FAA will extend the Advanced Qualification Program by five years, although the program still will not be mandatory for operators. The agency said enough operators have found it in their "best interest" that AQP has become an "important means for air carrier training programs." AQP, for crewmembers, dispatchers and other operations personnel and instructors, gives air carriers flexibility in meeting the safety requirements of the federal aviation regulations, FAA said.
Qatar Airways is the first airline to order the Airbus Corporate Jet, taking an option on a second, Airbus said yesterday. The Qatar layout will include 36 first-class sleeperette seats in scheduled operations to "provide our passengers with the highest standards of service," said CEO Akbar Al Baker. The airline ordered powerplants from International Aero Engines, which Airbus yesterday said will be the "reference engine supplier" for the ACJ. "This combination will allow us to be even more competitive with a truly outstanding aircraft," said ACJ VP Richard Gaona.
TWA has formed an agreement with digital marketing company Avenue A to drive the airline's online digital marketing results and create a strategy focusing on general brand awareness and encouraging customers to use the company's web site at TWA.com. Consumers can now make their flight, car rental and hotel reservations online at the TWA web site, or book travel on another airline that may offer a lower price or more convenient flying time. TWA said it enlisted the assistance of Avenue A to help communicate its new services to its customers.
Gate Gourmet, one of the world's leading airline caterers, recently opened its new flight kitchen at Zurich Airport. As many as 48,000 meals per day are prepared for some 70 airlines in the 30,000-square-meter building, which is the largest kitchen in Switzerland. Gate Gourmet delivers 30,000 meals each day to Swissair, which operates 160 daily flights out of Zurich. The construction work for the new facility began in April 1998 and concluded this summer
KLM Manager-Inflight Communications Sophie Vossenaar was elected president of the World Airline Entertainment Association for the 2000-2001 term. Kent Craver, manager-product marketing for Continental, was elected VP.
Lufthansa strengthened its Asia/Pacific network this week by signing a code-share agreement. As expected, the cooperation will start Oct. 29 when the two airlines will offer flights between Frankfurt and Beijing and between Frankfurt and Shanghai under shared flight numbers. "Air China makes cooperation with other airlines its long-term strategy of development," said Air China Chairman Wang Li An.
TradeAir.com, which bills itself as the only e-commerce exchange offering real-time aviation parts trading capability, yesterday challenged the industry "to create a more open market" by sharing proprietary parts pricing information across the industry.
United plans to start daily nonstop service between Chicago O'Hare and Amsterdam on Feb. 15. The new service will be operated with Boeing 767-300s in a three-class configuration. After the new flight is launched, United will offer eight nonstop flights daily to Europe. The new flight will "capitalize" on the nonstop demand for service between the U.S. and The Netherlands by complementing United's existing service between Washington Dulles and Amsterdam, according to Stuart Oran, senior VP-international.
Aloha Airlines will begin Hawaii-Las Vegas service Feb. 14, offering two daily roundtrips, one between Honolulu and Las Vegas and the other between Kahului, Maui and Las Vegas. Both will make a connecting stopover in Oakland, which Aloha currently serves twice daily.
As the proposed mergers of China's 34 airlines and implementation of other sweeping changes for the country's civil aviation industry draw closer, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has started streamlining the functions of divisions within the organization. To that end, it has slashed staff strength in Beijing to 240 from 500. The reductions will continue, according to one CAAC official. Employees affected by the cuts will be deployed to other government departments related to air transport.
Air Canada will add a second daily Phoenix-Toronto nonstop flight Oct. 19. The carrier is offering an introductory fare starting at US$149 each way. Service will be aboard a 112-seat Airbus 319 aircraft featuring Executive and Hospitality classes.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR JULY 31, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Embraer Chautauqua First Security Embraer Bank NA ERJ145/ AE3007A1 Airbus US Airways First Security Airbus A319
U.S. carriers vying for new U.S.-China opportunities may have to wait a bit longer for DOT to award the 10 frequencies and one designation that become available April 1, according to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater. When asked yesterday at the International Transportation Symposium when DOT would make its decision, Slater said, "We've got a bit more work to do -- we'll get to it." Chinese aviation officials will attend a U.S.-China conference next week in Washington sponsored by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).
Korean Air yesterday opened what it called the "East Coast's newest and most sophisticated cargo facility," at New York Kennedy Airport. The new facility will enable the airline to double its eastern seaboard cargo capacity to more than 200,000 tons a year and it will become the main logistics base for Korean Air's alliance partners, increasing the efficiency of supply management and logistics.
Continental plans to start daily nonstop service between Newark and London Stansted, beginning May 1, 2001. Subject to government approval, the new service will be the only scheduled non-stop transatlantic service to Stansted. "Stansted is the U.K.'s most modern airport and is in the midst of an expansion project that will bring capacity at the airport to 15 million passengers a year," a spokesman said.
Qantas Airways and TRX Inc. reached an agreement this week to implement a new on-line booking and travel management system for the airline's corporate travel agency customers. The TRX products involved are ResAssist -- an Internet based booking engine, and PowerCoRRe -- a product that claims to expedite ticket issuance and booking reference quality checks for Qantas. The carrier will run a pilot program for the new system in Sydney later this year, and plans to fully implement the products for the airline's Australian-based corporate customers in 2001.
Delta plans on expanding its code share with SkyTeam partner Air France starting Oct. 29. Delta's code will be on flights from Paris to Budapest, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Delta has daily service to Paris from Atlanta, Cincinnati and New York Kennedy.
Iberia Chairman Xabier de Irala said the airline's pre-tax profit will jump 30% in 2000 to some 40 million pesetas ($209 million). Speaking to members of the Spanish parliament, he indicated that Iberia made a gross profit of 32.8 billion pesetas ($171 million) in the first nine months of 2000, up by 70.8% compared with the same period last year. De Irala indicated that the good results were partly due to its "prudent coverage" against high fuel prices.
A recessed Aerolineas Argentinas stockholders meeting, which will resume Sunday in Buenos Aires, is the third attempt to solve the financial, legal and labor problems of the former flag carrier. The government of Argentina, which holds 5% of the airline but is a key player, appointed Miguel Bein as negotiator. Bein is secretary of economic planning for Argentina. SEPI, the Spanish majority stockholder, with 68%, named its CEO Juan Gurbindo as negotiator. The latter is scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires today to prepare the meeting.
US Airways' Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council has spent the past two days in a special meeting to discuss merger-related issues and meet with CEO Rakesh Gangwal. The union wants to obtain protective provisions for pilots in case the merger goes through and wanted to talk with Gangwal about the merger status and contingency plans if the merger fails.
Singapore Airlines Cargo said yesterday it will begin daily freighter service to Los Angeles following delivery of its ninth Boeing 747-400 freighter last month. Frequencies to San Francisco also are being increased to four times a week, three as part of the Los Angeles rotation. SIA Cargo also will connect its Los Angeles freighter operations twice a week to Hong Kong. Eastbound, it will connect weekly to New York and Chicago.
Northwest has told LowestFare.com it can no longer sell Northwest tickets through Sabre because of a dispute over preferred display of selected carriers. In a memo to LowestFare.com Monday, Northwest said it would no longer allow the site to display Northwest fares until display bias problems were resolved. Northwest first notified LowestFare.com of the bias display issues in August and gave it until Sept. 6 to fix the problem but later extended the deadline.
