American, proposing Washington National-Los Angeles nonstops, requested four of the 12 DCA slots for beyond-perimeter service provided in FAA authorization bill expected to be signed by President Clinton this week. The carrier told DOT it would operate 176-seat Boeing 757 aircraft for twice-daily service on the route, extending one-stop DCA service beyond LAX to Hawaii, Nevada and other points in California.
Jet fuel spot prices in New York ended last week at $0.83 per gallon, up 9% from the beginning of the week and up 91% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Crude oil futures for May traded at roughly $27.00 per barrel last week, down 21% from a nine-year high of $34.13 on March 7.
Two leased Vasp MD-11s, missing for several days, were found totally "cannibalized" at Cumbica Airport. Lessor Tango Aviation claims damages of more $16 million for their "cannibalization," plus more than $27 million in outstanding leasing fees. Counterclaims by Vasp on Tango's illegal repossession actions and more claims by Tango on Vasp's insolvency are now in the courts.
Japan Airlines became the launch customer Friday for Boeing's new long-range 777-300X aircraft with a firm order for eight aircraft and two options. With first delivery planned for June 2004, the new 777s will replace aging 747s that will be retired. The new aircraft will be equipped with General Electric GE90-115B engines, a higher-thrust version of the GE90 engine introduced in November 1995.
President Clinton Friday announced his intent to nominate seven persons to the Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council, established by Congress to provide advice and counsel to the FAA and to function as an oversight resource for management, policy, spending and regulatory issues for the agency.
The House last week approved by a 263-146 vote a fiscal 2000 supplemental appropriations bill that included $24.7 million to reimburse the Navy for wreckage location and recovery of EgyptAir 990 and Alaska Air 261 aircraft and for facilities, technical assistance and testing associated with National Transportation Safety Board investigations. The measure now goes to the Senate for final congressional approval.
British Airways expects its e-business revenue will jump to 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion) by March 2002 as it uses the Internet for broad revenue and efficiency measures. BA has the U.K.'s second leading travel web site after LastMinute.com. Visits to BA's site are up 185% in the past year. "We have prepared them to buy;" now the airline has to close the sale, said Derek Stevens, chief financial officer at the Aviation Week/Merrill Lynch Airline Investors Summit.
British Airways' employee morale is better following management changes that included the departure of Chief Executive Bob Ayling, according to BA Chief Financial Officer Derek Stevens. "Morale is definitely on the upturn," he said, and management changes "are helping the process." You "have to have high staff morale" if you want to deliver good service and strong profitability, Stevens said.
Association of European Airlines Traffic January 2000 January 2000 Passenger Data % % Pts. RPKs Chng ASKs Chng Load Chng (Mil) 99/98 (Mil) 99/98 Factor 99/98 EUROPE 8,204.8 4.2 16,137.6 6.2 50.8 -0.9
Air France has confirmed an order for eight Airbus A330-200s and five options. The airline plans to phase out its 10 A310-200/300s and its five Boeing 767-300ERs. Air France's A330-200s will be equipped with CF6-80E1A3 engines and will be delivered starting in December 2001. Besides the aircraft planned for phase-out, Air France currently operates an extensive mix of long-haul jets, among them 747-100s, -200s, -300s and -400s, 777-200ERs, and A340-300s. It has already ordered five 777-200ERs, four A340-300s, and 10 A330-300s.
Yet another watchdog agency has cited a lack of expertise for the integrity problems experienced by FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System. The General Accounting Office, in a draft report, blamed a "shortage of in-house technical expertise" and cited FAA statements that the "contractor lacked sufficient expertise" to deal with the integrity issues now plaguing WAAS. Earlier, the DOT Inspector General told Congress that FAA recognized that "neither FAA nor Raytheon has the necessary expertise to resolve" WAAS failures (DAILY, March 24).
Tradewinds Airlines wants DOT to ensure that its request for summer season U.S.-Poland charters is granted before approving LOT Polish Airlines' request for expanded U.S.-Poland rights. Tradewinds "reluctantly opposes" LOT's request for an extrabilateral exemption "unless and until" the Polish Civil Aviation Department approves Tradewinds' pending application for bilaterally authorized charters in the market. Tradewinds applied Feb.
China Southern Airlines plans to launch cargo service with a dedicated Boeing 747-200 freighter between Shenzhen and Chicago on April 12. DOT granted China Southern a one-year exemption for cargo service between Shenzhen and the co-terminal points Anchorage and Chicago last month (DAILY, March 27). Atlas Air will operate China Southern's new 747-200 service under a long-term contract.
Signature Flight Support promoted John Farmer to regional VP-Florida Region; Al Pichon to regional VP-Mid Atlantic Region and Brent Russell to regional VP-Northeastern Region.
Olympic Airways plans to lease 15 new Boeing 737s and retire four 747s as the airline tries to significantly upgrade its fleet before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Last week, the board approved a deal with GE Capital Aviation Services that includes 10-year leases on 11 new 737-700s and four 737-800s. The first aircraft are scheduled for delivery in June 2001. GECAS also will help the airline with the sale of four aging 747-200s, two 727-200s and 11 737-200s, which will be replaced by the new aircraft.
Delta will receive $400 million in additional revenues and "double-digit margins" this year from its numerous alliance relationships, said Senior VP-Alliances Paul Matsen told analysts Friday.Most of the revenue will come from its Air France partner, which will bring $150 million in revenue this year. Matsen said its partners will officially launch the alliance and unveil a name "later this year" and also said publicly it will include Korean Air in the group, pending an operational review this summer.
United told DOT that it should not allow the U.S.-Vietnam third-country code-share rights available under the recently concluded memorandum of discussions between the countries "to go unused," pointing to Northwest's intention to apply to serve Vietnam with Malaysian Airlines (MAS) (DAILY, March 30). Northwest's conclusion of an agreement with MAS for Vietnam service, as well as the Northwest/MAS application for antitrust immunity pending at DOT, "may occasion a considerable delay, United said.
