South African Airways plans to end its code-share service with Nigeria Airways between New York Kennedy and Lagos, effective March 24. The service has been operating three times a week in both directions since February 2001, but SAA has terminated its agreement with Nigeria Airways "because the venture has proven unprofitable." SAA will continue to accept bookings on the JFK-Lagos route through March 23. SAA's direct service from JFK to Johannesburg will continue to operate its normal four days a week with a Boeing 747-400.
Schiphol Airport will introduce an airport security charge, starting April 1. The charge will be EUR4.40 (US$3.87) per passenger boarding in Amsterdam and EUR1.60 ($1.40) for transit passengers. A KLM spokesman said last week that the Dutch airline was "absolutely against" the fee. The airport argues that "the need to introduce an airport security charge has arisen because of the significant increase in the airport's security costs resulting from the impact of the U.S. [Sept.
After two years of financial and operational crisis in which it came close to bankruptcy, Brazil's VASP reports it is about to turn around as the result of intensive operational streamlining, and plans to increase its current fleet with 12 Boeing 737-300's before September, for a total of 32 aircraft, 28 of them owned outright. Its next step is to maintain its third place in the domestic market over the challenge of aggressive, low-cost Gol Airlines, which already surpassed Rio Sul in market share.
Cockpit crewmembers of Gemini Air Cargo voted to be represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. According to the National Mediation Board, of the 286 Gemini Cargo crewmembers eligible to vote, 184 returned a ballot, with 170 voting for ALPA representation and two for other union representation; 12 ballots were voided. Gemini currently uses 12 DC-10-30Fs and four MD-11s.
Lufthansa Consulting said Executive VP Robert Aaronson will leave the company to become director general of Airports Council International in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), an FAA Free Flight tool shown to reduce airline delays and fuel costs by helping controllers optimize arrival sequences to an airport's layout and runway usage, is facing stagnation in 2003 because of inadequate funding, industry officials report.
Singapore Airlines Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo and SAS Cargo have renamed their trilateral alliance WOW. The name was "not only innovative, dynamic and fresh," but made clear the alliance's goal, the companies said in a statement. "WOW is exactly the reaction we want to achieve at our customers." The three airlines agreed to harmonize their standard freight products by April 1 and express freight service by Oct. 1. Both can be booked at any of the three carriers for services across the combined network.
NYMagic Inc. reported that its underwriting agency, Mutual Marine Office, will stop writing new and renewal direct aviation business, effective March 31. The company will continue to honor all commitments on current policies until their expiration date. "After 17 years in this line, through several underwriting cycles, we have come to the conclusion that direct aviation insurance does not offer the same degree of sustainable profit opportunity as our other lines of business," said CEO Robert Bailey.
Vanguard announced a major schedule expansion starting March 28 with the phase-in of seven daily roundtrips for the summer travel season. The airline will add a third daily Kansas City-Los Angeles flight, start second and third daily Las Vegas flights, a third daily to New York LaGuardia and launch two daily flights to Orlando.
Ice jammed some flight controls on a Balair Boeing 767-300 flying into Zurich last April, forcing the pilots to enter a holding pattern and "jerk" the yoke to regain elevator use and land the plane, Swiss aviation authorities concluded. As they flew their approach, the pilots noticed the 767 wasn't following autopilot instructions on approach after a 10-hour flight from Cancun, an NTSB summary report on the incident said. After disconnecting the autopilot, the first officer needed an unusual amount of force to change the plane's pitch.
Japan's three major airlines, in a joint venture with Travelocity.com, plan to launch an online travel agency on March 26. The site, called Tabini, also includes participation from 14 other U.S. and Asian airlines. The joint venture was signed in August 2000 and was expected to launch later that year. After more than a year's delay, the site will launch offering the capability to book flights, hotels and car rentals. The Japanese site is powered by Travelocity.com and joins the company's other ventures in Europe and Asia.
U.S. economic growth is expected to reach 4% by yearend after the "mildest recession in the post-war period," according to DRI-WEFA Chief Economist Nariman Beravetch. Addressing the FAA Forecast Conference last week, he pointed to Japan's "deeply troubled economy," a potential U.S. war in the Middle East and renewed terrorism as the greatest economic risks.
Audits show that about 5% -- roughly US$4.2 billion -- of the European Commission's US$83 billion budget is missing and completely unaccounted for, Mike Ambrose, director general of the European Regions Airline Association says. With the industry facing skyrocketing insurance costs, Ambrose said the missing money could provide free Eurocontrol services to European airlines for a year.
Reopening Washington National Airport to general and business aviation is critical and overdue, National Business Aviation Association Senior VP-Operations Bob Blouin said last week. Business aviation's safety culture is "decades old," he said at the Women in Aviation International conference in Nashville. It is a point the NBAA board made recently during a meeting with Transportation Security Administration head John Magaw.
FlightSafety Boeing got European Joint Aviation Authorities Level "C" certification for its Airbus A330 full-flight simulator at its Manchester, U.K. facility. The same simulator is expected to get A340 certification later this year.
All Nippon Airways has hired on-board security guards for its domestic and international flights to prevent outbreaks of "hooliganism" aboard its flights during the 2002 FIFA soccer World Cup matches in Japan during June. ANA has hired the "Sky Guards" from a European company who are trained in anticipating trouble and can handle unruly passengers. As part of the "World Cup Transport Security Project," ANA has been working with government officials and tournament organizers.
U.S. National Carriers Productivity, In RPMs And ASMs Per Employee Third Quarter 2001 Revenue Available Passenger Seat Miles Miles Total (000) (000) Employees AirTran 1,152,990 1,717,681 4,035 Aloha 383,057 529,590 2,862 Frontier 734,761 1,201,979 1,744
Air Line Pilots Association named The Harris group of companies as the "preferred financial services provider" for its retiring pilots. As the provider, The Harris will work with ALPA to sponsor retirement educational programs for pilots, as well as providing financial management services to individual retiring pilots. Harris, a family of providers within the Bank of Montreal Group of Companies, has been providing service to retired airline pilots since 1993.
Lufthansa is playing with the idea of dropping first class on some long-haul routes. A story in the airline's internal newspaper Lufthanseat stated that the differently sized long-haul aircraft enabled the carrier to adapt its offering to demand. Among the aircraft that could be flown in a two-class layout is the Airbus A340-600 due for delivery in mid-2003.
Northwest plans to start nonstop service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Richmond, Va., beginning July 1. The new service will be operated by Express I with 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jets. The flights will increase Northwest's number of daily departures from Richmond to five from three. NWA offers three daily nonstops from Richmond to Detroit.
Parts distributor PartsBase, Inc. recorded a net loss of $8.1 million for 2001, counting one-time and special charges. On Dec. 31, PartsBase had 2,926 paid subscribers to its e-commerce business, compared to 4,756 on Dec. 31, 2000.
Northwest yesterday agreed to a $700,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement deal with DOT regarding violations of the Air Carrier Access Act. Under the deal, Northwest agreed to "cease and desist from future violations of DOT's rules prohibiting discrimination against passengers with disabilities," DOT said. Northwest's fine is far less than the $3 million originally sought last year by the DOT Enforcement Office, and most of the penalty will be offset if the airline takes additional action to improve services to the disabled.
