Paralyzed by striking flight attendants, AeroMexico has been taken over by the Mexican government to avoid a complete shut-down. In the meantime, CEO Alfonso Pasquel said the company was willing to increase flight attendants' benefits, including a very attractive retirement package, though all the demands of their labor union were "too steep." Talks between the company and the union broke down June 2. With the government having stepped in, the carrier is expected to resume service, although Pasquel complains the union's position "has not been very conciliatory."
China Eastern wants rights to serve Boston and Miami from Beijing and Shanghai as an expansion of its code share with American. China Eastern would place its code on American flights from Los Angeles to Boston and Miami; it already code shares on American flights between Los Angeles and New York Kennedy, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington Dulles. American puts its code on China Eastern flights from Los Angeles/San Francisco to Beijing/Shanghai. (Docket OST-00-7480)
President Clinton announced yesterday that he intends to nominate Francisco Sanchez for the post of DOT assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs. Sanchez now serves as White House special assistant in the Office of the Special Envoy to the Americas. The DOT assistant secretary position has gone unfilled for more than a year since the March 1999 departure of Charles Hunnicutt, with Deputy Assistant Secretary Brad Mims acting in the role.
Top executives from several U.S. airlines held secret backroom discussions on possible acquisition opportunities this week, but United President Rono Dutta remains confident that any separate efforts to derail his company's proposed merger with US Airways will not divert the attention of Justice Department officials.
San Francisco-based PLM International Inc has initiated legal proceedings against Indian private domestic carrier Sahara Airlines (SAL) and its five guarantors for breach of contract on a lease involving three Boeing 737-200s. Arbitration proceedings were filed in San Francisco while the suit was filed in the high court in New Delhi. According to PLMI's attorney, Douglas Fowler, the company is seeking compensation for failure to pay rent and failure to return the aircraft in the condition required by the lease contract.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) told The DAILY yesterday that "my preliminary position" is that "on balance," the planned merger of United and US Airways "looks to me like it's a good deal." He said he was speaking as chairman of the committee concerned with the national impact of the proposed merger and as a Pennsylvania lawmaker concerned with preserving US Airway hubs at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
GE Engine Services is considering a plan to offer line-replaceable units for entire aircraft as part of its service business, according to Lorraine Bolsinger, VP-product manager. Not content with its recent takeovers and partnerships, the company wants "to be the total service provider for our customers worldwide," she added. New service products have doubled in the last five years and GE is growing at almost 20% a year, she said. The company is "always looking at new acquisition targets," Bolsinger said.
By George W. Hamlin, Senior VP, Global Aviation Associates Ltd.
Since the advent of the Boeing 747 30 years ago, there has been great concern about large aircraft. The discussion continues today, in the form of Airbus's advocacy of a near-term market need for its A3XX, against Boeing's contention that the need is considerably later than forecast by the European consortium. However, the other end of the "large" jet range may have a greater impact in the near term, particularly in more mature markets.
The Airbus supervisory board is meeting this morning in Berlin in an attempt to reach agreement on the commercial launch of the proposed Airbus A3XX. Industry sources tell The DAILY that the outcome of the board meeting is completely open. The Airbus shareholders said they will not schedule a news conference for today but might issue a statement during the day.
Oneida Airlines, which included in its startup application a route map that lists service points from Boston and Bangor to Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington through an upstate New York hub, has on its web site (www.flyoneida.com) a map that shows routes extending to Toronto, Montreal, Las Vegas, Cancun, Acapulco, Florida and the Caribbean by December.
JetBlue Airways plans to start its previously announced service between Rochester and New York Kennedy, beginning Aug. 3. The airline will start with two daily flights and add another two Aug. 22. JetBlue already serves Buffalo with three daily roundtrip flights with a fourth to be added June 21, and a fifth July 6. The airline also plans to serve Syracuse, N.Y., by summer 2001.
Embraer's Executive VP-Industrial Satoshi Yokota expects the first flight of the ERJ-140 within one month. The aircraft is targeted for certification in the first quarter of 2001. Embraer expects to deliver 150 regional jets this year and close to 200 in 2001.
Skyservice Airlines CEO Russell Payson yesterday has chosen the unique name of RootsAir for new Toronto-based carrier and it will have a marketing and branding alliance with international chain Roots Canada. Payson is marrying the experience of his management team with Roots, "who have better defined lifestyle in Canada than anyone else," he said. RootsAir will begin in November as a full-service, lower-fare airline flying to major Canadian cities and Los Angeles with Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.
GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) has placed two orders for up to 300 regional jets. The leasing company has firmly ordered 50 Embraer ERJ-170s and 50 Fairchild Dornier 728JETs with options for another 100 aircraft of each type. The total value of the combined orders is $7.8 billion. Part of the options can be converted to the larger ERJ-190 and 928JET models. But GECAS, Embraer and Fairchild Dornier declined to disclose how many of the options can be swapped.
TRAFFIC DATA FOR APRIL 2000 RPMs Change ASMs Change In From In From Load Airline Millions 4/99 Millions 4/99 Factor Atlantic Coast 103.5 +12.1% 175.5 13.2% 59.0% American Eagle 319.2 +9.6% 522.5 9.0% 61.1% Mesa 131.2 +15.8% 241.2 7.5% 54.4%
Continental Express on Sept. 7 will begin serving Buffalo-Cleveland with 50-passenger Embraer ERJ-145s and 37-passenger ERJ-135s. It will also offer four daily Buffalo-New York LaGuardia flights with ERJ-145s.
Air Canada recently announced expanded service from Toronto Pearson Airport. The airline inaugurated daily nonstop Ontario, Calif.-Toronto service Monday plus service to Montreal-Philadelphia, Vancouver-Washington, Vancouver-Denver and Toronto-Austin. Last week, it introduced daily nonstop Halifax-Vancouver service and recently announced nonstop Toronto-Munich as part of the Air Canada-Lufthansa partnership, in which both airlines will share operating costs and revenues equally.
Industry officials commenting on Wall Street Journal reports that American and Delta discussed a merger this week say the talks are just a tactical a red flag to fire regulators up over the proposed US Airways-United merger. The DAILY also learned that American is talking with Delta about Delta's potentially buying Northwest's stake in Continental. American's potential acquisition of Northwest could mean the sale of Northwest's shares in Continental to Delta.
FAA said it has determined that automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) should not be required at airports, even though most larger airports already have taken steps to address cardiac events. FAA also said it is "unclear" whether it has the authority to require AEDs in an airport. FAA was mandated by the Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998 to determine whether AEDs should be required at airports. It said that airports have different medical situations than aircraft.
