Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has urged the major airlines to give consumers accessible information on their rights as passengers by posting the full text of the contracts of carriage on airline web sites. He also urged airlines to disclose their lowest fares on the phone as opposed to the present practice of revealing the lowest fares only to Internet users.
British Airways plans to install a fourth class -- World Traveler Plus -- on Hong Kong-London flights in October and upgrade its business class. World Traveler Plus is targeted at executives from smaller companies with limited travel budgets that are coming out of the Asian economic financial crisis. According to Freddy Li, Hong Kong country manager for BA/Qantas, the new class is not a downgrade from business class but will fall between economy and the upgraded full business class.
Austrian Airlines Group blames its 11.6 million euros (US$10.4 million) operating loss in the first half of 2000 on "unfavorable general conditions" and "exorbitant fuel price increases." The loss compares with an operating profit of EUR3.1 million ($2.8 million) in 1999. The group's fuel costs rose by EUR38.7 million ($34.8 million), or 88.2%, compared with the first half of last year, the airline said. The passenger volume of the Austrian Airlines Group (Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways) increased in the first half by 2.6% to 3.8 million passengers.
Startup carrier Legacy Airlines temporarily withdrew its application for certification at DOT this week in order to revise its application and include new financing and business plan information. Legacy, formerly known as Oneida Airlines, first filed for certification in May and was hoping to launch full-service nonstop flights to small and medium-sized cities in the northeastern U.S. by yearend (DAILY, June 2).
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR JUNE 20, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Airbus US Airways US Airways Airbus A319 CFM56-5B6/P TAESA Travel Service MSA I Boeing 737-400 Airlines CFM56-3B2
DOT granted Berkshire Securities an exemption to conduct passenger charters to between the U.S. and Canada, and other passenger charters. The Canadian carrier operates commercially, using one leased Challenger 601-3R (DAILY, July 25). (Docket OST-00-7665)
A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashed in the Persian Gulf yesterday while approaching Bahrain. The aircraft was operating a scheduled service, flight GF072, from Cairo, Egypt, to Bahrain. Unconfirmed reports state that there were 143 passengers and crew on board. The number of casualties is not known, but the Bahraini government reported that more than 50 bodies were recovered as of late yesterday. The aircraft involved in the accident, with registration number A40-EK, was delivered to Gulf Air from the production line in September 1994.
German retail and travel giant Rewe is taking over 100% of LTU Touristik in a move that makes the combined entity the second largest tourism concern in Germany with annual sales of about $7 billion. While tour operators and travel agencies of the LTU Group will be fully owned by Rewe and integrated into the company's own touristic division, LTU International Airways will be retained as a separate entity. SAirGroup, which held 49.9% in the group, now owns 49.9% of the airline only.
United requested a ninth waiver of the deadline for DOT to act on its complaint against the European Commission and Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden over the EC's proposed conditions that could affect the carrier's alliance agreements with Lufthansa and SAS. United requested a 90-day waiver, through Dec. 5, telling DOT that the EC "may provide a preliminary indication of its likely position on the question of conditions to be applied to the United/Lufthansa/SAS alliance" this fall following completion of its review of the matter.
Southwest has signed a wide-ranging partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) and its television partners that will boost its sports advertising presence in the U.S. The four-year deal starts this season and makes Southwest the exclusive and official airline of the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, as well as for all NHL telecasts on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The airline plans to create commercials with a hockey theme to air during NHL telecasts on all three networks.
Crude oil futures for October jumped yesterday nearly 2.5%, closing at $31.98, nearing a nine-year high of $34.13 reached in March. Airlines continue to refine their hedging strategies for the remainder of the year. Delta, American and Southwest appear to have the best short-term fuel price protection, according to PaineWebber.
United has declared an operational emergency at Denver, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Indianapolis in an effort to force about 50 mechanics to work overtime under a clause in their contract. The mechanics, represented by the Machinists union, can be forced back to work when overtime is required to keep operations going.
Recommendations approved yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board put a strong emphasis on improving the way everyone in commercial aviation -- from aircraft designers to mechanics -- deals with wiring systems. Two of the four recommendations, made as part of the TWA 800 investigation final draft report, deal specifically with wiring design, safety and upkeep. NTSB called on FAA to review aircraft design specifications to determine which wiring systems are safety-critical.
