Troubled Independence looking at agents to fill seats
Independence Air, the low-cost airline which serves 39 cities, originally planned to sell tickets only through its Web site and 1-800 number, is now turning to travel agents.
Despite cheap fares, I-Air’s planes have been flying at less than half full. Now, management plans a revamp of ticket distribution, and reduced capacity to some markets.
The carrier will make tickets available through its first GDS, Galileo, who said it would become the first GDS to provide inventory of over 600 daily low-fare flights on Independence Air.
The carrier also plans to raise its average ticket prices from a one-way average in the $60 to the mid-$70 range.
Independence posted third-quarter losses of $83 million, compared with a $23 million profit a year earlier when it was still flying as a United regional carrier known as Atlantic Coast. Wall street analysts believe the carrier may go to bankruptcy as early as January.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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