Tag: Francisco (Page 2 of 2)

EL AL & Alaska Airlines Expand Global Partnership

May 13, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

With the inaugural EL AL flight between Tel Aviv and San Francisco, EL AL and Alaska Airlines signed an expanded global partnership allowing their members to more easily connect and earn miles.

TEL AVIV, Israel and SEATTLE, May 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — EL AL Israel Airlines and Alaska Airlines today expanded their commercial relationship to include a reciprocal frequent flyer agreement. The agreement was signed by the CEOs of each airline at a ceremony soon after the arrival of the first EL AL flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco and was attended by San Francisco Bay Area dignitaries and civic leaders. This agreement is in addition to the codeshare agreement that recently came into effect between the airlines allowing EL AL to place its “LY” code on various Alaska Airlines “AS” flights in the U.S.

The codeshare agreement which has been available for sale as of April 28th for flights as of May 5th includes flights from Newark, Los Angeles and now San Francisco onto a host of Alaska Airlines flights. From San Francisco, EL AL will place its code on flights to Seattle; San Diego; Portland, Oregon; Honolulu; Los Angeles; Palm Springs, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Dallas (DAL); Santa Ana, California, Everett, Washington, Kansas City, Missouri; Salt Lake City; Kona, Hawaii and Las Vegas. Upon regulatory approval, will also include flights to various points in Mexico.

With the EL AL and Alaska Airlines partnership, customers will be able to continue their journey to and from North America and Israel with connections on both airlines, in either direction. Both airlines will offer the opportunity for their members to earn miles while flying with the partner airline. Base miles flown on EL AL will also count toward elite status in Alaska’s Mileage Plan program. Additionally, EL AL travelers will be able to redeem their EL AL Matmid miles to book on Alaska flights in the future.

“This is truly a historic day for EL AL,” said EL AL CEO Gonen Usishkin. “Aside from the fact that EL AL is linking the two high-tech centers with the new three times weekly flights, we are providing the full options for our customers with the codeshare and frequent flyer agreements with Alaska Airlines,” he emphasized. “Alaska Airlines was instrumental in helping bring Jews to Israel in the early years of the state, helping to build our country and now as we celebrate 70 years of those historic flights, continue to be a key player along with EL AL in building the bridges between America and Israel.”

“Alaska Airlines and EL AL will now offer more opportunities than ever before for travelers to fly nonstop between the West Coast and Tel Aviv. Through our partnership, both EL AL and Alaska Airlines offer frequent flyer benefits to our guests while sharing the genuine, caring service that is at the heart of both of our airlines,” said Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines offers an option to go global differently with hand-picked partners, and Mileage Plan miles can be used at home with Alaska or with Alaska Global Partners. With the EL AL partnership, Alaska Airlines’ international connectivity out of SFO is stronger than ever; by June 2019, Alaska’s Global Partners will offer more than 80 flights per week out of San Francisco.

The EL AL flights will operate three times weekly flying a state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner, offering Business, Premium and Economy service. The flights from Tel Aviv will depart on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 0105 and arrive in San Francisco on the same day at 0600 for a flight time just under 15 hours. The flights from San Francisco to Tel Aviv will operate on Monday and Wednesday departing at 2000 for arrival the next day at 1940 and on Saturday night with a 2245 departure arriving in Tel Aviv at 2225 the next day for a flying time of just over 13 and a half hours.

About EL AL Israel Airlines

EL AL Israel Airlines, Israel’s national airline, established in 1948, offers more nonstop flights than any other airline to/from Israel. EL AL currently flies to 36 destinations from Israel, serves hundreds of other destinations throughout the world via codeshare, and interline partnerships. EL AL offers a full Boeing fleet and began renewing its fleet as of September 2017 with the arrival of the first of its sixteen 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Soon to be new routes will include Las Vegas, Chicago and Orlando (summer seasonal flights only) in the USA. In 2017 EL AL flew over 5.6 million passengers. EL AL embodies Israel’s values of innovation and caring and is known for its genuine Israeli hospitality. Learn more about EL AL at: www.elal.com.

About Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and its regional partners fly 44 million guests a year to more than 115 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America” in the J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study for 11 consecutive years from 2008 to 2018. Learn about Alaska’s award-winning service at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (ALK).

Alaska Air Group Stock Upgraded

April 30, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and “initiate coverage” on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they’re talking about? Today, we’re taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope…

After underperforming the S&P 500 by more than 17 points over the past year, Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) delivered a pleasant surprise to its shareholders last week, outperforming analyst expectations and beating on both earnings and revenue. The $0.17 per share that Alaska earned in fiscal Q1 2019 topped consensus estimates by more than 50% — and the airline even eked out a small sales beat with its $1.88 billion in Q1 revenue.

Not everyone was impressed.

Click the link for the full story! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alaska-air-group-stock-upgraded-182034848.html

Qatar Airways Says Air Italy Stake Is In Compliance

April 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

DUBAI (Reuters) – State-owned Qatar Airways on Thursday dismissed concerns its 49 percent stake in Air Italy breaches a 2018 aviation agreement between the United States and Qatar, designed to address U.S. concerns that Gulf airlines had an unfair competitive advantage.

The U.S is “looking very closely” at the deal after Republicans and Democrats said on Wednesday they were concerned it violated the agreement.

Qatar Airways bought a stake in Italian airline Meridiana in 2017, rebranded it Air Italy and transformed it into a carrier with five announced non-stop U.S. destinations from Milan.

Qatar Airways said the stake was “fully compliant” with the 2018 U.S.-Qatar Understandings, an additional pact that accompanied the U.S-Qatar Open Skies agreement.

Since 2015 the largest U.S carriers – Delta Air Lines, American Airlines Group and United Airlines – have argued their Gulf rivals are being unfairly subsidized by their governments, distorting competition.

Gulf airlines have always denied those accusations and last year separate voluntary agreements were reached between the U.S. and Qatar, and the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates to address the concerns. Measures included the airlines not adding new flights to the U.S.

However, Air Italy has been flying to New York and Miami since June last year and was due to start serving San Francisco and Los Angeles from this month and Chicago in May.

Qatar Airways said in a statement its investment in Air Italy, which closed in September 2017, preceded the 2018 agreement but complied with it.

It said its investments in other airlines were not raised as a point of concern during the discussions that led to the 2018 agreement and that the deal does not mention or prohibit cross-border investments.

Qatar Airways also said it did not codeshare on Air Italy’s flights to the U.S. and has no plans to do so.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Gulfstream To Showcase Aircraft At Aviation Africa 2019

February 20, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAVANNAH, Ga., Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. today announced it will showcase the clean-sheet, record-breaking Gulfstream G500 along with the class-leading, super-midsize Gulfstream G280 at the 2019 Aviation Africa Summit & Exhibition from Feb. 27-28 in Kigali, Rwanda. Gulfstream’s exhibition will be at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Centre, and the aircraft will be on static display at Kigali International Airport.

“Gulfstream is committed to customers in sub-Saharan Africa and growing business aviation in the region,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “Rwanda has made great investments in business aviation, and we are proud to support those efforts with our presence and static display in Kigali. Whether flying from country to country or intercontinentally, the G500 and G280 offer operators ideal options for this region.”

The award-winning G500 can fly 5,200 nautical miles/9,630 kilometers at its long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85 and can easily connect Kigali to London at Mach 0.90 or Kigali to Singapore at Mach 0.87. When it entered service in September 2018, the G500 had already achieved 22 city-pair records around the world and currently holds a total of 32 city-pair records. The G500 that will be on display at Aviation Africa is in service with Qatar Airways’ Qatar Executive fleet.

