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Show - .2 S l The National Enterprise, May 11, 1977 to Denver? Half-far- e : ; Continued from page one travellers to be recruited from the highways or the rails. There are some days we absolutely couldnt give seats .d is ; 4 JtS Page eleven planes going, and three coming back. All others are full fare. Avoid inconvenience away! Of the three airlines left in the Sait Lake Denver price war, two claim to be flying high. .U Texas International found it also had to limit the number of Peanut Fare seats on its flight, not so much as to e traffic as to protect its full-far- Just for fun x to Denswitching its half-far- e ver flight from the early morning to the late evening. "Our business traffic is the heart of our operation, and we e cant afford to lose passengers on those kinds of Pleasure travel is flights. something you can play around with, and thats what avoid inconveniencing its customers and con"We necting customers. originally allowed any passenger flying on a Peanut Fare route for any reason to use the fare, says Bergand, "but we have now disallowed the fare for passengers continuing beyond the Peanut were doing by switching flights. long-ha- ul In spite of its original pro- tests, Frontier Airlines has happily found itself in the winners circle. "Weve found that if the fare is low enough, people will come out of the woodwork to fly to Denver, says James Judd, Frontiers top man in Salt Lake City. Were getting all kinds of new customers, and & theyre flying for reasons people dont usually fly. Businessmen are taking the wife and kids along, says ,3 Judd, and people are flying to Denver just to take the train &V- ?' 4 ri Fare destination. Bergand says some passengers on longer trips couldnt get reservations on one leg of the flight, because it was crowded with half-far- e passengers. :.sf back to Salt Lake City. Frontier's passenger load facextor before the half-pric-e periment was 57 percent, according to Judd, one percent abve the average break-eve- n industrys load fac- tor, and well above Frontiers point. Frontier netted $1.25 million in profit in 1976, Judd says, largely because of Tless expensive equipment and lower operating costs than the major airlines. J break-eve- n 3 4' ? w "We are not stealing business from the competition," says Needless to say, Murray is not happy with the whole concept e of fares, preferring instead "some kind of reasonable discount. Concept oriTexas International ginator found it "couldnt compete." Murray says, and so cooked up the Peanut Fare scheme knowing full well the CAB would jump at it. "Hell, knows that you can anybody sell as many tickets as you want if you give them away." Murray doesnt see that much half-pric- new traffic being generated, either, attributing many of the "new Bergand. "Our studies show we are generating new customers who couldnt previously fly because the price was too high. passengers to switchovers from United after that Western market, half-far- e Airlines Salt finds Lake-Denv- its "Sure, we now have eight or nine new sengers pas- on our morning according to Wes- flight, terns Grant Murray, "but weve accomplished The passenger load factor since the Peanut Fare has gone up considerably on the Salt route, and the amazing feat of shifting our e traffic to previous ,q '?! Lake-Denv- er the manager says that's without making big cuts in the e traffic. So as routes e not to destroy its business traffic or crowd out connecting and ongoing passengers, Frontier allows only full-far- full-far- . 20 half-pric- e reservations until 24 hours before departure time, at which time all unsold seats are opened to the reduced rate. Of seven round trips to Denver each day, a: c Frontier offers two half-pric- e Our break-eve- n load factor was a nice 56 percent and growing, but now its shot up to 90 percent. Murray won't limit the numseats on his ber of half-far- e planes because he feels its Western, discriminatory. unlike its competitors, didn't cancel its meal and other fringe benefits on the half-far- e flights, trying to go "one-u- p on Texas International and half-far- pull-ou- t. What now, Western? "We dont need this plane in this says Murray. "Were going to string along er flights nursing their wounded tail-feathe- rs. airlines with Texas International on this one, but only up to a point. If that point comes, well shift this aircraft to the L.A. Seattle or San Francisco Minneapolis routes, where we can make some money." full-far- . Ferguson by Director of Marketing, Salt Lake International Center full-far- - f. y Doing Business Abroad James E. Quit? No dice e. Frontier. Business is our bread n butter Murray says Western is Murray would prefer to see Texas International withdraw its Peanut Fare proposal and let things return to normal. "Not much chance of that, says Texas Internationals We started this Bergand. thing with six markets, and weve expanded it to 32. Although we have to renew the proposal with the CAB after one year, I think its obvious theyre going to go along with it because theyve allowed us to expand to 32 markets. The insurance provided by the Foreign Credit Insurance Association mentioned in my last column should not be confused with the following discussion on insurance. FCIA insurance provides protection against nonpayment. Marine cargo insurance provides protection against shipping and handling hazards. Marine cargo insurance, despite the name, is not exclusively for ocean shipments, but covers air exports as well. Depending on the terms of the sales contract, the buyer or seller may be responsible for obtaining insurance. In cases where the buyer is responsible for the insurance, the exporter should ascertain the extent of coverage to assure his interests will be protected. The contingency policy may be drawn by the exporter to compensate for insufficient coverage as arranged by the buyer. The exporter who normally quotes on terms which place on him the responsibility to secure insurance coverage may wish to arrange though an insurance agent for an "open or "blanket policy on all cargo shipped at his risk. The rates are usually lower and individual insurance estimates and approval need not e be obtained for each shipment. The policy is practical for the manufacturer or distributor with a low export volume. In the latter case, it may be to your advantage to let the freight forwarder make the insurance arrangements. Otherwise, is having your own insurance agent more desirable. one-tim- Insurance on exports is more encompassing than for domestic shipments. It includes the invoice value of the goods, export An packing, freight forwarding fees, and freight rates. is generally included to cover the profit additional 10 of damage or loss. If insurance is to be in case percentage claimed on more than 110, an explanation may be required. It is advisable to include political risk coverage on foreign trade insurance. With all the sources available to locate importers and finance and insure foreign sales, there is no reason for the aggressive businessman to forego opportunities for international marketing. Exports are always a welcomed asset to the economy, and especially so in times of recession when domestic markets arc depressed, and foreign markets are open for exploration. The American exporter has many advantages over foreign industrialists. He should utilize them to the maximum. ScoBra T ravel Domestic and International Airline Ticketing, Hotel Reservations, Rental Car Reservations, Airline ReserOcean Travel Arrangements. vations, ALL OF THIS AT ABSOLUTELY NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. Thats right!!! It does not cost you one cent more to utilize the services of ScoBra Travel over going directly to the Carrier. WHY NOT USE THE Bus-Rail-a- nd COMPANY THAT PERFORMS CUSTOMER!! FOR YOU - THE The score at the end of the first few hands: Two airlines ahead, one behind, and one cashing in its chips and leaving the table. That has a subtle similarity to the predictions of Trans-Worl- d Airlines president Ed Meyer in his comments on proposed of on He said commercial airlines. (low-cothe airlines) would fly away "fly-by-nighte- st rs with the business, causing the . remaining carriers to lose money and eventually pull out of the critical markets. The CAB is looking for i 'i n an operating, coal mine. Also interested in oil, coal and uranium deposits. Carpenter Realty, Suite 208, 444 South State, Salt Lake City, (801)521-739non-unio- 1. de- regulations experiments, says Westerns Murray, and is watching the Salt situation closely. "You bctcha," he worries, "there is more at stake here than peanuts. Lake-Denv- er OF PROFESSIONALS -FOR PROFESSIONALS 455 S. 300 East 100 (801) 355-681- 6 m |