At a joint news conference Monday in Lima, Peru's Minister of Transportation Luis Chang and U.S. Ambassador John Hamilton confirmed that FAA granted Peru full Category 1 status in its safety oversight assessment. Chang said, "This is the result of major effort undertaken to meet observations made previously by said U.S. government agency." The news conference followed up meetings between Peru's civil aviation authorities and the FAA inspection mission now in Peru (DAILY, April 22). One airline observer said, "This means we can now operate to the U.S.
Atlantic Coast Airlines likely will receive all 32 Fairchild Dornier 328JETS on order with deliveries to resume shortly, James Parker of Raymond James predicts. Germany and the State of Bavaria will guarantee funding to keep FD going, he says. ACA will continue to operate Jetstream 41s it had planned to remove as 328JETS were delivered.
The transport committee in the Swiss national parliament has voted against ratification of the treaty between Germany and Switzerland regulating traffic to and from Zurich airport. The move will most likely spark another round of political tension and, possibly, lawsuits between the two countries.
An arbitrator released a decision Monday on a dispute between TWA and American mechanics' unions that defines how seniority will be affected by the integration of these two groups of workers. Arbitrator Richard Kasher said at the St. Louis and Kansas City airports, TWA employees will be allowed to exercise their full seniority. At cities or stations where TWA's capacity was more than 10% of the combined total of the two carriers, TWA employees will be awarded 25% of their acquired seniority.
House Transportation Committee Chair Don Young (R-Alaska) and aviation subcommittee Chair John Mica (R-Fla.) yesterday introduced legislation to arm pilots in the cockpit. The bill in effect usurps a similar measure passed under the Aviation Transportation Security Act. Pilots contend that the Bush administration has done nothing to forward the issue, and the Young-Mica bill "puts teeth" into the Act, said Steve Luckey, a pilot with Northwest and chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association Security Committee.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has called on federal agencies to lift restrictions that prevent transient general aviation aircraft from using three small airports in the Washington, D.C., area. In a letter sent to the Transportation Security Administration last week, AOPA proposed a number of measures that could be applied to transient traffic at these airports to ease security concerns.
Northwest has altered its policy on background checks of employees following union complaints about the practice. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), however, may press forward with legal action on behalf of pilots who it says were dismissed unfairly because of the background checks.
Northwest has altered its policy on background checks of employees following union complaints about the practice. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), however, may press forward with legal action on behalf of pilots who it says were dismissed unfairly because of the background checks.
A Raytheon-led team has finished the first phase of an air traffic management modeling and simulation system that NASA and FAA will use to assess concepts for improving the National Airspace System. The first phase included defining system requirements and developing a prototype. Team members include Seagull Technology, SAIC, Intelligent Automation, Metron, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Titan SRC, SCATS, and representatives from several airlines and universities, as well as Raytheon.
Great Lakes Aviation yesterday was warned by the Nasdaq stock market that the company is not in compliance with requirements for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. Based on full-year 2001 financial information, Great Lakes is not in compliance with the required minimum of $2 million in net tangible assets, $2.5 million in stockholders' equity or $500,000 of net profit from continuing operations for the most recently completed fiscal year or two of the last three years.
Hungarian flag carrier Malev and Spain's third-largest airline Air Europa signed a code-sharing agreement for flights between Budapest and Madrid, announced both airlines yesterday. Joint operations start today, and the agreement will be extended to frequent flyer systems and ground-handling. "Since Hungary is one of the first candidates which will integrate an enlarged European Community, this agreement is of great importance to Air Europa' international development strategy", said Air Europa General Manager Manual Panadero.
American yesterday operated its final Boeing 727 passenger flight. The carrier previously operated the largest 727 fleet, at one time flying 182 of the tri-jets. The last 727 flight was operated from Miami to Raleigh/Durham. The carrier has been retiring the 727s on an accelerated basis and replacing them with 737-800s. The 737 flies about the same number of passengers farther and higher, yet consumes about 60% less fuel per passenger than the 727, AA said.
Clarification: SkyWest Airlines is under contract to operate all 84 aircraft on order for United, no matter if there is any United-Mesa agreement or not (DAILY, April 26). SkyWest's growth is assured, says VP-Finance Mike Kraupp, and profitability levels of existing service for United varies and rates are confidential.
Cyprus Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A319 powered by V2500 engines. The aircraft will be deployed on routes to Europe and the Middle East. Cyprus has a second A319 on firm order and already operates six A320s, also powered by V2500s.
UPS yesterday announced it will build major new facilities at Vancouver Airport that will make it the carrier's third-largest hub in Canada, after Toronto and Montreal. The 125,000-square-foot facility will open in 2004 and will have three times the sorting capacity of the current Vancouver operation. It will feature four acres of ramp space and will be situated on land adjacent to the north runway earmarked for airside commercial and cargo operations.
At a joint news conference Monday in Lima, Peru's Minister of Transportation Luis Chang and U.S. Ambassador John Hamilton confirmed that FAA granted Peru full Category 1 status in its safety oversight assessment. Chang said, "This is the result of major effort undertaken to meet observations made previously by said U.S. government agency." The news conference followed up meetings between Peru's civil aviation authorities and the FAA inspection mission now in Peru (DAILY, April 22). One airline observer said, "This means we can now operate to the U.S.
Nav Canada said traffic in February dipped compared to the same month last year, and the trend is expected to continue for the rest of 2002. En-route "charging units" dipped 12.3% in February, while terminal services resulted in 12.5% fewer units.
Great Lakes Aviation yesterday was warned by the Nasdaq stock market that the company is not in compliance with requirements for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. Based on full-year 2001 financial information, Great Lakes is not in compliance with the required minimum of $2 million in net tangible assets, $2.5 million in stockholders' equity or $500,000 of net profit from continuing operations for the most recently completed fiscal year or two of the last three years.
United's board yesterday decided not to waste any time to start an immediate search for a successor to current CEO Jack Creighton. The company's board hired Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct a nationwide search for candidates for the chairman and CEO position. The search should not come as a complete surprise as Creighton said last year when he started that he would only stay long enough to set the carrier on a path to recovery.
Delta yesterday got the green light from DOT to code share between the U.S. and Taiwan with China Airlines. Delta will start offering the new service June 1. Delta and China Airlines last year signed a marketing deal that included an opportunity to put Delta's code on China Airlines' daily flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York Kennedy to Taipei. China Airlines, in turn, will add its code to Delta flights from LAX and San Francisco to Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Salt Lake City, Tampa and Cincinnati.
The Czech government this week rejected a plan tabled by Transport Minister Jaromir Schling to compensate Czech airlines for losses incurred as a consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. The government estimated that the losses in question were not large enough to cause serious problems, the minister explained. The Czech authorities did support the airlines indirectly in 2001 by relieving them of customs duties on imported aircraft components. -JF
Northwest plans to add two weekly seasonal roundtrip flights between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Tokyo, starting July 5 and ending Sept. 28. A third additional weekly roundtrip will be added to the schedule, starting Aug. 4 and operating through Aug. 25. With the additional flights, Northwest's service to Tokyo will reach a record high of 149 weekly passenger flights during the summer peak season. Northwest will operate the additional flights with Boeing 747s.
French-Italian turboprop manufacturer ATR is making reinforced cockpit doors available as a retrofit to in-service aircraft. ATR said the doors will be able to withstand heavy gun bullets and can be locked from inside. ATR also said airlines can equip their aircraft with cockpit door cameras for pilots to be able to monitor the area immediately outside the door. According to the manufacturer, the doors comply with regulations on smoke, fire detection and cabin depressurization. ATR said the reinforced doors will be available in September.
