In a ruling that could well be of key importance for Germany's domestic air travel market, the country's Cartel Office has ruled that Lufthansa has to raise its fares on one of the most important domestic routes. If the ruling is confirmed by the courts, new-entrant carriers could enjoy significant protection in markets where they directly compete against Lufthansa. The cartel office decided in the case of the Frankfurt-Berlin route, where Germania started services late last year with Boeing 737-700s.
America West's pilot union voted unanimously last week to replace Roger Cox with Herb Holland as chairman of the union's Master Executive Council. Holland, an AWA Captain, has been with the carrier since 1990. ALPA's Master Executive Council for AWA consists of four elected representatives and three officers. Scheduled contract negotiations are to resume next month between America West and ALPA.
DOT extended the expiration deadline for its computer reservations system (CRS) rules by a year, to March 31, 2003, stating that it "expects to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the substantive issues that might be addressed in revised CRS rules later this year." This latest extension of the current rules follows several extensions dating back to 1997, when DOT began a CRS rules review.
EVA Air plans to move its Tokyo service to Narita International Airport from Haneda Airport, and through a code-sharing partnership with Air Nippon Airways, increasing the daily frequencies from two flights weekly to three. The new and expanded service will start April 18 and will be operated with a Boeing 767-300ER in a two-class configuration. The increased service was attributed to the opening of a second runway at Narita. EVA said it is working with travel agents to develop tour packages to the country.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic January 2002 (000) January January % 2002 2001 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 893,500 889,400 0.5 Available Seat Miles 1,430,000 1,503,000 -4.9 Load Factor (%) 62.5 59.2 America West
Atlas Air pilots and flight engineers represented by ALPA failed to ratify a tentative agreement they reached with the company on Jan. 25, the company said yesterday. Bill Allen, senior VP human resources, said the company is "ready to return to the bargaining table as soon as new sessions are scheduled by the mediator. Currently, we expect that will be in early March."
Spanish national carrier Iberia has achieved a small traffic growth in January 2002, after its traffic shrank for three consecutive months following the Sept. 11 events. It posted a 0.4% increase in RPMs while its load factor improved by 0.3 pp. to 64.8%. Capacity remained stable. The airline experienced a shift to longer-haul routes, as the total number of passengers decreased by 3.9% in spite of the RPM increase. If figures of Binter Mediterraneo -- which Iberia sold last year -- are excluded from the January 2001 results, the traffic decline was 2.9%.
Continental, for months resisting the installation of priority passenger airport security lines, announced last week that it would provide such a service at its three hubs. While other U.S. airlines late last year started using priority security lanes for elite frequent flyers, Continental CEO Gordon Bethune said there were no plans to follow. "We're adding more equipment across our network so no passenger has to wait," he said (DAILY, Dec. 10).
United, which on Monday reached agreement on a tentative contract with mechanics and related workers represented by the IAM, still must reach a settlement with its ramp agents, also an IAM-represented group, and then must wrest concessions from all its unions on belt-tightening tactics. Nevertheless, the agreement with its mechanics should help stem what one analyst believes could have been a loss of up to $150 million in booked revenue for the two to three weeks following today's strike deadline.
U.S. air traffic control system needs to be automated to deal proactively with the long-expected increase in commercial traffic as well as the very real possibility of large growth in air taxi services, according to Robert Walker, chairman of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. ATC modernization is hamstrung by "lots of people who think they have jurisdiction...and clash with each other," with the result being that "nothing ever gets done," Walker told The DAILY in an interview.
Embraer 170 made its first flight yesterday, completing a two-hour, 30-minute series of tests upon leaving the company's Sao Jose dos Campos facility in Brazil. Using six aircraft, Embraer hopes to gain certification by the end of the year. But the company acknowledged yesterday that a two-month delay in the 70-seat jet's pre-flight test phase could push the schedule back. "Embraer will immediately re-evaluate the program schedule in the coming days to determine if this [certification schedule] is still feasible," the company said.
FAA is concerned that the reluctance of other countries to quickly adopt a two-phase cockpit security upgrade program for their airlines could leave a security gap at U.S. gateways. After some internal debate, FAA decided to exclude foreign airlines that fly to the U.S from rules mandating cockpit upgrades (DAILY, Jan. 14). This was done so that a universal approach could be discussed -- and presumably adopted -- at a special two-day ICAO meeting on aviation security this week.
