The Senate on Friday gave final congressional approval to fiscal 2001 appropriations of $12.009 billion funding for FAA. The FAA funding is part of an $87.2 billion transportation appropriations bill that now goes to the White House for President Clinton's expected approval. The Senate vote was 78-10. It came after the House cleared the bill, 344-50.
Sabena's traffic increased 9.5% in the third trimester of the year, compared with last year. Load factor improved 1.7 percentage points to 75.5%, and 61.5% of all passengers connected on Sabena to other flights.
American will end its marketing partnership with US Airways next summer, largely because of United's plan to acquire US Airways. American told US Airways recently it planned to cease the frequent flyer partnership between US Airways Dividend Miles and American AAdvantage programs as well as the shared airport club access on Aug. 23, 2001. "We are discussing a transition plan with American, and this final date is subject to change," said US Airways Senior VP-Marketing Ben Baldanza.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) will exercise its powers to remove the leadership of any Chinese carrier that loses money again in the second six-month period this year. The stern warning comes in the wake of domestic carriers losing a combined US$119.6 million for the first six months of 2000, despite a curb on fare discounts and a boost to some from revenue sharing on close to 100 routes. CAAC is conducting an audit on the operations of all carriers to determine the losses, which come after a turnaround last year.
In an effort to reduce capacity and improve finances, Swiss regional Crossair has decided to ground two MD-83s. The aircraft will be sold next year but will be kept for the time being as backup. The airline is targeting an 11 million Swiss franc improvement by the decision and other measures. Because of high fuel costs and a worse dollar exchange rate for the company, Crossair will reduce frequencies from Basel to Malaga, Munich, Alicante and Venice, pool some of the flights and use smaller aircraft on the remaining routes.
Very few on-demand charter operators are getting the insurance coverage "they really feel comfortable" with, according to a report by the National Air Transportation Association. "For fuel providers and charter operators, premium increases of anywhere between 20% and 200% are common," NATA says. The situation is "especially critical" for smaller operators. Contributing to the steep rise in premiums is the "large number of recent commercial airline accidents and subsequent Herculean payouts.
FAA has ordered Boeing 757 operators to modify the nacelle strut and wing structure to prevent fatigue cracking and consequent reduced structural integrity of the strut. The action affects 317 aircraft in the worldwide fleet and 278 in the U.S. registry. FAA estimated the cost of the modification for U.S. operators at $48,000 per airplane.
FAA is currently funding two electrical wiring projects that are "worth highlighting," DOT assistant inspector general for auditing Alexis Stefani told the House Transportation Committee's oversight subcommittee last week. Recent accidents, notably TWA Flight 800 and Swissair Flight 111, have heightened concerns about the safety of non-structural aircraft systems, such as wiring. Stefani said FAA is working with the Air Force to evaluate a new wire inspection system, the Eclypse automated wire test system.
AirTran Airways applied at DOT for an exemption for Atlanta-Bahamas service. The carrier wants to serve Freeport beginning Dec. 12, operating daily nonstops with Boeing 717-200 aircraft configured for 117 passengers. No carrier -- U.S. or foreign -- provides Atlanta-Freeport nonstops, AirTran noted. (Docket OST-00-8052)
British Airways and Iberia plan to boost their code-sharing this winter with the addition of eight routes that will carry joint flight codes. The joint routes will start Oct. 29. BA codes will be added to Iberia flights between London Gatwick and Oviedo, and from Palma to Ibiza and Mahon. All three are operated by Iberia affiliate Air Nostrum. The Iberia code will be added to BA flights, operated by franchisee GB Airways, between Gatwick and Faro, Oporto, Palma, Tenerife and between London Heathrow and Faro.
Biztravel.com signed a deal with AvantGo recently to deliver "Biztravel Unwired," a new wireless travel service. By the end of the month, Biztravel Unwired will be highlighted in the AvantGo WAP portal, accessible on web-enabled phones at www.wap.avantgo.com. By signing the deal with AvantGo, "we extend our wireless services to a pre-established mobile audience of over 1 million users," said Suzanne Zapf, Biztravel VP-Strategy Development.
Delta and its pilots, however, appear to be the exception to unrest swirling in airline labor negotiations. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Susan Donofrio, reporting on a meeting between analysts and Delta pilots, said relations "continue to be quite positive and amicable with both parties continuing to negotiate on a new contract in good faith." She said pilots do not appear "anywhere near" frustrated enough to start a job action, but the two sides haven't begun to discuss major economic issues. They'll do that by Friday, Oct. 13.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR JULY 27 - JULY 28, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Fairchild Atlantic First Security Fairchild Dornier Coast Jet Bank NA 328JET PW306B Airbus America West America West Airbus
Northwest plans to launch new daily service between Miami and Amsterdam beginning April 1, 2001. The flight will be operated with a Northwest DC-10-30 and will be a code-share flight with KLM. The flight will be the 23rd North America-Europe route flown jointly by the two carriers.
Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum named Kenneth Gazzola, executive VP and publisher of Aviation Week Group, which includes Aviation DAILY, to the board.
The Priceline WebHouse Club, a privately held licensee of Priceline.com, which allows consumers to name their own price for gasoline and groceries, plans to cease operations by yearend. The announcement does not apply to services offered by Priceline.com, including airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars but will result in a non-cash loss to the company. Priceline.com received a warrant in WebHouse Club and recorded a non-cash gain of $189 million in the fourth quarter 1999.
House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) says the Justice Department's Antitrust Division has queried state attorney generals in at least 14 states to see how they feel about US Airways being merged into United. He calls the conversations a "very wise" undertaking. At the same time, Shuster tells The DAILY the Antitrust Division "shouldn't drag out" the decision on the merger request.
Correction: Delta currently does not have a frequent flyer cooperation with Malev Hungarian Airlines (DAILY, Oct. 4). Separately, the planned Delta-El Al partnership will permit passengers to accrue frequent flyer miles on code-share flights only.
Preliminary indications show that a Gulf Air A320 that crashed into the Mediterranean on Aug. 23 "performed in accordance with the commanded inputs from the captain's station," the Bahrain transport ministry said Friday. About eight minutes before the crash, the captain informed approach control, "We have 143 souls on board." All were killed. Bahrain approach control gave the crew radar vectors for the final approach but shortly afterward was unable to contact the aircraft.
