Airline Briefs: American Stays with Sabre for Reservations System

American Airlines today announced it will stay with Sabre Airline Solutions as its reservation system for the merged AA-US Airways.

US Airways currently uses HP’s SHARES system.

“The migration to one reservation platform in partnership with Sabre is a critical milestone in the merger integration process, and lays the groundwork for customers and employees alike to have a seamless experience throughout the travel journey,” American’s chief information officer, Maya Leibman, said in a statement.

The full conversion is expected to take up to two years, officials said.

Sabre Airline Solutions president Hugh Jones said he is pleased to broaden Sabre's long-standing technology relationship with American Airlines.

“American Airlines has laid out an exciting vision for transforming the airline passenger experience and we'll be working closely with them over the coming months to bring this to life using our data-rich, flexible technology solutions,” Jones said. “We've got a team of technology and delivery experts working on the migration plan to ensure the new airline reservations system delivers a truly personalized travel experience across the entire journey.”

Kerry Philipovitch, senior vice president of customer experience at American, added, "A single passenger services system will allow us to empower all employees to deliver information faster and with greater consistency across all touch points -- and ultimately pave the way for new innovations in how we deliver customer service in the years to come."

LiveTV Says it Meets New FAA Requirements For Bird-Strike Testing

Melbourne, Fla.-based in-flight connectivity provider LiveTV says it has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certificate approval on a more stringent requirement for bird strike testing for large domes.

The domes are mounted on the top of aircraft and are used for live television, satellite connectivity, inflight entertainment and other uses. These radomes are in service on Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900 and JetBlue's Airbus A320 aircraft with broadband WiFi.

Previously, the FAA accepted a probability analysis for test validation and did not require a physical bird strike for domes on the top of aircraft. However, the FAA recently advised LiveTV and others that actual bird strike tests would be required to demonstrate that a flight could be successfully completed with structural damage sustained when a radome is struck by a four-pound bird at speeds of over 400 miles per hour.

Tests were conducted on LiveTV's radome, which was co-developed with General Dynamics Ordinance and Tactical Systems.

"This is an outstanding accomplishment for LiveTV and a tribute to what can be accomplished when government regulators raise the bar in the interest of public safety and the industry works in collaboration by leveraging technical advances in manufacturing to meet a common goal," Nick Drivas, LiveTV Vice President of Corporate Quality and Certification, said in a release.

"We were excited for the opportunity to work with LiveTV to develop a radome solution that could perform across the wide frequency bandwidth while achieving bird strike survivability requirements mandated by the FAA," Geoff Caywood, Senior Manager, Business Development for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems' Advanced Materials group, said in the same release.

LiveTV is a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue Airways. Current customers include JetBlue, United, Frontier, Alitalia, Virgin Australia, WestJet and Azul.

Southwest Airlines Announces First Branded International Flights

Southwest Airlines made a major move today, as the carrier announced it would begin selling seats on its first-ever scheduled international Southwest-branded flights.

The carrier will fly to Aruba, The Bahamas and Jamaica beginning July 1.

"As our customers seamlessly click through southwest.com to make these historic bookings today, our people celebrate the final lap in the journey to make possible our international future,” Southwest

Chairman, President & CEO Gary Kelly said in a statement. Beginning July 1, 2014, Southwest Airlines will operate daily, nonstop flights between:

Atlanta and Aruba, and Montego Bay

Baltimore/Washington and Aruba, Nassau, and (twice daily) Montego Bay

Orlando and (Saturday only) Aruba, and Montego Bay

In this first phase of the Southwest's international conversion plan, wholly owned subsidiary AirTran Airways will continue service between Atlanta and Nassau, between Chicago Midway and Montego Bay, as well as flights to/from Cancun, Los Cabos, and Mexico City, Mexico, and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

By the end of 2014, the carrier plans to complete the launch of Southwest Airlines service to the remaining four international destinations on the Company's network route map of 96 destinations in six countries. Both carriers' full flight schedules are now open for booking through Aug. 8, 2014.

"Southwest Airlines democratized the sky from our first flights more than four decades ago," Kelly said. "Today's milestone enables us to reach new territory, new customers, and build upon a four decade foundation of doing right by the travelers who trust our value and our people."