The high-performing and agile G280 can fly 3,600 nm/6,667 km at Mach 0.80, and can travel nonstop from Kigali to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at Mach 0.84 or Kigali to Bangalore, India, at Mach 0.80. The aircraft can easily access smaller airports, reach high altitudes quickly and offers excellent takeoff and landing performance.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,800 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the Gulfstream G280^™, the Gulfstream G550^™, the Gulfstream G500^™, the Gulfstream G600^™, the Gulfstream G650^™and the Gulfstream G650ER^™. We invite you to visit our website for more information and photos at www.gulfstreamnews.com.

More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

18 REASONS TO FLY WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS IN 2019

February 5, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

British Airways’ new year’s resolution is to provide its customers with even more quality and choice in every cabin on every route – with a £6.5bn investment and 18 great reasons to look forward to flying with the airline in 2019.

Here are some of the reasons to fly with British Airways this year:

New routes. Customers can try out the airline’s new routes to Charleston y’all, with Pittsburgh, Osaka, Kos and Corsica, Ljubljana, Montpellier, among others. It’s the airline’s most extensive route network in more than a decade.
New aircraft. Customers can fly on one of the carrier’s 15 plush new aircraft being delivered this year – including four fabulous A350 aircraft.
A brand-new Club World seat, featuring on the new A350 aircraft, and two 777 aircraft by the end of the year.
WiFi. The best, live streaming WiFi on all short-haul flights and the vast majority of long-haul flights so customers can sit back and enjoy films and TV shows from their favourite streaming service.
A new look for First. New first-class dining, bedding and amenity kits from one of the UK’s best-loved designers.
An industry-leading makeover for World Traveller Plus. Look out for new bedding and new dining in this intimate and exclusive cabin.
New lounges for customers to relax and enjoy ahead of their flight, in San Francisco, Johannesburg, Geneva and JFK.
An extended partnership with premium dining supremo Do&Co, the airline’s new in-flight caterer from Heathrow and already providing meals in Club Europe.
A new ba.com homepage, making booking with British Airways even easier and more intuitive.
New partners for the British Airways Executive Club, offering even more ways to collect and spend Avios.
Digital bag tags. A UK airline first. Sync your personal baggage tag with the BA app, drop your luggage at the airport, and fly.
Self-service baggage drops at Heathrow T3 offering customers the same service as T5.
Facial recognition technology. More biometric technology at Heathrow, London City and Gatwick, New York JFK, Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and many more. The system makes boarding faster and more convenient, helping British Airways depart flights on, or ahead of time.
New emissions-free, remote-controlled pushback vehicles for long-haul aircraft to continue to improve punctuality. Short-haul versions reduced pushback delays by more than 70 per cent.
New winter equipment – helping British Airways safely de-ice its fleet of almost 300 aircraft quicker than ever during the frosty winter months.
Hotel reservations. Investment in new technology will see rooms automatically booked for customers who miss their flights due to disruption.
Enhanced customer service. Almost 30,000 staff will receive the airline’s all-new customer service training. At T5 – more airport hosts than ever before are being re-trained to manage any customer issue, from re-booking to upgrades, lounge access, baggage and transfer queries and flight information.
And last but not least – look out for British Airways’ Centenary celebrations. It’s going to be 100 years’ old this year, and will be celebrating in style, sharing its heritage and looking at what to expect from flying in the future.

A British Airways 787 Dreamliner G-BBJA flying over Derby ‘s Rolls Royce sites.

