US Airways' MetroJet unit will not cancel its Washington Dulles-Chicago Midway route March 5 as reported in THE DAILY Feb. 15. It plans to cut only service from Washington Dulles to St. Louis, Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio.
Besides reducing schedules and eliminating routes, Venezuela's Avensa/Servivensa is taking serious steps to restructure its financial position, including renegotiating its debts with international banks. The airline owes $7 million, according to Luis Reyes, who represents the shares owned by Venezuela on the airline's board. Reyes said Avensa's income decreased by $4 million in December due to the catastrophic floods and mudslides that crippled Venezuela. Reyes met with Avensa shareholders, including the H.L.
The new DOT budget submitted to Congress contains a request of $47 million to recapitalize the Loran-C navigation system, which the department, despite loud protests from several industries, had planned to phase out this year. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, in a major turnaround for the administration, said DOT has decided to operate and maintain Loran-C in the short term while continuing to evaluate the long-term need for the system. The budget requests $27 million in Loran funding for the Coast Guard and $20 million for FAA.
Korean Air plans to hire 240 new pilots this year under a massive recruitment program to reform its operations. Of the 240 new hires, 130 will be expatriate captains from the "world's leading airlines" who will join 138 expatriates that currently fly with the airline. The remaining 110 pilots will come from Korea Aviation University, the military and Korean Air's Cheju Flying School. The number of pilots to be hired represents a 40% increase from 1999, when the carrier admitted 173 new pilots.
Crossair has named a team of three aviation experts to audit the airline's flight operations, technical department and quality control. The move comes after the Jan. 10 crash of one of Crossair's Saab 340s in which 10 people were killed. Among the auditors is Rolls-Royce Deutschland Chief Executive Klaus Nittinger. Crossair expects to announce the results at the end of April.
Air France and Comair applied jointly for blanket code-share authority, to enable Air France to place its designator code on Comair's domestic and transborder services for Air France's U.S.-France/Canada and beyond flights. Comair would display Air France's code on flights to and from Cincinnati connecting with Cincinnati-Paris nonstop service that Air France plans to begin May 15. Air France code shares on Delta's Cincinnati-Paris nonstops. Comair, operating as a Delta Connection partner, serves 86 U.S. cities, plus Toronto and Montreal.
The proposed European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS) will be set up and floated in Paris and Frankfurt, EADS' incoming chief executives Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich said Monday. Merging companies Aerospatiale, Matra and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) have completed a lengthy first round of negotiations, after which they announced the appointment of 52 top managers for EADS.
Representatives of SR Technics, Boeing and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) met yesterday to discuss Swissair's far-reaching proposals to modify the wiring in MD-11 cockpits. The proposals, if picked up by the TSB, Boeing and eventually the FAA, could result in new airworthiness directives for the in-service MD-11 fleet. Swissair's findings are linked to the September 1998 crash of Flight SR 111 in Nova Scotia, in which all 228 on board were killed.
Flight Safety Foundation task force has developed a tool to help reduce the risk of approach and landing accidents, which account for the greatest number of fatalities in commercial air transport operations. The Risk Awareness Tool is a list of risk factors that can be integrated into the approach briefing a crew must conduct before beginning a descent. The tool "will heighten the crew's awareness of risk factors that it is likely to encounter during the approach and landing," said FSF Chairman Stuart Matthews.
Amadeus's 1999 net income shot up 111.8% to 168.2 million euros, the European Global Distribution System said yesterday in Madrid. The European GDS, which was listed in October, said profits received a boost from the sale of Equant holdings and tax credits. Without these items, net income grew 58.4% to 116.4 million euros. The company's total revenue for 1999 grew 14.5% to 1,356.1 million euros. Airline booking revenue was up 12.1%, while non-airline booking revenue rose 9.2%.
Victor Manuel Madrid, Varig's general manager for Venezuela, announced in Caracas that his carrier will increase flights between Brazil and Venezuela by 30%. The move is a result of plans by the Venezuela government to actively promote more trade and travel between the two countries, with an emphasis on daily air service. Madrid also said Varig is not reducing its 10% commission to travel agents in Venezuela.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said that if Senate Commerce Chairman John McCain wins "a couple more" Republican presidential primaries, he will have to make a choice soon about surrendering the chairmanship of the Commerce Committee, one of the busiest in Congress, or of stepping aside while he pursues his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Asked at a recent news conference about the views of several Commerce Democrats that McCain may not be able to handle both roles Daschle said, "I think it depends on whether Sen.
