Airline bloodletting continues
Airline bloodletting continues — Domestic airlines this week begin reporting 2004 losses expected to top $5 billion, pushing the total since 2000 to almost $33 billion. Analysts also estimate that the expansion of “simplified” fare structures featuring lower business-travel prices could cost the carriers an extra $2.1 billion in 2005. That could push losses this year up to about $3 billion.
Marriott settles sexual harassment suit — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Monday of a sexual-harassment lawsuit against Marriott Ownership Resorts. Marnie McClain, a former sales executive at Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club Resort, will receive $190,000 under a consent decree approved by U.S. District Judge David Ezra.
Radisson scuttles cruise after fire — None of the 481 passengers or crew members on board the Radisson Seven Seas Navigator was injured after a Monday morning electrical fire in the ship’s generator room. The Navigator, however, will have to undergo repairs. That forced Fort Lauderdale-based Radisson Seven Seas Cruises to cancel a week-long Caribbean cruise supposed to have departed tonight from Port Everglades.
US apologizes for interrogating minister — The United States has apologized to Argentina for a federal air marshal who detained its foreign minister at Miami International Airport. Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa was stopped in Miami on his way to Haiti on diplomatic business, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
Swiss cuts jobs, shrinks fleet — Swiss International Air Lines will cut as many as 1,000 jobs and shrink its fleet by 15 percent as part of a second wave of restructuring aimed at saving $250 million a year and restoring the company’s health, the struggling national carrier said Tuesday. The airline also said that it would downgrade its operations at airports in Geneva and Basel, with partner airlines taking over these flights, while focusing on its Zurich hub.
Nudists have a solution to baggage woes — The recent mayhem caused by “sick” baggage handlers at USAirways and the shutdown of Delta Airlines’ main feeder carrier left a lot of people without their luggage and holiday gifts. But now one organization has a solution to the luggage problem: Don’t bring any.