Air France was obliged to cancel about 100 flights on Friday because of a strike staged by four secondary cockpit crew unions, the French carrier said. Long-haul flights were not affected, said an Air France spokeswoman. The four minority unions are in conflict with Air France over working time reduction. The stoppage was scheduled to last until today. Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne (SNPL), the majority union, did not join the strike, because it signed an agreement with Air France on Sept. 28.
China market expansion plans that were to be broached by top U.S. officials meeting with their Chinese counterparts on Friday in Seattle would make frequencies held -- but not used -- by Chinese carriers available for their U.S. partners, sources confirmed. Delta and American would, under such a regime, gain access through respective partners China Southern and China Eastern.
Bangladesh could become a U.S. opens-skies partner "once safety issues are resolved," Alan Larson, under secretary of state told the U.S.-Bangladesh Business Council. FAA is committed to work with the civil air authority to meet international standards, he said. The U.S. is Bangladesh's largest investor, with more than $700 million in the past decade or so.
Litton Industries said Friday it will explore the sale of its Advanced Electronics Group, which consists of 12 divisions that make up Litton's navigation and electronic warfare businesses. The group, which includes airborne avionics systems, inertial navigation, electronic warfare, night vision equipment and laser systems, generated $1.6 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2000 and has about 9,500 employees. Litton Chairman Michael Brown said each of the businesses in the group is "sound and have good business potential."
Air traffic at Hamburg was busier than usual the past two Sundays when two swarms of honeybees buzzed the airport in an effort to keep tabs on air quality, according to the airport's newspaper. The honey and wax produced by the tiny flyers serve as bio-indicators of toxic substances in the air, which so far remains pure.
DOT tentatively granted Delta rights to serve Egypt via Paris under code share with SkyTeam partner Air France, selecting Delta's proposal over American's bid for limited-entry, third-country code-share rights with former Delta market partner Swissair via Zurich. Under the U.S.-Egypt bilateral, the U.S. may designate three carriers to serve Egypt under third-country code shares. Northwest/KLM and United/Lufthansa hold designations; Delta was designated under its now-terminated code share with Swissair.
DOT granted Air Jamaica's request to amend its foreign permit application to substitute Boston for San Juan, Puerto Rico, as one of the 10 U.S. points it may serve. The carrier wanted an extrabilateral exemption to serve the market; subsequently the government of Jamaica removed San Juan and San Francisco from its list of designated U.S. points, adding Boston and Houston. (Docket OST-00-7787)
Air Canada is considering launching a separate, international cargo carrier, CEO Robert Milton told The DAILY. While a decision to go forward has not been made, Milton pointed out that "Canada has no cargo players in the international game" and Air Canada "could do something as early as next year." The company would look at Beoing 747 freighters.
Cathay Pacific's traffic soared 15.2% for the first nine months of the year, compared with 1999, far outpacing the capacity increase of only 5.4%. As a result, the airline's load factor jumped 6.6 percentage points to 77.4%. Cathay carried a new record of 69,965 tons of freight in September, the highest amount ever in a single month. The airline carried 8.9 million passengers over the first nine months, up 15.5%.
Runway collisions at U.S. airports could kill 700 to 800 people over the next two decades, according to a paper presented at a meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. The authors called FAA-sponsored research "surprising and disturbing," since from 1997 to 1999 there was only one fatal, domestic runway event involving a jet, which killed 11 people.
Great Lakes Aviation on Friday reported a 0.7% decline in operating revenues to $36.4 million and a 4% rise in operating expenses to $36.6 million for the third quarter 2000. Operating income was $3.8 million, a 28.7% decline over the same period last year. Net income was $1.5 million, 55.8% lower than the third quarter 1999. Salaries, wages and benefits jumped 9.1% and interest expense climbed $19.5%. Great Lakes CEO Doug Voss attributed the results to the negative impact of partner United's poor summer performance and fuel price hikes.
The European Commission has cleared the creation of Airbus Integrated Company (AIC), which will manage the Airbus aircraft business of EADS and BAE Systems. "The operation raised no concerns with respect to material and immediate vertical effects on the markets for product suppliers to Airbus programs," the Commission said in a statement circulated in Brussels on Wednesday evening.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR AUGUST 8 - 9, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Embraer Continental Sampa Gold Embraer Express ERJ145/ AE3007A1/P Rio-Sul Air Nippon GECAS Boeing
An invitation for comment on FAA noise policy issues in July has generated a stack of responses, most of them from citizens and activist groups complaining they have too little control over airport expansion and aircraft operations. "Current law grants FAA and the aviation industry nearly unfettered freedom of action, and they have consistently shown little responsiveness to those concerned about aviation noise," a typical filing by a community group said.
New York LaGuardia has been under a traffic management program virtually every day for the past two months regardless of weather. FAA attributes the delays, which affect all flights, to traffic volume. For example, last Friday, a clear VFR day, a ground delay alert started at 8 a.m. and remained in effect until 10 p.m. Much of the added volume came from an increase in regional jet operations. Added to this are aircraft going to airports where there is a weather ground stop, which block very limited taxiways for aircraft going to airports with no weather problems.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) told The DAILY that he was indifferent to Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer's criticism of him to the AOPA membership and volunteered that Boyer's nomination to be a member of the newly formed Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council is not going anywhere.
ALM, based in Curacao, will be privatized. The local government will retain a 20% stake. Private investors from the Dutch Antilles will have 30%, overseas investors 30%, employees 10% and the remainder will be allocated. BWIA CEO Conrad Aleong is offering to bid along with a private investor.
Northwest last week reached an agreement with LowestFare.com on display of its inventory. "LowestFare.com has quickly addressed the concerns expressed by Northwest regarding the sorting of flights and display of low fares to customers utilizing their site," said Northwest VP-Distribution and E-Commerce Al Lenza. Northwest told Lowestfare.com earlier this month that it could no longer display Northwest fares because of alleged bias (DAILY, Oct. 11).
A report favoring partial air traffic control privatization by a U.K. lawmaker is expected to influence votes on a transport bill which comes up this week in the House of Lords. The report, by Bill Brett supports the House of Commons Select Transport Committee's recommendation that the government adopt the Nav Canada solution, which it previously had rejected. The rejection prompted Brett to visit Canada to "hear at first hand their understanding and experience of NavCanada." Brett met with the government, airlines, Nav Canada and its staff.
Mesa Air Group on Friday received a commitment from Fleet Capital for a $35 million line of credit to be secured by the company's inventory and receivables. The credit will be used for working capital. Mesa intends to work with Fleet to bring in additional lenders.
