Major Airlines

Every school child knows that what goes up must come down. But airline travelers will find, beginning tomorrow, that some things that go down eventually have to go up.Major airlines tomorrow begin enforcing tougher rules for frequent flier programs that require domestic travelers to earn up to 25 percent more bonus miles on the same airline in order to get a free ticket for an extra flight.USAir, United, Continental, American and Delta airlines, among others, all will demand that travelers earn 25,000 frequent flier miles before earning a free ticket for travel in the lower 48 states and Canada.

Do commuter pilots flying from BWI to Newark or other short-hop destinations know what they're doing? Do they make more than, say, a fry cook at Fuddruckers? Are they as seemingly clueless and careless as the pilots who crashed Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Buffalo, killing themselves and 48 others? The airlines and their flacks are full of reassurance. I'm not reassured. Regional-airline regulations, like rules for subprime mortgages, need an overhaul. The companies that operated the Buffalo flight and paid co-pilot Rebecca Shaw $16,254 a year handled more than 100,000 passengers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport during the 12 months ending in March.

Hoping to give a lift to what they fear will be a lackluster summer travel season, major airlines followed Northwest Airlines' lead by slashing fares up to 30 percent yesterday.The discount fares -- which follow similar cuts offered by airlines this spring -- are good news for travelers, who so far seem to be staying closer to home and spending less this summer, according to travel industry officials. The airlines hope the discount fares will encourage consumers who have postponed making summer travel plans to consider air travel.

Maryland-based Marcor acquired by Nuprecon/CST Nuprecon/CST, the nation's second-largest full-service demolition and remediation company, said it acquired Maryland-based Marcor Remediation this week, which increases the company's work force to more than 1,500 employees nationwide. Launched more than 25 years ago in the basement of a Catonsville rowhouse, Marcor's primary business is asbestos removal and demolition. But in recent years, the company has been involved in several high-profile environmental cleanups, including in the aftermath of the Sept.

FORT WORTH, Texas - All of the major airlines could be in bankruptcy by early next year if oil prices stay where they are, a new study predicts. The grim analysis by the consulting firm AirlineForecasts was commissioned by the Business Travel Coalition. Its author concludes that the airline industry is in a full-blown crisis "and heading toward a catastrophe." The study found that if fuel prices remain high: *The top 25 carriers will spend more than $28 billion more for fuel this year.

Unions and management at the nation's major airlines are likely to spend the summer wrestling over layoffs and concessions as the industry reels from its latest blow - United Airlines' failure to win approval for $1 billion in federal loan guarantees. UAL Corp., United's parent, is expected to ask pilots, mechanics, flight attendants and others for wage and benefit concessions after the bankrupt Chicago carrier's request for $1.1 billion in guarantees was denied last week, analysts and airline experts said.

For a long time, Southwest Airlines stood in a class by itself, a low cost, no-frills airline that lured passengers with rock-bottom fares, yet made money while other major carriers suffered huge losses.But the big guys have been taking notes. And the darling of the airline industry -- whose ticker symbol on Wall Street is LUV -- is now getting real competition as major carriers cut their costs and offer discount fares."They don't have the monopoly on low cost anymore," said Jon Ash, director of Global Aviation Associates in Washington.

Midwest Express Airlines is scheduled to announce today that it plans to offer twice-daily service between Milwaukee and Baltimore-Washington International Airport beginning Jan. 31, state aviation officials said. The Milwaukee-based regional airline will become the third carrier to begin new service at BWI since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 sent the aviation industry into a tailspin. Earlier, AirTran Airways and Pan American Airways helped BWI recover some of the business it lost as major airlines have curtailed flights and laid off thousands of workers.

Pilots incensed at Merrill LynchAmerican Airlines' pilot union, furious over a report by a Merrill Lynch & Co. stock analyst, is yanking a $14 million account away from the securities firm and asking its 11,500 members to switch accounts to other firms.The Allied Pilots Association is incensed about a March Merrill Lynch research report that it claims pins the airline industry's woes on high labor costs, particularly high pilot pay.Pay-TV firm, Universal agreeDirecTv Inc., a satellite pay-television service, has signed an agreement with MCA Inc.'s Universal Pictures to offer the studio's movies.

