Topics: go!, Porter, AirTran/MEH, Southwest, Jazz, United, Copa

go! Awarded GSA Federal Airfare Contracts
The U.S. General Services Administration awarded go! nine inter-island Hawaii routes for 2008, the first such contract for the year-old carrier. go! was awarded the GSA contract upon review of criteria including average flight time, price, level of service, flight distribution, number of flights, available seats, fully refundable tickets and penalty-free cancellations and schedule changes. The contract fares are one-way to permit agency travelers to plan multiple destinations.
In separate news, an Arizona court dismissed a suit by go!’s parent company, Mesa (MESA) filed against an Aloha pilot, citing jurisdictional problems, saying it should have been filed in Hawaii rather than Phoenix. The suit was filed against Mike Uslan who has been involved with the anti-go! campaign and its web site “don’tflygo.com” which accused go! of mistreating employees and bad service.

Porter Adds Halifax
Porter Airlines inaugurated Halifax service on June 29 with four daily flights to Toronto City Center Airport, as well as flights to Montreal and Ottawa. Two flights operate through Montreal and two through Ottawa from June 29 until Sept. 4. The airline uses the Bombardier (BBD) Q400 for its flights.

AirTran’s Nominees Elected to MEH Board
Midweat Air Group (MEH) confirmed the election of three directors nominated by AirTran (AAI) to the company’s nine-member board. The three include John M. Albertine, Jeffrey H. Erickson and Charles F. Kalmbach. They replace three Midwest directors who are retiring from the board – John F. Bergstrom, James R. Boris and Frederick P. Stratton, Jr. According to IVS Associates, Inc., the independent inspector of election for the company's 2007 Annual Meeting of Shareholders the new directors received 65.0 percent of the shares voted at the meeting and 40.5 percent of all outstanding shares.

Southwest Trims Flight Times
As regionals struggle with overcrowded gates and tight turn times, they might take a lesson from Southwest (LUV) which is using annual weather patterns to contract flight times and add more flights. The airline is taking advantage of the seasoal shift in the jetstream to optimize productivity and save fuel. The move results in the addition of four aircraft because it afforded 50 additional hours of flight. Both American (AMR) and Delta (DAL) have already gained additional aircraft by making each aircraft more productive.

Jazz Launches Only Vancouver-Sacramento Route
Air Canada Jazz launches the only non-stop service between Vancouver and Seattle with twice daily service. The afternoon flights use a Bombardier CRJ-200 and are timed for convenient domestic trans-Pacific connections.

Routine Testing Caused United Computer Failure
A routine test of Unimatic, United’s (UAUA) flight ops computer system caused the recent two-hour outage which resulting in grounding all flights on . An employee made a mistake and caused the failure, according to United which experienced additional unrelated hardware problems during it efforts to recover the system.

Copa Takes Seventh Embraer 190
Copa Airlines, a subsidiary of Copa Holdings (CPA), took delivery today of its seventh Embraer (ERJ) ERJ-190 aircraft, bringing its fleet total to 31. The airline is scheduled to take delivery of five additional aircraft this year, to close out 2007 with 11 ERJ 190s. The aircraft is configured with 10 seats in Clase Ejecutiva (Business Class) and 84 seats in economy. Copa Airlines has one of the youngest fleets in the Americas, with an average age of 3.9 years. In addition to Copa's seven Embraer aircraft, the airline also has 24 Boeing (BA) 737 Next Generation aircraft in its fleet.