulles hub, United also offers more domestic and international service from the nation's capital than any other airline. 

New Summer Seasonal Flights from Denver, Houston and San Francisco

The airline will also add seasonal service to several popular summer travel destinations. 

Alaska: New daily service between Denver (DEN) and Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI), will operate from June 7, 2012 through Aug. 27, 2012, using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Fairbanks offers access to Denali National Park, one of Alaska's most visited destinations. The flights complement United's existing Alaska service to Anchorage from hubs in Denver, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco, as well as Seattle. 

South Dakota: United Express will offer daily seasonal service between Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Rapid City, S.D. (RAP), gateway to the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands National Park, from June 7, 2012, to Aug. 27, 2012. ExpressJet will operate the flights using Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft. United currently serves Rapid City from its Denver and Chicago hubs. 

Wyoming: The airline will also add summer-season flights between its Houston and San Francisco (SFO) hubs and Jackson Hole, Wyo. (JAC), which attracts millions of summer visitors to nearby Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. The Houston flights will operate twice-weekly from June 8, 2012, through Aug. 27, 2012, using Boeing 757 aircraft. The San Francisco flights will operate daily from July 1, 2012, through Aug. 27, 2012, as United Express, with Bombardier CR7 aircraft flown by SkyWest Airlines. These flights are in addition to United's existing service to Jackson Hole from hubs in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. 

With these new route additions, United will remain within the previously announced capacity guidance.

Since the October 2010 merger of United and Continental, the larger combined fleet has given the company flexibility to better meet market demand. United has added new routes from its hubs to international destinations such as Lagos, Nigeria; Guadalajara, Mexico; Montreal, Canada; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Shanghai, China, and Stuttgart, Germany, along with new intra-Asia routes between the Tokyo hub and Hong Kong and between the Guam hub and Okinawa, Japan. 

The merger also enabled the company to add a number of new domestic routes by using a mix of mainline and regional aircraft from both carriers more efficiently. 

In addition, previously announced new service between New York/Newark and Buenos Aires, and between Washington/Dulles and Manchester, U.K. and Washington/Dulles and Dublin, Ireland, will begin this spring. 

About United Continental Holdings, Inc.United Continental Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate an average of 5,656 flights a day to 376 airports on six continents from their hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. United and Continental are members of Star Alliance, which offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries. United and Continental's more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. For more information about United Continental Holdings, Inc., go to UnitedContinentalHoldings.com. For more information about the airlines, see united.com and continental.com or follow United on Twitter and Facebook. 

SOURCE United Continental Holdings, Inc.

Airline alliances and the Rule of Three

In the business world, three is an iconic number. The USA has three major automobile makers. In fast food you have McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's. There are even three leading peanut butter brands (Peter Pan, Jif and Skippy). In an open market, three major competitors often emerge. And so it is in the travel industry. For many years, three large U.S. network airlines dominated the skies. And in turn those mega-carriers — American, Delta and United — created three global alliances — oneworld, SkyTeam and the Star Alliance respectively. It is also no accident that the three largest European airlines — British Airways, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa — have each joined a different alliance.

Since 1997, when United Airlines, Lufthansa and a few other airlines formed the Star Alliance, the race commenced to enroll the most airlines and offer the most destinations and routes worldwide. Today more than 40 of the world's largest airlines are alliance members (see chart below). The three alliances carry approximately 60% of airline traffic globally.

Airline alliances have greatly changed the way we travel. In this first of a two-part series I will address the airline alliances from a consumer perspective. In a subsequent column I will go behind the scenes at an airline alliance to see how it works and what the alliances are doing to make international travel a more seamless experience.

The alliances began as a way for airlines to expand their international networks. For many years protectionist rules in most countries restricted the number of foreign airlines or flights from operating to, within or beyond a country to a third country destination. For example, U.S. airlines cannot ferry passengers between cities in Canada and cannot fly passengers from a Canadian airport to Europe. These rules were written to protect national airlines and their employees.

Although some protectionist rules have eased over the years, international growth is still limited. In most cases, U.S. airlines still cannot fly between foreign countries and therefore cannot compete with foreign airlines that can fly passengers from U.S. gateways to that foreign airline's home country and then on to hundreds of additional destinations.

The airlines soon realized they could overcome this handicap with the help of alliance partners, according to Mark Haneke of InterVISTAS, a travel industry consulting firm. Haneke worked on alliances at Lufthansa, American Airlines and other major airlines when the alliances were formed.

Airline alliances allow U.S. airlines to route transoceanic traffic to a partner airline's hub and beyond using that partner airline for the connecting segment. So now you can travel from almost anywhere in the U.S. to almost anywhere in Europe without forfeiting miles in your preferred program, for example, by flying American Airlines to London connecting to British Airways, United Airlines to Frankfurt connecting to Lufthansa, or Northwest to Amsterdam connecting to KLM .

Staying in a single network has been a boon for frequent fliers. "The alliances allow business travelers to move throughout the world with greater ease," Haneke says. When it works correctly, "code sharing" (see related article) allows alliance partners to seamlessly share the passenger. In most cases, alliances also allow passengers to accrue and consolidate frequent flier miles and redeem awards on their alliance partners. For example United Airlines had no award seats available for an upcoming trip to Asia but offered me seats on Star Alliance partners ANA, Asiana, Singapore or THAI airlines.

