WestJet and its pilots last week reached a five-year contract deal. The agreement provides annual salary increases for the next five years and stock options, plus improved scheduling and productivity increases to better use aircraft and crews.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association promoted Shelly Snyder to VP-communications, Walter Desrosier to director-maintenance and engineering, and Megan Curry to manager-communications and aviation education.
Gays and lesbians, who account for 3.5% of online travelers, represent more than 5% of online travel buyers and will research nearly $2.9 billion of travel on the Internet this year, according to a new Forrester Research report. "Travel marketers ignoring this market do so at their financial risk," says analyst Henry Harteveldt. He adds that the demographic is a "lucrative niche market" because gays and lesbians are not only more likely to book travel online, they buy more travel services online than straight consumers.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR OCT 18 - 20, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Boeing Korean Air Korean Air Boeing 777-200ER/ PW4090 Continental World Continental McDonnell
Ronald Morgan, FAA director of air traffic, will retire March 2 after 30 years with the agency. Morgan began his carrier at FAA in 1970 as an air traffic controller, moving to FAA headquarters in 1988. He was appointed to his current position in August 1996, serving as acting associate administrator for air traffic services in 1998.
Aerospace Industries Association elected Karl Krapek, president and chief operating officer of United Technologies, chairman of the board and Marshall Larsen, president and chief operating officer of BFGoodrich Aerospace, vice chairman.
Dassault Falcon Jet promoted Jeffrey Habib to VP-international marketing, and Robert Smith to VP-industrial operations, Little Rock, and appointed Bettina Chavanne to the Communications Department as press liaison and senior writer for the company's Falconer magazine.
The U.S. economic outlook in the new millennium has generated more long-winded articles in the past month than even the most interested reader can digest. Self-proclaimed Wall Street gurus, pompous Washington policy wonks, university economists and others have spent gallons of ink on predicting what the business world will experience in 2001. Crash, recession, soft landing, prosperity, apocalypse -- it would be a waste of time to reiterate the numerous prognostications -- so here is a summary that is as brief as it is plain: The U.S.
Delta on Friday warned of lower fourth quarter earnings due to mounting flight cancellations from a pilot shortage and bad winter weather. The airline expects its operating revenue for quarter ended Dec. 31 to be $65 to $75 million lower than anticipated.
Boeing yesterday confirmed a previously announced intent-to-order from Continental for 15 Boeing 757-300s. Continental first revealed its intentions in October 1999 with first deliveries scheduled for late 2001 through mid-2003 (DAILY, Oct. 6, 1999). Continental said the new 757-300s will be used in domestic markets to complement its current fleet of 41 757-200s. The aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
U.S. holds formal aviation negotiations with Israel in Washington beginning tomorrow, with third-country code sharing expected to be a major point of discussion for liberalizing the bilateral, according to a U.S. official. The U.S. would like to fully open skies with Israel. Informal talks with Hong Kong are scheduled for Feb. 7-8, with negotiations with Japan planned for Feb. 21-23, both in Washington. The U.S. has proposed negotiations with South Africa during the third week of February and with Russia at the end of February.
If the economic slowdown continues, it will lead to overcapacity in the airline industry, according to Morten Beyer&Agnew consultants. "With 886 new big jets scheduled for delivery this year and 555 already on the used market, the glut could be enormous," MBA says. "We expect new orders to slow and cancellations to appear as the world economy reaches a period of stagnation." Used aircraft prices are "especially vulnerable."
EasyJet last week sent letters to 26,000 passengers to apologize for the "severe disruption" to its system Dec. 28-31. The delays and cancellations are attributed to deicing delays and the failure of London Luton and Liverpool airports to clear snow adequately from their runways. EasyJet canceled 187 flights during the period and will automatically refund passengers whose flights were canceled and who chose not to travel. It also will refund passengers whose flights were delayed by more than four hours.
Lufthansa has suffered a severe setback in its efforts to build up Munich as a second hub in addition to Frankfurt. A federal court ruled that the current night curfew at Munich Airport must be strictly enforced. This means that the late evening inbound wave could be subject to heavy cuts, and many of the delayed flights would have to be canceled. However, Munich airport authorities already have applied for a relaxation of the rules.
Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), who represents the poorest and least educated population in Kentucky without cities large enough to generate substantial air traffic, was named Friday by the House Republican leadership to head the transportation appropriations subcommittee, which funds the FAA. Rogers' southeastern Kentucky congressional district, devastated by the declining coal industry, has struggled to diversify. Health care, service, tourism and coal are its major industries. Its population is 87% rural and its median household income in 1990 was $15,061.
DOT and the State Department under the leadership of secretary-designates Norman Mineta and Colin Powell are poised to continue the cooperative relationship between the two agencies, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said Friday at a State Department Open Forum. Slater said he is confident that a bipartisan atmosphere will prevail as State and DOT move forward on global transportation issues.
