Indictments of 27 former workers with access to secure areas at Las Vegas McCarran Airport were unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada, with individuals named in the indictment facing federal charges in court yesterday. The workers, employed by companies providing services on ramps, runways, aircraft and kitchens where airline food is prepared, were indicted on federal charges ranging from making false statements to use of fraudulent Social Security numbers.
L-3 Communications Corp., a potential contractor to produce the roughly 4,000 explosive detection devices needed for 430 U.S. airports, said the challenge is not production capacity limits but getting suppliers to shrink their lead times. L-3 and InVision Technologies are the only certified manufacturers of explosives detection systems (EDS) for U.S airports.
Regional Aviation Partners (RAP) announced it has seven new members, bringing total membership to 54. The new members are Pierre Regional Airport, S.D., Milwaukee-based Diversified Business Enterprises, Page Municipal Airport, Ariz., Durango Mountain Resort/Destination Durango, Colo., The Perry Co., Utah, and Elite Services Group, Calif. RAP says it is attempting to bring together the interests of regional aviation, small communities, consumers and business entries.
Singapore Airlines this spring plans to resume several weekly frequencies across its network thanks to "improving travel market conditions." Starting March 31, SIA will add two Boeing 777 services each week to Shanghai, for a total of 12 777 flights to the city. In addition, it will upgrade two of the current daily Airbus A310 flights serving Guangzhou to 777 aircraft. "The extra capacity is intended to cater to the growing demand on the Singapore/China route," the carrier said.
Aside from flying full planes, the next two-plus weeks should be business as usual for carriers operating in and out of the heavily restricted airspace around Salt Lake City. From tomorrow through Feb. 24, a 45-mile restriction ring will surround the Winter Olympics, and all general aviation flights will be subjected to intense security that includes passing through "gateway" airports before proceeding to any of six airports inside the ring.
USA Networks this week completed its deal to become the controlling shareholder of Expedia after Expedia's shareholders approved the merger. The transaction transfers the ownership of 33.7 million shares of Expedia from Microsoft Corp. to USA. USA Network now holds about 34.7 million shares Expedia shares, or about 65% of the 53.7 million basic shares outstanding, representing 94.9% of the voting interest. Immediately after the closing of the merger transaction, the Expedia board expanded from seven to 13 members.
FAA said yesterday its recruiters will join Los Angeles County employers tomorrow in a job fair for displaced aviation and aviation-related industry employees. Information on more than 2,000 job openings, including new FAA security screener positions, will be available at the fair. FAA said it wants to hire immediately federal air marshals, aviation safety inspectors and electronics technicians.
To commemorate what would have been Charles Lindbergh's 100th birthday this week, grandson Erik Lindbergh announced plans to recreate his grandfather's historic Spirit of St. Louis flights, including his nonstop, solo flight across the Atlantic. The New Spirit Flights are scheduled in the spring. Beginning April 14, Lindbergh, 36, will depart San Diego's Lindbergh Field and follow the "Lone Eagle's" 1927 flight plan from San Diego to St. Louis to New York.
Spirit yesterday said it would begin new and expanded service at Los Angeles with two daily flights to five destinations on May 9, doubling the number of flights from LAX. Spirit added daily flights to Detroit and New York LaGuardia and daily one-stop connecting service to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Myrtle Beach. Other added one-stops will operate from LGA to Denver, Detroit, LAX, Myrtle Beach and Oakland, Calif.
The House Appropriations transportation subcommittee yesterday said it wants more detail on how the DOT Transportation Security Administration plans to use $4.8 billion requested by TSA Under Secretary John Magaw for 2003. Part of those funds would come from an appropriation and part from ticket fees and airline contributions.
Gol Airlines, Brazil's low-cost, no-frills domestic carrier, celebrated its first anniversary by taking delivery of its 11th Boeing 737-700; it has options for five more 737-700s and -800s this year. CEO Constantino de Oliveira's timetable calls for 13% domestic market share by the end of the 2002, or a total of 5 million passengers, five points above its performance last year. In what he calls "Gol's year of consolidation," Oliveira expects to register a net operating profit and open the company for further capital investment.
