HEADLINE NEWS.

According to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, record gasoline prices will not stop Americans from hitting the road this summer. The report predicts that the increase in domestic summer travel will create an increase of 5.3 percent in revenue per available room for hotels.

Australian airlines outperformed operators in the US and Europe in ontime performance in Jan., according to the first official figures on domestic flight punctuality released by the government. The Bureau of Transport and Regional Services statistics showed that 87.1% of departures and 86.7% of arrivals operated by the major carriers were achieved within 15 min. of scheduled times. Western Australia Regional airline Skywest was the leading performer with 95% of its flights for the month landing and taking off ontime. It finished ahead of Qantas with 87.3% of departures and 89.5% of arrivals conducted ontime, compared to Virgin Blue with 84.4% and 83.8% of departures and arrivals ontime.

Access America, a travel insurance company, has partnered with Continental to offer trip protection to passengers whom book from Continental.com. The insurance will be available starting next month. It will offer Airline Ticket Protector, which provides trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and 24-hour global emergency assistance. A site www.etravelprotection.com/continental has been developed exclusively for Continental's customers.

American is doubling its AAdvantage miles on flights from New York Kennedy to San Francisco and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The offer is good for San Juan from now through May 31, and for San Francisco between April 16 and May 31 2004. Travelers must register prior to travel at www.aa.com/offers and enter the promotion code for San Juan (NYSJU) or San Francisco (NYSFO), or by calling the AAdvantage dial-in system at 800-882-8880.

Cathay Pacific Airways completed installation of its new business class cabin on all of its long-haul aircraft, which include 747-400s, A340s and three-class A330s.

Continental Airlines raised its fuel surcharge from $10 to $15 each way for travel in the US and between the US and Canada to help offset higher jet fuel prices.

Continental will eliminate paper tickets entirely by the end of this year, including interline tickets. Those airlines that have not implemented electronic interline capabilities, 50 in all, have had their interline ticketing and baggage agreements eliminated, the airline said. David Grizzle, senior VP of corporate development, says the airline is "quite serious about our paperless objective" and it will eliminate issuance and acceptance of paper tickets for all of its flights. It currently has 20 e-ticket partners and has more than 180 interline ticketing and baggage agreements with airlines. It said it looks forward to bringing e-ticket technology to each of those interline agreements.

Hawaiian Airlines has received the last governmental approval it needed before its May 18 2004 expansion to Sydney. The airline has received its international airline license from Australia's Department of Transport and Regional Services, clearing the carrier for the launch of four nonstop roundtrips a week between Honolulu and Sydney. The route marks Hawaiian's return to this market after an absence of more than a decade. In related news, Hawaiian and Boeing Capital Corp. again have agreed to extend lease negotiations, this time through May 31. At issue are agreements for 11 Boeing 717-200 aircraft for its inter-island network and three Boeing 767-300ER planes for transpacific service that Hawaiian leases directly from BCC or through BCC-controlled trust arrangements. The latest extension is subject to approval by U.S. bankruptcy court.

Hawaiian Airlines is alerting consumers to a ticketing scam for a package of mainland tickets. An Asian man, about 50 years old who walks with a limp and calls himself either Wayne or Dwayne of Wayne Travel Discount is selling five roundtrip mainland tickets with a sixth for free for $250 apiece. Customers must pay up front, and the first ticket is actually sold through a bona fide travel agency at a higher fare than the one he is advertising. But they find that the other five tickets are invalid when they go to use them. Keoni Wagner, VP of public affairs, said "Unless you're booking directly with Hawaiian online or through our reservations department, we recommend that travelers purchase tickets through a licensed, professional travel agent." Anyone who thinks they may have been scammed should file a report with the police and call Hawaiian's customer advocate line at 808-838-3500.

Iberia will install Tenzing's new high-speed e-mail and instant messaging service in business class on its long-haul fleet of A340-600s and A340-300s beginning in Oct. 2004.

Independence Air is telling potential new customers that it will begin selling tickets sometime in May 2004, and its iCLUB members (those registered on its site at www.flyi.com) will be emailed the exact date ahead of the rest of the world. The airline says it is driven to offer a product that is less expensive and easier to fly than most airlines, while giving them a straightforward fare structure with limited restrictions. Independence Air, which is now Atlantic Coast Airlines, will launch June 16 from Washington-Dulles Airport. By the end of the summer, it expects to be flying to 35 cities. Customers who sign up to the airline's iCLUB will receive $25 off their first roundtrip flight if it is booked by Sept. 30 and flown by Dec. 31 2004.

JetBlue Airways has been ranked number one for 2003 in the annual Airline Quality Rating released by researchers at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The rating looks at on-time performance, passenger complaints, baggage handling and denied boards, and applies a formula to weigh these factors. This is the first year JetBlue, ATA, AirTran and Atlantic Southeast Airlines were included. The report said the performance measures show an increasing gap between the performance of the legacy and the low-cost carriers. The 14 airlines were ranked as follows: JetBlue, Alaska, Southwest, America West, US Airways, Northwest, Continental, AirTran, United, ATA, American, Delta, American Eagle and Atlantic Southeast. US Airways was the top carrier in 2002. Overall, the airlines performed slightly better last year due to a large drop in customer complaints. Northwest saw the best improvement, going from ninth to sixth.

JetBlue Airways launched online check-in for its passengers through its website. It said online check-in is available 24 hr. in advance of but no less than 90 min. prior to the scheduled departure time.