Story and image from http://www.britishairways.com

United Airlines Reports Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter 2018 Performance

January 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

PR Newswire – January 15, 2019

Q4 unit revenue up 5.0% year-over-year; full-year diluted 2018 EPS of $7.70; adjusted diluted EPS of $9.13

CHICAGO, Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In a departure from industry trends, United (UAL) announced today that its fourth-quarter unit revenue came in at the high end of its guidance range and also exceeded its full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share target laid out last January. UAL reported full-year net income of $2.1 billion, diluted earnings per share of $7.70 (a 9.1 percent increase year-over-year), pre-tax earnings of $2.7 billion and pre-tax margin of 6.4 percent. UAL reported adjusted full-year net income of $2.5 billion, adjusted pre-tax earnings of $3.2 billion and adjusted pre-tax margin of 7.7 percent.¹UAL increased its full-year 2018 adjusted diluted earnings per share outlook three times during the year despite a $2.4 billion year-over-year headwind from fuel. Full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 33.5 percent year-over-year to $9.13, above the high end of the company’s most recent guidance range.

“United’s financial performance is a testament to the successful implementation of the first year of our strategic plan and to the record-setting operational performance powered by the more than 90,000 airline professionals who work at United,” said Oscar Munoz, chief executive officer of United Airlines. “United delivered proof, not just promises in 2018 – even in the face of significant headwinds from higher than expected fuel costs. It’s why I couldn’t be more proud of our winning culture and customer-focused team and continue to be enthusiastic about United’s bright future.”

For 2019, UAL expects adjusted diluted earnings per share to again grow year-over-year to between $10.00 to $12.00.²

UAL reported fourth-quarter net income of $462 million, diluted earnings per share of $1.70, pre-tax earnings of $556 million and pre-tax margin of 5.3 percent.
UAL reported fourth-quarter adjusted net income of $657 million, adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.41 and adjusted pre-tax earnings of $814 million.
UAL reported fourth-quarter adjusted pre-tax margin of 7.8 percent,¹ expanding margin on an adjusted basis of 0.9 points versus the fourth-quarter of 2017.
UAL recovered 98% percent of the year-over-year increase in fuel prices in 2018.
Consolidated fourth-quarter passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 5 percent year-over-year, at the high end of the company’s fourth-quarter 2018 guidance range.
Consolidated fourth-quarter unit cost per available seat mile (CASM) increased 7.0 percent year-over-year.
Consolidated fourth-quarter CASM, excluding special charges, third-party business expenses, fuel and profit sharing, decreased 0.7 percent year-over-year.
Employees earned $334 million in profit sharing for 2018.

For more information on UAL’s first-quarter and full-year 2019 guidance, please visit ir.united.com for the company’s investor update.

2018 Highlights

Record-Setting Operational Performance³

Set new UAL records by flying the most revenue passengers ever, operating the most mainline departures and achieving the fewest cancellations ever in a year, resulting in more UAL customers departing on-time in 2018 than ever before.
For the year, achieved the best completion rate in company history with more than 1.7 million flights.
In 2018, achieved the best ever company STAR performance (first departures of the day), with nearly 250,000 flights leaving on time.
In the fourth quarter, the company achieved top-tier performance in on-time departures among its largest competitors. For the December holiday season, UAL had its best-ever on-time departure performance while flying the most revenue customers it had ever flown during the holiday period.

Customer Experience

Opened three new United Polaris lounges located in San Francisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Announced UAL’s newest premium seating, United® Premium Plus, which will provide more space, comfort and amenities on select international flights starting later this year.
Introduced a new boarding process designed to reduce customers’ stress by reducing time spent waiting in line and providing them with improved boarding information.
Expanded personal device entertainment option to all aircraft, providing at least one free entertainment option on all Wi-Fi equipped aircraft.
MileagePlus loyalty program voted Best Overall Frequent-Flyer Program in the world for the 15th consecutive year by readers of Global Traveler, and voted Favorite Frequent-Flyer Program in the Trazee Awards.

