FAA said yesterday it has selected Gary Army Airfield in Killeen, Texas, March Inland Port, Riverside, Calif., and Mather Airport, Sacramento, Calif., to participate in the Military Airport Program. MAP is a set-aside of the Airport Improvement Program that provides financial assistance to the civil sponsor of military airfields converted to civil or joint use. Yesterday's announcement increased the number of airports to participate in the MAP from 12 to 15, including one general aviation facility.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR OCT 23 - 24, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Continental Aces ATR ATR-42-500 Express Colombia PW127E Airbus British British Airbus A319 Airways Airways V2522-A5 Airbus Air 2000 The CIT Airbus
Blame it on United and its Air Line Pilots Association members. United's ALPA managed to win itself a sweet contract deal and now everyone wants in on the act. And to get their way, the rank-and-file is willing to walk the edge of the law and even violate the rules of negotiation set down in the Railway Labor Act.
Belgian carrier Sabena has continued its impressive growth pattern in 2000, but admitted that "unfortunately growth is not enough" in order to turn around the financially struggling carrier. Sabena reported a traffic increase of 10.3% while its capacity gain was 8% larger than in 1999. The systemwide load factor was 67.5%, one percentage point better than in the previous year.
Five candidates are seeking to buy ailing Greek carrier Olympic Airways in a privatization process launched last month by the Greek government. "There have already been expressions of interest from five parties, but we expect many more to come in by the deadline," said government spokesman Dimitris Reppas. Greece intends to sell up to 65% of the carrier and suitors have until Jan. 31 to offer interest. So far, only Cyprus Airways openly has confirmed that it was interested in Olympic.
Iberia faces severe opposition from its pilots union to its plans to take over Spanish competitor Air Europa. The carrier and its pilots union, Sepla, could not agree on a seniority ranking for the 500 Air Europa pilots who would have to be integrated with Iberia's pilots. Sepla temporarily broke off the talks and threatened to block the takeover. Iberia and Air Europa in December had extended a period of exclusive negotiations until Jan. 25, when the carriers want to announce whether the deal will go ahead.
Comparison Of American/American Eagle And TWExpress Service In St. Louis Markets As Of Jan. 1, 2001 Nonstop American American Eagle Service STL ---------------------- TWExpress St. Distance Daily Chicago Dallas/ Louis Markets (Miles) Nonstop Equipment O'Hare Fort Worth
Air Santo Domingo, acquired in 1999 from Air Europa, carried 54,982 passengers in 2000 with a 53.7% load factor. The carrier, which provides scheduled service within the Dominican Republic and to San Juan, has a wet-lease charter agreement with SAP Inc., a U.S.-based, FAA-certified Part 135 carrier. It uses LET 410 and Beech 1900D turboprops.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater detailed the department's past 25 years and projected its future for a like period in two reports to the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting this week. The first report, The Changing Face of Transportation, builds on a 1977 report by William Coleman, DOT secretary during the Ford administration.
KLM's low-fare subsidiary, buzz, plans to introduce four new routes March 25 from its base in London. The airline will start four weekly flights to Poitiers and La Rochelle, France, and five to Murcia and Gerona, Spain. Buzz will reintroduce service to Montpellier, France, and Jerez de le Frontera, Spain, in the summer. To free up capacity, the airline will temporarily cease operating to Chambery and Geneva, Switzerland, in April saying the services were primarily used by winter holiday makers.
Congressional sources say it is unlikely that a new House aviation subcommittee chairman will be picked this week. The leading candidates, in order of seniority, are Reps. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.), Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), Stephen Horn (R-Calif.) and John Mica (R-Fla.). Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), past chairman, had to vacate the role because of the House Republican limit of six years atop a subcommittee.
Delta's Air Line Pilots Association board this week authorized a strike ballot for its membership. If approved by the majority of Delta's 9,500 pilots, no strike could take place until after a 30-day cooling-off period. The National Mediation Board has not released Delta or its pilots into a cooling-off period. ALPA and management have been in contract talks since September 1999 and the two sides requested mediation from the NMB in November.
United Parcel Service has ordered 60 Airbus A300-600 freighters, for delivery between 2003 and 2009. UPS ordered 30 A300-600 freighters in 1998, of which it has received seven The freighters can carry 22 A2H containers on the main deck and seven LD9 containers on the lower deck. They have a structural payload of 109,600 pounds and a range of 2,500 nautical miles.
United selected Lanyon's newly released Audit 3 software for billing information data tape analysis and computer reservations system management. The airline identified "sizable actionable abuse of our inventory in addition to CRS billing discrepancies that would have otherwise gone undetected," United said.
Japan Air System signed a $360 million, 10-year pact with Pratt&Whitney Aftermarket Services to provide a fleet management program for its 44 PW4158 engines that power A300-600R aircraft.
Polynesian Airlines of Samoa has joined Boeing's next-generation 737 Spares Exchange Program. Other carriers in the program are KLM, Transavia of The Netherlands and Braathens of Norway.
Mesa Air's board last week approved the repurchase of up to an additional one million shares of its common stock. The repurchase is in addition to the 3.4 million shares previously approved in December, representing 10% of shares then outstanding. As of Jan. 5, the company had repurchased 2.48 million shares, or 7% of shares outstanding, at an average cost of $5.43 per share. Mesa also disclosed at a meeting of analysts and investors on Jan. 6 that it acquired about one million shares of America West at an average price of approximately $10.50 per share.
Asiana has joined the Asia Miles Travel Reward Program. Asia Miles is one of Asia's largest travel reward programs with 15 airline partners and more than 50 non-air partners, including restaurants, financial services and hotels.
British low-fare airline EasyJet has begun flying three new routes from Amsterdam Schiphol -- twice-daily service to Edinburgh and daily flights to Belfast and Nice. The carrier said the new flights represent the first step of building up Amsterdam as its fourth European base after London Luton, Liverpool and Geneva. EasyJet will use Boeing 737-300s for the flights.`
Northwest and its Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Monday resumed contract talks after a two month recess. Talks resumed under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. Northwest said both sides revised their proposals and AMFA backed away from its demand for a more than 100% pay raise.
Concorde accident investigators of the French Bureau Enquetes Accidents (BEA) say they have not yet got any answer from Continental on questions surrounding its maintenance practices. The inquiries are part of the investigation of the July 25 crash of an Air France Concorde near Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. BEA is certain that a Continental DC-10, registration number N13067, lost a wear strip from one of its GE CF6-50 engines during takeoff five minutes before the Concorde accelerated down the same runway.
First high-speed Q400 turboprop was delivered to launch customer Horizon Air, Bombardier Aerospace said yesterday. The Seattle-based carrier has 15 of the 70-seat aircraft on order.
