New City Pairs Contract for Air Travel Issued, with One More Carrier

GSA has issued a new city pairs contract for travel effective October 1, a program in which airfare rates for official travel by federal employees to some 14,000 markets are pre-negotiated at fixed rates and there are no cancellation or change fees.

Nine major U.S. carriers were awarded contracts based on criteria including availability of non-stop service, total number of flights, flight availability, average elapsed flight time, and price of service. Breeze Airways has been added—the first expansion of the program in recent years—while the eight carriers currently participating will continue: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.

GSA said the contracts reflect about a 49 percent discount on comparable commercial fares, for an estimated saving of $2.45 billion versus commercial rates, and a 26 percent increase in nonstop options.

Other benefits include that bookings are fully refundable, have last seat availability, have no minimum or maximum length of stay requirements, and have no blackout dates, it said.