Employees

Employees earned incentive payments totaling approximately $14 million for achieving operational performance goals in the quarter, marking a full year of earned incentive payments totaling $55 million.
Introduced and trained over 90,000 team members on UAL’s new customer service decision framework, the core4, which focuses on the principles of safe, caring, dependable and efficient.
Deployed 6,000 iPads to maintenance employees, improving reliability and efficiency.
Unveiled a state-of-the-art flight training center in Denver, Colorado – the largest in the world and home to the company’s more than 30 full flight simulators representing all of UAL’s fleet types.
Successfully completed the full implementation of the flight attendant joint collective bargaining agreement, allowing the company to operate more efficiently and reliably.
Achieved the top score of 100 percent on the 2018 Disability Equality Index (DEI), a prominent benchmarking metric that rates U.S. companies on their disability inclusion policies and practices, also earning UAL a place on DEI’s 2018 “Best Places to Work” list.
Received “Best-of-the-Best” Award from the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce and National Business Inclusion Consortium for commitment to diversity and inclusion across all communities.

Network

Introduced 93 new routes, adding more flights in 2018 than any other U.S. airline.
Announced new international service including Washington-Dulles to Tel Aviv, Israel; San Francisco to Amsterdam, Netherlands; Newark/New York to Naples, Italy; as well as Newark/New York to Prague, Czech Republic and Denver to Frankfurt, Germany, all subject to government approval.
Launched several exciting new international routes including Houston to Sydney, San Francisco to Tahiti and Denver to London.
Announced schedule expansion at East Coast hubs in Newark/New York and Washington-Dulles to offer more nonstop flights to destinations popular with New York-area customers while reallocating largely connecting passenger flights to Washington-Dulles.
Announced a joint business agreement with Compañía Panameña de Aviación S.A. (Copa), Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A. (Avianca) and many of Avianca’s affiliates, pending government approval.

Fleet

Took delivery of 21 new Boeing aircraft, including four 777-300ER, four 787-9, three 787-10 and ten 737 MAX 9 aircraft.
In December 2018, ordered an additional four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and 24 737 MAX aircraft.

Community and Environment

Pledged to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050, the only U.S. airline to commit to emissions reductions, further strengthening UAL’s ambition to be the world’s most environmentally conscious airline.
Announced a total of $8 million in grants to benefit organizations in each of UAL’s domestic hub communities.
Announced new global partnership with the Special Olympics and flew hundreds of Team USA Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2018 athletes, coaches and family members to PyeongChang, South Korea, continuing the 38-year relationship between UAL and the United States Olympic Committee.
Ranked No. 1 among global carriers in Newsweek’s 2017 Global 500 Green Rankings, one of the most recognized environmental performance assessments of the world’s largest publicly traded companies.
Launched a Crowdrise fundraising campaign to support those affected by Hurricane Florence, Typhoon Mangkhut, flooding in Western Japan, wildfires in California and other disasters.

Earnings Call

UAL will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 financial results and its financial and operational outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2019 on Wednesday, January 16, at 9:30 a.m. Central time /10:30 a.m. Eastern time. A live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will be available at ir.united.com. The webcast will be available for replay within 24 hours of the conference call and then archived on the website for three months.

United Airlines’ First 787-10 Begins Regular Service

January 7, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Today, United Airlines’ first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner began regular service as UA2418, departing from Los Angeles International Airport traveling to Newark Liberty International Airport. United is the first carrier in the world to operate all three Dreamliner models, including the 787-8, 787-9 and now the longest model, the 787-10.

The Dreamliner’s entry into scheduled service continues United’s comprehensive fleet plan, while providing an improved experience for customers. The aircraft is United’s first Dreamliner model delivered with the airline’s signature Polaris business class seats, and new United® Premium Plus seats. Boeing’s Dreamliners are known for dramatically improving the on board experience for customers with lower cabin altitude, better humidity, cleaner air, smoother ride and better sound quality. Additionally, the new Dreamliner provides better fuel efficiency than older aircraft, contributing to United’s commitment to reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

As previously announced, United expects its second Dreamliner to enter service between its hubs in San Francisco and New York/Newark in February, and begin international service in March.

For more information on United’s 787-10, and other fleet updates visit United’s Fleet Newsroom.

Story and image from http://www.united.com