Lufthansa Technik continues to gain external customers and predicts "double-digit" revenue growth this year. The company expects more than 50% of its total sales will come from airlines other than Lufthansa, which is a "huge growth area," VP of Marketing and Sales Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht told the DAILY. LHT inked 90 deals in 1999 worth $500 million and now serves 240 customers.
US Airways' said fuel costs jumped 112% in January and predicts that its average per-gallon expense will soar 153.1% in February, according to a securities filing. The carrier slightly altered its full-year 2000 growth forecast. Traffic is expected to rise 7.8%, lower than earlier estimates. Capacity is forecast to grow 9.5%, slightly more than before and far ahead of competitors. Its full-year fuel costs are expected to rise 41.1%, compared with 1999.
TradeAir.Com said a $200,000 parts transaction on its Internet exchange by BFGoodrich Aerospace was the "first time commercial aircraft parts were specified, sourced and negotiated via a neutral Internet marketplace." William Morales, chief executive, said TradeAir.Com enables buyers and sellers in the $50 billion commercial aviation parts industry to conduct secure business on the Internet with either the open market or a user-selectable group of approved trading partners.
CityBird, based in Belgium, is offering travel agents the option of booking flights on its Internet site at www.citybird.com. The booking engine enables agents to check seat availability and fares on all scheduled flights. Agents can complete the transaction by entering the customer's credit card information.
SAS's January traffic was up 1% year-over-year, while load factor gained 1.4 percentage points to 56.0%. Passenger boardings rose 2% to 1.6 million, and freight volume dropped 2%.
Three long-haul nonstop flights to and from South America have had to make emergency landings in recent days due to mechanical/maintenance problems: A United Boeing 767 from Chicago to Buenos Aires on Jan. 24 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia; an American 767 on a flight from Rio to Miami in Caracas on Feb. 7, and an Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus 340-200 that had to return to Auckland, New Zealand, after taking off for Buenos Aires on Feb. 8.
LanChile's January traffic remained virtually flat, falling only 0.3% year-over-year on 3.7% less capacity, raising load factor 2.5 percentage points to 71.5%. The airline experienced a 0.8% drop in international traffic, while domestic traffic grew 1.6%. Cargo volume soared 20.4% to 154.4 million freight ton kilometers.
Knoxille's McGhee Tyson Airport will open its renovated terminal and new concourses on Feb. 13, which will feature 140,000 square feet of new floor space. The $55 million construction project began in April 1998 and includes expanded ticket counter and gate areas, two additional gates (for a total of 12), new escalators, elevators and flight information displays. The new concourse also will have the first Ruby Tuesday airport restaurant in the U.S. McGhee Tyson Airport currently hosts 12 major airlines serving 16 nonstop destinations with 115 flights each day.
Top 50 Southeast Airports, Ranked By O&D Passengers % of Annual O&D Region Average Airport Passengers Total Yield 1 Atlanta 25,368,580 16.3% 18.15 2 Orlando 21,323,730 13.7% 10.78 3 Tampa 12,399,480 8.0% 11.88 4 Fort Lauderdale 11,157,060 7.2% 10.87
U.S. Regional Analysis Southeast Region Carrier Ranking, Passenger Flows, Airport Activity and Trends Top 15 Carriers Serving Southeast Region, Ranked By O&D Passengers Southeast % of Northeast Region O&D Region Passengers Per Carrier Passengers Total Day Each Way
Southwest continues to boost its East Coast service with plans for additional nonstop flights from Baltimore/Washington, beginning July 5. From BWI, the carrier will add two new nonstops to Indianapolis, one new nonstop to Austin, and one additional nonstop to Houston Hobby. The budget airline also will add one new nonstop from Indianapolis to Phoenix Sky Harbor. "Baltimore/Washington continues to be a strong launching point for us to reach further west with longer-haul flying," said Pete McGlade, VP-schedule planning.
Early returns from FAA-mandated inspections of Douglas twinjets showed no evidence of excessive wear on tail components, several U.S. carriers reported. As of late Friday, American, US Airways and AirTran had checked some 160 of the combined 393 DC-9s, MD-80s, MD-90s, and 717s in their fleets and reported no unusual findings. FAA mandated the checks late Thursday in an emergency airworthiness directive based on service bulletins issued by Boeing Wednesday, the same day a jackscrew assembly with excessive wear was pulled from the wreckage of Alaska 261 (DAILY, Feb.
A federal court in Brazil has ruled that VASP, Brazil's second-largest airline, will not be permitted to take on passengers unless it pays airport fees on a day-to-day basis because it has accrued a debt of about $20 million in back payments since December. Last week in Brasilia, Wagner Canhedo, VASP chief executive, announced that the carrier has reached an agreement with the government by renewing weekly payments of about $790,000. "Under no circumstances," said Canhedo, "will VASP stop operations."
Spanish carrier Iberia expects to take delivery of 26 new aircraft this year. It wants to introduce three Airbus A340s, 15 Airbus A320s and eight Boeing 757s that will replace aging Boeing 727s and DC-10s. Iberia phased in 21 jets in 1999 and plans to finalize its fleet acquisition by 2003. The airline says it saves 40% in fuel by replacing the 727s with the A320s. On the flights from Miami to Cancun, Panama, Guatemala, San Salvador, San Pedro Sula, Managua and San Juan de Costa Rica, Iberia will use MD-87s instead of DC-9 boosting capacity by 9%.
American and its pilots are expected to discuss a union proposal Thursday that addresses flying regional jets with 51 or more seats. The Allied Pilots Association proposal addresses pay, weight limitations, seat numbers, flow-through, work rules, upgrades and other issues.
Continental selected Internet Pictures Corporation (iPIX) to provide "visual content solutions" for the airline's web site. Under the agreement, iPIX will capture and manage visual content of new aircraft and other key features of Continental's service to post on the Internet.
Piedmont Hawthorne named Julie Lang marketing administrator and promoted Paul Strack to manager-resale of corporate sales and Deric Dymerski, Tom Zollars and Roger Davis to new positions as regional managers.
Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) said its automated rules product which supports automated ticket reissues, is available immediately for data subscribers. Worldspan and PRA Solutions are using the new system, which enables airlines automatically to reissue tickets, "replacing the time costly manual procedures" currently take the companies. ATPCO said both companies plan to make their service available online later this year. "This project is a breakthrough for the industry eliminating another costly manual process," said President Mike Ferrier.
AeroMexico joined the growing list of airlines launching redesigned Internet sites with its own launch last week of a "user-friendly" web site designed to accommodate the "real-time needs" of passengers. The site's Travel Assistant section enables passengers to receive up-to-the-minute travel bulletins and local weather forecasts. The new site also features a travel center for reservations, which travelers can use to purchase e-tickets online.
FAA last week temporarily pulled the authority of three Boeing engineers to issue airworthiness certificates because of the strike by Boeing's Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA). FAA will issue the airworthiness certificates temporarily.
Southwest is saving millions of dollars every year due to its successful ticketless travel distribution.Roughly 80% of its traffic is flying ticketless and only 33% of tickets were issued by travel agents in 1999, "by far the lowest of any major U.S. airline," said Warburg Dillon Read analyst Michael Stellwag. Southwest's unit costs should continue to fall, he said, as the average trip length increases across its system.