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association won its bid to represent the mechanics and related employees at American Trans Air. Of the 814 eligible voters who cast ballots, AMFA won 61%, the union said.
The executive committee of FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee will meet March 13 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the Fuel Tank Inerting Working Group's final report, among other topics. The meeting is at the Holiday Inn on Capitol Hill and is open to the public.
ICAO this week is expected to forecast that worldwide traffic will be down 5% this year, but the decline could be followed by at least 6% growth in 2003. The industry should show "a moderate decline" in 2002 and "a full rebound" in 2003, according to a paper planned for release in Montreal.
All Nippon Airways and its subsidiary carriers plan to boost capacity in the next fiscal year, partially due to the opening of the new runway at Tokyo Narita Airport and additional slots at Tokyo Haneda Airport. ANA noted that fiscal 2002, which starts April 1, "begins in the wake of a series of changes that have created a paradigm shift in the ANA operating environment," but officials believe there are plenty of opportunities across its international and domestic networks.
In order to face changes in relevant services prompted by Sept. 11, Julio Gomez, Grupo TACA's VP-customer service, announced last week a reinforced "culture of service" covering transportation standards and users' needs. In this process, of paramount importance is increased safety while maintaining the quality of service. Grupo TACA is working closely toward this common objective with various international and national law enforcement agencies and conducting awareness campaigns among both employees and customers.
Finnair is making adjustments to its fleet renewal program and switching its method of financing toward long-term leases, said CEO Keijo Suila. The changes will allow the carrier to build its fleet of Airbus A320s to 22 by the end of 2003. Under the revised plan, Finnair canceled one A320 and rolled back orders for three A320s that are being acquired from the manufacturer. Shifting toward leasing, it has acquired six A320s from International Lease Finance Corp., which will be delivered through April 2004 (DAILY, Feb. 5). The aircraft will be leased for 10 years.
Transportation Security Administration may need to rent space at airports, but DOT is hoping airports will "step up to the plate and give us the space we need," Under Secretary for Transportation Michael Jackson said last week. House Appropriations transportation member Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) is concerned small airports may face an "undue burden" in giving TSA free space after bearing the cost of security improvements.
Vanguard's seventh MD-80, recently placed in revenue service, is the second MD-80 delivered to Vanguard in the last two weeks. Both aircraft are leased from a subsidiary managed by debis AirFinance. "MD-80-series aircraft now constitute half our fleet," said CEO Scott Dickson. "We expect to add several more MD-80s to the fleet over the course of this year, allowing us to increase service on existing routes, bring our low fares to more cities and offer increased employment opportunities to Kansas City."
Air France and Delta Friday released details of their plans to reinstate their code-share partnership with Korean Air. Starting April 1, Air France will add its code to Korean's service from Seoul to Paris. Beginning May 1, Delta will code share on Korean flights from Seoul to New York Kennedy, Los Angeles, Washington Dulles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Honolulu and San Francisco, and from Los Angeles to Tokyo. Delta also will code share on Korean's flights from Seoul to Osaka and Narita. Within Korea, Delta will code share on flights to Busan.
SkyWest is in talks with US Airways about a possible code share deal, the company confirmed recently. Chief Operating Officer Ron Reber told The DAILY on Friday, "We are discussing possibilities with US Airways at this time," and said he believes the company is well positioned to handle three code-share arrangements. "Operationally, we think we are very capable, and, financially, [we are] very capable" of such an arrangement, he said. SkyWest believes US Airways will resolve its pilot scope issues that limit the number of regional jets it can operate.
Lufthansa CityLine's 700 pilots have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike. In a strike ballot completed Friday, 97.5% of participants supported pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) in its efforts to achieve a substantial pay increases. Neither side disclosed actual figures, but VC said that the gap between the regional carrier's pay scheme and Lufthansa's mainline operation should not become bigger, but smaller. Lufthansa's mainline pilots last year negotiated wage increases of about 30%, which were partly bound to profitability.
Prices of older 737s, MD-80s and older A320s "will approach distress levels before recovering significantly in two years or so," aircraft valuation specialists Morten Beyer&Agnew predicts.