FedEx wants DOT to extend the waiver of the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its allocation of 12 all-cargo Russia overflight frequencies. The carrier told DOT it wants to delay use of seven of the frequencies for up to one year, to Sept. 1, 2001. It plans to begin using four frequencies on Aug. 28 and would add a fifth in late October for five weekly eastbound flights routed over Tashkent. No applications are pending for service over the Tashkent routing, and 16 U.S.-Russia all-cargo frequencies are unassigned and available for allocation, FedEx noted.
Virgin Express posted a second quarter 6.4 million euro (US$5.8 million) loss due to a strong U.S. dollar, compared with the euro, and soaring fuel prices. The airline posted a EUR3.3 million profit in the same 1999 period. Scheduled revenues grew 15%, while overall revenue grew only 2% to EUR79.9 million ($71.7 million) as the airline worked to scale back its charter operations. Overall costs grew 18%, with fuel costs up 91% and aircraft ownership costs 21% higher.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater will sign the U.S.'s 47th open-skies agreement, with Nigeria, this weekend during a trip to Africa with President Clinton. The Aug. 25-28 trip to Nigeria and Tanzania will move forward efforts in the administration's initiative to further economic development in Africa through transportation improvements. Slater will sign the pact with Kema Chikwe, Nigerian minister of aviation. The agreement is the sixth with an African country, following The Gambia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Namibia and Tanzania, all agreed to within the last nine months.
Delta will take delivery of the first Boeing 767-400ER in Seattle Aug. 29 and is slated to begin revenue service Oct. 1. As launch customer for the new airplane, the carrier placed a firm order for 21 aircraft with another 40 on option. The equipment will replace about 48 L-1011s the airline plans to retire by August 2001. The new aircraft, a 21-foot stretch version of the 767-300ER, will be configured with two classes and will be powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2-B8 engines. Continental also will also take delivery of the same aircraft next week.
National Airlines plans to start a fifth daily nonstop flight between New York Kennedy and its Las Vegas hub on Jan. 25, 2001. The airline continues to see very strong support for its JFK service even with the recent addition of two daily nonstop roundtrips at Newark, according to Mark Suman, senior VP of strategic planning. He added that the airline also plans to begin new service between Chicago O'Hare and Las Vegas on Jan. 25, 2001 with two daily nonstop roundtrips.
Southwest likely will become the most dominant airline in the U.S in the next five years despite fears that the industry will consolidate into only three major carriers, according to a new report by Darryl Jenkins, director of the Aviation Institute at The George Washington University. The "informal examination" of the domestic market released yesterday describes various scenarios that might develop in the aviation industry following the proposed United-US Airways merger.
An arbitrator for the World Trade Organization Monday ruled on the amount Canada can impose in its sanctions of Brazil in the four-year dispute between Embraer and Bombardier over each country's aircraft subsidies. WTO said it would not publicly release the ruling until next Monday. A Brazilian newspaper reportedly said the amount Canada can impose on Brazil in sanctions is $1.3 billion over five years.
SAirGroup made a net profit of only 3 million Swiss francs (US$1.75 million), down from CHF87 million, indicating the aviation concern's difficulties with the performance of airline operations. While divisions like catering, cargo and maintenance all exceeded their operating results for the first half of 1999, SAirLines, in which Swissair, Crossair and the shareholdings in other airlines are concentrated, posted an operating loss of CHF155 million ($90 million). SAirGroup declined to say how much Swissair itself lost.
House aviation subcommittee will zero in on three timely issues in hearings starting Sept. 14 with airline delays, congressional sources said yesterday. On Sept. 21, the subject will be problems in obtaining European certification for U.S. products, such hushkitted and re-engined aircraft. On Sept. 28, the panel will ventilate issues surrounding Orbitz, the yet-to-start travel web site owned by five U.S. carriers.
Miami Air will lease two Boeing 737-800s from CIT Aerospace powered by CFM56-7B26 engines. The first aircraft will be delivered in April 2001 and the second in May 2001.
