US Airways completes its third move to lower costs for survival
After swapping slots with Delta between La Guardia and Regan National and negotiating new agreements with credit card companies regarding use of frequent flier miles, US Airways has deferred delivery of new aircraft for three years. These moves will allow the airline to conserve cash. Passengers will be faced with older equipment for at least the next three years.
The deferrals will lower US’s aircraft capital expenditures by around $2.5 billion over the next three years. Executive VP and CFO Derek Kerr said the carrier will take delivery of two A320s and two A330s in 2010 and an additional 24 A320 family aircraft in 2011 and 2012. “We have financing commitments for all 28 aircraft and believe this is a more manageable delivery rate given the current economic environment,” he said. The deferred aircraft will begin delivering in 2013.
Senator Schumer calls for regulation of frequent flier miles
Responding to complaints filed with his office about the cavalier way that airlines are changing their frequent flier mileage requirements and canceling miles, Senator Schumer asked the Department of Transportation (DOT) to, for the first time, regulate frequent flier programs at commercial airlines.
Schumer said that New York travelers and fliers all across the county have lost tens of millions of miles because they have been rescinded by airlines and credit card companies. Schumer said consumers are not receiving sufficient notification regarding pending terminations of their frequent flier accounts or the miles they have accumulated. Fliers have found that their accounts can be terminated and miles can be deemed canceled or expired with seemingly little to no advance notice from an airline. This affects a consumer’s ability to make travel plans, which in turn can cause an undue financial hardship. Schumer also asked the agencies to draw up new rules to improve disclosure and set limits on when miles can be rescinded and accounts can be closed.
TSA begins writing rules for maintenance facility security
The Transportation Security Administration’s proposal to improve repair station security is still a work in progress. This is an area that needs more supervision. Inexplicably, where U.S. facilities face tight security regulations, foreign facilities used by a growing number of airlines, require next to none. TSA has promised to look into the security procedures. To date, little has happened over the past six years.
TSA published the notice of proposed rulemaking to require Part 145 repair stations to implement a standard security program (SSP) and comply with certain security directives. The proposal has been highly anticipated since Congress mandated the rulemaking in 2003 under the FAA “Vision 100” reauthorization bill. Dismayed with the lack of progress in issuing the regulations, Congress in 2007 prohibited FAA from issuing certificates to new foreign repair stations until the final rule was released.
Photo: Zazzle.com
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
