Evergreen International Aviation named Joe O'Gorman president and chief executive. Timothy Wahlberg was promoted to chairman of Evergreen, succeeding Del Smith, founder and owner. O'Gorman joins Evergreen after retiring as chairman, president and CEO of Reno Air upon its sale to American last year. Before that, he retired in 1997 as executive VP-fleet operations and administration for United.
-- Approved an initial one-year exemption for SATA Internacional to engage in combination charter service between Portugal and the U.S., and other charters...Approved an initial exemption for United to provide service between the terminal points Chicago and Monterrey, Mexico; terminal points Denver and Zacatecas, and terminal points Los Angeles and Leon, through June 4, 2001, coextensive with the carrier's existing code-share authority with Mexicana, and granted indefinite-duration authority to Mexicana to display United's code on the three routes...Approved an Air Part
Jet fuel spot prices ended last week at $0.84 per gallon, up 0.4% from the beginning of the week and up 154% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Most regional airlines ended 1999 with double-digit growth, according to consultants GKMG. Continental Express topped domestic regionals for traffic and capacity growth with 37.6% and 30%, respectively. Air Wisconsin saw 30.3% more traffic and 35.6% more capacity. Frontier experienced a 43.3% traffic jump on 42.6% more capacity.
Contrary to our story yesterday, Continental did not support American's move to lower travel agent sales commissions in the Caribbean (DAILY, Jan. 20). Subsequently, Continental is not among the airlines that travel agents in the region are boycotting. The DAILY regrets the error.
Virgin Atlantic's offer to reduce air fares 10-15% between India and the U.K. in a bid to secure rights on the route has failed to convince the Indian government. A spokesman for the civil aviation minister said unless Air-India is given more slots at London Heathrow Airport, Virgin's request for landing rights will not be considered. Any application, even from British Airways, to increase the current weekly capacity of 16 flights also would be rejected.
Klaus Steffens was named chief executive of German engine manufacturer MTU, succeeding Rainer Hertrich, who will become one of the two CEOs of the yet-to-be-formed European Aeronautic Defense and Space company.a
Only 57% of regional flights in Europe departed on time in the first nine months of 1999 even as passenger traffic grew 10%, the European Regions Airline Association said. While ERA airlines exhibited double-digit growth, air traffic control delays continued to affect departure punctuality. ERA said 33% of delays within 15 minutes were attributed to air traffic control reasons and 35% to reactionary reasons.
Tower Air plans to transport more than 65,000 pilgrims to Mecca during the 2000 Hadj, projecting revenues at more than $28 million. The operation will be performed on a wet-lease basis for Air-India and Air Asia, beginning Feb. 7 and continuing through mid-April. Tower will provide Air-India with three Boeing 747s and Air Asia with two 747s.
Varig reduced travel agent commissions to 6% from 9% (DAILY, Jan. 18). Because of a typographical error in Varig's press release, the latter percentage was given as 8%.
European Commission officials and American diplomats criticized the U.S. Department of Commerce's intention to lodge a formal complaint in ICAO against the European Union's hushkit regulation, yesterday in Brussels. "We regret this because it will complicate things even more," said the spokesman for EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. Both the EC and the U.S. have agreed to develop more stringent noise regulations within ICAO, but talks about the European regulation banning hushkitted aircraft after May 1 are deadlocked. The U.S.
The Virgin Group has started talking to Singapore Airlines, the new shareholder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, about sharing the investment to establish an Australian operation, according to wire reports. Brett Godfrey, head of Virgin's Australian operation, told Reuters that he was going to brief SIA executives on the project. Virgin wants to set up a domestic airline in Australia competing with Qantas and Ansett. Godfrey said in the interview that an agreement could be reached by the end of February.
Austrian Airlines is following other international carriers in introducing a fuel surcharge on cargo, starting Feb.1. The airline charges 7.5 cents per kilo extra on all flights out of Austria.
AMR and Chautauqua topped the list of domestic carriers that signed new or extended lease agreements with Saab in 1999.American Eagle, which is retiring its Saab fleet and increasing its regional jets, extended leases on 25 Saab 340Bplus aircraft. Chautauqua leased 11 Saab 340As to replace its 19-seaters as part of its expansion. Saab doubled its leasing transactions in 1999 to a total of 53 aircraft.
American named James Beer VP-corporate development and treasurer and Jeffrey Campbell VP-Europe. Beer, who has been VP-financial analysis and fleet planning since September 1998, will be responsible for corporate financing and banking, corporate development, fleet transactions and corporate insurance. He reports to Tom Horton, new senior VP-finance and chief financial officer. Campbell, who has been VP of corporate development and treasurer, will be responsible for American's international activities in Europe. Henry Joyner was named senior VP-planning.
US Airways appears to be making additional changes in its Washington Dulles operation with the intention of shifting service to other markets and rationalizing capacity demand in the heavily served Washington Dulles market. US Airways told employees recently that Dulles-New York LaGuardia would shift from Shuttle to regional jet service and Dulles-Boston from Shuttle to a combination of mainline and RJ service.
Aer Lingus unveiled the details of its transatlantic summer schedule, which will increase by 1.4 million seats, a capacity growth of 16%. The schedule includes new direct services from Ireland to five airports in the U.S., including new service to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles service, which was introduced in May 1999, currently operates three times weekly but will increase to a daily frequency during the peak summer period.
The Association of Flight Attendants has filed a petition with the National Mediation Board to hold a representation election at Frontier Airlines. Frontier employs more than 320 flight attendants.