Oncor to sell cancer testOncor Inc. of Gaithersburg said yesterday that it has acquired an exclusive license to sell a new method for detecting tiny bits of cancer.The genetic test, developed by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is years away from widespread use. But yesterday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine described experiments showing that the technique could help to alert surgeons when they miss even a few cells of a cancerous tumor.Oncor said it will initially market the technique through its affiliate, OncorMed.

The good news: Gas prices are down just about everywhere. AAA, the auto club, says the national average is now less than $3 a gallon. The bad news: the lower prices likely won't last, because the OPEC countries are planning to cut back on production. For a moment, I was hoping that airlines would reduce fuel surcharges for trips to Europe and maybe even slash some add-on fees that were supposed to pay for higher fuel costs. The airlines are surely benefiting from the recent lower fuel costs; why shouldn't passengers?

FORT WORTH, Texas - All of the major airlines could be in bankruptcy by early next year if oil prices stay where they are, a new study predicts. The grim analysis by the consulting firm AirlineForecasts was commissioned by the Business Travel Coalition. Its author concludes that the airline industry is in a full-blown crisis "and heading toward a catastrophe." The study found that if fuel prices remain high: *The top 25 carriers will spend more than $28 billion more for fuel this year.

I'm never going to use my frequent-flier miles because of the hassles of getting a seat when I want it. Can I sell them? You can, although doing so will violate the rules of major airlines -- rules that you agree to when you join their programs. So we don't recommend doing this. If your carrier discovers you have sold miles, it can cancel your membership and any remaining miles you have in your account. How it works: When you sell miles, you go through a so-called coupon broker (you can find them on the Internet)

It may cost more to fly by the first of the year, and for a change, soaring fuel prices will not be entirely to blame. Passengers can blame higher ticket prices on terrorists. Airlines are facing the possible loss of a federal program that, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has provided carriers with less costly insurance than what they had been getting from insurance companies. The insurers, finding the risks too high, virtually abandoned the commercial aviation industry after hijacked passenger planes were rammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Annapolis-based ARINC Inc. said yesterday that it was seeking an infusion of capital to continue its growth in military, aviation and transportation communications technology. The company, founded in 1929, said it could not get the financing it needs from shareholders - primarily major airlines - so it was turning to private equity firms. Sale of the company is possible, a company spokeswoman said. "We really want to build on our double-digit growth momentum," said Linda Hartwig, the spokeswoman.

NEW YORK - American Airlines and four other U.S. carriers have matched Delta Air Lines Inc.'s lower fares, threatening to widen losses for the industry. American, the world's largest carrier, cut fares as much as 55 percent and ended requirements such as Saturday night stays, the airline said yesterday. Northwest Airlines Corp., United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. set comparable fares on Delta's routes, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com, a Web travel site. US Airways Group Inc., of Arlington, Va., also said it followed Delta's fare cuts.

Airlines discount faresMajor airlines yesterday announced a weeklong 30 percent average discount for fares between 16 U.S. cities and the rest of the country, and delayed an increase planned for tomorrow. Continental Airlines, which is trying to attract passengers while it works to complete its bankruptcy reorganization, started the discounting.Major airlines generally matched the cuts that offer discounts between Monday and Oct. 19 for trips through Dec. 15. The fares require a seven-day advance purchase.

Delta Air Lines chief executive Gerald Grinstein told employees this week that the financially strapped airline needed to reinvent itself to survive - a reinvention that needed to start with up to 7,000 fewer jobs. Reinvention is a popular word in the not-so-friendly skies. The question is whether Delta, US Airways and United Airlines have enough time, or the collective wills, to reinvent. With United in bankruptcy and struggling to get out, and Delta and US Airways both threatening to file if employees don't agree to concessions, the airline industry, after $25 billion in losses since 2001, stands on the verge of its biggest shakeout since the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War. In the competitive showdown between the established airlines and low-fare competitors, victory might be at hand for the upstarts.

US Airways plans a major overhaul of the way it flies, concentrating on direct flights to and from major airports on the East Coast and dismantling its hub in Pittsburgh, executives said yesterday. The carrier will also wade into the highly competitive New York-to-Florida market, they said. Those moves, which are meant to defend US Airways' share of traffic in its most valuable markets, will take effect in the autumn. But the airline warned that the plan, and the company's solvency, depended on cutting $800 million a year from employee wages and benefits.