Travel & Travel Technology News.

For more travel news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/order_formsubs.htm Jun 26, 2006

SITA Annual General Assembly voted to endorse the recommendations of the SITA Group board to consolidate SITA SC, a nonprofit provider of network communications, and SITA INC (Information Networking Computing), a commercial provider of IT solutions, into a single SITA organization under one management team. The consolidation "creates the world's largest communications and IT solutions company focused exclusively on the air transport industry, with approximately 3,900 employees worldwide and aggregated revenues of $1.5 billion," SITA said. The change comes into effect on July 1 at which time previously announced new CEO Francesco Violante will take charge of the combined organization. Jun 23, 2006

AirTran Airways 

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings yesterday began a planned upgrade of its internal reservations and airport check-in systems which will bring long term benefits their customers. It required a preplanned shutdown of the system from 10 pm Monday, June 19, 2006, through 4:30 am this morning. The airline began experiencing passenger check-in problems early this morning that caused rollover delays into the early afternoon. This has resulted in long lines at a number of airports, primarily Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Jun 20, 2006

Boeing

Boeing is considering selling or shutting down its Connexion by Boeing onboard Internet venture because the unit shows no sign of becoming profitable six years after launch, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment on the article but said, "We are evaluating the long-term business model for Connexion, trying to assess what's best for customers. It is a good product. We are trying to determine how good a business it is." A number of carriers have outfitted their aircraft with the Connexion systems or are in the process of doing so, but the market to date has been limited to widebody aircraft operating on long-haul routes. Customers include ANA, Asiana Airlines, Korean Air, Lufthansa--which launched the program--SAS and Singapore Airlines. According to the WSJ, Boeing has approached satellite communications providers including SES Global SA, Inmarsat and Loral Space & Communications about purchasing the unit or becoming a partner. It has invested about $1 billion in Connexion, the paper said. Jun 23, 2006

Verizon Airfone

Airfone to Halt Commercial Jet Service. Verizon Airfone, long the only company to offer seatback phone service on commercial airplanes, intends to close down the service before the end of the year, a spokesman said Friday. Jun 23, 2006