On-Time Flight, Baggage Handling Performance Eroded In 2004

FEBRUARY 04, 2005 -- The domestic airline industry, struggling to reverse a financial crisis, yesterday received more negative news when the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a report showing deteriorating customer service metrics. DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report for full-year 2004 included worse on-time performance data, a higher ratio of mishandled baggage, a growing number of customer complaints and more involuntary denied boardings.AirTran, JetBlue and Hawaiian airlines posted comparably strong results. Among major carriers, Southwest Airlines generally performed best across the four categories. US Airways placed last among majors for both customer complaints and baggage handling.Perhaps the most closely watched air consumer metric, on-time performance, dropped across the industry in 2004 nearly four points to 78.1 percent. Among carriers for which comparable numbers are available from 2003, only regional operator Atlantic Southeast Airlines posted a year-over-year improvement. Despite lower full-year scores, Hawaiian placed first with a 93.9 percent on-time score, followed by regional operator SkyWest and JetBlue. Among major carriers, Southwest again was most punctual, again followed by United. Independence Air and American regional affiliate American Eagle had the worst on-time performance among the 19 carriers included in the report. Among majors, America West and Delta finished last, sliding significantly down the ranks from 2003.Drilling down to specific airports, a number of larger facilities had on-time arrival rates below 70 percent, including Chicago O'Hare, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Ft. Lauderdale, Newark, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco and Seattle. Busier airports that finished with on-time arrival rates above 77 percent included Dallas Fort Worth, Denver and both Houston airports.Meanwhile, Southwest, Alaska and Continental airlines were tops among major carriers in baggage handling, though none showed improved numbers from last year. American, Delta and US Airways also had higher mishandled baggage ratios from 2003 and finished 2004 at the bottom of list among majors. Overall industry baggage handling performance declined in 2004 to nearly five reports per 1,000 passengers, with 600,000 more reports filed than in 2003.Among major carriers, US Airways drew the highest customer complaint ratio in the industry, while Southwest had the lowest. Most other airlines had only marginal changes to complaint ratios from 2003, but the industry as a whole garnered more complaints, in absolute terms and as a ratio to passenger enplanements, than last year.As for involuntary denied boardings, JetBlue again had the fewest in the industry for the year, but its unblemished record of zero denied boardings in 2003 gave way to a total of 17 in 2004. The industry overall reported nearly 45,000 involuntarily denied boardings--up almost 3,000 from 2003--with Alaska, Delta and Continental among those with the highest ratios.

Phuket Fantasea Cultural Theme Park Re-Opens

One of Thailand's most renowned Cultural Theme Parks, Phuket Fantasea, reopened Tuesday after having closed following the devastating Tsunami that hit Phuket and other areas within South Asia.


Phuket Fanatsea, is located in the Kamala Bay area of Phuket and prior to the December 26 disaster welcomed on average between 2 - 3,000 guests per day. Immediately after the Tsunami these numbers fell to just 10 to 20 per day, and the theme park was forced to close. No staff were laid off during the closure, and only the 400 or so performers out of 1,000 staff went on paid leave, these performers have now returned to work. Having lost an estimated 70,000,000 Baht due to the Tsunami the popular tourist attraction reopened Tuesday following positive demand and forward bookings from tour operators around the region.
The Phuket Tsunami opens daily from 17:30 with a high tech daily cultural show from 21:30 to 22:15.

What Would Make Your Perfect Airline?

This year’s Business Travel Show has been host to a plethora of innovative new products and the latest in corporate travel products, gearing up for a year which is expected to see the return of business travel. Airlines are showing off their newest flatbed seats and many are announcing the introduction of on-board internet access.
Etihad are exhibiting at the Business Travel Show for the first time since launching their new routes into the UK and they are providing attendees with something a little bit different. Exhibitors are invited to step inside a big brother simulated diary room to record a diary entry: “what would make your perfect airline?”
The idea was thought up by Etihad’s own Helen Cahill, who told ITN that so far, the majority of attendees at the Business Travel Show have been asking for more leg room, or specifying the type of food which they want, however Etihad plan to take their innovation to the World Travel Market, where they anticipate a more candid response.
Launching their two for the price of one business class promotion, Internet Travel News caught up with Peter Dunkin, General Manager UK & Ireland, to find out what Etihad are expecting from the Business Travel Show:

“Business Travel is very important to us because as an airline we appeal very strongly to the business traveller. We are the newest and the fastest growing airline in the world offering a full service and we have 3 distinct zones.”
“For many of the public, Etihad is still quite new, so we are still in the process of launching the airline and making the public aware of what we think is an exciting new product for them”.
Business Travel is on the upswing and according to Peter we can expect to see a prominent growth in the Middle East. He commented: “We are hugely optimistic about the growth in travel and that the business travel market is picking up, particularly in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi – the capital city where we are based is growing in interest as a commercial destination and it is going to start to grow as a tourism destination, so essentially we are very excited about the outlook for the growth in travel, particularly within the Middle East”.
Etihad currently compete in a number of different markets including Asia, the Far East and Europe and have built strong relationships with airlines in the Middle East with a view to develop interest in the region and increase leisure and business travel.
With reference to regional expansion, Peter commented: “ We are focusing on just about every corner of the world, and are hoping to expand more in Asia and in Europe”.

Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam

WHO has received reports that laboratory tests undertaken in Vietnam have confirmed two further cases of human infection with H5N1. WHO is seeking confirmation from the Ministry of Health.
The first newly detected case is a 10-year-old girl from the southern province of Long An. She developed symptoms on 13 January, was hospitalized on 20 January, and is presently in critical condition.
The second case is a 13-year-old girl from Dong Thap Province, also in the south. She developed symptoms on 20 January and was hospitalized on 22 January. She is also critically ill.
The child from Dong Thap Province is the daughter of a confirmed case announced previously. The 35-year-old mother developed symptoms on 14 January and died on 21 January.
WHO understands that Vietnamese authorities are launching investigations into this newly detected family cluster. The investigation will explore possible sources of exposure and look for signs of illness in family members, other close contacts, and the general community.
In view of the six-day interval between dates of symptom onset in the mother and her child, limited human-to-human transmission, as seen during similar events in the past, cannot be ruled out at this stage. All such clusters of cases, closely related in place and time, require urgent investigation to determine whether the epidemiological behaviour of the virus might be changing in ways that could favour the onset of a pandemic.
If confirmed by the Ministry of Health, these latest two cases will bring the total in Viet Nam reported since mid-December to twelve. To date, nine of these cases have been fatal.
WHO is again emphasizing the need for family members caring for H5N1 patients to follow recommended protective measures.
Since human cases of H5N1 were first reported in January 2004, no cases have been reported in health care workers or in professionals undertaking culling activities. Their continued adherence to recommended protective measures is equally important.

Acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in East Timor

31 January 2005
As of 26 January, WHO has received reports of 67 hospitalized cases and 8 deaths of acute haemorrhagic syndrome, with clinical features compatible with dengue haemorrhagic fever in Dili, Liquica and Maliana.
The Ministry of Health has organized vector control activities to prevent breeding of mosquitoes, distributed mosquito nets in high-risk areas and issued health education messages through the mass media and to community groups to raise awareness of dengue infection. Active surveillance in the affected areas is being carried out.
WHO has developed and distributed guidance on clinical treatment and management of the disease. WHO is also supporting two senior staff from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Case Management of Dengue/Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, Thailand, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Bangkok, to strengthen the clinical care system for dengue case management, initiate training of health care personnel for clinical case management and provide guidance in dengue fever management in patients. WHO is deploying further experts in clinical management to support the Ministry of Health and to strengthen field assessments.