British Airways plans to introduce wireless application protocol (WAP) phone check-in for international flights from the U.K. in the first half of 2001, the airline said yesterday. The service will be available for frequent flyers only. Passengers with WAP phones also can select their seats when checking in. They will have to pick up their boarding pass at a self-service kiosk in the terminal and leave the bag at a specific dropping point. The WAP users will be able to check flight availability and departure and arrival times.
China Southern yesterday opened a new cargo dropoff station at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport offering second-day freight service to China. The new Atlanta station is in addition to China Southern's New York City cargo dropoff station at New York Kennedy. All China-bound cargo will be trucked from Atlanta to Chicago for the airline's Boeing 747-400 eastbound flights to either Shanghai or Shenzhen. Ground handling in Atlanta will be managed by China Southern's partner, Alliance Airlines.
Northwest wants an exemption for service between the U.S. and Malta and beyond, via intermediate points, and for similar service rights to Morocco. The carrier plans to serve the two markets via points in Italy under code share with Alitalia.The request is consistent with U.S. open-skies pacts with Italy, Morocco and Malta and with the terms of the immunized Alitalia/Northwest/KLM alliance. (Docket OST-00-8555)
AirTran yesterday signed a new fuel hedging agreement that covers an additional 20% of its requirements for the second through fourth quarters of 2001 at a price below $25 per barrel. "The price of jet fuel has been extremely volatile over the past year, and there are indications that a recent easing of crude prices might be affected by international events," said President Robert Fornaro.
Priceline.com has abandoned another venture as it continues focusing its business on travel offerings. Priceline.com and W.R. Berkley Corp. will not move forward with the creation of a new company to sell auto insurance over the Internet. The two companies said, "Current market conditions are not conducive to creating the new business."
UPS and United are urging DOT to finalize awards in the 2001 U.S.-China proceeding, while FedEx and Northwest continue to press the department to rethink the tentative allocation of four frequencies among incumbent U.S. carriers. UPS, noting that no one has objected to its selection for the new market designation, again appealed to DOT to make final its designation and allocation of six frequencies by Jan. 17.
Mesa Air's new agreement with Midwest Express out of Kansas City this quarter will have a positive effect and is typical of the business moves Mesa is making, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Mike Linenberg. In raising his earnings expectation of Mesa, Linenberg noted that the Kansas City move "adds very little cost to Mesa but has the potential of adding $2-3 million of incremental revenue" in the first year.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR OCT 15-17, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Pacific Angola Air Angola Air Boeing 727(F) Int'l Charter Charter JT8D-7B Taesa Cielos CIT Douglas del Peru Aerospace DC-10-30F/
American Eagle expects to launch regional jet service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Harlingen, Texas, on Jan. 31. One of the three daily frequencies will be operated with Embraer ERJ-145s, and during the peak winter travel season the airline will operate an additional RJ roundtrip on Saturdays. It will continue to operate 64-seat ATR turboprops on its other flights.
Worldspan signed an agreement with CharterHub Inc., an online air charter reservation service, that will provide Worldspan travel agents with access to CharterHub's Internet reservation system. Using the Worldspan Go! connection to CharterHub, travel agents will be able to quotes and book charter flights throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Ansett Australia further boosted its offer late yesterday to purchase a larger equity stake of regional carrier Hazelton Airlines. The offer came after Qantas escalated the bidding war. Earlier this week, the Hazelton family accepted an Ansett bid of A$1.35 a share to increase its equity stake in Hazelton to 35.4% (DAILY, Jan. 4).
Varig traffic for November jumped 12.2% to 2.2 billion revenue passenger kilometers, after rising 16.0% in October. Freight volume rose 14.7%, including 15.7% in November. Passenger load factor was 70.6% internationally and 65% on domestic routes. Varig carried 904,912 passengers in November, up 8.9%.
President-elect George W. Bush and DOT Secretary-designate Norman Mineta are being advised on transportation matters by a 42-member group of industry and former government insiders, including three prior secretaries of transportation. Jim Burnley, William Coleman and Sam Skinner, as well as former Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Shane, are part of the transportation transition advisory team.