Alliances also offer corporations a single contract for global access. But the alliances also create issues. When two competing airlines become partners in the same alliance, it often means a reduction in service and diminished competition on shared routes.

Even with 40+ allied airlines there are still major geographic gaps. Coverage in North America and Europe is good, but the alliances have very limited operations in India and South America. South African Airways is a member of the Star Alliance and Kenya Airways will be joining SkyTeam later this year, but no other African airlines are alliance members.

In China, where air travel is growing rapidly, the four largest Chinese airlines are in the process of joining the alliances. China Eastern Airlines will most likely go to oneworld, China Southern Airlines to SkyTeam, and Air China and Shanghai Airlines to the Star Alliance.

Not all airlines see alliance membership as a necessity, but competitive pressures are a strong motivation. "ANA was a domestic carrier originally and wanted to compete with Japan Airlines," says Eva Traunmueller from ANA's alliances department. "The best strategy was to join a global alliance," she says. Now that ANA is a Star Alliance member, their cross-country rival and long time holdout Japan Airlines is joining oneworld.

Royal Jordanian Airlines will be the first carrier in the Middle East to join an alliance when it enters oneworld this year. "We're a small airline in a small country," says Samer Majali, president and chief executive officer. "By linking with oneworld partners we're extending our network without incurring the costs of doing so," Majali told me. Perhaps Royal Jordanian will trigger a competitive response causing other carriers in the region to join an alliance.

Low cost carriers (LCCs) have generally resisted the alliance lure. Haneke believes that alliance membership could complicate their business model. Ireland's Aer Lingus and Brazil's Varig are actually leaving their alliances this year. With discounter Ryanair in Ireland, Aer Lingus is restructuring to pursue a low fare, point-to-point strategy that is not compatible with the connecting passenger alliance model.

Airline mergers could also wreak havoc on the alliances. America West Airlines gained access to the Star Alliance when they acquired US Airways, but some recently contemplated airline combinations, such as Continental-United, Delta-United or Delta-US Airways, would cross alliance boundaries and could have a major impact on the composition of those alliances if any of those pairings come to fruition.

The recently announced open skies deal between the U.S. and the European Union could also affect the alliances. Open skies could obliterate any remaining protectionist rules making alliances superfluous. But don't expect major changes, at least in the short term. With so much invested already, any changes will be very slow and even without flight restrictions, it's far less expensive to sell tickets on someone else's airplane than to operate your own.

Alliance Name	oneworld	SkyTeam	Star
Number of members (projected by end of 2007)	11	13	23
Number of flights/day	9,190	14,615	16,000
Number of destinations served	692	728	855
Number of countries served	142	149	155
Annual passengers (millions)	320	373	413
Members	American Airlines British Airways Cathy Pacific China Eastern Airlines* Finnair Iberia Japan Airlines* Lan Malev* Qantas Royal Jordanian*	Aeroflot AeroMexico Air Europa* Air France/KLM Alitalia China Southern Airlines* Continental Airlines Copa Airlines* Czech Airlines Delta Airlines Kenya Airlines* Korean Air Northwest Airlines	Adria Air Canada Air China* Air New Zealand ANA Asiana Austrian Blue 1 BMI Croatia Airlines Lot Polish Airlines Lufthansa SAS Scandinavian Airlines Shanghai Airlines* Singapore Airlines South African Airways Spannair SWISS TAP Portugal THAI Turkish Airlines* United Airlines US Airways

*airlines expected to join that alliance

Source:USA Today

Bangalore-Mysore track doubling work to be complted by 2013

Speaking to media here, he said the project had registered significant progress and the stretch between Bangalore and Mandya would have double track by the end of the 2012. However, doubling of the tracks on the stretch between Mandya and Mysore would be completed by 2013.

"We are focusing on completing the major bridge works and once they are ready the railway tracks would also be laid," he added.

The Minister was here to participate in the 69th birthday celebrations of Sri Balagangadharnath Swamiji of Adi Chunchunagiri Math.

He said the State Government should expedite the land acquisition process and hand it over to the railways at the earliest for the speedy completion of the important project.

The railways require nearly 30 acres of land and the revenue department had been sounded off to take up the issue on a priority basis. Alongside the track doubling work, the railways has also taken up electrification of the entire stretch between the two cities and the work is expected to be completed concurrently.

The project has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 530 crore on a cost sharing basis with the State Government contributing one-third of the amount and the Railways pitching in with the remaining one-third of the cost.

Referring to delay of the project to compelte by this year end he said the railways hit a road block in Mandya district where land acquisition process is slow while the 18th century armory belonging to the era of Tipu Sultan lays along the track alignment and hence warrants shifting. (UNI)

View the original article here

Air India's new offer for web-based customers

Under the 'Get Lucky Offer', valid till March 31, every 100th ticket will win a return complimentary ticket on the domestic network of Air India, an Air India release here said.

