Continental hiked its charge to passengers making voluntary changes to non-refundable tickets to $100 per ticket from $75. The fee covers "revenue loss associated with unused inventory," a spokeswoman said. The increase affects North and South American tickets.
Senate Commerce Committee will have seven new members or about one-third of its 22 members. The new Republican members are Gordon Smith (Ore.), Peter Fitzgerald (Ill.) and newly elected John Ensign (Nev.) and George Allen (Va.). New Democratic members are Barbara Boxer (Cal.), John Edwards (N.C.) and Jean Carnahan (Mo.).
Southwest, in a rare move, plans to cease all flights at San Francisco Airport on March 5 due to mounting delays and cancellations at the airport. Southwest currently has 14 daily departures from SFO and beginning March 5 eight of those will be shifted to Oakland and two to Sacramento. Orange County, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas also will receive one additional daily departure each as a result of Southwest's decision. CEO Herb Kelleher said the small SFO operation "has not been profitable for a considerable period of time."
Five weeks after claiming that negotiations were on the right track, Spanish carriers Iberia and Air Europa have broken off merger talks "for good," said Air Europa Chairman Juan Jose Hidalgo yesterday.
WestJet will add Calgary-Comox service on March 3. The service will operate five days weekly with connections between Comox and Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. WestJet also will offer Limited Addition service to Brandon, Manitoba, from March 6-May 31.
Legend Airlines yesterday said it still lacks promised funding from Legend Funding Group to restart operations. Last week it thought the money would be in the bank by today at the latest, but as of yesterday afternoon the group had not produced the fund. "Tomorrow is another day," John Pincavage, who represents the investor group, told The DAILY. Legend declared bankruptcy in December after a bridge loan failed to come through.
FAA yesterday issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Boeing 747-400s, 767-200s and 767-300s powered by Pratt&Whitney PW4000 engines, requiring revisions to the flight manual to prevent reduced acceleration and climb performance. The performance data now in the manual could result in runway overruns or impact with obstacles or terrain, FAA said.
Carol Carmody has been designated vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board for a two-year term by President Clinton. Carmody will serve as acting chairman.
FAA last week named Bill Peacock to succeed the retiring Ron Morgan as director-air traffic Service. Peacock was last program director for air traffic tactical operations.
American Airlines Retirement And Insurance Plans Plan Formula/ Eligible Name Benefit after RETIREMENT A-Fund -- American Airlines 1.25% X FAE 1 year Pilots Retirement X years of ser- Plan vice FAE=Average of highest 60
Business Travel Coalition is asking Congress to conduct hearings on airline consolidation. BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell said that "concerns expressed last year during congressional hearings that the UA-US agreement would force competitors to seek market share parity have just been validated." BTC asserts that the new presidential administration needs time to review airline merger issues.
Continental's stockholders yesterday approved the previously announced recapitalization proposal at a special meeting. Last November, Continental reached a deal to repurchase for $450 million roughly 6.7 million shares of its Class A stock from Northwest (DAILY, Nov. 17). Continental also issued to Northwest a share of preferred stock, which gives Northwest the power to block certain changes in control transactions involving Continental. To celebrate the occasion, Continental paid a $100 cash bonus to all employees.
Midwest Express Holdings yesterday posted a $6.4 million loss in the fourth quarter, as the carrier was burdened with soaring costs and restrained capacity growth. Both Midwest Express and Skyway Airlines were hit by weather- and maintenance-related cancellations during the quarter, compounded by a pilot shortage. The company earned $7.5 million in the 1999 period. For the full year 2000, Midwest Express Holdings eked out a $514,000 profit, down 98.7% from 1999.
A broad-based industry coalition is polling its members to determine how they want to move forward with issues that were not sorted out last week by ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). The committee recommended that noise be lowered by 10 decibels from the current Chapter 3 international noise rules for newly certified aircraft (DAILY, Jan. 19). One of the biggest unresolved issues is whether regional authorities should be allowed to address noise problems outside a single global standard.
All Nippon Airways last week filed an application with the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to begin non-stop service between Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh City on March 27, with Vietnam Airlines planning to code-share on the route.
George W. Bush will get a seasoned aviation expert in his selection of Norman Mineta as DOT secretary -- with Senate approval all but assured following an expected friendly confirmation hearing -- while DOT presents Mineta and Bush with a variety of issues left unresolved and matters still unsettled. How the Republican administration and its token Cabinet Democrat gear up to face these challenges will set the course for aviation gridlock or clear skies ahead.
Delta Express posted a 2.5% unit revenue increase in the fourth quarter despite 8% more capacity and increased competition to and from Florida. Delta's North American yield was up 3.7%, according to Chief Marketing Officer Fred Reid. Dallas/Fort Worth strengthened and Delta "rebalanced" its Salt Lake City feed, he said.
Continental plans to boost service to Hawaii this spring with the addition of five new weekly frequencies and aircraft with more capacity. Starting May 2, Continental will add a second DC-10 nonstop flight between Houston and Honolulu that will operate five days a week during the summer travel season. The seasonal service will cease on Sept. 5. Continental also will switch from a 242-seat to a 282-seat DC-10 on its Newark-Honolulu route, adding more capacity. Continental currently serves Honolulu with three flights a day; one from Houston, Newark and Los Angeles.
Pilot hirings last year broke all records, according Atlanta-based AIR, Inc. A total of 19,027 pilots found work, compared with 15,747 in 1999. Majors hired fewer pilots, 4,779 versus 5,000, but nationals hired 6,601, up from 5,188. In December, 182 airlines reporting to AIR, Inc. hired pilots.
SkyWest Friday is expected to report lower-than-expected quarterly earnings due to weather disruptions on the West Coast in December. UBS Warburg analyst Jamie Baker noted that operating conditions were the worst of the quarter with completion factors "an astoundingly poor" 91%. Completion factors for October and November fell below the 95% threshold at which carriers can recover costs associated with United Express flying, he said.
The first Airbus A321 arrived at US Airways last week, making the carrier the first U.S. airline to operate the aircraft when it enters service Feb. 4. The 169-seat A321s will serve transcontinental routes, beginning with Philadelphia-Los Angeles. US Airways last week also introduced its first A330 service -- from Charlotte to London Gatwick.
DOT Inspector General today will release its third annual report outlining the top management challenges facing the department. The report details ongoing audit efforts and reviews progress made by DOT in the last year and highlights DOT and FAA shortcomings. The report, longer than in years past to benefit the incoming administration and new congressional committee chairman, has been provided to Congress and the Mineta transition team.
Despite higher fuel prices, bad weather and labor strife, the eight largest U.S. airlines -- led by Southwest -- managed to post a net profit in the fourth quarter. The carriers generated a net income of $87 million on sales of $21.4 billion, according to Merrill Lynch. The industry's net margin of 0.4% fell 1.8 points from last year, while the industry earned a $417 million operating income, a 63% drop from 1999.
