GSA Awards Contracts for Federal Discounted Airfares

GSA #10038

August 22, 2003
Contact: Viki Reath (202) 501-1231
viki.reath@gsa.gov

WASHINGTON--In a move expected to produce significant savings in Federal travel costs in FY 2004, the General Services Administration (GSA) today announced the winners of its City Pair airline contracts, which makes discounted fares available to federal travelers on 4,346 routes.

GSA negotiated rates with 14 U.S. airlines for official federal government travelers on 3,829 domestic and 517 international routes. The City Pair contracts will continue to make hassle-free airfares available to Federal travelers that are 74 percent lower than unrestricted coach fares offered to the general public. "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.

Each year since 1980, GSA's Federal Supply Service has awarded contracts for air transportation services for official government travel under the City Pair program. The contracts are competitively awarded, based on the best overall value to the government. Average flight time, offered price, type of service, flight distribution, and numbers of flights are all considered in determining the best value.

This year, both unrestricted, "walk-up" fares and capacity-controlled fares will continue to be offered in more than 2,000 markets. Capacity-controlled fares, available on a first-come, first-served basis, are restricted only by the number of seats available at that reduced fare. These capacity-controlled fares will enable Government travelers to save even more money when they book reservations early. Also, unrestricted contract fares will continue to be available to federal travelers in all markets.

GSA's City Pair Program continues to give Federal travelers' several other advantages over commercial restricted coach fares. Some of the biggest advantages are last- seat availability, fully refundable tickets, no charge for cancellations and schedule changes, and no change in the unrestricted fare price throughout the length of the contract, enabling agencies to better plan their travel budgets.

The contract awards and prices are effective October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004.

Under the City Pair Program, two contract rates are awarded. The first contract rate is an unrestricted fare called a "YCA" fare. These fares have no restrictions attached to them and are fully refundable. Examples of some of the best discounts obtained include:

Market YCA
Washington (National)/Chicago $78
Washington (Dulles)/Los Angeles $152

The second contract rate is a capacity controlled fare called a "_CA" fare. _CA has an even deeper discount than a YCA fare. _CA fares have a limited number of seats, but no other restrictions. _CA availability varies by carrier and market, and offers the very best discounts if the Federal traveler can book early. Some best examples include:

Market YCA _CA
Washington (National)/Dallas $269 $189
Atlanta/Baltimore $122 $92
Norfolk/San Diego $165 $120
Washington/Huntsville $199 $149
Dallas/Frankfurt $374 $210
Seattle/Tokyo $300 $175

Discounts are generally greater in larger markets.

In the evaluation criteria, considerable weight was given to customers' strong preference for non-stop service. Non-stop service was awarded in 1,567 markets which is 96% of markets where nonstop was offered.
Awards were made to the following airlines:

Carrier No. of City Pairs Estimated $ Value
Delta Air Lines 999 $210,888,462
United Air Lines 830 $205,078,620
American Airlines 1,019 $201,699,246
US Airways 428 $103,461,439
Northwest Airlines 320 $54,469,825
Continental Airlines 156 $39,157,073
Southwest Airlines 257 $35,179,406
Alaska Airlines 93 $26,491,800
America West Airlines 151 $19,844,729
Hawaiian Airlines 8 $11,415,405
Midwest Airlines 38 $6,240,588
AirTran Airways 33 $4,903,604
Frontier Airlines 3 $815,965
ATA 11 $551,998
TOTAL 4,346 $920,198,160

GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency comprising, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public by acquiring their office space, equipment, telecommunications, information technology, supplies and services. GSA serves more than 1 million federal workers in 8,000 buildings in 2,000 U.S. communities.