Austrian Airlines will increase its frequencies on the Vienna-Delhi route from three to five per week until the end of the year. The airline is switching from Airbus A310 to its new A330-200 for the flights and can offer 69 more seats per flight. Traffic increased 64% in the first three quarters of 1999.
United will introduce the Boeing 777 on its scheduled route between San Francisco and Maui today, becoming the first airline to operate this aircraft between the mainland U.S. and the Hawaiian Islands. The 777 on the route is configured for two classes with 36 seats in first and 312 in economy class.
Star Alliance partners yesterday began moving their operations to the same terminal at Rio de Janeiro Airport to increase efficiency and reduce transfer times. Both Varig and United moved from separate facilities in Terminal 1 into joint facilities in Terminal 2, with partner Lufthansa to follow in the near future. "We're extremely proud of our new facilities in Rio," said Carlos Muzzio, Varig's director-North America.
Aero Lloyd will introduce Rome/Italy as a new destination for the summer schedule and will operate flights from Dusseldorf, Munich, Berlin, Hannover and Munich. The airline will double capacity to Israel and passengers will be able to connect to Eilat with Israel's Arkia Airlines.
Last year was the worst ever for European airlines in terms of their punctuality. One-third -- 30.3% -- of all flights at European airports were delayed more than 15 minutes. Airport and ATC delays accounted for more than half of the primary delays, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) claims. From March to July, the delay rate was never less than 30%, with June at the top (37.5%). The airport with the worst delays continued to be Milan Malpensa with 54% of all flights leaving or arriving late.
Air-India is adopting measures to substantially boost its cargo capacity on international routes, according to Deputy Commercial Director Y. D. Mathur. The steps include leasing two Boeing 747 freighters and linking up with a foreign carrier that can provide capacity on its aircraft. Another plan involves reconfiguring six of its Boeing 747-200/300s, which would add capacity of nine tons in each aircraft, and converting two such aircraft into freighters.
Northwest and Gulfstream International finalized a code-share agreement to boost Northwest's service to and from Florida and the Bahamas beginning April 2. Flying Beech 1900C turboprops, the Fort Lauderdale regional also operates on a code-share basis for Continental, United and TWA and plans to work with Copa of Panama.
House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) yesterday urged the Clinton administration to launch a series of get-tough measures against the U.K. for its failure to reach a new bilateral agreement with the U.S., and told DOT Secretary Rodney Slater that, if necessary, Congress would take action. Slater, however, did not appear willing to take the tough action Shuster wanted, action that could inflame already open wounds between the two countries. Shuster and ranking Committee Democrat Rep.
SAS last month posted its business- and economy-class fares from Singapore to Scandinavia and Europe on three global distribution systems -- Amadeus, Abacus and Galileo. The move is a step in the direction of publishing the fares on the Internet, said Christine Low, passenger sales manager in Singapore.
Seoul's Inchon International Airport, which will open early next year with the aim of becoming a major hub of Northeast Asia, has signed a marketing contract with a consortium including the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and GKMG Consulting Services. The two-year pact covers marketing directly to airlines and potential investors in the new airport. Inchon International Airport Corp. has opened international bidding for airport concessions.
In its latest restructuring to put its financial house in order, VASP has suspended flights from Brazil to New York and Toronto and returned all leased MD-11s, moves that supposedly will save the carrier $6 million per month. Flights to Buenos Aires, Zurich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid and Miami will be maintained.
FAA said yesterday that it had required Delta to verify horizontal stabilizer inspections of its 136 MD-80 and MD-90 aircraft. FAA said that following its review of "how the inspections were conducted, there was some question about the method Delta used to inspect the upper stop for the jackscrew." Specifically, "it has been questioned whether Delta inspectors were able to confirm that the upper stop, which limits the downward travel of the stabilizer, was properly adjusted." FAA said it later received verification from Delta concerning the inspections.
Lockheed Martin received an $80 million contract to develop an air traffic control system from the U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services. The New Scottish Center (NSC) will provide a modern infrastructure to help meet the demand for increased airspace capacity, the company said. When completed, the NSC will provide advanced en route ATC services for the Scottish Flight Information Region, which covers Scotland and Northern Ireland and interfaces with oceanic ATC.
