Alitalia launched its Internet booking site in the U.S. yesterday, using the GetThere Exchange software platform. "There is an excellent opportunity to extend our reach globally," said Khursheed Palkhiwala, VP of marketing. Other airlines using the GetThere.com product include United, Northwest, All Nippon Airways and Air New Zealand.
Japan Airlines has formalized an agreement with Cuba's government tourist agency, Cubanacan, to operate a series of charter flights from Osaka to Havana in August with a technical stop at Vancouver, using 350-passenger Boeing 747s. This operation will coincide with Japan's vacation period, and JAL is ready to upgrade it to regular scheduled service depending on future demand.
Continental added online ticket purchasing capability for customers in Canada and the U.K. to its web site. In addition to English-language sites for Canadian and British travelers, the site includes language-specific sites for France, Spain and Japan.
TWA gained initial two-year exemptions for service to Bermuda from St. Louis and New York LaGuardia. The carrier plans seasonal service -- and the only nonstops on both routes -- daily from LaGuardia and twice-weekly from St. Louis, using MD-83s. (Dockets OST-99-6431, 6799)
Birmingham Airport, Great Britain, will freeze its main airport charges for the fifth consecutive year to remain competitive in the U.K. aviation market. Officials will keep runway and passenger charges pegged at 1995-1996 levels, and the new charges, effective April 1, represent a "significant, real reduction in the level of airport charges after allowing for inflation." Airport officials also noted that the freeze is being maintained despite the abolition of duty-free sales within the European Union.
Continental Europe's largest airport has come closer to a large-scale expansion. After an 18-month evaluation, a mediation group for Frankfurt Airport has proposed four scenarios that would boost capacity by as many as 120 movements per hour. Currently, the notoriously congested airport can handle 78 hourly movements. Home carrier Lufthansa, desperately hoping for more space and slots, already transferred some of its long-haul flights to Munich.
U.S. chalked up its 42nd open-skies agreement, with Namibia, last Friday following two days of talks in Windhoek. Thomas White, acting U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs, and F.W. Poolman, Namibian under secretary for transportation, initialed the accord, which is applied provisionally pending its coming into force by signature. U.S. and Namibian aviation representatives agreed to a phase-in of two provisions, with all other open-skies provisions in effect immediately.
FAA awarded an $18 million contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to begin software development of the Controller-Pilot Data Link communications (CPDLC), which the agency says is the key to easing allowing more traffic growth. The agency says that it will not only provide more efficient, automated communications, it also will reduce operational errors due to misunderstood voice communications. Build 1A of CPDLC is scheduled to be deployed June 2003 at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center, with deployment six months afterwards at the 19 other ARTCCs.
After more than two days, the hijacking of an Afghan Boeing 727 was still not resolved Monday night at London Stansted. The aircraft was taken over by the hijackers late Saturday. After several stops that included Tashkent/Uzbekistan and Moscow, the airplane landed at Stansted airport early Monday morning. The hijackers released eight passengers, while 157 remained on board in the evening when negotiations reached a critical stage, police said. Hostages were being supplied with food and water.
Aero Continente Chile is scheduled to begin domestic operations in 45 days from Santiago to 12 Chilean destinations with Boeing 727s and 737s. The second stage calls for expansion to two border destinations in Argentina.
The Clinton administration yesterday requested an $11.22 billion fiscal 2001 FAA budget, a $1.29 billion increase, but for the second year in a row proposed funding the agency entirely from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. In terms of actual spending, the budget projects returning $39 million to the general fund. Thus, while the House-Senate fiscal 2000 FAA reauthorization conference is deadlocked over whether trust fund dollars should be shielded from appropriators, the administration appears indirectly to have taken its stand.
TRAFFIC DATA -- JANUARY 2000 AIRLINE RPMS CHANGE ASMS CHANGE (IN BILLIONS) (IN BILLIONS) AirTran 0.24 +2.7% 0.12 +2.7% Air Wisconsin 0.09 +19.2% 0.16 +28.3% America West 1.30 +5.4% 2.15 +1.4% American 8.48 -3.0% 13.30 +0.4%
Helijet Airways of Vancouver and Sikorsky have signed an agreement to begin S-92 helicopter service in 2002 in the Pacific Northwest. Helijet experienced a 24% growth in revenue and "strong profitability" in 1999 when it moved more than 100,000 passengers on its Vancouver-Victoria and Victoria-Seattle route structure with its smaller S-76s. "Scheduled airline use of helicopters is certainly on a growth profile, and Helijet is certainly a showcase for helicopter airlines," said Mike Moran, VP-marketing and sales at Sikorsky.
