An Air Liberte MD-80 crashed into an all-cargo Shorts 360 on takeoff at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. In the accident, the co-pilot of the Shorts was killed and the captain seriously injured. No one of the 151 on board the MD-80 was injured, but the plane was heavily damaged. The Air Liberte aircraft was accelerating down the runway bound for Madrid to fly Spanish soccer fans home after the European cup final between Madrid and Seville. The Shorts taxied onto the runway and was struck by the tip of the left wing.
Monthly Seat Departures At United's And US Airways' Top Airports CLT DCA DEN Airline Seats Share Seats Share Seats United Mainline 17,617 1.1% 77,118 6.7% 1,511,465 Atlantic Coast AWAC 143,268 Great Lakes 60,363 SkyWest UA
Tyrolean Airways has ordered the Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics Head-up Guidance System (HGS) for installation on its fleet of 12 de Havilland Dash 8-300 aircraft. Deliveries for the Dash 8 program are scheduled to begin in September. The HGS shows flight symbols on a glass combiner in the pilot's forward field of view and improves the Dash 8's landing capability from Category 2 to Cat 3, enabling the aircraft to land in visibility as low as 200 meters visual range.
China Southern Airlines reached an agreement with MTU Munchen to build and operate the new MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co. Ltd., the largest engine maintenance overhaul facility in China. The investment of this joint project is US$180 million. "China Southern Airlines boasts the largest modern air fleet and the greatest number of aircraft engines in China," Chairman Yu Yanen. "The foundation of this new engine overhaul facility can minimize the expense of sending aircraft engines to Europe or the U.S.
Delta plans to implement an improved reissue process for electronic tickets. Customers have been required to visit a Delta airport or ticket office to complete a ticket reissue. The new system reads the customer's original fare, compares it to the new itinerary and quotes either the lowest additional collection required or the highest refund amount. The first phase of the program will begin this summer, allowing agents to re-price published fares within the U.S. Later phases will include corporate fares, international fares and unpublished fares.
America West named Douglas Parker president yesterday to oversee the airline's operations and its finance, planning, marketing and administration functions. William Franke will continue as chairman and CEO of America West and as chairman, president and chief executive officer of America West Holdings.
Malaysia Airlines has sold two of the six Boeing 777s on order to Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE). The aircraft, slated for delivery in March (Registration 9M MRL) and April (9M MRM) 2001, will be leased back. An official from the MAS lease-planning department confirmed the deal with SALE but declined to give the lease period. The sale would flow cash into the airline's depleted coffers. Four other 777s would be delivered in April and May 2002, and in March and April 2003.
Midwest Express' new beyond-Boston service will begin June 7. The carrier previously announced American Eagle-Business Express code-share service from Boston to 15 cities.
National Airlines has selected Telera's Talk@Net service for phone-based self-service applications. The system will answer flight information calls by customers, extending the capability of the existing web application to telephone users and reducing call center costs. It will enable reservations agents to spend less time answering flight inquiries and more on revenue generating calls.
New York jet fuel spot prices have risen again, ending last week at $0.85 per gallon, up 2.2% from the beginning of the week and up 107.3% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. More worrisome, however, are crude oil futures for July, which continued their climb, closing yesterday at $30.45 per barrel, nearing a nine-year high of $34.13 reached in March.
Atlantic Coast Airlines and Atlantic Coast Jet have signed a six-year product support agreement with Hawker Pacific Aerospace to provide brake overhaul services for the Fairchild 328 Jet fleet. The estimated value of the contract is $8.5 million.
U.S. National Carriers Productivity, In RPMs And ASMs Per Employee Fourth Quarter 1999 Revenue Available Passenger Seat Miles Miles Total (000) (000) Employees AirTran Airlines 919,504 1,536,264 3,882 Aloha 191,658 304,653 2,477 American Trans Air 2,197,325 3,089,586 5,777
Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) faces a shortened timeline in collective bargaining to renew its contract with Air Canada following a decision by the labor minister to release the parties from the conciliation process to mediation. The report outlined outstanding issues, which likely include concerns by ACPA over integrating the pilot work forces of Canadian with Air Canada's under the carriers' merger. Mediation must completed within 21 days, which significantly shortens the timeframe available under conciliation.
GetThere.com plans to use Interwoven's TeamSite software to manage web content for its base of more than 350 corporate, airline and travel agent customers. Four of the top 10 U.S. airlines and six of the world's largest airlines use GetThere for online travel booking, the company said. GetThere also hosts corporate travel systems for Fortune 500 companies spending an aggregate of $10 billion in travel annually. TeamSite will enable GetThere to "better manage content modifications and additions required on their customer web sites."
