British Airways will cease its London Heathrow-Jersey service after losing more than #10 million over the past three years. The four daily flights have never been profitable, the airline said, and roughly 30% of the seats have flown empty on the route. "The decision to cease flying the Heathrow service has not been an easy one," said Chairman Colin Marshall.
Boeing elected John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the board and named Gale Andrews to lead the Ethics and Business Conduct office.
Jet fuel spot prices in New York ended last week at $0.76 per gallon, down 6.9% from the beginning of the week and up 80% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Crude oil futures for June traded at roughly $26.85 per barrel last week, down 27% from a nine-year high of $34.13 on March 7.
Ryanair will be available in Sabre beginning May 14, significantly expanding its presence in the U.K. and continental Europe. The carrier recently added 10 new routes to its 36-city network and has identified the U.K., Italy, France, Germany and Scandinavia as areas targeted for growth. "Sabre's strong presence in these markets is a key factor in this decision," said Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said today.
Southwest's combined cargo and mail revenue jumped 9.2% in March and 8.3% for the first quarter.Of the 56 airports where the airline offers cargo service, 20 stations posted double-digit cargo revenue growth year-over-year. Monthly revenue records were broken in eight cities during the month.
Brazil's TAM will boost its Sao Paulo-Paris service next month, beginning daily flights June 19 about a year after it was first launched. The airline's loads and yields "are exceeding expectations" on its new Airbus A330s, a TAM executive told The DAILY. The airline currently flies its own aircraft on five weekly flights and code shares with Air France on its Boeing 777 service.
Lufthansa has dismissed media reports that it is in talks with Philippine Airlines Executive Chairman and majority shareholder Lucio Tan to acquire his stake in the carrier. Lufthansa Chief Operating Officer Karl-Friedrich Rausch told The DAILY in Frankfurt that, apart from Lufthansa Technik acquiring 67% equity in PAL's engineering maintenance center, there has been no further discussion on Tan's stake. The remaining 30% in the facility is held by Macro Asia, a company owned by Tan.
America West showed little operational improvement in March, placing worst in all three major categories tracked by the DOT Consumer Travel Report -- consumer complaints, mishandled baggage and on-time arrivals. The airline had the most complaints of U.S. majors at 9.07 per 100,000 enplanements. "While we are disappointed about the operational problems that beset America West," said Merrill Lynch analyst Candace Browning, "we are more frustrated by the fact that this is not the first or even the second time that this has happened."
Plans by TAM and Transbrasil, two of Brazil's Big Four, for an operational agreement (DAILY, 1 May), appear headed for bureaucratic trouble. In Brasilia, the government's antitrust body, CADE, stated it had notified both carriers that, according to "Brazil's anti-monopoly laws, no agreements can be made without official approval if either of the companies represents more than 20% of market share in terms of sales or generates sales in excess of $220 million." Financial experts pegged TAM's sales at more than double CADE's limit.
Mesaba and Precise Flight, Inc. have launched a first test program for a system that would reduce bird strikes. The Pulselight system is designed to sequentially flash aircraft landing lights, which are believed to draw more attention than a steady light. Mesaba will install the system on six Saab 340s and six Avro RJ85s and monitor bird strikes over a year on a fleetwide basis. The system already is installed on WestJet, Scenic Airlines and WestAir aircraft. Equipment costs $2,500-$5,000 plus the cost of 10-30 hours of installation.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and Corporate Airlines of Smyrna, Tenn., have agreed on a lease contract for five more Jetstream 32Eps. The 19-seat aircraft will be in Trans World Express livery and based at St. Louis. Corporate Airlines will launch service to five current TWE destinations May 8, feeding regional traffic to marketing partner TWA. It will take over TWE routes now served by TransStates Airlines to several points in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.
U.S. Major Carriers Advertising Expense Fourth Quarter 1999 % Of Total Advertising Passenger Revenues Alaska 6,897,000 1.96 Domestic 6,239,000 1.96 Latin 658,000 1.91 America West 4,635,013 0.89 Domestic 4,612,384 0.91
The admission last week by Peruvian Civil Aviation Director Luis Harmes that the open-skies agreement with the U.S. limits normal access to the U.S. by aircraft operated by Peruvian carriers, was echoed in Lima by Lorenzo Sousa, a major local entrepreneur and chief executive of LanPeru. He said restrictions by the U.S. do not allow access by aircraft dry-leased by local airlines. As an example he cited American, which flies to Peru with U.S. pilots. "Reciprocally, the U.S.
FAA, for the first time, hired two retired military air traffic controllers under a joint program with the Defense Department that began in February. The program was designed to keep military air traffic controllers in uniform for longer than one or two enlistments before leaving for a career with FAA, which before the program had a cutoff age of 31. The Air Force's goal is to have a 95% qualified staffing rate of controllers, which is currently running at 65%.
USA Today reporter David Field has been named the winner of the 2000 Eugene Dubois Award for Excellence in Aviation Reporting and Writing. The award is given by the North American Airlines Public Relations Association.
Air Wisconsin's fleet of Dornier 328s has more than doubled over the last year, from 10 to 21, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Goeff Crowley said at the Regional Airlines Association conference this week in San Antonio. Crowley said he is "not in a hurry" to retire the aircraft. Air Wisconsin also had an increase in staff, from 1,767 a year ago to 2,462 at the beginning of April.
Cathay Pacific signed a series of aircraft deals yesterday covering seven Airbus aircraft and two from Boeing. Together with transactions announced late last year, the airline will grow the size of its operational fleet from 65 to 80 aircraft, an increase of almost 25%. The most recent aircraft orders include four Airbus A330-300s for delivery in the second half of 2001, one Boeing 777-200 for delivery in December 2000, one 747-400 freighter for delivery in April 2001 and three Airbus A330s to be leased at undetermined dates.
Air France expects to cancel at least 40% of its systemwide flights the next two days due to a cabin crew strike. "Labor dispute negotiations with management did not reach a successful conclusion," a spokeswoman told The DAILY yesterday. Six different trade unions representing the cabin crews have called the strike to begin today, protesting management proposals concerning the number of vacation days to be provided to employees working under the new 35-hour work week.
Lufthansa Group exceeded all expectations to post a net profit of 1.2 billion marks (US$549 million) for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, registering the second-best performance in its corporate history. It was however a significant drop compared with DM1.4 billion the previous year. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juergen Weber said despite the unexpected burdens like the Kosovo conflict, escalating fuel prices and the receding economic crisis in Asia, Lufthansa Group's performance saw it occupying a place at the very top among industry leaders.
Fee increases imposed March 1 on carriers using Newark's Terminal B will be rescinded, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told The DAILY yesterday. Any payments of the increased charges made by the carriers will be credited to them, he said. The action stems from a complaint filed at DOT by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, joined by SAS, Lufthansa, Air France, Sabena, Swissair, TAP Air Portugal, Czech Airlines and Allegro over the timing, notice and economic justification for the increases.