German charter carrier LTU International Airways and its work force have come closer to a joint effort to save the financially struggling company. LTU Chief Executive Peter Frankhauser and trade union Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft (DAG) reached an agreement under which the airline guarantees job safety and the union promises not to strike for the present. The company is quoted by news magazine Focus as saying that a strike in the current situation would be "more than fatal." LTU will close its Berlin station in the summer but offers workers jobs elsewhere.
Northwest unveiled expansive plans yesterday to launch the largest single service expansion in its history with a 25% service increase at its Memphis hub, beginning in June. While the carrier expects an additional fourth afternoon bank of 45 flights will appeal to business travelers traveling through Memphis, the airline is facing an uphill battle as it has lost traffic and market share at the airport over the past three years, The DAILY has learned.
With a new brand image that cost it $2.5 million, BWIA is planning a public stock offering for March or April with help from Price-Waterhouse Coopers, so that U.S. stock market investors will have the option of buying and selling BWIA shares. The revamped carrier rebounded from a $17 million loss in 1997 to a $9 million profit in 1998, tempered by a loss of $6 million last summer due to the influx of cheap charter flights.
British Airways' pretax loss for its fiscal third quarter improved from last year and beat analyst expectations, but the carrier still suffered from transatlantic overcapacity and a "glut" of low-fare competition in many of its markets. A stronger British pound also hit the carrier and its large foreign exchange levels. BA's pretax loss was #60 million (US$96 million), down from a #75 million loss a year earlier. Revenues improved 3.2% to #2.2 billion (US$3.5 billion), but passenger load factor fell 1.0 percentage point to 66.8%.
BOEING 757-200 AND 777 SYSTEMWIDE AIRCRAFT UTILIZATION PER DAY THIRD QUARTER 1999 B757-200 AMERICA WEST AMERICAN CONTINENTAL DELTA Number of Aircraft Operated 13 102 32 101 Total Fleet Operations Departures 55 313 92 445
NASA has awarded a contract for development of a "Weakly Ionized Gas Shock Wave Modification System."By electrifying the air near an aircraft surface with a weak charge, the shock wave is pushed back from the surface, reducing the effect of the shock wave. This could reduce fuel consumption, increase speed, reduce heating and allow longer flights, NASA hopes.
World Airways' string of losses grew longer in the fourth quarter as the carrier reported a net loss of $2.9 million, 15.1% larger than last year's deficit, leading the carrier to predict further losses this year. For full-year 1999, the carrier posted a $7.6 million loss, a 30.9% improvement over 1998 results.
New York and Boston are among the focal points Atlantic Coast Airlines may have for Delta when it launches Delta Connection service in the spring, ACA Chairman and Chief Executive Kerry Skeen told analysts in New York last week. Skeen stopped short of saying ACA is committed to serving the routes. Although analysts predict the airline will fly Delta service to those cities, Skeen said, "It's too early to tell where they will be flying," then hedged with "maybe New York and Boston." ACA will announce its first O&D cities in May and two more later.
Vanguard Airlines will lose two top executives this month when Chief Financial Officer William Garrett and VP of Marketing and Planning Russell Winter resign from their positions. Garrett accepted a position with Gemini Air Cargo as its new CFO.
Jet fuel spot prices in New York ended last week at $1.14 per gallon, down 8% from the beginning of the week but up 229% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Crude oil is trading at more than $28 per barrel.
Delta and US Airways are moving closer to launching redesigned Internet sites.Delta has been beta-testing its new design and will unveil it Thursday. US Airways does not have a firm date for its new site launch, but Salomon Smith Barney analyst Brian Harris said it is expected in the next three to six weeks. US Airways receives roughly 9% of its revenues over the web, which Harris said is roughly twice that of other large airlines.