Delta subsidiary Comair reached a tentative agreement with the International Association of Machinists yesterday after roughly a year of negotiations. Details of the agreement with the carrier's mechanics were not disclosed. The agreement was reached with the help of the National Mediation Board and senior mediator Larry Gibbons.
TravelNow.com met the NASDAQ Small Cap requirements and as of yesterday is listing its shares on the exchange under the symbol "TNOW." TravelNow has been trading on the OTC Bulletin Board since Aug. 2, 1999. Launched in March 1995, TravelNow claims to have been among the first real-time travel reservations services on the Internet. TravelNow now offers customers a "central, proprietary database interfacing with global suppliers," enabling Internet access to airline, hotel and car rental reservations.
Dennis Roberts, VP and executive director of government and technical affairs of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, has been named co-chair of the FAA team responsible for helping solve runway incursion problems. "FAA and Congress have placed a very high priority on reducing runway incursions, and general aviation should have a strong voice in this process," said Roberts. AOPA and its Air Safety Foundation "have proposed many solutions that could significantly increase safety at little or no cost to airports or aircraft owners," he said.
Travelbyus.com and Travel24.com signed a letter of intent to form a comprehensive partnership based on a combination of strategic and operational elements. This agreement is believed to be the Internet travel industry's first strategic transatlantic partnership and may "lead to a full merger between the two companies." Terms of the deal include the issuance of 13.8 million Travelbyus.com shares at an average price of US$2.50 in exchange for a combination of $5 million in cash and the issuance of 1.5 million shares of German-based Travel24.com at US$19.90 per share.
American, in the midst of developing a competitive response to United's planned acquisition of US Airways, faces deep concern this week on Wall Street about the possible ramifications of the deal. Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney both downgraded their ratings on American in the past two days, worried that the massive boost for United would cause significant market share loss for American. The possible merger "constitutes one too many strategic challenges to American's already full plate," said Salomon's Brian Harris.
Although senior members of the House Transportation Committee and its aviation subcommittee are clamoring for hearings on the planned United-US Airways merger, Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) said yesterday that he first wants the committee staff to analyze the merger documents and talk to the financial community and the labor unions involved. Then, he told The DAILY, "I'll make the decision whether it is prudent to hold hearings." Asked when hearings would be held, Rep.
Garuda Indonesia is starting a domestic airline to be launched at the end of the year, according to sources close to the carrier. The new carrier will be part of the airline's ambitious plans to consolidate its domestic operations with the aim of having comprehensive coverage of the country. It would be managed by Garuda. Asked to confirm, Garuda President and CEO A. Abdulgani was willing to say only that he was working on a second-tier domestic product that would offer more competitive fares for overseas passengers heading for destinations in Indonesia.
U.S. National Carriers Productivity In Revenues And Expenses Per Employee, Fourth Quarter 1999 U.S. National Carriers Productivity In Revenues And Expenses Per Employee Fourth Quarter 1999 Total Total Operating Operating Revenues Expenses Total (000) (000) Employees
Delta Air Logistics, Delta's cargo division, and Air France Cargo plan to form a joint venture that would provide the opportunity for a joint U.S. export sales organization. The companies said cargo customers would benefit from "a single point of contact" to ship air freight from the U.S. to international destinations, with a single product line. The two carriers code share on passenger flights and are expected to unveil details about their alliance with AeroMexico and Korean Air next month. The cargo joint venture would focus on selling and marketing U.S.
Operators of most U.S.-registered McDonnell Douglas aircraft will have five years to replace insulation blankets covered with metalized Mylar based on a FAA rule slated to appear in the Federal Register today. The order affects 719 aircraft in the U.S., including MD-80s, MD-88s, MD-90s, DC-10s, and MD-11s, the agency said. DC-8s, DC-9s and Boeing 717s are not affected. FAA estimated the total cost of the work at $368.4 million.
Hub seat concentration under a United-US Airways merger would not change dramatically, except for the Washington, D.C., area, where the two sides have offered to change the way they operate and bring in a new carrier. Statistics supplied to The DAILY by BACK Aviation Solutions show that US Airways' share of monthly seats flown from Washington National is 40.7% of the total. Combined with United's 6.7%, it gives the two the dominant role at the slot-constrained airport, where US Airways already is the leading carrier.
