China Airlines is seriously evaluating the Airbus A340-500, according to observers in Taipei. CAL also is said to be interested in the A330 and expects to make a decision by the end of the month. The airline is looking at an order for 12 aircraft with seven options for its regional routes. Its evaluation of the A330 is not surprising as the airline has seven A340-300s on order with five options for 340s and 330s. Delivery of the new A330 order is planned in 2002-2007. No details were available on CAL's evaluation for the -500.
AeroMexico expanded its European service yesterday with three new points in France, adding daily Air France code-share flights to Lyon, Nice and Toulouse from Paris. The new intra-France flights connect with AeroMexico's two daily nonstops between Mexico City and Paris.
Lufthansa will increase its three-times-weekly Frankfurt-Nagoya flights to five, starting with the winter schedule on Oct. 29. The change takes the number of services offered to 15 Asian cities from Germany to 89. Flights to Dubai in the Gulf will increase to 10 a week from seven. Both services would use the Airbus A340-300. On the Seoul-Frankfurt sector, Lufthansa will upgrade daily service from the A340 to Boeing 747-400, offering another 910 seats in the process. On the African front, it will introduce a twice-weekly service to Abidjan via Lagos.
A worldwide investigation carried out over three years by aviation industry experts of the fuel tanks in nearly 1,000 aircraft found no hint of a flaw that could have caused the crash of TWA 800. The report concluded that fuel tank systems are "soundly designed and do not degrade over time," according to a report released yesterday in Washington.
With the number of air rage incidents on the increase, pilots need to find better ways to handle out-of-control passengers and laws need teeth to prosecute and jail offenders, safety experts of the Air Line Pilots Association said yesterday. Speaking at the ALPA Safety Forum before members of airline pilot safety committees, Stephen Luckey, a Northwest pilot and chairman of the ALPA National Security Committee, said air rage incidents still go largely unreported and statistics are unreliable.
A joint venture formed by Germany's Oiltanking and Peru's Grana& Montero Petrolera del Peru has purchased for $12 million the assets of Bolivia's Fiscal Petroleum Resources (YPFB), and will now participate in the privatization for fueling facilities at Bolivia's major airports. Other bidders are Texaco, Shell, Totalfina Elf and BP Amoco. Oiltanking and Grana&Montero already hold fueling concessions at some airports in Peru and are looking at similar opportunities in Ecuador and Colombia.
America West has restructured its senior management for the second time in less than two years in an effort to resolve continuing operational problems that have resulted in flight cancellations and a revenue shortfall. The restructuring sharply defines responsibilities between operations and corporate functions, including strategic direction. The restructuring includes the consolidation of the airline's corporate functions under CEO William Franke and the expansion of responsibilities for President Doug Parker.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic July 2000 (000) July July % 2000 1999 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 1,162,000 1,171,000 -0.8 Available Seat Miles 1,525,000 1,584,000 -3.7 Load Factor (%) 76.2 73.9 America West
Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP) submitted a proposed regulation to DOT to deal with overscheduling and alleviate flight delays hobbling the U.S. air transportation system. The "Truth in Scheduling Rule" would require air carriers to "eliminate current deceptive scheduling practices" and reduce scheduling beyond capacity at the busiest airports.
Lufthansa has hired back Klaus Nittinger to become fleet planning consultant. Sources in Germany say Nittinger could be involved in Star Alliance fleet planning, which would signal a new phase for the global alliance. Star did not comment on the fleet planning role. Nittinger left Lufthansa in 1997 to become chairman of Rolls-Royce Deutschland.
Older Stage 3 aircraft that barely meet that standard would be phased out in just five years under a proposal outlined by Airports Council International-North America, which also fears the Article 84 complaint the U.S. is pursuing against the European hushkit ban could cripple future noise reduction efforts. Aircraft within 5 decibels of the noise rule would be barred from service within five years, ACI-NA suggests, and a longer transition could be adopted for those within 10 dB. ACI-NA President David Plavin made these suggestions in an Aug.
Criminalization of aircraft accident/incident investigations and hazardous materials enforcement and practices will be among the top issues at the National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association meeting Oct. 20-21 in Washington, D.C. Other topics will include collective bargaining and regulatory compliance, air carrier security, comparison of military and NTSB accident investigations, air carrier audits and use of audit data. For more information, call 202-833-8022.
