Virgin America has garnered a reputation of being one of the best and fastest growing of the new crop of domestic airlines, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t taking a financial hit from higher fuel prices just like U.S. legacy carriers. On June 20, the airline, which is nearly a quarter owned by Virgin Atlantic, reported a $29.5 million operating loss, largely due to significantly higher fuel prices as well as its continued expansion.
In his contribution to the 2011/2012 Budget Debate in the House of Assembly on June 7 the Hon. Neko C Grant, Minister of Public Works and Transport said ensuring that adequate infrastructure exists throughout The Bahamas to support the future growth of the tourism industry is vital. Mr. Grant told Parliamentarians that over the past three years the Ministry of Public Works has played a pivotal role in “extensive” public infrastructure enhancements.
Northstar Travel Media, the leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has acquired PhoCusWright Inc., the premier global travel, tourism and hospitality research and event business.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) further downgraded its 2011 airline industry profit forecast to $4 billion. This would be a 54 percent fall compared with the $8.6 billion profit forecast in March and a 78 percent drop compared with the $18 billion net profit (revised from $16 billion) recorded in 2010. On expected revenues of $598 billion, a $4 billion profit equates to a 0.7 percent margin.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has called for taxation to be switched from airline to hotel rooms to sustain Britain’s tourism economy, in a move that would mirror the United States policy.
The U.S. Travel Association reported that employment in the travel industry in May 2011 was down 3,000, the first monthly decline in six months. Nevertheless, over the past year travel jobs actually increased by 107,200, which accounted for 12.3 percent of the 873,000 U.S. jobs added overall during this period.