Newsday from New York, New York • 124

HIM Eastern and Pan Am Duel For Frequent Shuttle Fliers Affluence on the Rise In the Metro Market fl ft If HILE MANY PEOPLE may feel that Yiy their standard of living has declined WW in recent years, a new study reports that the number of affluent adults in the United States has doubled since 1983. In feet, according to the study by the New York advertising agency Young ft Ruhicam one in five adults can be classified as affluent a term the agency applied to any adult living in a household with an income of $50,000 or more. That means there are 86 million affluent adults in the United States and 12 percent of them reside in the New York me rpolitan area. Dave Marana, vice president of media research at Young 'ft Ruhicam, admitted that many of these people might not consider themselves wealthy. "If we went back to them and said, You quality as affluent, many of them wouldnt believe it.

And, Marana says, these consumers are prime prospects for most goods and services. "Convenience is of critical importance to these people, Marans said. "Not only do many of them work full time, but they also are very active in sports and leisure activities. For example, 13 percent of the affluent consumers have a maid or use a housecleaning service; 33 percent own three or more cars; 18 percent play golf; 14 percent belong to a health club or gym; and 22 percent have investments in real estate. rate identity said Eastern spokesman Scott.

Heading the shuttle division, based at LaGuardia Air- port, is John Siefert, former senior vice president of marketing of Pacific Southwest Airlines, which was recently purchased by USAir. Though neither airline reports separate financial results for its Bhuttle, both operations are considered by analysts to be either at breakeven or profitable levels. Though maintenance and other operating costs of such short hauls are high, due to the stress nn plan from mimsmiis landings snd tahmffk, the fares and high volume of passengers more than make up for it. At this point, analyst Anthony Hatch of Argus Research thinks Eastern may have an edge over Pan Am because of its longevity in the market. "Its a habit with many people you get in a cab and say.

Take me to the Eastern Shuttle, said Hatch. At the same time, the airline suffers because of the perception that its planes are often late. Scott says that is due, in part, to the airlines policy of informing radio stations of how far behind its flights are running. Some passengers, however, say the perception is a valid one. "I havent had the best experiences with Eastern.

They seem kind of disorganized, although maybe it's just situational, said frequent shuttle passenger Debra flilimeo, press secretary to Con Nurses Wanted As the nursing shortage worsens, national and local hospital organisations are taking the unusual step of getting involved in recruiting. Hot off the presses from the American Hos-pital Association are posters and brochures to recruit nurses, with a video to follow. The kits will be distributed to hospitals and schools to aid their efforts the first time in six years the association has helped, said Andrea Mann, a spokeswoman with the Chicago-based organization. Meanwhile, the Greater New York Hospital Association is considering its own advertising campaign to attract new people to the field and lure back those who have left, said Kenneth E. Raske, the associations president.

"Its not unlike the teacher problem of a number of years ago, Raske said. "Its the professions loet a lot of its luster. What we have to do is shine it back up again. Nationally, 17 percent of mining positions are vacant, a number that has doubled in the last year, said Mardi Massaroni, a spokeswom-an for the New York State Nurses Association. By Micheline Maynard HE WAS BETWEEN the shuttles isn't being fought with fares, but with muffins, wide seats and on-time performance statistics.

Eastern Airlines, which operates the 26-year-old Air-Shuttle, is getting a stronger-than-expected challenge on the premium Boston-New York-Wash-ington route from the 10-month-old service by Pan American World Airways. Most analysts expected Pan Am would be lucky to have a quarter of the air shuttle market, estimated by the Department of Transportation at about one million travelers per year, by the end of 1987. Its predecessor in competing with Eastern, the now-de-funct New York Air, had about 28 percent of the market when it gave up the shuttle route last year. While Eastern and Pan Am dispute market share figures, most experts agree that Pfen Am has done better than lure one out of four shuttle fliers. Eastern claims to own 67 percent of the market, conceding a 33-percent share to Pan Am.

