Southwest unveiled its latest expansion into the Northeast U.S. yesterday with plans to start daily service from Albany International Airport in May. "As the gateway to New York's capital region, Albany International fits perfectly into Southwest's network of cities," said Chief Executive Herb Kelleher. Southwest plans to release its schedule from Albany later this month. The airport's new facilities were a draw for Southwest, which has seen some airports build only with hopes that it will come.
The online travel industry is positioned for "explosive growth," according to a new report from the GartnerGroup. The company projects the worldwide online travel market to increase from $5 billion in 1999 to $30 billion by the fourth quarter 2001.
America West's board of directors extended the employment contract of William Franke, the airline's chairman, president and chief executive, from December 31, 2000, to December 31, 2002.
United plans to stop its Miami-Lima service March 1 because of declining profits due to increased competition. United has offered service to Peru since January 1995, but a spokeswoman told The DAILY that the route "failed to achieve sustained profitability" because of stepped-up capacity by other airlines. A United VP traveled to Lima yesterday to tell the 84 employees that the route, serviced by a Boeing 757, will cease because there were "little future prospects for improvement." The spokeswoman said there are no other route closures planned for Latin America.
Frontier will lease four 737-300s from GE Capital Aviation Services. Two will enter service next month to add frequencies to existing points, a third will be delivered in April and will replace an expiring lease on a 737-300 and the fourth will go into service in May to add frequencies to cities already served or to a potentially new market.
United cannot require wheelchair-bound passengers to undergo private screenings against their will, DOT ruled. The U.S. issued a consent order saying that security searches of passengers in wheelchairs or other devices that activate the airport security system must be conducted in the same manner as searches of other passengers. United cannot screen passengers with disabilities for any security-related reason that would not result in a private screening for non-disabled passengers.
WestJet Airlines is in discussions with Airbus, Boeing and leasing companies concerning a new generation of aircraft to replace its 14 Boeing 737-200s. The company would like to begin operating the next-generation of Boeing 737s or the Airbus A319/A318 in 2001. Stephen Smith, president, said that with growth and a planned expansion into eastern Canada, "it makes sense to consider newer-generation aircraft for our fleet." A decision is expected in the current quarter for the delivery during 2001.
FAA plans to require certification of companies hired by airlines to perform security screening at airports, the agency said yesterday. To accomplish this, it will establish uniform standards of performance by screening companies, strengthen training and testing standards for screeners and impose "more stringent" experience and training requirements for managers and instructors," said FAA Administrator Jane Garvey.
SAirGroup expects to finalize a deal to take over part of state-owned TAP Air Portugal within two weeks. A spokesman for the Swiss company said he was "very confident" that SAirGroup would be selected by the Portuguese government to buy a stake in the airline, which has been due to be privatized for several months. Meanwhile, Air France confirmed that it also is negotiating with TAP. Air France and Delta still are looking for partners in Europe to join their proposed alliance.
U.S.-U.K. negotiators, stalled over the issue of restoring Pittsburgh-London service, likely will meet within the next two weeks in London. The U.S. wants Pittsburgh service promptly - US Airways proposed Pittsburgh-London Gatwick service - and further delay will put at risk summer service in the market. The House Transportation aviation subcommittee held a field hearing on British Airways' decision to end Pittsburgh service, which cannot be operated by a U.S. carrier under terms of the Bermuda II bilateral.
If Congress is to provide a long-term guarantee of increased funding for FAA and aviation infrastructure this year - a presidential election year - it will have to happen in the first three months or so or not at all, congressional sources following aviation issues unanimously concluded. There is a widespread view that it would have been better to work out a deal last year, free of election pressures, rather than having to settle major issues in a contracted period of time.
Swissair and Sabena signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday for an interim and long-term lease of operational space at New York Kennedy's Terminal 4. The interim portion of the lease applies to the existing terminal, now being replaced by a new facility at the same location. The long-term lease is for a period of seven years after the date of beneficial occupancy of the new terminal, planned to occur during the second quarter of 2001. The parties intend to complete a lease agreement before Jan.
United felt the effects of a Y2K scare as its December traffic fell 4.8% on 0.9% less capacity, compared with the same 1998 month. Systemwide load factor fell 2.7 percentage points to 66.7%. "On the passenger side, we were clearly impacted by the anomaly of Y2K which resulted in lower demand for air travel in late December," said President Rono Dutta.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) that represents 22,600 engineers and other technical Boeing employees is telling members to "work to the rule" to give the company a taste of what could happen if it fails to make an acceptable contract offer next week. Boeing will present its final offer to the union Jan. 13. If the offer is not acceptable, the union will either take it to the membership for a vote or reject it outright and call a strike.
Ansett 's asset sales over the past 21 months will free up capital for its priorities - redeveloping terminals and replacing aircraft. Many in the industry will be watching to see whether aircraft replacement will include a rationalization of the carrier's domestic fleet, a move that could have a wide effect in the region. Chief Executive Rod Eddington recently said that it is a matter of debate whether the Boeing 767 fleet should be retained.
Hundreds of flight delays were experienced in the heavily traveled northeastern portion of the U.S. yesterday due to equipment problems between the Host computer at Washington Center and a device that processes flight information. FAA had to shut down the Host at 8:20 a.m. to reboot, and it was not back up at 9:50 a.m. Some of the flight delays lasted two hours or more as FAA was forced to rely on a slower backup system for air traffic control and had to impose ground stops.
Swissair is retiring its last Boeing 747-300 on Monday. The airline operated five aircraft of the type, three combis and two passenger versions, since the mid 1980s. Two of them have been sold and one flies with Air Angola on a dry lease. The two last units are being marketed by SAirGroup's leasing subsidiary, Flightlease. The 747-300s will be replaced with Airbus A330-200s and A340-600s.
Jet Airways will invest US$19 million to set up two engineering maintenance facilities and an aviation academy equipped with a flight simulator to train its Boeing 737-700/800 pilots. One hangar each will be built in Mumbai and New Delhi at a cost of US$6 million, while the academy will be set in the former city. The simulator will be purchased from CAE Electronics of Canada and will be installed by yearend. According to Jet's acting chief executive, Saroj Dutta, both projects will be financed by debt and internal accruals.
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines carried a total of 26.7 million passengers between January and October 1999, an increase of 11.6% over the corresponding period in 1998. According to statistics from the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the two airlines carried 9.2 million international passengers, a 100.3% increase. Domestic passenger totals showed a jump of 80.5% to 17.5 million. The ministry said foreign carriers transported 4.68 million passengers to and from Korea, an improvement of 20.8%.
Two days of U.S.-U.K. talks yielded no resolution for Pittsburgh-London Gatwick, putting London Heathrow access and the American-British Airways issues "out of gear," according to a source close to the talks.
The numbered company -- 853350 Alberta Ltd. -- established by Air Canada to purchase shares of Canadian Airlines faces a long and possibly difficult haul in restructuring Canadian's approximately C$3 billion debt, airline industry experts said. Ultimately, neither the bankers nor Air Canada will want to emerge as the party responsible for the loss of 16,000 Canadian jobs. Canadian, meanwhile, is running out of money.
Comair has implemented a real-time online package tracking system, eTrac. Each shipment is bar-coded and electronically tracked as it is loaded and unloaded from Comair aircraft. The information is automatically fed into a computer system that can be accessed from Comair's eTrac web page at www.comair.com/etrac. Comair, which flies as a Delta Connection carrier, offers small-package shipment service with guaranteed same-day delivery.
U.S. and Slovakia are expected to sign an open-skies agreement by tomorrow.The talks will be followed by U.S. discussions with Colombia in late January and Australia and African countries next month.
