Employees who participated in the voluntary pay reduction-bonus program at Mesa are set to receive bonuses this week, after the airline posted a $12 million profit in its second quarter (DAILY, May 2). Employees agreed to a 5% reduction in base pay for one year. Employees are paid the amount of that reduction, plus an equal amount as a bonus for every quarter Mesa logs an operating profit. -LR
Thanks to "ongoing tight control of costs," Virgin Atlantic posted a pretax profit of GBP10 million (US$16 million) in the fiscal year ended April 30, compared with a GBP92 million loss in the previous year, the British carrier said yesterday. "Due to the continuing challenges in the aviation market," turnover fell from GBP1.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) to about GBP1.4 billion (US$2.2 billion) in the year ending in April 2003, whereas passenger numbers remained stable at around 4 million, the carrier reported.
Distributing a roundtrip airline ticket through Orbitz is significantly less expensive than booking a ticket through a Sabre-based or other traditional travel agency, according to a new report to be released today. Produced by Washington-based Global Aviation Associates at the request of Orbitz, the new analysis, obtained by The DAILY, found the average cost to all airlines for booking a ticket through Orbitz is $16.43, or 37% less than the Sabre travel agency cost.
International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) plans to cut its 2004 delivery schedule by at least 10 aircraft as the company tries to deal with a flood of requests from airlines around the world to provide some type of relief during the current industry slump.
Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chair Trent Lott (D-Miss.) yesterday told The DAILY that the FAA reauthorization bill will contain some "significant environmental language" to streamline the airport expansion process.
A group of Los Angeles-based line mechanics from Delta last week won the Season 10 championship finale of the television show Junkyard Wars. The show featured eight teams in a competition to build powered vehicles from scratch and compete in head-to-head competition. Mechanics Jeff Higginbotham and Darren Tamanaha led the Delta team. -SL
As an acting member of the Global Aviation Information Network (GAIN), FAA wants to deepen airline understanding of how safety directly contributes to the bottom line. "We find that many airlines don't make the connection between safety and maintenance costs," said Christopher Hart, FAA assistant administrator for safety systems. "We want to show there is correlation."
To list an event, fax information to Ron Brown at 202-383-2438. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) MAY 5-8 -- ATCA 14th International Technical Program and Exhibits, CMAC 03-Civil-Military Air Traffic Management Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, 703-522-5717, fax 703-527-7251, [email protected] MAY 7-9 -- EBACE 2003, Europe Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition, Geneva, 202-783-9000, www.ebace.com
World Airways last week signed a new contract with a group of U.S. and Swiss investors to provide passenger service between Washington Dulles and Kabul, Afghanistan, via Geneva, as part of a consortium to rebuild Afghanistan. The flights are expected to start in July and will operate through December 2005. The total contract is valued at $102 million, and the services in 2003 are valued at $19 million. The service will operate twice per week with MD-11s featuring an "enhanced" international business class. -SL
The House Transportation Committee will mark up its version of the FAA reauthorization bill next week, and is slated to take up the measure next Wednesday. The Senate is scheduled to bring the Aviation Investment and Revitalization Act, AIR-V, to the floor for debate this week. The manager's amendment was reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday (DAILY, May 2).
Arinc last week announced the launch of a new VHF voice radio network to support en route communications in Mexican airspace. The network, called MEXNET, was designed and installed at the request of major U.S. carriers who fly to Mexico, according to Arinc. The network means the carriers can now "fully satisfy the FAA requirement for rapid and reliable voice communications with their dispatchers over their entire routes," the company said.
Asheville, N.C., Regional Airport and Killeen, Texas, Municipal Airport will lose the highest percentage of their TSA screener forces after cuts made public last week are complete Sept. 30, -- roughly 63% each. Among larger airports, Pittsburgh will have 40% fewer screeners and Salt Lake City will be down 37.5%.
British Airways last week introduced a three-times-daily service between London city Airport and Glasgos. The flights are operated by BA CitiExpress Avro RJ100s.
ATA last week boosted the number of weekday flights from New York LaGuardia to Chicago Midway and Indianapolis, operating eight daily flights from LGA to Midway, up from six daily nonstops.
ExpressJet charges $3,875 per 50-seat RJ departure, the highest of the seven regional carriers tracked by JP Morgan. SkyWest is second, charging major airline partners $3,570, but analyst Jamie Baker expects it to fall to $3,275. Chautauqua and Pinnacle have the lowest rates at $2,725 and $2,575, respectively.
Frontier signed a deal with Hahn Air Interline Services for marketing services that will enable customers to book travel on the airline from some points outside the U.S. Hahn said the deal would give Frontier access to travel agents in more than 30 Bank Settlement Plans on five continents. Hahn Air has more than 50 clients worldwide. -SL
The "generally depressed market situation" of air transport in Europe has been "substantially worsened by a massive drop in traffic between Europe and the Far East," the Association of European Airlines (AEA) reported last week in Brussels. As a consequence of the SARS pneumonia outbreak, traffic to the Far East and Australasia plunged 28% from year-ago levels in the week ending April 20, said AEA. The drop was comparatively lower on routes to the Middle East, with a 24.3% fall, "a lesser decline than in the previous four weeks," AEA said.
The House Transportation aviation subcommittee will mark up legislation Thursday to let cargo pilots carry guns. Subcommittee Chair Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) introduced the bill, H.R. 765, after cargo pilots complained about being left out of earlier guns-in-the-cockpit legislation.
Hawaiian Airlines reached an agreement with International Lease Finance Corp. on consensual restructuring of four Boeing 767 aircraft leases. Hawaiian and ILFC also agreed to extend the 60-day deferment period permitted under section 1110 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. Both agreements are subject to bankruptcy court approval. -LR
Atlantic Aviation Flight Services named Mike Todd supervisor-Flight Standards supervisor. The Auxer Group appointed Ronald Greene chief pilot for its Viva Airlines subsidiary. DHL Airways appointed Capt. Dan Brannan director-labor relations. DMJM Aviation named Lee Tillotson associate VP. Polar Air Cargo named Richard Nuttall VP-sales, the Americas, to replace Peter Burn, who recently left the company.
