Lufthansa Technik and BizJet have stationed an Airline Support Team (AST) at BizJet's Tulsa headquarters, expanding the venture's rapid-response engine services program. AST teams consisting of one to four specialists can be dispatched 24 hours a day to tackle engine-related airplane-on-ground issues.
President George Bush on Friday installed nominees for two top DOT positions under recess appointments, circumventing a hold placed on the nominations by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) over concerns about Amtrak (DAILY, Feb. 4). The Senate Commerce Committee on Dec. 19, 2001, reported the nominations of Jeff Shane to be associate deputy secretary and Emil Frankel to be assistant secretary for transportation policy. The appointments would allow the two to serve without being confirmed through the end of the first session of the next Congress, a DOT spokesman said.
Delta and Delta Connection are slashing business fares in markets from Cincinnati and Atlanta. Delta is cutting fares to 21 Southeast and Midwest cities to encourage business travelers to fly. Cities served from Atlanta include Greenville/Spartanburg, N.C., and Roanoke, Va. The airline also is cutting fares in 22 markets from Cincinnati flown by Delta Connection, mainly to Northeast and Midwest destinations, including Chattanooga, Chicago Midway and South Bend, Ind.
American plans to start nonstop service between Miami and Medellin, Colombia, on June 15, serving the route five times a week with a Boeing 757-200. Medellin becomes AA's third destination in Colombia, joining its other scheduled flight routes between Miami and Bogota and Cali.
April 4, 1972 -- Braniff, with a $9 million net profit in 1971, expects the most profitable first quarter in its 44-year history, with a 14.5% increase in revenue passenger miles and a 4.3% gain in capacity.
When UAL Corp. winds down its business jet operation, expected in mid-May, business jet manufacturers are left holding the bag on 300-plus aircraft orders that would have made up Avolar's fleet. UAL announced the decision to pull out of the business jet market late last month, a little less than a year after the corporation unveiled an ambitious plan to sell shares in hundreds of fractional aircraft, provide charter and corporate shuttle service and manage aircraft (DAILY, March 25).
Air Transport Association Senior VP-Government Affairs Ed Merlis said profiling is "an ugly word" that "is not racial" but needs to be part of the U.S. approach to streamlining security screening. The U.S. Customs Service "has seen a tenfold increase" in identifying criminal activity through profiling.
The California Bay Area Rapid Transit board last week approved the long-awaited BART link to Oakland Airport via an elevated Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) system with a new station at the airport, and two stations along the 3.2-mile link. The board also certified the Final Environmental Impact Report. The project has been a collaborative partnership among BART, the city of Oakland and the Port of Oakland. The AGT, with the two additional stations between BART and the airport, is estimated to cost $232 million.
Some 587 "modern" planes -- including 60 expected to be parked in the near future -- will return to service as global airline traffic picks up, Merrill Lynch projects. Some 1,333 planes parked in the desert aren't likely to come out, and 176 old-technology planes still flying will join them soon.
Two new destinations in the Dominican Republic -- Santiago and Punta Cana -- will receive American flights from New York Kennedy, effective June 15. AA also will serve Santiago with a daily flight from Miami, giving the carrier a total of five points in the Dominican Republic -- Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, La Romana, Punta Cana and Santiago.
Continental last week opened its new $80 million international arrivals facility at Newark Airport that houses customs, immigrations and other government services for Continental's arriving international customers. The new facility is the last major milestone in the airline's Newark improvement plan. Continental, on average, has about 5,500 customers who arrive daily at Newark on 37 international flights. The new 120,000-square-foot facility has 28 immigration processing stations, increasing the airport's total capacity by 50%.
April 1, 1982 -- Braniff executives presented a proposal to creditors for restructuring more than $700 million in airline debt, meeting the deadline set by 39 creditors for a plan to restore Braniff, which has lost about $250 million
Airport proprietors have been frustrated by the Transportation Security Administration's focus on early deadlines to the exclusion of the impact of the legislation that launched the TSA on airport operations, Jack Corbett, Spiegel&McDiarmid, said last week at the American Bar Association Air&Space Forum annual update. TSA has had "very little communication" with airports as the agency "spent time on early deadlines," but contact is now improving, he said.
DOT Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told the American Bar Association last week that locating additional funding for TSA will have to be a collective effort, but that he is mindful of higher fees airlines already are paying and collecting. "We are cognizant of the economic consequences of adding more to the burden of the industry."
Merrill Lynch last week projected that U.S. major airlines will post a $2.2 billion net loss for the first quarter. The analysts also estimated that industry revenues will be down 22% from the same period last year. While the expected loss is "enormous," said analyst Michael Linenberg, it is an improvement over last year's $3 billion fourth quarter net loss. "Although a loss is a loss, and therefore we can't get too excited about the improvement, we would add that the March quarter is typically the industry's weakest quarter due to seasonal factors," he said.
Seoul Incheon International (IIA) Airport, this year plans to increase the number of airlines serving the airport to 52 from 48. Other goals include targeted growth of 11%, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 122,000. IIA wants to see an 8% rise in passenger traffic to 20.3 million and a 10% increase to 1.99 million tons in cargo handling. According to Tong-myung Lim, executive director of IIA's external affairs office, achieving this goal would drive sales revenue to US$407.7 million, resulting in a profit of US$91 million.
The fact that scope clauses could mean jet service cuts to many U.S. cities "and all air service to other cities" should be enough incentive for government to intervene, David Hayes, chief legal officer at Trans States told the American Bar Association last week. Hayes noted that scope clauses are not subject to mechanisms under the Railway Labor Act aimed at preventing service disruptions, so "the public is without the protections of the RLA and without recourse to resolve the situation unless Congress intervenes."
Vanguard begins serving Seattle on June 3 with daily MD-80 nonstops to Kansas City that will connect with flights to Atlanta, Austin, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York and Pittsburgh. Vanguard last week restarted service to Myrtle Beach and begins serving Orlando on April 22. It plans additional service to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the coming months.
