Romania's transportation minister removed the general manager of state airline Tarom in the wake of the carrier's disappointing financial results and poor management. According to the Associated Press, General Manager Gheorghe Racaru was fired on Monday and Transportation Minister Anca Boagiu appointed Gabriel Dumitrescu, formerly head of the civil aviation department to replace Racaru.
A General Accounting Office report released today on United-US Airways will warn that permitting the merger could lead to further airline consolidation, fewer choices for consumers and higher fares, congressional sources said.The report is being released by merger opponents Reps. James Oberstar (Minn.), Transportation Committee ranking Democrat, and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).
FlightSafety Boeing Training International (FSB) boosted its simulator fleet with the recent certification of two full-flight devices. FSB installed an Airbus A320-200 simulator at its Gatwick/Burgess Hill, U.K., training center and a Boeing 767-400 in Seattle, Wash.
Northwest and AvantGo Inc., now provide of real-time access to Northwest's flight and gate status, frequent flyer membership information, the ability to view travel reservations and check current weather conditions from AvantGo's "Travel" channel. The partnership allows mobile device users to access Northwest information wirelessly in real-time and offline via desktop synchronization. Earlier this year, Northwest became the first airline to be displayed on AT&T's Digital PocketNet service and on the Sprint PCS Wireless Web.
DOT yesterday issued a show cause order proposing to award seven U.S.-Argentina frequencies each to Delta and Continental for 2001 services recently agreed to by the two countries following a pull-back by Argentina from an open-skies accord reached in August 1999. Delta would receive seven frequencies for Atlanta-Buenos Aires flights beginning April 1 and Continental would gain seven for Newark-Buenos Aires service starting Dec. 1.
United's capacity growth next year will be slower than planned, largely due to accelerated retirement of its Boeing 727-200 fleet. Because of anticipated higher costs for fuel and labor, the airline will retire 25 of its 75 727s next year, almost a full year ahead of plan. United now expects capacity to increase between 2.5% and 3.0% next year.
Delta on Jan. 30 will suspend several of its connection carrier routes to New YorK LaGuardia routes, Delta said yesterday, because FAA's recent lottery reduced the number of LaGuardia slots to which Delta Connection carriers can operate. The lottery cut the number of flights Delta Connection carriers can operate to 32 from 68.
Priceline.com yesterday abandoned plans to launch a new company to offer its services in Australia and New Zealand. The new company, called MyPrice, was slated to offer Priceline.com's form of buyer-driven e-commerce under the leadership of local telecommunications veterans Frank Blount and Peter Shore (DAILY, March 2). The company did not state why it was dropping plans to enter the new markets. Equity investors in MyPrice include SFN Investments, affiliates of Soros Private Equity Partners and telecommunications firm Telstra.
Vietnam Airlines applied yesterday at DOT for an exemption to operate service from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, via Taipei, to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The carrier wants to code share on flights already operated by China Airlines (CAL) for the Taiwan-U.S. segment of the proposed service, beginning Jan. 1, for which the Taiwanese flag carrier uses Boeing 747 aircraft. The two carriers have an application pending for Vietnam third-country code-share rights (DAILY, Nov. 20).
By Jens Flottau in Toulouse, [email protected], and Steve Lott in Washington, steve_lott@ aviationnow.com.
Airbus yesterday launched the largest and most expensive commercial aircraft development program ever, committing to build the 500-plus-seat A380, the new name for the former A3XX. The project, with development costs topping $10.7 billion, aims to wrestle the title of "world's biggest commercial jetliner" away from Boeing for the first time in more than three decades. The launch may not go smoothly, however, as there are early signs that government backing for the Airbus super-jumbo could trigger a trade dispute between the U.S. and the European Union.
Alitalia's four-year business plan, unveiled this week in Rome, aims for a return to operating profitability in 2001. It forecasts a 400 billion lire (US$184.1 million) operating loss in 2000, which will be offset by 490 billion lire in extraordinary gains. The plan, approved by the company's board, also projects an operating profit of 117 billion lire ($53.8 million). Operating profit in 2004 will stand at 828 billion lire, Alitalia said. Revenue is expected to grow 33% over four years, from 10,515 billion lire in 2000 to 14,002 billion ($6.4 billion) in 2004.
DOT is "going to address the issues" raised by carriers from Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in response to U.S.-proposed ownership change reporting requirements on those carriers under the plurilateral APEC accord, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said yesterday. DOT prepared its show cause order in a "skillful way," Slater maintained, adding that he anticipates that changes to the order will "reflect our sensitivity" to those replies.
