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Monday PM Daily | November 18, 2019
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United bucks big-plane trend, offers legroom, places for carry-ons
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United Airlines has started service to Chicago from Des Moines on one of its newest regional jets, offering more room for legs and roller bags, and self-serve treats for first-class customers.
The Bombardier CRJ-550 is United’s first 50-passenger jet with a separate first-class cabin, and the airline added a built-in kiosk where hungry and thirsty first-class passengers who can’t wait for flight attendants to serve them can grab something on the way in. The first-class cabin has bigger-than-usual legroom.
Each passenger on the jet will find a spot for a roller bag aboard, thanks to added storage along
the floor of the cabin.
United took 20 seats out of a 70-passenger jet to free space, hoping to lure customers from other airlines while serving its loyal fans.
In addition to 10 first-class seats, the jet has 20 Economy Plus seats with a half-foot or so of extra legroom. The rest of the area has a standard configuration, but with new colors and new seats.
Taking seats out seems
counterintuitive, but Nick Depner, director of Midwest sales for United, in an interview said United hopes to make up that revenue by selling more in first class. Overall, fares will be set by demand.
Is this a trend that might lead to fewer seats on other United planes? "We’ll have to see," Depner said. "It’s definitely bucking the trend of what the rest of the industry is doing as far as packing more seats in the aircraft."
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In the past two decades, many of the airlines had given up bringing big planes into Des Moines, opting instead for regional jets that had fewer seats but were cheaper to operate. In the past couple of years, and continuing now, airlines have been replacing older jets with ones that have been on the big side. In a place like Des Moines, where customers fill the vast majority of seats offered, going to a smaller jet for the Chicago runs bucks a national trend toward bigger jets thought to improve the economics of flights.
Depner said the experiment had a lot to do with customers’ complaints that they don’t want to wait in the cold sky bridge for their gate-checked bags they had intended to carry on before the plane filled.
"That was the number one thing we heard," he said.
Of course, legroom is a much sought-after perk of air travel. The new jet, 18 feet longer than United’s other 50-passenger planes, has more legroom per seat than any other 50-passenger jet, Depner said.
All flights between Des Moines and Chicago will have premium service available, he added. The first-class cabin is unusual for a plane that small.
"The 50-passenger size is the right number of seats for the right time a day for the market," Depner said. "In the future, you are still going to see a lot of [bigger jets] flying out of Des Moines, but that is going to be in the morning and the early afternoons and evenings. Those are peak travel times that connect to other flights." A 1 p.m. flight might use the 50-passenger planes for quick trips to Chicago, perhaps returning the same day.
Depner said the move gives Des Moines passengers a choice of going first class to Chicago, and on their connecting flights. "This plane in particular gives us the opportunity to offer that premium product from start to finish with their journey," he said. "They're not just going to Chicago. We have a ton of people who take absolute great advantage whether for work or pleasure of our international network," including, for example, London and Tokyo.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Kingland contributes $3 million to Gerdin Business Building expansion
Iowa State University announced today that Clear Lake-based software company Kingland and David and Deb Kingland have committed $3 million in support of an expansion to the Gerdin Business Building. David Kingland, the company’s chief innovation officer and chairman, and his wife, Deb, are 1980 ISU graduates and longtime supporters of the university. He has served on the Ivy College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council since 2009 and on the ISU Foundation board of directors since 2018. Together, the couple serve as foundation governors and chair the Ivy College of Business campaign cabinet for the "Forever
True, for Iowa State" campaign. Many of the company’s management and technical employees at its Clear Lake and Ames offices are ISU graduates, David Kingland said in a statement. "Not only do we want to show our gratitude, but we also want our employees to share in the pleasure of giving back to Iowa State," he said.
HealthConnect Fellowship begins second phase with 18 fellows
Eighteen fellows have joined Mid-Iowa Health Foundation’s HealthConnect Fellowship, the foundation announced today. The second 18-month phase of the program will focus on building a network of advocates to lead system changes that improve children’s well-being in Central Iowa. Six fellows who joined the HealthConnect Fellowship in fall 2017 will continue their work. They have invited an additional 12 fellows with demonstrated expertise and commitment to addressing barriers to children’s health. Each fellow will work to achieve a specific system-change goal in areas including
children’s mental health, homelessness, unsafe streets and disparities in accessing quality health care. Each participant will receive a $15,000 award and national-level training, along with mentoring and networking opportunities. For a complete list of fellows and the issues they are working to address, click here.
