Swiss voters approved a set of bilateral accords with the European Union on Sunday, including an air agreement that paves the way for SAirGroup to increase its stakes in EU partner airlines. In particular, Swissair's parent company "can now proceed with its plans to take up to 85% of Sabena," up from its current 49.5% holding, a Sabena spokesman said yesterday in Brussels. According to existing EU ownership rules, EU airlines would lose their status as an EU carrier and the unrestricted market access associated with it, if they were majority-owned by Swiss interests.
National Airlines is celebrating its first anniversary with discount fares starting at $78 roundtrip between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Other roundtrip fares include $278 Chicago Midway-Las Vegas; $318 New York JFK-Los Angeles, and $288 San Francisco-Philadelphia.
Thai Airways International and Swissair have agreed to operate code-share services on the Bangkok-Zurich route, starting June 1, offering a total of 14 flights each way. Swissair will reduce its current nine weekly services to seven, while Thai will increase its current five frequencies to daily service.
Many European air traffic control centers will suffer from worsening delays this summer, resulting in mounting costs for airlines and passengers, according to IATA research. "The situation is once again totally unacceptable," said Director General Pierre Jeanniot. IATA's latest forecast estimates that flights will experience over 27 million delay minutes during the year that could cost airlines at least 4 billion euros (US$3.6 billion) in 2000. "The latest forecasts indicate that the very inadequate goals set on Jan.
Jersey European Airways has changed its name to British European because the Jersey European name "no longer reflects the true size and scope of our business and is restricting our sales potential." All advertising and publicity material and airport signage will be done by June 1. Aircraft will be altered in phases, with completion in March 2001. The company, which added four Canadair Regional jets to its fleet last year, operates about 1,000 flights a week on 17 domestic and six international routes.
American reached agreement with Continental Express yesterday for a 30-day extension to use its gates at Dallas Love Field, which will allow American to continue to operate its full schedule without interruption. American plans to continue to pursue permission from the Dallas City Council temporarily to use three gates in the East Concourse while the Love Field master plan is developed.
Venezuela's Aserca and the Friedman Turbidy Association consortium have been announced as two of the qualified bidders participating in the May 23 privatization tender of bankrupt flag carrier Dominicana de Aviacion, whose main assets are its routes and a headquarters in Santo Domingo. Minimum price fixed by the government is $11.5 million. The winning bidder would manage Dominicana as a 50-50 partner with the government and assume US$4 million in accumulated debts.
Air Littoral Chairman Marc Dufour said Friday he will step down, following a disagreement with SAirGroup's plans to merge the operations of its French subsidiaries Air Littoral, AOM and Air Liberte.
Sun Country Airlines yesterday gained three "well-timed" slots at Chicago O'Hare, its first at Chicago. The carrier applied to serve O'Hare-Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Delta wants exemptions for service to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, and Leon/San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, from Atlanta. The carrier plans daily nonstops to Leon, beginning Oct. 1, San Jose del Cabo, Nov. 1, and Providenciales, Dec. 1, using Boeing 737 or 757 aircraft. The Mexican points currently receive no nonstop service to Atlanta, Delta noted. (Dockets OST-7389, 7390)
An improper configuration left inoperative the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recovered from the site of Sunday's Jetstream 31 crash in Pennsylvania, leaving the tape blank and investigators without a potentially valuable piece of evidence, National Transportation Safety Board board member George Black said yesterday. Nineteen died in the crash. The CVR, configured to run on 115 volts AC, did not have a functioning inverter to allow it to work properly with the J31's 28-volt DC hook-up.
FAA has presented ICAO with the first in a series of standardized training packages for safety inspectors. The uniform standards are designed to help ICAO members meet international safety standards. ICAO said the training materials offer practical solutions for many of the shortcomings and deficiencies identified by the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program. FAA Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification Tom McSweeny also presented ICAO with a model set of aviation laws, regulations and implementation standards.
United took delivery of its 600th aircraft last week, a Boeing 777-200 that brings the 777 fleet to 42.United also received its last 747-400, bringing that fleet to 44. "This is an important milestone for our company since we have never had such a large fleet," says Chief Operating Officer Andy Studdert. The new 777 will fly San Francisco-Denver and support San Francisco-Maui, while the 747 will fly San Francisco-Narita.
The surprising cancellation of the May 26 Airbus supervisory board meeting has more to do with internal disputes than with lack of market demand for the A3XX, industry sources told The DAILY. The supervisory board was scheduled to give the go-ahead for the planned A3XX just days before the start of the ILA air show in Berlin. Airbus declared that it needed further internal studies before a decision could be made.
Regional airline growth will accelerate over the next three years, with available capacity rising an estimated 19% this year and accelerating to 24% in 2001, according to PaineWebber research. "Given the correlation between system and profit growth, and mainline operators' increasing dependence on the regional airline industry," regional analyst Jamie Baker said. He expects profit growth to approximate the 20% compounded system growth over the next several years.
Air Canada's pilots, irked by the company's efforts to negotiate with pilots at Canadian Airlines, want the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to declare Air Canada a single employer operating a single airline. Air Canada has de facto control of Canadian through its numbered company, the Air Canada Pilots Association contends. ACPA says Air Canada management has negotiated directly with the Canadian pilots union "to provide them with a generous contract while at the same time allowing contract talks with its own pilots to lag.
FedEx and Honeywell Airport Systems are expected to announce this week they signed an agreement that will result in the installation of the first GPS Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) at Memphis Airport. In conjunction with the signing, FedEx revealed plans to certify LAAS airborne equipment on one of its Boeing 727s. Honeywell Airport Systems will begin installation of the LAAS ground station this month.
The Polish government has told Tradewinds Airlines it will make slots available for service to Warsaw and Krakow this summer, the carrier's counsel said. Tradewinds filed its opposition to an emergency request by American and LOT for reinstatement of their expired authority for code sharing until Poland "unconditionally granted" Tradewinds' request to operate U.S.-Poland charters this summer. Tradewinds said the "unjustified delays" by the Polish authority "have already required Tradewinds to delay its planned June startup date.
Continental wants DOT to not allow United to carry SAS's code on Newark-London Heathrow flights until Continental gains access to the market. United and SAS notified DOT of their plans pursuant to their blanket code-share authority, which Continental said "does not allow them to introduce new service by fiat." Blanket rights are not applicable in markets where U.S. carrier rights are limited, Continental said.
Air Tahiti Nui and Qantas inked a code-share agreement Friday to jointly operate flights on the Papeete-Auckland route beginning June 21, subject to government approval. Each carrier will operate one flight per week. Air Tahiti Nui will use its Airbus A340-200 and Qantas will fly a Boeing 767-300ER. "Our common objective is to increase the number of tourists and attract more business travelers between New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia," said Nelson Levy, chairman of Air Tahiti Nui.
A Cathay Pacific Airbus A340-300 completed a special flight from Toronto to Hong Kong last week using a northern polar route. The flight opens the first nonstop commercial service between the two cities. The flight was organized by the airline as part of a program to prepare for the future opening of new, more direct polar routes between North America and Asia, significantly reducing travel times.
US Airways is "determined not to hedge" its fuel requirements going forward "especially at these price levels," Chairman Stephen Wolf told shareholders last week. He referred to hedging as a "refined art of gambling" and expressed some regret at its strategy not to lock in some of its fuel needs at lower prices. The airline's fuel costs soared 105% in the first quarter.
