GSA awards 2004 city-pair air travel contracts
The cost of plane tickets for federal travelers will be even lower in fiscal 2004 under the new $920 million city-pair airline contracts awarded in August by the General Services Administration.
Federal travelers will spend an average of 74 percent less than unrestricted coach fare tickets offered to the general public when they use designated city-pair routes. "In an industry where economic issues are well-documented, we are very pleased to achieve such significant discounts for the federal government," said GSA's Federal Supply Service Commissioner Donna Bennett.
FSS annually awards the city-pair airline contracts to make cheap rates available for those traveling on government business. The contracts are awarded competitively, with awards based on the best overall value to the government. The best-value decision is determined on the basis of average flight time, the offered price, flight distribution and number of flights. This year's contract awards amount to more than $157 million less than last year's awards.
Nearly 5,000 city-pair routes will be available to federal fliers in fiscal 2004. Discounted rates include a $78 one-way fare from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Chicago and a $152 one-way fare from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles. These unrestricted, or YCA, fares require no advance purchase and have no minimum or maximum stay requirements, travel time limits, charges for cancellations or blackout periods.
A second rate, the capacity controlled (CA) fare, is also offered through the program. The CA fares are even lower than the already discounted federal rates. For example, a one-way YCA fare from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Dallas is $269. The CA fare for the same route costs $80 less. The CA fares are available only for a limited number of seats and federal travelers have to book early. There are no cancellation fees on the specially discounted fares. Travelers can still buy tickets under standard government rates at the last minute if seats are available, and unrestricted standard fares will continue to be available in the test markets.
The following airlines were awarded city-pair contracts: Air Tran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, America Trans Air, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Midwest Express Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.