In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week…

• Delta Air Lines will be laying off 200 employees, the majority of which from their headquarters in Atlanta. This combined with another 2,000 employees taking voluntary buyouts, the airline claims soft demand, fuel prices and reduced capacity make the workforce reductions necessary.
• Engineers at Qantas have proceeded with one-hour work stoppages causing 17 flights to be delayed or cancelled this past Monday. Brisbane was the first city where the mini-strikes were held, with Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne planned to follow. I didn’t, however, read of any other cancellations or delays for the rest of the week. As they should, the carrier is refusing to pay engineers overtime pay for the planned hour work stoppage. Come on unions… stop being so childish.
• The first Boeing 747-8 in Lufthansa colors rolled out of the Boeing paint shop. She’s a sexy bird in my opinion and I’ll look forward to booking a trip on it as the 747 is still my favorite airplane. Lufty ordered a total of 20 of the now longest passenger jet in the world and will begin taking delivery of them next spring.
• The first Disney property opened in Hawaii last week on the western side of Oahu about 25 miles from resort heavy Waikiki. Obviously catering to families, the price point for the Aulani resort is pretty steep with the lowest rates in October being $549 per night for a single as compared to the nearby JW Marriott Ihilani resort of $269 to $459 per night. The first ever teen-only spa at the property features frozen yogurt, Xbox Kinect fitness activites and even manicures and pedicures.
• While American Airlines and Sabre have extended their content agreement, the carrier filed a new complaint with the courts alleging the GDS “organized an unlawful group boycott against American.” The papers are heavily redacted, so there’s no publicly available detail into exactly what that supposed boycott entailed. No court date has been set for the original complaint that claims Sabre biased fares, blocked direct connect abilities and raised booking fees among other items.
• U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claims we’ll eventually be able to leave our shoes on here in America when passing through security. Many news outlets jumped on the story and I’m afraid some of them made it sound like it would be happening very soon. The original plan was to have a shoe scanner system in airports by 2015, but no decision has been made as to whether or not they’ll proceed with that technology.
• The U.S. Transportation Security Adminisration will be continuing full speed ahead with the Federal Air Marshal (FAM) and federal flight deck officer programs (FFDO). While no actual threats have been averted due to the programs, the TSA claims both are “success stories” and part of the “nation’s multi-layered approach to transportation security.” I’m all for the volunteer pilots who carry weapons, but think it should be extended to international flights. Restrictions by foreign countries prohibit the practice.
• US Airways is in talks with Airbus to see if the A321neo (new engine option) could be modified to become the replacement for the carrier’s aging 757 fleet. Currently, the A321 doesn’t have the range, power and fuel capacity for some of the carrier’s longest haul markets such as Phoenix-Honolulu, Charlotte-Dublin and Philadephia-Lisbon.