Winners will be informed through the online Booking Confirmation page while booking an Air India Flight as well as individually by e-mail. A list of the winners would be posted on Air India website daily by 1200 hrs on the following day. The weekend winners will be notified on Monday.

Passengers can look up the list by clicking on List of winners of the 100th free ticket contest on the homepage of Air India website- www.airindia.in, the release said.

The e-mail authority for the complimentary ticket would be valid for a period of one month after the completion of at least one coupon of the originally booked international journey, the ticket on which the lucky winner is declared.

If the originally booked travel was domestic, the entire journey must be completed, it said, adding the complimentary ticket can be obtained from any Air India booking office on production of e-mail, ID proof and all boarding cards of his previous journey, based on which the ticket was granted.

The Basic Fare and Airline Fuel Charge will be absorbed by Air India and all applicable taxes will be borne by the passenger on the complimentary ticket valid for six months from the date of issue and can be availed for any direct flight on the airline's domestic (within India) network.

Hopping or connecting flights, however, would not be permitted.

The award ticket will be non-transferable and non re-routable, it said. (UNI)

View the original article here

Airport Metro goes hi-tech with wi-fi connectivity

"Commuters now can surf internet, check emails sitting at the Airport Metro Express station itself. All the six stations on the line will be wi-fi enabled," said a spokesperson of Reliance Infrastructure.

According to the official, the wi-fi connectivity will be more useful for frequent air travellers.

"Many commuters check in their luggage anytime between six hours to a minimum of two and a half hours before their flight departure, so they can pass time on surfing internet," the official said.

Reliance Infrastructure has tied up with You Broadband, which will provide internet connectivity free of cost, as an inaugural offer.

Built at a cost of Rs.5,700 crore, the 23-km AMEL has six stations: New Delhi Railway Station, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aero City, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Dwarka Sector 21. (IANS)

View the original article here

STR Reports on Growth in Regional Centres Across China

According to STR Global, the Chinese hotel market's performance has remained positive year-to-November, with RevPAR growing 2.8% compared with the previous year.

 Tracking more than 315,000 daily rooms across China and reporting on 22 cities, STR Global analysed the performance of the burgeoning secondary cities-cities with less than 10 million inhabitants.

Most of the reviewed cities reported higher RevPAR growth YTD than the national average. China's secondary cities, not including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, are of more strategic importance to hotel developers and operators as governmental policies are encouraging the development of export trade centres in technology and manufacturing in those provinces.

Limited new supply and strong demand growth boosted RevPAR in the cities of Xiamen (+30.8%), in southeast China, and in Chengdu (+20.3%), located in southwest China, both of which are considered important financial and economic centres. Wuhan, located in the central province of Hubei and known for its car and steel manufacturers, experienced a shortfall in occupancy (-4.1%), whilst ADR grew 18.2% contributing to RevPAR growth (+13.4%). Destinations with a more balanced mix of visitors such as Hangzhou, a UNESCO world heritage city, saw occupancy decline 8.0% YTD compared to the previous year. The decline was the result of additional room supply (+5.6%) and increased ADR (+10.4%). Located only 45 minutes by train from Shanghai, Suzhou, also named the "Venice of the East" for its historical canals and temples, saw occupancy decrease by 4.0% whilst ADR and room supply grew by 2.0% and 5.5%, respectively.

Hotel supply growth from city to city is supported by an expanding real estate market and a growing regional economy. The pipeline until 2014 indicates that supply growth will increase across all the secondary cities with Sanya (+50.1%) and Xiamen (+25.9%) leading the market growth. Suzhou (+11.3%), Xian (+12.0%) and Hangzhou (+9.0%), despite experiencing lower growth, will remain buoyant with new hotel openings, as international brands venture farther away from larger hubs.

"Hotel development by international and regional hotel chains over recent years has focused more and more on secondary cities across China," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director for STR Global. "This development reflects the growing importance of these markets as economic centres and demand generators for inbound and outbound visitors. In 10 out of 15 cities, demand grew at higher rates than supply; however, the right balance between supply and demand will be crucial to the future success of hotels in these markets."

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Tickets, China, STR

View the original article here

STR: 3,377 New Hotel Rooms Opened in Canada in 2011

According to data from the STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report, 34 new properties comprising 3,377 rooms opened in Canada in 2011, representing a 1% increase in new supply over last year.

Among the Chain Scale segments, the Upper Midscale segment reported the most new rooms, opening 14 properties with 1,328, followed by the Upscale segment with six properties and 884 rooms.

The Economy segment reported the largest increase (135.8%) in new rooms, compared to 2010, with 6 properties opening with 408 rooms.

In 2012, there are 46 properties expected to open in Canada with 6,206 rooms.

The Upper Midscale segment is expected to open the most rooms with 19 projects and 2,051 rooms, followed by the Unaffiliated segment (12 properties with 1,767 rooms) and the Upscale segment (8 properties with 1,369 rooms).

In December 2011, the Canadian hotel development pipeline comprised 187 projects totalling 20,957 rooms. This represents a 4% decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to December 2010.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Tickets, STR, Canada

View the original article here