SAS Scandinavian Airlines, unlike some of its fellow European airlines, continued with negative traffic results for January. The company said that traffic was down 5%, compared with January 2001, while passenger numbers decreased 7.8%. The figures include SAS, Air Botnia, Wideroe, Braathens and Spanair. Passenger load factor was up 0.8 percentage points at 55.4%. For SAS Airline alone, the decrease stood at 2.1%; business traffic was down 16.5%.
Mitre's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development, a federally funded research and development center for the FAA, has bought a fourth Total Airspace&Airport Modeler from Preston Aviation Solutions, a Boeing subsidiary. The modeler is a fast-time, gate-to-gate simulation tool that will enable the center to continue its analysis of alternative airspace designs.
Houston Bush Airport recently opened its new $65 million North Concourse in Terminal A. The 256,000-square-foot facility is a renovated and modernized version of the existing 32-year-old Terminal A. Southwest and US Airways currently use the concourse, with United and Air Canada to follow. The concourse adds 10 gates to the terminal with the capability to expand to 14. The North Concourse project is part of the $2.8 billion multi-year expansion and renovation that includes the addition of a fifth runway.
American Trans Air has taken delivery of two more 737-800s from Boeing, for a total of 21 in fleet. ATA now has 72 aircraft, including 61 in scheduled service and charter operations and 11 in its commuter operations. The company plans to take delivery of 19 more new aircraft this year. CEO John Tague said ATA is continuing to expand scheduled operations at Chicago Midway to include more domestic and new international destinations.
American and British Airways are testing the waters to find a way around the price tag of forfeiting 16 daily U.S.-London Heathrow roundtrips outlined in DOT's show cause order, industry sources said. AA and BA want to flesh out the free-market proposal on negotiating an access threshold for non-incumbents and a timeframe for immunity.
Delta, AeroMexico and Aerolitoral seek rights from DOT to add Delta's code to flights operated by both AeroMexico and Aerolitoral in the Ontario, Calif.-Hermosillo, Mexico, market. AeroMexico operates five weekly nonstops on the route and Aerolitoral two. (Docket OST-02-11478)
Delta last week sold 1.7 million shares of Priceline.com common stock worth nearly $11 million. The airline slowly has been selling off its stake in the company and, after the most recent sales, owns less than 5% of Priceline. Delta sold 850,000 shares on Jan. 31 at an average price per share of $6.12 per share and unloaded about 880,000 shares on Feb. 1 at $6.43 per share. The airline now holds about 11.8 million shares of Priceline stock, representing 4.95% of Priceline's outstanding shares.
Delta Tech Ops will use FiberSIM's computer-aided design (CAD) software to map out component repairs, the software company reported. The system is expected to shorten turn times by helping engineers develop detailed repair procedures electronically, eliminating the time-consuming process of physically testing and refining procedures to ensure the process is optimized. FiberSIM will also produce detailed "flat patterns" used to cut plies for composite repairs and maintain a database of the templates, the company said.
40 years ago Feb. 16, 1962: CAB Chairman Alan Boyd told Maryland lawmakers that carriers certificated for Washington service will have to serve Dulles Airport, warning that "we cannot accomplish...the desire of Baltimore to be Washington's airport." 20 years ago Feb. 12, 1982: House aviation subcommittee Chairman Norman Mineta (D-Calif.), in a third letter to DOT Secretary Drew Lewis, urged that post-controller strike policy be focused on "giving new carriers...a reasonable opportunity to survive." Five years ago
FAA detected nine airspace violations -- all unintentional -- during the three-day Super Bowl weekend, which FAA air traffic official Tom Davidson called "an exceptionally low number." Like the Olympics, the Super Bowl in New Orleans was blanketed with a 45-mile ring of restricted airspace.
Delta and American reported new online sale records for January. Delta.com captured sales of more than 545,000 tickets, about $145 million in revenue, the highest since the airline began offering online purchasing in 1996. Ticket sales in January topped the 2001 figures by more than 100%, while revenue from those sales grew by 64%. In January, American's web site received more than one million daily visits on two consecutive days, exceeding the site's previous business day average of more than 650,000 visits.
Royal Air Maroc has taken delivery of the first of two Boeing 767-300ERs it is leasing from GE Capital Aviation Services. The carrier is scheduled to get the second airplane this month.
Peru's congressional investigation on unlawful economic and financial acts committed between 1990 and 2002 found that the country lost $25-35 million from the "irregular and unlawful" sale of Aeroperu in 1992. The commission charged that the sale contract incorrectly favored the winning bidder, who paid $21.6 million, while official documents valued Aeroperu's assets and routes at $45 to $35 million.
Aeroflot will migrate its sales and distribution services to the Madrid-based global distribution system Amadeus in September. Amadeus is already the market leader in Russia with 600 travel offices and 1,400 terminals.
Qantas plans to cease all flights to India, effective March 31, and defer the delivery of three Airbus A330s previously scheduled in 2003. Qantas currently operates five weekly flights between Sydney and Mumbai via Singapore. Qantas Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg said the carrier would withdraw services to India, followed by a "comprehensive review" of the airline's international network. The airline continually "scrutinizes" every route in the Qantas network to ensure it is "managing our operations efficiently," he said.
Three carriers recently filed with DOT to terminate Essential Air Service. Mesaba wants to drop out of three EAS markets -- Thief River Falls, Minn., Watertown, S.D., and Mason City, Iowa. Express I has filed a notice to terminate EAS at Laurel/Hattiesburg, Miss., and ACA asked to terminate EAS to Lynchburg, Va.
B/E Aerospace has its prototype Phase II cockpit door installed on a potential customer's aircraft and hopes to have FAA approval for the 737-specific design next month.
Transportation Security Administration Under Secretary John Magaw is not a big fan of a preferred passenger status for faster security screening. Magaw told two different congressional committees recently that terrorists will stay in the U.S. for years and obtain preferred passenger status to get through security. "What does it gain us to do that?" he asked.
TRAFFIC DATA FOR JANUARY 2002 RPMs Change ASMs Change In From In From Load Airline Millions 1/01 Millions 1/01 Factor Air Wisconsin 105.2 +5.4% 169.6 -2.8% 61.1% AirTran 352.4 -1.3% 560.6 +4.2% 62.8% Atlantic Coast 185.7 +88.1% 359.6 +57.5% 51.6%
American Eagle has launched service with the first of 25 CRJ 700s on firm order with Bombardier. Passenger service officially began out of Dallas/Fort Worth on Jan. 31.
All Nippon Airways plans to fly a total of 300 international charter flights in the 12 months after April 1 thanks to the addition of 70 slots per week designated for such services during late night/early morning hours at Tokyo Haneda Airport.
Air Afrique, the Abidjan-based ten-nation flag carrier, was expected to file for bankruptcy on Feb. 7. Air France is holding talks with the countries concerned aiming at relaunching the multinational airline, but has had little success so far. Seven Air Afrique member states -- Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger -- are launching or reviving their own national carriers.
Two Italian airlines have adopted labor union wage clauses that tie pay increases to company earnings. The EBITDAR pretax profit index means the carriers do not have to negotiate pay rates.
Telair's "hardened unit load device" (HULD) LD-3 containers last week received FAA approval for use in aircraft operation, making the container the second to pass FAA security standards as a blast-resistant cargo container. Additionally, the manufacturer was granted technical standard order (TSO) authorization -- the first by FAA. HULD LD-3s, with an empty weight of 320 pounds, according to a Telair spokesman, are made of a flexible, high-strength composite incorporating Kevlar.