Health premium tax pits small business against low-income Iowans
Iowa small business leaders are urging Congress to further suspend a health insurance premium tax that would otherwise cost many families an average $412 in higher premiums in 2020. The premium tax credits program is a federal sales tax on health insurance plans purchased by small business owners, the self-employed, and workers who receive their health care coverage through an employer. As a provision of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the tax funds credits to reduce taxes for low-income families to help them afford health insurance. Iowa small business owners say that without immediate action by Congress to delay the tax for 2020, they and seniors on Medicare will be hit with higher health insurance premiums as they renew their coverage next year. Bipartisan bills known as the "Healthcare
Insurance Tax Relief Act of 2019" that would delay implementation of the HIT tax for 2020 and 2021 have been introduced in both chambers of Congress. For more information about the Stop the HIT Coalition, click here.
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THIS WEEK IN LIFT IOWA
Guest Opinion: Listen to your inner guru
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By Stephanie Majeran | Owner, WellRun Results LLC: If you’ve followed along with any of my previous articles, you know that I read a lot. I’ve always been a reader, but I only recently discovered that I actually liked listening to audiobooks in the car. It has been a great way to learn from experts while running around town; I am so grateful for the Urbandale library’s large collection. A recent book that I listened to, "The Next Right Thing" by Emily P. Freeman, had lots of great takeaways, but the one that struck me most was a chapter called "Stop
Collecting Gurus." Read more
Sign up for the Business Record's weekly Lift IOWA newsletter.
Read more at businessrecord.com/LiftIOWA.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations
CNN Business: Chick-fil-A is making major changes to its charitable foundation, ending donations to two organizations that have been criticized for being anti-LGBTQ. The fast food chain announced today that beginning next year it will only donate to a certain group of charities. That list no longer includes the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Both organizations
have taken controversial stands on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
FedEx CEO challenges NYT publisher to public debate after tax story
Reuters: FedEx Corp. Chief Executive Frederick Smith has challenged the publisher of the New York Times & Co. and the editor of the business section of the newspaper to a public debate in response to a story about the company’s tax bill. FedEx’s
financial filings showed it owed no taxes in the 2018 fiscal year overall due to President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul, according to the Times story published Sunday.
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ONE GOOD READ
Microsoft tried 4-day workweek in Japan; productivity leapt 40%CNN Business: A growing number of smaller companies are adopting a four-day workweek. Now the results of a recent trial at Microsoft suggest it could work even for the biggest businesses. The company introduced a program this summer in Japan called the "Work Life Choice Challenge," which shut down its offices every Friday in August and gave all employees an extra day off each week. The results were promising: While the amount of time spent at work was cut dramatically, productivity — measured by sales per employee — went up by almost 40% compared with the same period the previous year, the company said.
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Generosity is Great, But Greater with a Tax Deduction
JOE KRISTAN, EIDE BAILLY
CPA, PARTNER
Giving is its own reward. Still, a tax deduction for giving never hurts.
While tax reform changes some of the rules for charitable giving, donations still have powerful tax benefits. Nobody can take away the warm feeling you get inside from giving to a good cause, but the benefits vanish if you don’t get the paperwork right.
FULL ARTICLE
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KCCI TOP STORIES
Meet the ARL dogs who graduated from narcotics detection training
Four Animal Rescue League dogs have graduated from the Midwest K9 Protection and Detection's narcotics detection training programs. "The dogs selected have a special skill set that includes a high ball drive, a drive to search, the confidence to go into any situation and the determination and perseverance to keep up a search for as long as it takes," the Animal Rescue League of Iowa said in a Facebook post. The four dogs have already started their new careers as K-9s with the Maryland Department of Corrections. They are joined in Maryland
with seven other ARL dogs that have been trained. Read more
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Tonight:
Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 39. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Tuesday:
Mostly sunny. High 52. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Get the latest KCCI weather.
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BUSINESS RECORD IOWA INDEXThe Iowa Index is an unweighted average of all 20 Iowa-based public companies. Below is a live look at those 20, plus 15 additional companies with large operations in Iowa.
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