FAA Southwest Region since the beginning of 1999 has proposed 13 fines totaling $4.2 million. The latest and greatest was a $2.5 million civil penalty proposed last week against Parker-Hannifin for allegedly not reporting changes to aircraft fluid connectors over a 12-year period. The division proposed two fines against American totaling $948,000 for various alleged offenses. FAA this year has proposed fines totaling $9.9 million.
FAA Air Traffic Services chief Peter Challan, addressing negative capacity, told the ATCA meeting that "there is not a darn thing we can do about LaGuardia today." Describing daily departure delays that he says average 80 minutes, Challan said LaGuardia has "too many operations. The system has lost its elasticity." FAA's "game plan is to do the best we can."
Air Jamaica has delayed the launch of its Boston service by several months, now planning to start flights Feb. 15. The airline originally wanted to begin Montego Bay-Boston flights by yearend but is now set to start five weekly services in February (DAILY, Aug. 18). Air Jamaica will operate the route with an Airbus A320 and plans to add a sixth flight March 4.
Correction: China Airlines' revenue for the July to September quarter was NT$20.24 billion. The DAILY incorrectly said the figure was for the first nine months (DAILY, Oct. 24).
Sabena plans to boost its financial results by 14.4 billion Belgian francs (US$296 million) in fiscal 2001 by altering its network and cutting jobs. The airline's financial situation has "rapidly deteriorated," Sabena said, mostly because of escalating fuel prices, the high U.S. dollar exchange rate, intense competition and the switch from partnering with Delta to American.
NATIONAL DELAY SYNOPSIS FY 1999 VS. 2000 FY 1999 Delays By Cause Delays Total Total Per Date Operations Delays Weather Volume Equip Runway Other 1,000 Oct-98 14,360,937 23,988 13,986 4,741 908 820 3,533 1.67
Varig traffic for August jumped 19.6% to 2.4 billion revenue passenger kilometers after rising 21.2% in July. Traffic is up 9.9% so far this year and freight volume 15.4%, including 7.3% in August. The passenger load factor was 75.6% internationally and 68.6% on domestic routes. Varig carried 983,303 passengers last month, a rise of 14.5%.
TWA and American Eagle have reached an agreement to provide Trans World Connection service between New York Kennedy and nine new markets. Eagle also will provide TWC service between JFK and five existing TWC cities and will begin phasing in that service Dec. 2. New TWC markets are Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Cleveland, Columbus, Worcester, Providence and Montreal. Eagle will serve five current TWC markets: Hartford, Boston, Baltimore, Washington and Pittsburgh.
The planned joining of MyAircraft and AirNewco in a giant business-to-business supplier and airline exchange won't be derailed by the proposed $42.9 billion merger between Honeywell and General Electric, executives on both sides declared yesterday. "We worked on this long before the merger announcement," said Ari Bousbib, VP-corporate strategy and development at United Technologies. "GE is welcome to join the exchange as a customer. GE can derail other mergers, but they're not going to derail this one."
The Dutch Ministry of Transport imposed another 500,000 Dutch guilder (US$190,000) fine on Schiphol Group this week because the airport broke stringent noise regulations once again Monday. The airport operator now owes a total of NLG 1 million for breaching noise limitations. Each year, the transport authorities set a noise ceiling on the basis of the airport's flight movement plans. The next period will begin Nov. 1, giving Schiphol a fresh start with a clean bill.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR AUGUST 14 - 16, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Embraer Continental Sampa Gold Embraer Express ERJ145/ AE3007A1/P US Airways CanJet US Airways Boeing 737-
Alaska Airlines now offers wireless access to its web site through alaskaair.com. Passengers can now view flight status, flight schedules and their frequent flyer activity using web-enabled cell phones and other wireless handheld devices. The service is free and available by visiting the airline's web site. Alaska claims to be the first U.S. carrier to sell tickets online in 1995, and in September 1999 it was first to introduce online check-in.
The Senate late Wednesday gave final congressional approval to a bill expanding the list of crimes that would disqualify potential airport security screeners and expand their training. The bill now goes to the White House, where President Clinton is expected to sign it into law. The compromise measure, a blend of the Senate's bill for improved training and a House proposal that expanded the list of crimes that would disqualify screeners, was approved by the House on Monday.
Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa) has called for construction of new parallel runways at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, which he said would mean an immediate reduction in delays and would allow simultaneous landings at O'Hare during all weather periods, impossible under the current configuration. Harkin, in a Senate floor speech Wednesday, said "as a friendly neighbor" from Iowa, he is sending a letter to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois Gov. George Ryan asking that they approve new runways in the interest of improving the entire national air transport system.
Lufthansa has achieved a significant boost in traffic in the first nine months of 2000 as revenue passenger kilometers increased 9.3%. Capacity rose 6.7%, driving up the average load factor 1.8 percentage points to 75.2%. In September, the airline recorded a 79.8% load factor, its best ever. Lufthansa will publish its financial figures for the third quarter and the year to date on Nov. 15. Revenue ton kilometers of Lufthansa Cargo went up 9.1% and passengers increased 6.3% to 31.2 million. Regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine carried another 4.3 million, up 17%.
South African Airways and Nigeria Airways have posponed their intended launch of direct service between New York Kennedy and Lagos planned for Oct. 31. The two have been unable to finalize their commercial and code-share agreement, according to SAA. SAA already has allocated a Boeing 747-300 to the route, and both airlines completed cabin crew, ground, passenger handling and airport integration.
Delta, telling DOT that American will not object to DOT's tentative decision to select Delta for U.S.-Egypt code sharing with SkyTeam partner Air France via Paris (DAILY, Oct. 23), asked the department to immediately make final its order.
U.K. leaders defeated a proposal yesterday to privatize the nation's air traffic control system. An amendment had been offered to model the U.K.'s privatization after Canada's initiative with Nav Canada, but there was too much opposition in the House of Lords, sources say.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates now owns 5.3% of Alaska Airlines, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released yesterday. Gates made the purchase through his Cascade Investment fund but did not reveal the purchase price. The airline's market capitalization is $590 million, compared with Microsoft's $345 billion. Alaska's shares closed at $22.31 per share yesterday, slightly above the 52-week low.
United pilots voted overwhelmingly to ratify a tentative contract agreement reached Aug. 26. Of the 8,871 pilots eligible to vote, 8,029 cast ballots, or 95.4% in favor.
