Wed 13 Dec 2006
Posted by Travelman under Travel
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What’s behind several current aviation headlines and what do they really mean for consumers? Here are my initial takes.
Open skies with Europe
Good news for consumers: The new open skies proposal, just ratified in the European Union, will deregulate most airline activities between the world’s two most important aviation markets. Any airline based in the United States will be able to fly to any European city, with no governmental restrictions on routes, flight frequencies, schedules, or fares, limited only by the availability of landing and takeoff slots at crowded airports. Airlines based in Europe will have reciprocal privileges to the United States. Initial opposition by special-interest groups on both sides of the Atlantic seems to have faded.
The agreement, to take effect in five months, should have two benefits for consumers:
- New nonstop flights from smaller U.S. cities to popular European destination cities, and nonstop flights from major U.S. cities to smaller European cities. Anything that allows us to avoid the extra hassle and time of connecting at congested hubs such as JFK, O’Hare, and Atlanta on our side or London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt in Europe is welcome.
- New low-fare airline service between the United States and Europe—less likely than additional nonstops, but at least a possibility.
Overall, I can see no downside at all for consumers in this deal. It’s win-win on both sides of the Atlantic.
- The colossal plane
Airbus’ new A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, created lots of headlines and prime airtime on its recent maiden visits to JFK, Los Angeles, and Washington. For Americans, the event was more media hype than an announcement of imminent service. The first flights to touch U.S. soil will probably be to/from Los Angeles or San Francisco on Singapore (maybe late this year) and Qantas (next year), and to/from New York on Emirates and Lufthansa (next year).
No U.S. line has ordered the plane. If and when U.S. lines do get a few A380s, they will almost certainly deploy them for transatlantic and transpacific flights to or from a few major U.S. gateway cities. For domestic flights, the U.S. airlines aren’t even operating 747s, preferring instead to operate more frequent flights on smaller planes.
Overall, the world’s airlines keep making business class better and economy class worse. That theme will probably carry over to the A380: Extra-roomy seats in business and first class, with maybe stand-up bars and other hyped features, but cramped seating in economy. Proposed economy seating on the main (lower) deck will provide seats about the same width as in today’s Airbus planes and Boeing 777s—better than in 747s, but still too narrow for comfort. Legroom, of course, depends on the airline, but none of the early buyers is noted for being generous with its economy customers.
Virgin America gets nod
The U.S. Department of Transportation says it is now satisfied that the proposed startup Virgin America is not under foreign control. The outlook for reversal is slim, and because the airline already has a handful of planes and employees, you might see some Virgin America flights as early as this summer. The line plans to concentrate on long-haul flights, starting with New York-San Francisco, then adding Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Washington.
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