Four months since Aerolineas Argentinas' majority Spanish shareholders, SEPI, took over management in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy, there has been little progress. Neither the new CEO, Emilio Cabrera, a Spanish executive appointed by SEPI, or anyone else at the airline has been talking until last week. According to sources, management met with representatives of all labor unions involved -- the unions own 10% of the carrier -- to sound them out about cuts in personnel and salaries. The restructuring calls for labor changes by March at the latest.
Northwest Airlines Cargo willincrease domestic freight contract rates two cents per pound for shipments within North America. This represents an increase in base rates of about 5.5%. The increase will cut across all weight breaks, and minimum charges will be adjusted accordingly.
Bud Shuster, Former Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
I have retired from Congress after being fortunate enough to represent the 9th District of Pennsylvania for 28 years, most recently as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I am proudest of my efforts to improve the nation's transportation system, especially highways, transit and airports.
UNITED HUB PROFILE CHICAGO, O'HARE ORIGIN AND DESTINATIONS SEGMENT SUMMARY AND TOP NONSTOP MARKETS Origination and Destination Data YE 2Q00 YE 2Q95 Chicago, O'Hare Total (All Carriers) O&D Passengers 27,349,710 24,478,630 11.7% Passengers Per 37,465 33,532 Day Each Way
While Brazil's Big Four carriers are trying to improve their financial situation, a brewing fare war may make it worse. Coinciding with a warning from Varig President Ozires Silva that low-cost new entrant Gol Airlines' start in the domestic market would spark a fare war," (DAILY, Feb. 5), TAM announced fare reductions in all routes where it competes with Gol.
The European Commission said late Monday that it has given antitrust clearance to the alliance between German construction groups Hochtief and IVG for the development of Berlin's new international airport. "The examination carried out under the merger regulation revealed that the project as notified would not restrict competition between European airports," EU's competition watchdog said.
Continental Express will initiate daily nonstop service between Houston and Zacatecas, Mexico, May 2. Service is pending government approval. The addition of Zacatecas will bring to 20 the number of Mexican destinations offered by Continental and Continental Express.
The Bush administration is planning to cut $368 million from the FAA budget for the next fiscal year -- funds earmarked for improving airports and modernizing the air traffic control system. These are the same two elements that Congress and industry say should be fully funded to avoid the gridlock now occurring in the U.S.
America West, applying for slots at New York LaGuardia for nonstop service to its Phoenix and Las Vegas hubs, told DOT the time is right to consider using its authority to grant such an exemption to pre-empt the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's perimeter rule at slot-controlled airport.
Brazil's Embraer announced that British Midland International has exercised two options for the 37-seat ERJ-135 jet and two options of the 50-seat ERJ-145 for delivery between January and April 2002. The firm orders from British Midland have risen from eight to 10 ERJ-145s and from two to four ERJ-135s. BMI also has six more options for -145s. The total value of the contract is $270 million.
Eight new U.S. destinations will be covered in the Grupo TACA code-sharing agreement with American for a total of 50. The latest additions beyond Dallas/Forth Worth are: Albuquerque, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Tulsa; and beyond Miami, Jacksonville.
Russia's Volga-Dnepr and Heavy-Lift of the U.K. terminated their joint venture agreement for cooperative marketing and operation of commercial flights with outsized/super-heavy cargo, effective Feb. 1. The joint venture of the two cargo airlines began in September 1991, but Director General Alexey Isaikin said yesterday in Washington that it ended the agreement because the joint venture "does not enable Volga-Dnepr to attract sufficient investment necessary" to expand its Antonov An-124-100 fleet.
Air France and Alitalia look like they are moving closer to an alliance. Air France CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said that a deal between the two was possible very quickly. Technical discussions are at an advanced stage, Spinetta stated. However, he admitted that an alliance deal could only be finalized with a new Alitalia management in place.
Japan Airlines' planned operational changes for April 2001-March 2002 are comparatively small except for a vigorous expansion of services to Seoul, where a new large airport will open next month. With the introduction of new equipment by its subsidiaries, Boeing 737-400s by JTA and Bombardier CRJ-200s by J-Air, JAL will expand services to more small, local cities. On the domestic front, JAL will increase flights from Tokyo to Fukuoka and Okinawa and transfer six flights to subsidiary carriers.
U.S. aviation officials meet with their counterparts from Hong Kong today and tomorrow in Washington for informal talks intended to gauge interest on both sides in resuming formal negotiations on liberalizing the bilateral, a DOT official said. The U.S. is interested in expanding U.S. gateways and fifth-freedom rights for both passenger and cargo services, while Hong Kong would like to gain code-share rights.
American recently launched a service that offers proactive notification of changes to flight schedules or other flight information by phone or to personal wireless devices. The information can be delivered by voice message via phone, or text message via e-mail, alphanumeric pager, text-enabled wireless phone or personal digital assistant.
Northwest has no plans to waive its veto rights that would block a sale of its alliance partner Continental to another carrier, but it would welcome any deal that grows Continental's reach. If Continental "were to structure a transaction to become larger, we would have a more valuable alliance," said Northwest Chief Financial Officer Mickey Foret, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Air Carrier conference this week.
DOT's review of Orbitz and any potential anti-competitive concerns about the site is "essentially done," according to General Counsel Gary Doernhoefer. Neither the DOT Inspector General nor the Secretary's office has presented Orbitz with any concerns that would prevent a June launch of the site. Doernhoefer told The DAILY yesterday that the Justice Department recently assigned a new lawyer to the Orbitz case and on Capitol Hill, Orbitz "is not on anyone's radar screen."
In a change to its initial plans for the three French subsidiaries, SAirGroup has decided not to merge AOM, Air Liberte and Air Littoral into a single company. Instead, only Air Liberte and AOM will merge and retain the name Air Liberte. Air Littoral will continue to operate as a separate entity focusing on regional routes.
Air Line Pilots Association has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to intervene in a suit by the Air Transport Association to overturn FAA implementation of a rule that prevents pilots from being on duty more than 16 hours a day. At issue is a petition filed by ATA seeking to block FAA from enforcing its interpretation of the FAA regulation, said ALPA President Duane Woerth.
French police said an estimated 6,000 demonstrators blocked the road access to Paris Orly airport on Sunday to protest a French government plan to create a new air traffic route over neighboring counties. Demonstrators, lead by local politicians and anti-noise activists, demanded that the new lane be shifted toward less densely populated areas.
The Belgian trade unions still hope to avoid layoffs at struggling Sabena, though the airline could be just days away from shutting down. Shareholders are scheduled to meet Thursday to decide on the company's future. Freddy Tack of the Centrale Generale des Services Publics said he is still optimistic that there will be a solution without layoffs. In his view, Sabena should use early retirement schemes and transfer workers to different departments where they could more effective.
SAirGroup, the parent of Swissair, announced the resignation of Paul Reutlinger as CEO of its French affiliates AOM, Air Liberte and Air Littoral effective the end of February. Reutlinger, 57, was appointed to this role Aug. 1 and was in charge of merging the three money-losing airlines. SAirGroup expressed regret at Reutlinger's resignation. The airline did not specify any concrete reasons for Reutlinger's decision.
