The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ I HEART HUCKABEES - OPENING IN SELECT CITIES OCTOBER 1 From David O. Russell, writer and director of THREE KINGS and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER comes an existential comedy starring Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Hupert, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts. Watch the trailer now at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/huckabees/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Airline Food August 31, 2004 JOE SHARKEY AIRLINE FOOD Two years after free meals became largely a memory (good or bad) in the coach cabins of many domestic flights, American Airlines is considering joining competitors that started selling meals to passengers after eliminating free meals during the post-9/11 slump in business. American said it would begin testing in-flight food sales in September on selected flights, including some between Dallas and New York and New York and Phoenix. Meals will cost $5 to $7. If the tests are successful and American expands the service throughout its domestic schedule, the airline, the world's largest, will join most major airlines and a handful of low-cost carriers in selling food in coach on some or all flights. (In business and first class, free meals are still the norm.) Among the major carriers, only Continental still serves free meals in coach on most domestic flights. FUEL PRICES The airlines insist they are not crying wolf about the trouble that high oil prices are causing. "While the soaring price of fuel is a huge problem for the economy, it is rapidly becoming a catastrophe for the airline industry," according to a letter to Congress signed by the chairmen of most domestic airlines. The letter states that at current prices, the fuel bill this year for the nation's airlines will be $6 billion more than it would have been with last year's prices. The letter, sent under the aegis of the Air Transport Association, asks for oversight hearings to review the "feverish speculation" in oil markets. "We are convinced," the letter says, "that the only thing that will stop the wild increase in prices is fear by the speculators that the U.S. government is ready to step in with actions that could either increase supply or reduce demand." BIGGER LITTLE PLANES Relief is on the way for frequent fliers who hate regional jets, which typically have about 50 seats crammed into a cabin with little legroom or overhead space. Airlines are kicking the tires on a new breed of higher-capacity 70-to-120-seat regional jets with more comfortable interiors (and more efficient engines). Manufacturers will produce 387 regional jets this year, and that number will include "a progressively higher proportion of larger capacity aircraft" than in recent years, says Forecast International, an aviation research company. During the next 10 years, production of 70-to-120-seat regional jets will be "particularly dynamic," it says. Two aircraft makers, Bombardier and Embraer, have recently introduced such aircraft: the Embraer 190 and 195, now in production, and the CRJ-900. Boeing's 717-200 and Airbus's A318 aircraft are also designed to compete in that growing market, Forecast International says. BUSINESS IN VIETNAM Millions of Vietnam veterans passed through the dusty Tan Son Nhut airfield in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, in the days when it was mostly a busy military base. In a further sign that Vietnam has now become a business-travel center in Southeast Asia, construction started last week on a $220 million terminal that will increase the airport's capacity to as much as 17 million passengers a year, according to the news service Asia Pulse. LABOR DAY CROWDS AAA is predicting "potentially record high" travel this Labor Day weekend. That includes an 11 percent increase from a year earlier in the number of air travelers, to 3.9 million, the automobile association says. JOE SHARKEY http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/business/31memo.html?ex=1094965113&ei=1&en=2024d9baa28dd4af --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company