North American Airlines majority owner Dan McKinnon said discussions have been terminated with LASV Enterprises concerning negotiations to purchase the airline. LASV Enterprises had issued a news release that it had finalized negotiations to purchase North American, McKinnon said. He said he has received numerous unsolicited offers for his 75.1% share of the airline he founded 11 years ago.
An FAA-sponsored air traffic watchdog group last week strongly urged the agency to evaluate the safety, economic impact and operational viability of a three-year FAA air traffic capacity-boosting field test in place at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), or stop the test. Known as Houston 250, the test was designed to determine if lifting the 250-knot speed limit for Class B airspace -- the airspace centered on an airport -- would increase airport capacity and reduce delays.
Atlas Air reported net income rose by 43% in the second quarter to a record $19 million on a 38% increase in revenue to $191.8 million. Operating income was $58.4 million, up 42% from $41.1 million. It was the 10th consecutive record quarter for Atlas.
KLM's CEO Leo Van Wijk said his airline and British Airways "will probably come to a modus vivendi"-- a way of living together -- after finalizing talks about a possible combination of the two businesses. Van Wijk declined to reveal details at the airline's annual shareholder meeting in Amsterdam other than saying that he was "relatively optimistic." The three focal points in the process were the negotiations between the two parties, the political aspects and the competitive position. Van Wijk made clear that he considered an open-skies agreement between the U.S.
British Airways and Air France yesterday canceled Concorde services following the takeoff crash in Paris earlier in the day of an Air France Concorde that killed 100 passengers, nine crew and at least four people on the ground. "We will be holding discussions with our technical counterparts at Air France and reviewing tomorrow's operations overnight," said BA, which already had grounded one of its seven Concordes last week to check out cracks found in the wing. The crash aircraft, with 11,989 flight hours, entered service Oct.
United Parcel Service wants DOT to grant it an additional waiver of dormancy provisions for its six U.S.-Thailand all-cargo frequencies, allocated in September 1996, to further delay startup of services in the market. "Continuing economic difficulties in Thailand" affect the demand for service, UPS told DOT in its request to defer starting the service and extend dormancy for six months, to April 1, 2001. Its latest waiver runs through Oct. 1. UPS separately withdrew its application for allocation of five Russia overflight frequencies.
The four founding partners of a startup aerospace and defense online trading exchange signed a definitive agreement yesterday, with plans to launch the company by the end of September. The founders -- BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon -- also unveiled Exostar as the name of the new company at a news conference at the Farnborough Air Show.
At three dramatic, consecutive stockholders meetings and two board meetings yesterday, an "accounting reprieve" until Sept. 15 was reached to avoid bankruptcy for financially crippled flag carrier Aerolineas Argentinas. Instead of proposing a formula to raise the $1.2 billion needed for capitalization, SEPI, the Spanish public sector holding company that owns 68% of the airline, offered the non-reimbursable sum of $208,514,000.
A General Accounting Office audit has found that FAA efforts to address problems with the airport security screeners program have fallen short, partly because the agency does not have an integrated plan nor an adequate way to measure progress in achieving goals it set for boosting screener performance. The audit found that turnover among screeners at 19 large airports between May 1998 and April 1999 "averaged over 125%," largely because of the "low pay and few, if any, benefits," and job stress.
The European Commission yesterday closed its investigation of Air France for alleged discrimination against Sabre. The EC's decision to shelve the case comes after Air France "agreed to a code of good behavior offering Sabre-equivalent terms to those offered to its partly owned CRS Amadeus, as well as to other CRSs," the EC said.
Airlines are concerned that the proposed landing charges for the new Inchon International Airport (IIA) outside Seoul, South Korea, would more than double their costs operating into Seoul when the new facility opens in March. The move from the existing facility at Kimpo Airport alone would be a financial burden. The Inchon airport authority (IIAC) proposed to charge US$4,900 in landing fees, almost double the US$2,650 currently levied at Kimpo. It is an 85% fee increase.