Ansett Australia, a unit of Air New Zealand, reported that it won a bidding war to boost its stake of regional carrier Hazelton Airlines to 35.4%, after the Hazelton family accepted Ansett's A$1.35 a share offer. Ansett now owns about 23% of Hazelton and Qantas has a 20% stake in the carrier but both major airlines were bidding to increase their holdings.
Cathay Pacific plans to add 30 extra flights during the Chinese New Year period to accommodate increased passenger demand. The extra flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Sapporo will operate from Jan. 21 to Feb. 12. The airline also will provide additional return flights from Fukuoka to Hong Kong.
Continental and COPA applied for approval of antitrust immunity for their alliance, which they would not fully implement without such authority, the carriers told DOT. The approval and immunized rights are "essential to ensure effective competition" on routings between the U.S. and Central America, South America and the Caribbean, "particularly in light of American's alliances with other Latin American carriers."
EVA Air, a long-time all-Boeing operator, yesterday revealed plans to buy its first Airbus long-haul aircraft when it placed an order for eight A330-200s. Acquisition of the aircraft was authorized by the carrier's board of directors, and is awaiting approval from Taiwan's Civil Aviation Authority. The A330s, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in March 2003, will replace eight Boeing 767s the airline currently operates. Two of the new A330s will be purchased, and six will be leased.
US Airways on Friday plans to launch operations of its fourth wholly owned subsidiary airline that is slated to become DC Air if the United-US Airways merger gains regulatory approval.Potomac Air received tentative DOT approval last year and will operate as a US Airways Express carrier with de Havilland Dash 800Qs (DAILY, Nov. 22). Friday's expected launch will include service between Washington National and several East Coast cities -- Greensboro, N.C.; White Plains, N.Y., and Charleston, W.Va., according to the airline's reservations system.
Just before the New Year, Bolivian Director of Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) Orlando Montoya ordered a 30-day audit of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano's assets, including engines, equipment and other infrastructure. This is in response to charges leveled by LAB's labor unions that VASP, its Brazilian equity partner, has been "ransacking" LAB's infrastructure because of its own financial difficulties.
After an 16-month investigation and 60 interrogations that fill 19,600 pages, a judicial court in Buenos Aires has ruled that four LAPA executive officers are, in principle, "guilty for damages" in connection with the LAPA Boeing 737 that crashed on takeoff from Aeroparque Airport in Buenos Aires on Aug. 31, 1999. The crash killed 67.
Northwest requested two additional U.S.-Ghana third-country code-share frequencies, which the carrier wants to use to expand to daily its five-times-weekly U.S.-Accra service. Flights will operate with partner KLM via Amsterdam. In a U.S.-Ghana proceeding, Northwest gained five frequencies, including three for service with Alitalia that it did not operate and that have reverted to DOT under the dormancy provision (DAILY, July 17).
JetBlue last week said it has flown more than $100 million in revenue since it began in early 2000 and flew its one millionth passenger 10 months after launch from New York Kennedy. On-time performance reached 80.3%, and in October JetBlue achieved a 96.4% on-time rate. JetBlue's investment at JFK will include "tens of millions of dollars" of terminal improvements as part of a larger JFK improvement, the airline said.
FAA said yesterday that it will endure an across-the-board reduction in facility and equipment spending for fiscal 2001. The agency said it is "still determining" where and how its operations, research, engineering and development and its Airport Improvement Program funds will be reduced. The omnibus appropriations bill passed by Congress is responsible for the lower budget mandate.
Comair this month will start three daily roundtrip flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston Intercontinental and three daily flights between DFW and Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C., using Canadair regional jets. Both new services will begin Jan. 31. The flights between DFW and Greensboro are new service for the Delta network. The new CRJ flights between Houston and DFW are a change from turboprop service on three flights between those cities. Atlantic Southeast will continue to operate one daily turboprop flight with the EMB-120.
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N. Y.) has sent DOT Secretary Rodney Slater a pointed letter urging him to send Congress finalized DOT aviation competition guidelines before the life of the Clinton administration expires on Jan. 20. "Time is now running out for this administration to act on the guidelines," she said.