Air Canada Regional seeks DOT approval for scheduled and non-scheduled transborder service and the right to display the Air Canada "AC" code on transborder operations. The carrier wants DOT to set tomorrow as a deadline for filing answers to its application. Air Canada Regional is a newly formed corporate entity made up of Air Ontario, Air Nova, Air BC and Canadian Regional, which are undergoing corporate restructuring as part of Air Canada's takeover of Canadian Airlines.
On-time arrival rates for October, reported in DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, include for the first time voluntary reporting by Aloha Airlines, which topped the 10 major carriers with a rate of 90.5%. The average for the month was 76.2%, lower than September's 78.1% and October 1999's 80.1%. The majors, required to report, were led by Northwest, 83.5%, followed by Continental, 82.2%, and Delta, 82.1%. America West posted the lowest rate, 60.5%, and United reported 69.6%, followed by Alaska, 70.5%, and Southwest, 71.0%.
Sun Country reported to DOT a 15% increase in third quarter revenue to $71.6 million on losses of $11.3 million. Third quarter losses included $5.8 million in higher fuel prices, compared with the third quarter 1999, and a $5 million loss related to retiring its DC-10s. The airline announced plans to grow in 2001, adding eight new Boeing 737 aircraft and investing in new information technology, CEO Bill LaMacchia said yesterday.
American expects fourth quarter unit costs will be higher than expected due to significant weather related disruptions and higher fuel costs. American reported in a securities filing that its operations have been "plagued" by a large increase in the amount of "adverse weather" relative to the same period last year. Thunderstorm activity hurt its operations during the early part of the quarter, particularly at its Dallas/Fort. Worth hub. Ice storms this month, also at DFW, resulted in "significant cancellations."
Aerolineas Uruguayas applied at DOT for authority to operate non-scheduled and charter cargo flights between the U.S. and Montevideo, Uruguay. It would operate the flights with DC-8-71D or Boeing 767 aircraft wet-leased from a Chilean carrier and registered in Chile. (Docket OST-00-8547)
The four-year battle over Milan's new Malpensa airport is expected to come to an end Dec. 21 when the European Commission will approve the Italian authorities' latest plan. Last Friday, the advisory committee representing European Union member states approved a proposal regarding traffic distribution between Milan's Linate and Malpensa airports, which was proposed by Italy earlier this month.
Alitalia says it is seeking an alliance with a U.S. carrier just as talks with Swissair parent SAirGroup have been frozen. "The new Alitalia plan, although it does not examine alliances with European airlines, foresees during 2001 the definition of a strategic accord with a leading U.S. carrier for the North Atlantic area and a series of strategic accords for other areas," said Alitalia yesterday after its board meeting.
Airbus today will announce the formal launch of its A3XX super-jumbo at a news conference at its Toulouse headquarters. With recent purchase agreements from Qantas and Virgin Atlantic, Airbus has reached its critical mark of 50 firm orders from six airlines, which the consortium said would be the minimum needed to launch. Boeing CEO Phil Condit is not surprised that Airbus is going ahead with the program, noting that he "assumed they would go with the A3XX for three years."
Air France's Brazil operations grew 40% from 1999, double the world average, in the first three quarters of the year. For October, it reported 92% load factors in its daily Rio de Janeiro-Paris flights, while its daily Sao Paulo-Paris flights averaged 83%. To increase capacity, it will add two Rio-Paris flights in February and March 2001. Revenue on its Brazil-Paris flights code shared with TAM increased. In three months, Air France will start selling flights on the Internet throughout Brazil.
NTSB Chairman Jim Hall plans to resign his position as member of the National Transportation Safety Board on Jan. 18. He joined the board in October 1993 and has been chairman since June 1994. In his letter of resignation to President Clinton yesterday, Hall said, "The men and women of the safety board serve our nation with dedication and distinction. I will miss my association with them."
The report of the European Union's High Level Group on Air Traffic Reform, unveiled yesterday in Brussels, "confirms the urgent need for a single European sky and advocates setting up the structures needed to create it by 2005," the EC said. The group, which brought together representatives of Europe's national civil and military air traffic authorities, unions and industry, confirms plans already outlined by the EC.
Northwest and its Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) will meet Thursday at the National Mediation Board in Washington to exchange contract packages. AMFA President O.V. Delle Femine said he was not certain when NMB would schedule more talks, but NMB is reportedly looking at resuming negotiations in January. NMB halted contract talks about six weeks ago, calling AMFA's demands unreasonable.
