Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Regionals, April 1999 to March 2000 Total Total Cost Cents Per Gallons (Dollars) Gallon 1999 April Domestic 1,174,006,091 554,927,140 47.268 International 419,974,710 214,666,539 51.114 System Total 1,593,980,801 769,593,679 48.281
New York jet fuel spot prices ended last week at $0.77 per gallon, virtually unchanged from the beginning of the week and up 65.8% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. More worrisome, however, are crude oil futures for August, which continued their climb, closing late last week at $32.18 per barrel, nearing a nine-year high of $34.13 reached in March.
BBA Aviation promoted Bruce Van Allen to president and CEO-BBA North America and Peter Whitehead to CEO-BBA Aviation Europe. It also named Elizabeth Haskins president and CEO-Signature Flight Support and Gary Boekenkamp VP-marketing for BBA North America.
Industry/FAA efforts to address the number of overrun accidents and incidents resulting from high-speed rejected takeoffs appear to be paying off, according to Boeing. RTO overrun events in the 1990s numbered 22, down from 28 in the 1980s, despite a nearly 50% increase in the number of takeoffs in the 1990s.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) will ban all Chinese-made Yun and the Russian Tupolev aircraft from scheduled passenger flights in the country June 1, 2001. A total of 119 aircraft -- 55 Tupolevs and 64 Yuns operated on domestic flights by 12 carriers, including China Eastern Airlines and Air China -- will be affected by the directive.
Global Aviation Corp., a holding company with its eye on acquiring TWA, has given TWA management more time to mull its offer and sweetened the deal with more cash. Global recently offered $2 in Global Airlines stock, $2 in convertible preferred bonds and $1 in cash. Global spokesman John Scott told The DAILY Friday that the offer is now $2 in cash, $2 in Global stock and $1 in convertible preferred bonds. TWA had until midnight last night to respond but that deadline was pushed forward to midnight July 5 EST.
Michael Lotz, chief operating officer at Mesa, has been appointed president. He will retain his position as COO, and Jonathan Ornstein will continue as chairman and CEO. Lotz, who joined Mesa in 1998, will continue to handle day-to-day operations, including implementing Mesa's growth plan. Mesa intends to double its fleet of regional jets from 34 to 68 over two and a half years.
Market fragmentation and more point-to-point demand from air travelers continues to guide Boeing's belief that its 747X is a better solution than the A3XX for serving large hubs. "It offers airlines lots of enhancements at lower development costs," the company said Friday. Airlines are competing in a deregulated environment by offering convenient point-to-point service. They do not want to fly through congested hub airports, especially when that airport is not either final destination." Boeing believes aircraft such as its 767-400 and 777-300 will prove its case.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets, O&D Passengers Fourth Quarter 1999 1999 1998 Average Mkt. Mkt. Passengers Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Per Day (% Share) 1 1 Los Angeles - New York 8,389 American (31.8) 2 2 Chicago - New York 7,727 United (35.9) 3 3 Boston - New York 7,493 Delta (44.9)
Alaska Airlines named Joseph Sprague director-regional sales, Susan Bramstedt director-public affairs/Alaska and executive director of the Alaska Airlines Foundation and Bruce LaLonde director-station operations for Alaska.
All three orders for 747-200 passenger-to-freighter conversions this year have gone to an Israel Aircraft Industries/Cargo Conversions LLC partnership, Boeing Airplane Services' only competition in the market. The sales indicate independent providers of major supplemental type certificate work are winning back customer confidence after a long face-off with FAA that resulted in tougher guidelines for STC approvals. Air France, GECAS and Finova ordered the conversions.
Atlantic Coast will launch new regional jet service from Greenville/Spartanburg to Chicago O'Hare Sept. 6. The three flights will complement ACA's four flights per day to Washington Dulles. Service will be aboard new 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jets.
DOT wants to assess the use of U.S.-Brazil cargo frequencies by U.S. carriers. The 24 available U.S.-Brazil frequencies, based on widebody aircraft, are allocated among four U.S. carriers -- FedEx, 10; Polar, 5; Challenge/UPS, 4.5, and Kitty Hawk, 4.5 -- authorized for all-cargo services in the market. Kitty Hawk has ceased operating.
Canadian Auto Workers yesterday shut down Bombardier production in Toronto after the two sides were unable to reach agreement on a new contract. About 3,800 shop floor and clerical workers walked off their jobs, but a company spokesman said Bombardier was hoping for an early end to the walkout. The strike does not affect Bombardier's regional jet assembly lines, which are located in Montreal where workers are represented by the Machinist union.
In-Flight Network, jointly with Globalstar and Qualcomm, is developing a system that will provide low-cost broadband Internet and e-mail services to existing commercial airline fleets by early next year. Two weeks ago, a prototype of the IFN system was flown over parts of North America. IFN is a joint venture of News Corp. and Rockwell Collins. The system will offer paging and voice-over-IP applications directly to passengers.
American will inaugurate daily nonstop Executive Class service between Dallas Love Field and New York LaGuardia Aug. 31. American offers Love Field service to Chicago and Los Angeles. The airline will temporarily reduce its frequencies to Chicago O'Hare from five daily roundtrips to four and will reconfigure a sixth Fokker 100 into the 56-seat first-class seating arrangement it flies from Love Field. The additional aircraft will enable American to restore the fifth Chicago flight in the fall and add a fourth daily roundtrip to LaGuardia.
RGCA says it will work closely with the FAA in "promptly" implementing recommendations made by DOT's Office of Inspector General. The IG issued a report last month saying that the relationship between FAA and RTCA should be "more objective" (DAILY, May 19).
Two Muslim passengers filed suit Wednesday against America West for allegedly detaining them for asking "suspicious" questions of airline employees. The suit claims the pilot ordered passengers to evacuate the plane at a stopover in Columbus, Ohio, and called for a bomb search because the passengers had asked questions passengers do not usually ask about the plane, such as where it was going and where it originated. The passengers denied acting suspiciously and contended their Middle Eastern appearance and use of Arabic caused the incident.
U.S.-Canada market will show the highest compound annual capacity growth rate for inter-region markets through 2010, according to a study by BACK Aviation Solutions in cooperation with The DAILY. The study indicates the market growth will reach 12.3%, then fall to 2.7% over the next 10 years. Europe-Africa posts the second highest growth rate through 2010 at 6.8%.
