Flights

Southwest Airlines announced yesterday that it will begin flying to Raleigh, N.C., further expanding its presence on the East Coast and fueling more growth at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.The airline will fly 12 daily flights to Raleigh-Durham International Airport beginning June 6, including four daily flights from BWI.Airline officials said they were drawn to the Raleigh-Durham region's mix of business and leisure travelers, plus its proximity to four major universities. The new service also rounds out coverage in the Southeast for the Dallas carrier, which serves Nashville, Tenn.

Look for Baltimore-Washington International Airport to become a bargain airfare paradise this year.In 1993, Southwest Airlines began service at BWI, sparking unprecedented fares and attracting hordes of new travelers to the airport. Now, US Airways is poised to launch its US 2 discount operation there early this year, with the promise of even more low-fare destinations.While the Arlington, Va.-based airline has revealed no specific plans, top company officials have said that BWI, a relatively uncrowded airport, will be pivotal to an operation that hinges on moving planes and passengers quickly.

Southwest Airlines is seeking more workers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where it is expanding its service.From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and tomorrow, the airline will conduct a job fair to hire an unspecified number of customer-service and ramp agents, flight attendants and workers who would restock the planes.The interviews will be held at the Marriott Hotel at BWI, 1743 W. Nursery Road.The carrier announced last month that it is establishing a crew base with 200 pilots at BWI. The base will become the sixth in the nation for the Dallas-based airline, whose other crew bases are in Houston; Dallas; Phoenix; Oakland, Calif.

PHILADELPHIA -- US Airways Group Inc. and the city of Philadelphia agreed yesterday to move ahead with a $741 million expansion of Philadelphia International Airport to accommodate an increase in flights.The project, first announced in November, is to be completed within three years. It includes a $275 million international terminal and a $65 million terminal for US Airways' regional carrier, US Airways Express.The expansion reflects the airport's rising role in Arlington, Va.-based US Airways' flight schedule.

WASHINGTON -- Several hundred employees of the nation's major airlines rallied at the Capitol yesterday to try to galvanize support for House legislation that they say would spread the ticket-tax burden more fairly among travelers.The rally reflected a dispute between large and small airlines about how ticket taxes should be imposed. Larger carriers favor the creation of a uniform per-person fee. They point out that each passenger who flies puts an equal demand on the travel system.Smaller, low-cost carriers, by contrast, say taxes should represent a fixed percentage of a ticket price, as is the case now, in order to protect low-fare options for consumers.

US Airways' tentative agreement with its pilots paves the way for it to begin a low-cost operation that could force down fares on the East Coast and add significantly more discount flights at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.In a last-minute deal Tuesday night, the airline and its pilots agreed to devote 23 percent of US Airways' service to a new division that would compete with rapidly expanding discount carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Delta Express.The company has repeatedly said that BWI, a relatively uncrowded airport, would be pivotal to such a discount operation.

ATLANTA -- ValuJet Inc.'s senior management said yesterday that the company is recovering after the crash of one of its planes, but probably won't return to its full schedule until at least year-end.The no-frills airline, which has halved the number of its daily flights to 160 from 320, said it may have to cut more flights and won't resume the suspended ones for at least several weeks. ValuJet may delay delivery of its six new jetliners as well."We have stabilized our situation," said Robert Priddy, ValuJet chairman and co-founder, in a conference call with investors.

At the rate it's going, Southwest Airlines may have to change its name. Having built a reputation for offering low fares and frequent flights around the Southwest, the airline has slowly been expanding eastward.Southwest's first flights to the Northeast are scheduled for Oct. 27, when it will offer nonstop flights between Providence, R.I., and Baltimore (eight daily nonstops each way, with a $59 unrestricted one-way fare, $39 for 14-day advance purchase).It plans to start service on the same date between Providence and Chicago Midway (two nonstops, $149 one way, $89 for 14-day advance)

Ever had a flight canceled? Ever wonder why?Despite vigorous denials from the airline industry, many travelers for years have suspected that when their flight is scrubbed because of "mechanical problems," the airline is really canceling it because it hasn't sold enough tickets.Robert L. Crandall, chairman of American Airlines, has called this suspicion "one of the great fictions about the airline business." Yet when I called three experienced California travel agents to raise the issue, not only did each immediately say that airlines often cancel undersold flights, all three agents volunteered citations of recent cancellations they found dubious.

After six years of devastating losses totaling more than $3 billion, USAir Group Inc. said yesterday that it finally expects to make a profit in 1995.Despite a surprisingly healthy second quarter, the Arlington, Va.-based airline had been reluctant to proclaim a turnaround.But with continued strong traffic and high yields, the nation's sixth-largest carrier now says it expects to report a profit for the third quarter and the year overall."The revenue trend that began earlier this year has continued through the summer," said Seth E. Schofield, chairman and chief executive officer of the airline.