But Pin Am confidently claims to be carrying 42 percent to 43 percent of shuttle passengers, with the remainder going to Eastern. Experts think that the market itself haanot expanded, but that the ridership is efmnging from one previously dominated by Eastern. The shuttle market, unlike other routes in the airline industry, is not one where price is important, mainly because so many passengers are traveling on business and must get to their destination at a specific time, regardless of cost. "An hour of their time and a modicum of comfort is worth more to them than the difference in price would be, said Eastern spokesman Joseph Scott. That means that the competition comes down to service.

Both are offering shuttle passengers extras that were unheard of in the "cattle car days of Easterns monopoly when seats were tightly spaced and passen-didnt get so much as a soft let alone leg room. The current shuttles feature complimentary snacks, ranging from a boxed breakfast with muffins and cheese to an afternoon nosh of Danish cookies and trail mix. Not only are sodas available but alcoholic drinks are on hand late in the day. Seats are wider, plusher. And gone is a feature retained by Eastern until earlier this year: onboard ticketing.

No longer does a flight attendant push an unwieldy cart down the main aisle, juggling credit cards and cash. Instead, passengers purchase tickets in the termi-. nals from automatic or hu man gate attendants. These features, however, are just a start. Recently, promotions have included: Formation by Eastern of the new Shuttle Club.

Members, drawn from a pool of shuttle passengers who flew the airline four times or more last year, earn discounts on Hilton hotels nationwide. They also earn 2,250 frequent-flier bonus points per flight a big advantage over the 600 bonus points given out by Pan Am. Pan Am this spring offered $10 off on a shuttle ticket to previous shuttle passengers end members of its own frequent-flier program, as well as the one offered by American Airlines. The airline also has launched an advertising aempsigw featuring a scoreboard that shows its shuttles on-time departure record on a week-to-week basis. And Pan Am soon hopes to have a water shuttle to ferry pnsscngtirs from Wall Street up the East River to LaOuardia Airport for the me price as a cab.

The competition has put Eastern on its toes, officials of the slrline admit. Last week, the airline announced it is again creating a separate division for the shuttle, which was folded in with other Eastern operations when the airline was purchased last year by Texas Air Corp. This will give it a more recognisable and sepa kY. MONDAY. AUGUST 17, 1987 NY Part 1115 Help for Sales Reps A new state law requiring manufacturers to give written contracts to sales representatives paid by commiasion is making some apparel manufacturers in the city unhappy.

The law "will create friction between manufacturers and sales representatives and will generate disputes, said Cory Greenspan, spokesman for the Manhattan-based Federation of Apparel Manufacturers. State Sen. Eugene Levy (R-Freeport), who co-sponsored the measure, said in a recent mmn that he supported the need for written contracts because "sales representatives are often not receiving their due commission. Eu-dora Rodger, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Wholesale Sales Representatives in Atlanta, said that the lack of a written contract is a problem for many sales representatives who sell such consumer good as apparel, electronics, and hardware. "The law will reduce the number of disputes because both parties will know what their terms are," she said.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, requires manufacturers to pay commissions no later than five business daiys after they are earned. Christine Dugas, Elizabeth Sanger Lisa Redd gress' Joint Economic Committee. Silimeo recalled she called Eastern from Manhattan last winter during a snowstorm to ask whether flights were delayed. Told they were not, she journeyed to the airport only to find that flights were backed up for hours.

Silimeo subsequently canceled her trip and had to Bpend $40 on round-trip cab fares. Pan Am, on the other hand, is seen as suffering Bomewhat from its location in LaGuardias Marine Air Terminal. There is often a lengthy line there for taxicabs, which at times come to the terminal only sporadically. But the airline is trying to change that. Spokesman Alan Loflin says Pan Am launched a "Marine Terminal awareness program." Cabbies were treated to free shuttle flights and participated in raffles for airline tickets and gifts as part of Pan Ams effort to get them to "think Marine Terminal and cruise over to pick up passengers.

"These are programs that made us very memorable with the can drivers, said Loflin. i 4 i i L.I.