Qantas and British Airways are adding interline e-ticketing within the oneworld alliance at the end of the month on their routes between Australia and Europe. E-ticketing is still not offered across the entire network of the two airlines, but will be eventually. Qantas introduced interline e-ticketing in November with American. The oneworld alliance wants to extend this by the end of this year.

Qantas is celebrating 50 years of serving North America. The 84-year old Australian flag carrier launched Sydney to San Francisco and Vancouver via Fiji, Nadi International Airport in 1954. To commemorate this half-century heritage of flight, Qantas will embark on celebrations across North America. The carrier will also use the celebration to announce first-ever non-stop service between Los Angeles and Brisbane, as well as an additional four new weekly services between Los Angeles and Sydney.

Singapore Airlines signed a code share agreement with bmi. The carrier added its code on five bmi routes--Belfast, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow--that connect from any of SIA's thrice-daily Singapore- London Heathrow flights.

German-based Sixt Rent a Car has entered into a new global partnership with Delta Air Lines that allows members of the latter's SkyMiles program to earn 500 miles for each vehicle rental booked with Sixt. Sixt has locations in 51 countries across the world. There is an introductory promotion that gives SkyMiles members triple miles per rental through May 31 2004.

Spirit Airlines said it reduced its ticket change fees from $75 per ticket per passenger to $25, effective immediately. The carrier said the policy applies to all tickets including those purchased before March 15 2004.

Travelocity has introduced a "new look and feel" with its now easier to use Web site. The company said its site now has faster download speeds and more dropdown menus, as well as more personal information on the home page. The new home page loads almost twice as fast, Travelocity said. Its new logo includes "guiding stars" and a new color scheme.

The U.S. Department of State says U.S. citizens should be wary of traveling to Nepal because of continued threats against America, increasing Maoist extortion and attacks on government forces, as well as disruptions to transportation services. State said rebel Maoists are threatening humanitarian organizations associated with the U.S. U.S. citizens are requested to contact the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu (977-1- 441-1179) for the latest security information before traveling to outlying areas, and to travel by air when possible.

The U.S. Department of State has issued a worldwide caution to remind Americans to be vigilant about their personal safety when traveling abroad. "We are seeing indications that Al-Qaida continues to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad," it said. Travelers may obtain up-to- date information on security conditions by calling 888-407-4747 in the U.S., or 317-472-2328 outside the U.S. and Canada. Separately, State has warned Americans not to travel to Indonesia. Anyone already there is strongly urged to avoid traveling to Aceh. Legislative elections will be held on April 5 2004, and there could be election-related demonstrations and violence.

A national survey conducted on behalf of Orbitz for Business by Harris Interactive reveals the majority of business travelers are equally or more cost-conscious when it comes to saving their company money in 2004. According to the poll, 83 percent of business travelers feel "more" obligated to save their company money when traveling for business this year. The survey also found that 35 percent of business travelers plan to use an online agency to book business travel in 2004, while one in five (19 percent) said they would use their company's in- house corporate travel agent. Less than one in ten (8 percent) said they would use leisure travel agents for their business-travel needs. For business travelers who use corporate agents, 42 percent feel their corporate travel agent does not always give them the lowest price and 44 percent believe that corporate agents charge high service fees. In addition, more than a third (36 percent) of business travelers frequently search online to see if they can find a better deal than their corporate agent. Eighty-four percent of business travelers cite convenience as a reason for booking business travel online in 2004; 69 percent cite a preference for self-service. The survey, conducted online March 1-3 2004, sampled 2,272 U.S. adults 18 years or older, 733 of whom are employed and plan to travel for business at least once in 2004.

The FAA, at its Annual Forecast Conference in Washington, said as the U.S. and other economies rapidly recover over the next two years, aviation would benefit. Passenger demand will return to pre-Sept. 11 levels by 2005, and large and small airlines will see an annual growth rate of 4.3 percent, the FAA predicts. Low-cost carriers and regional airlines could account for more than 50 percent of all domestic passengers by the end of the 12-year forecast period--2004-2015. But rising fuel prices are still a concern, and the profitability of airlines hinges on the business traveler returning to enough degree. DOT Secretary Norman Mineta said passengers are using different airlines and different airports than in the past, such as Long Beach, Charlotte and Midway, which helps with traffic congestion.

Travelocity has upgraded its TotalTrip vacation booking tool. Users can now simultaneously reserve tickets for attractions, ski lifts, airport transfers, air fare and accommodations. Travelocity said this extends to more than 70 destinations. The lift tickets and ground transfers were not available previously and are now all shown on one itinerary. Domestically, the transfers can be reserved on SuperShuttle, Aloha VIP Tours, All Resort Express and Colorado Mountain Express.

TripAdvisor has released the results of a yearlong study of popular hotel sites on the Web, ranked by quantity and quality of information found on the Internet. The greater the amount of positive content found about the hotel, the higher its ranking. In the U.S., the best were found to be, categorized by city, the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort in Las Vegas; The Carlyle in New York; Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando; the Mandarin Oriental in Miami; The Orchard Hotel in San Francisco; Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu; Le Pavillon in New Orleans; Willard Intercontinental in Washington, D.C.; Fitzpartrick Hotel in Chicago and the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego.

Vacation.com has modified its customized email tool, called e- Engagement, to help agencies comply with new federal rules governing unsolicited promotional email, or spam. Under the CAN-SPAM Act passed by Congress, agencies must provide a physical agency address in their email, use a valid return email address and provide a clear means for the recipient to opt out of the mailing list. Even though its VacationPort tool has also been modified, it does not fall under the regulations because an agent can use it to respond to a specific inquiry.