Delta awarded its Delta Prize for Global Understanding to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Fairchild Dornier named Wolf-Eckard Herholz senior VP-customer support and Juergen Haacker senior VP-customer support.
Lack of CRS competition led airline CRS fees to escalate 1,400% since 1983, according to a spokeswoman for Orbitz, which wants to provide competition to computer reservations systems. The per-segment fee has risen from $0.25 in 1983 to $3.60 in 2000 despite broad improvements in technology. Airlines pay on average $11 per roundtrip ticket to CRSs, Orbitz says.
Northwest agreed to an additional waiver, through Dec. 1, for DOT action on its complaint against the European Union and its 15 member states concerning the EU's rule banning use of certain hushkitted and re-engined aircraft. The carrier, which filed its complaint in January 1999, called its agreement to extend the deadline a "show of support" for the U.S. decision to lodge an Article 84 complaint on the issue at ICAO.
Airline Suppliers Association named Bill Cote, VP-corporate quality of The Ages Group, Paula Sparks, VP-quality assurance of AVTEAM, to the board of directors and named Jay Rosenberg, International Airline Support Group, the recipient of its Edward J. Gleuckler Award.
Trans States and its Air Line Pilots Association unit Friday reached a tentative contract deal, narrowly averting a strike. The Trans States ALPA MEC was scheduled to vote on the deal Friday evening. It does not need to be ratified by the rank and file. No details were immediately available. The agreement was reached with the assistance of National Mediation Board member Rick Frey.
Utah-based SkyWest's stock appreciated 40% in the last month, nearly reaching Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg's $42 12-month price objective. If United resolves its regional jet issue with its pilots, SkyWest's stock price could see further gains. Unit revenues grew 8.5% at SkyWest and operating margin rose to 19.3%.
U.S. Carriers Landing Fees, First Quarter 2000 U.S. Carriers Landing Fees First Quarter 2000 Cost Per ASM Landing % Fees 1Q00 1Q99 Change Alaska $ 7,106,000 0.17 0.19 -10.2% America West 6,872,585 0.11 0.13 -18.9%
Partners KLM and Northwest will increase service to India this fall as Northwest begins daily service to both Delhi and Mumbai from KLM's Amsterdam hub. Starting Oct. 29, Northwest will add flights to its current schedule, which includes three weekly Amsterdam-Delhi and four weekly Amsterdam-Mumbai flights. KLM currently operates on the days when Northwest does not. KLM will continue to operate the service, but will retime six of the seven flights to offer better connections. The new flights went on sale Friday.
Sun Country Airlines applied for exemption to serve points in Mexico from Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, planning seasonal and year-round services to Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Cozumel and Mazatlan. The carrier has operated charter service in the proposed markets for several years and requested authority for scheduled service on the routes. It wants to serve the four points from Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Cancun and Puerto Vallarta from Milwaukee, on a seasonal basis beginning Dec. 16. Sun Country would be the only U.S.
Cessna announced an order for 50 aircraft from CitationShares, a joint venture between Cessna Aircraft and TAG Aviation. The aircraft will be marketed to fractional ownership customers.
JFAA yesterday awarded Computer Science Corp. a contract valued at up to $329 million for en route software development support services. The contract has a base period of three years with two one-year options.
United wants an exemption for U.S.-Cote d'Ivoire service, planning to serve Abidjan via Frankfurt twice weekly under third-country code share with Lufthansa beginning Oct. 31. The U.S.-Cote d'Ivoire bilateral does not address code sharing, although DOT has granted exemptions for third-country operations. Delta serves the market with Air France and Northwest code shares with KLM, United noted, and TWA was granted similar authority. No U.S. carrier operates own-aircraft service in the market.
DOT, unmoved by American's request for a carrier-selection proceeding, dismissed American's application for U.S.-India third-country code-share designation for service with Sabena and Swissair. Four U.S. carriers may be designated for such service in the market under terms of the U.S.-India bilateral. Delta, Northwest, TWA and United are authorized with their third-country code-share partners. American argued that TWA has not used its U.S.-India designation and DOT should declare it dormant. Delta, which ceased code sharing to India with Swissair when the U.S.
Other Farnborough News: EverythingAircraft.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon, announced an alliance with Transaero...Rolls-Royce signed a $103 million power-by-the-hour agreement with Executive Jet Services...GE Capital Aviation Services placed a $650 million order for CFM56-7 engines to power 65 Boeing next-generation 737s...International Lease Finance Corp.
Fairchild Dornier said at the Farnborough Air Show it has orders and options for more than 600 aircraft valued at over $12 billion. The company also released design details of its new 100-seat 928JET, saying production equipment for the 728JET is now being installed and that it and Honeywell have formed a working group to access and track road maps for Communications/Navigation/Surveillance -Air Traffic Management system capabilities.
Entrepreneurs and congressmen have asked fiscal control authorities to investigate Peruvian airline Aero-Continente on charges of financing its recent entry into Chile with funds laundered from drug traffic. "We believe money laundering is involved, but we want to make sure," said Congressman Luis Pareto, adding that the carrier recently started to operate domestic routes in Chile at cut-rate fares, using a $10 million investment of "unknown" origin. Last month, Aero-Continente terminated Lima-Miami operations.
Boeing Airplane Services and Aeronavali, a Finmeccanica company, signed a memorandum of understanding under which Aeronavali will become a partner on the development and modification of the 767-200 Special Freighter program. Boeing said 100% of the engineering has been completed on the freighter conversions and Aeronavali will provide passenger-to-freighter modifications, modification kits, tool design and fabrication, and engineering support.
Atlas Air, with three of China's top four airlines as customers, expects to be a "major participant" in the fast-growing air cargo market in China. Atlas CEO Michael Chowdry said the "tremendous rebound being witnessed in Asia was perhaps best reflected by Hong Kong's new ranking as the second-largest cargo center in the world on a 24% quarterly traffic increase." Korean freight traffic was up 17% for the quarter, and Taiwan was up more than 30%.
Delta is "undoubtedly the leader among the Big Six airlines" in benefiting from technology, according to Merrill Lynch. The carrier has spent more than $800 million in the last three years on technology, which has lowered expenses and generated online sales. In addition to lowering commission expenses, Delta has generated $784 million from investments in Priceline.com.
American Eagle pilots say the company is exchanging their right to fly 70-seat regional jets now on order to repair its fractured relationship with the Allied Pilots Association and want American to bring Eagle pilots under one union to eliminate whipsawing.
Grupo Hispanoamericano de Desarrollo (GHD), comprising two groups of investors, have started paperwork at Mexico's Secretariat of Transportation to purchase the assets of Taesa, now grounded and in bankruptcy court. Labor unions concerned have asked bankruptcy trustee Lorenzo Casillas, who has been performing an inventory and appraisal of the assets, to approve both potential investors so the deal can proceed. His ruling is expected by the end of July.
