Delta plans to start a fourth daily nonstop flight between Buffalo-Niagara Airport and its Atlanta hub on Oct. 2, using Boeing 727s. The new service is in addition to Delta and Delta Connection's three flights daily between Buffalo and its Cincinnati hub. Separately, Delta will introduce two daily nonstop flights between Tampa and New York LaGuardia on Nov. 1.
FAA awarded the System Engineering and Technical Assistance follow-on contract valued at $450 million to BAE Systems Applied Technologies. The contract will provide support for various FAA organizations and activities involved with projects and programs to maintain and modernize the national airspace system architecture and execute the agency's capital investment plan.
India is keen to resume flights to Pakistan, which were suspended five years ago, but the request for the two countries to discuss the matter drew a hostile response. Indian Airlines (IA) initiated this. IA and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operated nine routes between the two countries. According to a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Karachi, Asraf Khan Jahn, India should not have even thought about making the request, as Pakistan would not consider resuming the service due to the unsettled political conflict.
A major restructuring in the Malaysia Airlines board will be in place by Sept. 1. Ahmad Tajudin, current chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (National Electricity Board) is strongly favored to replace Tajudin Ramli as executive chairman. Bashir Ahmad, currently executive VP of MAS, is in line for the managing director's post, left vacant since June 1999. Prior to joining NEB, Ahmad, who is a scientist, headed the Standards Industry Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), a corporatized government agency. He was responsible for turning around SIRIM and NEB.
The two major London airports both showed improvements in flight departure delays during the second quarter, but late-arriving flights still are a significant concern. Only 20.1% of flights leaving London Gatwick were delayed by more than 15 minutes, but only 21.5% of flights arrived within the same time window. Even worse, London Gatwick's arrival delays averaged 66.2 minutes during the quarter, the worst of the top 27 European airports tracked by the Association of European Airlines (AEA).
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater has excluded smaller carriers as stakeholders for the purpose of today's meeting with heads of major airlines and airport and labor organizations, Ed Faberman, Air Carrier Association of America executive director, told The DAILY. ACAA is providing written comments and wants to meet with Slater soon, he said. Regional Airline Association President Deborah McElroy said DOT has assured RAA that it plans future meetings that will "broaden the scope" of interested parties.
China has approved a plan to build four new regional airports in the provinces of Mianyang, Wanxian, Panzihua and Guangyuan in the southwest of the country. Construction will begin in 2002 and will be completed in 2006. The total cost is expected to be US$3.27 billion, with funding secured locally and possibly through the Japanese Cooperative Development Fund.
After a resounding rejection of an initial tentative agreement last year and months of talks under new union leadership, American and its Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) are headed for federal mediation with the National Mediation Board. The company last week announced it would apply for mediation, and APFA President John Ward told The DAILY the union had been prepared to ask for mediation before the company's announcement.
Alaska Airlines said it cannot comment on a news report raising questions about the type of grease it previously used to lubricate jackscrews in its MD-80 fleet because the matter is under review by the National Transportation Safety Board. Alaska said it no longer uses the grease, but that it is "specifically precluded by NTSB rules from commenting." The carrier said it anticipates that similar situations will arise as the board continues its investigation of an Alaska MD-80 crash earlier this year.
AOPA says general aviation is under "intense political pressure" in New Jersey due to the state's extensive urbanization, airport noise and other factors. The situation was not eased by the Aug. 9 midair collision of two GA aircraft, which killed 11. By week's end, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said he will call on FAA to look into expanding terminal control areas, phase in airborne collision avoidance systems on more aircraft and require more training for GA pilots.
Qantas reported a record pretax profit of A$762.8 million (US$452 million) for the year ended June 30, an increase of 15.1% from last year due to increased traffic and yields. Net profit was up 23% to A$517.9 million ($307 million) and included an A$82 million ($49 million) gain from two abnormal items recorded in the first half of the year. Chairman Margaret Jackson, who took the position Aug. 1, said the results followed continuing improvements in both core airline and subsidiary operations.
The Indian government will have to deal with several problems before flag carrier Air-India offloads 60% of its shares in its proposed privatization. Topping the list is an unusually large number of militant trade unions that already have opposed a foreign carrier acquiring a stake. Unions have threatened industrial action if local workers are affected by the exercise. India also has to do away with its current generous pension fund for retired employees. Amid these issues, the privatization has attracted several bids from foreign carriers in Europe and Asia.
DOT Inspector General on Friday requested public comments on the quality of airline accommodation of passengers with disabilities and special needs. The IG continues to seek input on airline overbooking practices, access to lowest fares and long days on board aircraft.
AEA Delay Rates By Airport On Intra-European Services 2nd Quarter 2000 DEPARTURES Delayed by more than 15 minutes Due to: ------------------------------------ Load & Aircraft Airport Main-
Air Tahiti Nui filed at DOT to carry Qantas' code on flights between Los Angeles and Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, beginning Oct. 29. Air Tahiti Nui holds exemption authority to serve the route pending DOT approval of its foreign air carrier permit application. It would allocate space on its flights to Qantas under the carriers' agreement to promote U.S.-South Pacific service. The requested operations are consistent with the U.S.-France bilateral, and Australia permits third-country code sharing. (Docket OST-00-7819)
United and its Air Line Pilots Association appeared closer to settling their differences late last week as negotiators reached settlement on scheduling and quality of work life portions of the tentative contract. United ALPA spokesman Ken Bradley said the union is "very pleased" that United management "is taking a more serious approach to negotiations." He said scope and compensation still have to be discussed.
DOT granted Wasaya Airways an exemption to conduct passenger and/or cargo charters between the U.S. and Canada and other charters to and from the U.S. (Docket OST-00-7610)
The endless tribulations of Greek flag carrier Olympic Airways are taking a dramatic turn: Unless the airline manages a radical turnaround in the next months, the startup of Athens' new Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Spata could be at risk. The airport, which is being built by a consortium led by German construction company Hochtief AG, is scheduled to start operating March 1, 2001. The building works are expected to be completed in September.
Mercury Air Cargo has entered an agreement with Alitalia to provide cargo-handling services at its Los Angeles facility. Alitalia will join carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, EVA Airways, LanChile and China Southern at the state-of-the-art facility, Mercury said. Mercury Air Group also announced that it has put into operation a computerized point-of-sale system that will allow all 18 of its fixed-based operations to communicate aircraft, pilot, passenger, fuel, accounting and credit information to one another.
New York jet fuel spot prices ended last week at $0.89 per gallon, up 2.7% from the beginning of the week and up 53% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
SAS Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo and Singapore Airlines Cargo, which signed an integration agreement in late April, estimate the firm will be a working reality "within three-four years." New Global Cargo is the working name, and the aim is to become "one of the world's foremost air freight companies."
