Approved an initial two-year exemption for Continental to operate Houston-Santa Cruz, Bolivia, service via Lima, Peru, allocating -- through June 11, 2001 -- three Peru-Bolivia and seven Peru-Chile weekly fifth-freedom frequencies for local traffic rights between, respectively, Lima and Santa Cruz and Lima and Santiago...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Northwest to provide U.S.-Warsaw service via Amsterdam, which the carrier operates under code share with KLM...Approved, subject to FAA - approved routings, an International Air Charters charter using an Antonov
Varig's traffic for December plummeted 16.5% to 1.8 billion revenue passenger kilometers and full-year traffic dropped 12.7%. Freight volume was up 5.4% for the month and down 16.1% for the year. The passenger load factor was 65.6% internationally and 64.2% on domestic routes. The Brazilian carrier transported 812,620 passengers last month, a decline of 10.9%.
Delta and E*TRADE launched a partnership that awards frequent flyer miles to Delta SkyMiles members who open online trading accounts with E*TRADE. SkyMiles members who deposit $1,000 when opening a new E*TRADE account will earn 5,000 bonus miles. Members depositing $10,000 will earn 10,000 bonus miles, and those depositing $50,000 will earn 25,000 bonus miles.
FAA has posted a May 10 deadline for submitting requests for international slots at high-density airports. Under the Open Transborder Agreement with Canada, FAA sets the deadline to coincide with the deadline for IATA to submit international requests for slots at the airports.
American wants rights to serve points in Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania, via Zurich. The carrier plans to operate those services from Zurich under code share with Swissair, with U.S.-Zurich flights operated by either carrier. American gave DOT 30-days' notice that the carriers would code share between Zurich and Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Vienna, Bucharest and Prague. American requested a third-country code-share designation for U.S.-Romania service. It noted that while all four available designations have been assigned to U.S.
Northwest wants rights to serve Newark/Houston-Lima-Santiago; Newark/Houston-Lima-Santa Cruz; Newark-Puerto Plata, and Newark-Rio de Janeiro-Belo Horizonte. The carrier plans to code share with partner Continental, which recently gained authority for the South America services. (Docket OST-00-6928)
Star Alliance continues to distance itself from competing partnerships by strengthening its management structure to more effectively oversee the growing list of partners. Moving beyond "loose working groups," the carrier has completed the first phase of its structural organization efforts, Star Alliance Chairman Friedel Rodig told The DAILY. The group also chose three cities as regional headquarters to keep an eye on carriers serving key markets in those areas of the world.
TWA and Gulfstream International on May 1 will expand service to Florida and the Bahamas. Under the new agreement, the airlines will offer code-share service on flights operated by Gulfstream and marketed under the TWA Connection brand. New destinations will include Key West, Marsh Harbor and North Eleuthera, Bahamas. Service will be enhanced to current TWA destinations, including Freeport, Nassau, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach.
Boeing named Andrew Ellis VP-aircraft and missiles program, based in the government relations office, and Daniel Da Silva VP-Latin America, a new position.
KLM painted a more negative picture of its 2000-2001 results last week, in contrast to more bullish statements several months ago. The airline "largely failed" to brings costs under control during the December quarter, and Salomon Smith Barney analyst Andrew Light said KLM has hedged only 40% of its fuel needs currently while prices continue to rise. Benefits from the Alitalia alliance "look more distant" due to delays in switching flights from Milan Linate to Malpensa.
Fedex Pilots Association has named Tony Hauserman secretary/treasurer. Hauserman will fill a mid-term vacancy. FPA also elected nine pilots from various domiciles to the board.
London, Ontario-based regional carrier Air Georgian will launch routes to Toronto Pearson Airport in the spring, the carrier said last week. On April 3, it will begin nonstop daily service from Albany and Dayton and on April 10 from Grand Rapids. On May 1, it will launch daily nonstop service from Louisville and on May 8 from South Bend. On May 15, Air Georgian will start daily nonstop service from Akron/Canton. All service will be operated with 18-seat Beech 1900Ds.
The problems behind CanJet's decision to suspend operations before it got off the ground go beyond allegations of competition from WestJet and Air Canada, airline industry experts contend. "I don't accept his excuses at face value," said David Gersovitz, a Toronto-based transport analyst. "Nothing has changed in the environment in two weeks" since Halifax, Nova Scotia, entrepreneur Kenneth Rowe canceled CanJet's launch, he said.
Government officials in charge of civil aviation and airport services meeting last week in Havana, called for increasing the quality of air transportation at all levels in order to cater to growing international tourism. Rogelio Acevedo Gonzalez, head of civil aviation, reported an increase of 16% in airport operations in 1999, compared with 1998.
-- In Federal Register dated Feb. 4...Proposed an airworthiness directive on Boeing 767 aircraft requiring modification of the drain system in the main landing gear wheel well...Proposed an AD on Fokker F28 aircraft to require improved bonding jumpers on the horizontal stabilizer... Proposed an AD on Boeing 747 aircraft with Pratt&Whitney JT9D-70 engines to require modifications of the thrust reverse control and indication system.
Jet fuel spot prices in New York ended last week at $1.38 per gallon, up 22% from the beginning of the week but up 331% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Air France's operating revenues rose 12.4% last quarter, proving the carrier's aggressive expansion and capacity increases have not slowed the its financial growth. Despite "significant disruptions" in December caused by a two-day oil suppliers strike and severe wind storms, revenues from scheduled passenger operations rose 11.1% to 12.1 billion French francs and cargo revenues rose 12.1%. Traffic rose 9.1%, topping a 7.1% increase in system capacity. Load factor grew 1.4 points to 75.2%.
