August 29, 2008: What took the carrier so long?

Alitalia is a basket case.  The carrier should have been put out of its misery a long time ago; however, on Friday, August 29th, after many months (perhaps years) of speculation, the economic insult known as Alitalia has finally filed for bankruptcy protection.  Attempts to merge the carrier into stronger rivals, such as Air France or Lufthansa, failed as unions objected.  Other European companies would likely close down one of the Italian flag carrier's main hubs, Milan (MXP) leaving Rome (FCO) intact.  Alitalia has faced inordinate pressure from startup discount carriers against which the highly unionized behemoth hasn't been able to make the necessary, nimble response.  Plagued by mounting losses, the Alitalia couldn't service its debt despite generous–and under EU law, perhaps illegal–loans from the Italian government.   It was undoubtedly sustained high fuel expense coupled with a weakening global economy that finally pushed the carrier over the edge.  Losing an estimate $3 million a day, the carrier has asked the Italian government to appoint an administrator and was declared insolvent in a court in Rome.

Let's hope no one tries a rescue plan.  This airline needs to be shut down permanently!

August 29, 2008: Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for US president, has surprised many pundits in his selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.  Ms. Palin is the first Governor of Alaska born after the territory was admitted into the Union.  She is the consummate outsider, never having served in any capacity in Washington DC.   governor Palin is likely to appeal to the conservative base of the party: she is a lifelong member of the NRA, politically conservative, married with five children and pro-life.

Surprise, surprise: another discount carrier has bitten the dust.  This time it's Canadian carrier Zoom.  Zoom offered transatlantic service between points in North America and Europe.  It targeted, primarily, the leisure travel market; however, it did operate two classes of service in its fleet.

Zoom had only five aircraft, but did offer quite an extensive network.  It flew from Gatwick (LGW), Manchester (MAN), Belfast (BFS), Cardiff (CWL), Glasgow (GLA), Paris de Gaulle (CDG) and seasonal service from Rome da Vinci (FCO).  It flew into many airports in North America, though mainly Canada, and served Calgary (YYC),Halifax (YHZ),  Montreal (YUL), Ottawa (YOW), Toronto (YYZ), Vancouver (YVR), Winnipeg (YWG), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), New York (JFK) and San Diego (SAN).  The company flew three Boeing 767-300-ERs in a two class arrangement (62/207 for two aircraft and 63/207 for the third).  It's two B757-200s were configured 45/160 and 42/160.

The carrier ran into financial troubles stranding passengers at many airports.  A plane was impounded on Thursday in Glasgow for failure to pay air traffic control fees; another plane was grounded in Calgary.

Many people in and around Belfast used Zoom as an inexpensive way to travel to North America.  Continental Airlines [NYSE:CAL] is now the only carrier offering regularly scheduled service out of Belfast International.

Other carriers have offered discounted one-way fares for stranded Zoom passengers.

August 29, 2008: The Boston Tea Party, yep, it exists, has nominated University of Miami graduate and boxing coach, Charles Jay, as its presidential candidate for the November 2008 elections.   Jay, who stepped down as contender for the vice presidential spot on the 2004 Libertarian ticket to run for the Presidency under the Personal Choice Party banner, accepted the party's nomination at its online convention on June 16.  Jay's vice presidential running mate is Marilyn Chambers, a former adult movie star.

The Boston Tea Party is a libertarian movement founded in 2006.   The party platform is a single sentence: The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.

In a petition drive among voters in Alabama for inclusion on that state's ballots, the party adopted a somewhat unconventional approach.  It's not clear how many signatures were obtained during the wet T shirt competition!

You can learn more about the Boston Tea Party and its candidates here.