Sun Country this week initiated service from Milwaukee to Los Angeles and Seattle, offering daily flights to Los Angeles and Monday-through-Saturday service to Seattle.
American Aircarriers Support has formed AAS Aircraft Services to provide heavy maintenance. The company entered a long-term lease with the San Bernardino Airport Authority to lease portions of the former Norton Air Force Base to house the unit's operations. President Joseph Civiletto said the new company "allows us to move into markets that we believe are underserved in the industry and complements our existing landing gear, flight control and engine overhaul maintenance business."
Lockheed Martin Flight Information Systems will enter the commercial aviation airline flight training market with a center adjacent to Orlando Airport. The facility, scheduled to open in the second quarter, will contain two full-flight simulators, classrooms and customer offices. Initial training will be for the Boeing 737-300 and Airbus A320. The facility can be expanded to accommodate six simulators.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey yesterday briefed the Air Transport Association on the status of the troubled Wide Area Augmentation System, which the agency earlier said may not meet its planned initial operating capability date of this September following technical problems that showed up in stability tests recently (DAILY, Jan. 31). Garvey is trying to keep up industry support for the program, but an ATA official said, "We absolutely want something this year." Robert Frenzel, ATA senior VP-operations and safety, said, "We are still looking for something this year.
KLM yesterday became the latest airline to pass higher fuel prices on to the consumer, pledging to raise fares worldwide after earlier this week increasing fares across the Atlantic 3%. Since Feb. 12, KLM has raised prices for tickets to Mexico and India and, effective Feb. 25, prices for flights to all other destinations except Canada will rise 3%. Tickets to Canada will receive the 3% hike on March 13. Tour operators will be charged an additional 50 guilders per ticket for intercontinental packages and 15 guilders for European packages.
KLM and Northwest are "in talks" with Thai Airways regarding its possible integration in the Wings alliance, Northwest Chairman John Dasburg confirmed yesterday in an interview published by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Thai currently is partnered with Star Alliance carriers United and Lufthansa, which are Northwest and KLM rivals. Northwest and KLM are seeking "to strengthen the position of [their] alliance in the Far East," Dasburg said.
America West and its Air Line Pilots Association unit have entered contract negotiations three months early. The current contract becomes amendable May 1. First negotiations took place Feb. 7-11.
TWA is offering travel agents who book in the airline's Trans World One Premium class a $150 commission bonus through March 30, and an additional $50 for all coach-class tickets to Paris, Lisbon, Milan and Cairo through the same period. TWA said the bonus is part of a series of initiatives it will announce this week to promote its domestic and international premium services to frequent business travelers. Trans World One, available on all transatlantic destinations, offers "roomy seating, gourmet meals, fine wines and in-seat videos," the carrier said.
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.