Kevin Crowley's job as a computer salesman for Hewlett-Packard requires a lot of travel, and lately his company is telling him to do it as cheaply as possibly. So even though the Montgomery County resident could fly from any of three nearby airports, he usually bypasses Reagan National and Dulles in search of the cheapest fares. "If I'm going to fly, it's normally going to be from BWI," Crowley said after checking in for a flight to Orlando this week. He said the airport is also easier to drive to than others in the region.

AirTran Airways is looking to make Baltimore a major stop in its flight plan and moved a little further in that direction Tuesday by adding daily flights to New Orleans and Indianapolis. They were the latest of a number of new flights the airline has announced will come to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. In December and February, it will begin flights to the Caribbean, including to Nassau, Bahamas, and Montego Bay, Jamaica. For the first time this year, it will also begin operating flights to Los Angeles year round instead of seasonally.

Nationwide airfare sale What's the deal?: Southwest is offering discounted airfares with one-way tickets starting as low as $59 to select destinations nationwide. From Baltimore, travel to Boston; Detroit; Cleveland; and Raleigh, N.C., among other cities, for $59 each way. Tickets must be booked by Sept. 3, for travel Sept. 9 to Jan. 7. Sale fares apply to flights every day except Fridays and Sundays, from Sept. 9 to Jan. 7. Meanwhile, AirTran is running a similar sale with flights to Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; and Rochester, N.Y., starting at $39 one-way.

The rest of the world may be in a recession, but it doesn't seem like it at AirTran Airways. The Florida-based airline recently posted its best-ever profit after heavy losses last year and is expanding service by 13 flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where it is the second-largest discount carrier. The airline, which turned a first-quarter profit, expects to remain profitable through the rest of the year. This all comes as people are spending less on travel because of the weak economy and other airlines are losing money, including Southwest Airlines, AirTran's biggest competitor at BWI. AirTran executives said their good fortune is the result of heavy cost-cutting last year as it anticipated the slowdown in the economy well ahead of other airlines.

So it's August. Prime time for picnics and pool parties. It's also time to plan end-of-the-year holiday travel. Seriously. Now. Airlines plan to significantly cut flights after Labor Day, decreasing seating by 10 percent, while increasing ticket prices. And those prices are likely to continue rising through the fall, industry watchers said, with flights for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's filling up fast. If you wait to book, you run the risk of paying more for a slim selection.

Southwest Airlines said yesterday that it would add a net total of nine round-trip flights to its network in November, bumping up capacity at a time when most major carriers have announced cuts and plans to reduce airplane fleets to contend with skyrocketing fuel costs. But as oil prices hover close to $140 a barrel, Southwest, the biggest carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, also said it would raise fares for the third time this year, increasing tickets by $5 to $10 for each leg of travel scheduled between Nov. 2 and Jan. 9. Southwest promoted its gradual fare increases as more transparent and customer-friendly than the "a la carte" charges and fees that other airlines have levied in recent months.

Faced with a slowing economy and higher fuel prices, Southwest Airlines announced yesterday a rare curb on its fast-paced expansion that will include slashing nonstop transcontinental service from some cities, including Baltimore. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Southwest's fourth-largest hub, will lose eight nonstop flights, effective in October and November. That's the most of any airport, and it means passengers traveling this fall will have to make stops on most flights to California.

With a busy travel season expected this summer, it may be difficult to find a last-minute deal. According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Transportation, fares on domestic flights averaged $380 in the 2006 fourth quarter, up more than 3 percent from $367 the previous year. And with airlines filling nearly 80 percent of seats, the high prices are likely to persist. "As far as airfares, you see fewer and fewer deals because airlines have reduced capacity," said Michael Stitt, executive producer at Travelzoo Inc., which tracks and publishes travel deals.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- So you have to catch a plane in a few hours to get to an unexpected business meeting. The cheapest fare, of course, will be on discount leader Southwest Airlines, which doesn't gouge last-minute passengers like other airlines. Right? Well ... maybe not. A new study from the University of California, Irvine suggests that it might pay to shop around before booking that Southwest ticket. The report concludes that last-minute airfares are more expensive on Southwest, on average, than on other airlines when consumers use online searches such as Orbitz or Travelocity.

When it comes to air travel, this is shaping up as the summer of the squeeze. Airlines raised prices again this week following the lead of low-fare leader Southwest Airlines, which is pinching wallets up to $10 more per flight segment. At the same time, planes are nearly full, leaving little room for legs and luggage. The fare increases are because of rising fuel prices, said officials at Southwest, which carries more passengers than any other U.S. airline and is the dominant carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.