Frontier Airline aircract lined up at Denver
The airline blogosphere (and twittosphere) was abuzz when Southwest Airlines announced their bid for Frontier Airlines. Folks started talking like it was a done deal. Southwest’s bid was $170million versus Republic Airline’s $109million, it seemed there was no question who would be the victor. However, Southwest was unwilling to move forward without a labor agreement and Republic won the right to purchase Frontier Airlines.
The largest roadblock to Southwest’s victory was their plan for the integration of the Frontier pilots. Southwest wanted Frontier pilots to be at the bottom of the seniority list, while Frontier pilots wanted equal treatment and the ability to stay in Denver (where Frontier is based).
If this all goes through (the shareholders still need to give their approval), it will create a very interesting airline. Republic already serves as a regional carrier for larger airlines (AmericanConnection, Continental Express, United Express, US Airways Express and Delta Connection). This summer, they purchased Midwest to expand their fleet and routes. Knowing how Republic works, I doubt they will combine their airlines under one brand. They have already talked about moving aircraft between Midwest and Frontier, but for now, the cute animals get to stay. I am sure there will be some consolidation between the airlines to save money, but probably for most people it will look like two separate airlines.
It will be interesting to see how Frontier and Midwest grow and of course how Southwest will grow (or shrink) at Denver.
Image: BFIguy
JetBlue A320 N640JB
JetBlue announced today that passengers can now purchase an unlimited travel pass for $599.00 and fly to any of the airlines 56 destinations as much as they want from September 8th to October 8th. No blackout dates, any seat is game, you can book and change up to 3-days before departure date, AND you still get TrueBlue awards points to boot.
I normally don’t blog about an airline fare special, but I think this might be an important test. If this becomes successful, this might be something JetBlue or other airlines do more. How great would it be to pay a flat fee and fly around the country (or world) visiting different locations on the cheap?
This is not the first time an airline has done something like this. American Airlines allowed folks to pay $250,000.00 to fly free for life, however the program ended in 2004. Earlier this year Cathay Pacific offered their All Asia Pass, where travelers could get unlimited flights to selected cities over a three week period for around $1500.00. Air Canada has also played with the notion of having unlimited flights. The problems in previous attempts, is #1 having too many restrictions or #2 being too costly (the last American pass sold for $3million). It seems JetBlue might have the right formula with relatively low cost and low complexity. It is something I would seriously consider taking part in, if I had a month I could take off of work!
Image: Taurs Photographix
Blue Panorama Boeing 757-231
Blue Panorama Airlines sparked my interest this week for the livery blog, not only because of its unique name, but also its unique livery on the nose of their aircraft.
The airline was started in 1998 and is based in Rome, Italy. The airline has a fleet of 10 aircraft, including Boeing 737’s, 757’s, and 767’s. They also have one very cool looking Piaggio P-180 for short-haul flights.
Image: jacquesaero
A Northwest Airline's tail up in the far north, Alaska
The website GoNorthwest.com has been operating for the past ten years, providing travel information for the Pacific Northwestern part of the United States.
Northwest Airlines, which has recently been acquired by Delta Airlines feel they own the rights to the name. This started when site owner Jack High trademarked his name last year after someone stole his site’s contents and created an illegal copy under a similar name. High defends his actions stating he has no issue with any other company using the word, “northwest,” but is just concerned about protecting his own site.
Andrea James with the Seattle PI points out that over 10,500 companies have “northwest” as part of their name, just in Washington state. There are also 366 trademarks that exist for “NW” and “Northwest” in the United States.
Delta Airlines commented that “Northwest is a world-famous mark that is used by one of the oldest airlines in the world and that has been built with billions of dollars of investments over eight decades.” The airline continued, stating they were concerned about the future of the site causing additional confusion of the brands. To me, this seems like a big company going a few steps too far. Here are some of my thoughts:
#1 The Northwest Airlines brand is going away. Delta is in the process of changing all their naming over to Delta. There won’t be any confusion in the future since the name will be gone soon. Why spend money on a dying brand?
#2 There is no record of people getting the two names confused. Even searching for ’œGo Northwest’ on Google, Northwest Airlines doesn’t show up.
#3 The look and feel of the two websites and what the companies offer GREATLY differ and it would be very hard for someone to mistake them.
#4 Should Delta go after all the companies that use the word “delta”? If one goes to GoDelta.com, it forwards you to a Delta marketing group (wow that font looks very similar). Should they be worried? How about Southwest Airlines or Alaska Airlines? When using a geographic location to name your business, you should expect there are going to be people that use part of your name in travel-related businesses.
#5 I don’t see how this is going to look good for Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines. They should just back off now, it just isn’t worth the bad publicity.
#6 Sometimes the legal and moral lines aren’t so clear. Even if Northwest/Delta is shown to be legally right, does that make it right? Should a large, well established, world renowned airline be able to control how a very localized, small, travel website runs its business?
What are your thoughts on this? Is Northwest/Delta going too far or are they justified in protecting their brand?
Image: BobButcher
Not something you want to see while in mid-flight
About a week and a half ago I was telling you about how a scorpion got loose on a Southwest Airline’s flight. Well, Egyptair has gone one step further. Last Friday, there was a foot-long baby crocodile walking around in the aisle on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Cairo.
The crew managed to re-capture the reptile and it is currently living at the Giza Zoo in Cairo. After the flight, all the passengers were questioned and no one was willing to take credit for the croc.
Most likely someone was trying to illegally smuggle the animal and it managed to get loose while airborne. It is going to be hard to outdo a crocodile, but maybe someone out there can do it!
Photoshop by AirlineReporter
Orig photos: Brenda’s Photos, Drewski2112