U.S. Major Carriers Traffic January 2000 (000) January January % 2000 1999 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 877,000 856,000 2.5 Available Seat Miles 1,439,000 1,378,000 4.4 Load Factor (%) 60.9 62.1 America West
Northwest Chief Executive John Dasburg will be the keynote speaker May 8 at the International Airline CEO Conference in Orlando. Nineteen airline CEOs and former CEOs are scheduled to participate in the program, a copy of which can be obtained from Miami-based AvMan Inc. at 305-876-9339.
DHL Airways wants U.S.-Kuwait cargo rights, via intermediate points, including Belgium and Bahrain. The carrier plans Cincinnati/New York-Kuwait service via Belgium and Bahrain five days a week. It intends to code share with Gemini Air Cargo on the New York-Brussels leg, placing its designator code on Gemini's DC-10 flights in the market. DHL will code share with DHL International E.C. between Brussels and Bahrain. Nordstress Australia Pty. operates DHL International's services on the route under a wet-lease arrangement with Boeing 757F aircraft.
HNTB Corp. said development of a new $650 million international passenger terminal at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is moving ahead. The company will serve as lead design consultant in a team with HKS Architects of Dallas and Corgan Associates of Fort Worth on the new Terminal D, which also will include a 7,000-car parking garage, roadways, site improvements and a central plant upgrade. American will be the principal tenant.
DOT should work toward a competitive updated U.S.-China agreement that first provides convenient access for passengers rather than cargo, the Business Travel Coalition told DOT Secretary Rodney Slater this week. BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell supports American Airlines' application to serve China from Chicago O'Hare because it would foster competition and help passengers from small and medium-sized communities. "Passenger air services can be a strategic fulcrum in developing commercial opportunities in China for U.S. businesses," Mitchell said.
Virgin Express and Snecma Sabena Engine Services have signed a contract that covers engine maintenance for the airline's Boeing 737s. The contract will run for three years.
House aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) yesterday warned the U.K. that Congress is ready and willing to enact a series of stringent measures to get the British to resume negotiations on a new aviation agreement with the U.S. "The British should understand if they force us to do it, we'll do it," he told The DAILY in an interview. The "it" is a package of legislation that House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking Transportation Democrat Jim Oberstar (Minn.) introduced last October that restricts U.K. aviation.
Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette is expected to introduce legislation this week aimed at regulating Canada's airline monopoly and protecting consumers against price gouging. The legislation likely will require Air Canada to limit fees on domestic monopoly routes and offer as wide a variety of fare discounts on monopoly routes as it does on routes where it faces competition. Price gouging would be punishable with fines up to C$10 million and five years in jail, according to Canadian news reports.
Continental Chief Executive Gordon Bethune predicted yesterday that the airline's fuel costs will skyrocket nearly 78% this year, an expense he expects to pass directly to the passenger. While not alone in fighting the effects of higher fuel prices, Bethune told a Wings Club meeting in New York that he is frustrated with the U.S. government's "do-nothing administration," which he says is not working to curb the price increases.
Delta's bid for Atlanta-Argentina service has the support of more than 60 members of Congress from 11 southeastern U.S. and adjoining states, as well as the backing of governors from seven states, including Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Hawaii.
Air Canada and Canadian Airlines in July will double their daily Toronto-Mexico City roundtrips, operated with Star Alliance partner Mexicana, and start service from Vancouver to Mexico City in June.
Southwest New Market Development, March 1999 -- April 2000 STARTUP CITY - PAIR ROUNDTRIP DATE FREQUENCY Apr-2000 Austin - Raleigh 1 Apr-2000 Austin - San Diego 1 Apr-2000 Las Vegas - Columbus 1 Apr-2000 Las Vegas - Indianapolis 1
Juan Antonio Barges Mestres, Mexico's director general of civil aviation, said commercial aviation will grow this year to $15 billion due to government investments and airline billings increases, or 6-8% more than in 1999. "This year, we expect to handle almost 42 million passengers in 1.7 million operations in all of the country's airports," he said.
