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.
Continental today starts its previously announced daily nonstop service between Houston and Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the third European city served nonstop from Houston by Continental, after London and Paris. Continental also operates daily nonstop service between Newark and Amsterdam, launched in 1999.
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.
JetBlue yesterday exercised two more options on Airbus A320s, giving the airline 60 on firm order and keeping it on track to have one of the largest A320 fleets in a few years. Deliveries of the new orders are slated for December 2002 and May 2003. The carrier expects to receive 51 A320s through 2005 -- 12 more this year, 14 in 2003, 13 in 2004, and 12 in 2005. JetBlue operates 24 A320s -- including six that are leased -- and has options and purchase rights for another 48.
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.
Atlas Air recently terminated Arthur Andersen as its independent auditors after seven years. "In light of the difficulties that they currently face, we believe it is in the best interest of our company and our shareholders for Atlas to make a change," said Chief Financial Officer Douglas Carty. At the same time it dismissed Andersen, the company chose Ernst&Young as its new independent auditor. To accommodate the change in auditors and "provide for an orderly transition," the company's release of its first quarter earnings will be delayed until early this month.
EasyJet recently took delivery of a new Boeing 737-700, taking the current fleet size up to 31 aircraft. The new arrival is the 13th 737-700 in the fleet and will be based at Liverpool.
After long negotiations, Frankfurt Airport, the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (BARIG), German airline association ADL and Lufthansa have reached a five-year deal on landing fees for the country's most important airport. According to the framework agreement that will be retroactive to Jan. 1, the airport will link landing fees to traffic development. According to a newly invented pricing formula, fees will be less if the airport benefits from stronger-than-expected traffic growth but can rise if passenger numbers are below an agreed-upon lower limit.
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. Nav Canada charging units are calculated on the basis of services provided but are directly tied to traffic volume. Hence, a decline in units equates to a similar decline in traffic. The unit decline meant that billings were reduced as well, dropping 7.8% for the month, despite a fee increase that started Jan. 1.
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.
