Business briefs for September 7, 2001

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Big LV airline cuts fares

TEMPE, Ariz. -- American West Airlines -- the second-largest carrier in Las Vegas -- has cut fares to all its 92 destinations and is offering an additional 5 percent discount when flights are booked online.

Tickets may be booked for travel from Sept. 18 through Feb. 13, 2002, but must be purchased by Sept. 17.

"It's typical in the industry for airlines to have fare sales periodically and it's about this time of year that airlines will initiate sales for the fall and winter travel period," said America West spokeswoman Janice Monahan. "We're coming off the summer travel season, which is our peak season."

America West reported record revenue passenger miles in July, up 6 percent from July 2000, and a record passenger load factor of 79.4 percent, up 1.4 points from the same month last year.

Frequent-flier Internet program extended

Southwest Airlines, the largest passenger air carrier serving McCarran International Airport, has extended through June 30 the issuance of double credits for Internet flight bookings on its Rapid Rewards frequent-flier program.

Airline plans seasonal service to Las Vegas

Canada's largest airline will offer new seasonal service between Las Vegas and four Canadian cities beginning next month.

The company announced it would offer twice-a-week flights to and from Montreal; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Calgary, Alberta; starting Oct. 25. It also will increase its flights between Las Vegas and Toronto from nine a week to 12 starting Oct. 28.

The move is part of an Air Canada initiative to add service to meet seasonal leisure travel demands for Canadians. The company launched new routes and added flights to Hawaii, Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean and Las Vegas as part of its "winter sun schedule."

Air Canada's Montreal route will be a new nonstop destination to and from Las Vegas and the company offers the only nonstop flights to and from Toronto. The company will compete with Alaska Airlines on the Vancouver route and with upstart Canada 3000 to Vancouver and Calgary.

LV carrier adds Miami, drops N.Y. flights

National Airlines will add a nonstop round-trip flight between Las Vegas and Miami, but drop one of its five round trips to New York to accommodate the change.

The Las Vegas-based carrier, which began serving Miami International Airport with two daily flights Jan. 27, 2000, will discontinue one its flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport beginning Oct. 26.

Airline spokesman Dik Shimizu said the company would re-evaluate the schedule next spring to determine if the New York flight would be reinstated or if a similar seasonal switch with the Miami route would occur. He said the company could keep both flights if it acquires another aircraft.

The new flight will leave McCarran International Airport at 9:50 a.m., arriving in Miami at 5:20 p.m. The return flight leaves Miami at 6:40 p.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 8:50 p.m.

National flies a fleet of 16 twin-engine, 175-passenger Boeing 757 jets with service between Las Vegas and 10 destinations.

Hotel, condo complex proposed

A high-rise mixed-use complex, comprised of a hotel, condominiums, office space and a retail center, has been proposed for the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.

In plans filed with the Clark County Planning Commission, Majestic Resorts Inc., owned by Lawrence and Edward Doumani, proposed the construction of the complex at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Convention Center Drive, currently the site of the La Concha Motel. This 5.5-acre site is located between the Riviera and the shuttered Silver City casino.

The Planning Commission approved these plans Thursday evening.

The complex's tallest building would be a 645-foot, 45-story tower, containing 148 condominium units and 28,000 square feet of office space, the plans indicate. Also planned is a 520-foot, 38-story, 384-room hotel tower, with 27,000 square feet of meeting and public space and 12,400 square feet in office support areas. The final component is a 104,000-square-foot shopping center with "seating areas, ponds and water features."

The plans also show "torch/flame elements ... atop gazebo structures" on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Because of the height of the buildings, the plans must receive the approval of the Clark County Director of Aviation before building permits can be issued, planning commission staff said.

Rivals complain about decision

Leaders of the computing industry said that the Justice Department's decision Thursday to abandon its effort to break up Microsoft would leave the company little constrained by any resulting restrictions.

"What can they possibly come up with that can frighten Microsoft enough to change its behavior that it's been developing for decades?" said Benjamin D. Black, a principal of the Rosewood Venture Group, a venture capital firm in San Francisco. "I still won't invest in companies that are directly in front of Microsoft's development path."

Microsoft's rivals hope that, having had Microsoft declared a monopolist, the Justice Department can still establish restrictions that will foster competition. "It will be hard, but I think it's possible," said Mitchell Pettit, president of ProComp, a trade association representing many Microsoft competitors.

For the company's business partners, including computer makers, the possibility of regulation has already helped them win concessions from Microsoft on the design of Windows XP, the latest version of its operating system.

Microsoft recently began shipping Windows XP to computer manufacturers. The company has allowed computer makers to add items of their own choosing to the Windows desktop, including icons for access to the America Online Internet service.

Roger Frizzell, a spokesman for Compaq Computer, which has a partnership with Microsoft, said his company was relieved that the Windows XP release would not be delayed. "Anything that would have delayed that would have been disastrous for the industry," he said.

But some others in the industry viewed the Justice Department's announcement as an indication that prosecutors are ready to move quickly to put some restrictions in place. "The Department of Justice is prepared to take a hard look at Windows XP and will pursue a quickly imposed remedy to open up competition on the desktop," said John Buckley, a spokesman for AOL Time Warner, the owner of Netscape.

Industry experts were reviewing the possible remedies, including rules on what features could be included with Windows and whether the secret source code for Windows could be made available to rivals.

"Will government regulation reduce Microsoft's ability to wield its monopoly to crush competitors?" said Alex Edelstein, the managing director of the Angel Investment Fund in San Francisco, who left Microsoft to work for Netscape while those two companies were battling for dominance in the market for Internet browsers. "It depends on the limits and how they're monitored."