Travel Weekly Digital Edition - September 8, 2008

Arnie Weissmann:
IN OTHER NEWS:
IATA forecasts $4.1B loss for
airline industry in 2008 as a
result of high oil prices. 14
Lester Craft:
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THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

[ AIRLIFT IS THE BIGGEST WORRY ]
Fingers crossed,
Caribbean preps
for winter season

By Gay Nagle Myers

Getting to the sandy beaches of the Caribbean could prove more difficult and more expensive this fall and winter than last, depending upon which island is selected, which U.S. gateway is used and which airline is flown.

Fares are certain to be higher this winter than last, and that’s coming on top of a litany of new charges for once-free things like checked baggage, drinks, food, pillows, blankets, frequent flyer awards and even water.

These increased costs, coupled with a reduction in air service, could make travel more frustrating and less convenient.

It’s a confusing situation.

Rising energy costs, increased competition, a sluggish U.S. economy that is discouraging vacation plans for cash-strapped Americans and reduced air services are all to blame, according to a recent study by PKF Hospitality Research.

“Given the region’s dependence on airlift, the most daunting issues facing the Caribbean are the rise in airfares and the announced service cutbacks,” said Scott Smith, senior vice president of PKF Consulting.

Add to this a cyclical factor that comes around every four years: The U.S. presidential election traditionally limits travel plans for Americans looking to stay close to their TVs and polling stations in early November.

The area’s biggest challenge may be air-

See CARIBBEAN on Page 78

When emergency air fails
Travel Weekly’s analysis of data from NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System reveals a long
history of failures in emergency oxygen systems for both crew and passengers. By Michael Fabey
Like every flight you’ve ever been on, the flight attendant is standing at
the front of the cabin as you taxi to the runway, demonstrating the safety
equipment of this particular aircraft. Your attention drifts. Is there anyone
anywhere who really doesn’t know how to buckle a seat belt?

Not likely.

And what more is there to know about those masks that drop from the overheads if passengers should suddenly need emergency oxygen?

Maybe a lot, it turns out, as passengers aboard an American Airlines flight over U.S. skies and a Ryanair flight over Europe recently discovered. In both cases, the passen-

ger oxygen system allegedly failed to deploy in incidents that resulted in forced landings.

In fact, the two incidents are far from isolated, according to a Travel Weekly analysis of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System database. Indeed, within the ASRS reports can be found a litany of concerns dating back decades.

But while recent incidents have prompted

airline and government officials to review the design and maintenance of emergency oxygen systems, many industry experts insist that the systems have proven their reliability through the years. The recent incidents, they say, are aberrations that serve to fuel misconceptions about how the systems are supposed to operate in the first place.

In the Ryanair incident, 16 people were sent to a hospital on Aug. 26 after a 737 bound for the Barcelona-Girona Airport from Bristol, England, depressurized, plummeted and made an emergency landing at Limoges Airport in France.

See AIR on Page 26

[ WORKERS’ REAL INCOME PLUMMETS IN EURO ZONE ]

Dollar’s slide hurting cruise crew hiring

WORLD BEAT

Travel execs Lafayette, La., London looks confident in offers big fun to emerging adaptability of down on markets for

Las Vegas. the bayou. tourist growth. 53 70 64

By Johanna Jainchill

The greenback’s sinking value against world currencies might make cruising in Europe an attractive option for Americans who can pay for it in dollars, but it poses a serious challenge for cruise lines’ ability to crew their ships.

The dozens of cruise ships plying the Mediterranean, Baltic and North seas this summer carried thousands of crewmembers who worked for dollars while living in the euro zone.

Those same seafarers return home to plac-

es where only a few years ago the dollar had buying power that was as much as double what it is now.

What’s more, the challenge of finding crew willing to work for devalued dollars is compounding an already serious shortage of officers worldwide.

“You have two separate issues,” said Eric Stewart, director of global talent acquisition for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “The foreign exchange issue … and global resources issues. Ship management and ship officers are not infinite resources. There is a global war for talent acquisition, and it is continu-

ing to heat up.”

A 2005 study of worldwide demand for seafarers, which is undertaken every five years by the Baltic and International Maritime Council and the International Shipping Federation, found that international shortages were not as severe as in 2000, mostly due to an influx of seafarers from the Far East. But it forecast that by 2015, “the current moderate shortage will become more severe unless maritime training is further increased.”