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.
After one week's suspension due to maintenance on its only FAA-approved aircraft, Venezuela's Avensa renewed flights from Caracas to Miami on May 20. A second aircraft is being equipped with a hushkit for FAA approval, also on the Miami route. CEO Wilmer Castro announced that Avensa, operating jointly with Aserca, will start to fly again to Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and Tenerife on June 16 and is already accepting computer reservations. Negotiations were revealed with Mexicana and Falcon Air to wet-lease aircraft for additional flights to the U.S.
Pilots at US Airways and United yesterday said they were surprised by the United-US Airways merger announcement and will keep close tabs on the deal as it progresses to ensure pilots are not short-changed. Several industry experts predict some tough negotiations as United and its Air Line Pilots Association unit continue contract talks, especially considering that United did not apprise pilots who also are company shareholders of the merger until the last minute.
A federal judge in Buenos Aires has ordered the release of 15 Aerolineas Argentinas aircraft impounded two weeks ago on the claim of Argentine internal revenue authorities for alleged tax evasion. The judge's ruling is based on the fact they were not owned by the carrier, but leased. They are five Boeing, six McDonnell Douglas and four Airbus jet aircraft of various types.
The Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau awarded type certification to Bombardier's 50-passenger CRJ yesterday. The approval paves the way for Tokyo's The Fair Inc. to begin CRJ operations in mid-2000 over business oriented routes from a base at Sendai, using two CRJs. The Fair has placed firm orders for two CRJs for delivery in 2002. J-Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Airlines, also ordered two CRJ200 series aircraft for domestic services in southern Japan. J-Air holds options on three additional CRJ aircraft.
Review of the proposed United-US Airways merger will be scrutinized by the Justice Department for compliance with antitrust regulations, a DOT spokesman said yesterday, stressing that DOT will advise Justice on competitive issues. Justice would not comment on the proposed merger, a spokeswoman said, except to note that it "will review it closely." DOT would have to approve the transfer of international route rights. The proposed DC Air scheme would undergo DOT scrutiny as well.
German Transport Minister Reinhard Klimmt has decided to tear up a 1984 agreement with Switzerland that allows aircraft to fly over German territory as they approach Zurich Kloten Airport, located close to the Swiss-German border. "The way Switzerland has been using German air space is no longer acceptable," Klimmt said this week. Protest against noise from increasing traffic to Zurich has been rising steadily in German towns and villages near the border.
Vanguard Airlines yesterday named Jeff Potter its new president and CEO following his resignation from Frontier Airlines, where he was VP-marketing. Vanguard's Rocky Spane will remain with the airline as chairman of the board.
The planned mega-merger between United and US Airways faces tremendous scrutiny from federal regulators, but United President Rono Dutta claims the two carriers have gone "above and beyond to mitigate any concerns." Following their dramatic merger announcement yesterday, airline officials repeated the fact that there is "very little" network overlap, with the exception of the Washington, D.C., area. Because of the lack of overlap, "we are quite confident the Justice Department will approve this case," Dutta said.
U.S. carriers would be required to carry automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) under a proposal announced by President Clinton. AEDs, used in 17 inflight cardiac events during the year ended June 30, 1999, prolonged the lives of four passengers, according to Air Transport Association data collected by FAA, which also proposed the addition of medications to carriers' medical kits, with a three-year compliance period. Crew members would be trained in the use of AEDs, estimated to cost no more than $3,000 each, and the enhanced kits.
Special Report - United/US Airways United and US Airways Share of Domestic Passengers at Top 50 U.S. Airports in 1999 United US AirwaysCombined Dominant US Com- Other United Airways bined Dominant Share Share Share Carrier/Share* 1 Los Angeles 24.4% 3.5% 27.9% Southwest 18.6%
Mesa Air Group yesterday reported fiscal second quarter profits of $5.4 million, up 25.6% year over year. Revenue swelled 17.9% to $114.6 million. "We believe we have put a difficult turnaround period behind us and can now focus our energy on executing our growth strategy," said CEO Jonathan Ornstein.
The Air Line Pilots Association International and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations recommend that members not participate in any land-and-hold short operations (LAHSO) at any airports until FAA resolves safety concerns. CAPA, which represents pilots at American, FedEx, UPS, Southwest and Airborne Express, is worried that general aviation pilots may lack the skill and equipment training to perform LAHSO safely, and some non-U.S. pilots also may not have the English language skills needed.