Singapore Airlines is banking on its 49% acquisition of Virgin Atlantic for the latter's route network to expand across the Atlantic, until it secures fifth-freedom rights from London to the U.S. According to an official in SIA's market planning division, the carrier has identified six U.S. cities -- Washington, Miami, Boston, Las Vegas, Chicago and Orlando -- that Virgin serves from London and SIA's travel agents expect to market and sell. The advantage both carriers have is that they can hand off passengers to each other at Terminal 3 at London Heathrow.
The Kansai International Airport Corporation reported a loss of 23.5 billion yen (US$220 million) for fiscal 1998 -- April 1998 to March 1999. Since it opened in 1994, the corporation has reported a loss every year for a total deficit of 133.3 billion yen ($1.245 billion). The major reason for the heavy loss was less traffic at the airport than forecast. For example, the corporation expected about 129,000 takeoffs and landings during the 12 months of fiscal 1998, but the actual number was 118,000. The second reason was heavy interest on the company's debt.
US Airways' MetroJet unit will not cancel its Washington Dulles-Chicago Midway route March 5 as reported in THE DAILY Feb. 15. It plans to cut only service from Washington Dulles to St. Louis, Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio.
Besides reducing schedules and eliminating routes, Venezuela's Avensa/Servivensa is taking serious steps to restructure its financial position, including renegotiating its debts with international banks. The airline owes $7 million, according to Luis Reyes, who represents the shares owned by Venezuela on the airline's board. Reyes said Avensa's income decreased by $4 million in December due to the catastrophic floods and mudslides that crippled Venezuela. Reyes met with Avensa shareholders, including the H.L.
The new DOT budget submitted to Congress contains a request of $47 million to recapitalize the Loran-C navigation system, which the department, despite loud protests from several industries, had planned to phase out this year. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, in a major turnaround for the administration, said DOT has decided to operate and maintain Loran-C in the short term while continuing to evaluate the long-term need for the system. The budget requests $27 million in Loran funding for the Coast Guard and $20 million for FAA.
Korean Air plans to hire 240 new pilots this year under a massive recruitment program to reform its operations. Of the 240 new hires, 130 will be expatriate captains from the "world's leading airlines" who will join 138 expatriates that currently fly with the airline. The remaining 110 pilots will come from Korea Aviation University, the military and Korean Air's Cheju Flying School. The number of pilots to be hired represents a 40% increase from 1999, when the carrier admitted 173 new pilots.
Crossair has named a team of three aviation experts to audit the airline's flight operations, technical department and quality control. The move comes after the Jan. 10 crash of one of Crossair's Saab 340s in which 10 people were killed. Among the auditors is Rolls-Royce Deutschland Chief Executive Klaus Nittinger. Crossair expects to announce the results at the end of April.
Air France and Comair applied jointly for blanket code-share authority, to enable Air France to place its designator code on Comair's domestic and transborder services for Air France's U.S.-France/Canada and beyond flights. Comair would display Air France's code on flights to and from Cincinnati connecting with Cincinnati-Paris nonstop service that Air France plans to begin May 15. Air France code shares on Delta's Cincinnati-Paris nonstops. Comair, operating as a Delta Connection partner, serves 86 U.S. cities, plus Toronto and Montreal.
The proposed European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS) will be set up and floated in Paris and Frankfurt, EADS' incoming chief executives Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich said Monday. Merging companies Aerospatiale, Matra and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) have completed a lengthy first round of negotiations, after which they announced the appointment of 52 top managers for EADS.
Representatives of SR Technics, Boeing and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) met yesterday to discuss Swissair's far-reaching proposals to modify the wiring in MD-11 cockpits. The proposals, if picked up by the TSB, Boeing and eventually the FAA, could result in new airworthiness directives for the in-service MD-11 fleet. Swissair's findings are linked to the September 1998 crash of Flight SR 111 in Nova Scotia, in which all 228 on board were killed.
Flight Safety Foundation task force has developed a tool to help reduce the risk of approach and landing accidents, which account for the greatest number of fatalities in commercial air transport operations. The Risk Awareness Tool is a list of risk factors that can be integrated into the approach briefing a crew must conduct before beginning a descent. The tool "will heighten the crew's awareness of risk factors that it is likely to encounter during the approach and landing," said FSF Chairman Stuart Matthews.