United ran a full-page advertisement in several national U.S. newspapers yesterday apologizing for the airline's summer operational problems. The ad opens with a quote from CEO Jim Goodwin noting, "This isn't getting us where we want to go." United acknowledges operational problems that have caused an "embarrassing rate" of cancellations. The ads attribute the difficulties to labor issues, heavy air traffic and weather.
An independent watchdog group investigation of Indonesia's national flag carrier, Garuda, has revealed that funds totaling US$1 billion were misused and unaccounted for from 1982 to 1995. The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) reported to a parliamentary commission for transportation and infrastructure that most of Garuda's huge debt was due to fraud, abuse of funds, mismanagement of aircraft procurement and bogus maintenance contracts awarded outside Indonesia.
The Iraqi government plans to reopen Baghdad's international airport today, roughly 10 years after it was closed because of United Nations sanctions imposed over the invasion of Kuwait. The BBC reported that the government was working to modernize the Saddam International Airport so it can support the resumption of air traffic. Humanitarian flights have been exempt from the ban on flights in and out of Iraq but were required to gain approval from the U.N.
St. Maarten Princess Juliana Airport unveiled the Phase II details of its master strategic plan last week. Aimed at managing high traffic increases predicted in the region for the next decade, the plan includes a new 26,520-square-meter terminal building that is designed to handle 2.5 million passengers per year. The financial model provides for $103 million total financing -- $60 million for Phase II -- which PJIA should be able to arrange, partially through increased airport fees.
AeroMexico traffic for July increased 19.6% on 16.4% more capacity. The passenger count rose 15.0% to 933,244. In the first seven months of 2000, AeroMexico's traffic grew 20.9% to 8.3 billion revenue passenger kilometers, while capacity was up 16.8% to 12.2 billion RPKs. Freight ton kilometers fell sharply, however, down 36.5% through July.
Cyprus Airways awarded SITA a five-year contract for SITA's Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system to allow shared check-in and boarding across 65 workstations at Larnaca Airport. With the agreement of the Civil Aviation Department, SITA will provide the software platform, maintenance, installation of the equipment and initial training. The airport faces a constant rise in passenger numbers, and SITA claims its system will "maximize efficiency" for 4.5 million passengers a year.
Boeing and FAA yesterday appeared to disagree on the seriousness of rivet failures on the elevator bellcranks of 767 aircraft, and Boeing denied there is a link between the failures and the crash of an EgyptAir 767. Boeing said an airplane still is controllable if it experiences an inflight failure. FAA said such a failure could be classified as "major" or, under some circumstances, "catastrophic."
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines forged a partnership yesterday with Northwest, United and nine Asia/Pacific airlines to establish a holding company that will form a new independent online travel site based in Japan. The group of airlines also signed a joint venture with Travelocity.com to provide the technology for the new site, which brought immediate criticism from U.S.-based Orbitz.
Citigroup plans to implement Sabre's BTS corporate travel management system across its worldwide network of business lines. Citigroup chose Sabre BTS following the initial deployment of the system in its Citibank business. Sabre BTS will be installed at other Citigroup companies, including Travelers Insurance and Salomon Smith Barney, resulting in more than 11,000 users around the world. In its first year of usage, Citibank realized its initial goal of achieving about 50% travel transaction costs savings.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has relented under tremendous pressure from Chinese airlines to lift the ban on fare discounts. The initial plan was to introduce free pricing next year, along with other major reforms. CAAC normally gives the green light only after working out details with China's policy-making body, the Supreme Council. Implementation now is expected before the winter schedule is introduced next month.
Some new United pilots are awaiting their final check rides before assuming their duties because line check airmen are unwilling to do the job. United spokesman Joe Hopkins said as of last week about 70 pilots were awaiting their Initial Operating Experience (IOE) check-out. "It is a problem," Hopkins said. United has been forced to cut back thousands of flights over the coming months because of crew shortages, and recently canceled hundreds of flights when a higher-than-usual number of pilots called in sick or declined to work extra hours.