Even though it had to "overcome a difficult environment in the first quarter of 2000," the Austrian Airlines group remains confident about its full-year results. Austrian and its sister companies, Tyrolean Airways and Lauda Air, "have consistently applied cost savings and earnings growth measures in an effort to realize the desired result for the business year 2000," Austrian said yesterday in Vienna. The group is seeking to double its pre-tax profits this year, up from 37.1 million euros in 1999.
American Aircarriers Support subsidiary AAS Aircraft Services won a contract yesterday from Spirit Airlines to provide a heavy C-check and modifications to one of its MD-82s. The deal also covers a 15,000-hour structural inspection, corrosion protection program, modification of flight data recorders and airworthiness directives.
Alaska Air Flight 261's inverted final plunge off the coast of California on Jan. 31 covered more than 7,000 feet in its last 22 seconds, transcripts of air traffic control tapes released yesterday by the FAA show. Though National Transportation Safety Board investigators have not finished their probe of the accident, officials have focused on a dive resulting from a jammed stabilizer as the likely cause of the crash. Damaged and worn jackscrews in the stabilizer assembly have come in for particular attention.
House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) reacted cautiously yesterday to the United-US Airways merger announcement, saying his priority was to "nail down" the antitrust issue and the viability of the US Airways hubs in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in an expanded United system. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the committee would "pay particular attention" to the impact of the deal on the traveling public.
AeroMexico broadened its code-sharing agreement with Air France to three new European destinations as well as domestic points in Mexico with 14 daily Air France flights. The new cities are Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Zurich. Air France will code share on AeroMexico flights from Atlanta to Monterrey and from Mexico City to Acapulco, Cancun, Guadalajara, Leon, Merida, Monterrey and Puerto Vallarta. The two carriers have been alliance partners since 1995, when they first code shared on twice-daily flights between Mexico City and Paris.
Peru Minister of Transportation Alberto Pandolfi said his country's Civil Aviation Department (DGAC) will meet soon with its U.S. counterpart to discuss complaints that the open-skies agreement between the two countries is not being properly implemented because the U.S. allows access to aircraft wet-leased by Peruvian carriers and disavows dry-leased arrangements. Pandolfi also denied rumors that FAA was demoting Peru from Category 1 to 2.
The consortium Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000), which manages runway and aeronavigational facilities at 32 airports in Argentina, is taking legal action this week to ask the courts to investigate the concession contract held by Edcadassa for warehouses and duty-free shops, being managed by Edcadassa subsidiaries Exxel and Interbaires, respectively.
U.S. airports and airlines must work on four fronts to ensure that aviation can provide the growth demanded by the marketplace, according to speakers at the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) conference in Baltimore. Former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles cautioned airport officials to be mindful of the interdependence of capacity, air traffic control reform, international market issues and environmental concerns. Without diligent attention to progress in each area, "you can't grow," he said, adding that ICAO must set the standards.
AeroMexico traffic for April soared 21.7% on 17.8% more capacity, and its passenger count rose 12.1% to 776,215. In the first four months, traffic grew 21.5% to 4.5 billion revenue passenger kilometers, while capacity was up 17.4% to 6.9 billion RPKs.
Biztravel.com decided to put its money where its mouth is yesterday, launching an unprecedented service promise for customers booking flights through its web site on five airlines. The "Biztravel Guarantee" offers financial compensation to consumers for a number of "inconveniences," including flight delays, flight cancellations, loss of baggage, meal selection and the failure to honor seat assignments. The five airlines in the program include American, Continental, US Airways, British Airways, and Air France.
Pegasus Aviation formally signed the lease of two DC-9-32s to first-time lessee Legend Airlines. Legend began negotiations with Pegasus in November for the startup airline's third and fourth aircraft, which now are in service. The airline launched service from Dallas Love Field April 5 and now serves Washington Dulles, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Avianca and Aces will increase their weekly roundtrip frequencies between Colombia and the U.S. under the bilateral agreement signed recently between the two countries, which falls short of providing open skies. Avianca will boost its frequencies to seven and Aces will go up to three, to be augmented by four more in October 2001. In November, Aerorepublica will become the first Colombian carrier to operate nonstop Bogota-Orlando with scheduled charter flights, avoiding stopovers in Miami. Colombian carriers may fly charters to Orlando from any city in Colombia.