Frontier Chairman and CEO Sam Addoms will step down as CEO April 1 and President Jeff Potter will become CEO. Addoms will continue to serve as board chairman and remain a member of the board's nominating committee. Potter joined the company in 1995 and left briefly to become CEO of Vanguard. He returned to Frontier last year as chief operating officer and was named president in August.
Airways named Donald Mancuso director-corporate security, effective immediately. Mancuso was acting inspector general for the Department of Defense from April 1999, where he served as an adviser to the secretary of defense on criminal investigations, internal audits and intelligence oversight policy until retiring from government service in January 2001. At US Airways, Mancuso will be responsible for the airline's security management programs and its relationships with various government security agencies.
British Airways' traffic in January fell 6.9%, outpaced by an 11.5% capacity drop from the same 2001 period. Premium traffic was down 10.4% and non-premium 6.3%. Passenger load factor was up 3.4 percentage points to 68.5%. "The improvements seen in traffic in recent months have continued through January despite the ongoing economic weakness in many of our key markets," the airline said. BA's revenue outlook remains "positive," although yields are weak, driven by fare sales and the "adverse mix" of premium and non-premium traffic.
Air France has set a goal of posting an operating profit for the full year, ending March 31. Quarterly losses will be less than previously expected, the company said in a statement. Traffic has recovered faster than expected, and Air France spent 30% less on fuel during the quarter. The traffic decline since Sept. 11 has flattened out during the quarter ended Dec. 31, leading to comparatively favorable traffic and revenue figures. The group's overall revenues dropped 7.8% to EUR2.9 billion.
Bombardier this week formally launched the Global 5000 program, its offering for the super-large business jet market, after securing 15 letters of intent for the new aircraft. Bombardier introduced the Global 5000, a derivative of the Bombardier Global Express, for test marketing in October 2001. "The positive market reaction we have witnessed to date for the Bombardier Global 5000 indicates that we are right on track," said Peter Edwards, Bombardier Business Aircraft president.
Bush administration in its 2003 budget proposes to more than double the air/sea passenger fee, collected by the Customs Service to pay for overtime inspections and related expenses. The air/sea passenger fee, established in 1986 at $5 per passenger, would be increased to $11 to help offset higher costs incurred by the Customs Service.
United plans to introduce Boeing 777s on its daily nonstop service between Auckland and Los Angeles, effective June 9. Starting April 7, the company will stop flying its own aircraft between Auckland and Melbourne, instead offering service between the cities in conjunction with Star alliance partner Air New Zealand. United currently operates Boeing 747-400s between Auckland and Los Angeles. The new schedules were available for sale beginning Feb. 4.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association said yesterday controllers are "angered and disappointed the Bush Administration -- for the second straight year -- has released a proposed budget supporting the concept of privatizing" the ATC system. NATCA pointed to a reference in the DOT budget that if the planned performance-based organization were not effective after a year in operation, DOT would look to other options, including partial privatization and franchise operation of components of the air traffic system.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic December 2001 Revenue Ton Miles (000) December December % 2001 2000 Change Domestic Freight 849,420 873,591 (2.8) Mail 67,161 205,945 (67.4) Total 916,581 1,079,536 (15.1) International
Sun Country yesterday said it will return to scheduled service this month, serving 11 cities starting Feb. 27. Sun Country had suspended scheduled service Dec. 7 and resumed flying a limited schedule on Jan. 3 between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Laughlin, Nev. It had been in talks with creditors and faced possible liquidation after several lessors filed to force the company into Chapter 7. CEO David Banmiller said the company will finalize a deal with an investor group next week.
AirTran Airways said yesterday it signed a contract with Airpath Wireless, a high-speed broadband wireless Internet service provider, to offer passengers Internet service at the gate with purchase of an Airpath card for $79. AirTran said destinations now offering the new service are Atlanta, Washington Dulles, Baltimore/Washington, Boston and Philadelphia.
