DOT approved a request by South African Airways and Nigeria Airways for Nigeria Airways to display its code on SAA's U.S.-Nigeria flights, which SAA would operate on a New York-Lagos-Johannesburg routing, using Boeing 747-300 aircraft and including Nigeria Airways' flight attendants (DAILY, Jan. 5).
DOT granted Skyservice Airlines d/b/a Roots Air an exemption to conduct scheduled service between any points in Canada and the U.S. The carrier has had a foreign carrier permit request pending at DOT since 1994, an application it plans to supplement soon. It gained U.S.-Canada charter rights in 1990 and operates passenger charters "to many U.S. points, including Las Vegas and Orlando," using Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.
Royal Aviation and Canada 3000 have inked a deal giving Canada 3000 100% of Royal's shares. The combined company will be the second-largest carrier in Canada, employing 4,000. Canada 3000 will offer one common share for every 2.5 common shares of Royal in a deal valued at C$84 million that has been recommended by the boards of both airlines.
Midwest Express CEO Timothy Hoeksema says the company is planning to make some major fleet decisions soon, and with its pilot turnover rate slowing the company is hoping to see profitability return and lead to a 15% growth rate. The carrier's bad fourth quarter was due to soaring costs, restrained capacity growth, bad weather, a threatened pilots strike and a shortage of pilots as trainees were wooed away by United and Delta (DAILY, Jan. 23). A fleet decision will occur in the current quarter, he said.
Delta Express is adding three new nonstop flights to Florida. Starting April 6, it will offer one daily roundtrip between Providence, R.I., and Fort Lauderdale, and on May 7, it will begin an additional roundtrip between Hartford, Conn., and Fort Lauderdale for a total of three flights. Starting on May 7, Delta Express will offer additional roundtrips between Hartford and West Palm Beach for a total of three daily flights.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which holds an aviation summit Thursday and Friday to discuss critical air transportation problems, is likely to announce a runways coalition on Thursday. Legislative strategies for building airport capacity was raised by several Senate Commerce Committee members at DOT Secretary Norman Mineta's confirmation hearing last week.
As part of its reforms and plans to upgrade its airline industry, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) will list its computer reservations systems, Travelsky Technology, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Feb. 7. The move also aims to strengthen China's bid for admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO). CAAC hopes to raise HK$1.15 billion (US$150 million) from an initial public offering, which started today and will run through to Thursday, for 270.32 million H (Hong Kong) new shares at HK$3.5 to HK$4.25 a piece.
Los Angeles Airport, bucking a 33% increase nationwide in runway incursions, was praised by FAA for a 33% drop, from 12 to eight, in the number of incursions over the last two years. Reducing the number of such incidents is one of FAA's top safety priorities. LAX had more than 779,000 takeoffs and landings last year.
DOT invited U.S. carriers interested in U.S.-Hong Kong fifth-freedom traffic rights for all-cargo services to add their requests for three available frequencies to applications filed by UPS, Evergreen International, Polar Air Cargo, Gemini Air Cargo, Northwest and FedEx. The frequencies had been allocated to Air Micronesia, which ceased using them in March 2000, according to UPS. UPS's request for the rights was lodged first, about a week after it was tentatively awarded now-finalized U.S.-China market entry rights.
American Trans Air last week reaffirmed an earlier decision to develop an employee training facility near Chicago Midway Airport as part of a broader, overall expansion in Chicago. The new training complex will contain Boeing 737 and 757 flight simulators (DAILY, May 5, 2000). With the addition of a hotel and restaurant, the facility will be used to house and train ATA pilots, flight attendants, maintenance and reservations staff.
Iberia plans new daily, nonstop service from Dublin to Madrid, starting March 25. The flight will be operated with Airbus A320s. In addition to the new flight, the timing of Iberia's direct flight to Barcelona has been "revised," to coincide with other flights within mainland Spain, and the Balearic and Canary islands.
1996 Jan. 29 -- Italy intends to press for consideration of a Europe-U.S.-Canada common aviation area under its chairmanship of the European Union. 1991 Jan. 28 -- Heritage Foundation, pressing the case for airport privatization, warns congestion will reach crisis levels and threaten passenger safety, concluding that congestion can be eased through peak-hour pricing. 1981
Hotwire, following the launch of its airline ticket service in October, last week went live with an option to book hotel rooms nationwide. Hotwire claims that its exclusive prices save travelers 40% or more when making travel reservations.
Air Transport Association has scheduled a news conference Wednesday to unveil a new web site, called "Customers First," The DAILY has learned. The DOT Inspector General's customer service report assessing carrier performance during the past 12 months, following the majors' voluntary efforts, is expected this week.
Atlas Air posted record fourth quarter profits of $31.2 million, up 31.6% from 1999 driven by a 13% revenue improvement. The fourth quarter results represented a 31% operating margin, and the pre-tax margin increased more than 3 percentage points, to 22.5%. Fourth quarter revenues, block hours, operating income and pre-tax income all represented new records for the company. "The results speak for themselves,' said Executive VP Richard Shuyler.
FedEx has filed a motion supporting UPS's petition to cancel DHL Worldwide Express's foreign air freight forwarding license over foreign ownership issues. UPS next week is expected to join FedEx's complaint to revoke DHL Airways' air carrier certificate, The DAILY understands.
Ryanair last year received 93% of its bookings directly on-line, according to CEO Michael O'Leary. The low-fare carrier has the largest on-line travel site in Europe with 870 million hits in one year. Ryanair last year sold 3 million tickets on-line, saving the company 20 million Euros (US$18.5 million)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations would be applicable to aviation industry employees under the provisions of a report recently completed pursuant to an earlier memorandum of understanding among FAA, DOT, OSHA and the Labor Department. The MOU was signed in early August, the result of intense lobbying by airline flight attendant unions, and called for the parties to produce an initial report within 120 days.
Varig traffic for December jumped 24.6% to 2.3 billion revenue passenger kilometers, double the 12.2% increase in November. Traffic for the full year was up 12.6%, and freight volume rose 14.3%, including 10.3% in December. Passenger load factor was 72.7% internationally and 62.9% on domestic routes. Varig carried 918,560 passengers last month, a rise of 13.0%.
American plans to add daily nonstop service between Chicago O'Hare and Zurich, June 1 through October, using a Boeing 767. The seasonal service complements American's daily year-round code-share service from Chicago with Swissair. American also operates a daily nonstop from Dallas/Fort Worth to Zurich.