China Southern Airlines and Vietnam Airlines yesterday signed a reciprocal code-share agreement, the first for China Southern with a Southeast Asian carrier. The carriers will place their codes on each other's Guangzhou-Ho Chi Minh City flights, with each airline agreeing to sell 120 seats per week.
International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) yesterday signed a letter of intent for five Airbus A3XX for delivery beginning in 2006. The large leasing firm also placed a massive order for other Airbus aircraft -- 20 A330-200s and 62 A320-family aircraft, plus -- if they are launched -- 10 A330-500s. ILFC CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy said he expects the high-density intercontinental markets to grow by 5-12% per year in the future.
TWA pilots claim they are not supporting Global Airlines' bid for their company, but Global says an initial meeting with them two weeks ago went well and further discussions should take place soon. TWA Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council Vice Chairman David Ratcliff said the pilots know little about Global or the details of its proposal. Ratcliff said the union met with Global "as is customary in this situation," but no financial information was exchanged and no solid details discussed. "In our opinion, this is not a serious offer," he said.
Hawaiian Airlines Chief Financial Officer John Garibaldi left the carrier July 14, President and CEO Paul Casey announced yesterday. Garibaldi is credited with improving the carrier's finances through equity offerings that generated about $40 million in new capital. He also took the lead in fleet planning efforts that led the carrier to replace its interisland fleet with Boeing 717s.
The 10 major airlines reporting on-time performance data to DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) have increased scheduled flight times more than 80% on domestic routes in the past 11 years, a practice that "masks true growth of delays," Inspector General Kenneth Mead testified yesterday.
Icelandair and SAS asked DOT to act on their joint application for approval and antitrust immunity for their cooperation agreement. Noting that DOT's due date for answers to their application has passed without any answers being filed, the carriers urged the department to act on their request by Oct. 1. SAS and Icelandair seek to "broaden and deepen their transatlantic cooperation," which they would not be willing to do without approval of an immunized alliance. The carriers' U.S.
America West plans to start service between its Phoenix hub and Stockton, Calif., in February 2001. America West Express, operated by Mesa Airlines, will operate the three daily nonstop roundtrip flights with 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets. Stockton is the ninth new market that America West has added to its route system this year.
U.S. Carriers Labor Expense First Quarter 2000 Cost Per ASM Labor % Expenses 1Q00 1Q99 Change MAJOR CARRIERS Alaska $ 135,635,000 3.21 2.87 11.8% America West 123,988,979 1.91 1.78 7.1% American 1,321,383,000 3.30 3.26 1.3%
Record shipments and billings for the first half of 2000 were reported by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association yesterday. Shipments rose 18.2% to 1,316 units and billings 16% to $4.2 billion. "We are now shipping more in six months than we used to do in an entire year," said GAMA President Ed Bolen. Turboprop shipments were up 46% to 165 units, piston-engine shipments up 13.2% to 864 units and jet deliveries up 21.1% to 287. Export shipments rose 22.4% to 295 units.
United continues to struggle with its goal of improving its rock-bottom lost baggage rate. During the July 1-23 period, the airline lost 8.7 pieces of baggage for every 1,000 North American customers, 34% above its 6.5 yearly goal. May's domestic mishandled baggage rate for all major airlines was 4.8.
U.S. Carriers Maintenance Expense First Quarter 2000 Cost Per ASM Maintenance % Expenses 1Q00 1Q99 Change MAJOR CARRIERS Alaska $ 44,829,000 1.06 0.91 16.8% America West 81,828,443 1.26 1.03 22.7% American 533,154,000 1.33 1.33 0.3%
NTSB said yesterday the probable cause of a FedEx MD-11 crash was the "captain's over-control of the airplane during the landing and his failure to execute a go-around from a destabilized flare."
Air Canada Pilots Association said it has been unable to come to a joint recommendation for a mediator in its ongoing contract dispute with the company. The pilots and management last week accepted an offer by Labor Minister Claudette Bradshaw to appoint a special mediator to help resolve the negotiation impasse. Bradshaw is expected to appoint a mediator.
