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August Jobs Numbers: A 40-year high in inflation and an uptick in interest rates by the Federal Reserve weren’t enough to dampen the optimism of employers, who added 315,000 new jobs this August to their payrolls, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The pandemic’s hardest-hit sector, leisure & hospitality, slowed a bit for the last month of summer, adding only 31,000 jobs, but professional and business services, health care, and retail all led the report. Despite the strong job growth, sectors like tech and housing have announced hiring freezes, at least in the short term, with some tech companies shedding jobs altogether. Tesla, TikTok, Twitter, Lyft, Netflix, and Coinbase have all announced recent layoffs. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.7 percent.
Sources: BLS, Bloomberg
‘Quiet Quitting’ Becomes the Latest Internet Trend: Is quiet quitting the inevitable next phase of the Great Resignation? If you haven’t heard of the fad, which was made popular by TikTok, it can be boiled down to the effort of employees to set boundaries at work, either because of burnout or the perception of being taken advantage of by their employer. Proponents say they are still doing their job to the fullest—but are no longer going above and beyond for anything that doesn’t net additional compensation or promotion, while opponents worry that it means a lack of investment in the job or company and could lead to a disengaged workforce. Although this has been rising among younger workers, previous generations have had their own rebellious attitudes toward work-life balance in the past. Judging by the modest increases in pay and high productivity rates over the past 50 years, save for the recent post-COVID bumps, it should be interesting to see if it’s a flash in the pan like their predecessors, or something that employers should take seriously for overall job satisfaction moving forward—especially as unionization has become a hot topic again. At least one productivity company, Zapier, thinks employers should lean in.
Sources: BLS, CNN, Zapier, NPR
Complaints Tick Upward for Air Travel: You likely already know how frustrating this summer has been for passengers experiencing delayed or cancelled flights, which has largely been blamed on lack of airline and airport crews, so it’s no surprise that grievances are sky-high. According to the US Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report, passengers lobbied more than 5,800 complaints against airlines in June alone, which was up nearly 35 percent over May 2022, and a whopping 270 percent over June 2019. Topping the list were flight problems (delayed or cancelled flights), having to fight for refunds, and mishandled baggage, although issues of discrimination, disability, and bumped overseas flights also made the cut. You can read the report here. Did you experience your own delay or cancellation? The DOT has published a "dashboard" that links you to your rights as a passenger for the 10 major US carriers.
Source: DOT
Could Prepaying for a Flight Be a Thing of the Past?: Speaking of passenger complaints for ticket refunds, you may be able to do something about it—well, if you live in Germany, that is. The German state of Lower Saxony has floated the idea of Pay as You Fly (PAYF) ticketing where you are charged only when you check in the day of travel to ensure that the airline hasn’t oversold your seat and the flight is still on schedule. Lufthansa—Germany’s flagship carrier, of course—debuted the program for its business class customers last year, but the idea isn’t a new one. Spurned passengers and corporations have been cautious about paying upfront since the bankruptcy of Air Berlin in 2017, where companies lost thousands in unused tickets for their business travelers. The downside? Ticket prices might be a bit higher. No word on whether domestic US carriers are considering, although a 2021 study conducted for travel company Amadeus found that more than 60 percent of flyers would embrace PAYF if available for their travel.
Sources: Yahoo, Amadeus
[09.05.22]
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The American Bus Association Foundation (ABAF) recently released its Motorcoach Builders Survey for Q2 2022, which tracks the sales of the major motorcoach manufacturers based in the US and Canada. The trend indicates that these manufacturers continue to lose their footing on post-COVID recovery, as sales fell 9 percent below where they were during the same period of Q2 2021. This follows a positive Q1 2022, where sales were 11 percent higher than 2021.
According to the survey, “the participating manufacturers sold 284 new and 112 preowned coaches, for a total of 396 motorcoaches. This compares with 497 during the second quarter of 2021. In a reversal from the first quarter, the bulk of new coach sales were made to private companies such as charter companies and scheduled coach service providers. Private companies accounted for 64 percent of new coach sales. Prior to the COVID lockdowns, private motorcoach operators purchased an average of about 400 new coaches each quarter.”
ABA President & CEO Peter Pantuso
The full report can be found here.
“The motorcoach industry is still struggling to recover from the COVID pandemic,” said ABAF President Peter Pantuso. “While tourism is rebounding, and charters have improved, huge segments of the industry, particularly commuter services; special services for field trips, school, and collegiate sporting events; and major spectator events are still operating at depressed levels.”
The association continues its advocacy for the motorcoach industry, which it calls the greenest and most affordable transportation sector as it moved more than 600 million passengers annually prior to the pandemic.
Visit buses.org for more information.
[09.06.22]
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Motor Coach Industries (MCI) has announced the delivery of 10 2023 model year MCI J4500 coaches to Cline Tours, marking the operator’s 300th motorcoach and MCI’s 10,000th J4500 built on its production line in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cline Tours has been an MCI customer since 1996.
2023 MCI J4500 Coach
For its newest luxury J4500 coaches, Cline Tours selected the optional 360-degree cameras for a bird’s eye view around the coach; the RGB variable lighting package offering programable interior color options; and the optional next-generation Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) by Bendix Wingman Fusion, providing collision mitigation, lane departure, and traffic sign recognition.
“We are very pleased to celebrate production of our 10,000th J4500, a big milestone, and to do so with customer Cline Tours,” said MCI Vice President Private Sector Sales and Marketing Brent Maitland. “Cline Tours’ consistent selection of MCI’s J-Series speaks to the quality of the model, the relationship between our companies, and MCI’s responsiveness in providing reliable parts service and support. We appreciate the confidence Cline Tours has in MCI and we are committed to continuing our great relationship as Cline Tours continues to grow.”
Cline Tours chooses the J-Series because of the models’ reliability and fleet uniformity between its locations, according to Cline Tours President John McCommon. The operator has a diverse fleet of 230 vehicles, including mini buses, school buses, more than one hundred 45-foot MCI J4500 vehicles, and six 35-foot MCI J3500 coaches that operate from nine locations in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
“If you see one Cline Tours coach, you’ve seen them all,” McCommon said. “So many of our moves require multiple coaches. It’s important to our customers: They like the same look.”
Having launched the MCI J4500 in 2001, the model has been the industry’s best-selling model since 2004. Since then, the J4500 has undergone several redesigns, including a recent interior update that provides a more spacious cabin and industry-leading legroom. MCI also introduced a 35-foot version of the J-Series featuring all the styling and performance benefits of the 45-foot J4500. In 2019, Cline Tours was among the first operators to add six MCI J3500 coaches to its fleet.
“With regards to MCI, they are a totally first-class operation,” McCommon said. “We don’t have many issues with our J coaches and if we do, MCI jumps in to fix things. They supported us through COVID, and we’ve had a lot of other factors helping us to be in a substantially much better place today.”
To celebrate the production and delivery milestones, MCI showcased its 10,000th J4500 coach at the International Motorcoach Coach Group (IMG) Strategic Annual Meeting on August 9-12, 2022, in Arlington, Texas. The meeting brought together IMG’s tour and charter operator members throughout North America, including Cline Tours, for business, educational, and networking sessions. IMG members are an elite group of 54 leading operators throughout North America that adhere to strict safety and operational standards to ensure the highest levels of service performance.
Visit mcicoach.com for more information.
[09.02.22]