China Airlines named Alfred Kupferschmied to the position of VP of operations, effective March 20, in a move "designed to strengthen its management and training as well as to upgrade its flight safety reform program." Kupferschmied worked for 30 years at Swissair and most recently was an operations consultant of Lufthansa Technik.
Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee recently completed a non-intrusive survey of wiring on 81 aircraft covering eight models and has identified no safety issues. An intrusive wiring survey is due in September. The committee is now halfway through an extensive two-year study of aging aircraft that it will give to FAA by yearend.
US Airways ultimately would like to grow to a fleet of 400 regional jets for its US Airways Express system, said Chairman Stephen Wolf. The airline's current pilot agreement allows it to operate only 35 RJs, but the union is now in a ratification process to add an additional 35, with ballots counted April 7. "We're hopeful they'll approve the additional 35 and we'll continue talking to them about getting even more in the future," Wolf said.
American Airlines hired Don Coleman Advertising to help it expand its presence in the African-American market. Selected after a nationwide agency review, DCA will work with American to develop a comprehensive marketing initiative ranging from advertising and media buying to special promotions and public relations programs. American claims this deal is the first time that an airline has established an agency-of-record relationship with an African-American advertising agency.
U.S. Major Carriers Financial Results Third Quarter 1999 Third Quarter 1999 Operating Operating Revenues Expenses (000) (000) Alaska 478,433 402,592 America West 538,175 499,328 American 4,251,362 3,870,063 Continental 2,098,376 1,939,873
Mercury Air named William Silva president and chief operating officer of subsidiary Maytag Aircraft Corp.; Tina Muse manager, sales and marketing-Mercury Air Centers, and Jeffrey Smith Eastern regional director.
Cathay Pacific Airways will add extra frequencies to 12 of its destinations for its growing summer schedule, announced Friday. Starting in July, the airline will add one to two extra frequencies to Cebu, Bahrain, Dubai, Rome and Seoul. In September, flights will be added to Amsterdam, Bangkok, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Seoul and Singapore. A total of 24 extra flights a week will be added to its system, with Los Angeles receiving the lion's share the largest increase -- moving from 10 weekly flights to a total of 14.
Port Authority Offers Database Of 4,000 Minority, Women-Owned Firms certified firms that are minority-owned or women-owned, believed to be one of the largest such databases in the region. A CD-ROM is available to organizations looking for contractors and subcontractors.
Virgin Atlantic's request to DOT for Chicago O'Hare summer slots has elicited congressional objections from both houses and parties. An exemption to permit continuation of Virgin's Chicago-London service "would be premature and unwise," while the U.K. "obstinately refuses" to allow restoration of Pittsburgh-London service, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce committee, told DOT Secretary Rodney Slater in a letter. Earlier this month, Rep.
NTSB Chairman Jim Hall told the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee that the board will look into how European countries deal with runway incursion. "It certainly is not the problem in Europe that it is in the United States," he said, and NTSB has to "learn why." Other technologies Hall cited include systems at Heathrow, Munich and Oslo.
National Air Transportation Association San Diego Flight Standards District Office is the year 2000 winner of the FAA Customer Service Excellence Award and Michael Barth the recipient of the NATA Airport Executive Partnership Award.
Amadeus last week introduced its Wireless Travel Management product, which enables customers to check flight availability and book or cancel flights from a mobile device. The service was launched with the Scandinavian regional carrier Wideroe and will be expanded to other regionals in the future. WTM uses Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology for mobile phones and enables travelers to choose from multiple carriers, as opposed to other airline web and WAP sites that restrict users to their own flights only.
All Nippon Airways launched new daily non-stop service between Osaka and Honolulu on Sunday using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft in three-class configuration. ANA also flies Tokyo- and Nagoya-Honolulu.
Northwest is crediting its Y2K preparations for helping it keep operating despite a massive loss of data communications when a cable was cut last week. The carrier says that thanks to Y2K contingency plans, it operated over 90% of its 1,700 daily flights.
American plans to discontinue its American Eagle service from San Juan to Port-au-Prince and Tobago, effective May 1. The airline said it was canceling the routes, which both operate daily roundtrip flights, for "economic reasons." American said both routes failed to meet profitability targets, and rising operating costs "forced the airline to make a decision to use its resources where it has the best chance to make a profit." Flights to Trinidad will not be affected by the suspension of service in Tobago.
The airline industry is facing some tough challenges if it wants to keep pace with rapid changes in the electronic commerce marketplace, United Chairman and Chief Executive James Goodwin said last week.
TWA gained DOT approval for broad rights U.S.-Bahamas service, which the carrier plans to operate under code share with Gulfstream. TWA told DOT it wants to begin Florida-Bahamas service May 1, between Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Key West and West Palm Beach and Freeport, Nassau, Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cove and North Eleuthera. (Docket OST-00-6993)
International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations, at a recent conference, expressed anger over being "erroneously fingered as the cause of delays." IFATCA President Samuel Lampkin says the "true causes" of delays are scheduling problems created by hub-and-spoke operations, weather and increased traffic volume. "A controller's only job is to get passengers from point A to point B safely," says Randy Schwitz of NATCA.
