Lufthansa is scheduled to take delivery of its 25th Boeing 747-400 on Thursday. The airline plans a welcome party at Frankfurt Airport for the arrival Dec. 23. Lufthansa has operated 747s since 1970.
United Parcel Service filed applications for Austin-Monterrey, Mexico, rights. The carrier seeks an exemption to serve the route five times weekly starting Feb. 8. UPS separately requested certificate authority. (Dockets OST-99-6663, 6664)
American Eagle will introduce nonstop jet service Feb. 21 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Milwaukee, Wis. American Eagle will offer four daily roundtrip DFW-Milwaukee and two DFW-Cedar Rapids roundtrips. All flights will be operated with new 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets.
Austrian Airlines Group - Austrian Airlines, Tyrolean and Lauda Air - reported a traffic growth of 5.4% for the January-November period. The company says it is likely to reach the targeted 8.2 million passenger mark for 1999. The load factor for the group rose 6.6 % to 66%.
ICAO Council President Assad Kotaite said yesterday the latest information from members shows a "very high level" of Y2K readiness. As of Dec. 20, member states representing 99.5% of international traffic reported that Air Traffic Control systems are ready or will be before Dec. 31. Airports and airlines representing 84% of aircraft movements and 85% of international passengers "similarly indicated their level of readiness for Y2K," he said, ensuring safety "will not be compromised."
Lufthansa unveiled a new travel agency commission structure for tickets purchased in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, effective Jan. 1. Tickets purchased in the U.S. will earn a 5% commission rate with a maximum payment of $100 for each roundtrip ticket and $50 for each one-way ticket. Online travel agencies will receive a 5% commission rate with a maximum of $5 for each one-way or $10 for each round-trip ticket.
Myanmar's department of civil aviation (DCA), emulating Philippine Airlines, asked Thai Airways to pay 12% of the total revenue generated on the Bangkok-Yangon route to Myanmar or reduce its capacity. Thai opted to reduce available weekly seats from 3,500 to 2,500, the same number offered by Myanmar Airways International (MAI). Thai and Myanmar aviation authorities had been at loggerheads since last month, when the latter made the order.
Air New Zealand filed jointly with United for U.S. antitrust immunity. "If granted, antitrust immunity will enable Air New Zealand and United to share information, allowing both carriers to offer consumers the benefit of their combined networks." The two airlines, both members of the Star Alliance, argue that the antitrust protection will enable them to "strengthen their alliance relationship."
The Venezuela government reported several airlines moved their service to an airport in the central city of Valencia from the main Simon Bolivar Airport outside Caracas, according to a report in El Nacional. The airport closed following drenching rains that have led to killer landslides and flooding. Officials said the tragedy is Venezuela's worst catastrophe this century. Local media reported that the radar system and the control tower at Bolivar Airport were heavily damaged in the storms.
BFGoodrich completed consolidation of its landing gear equipment business following the merger last July with Coltec Industries. The business structure of the combined entity will focus on the major market segments - commercial transport, regional and business, and military. Major manufacturing sites would continue at Oakville, Ontario, as well as Cleveland, Ohio, and Tullahoma, Tenn., where recently renegotiated labor contracts "will reduce costs and raise productivity substantially," the company said.
FAA will limit the number of aircraft that must comply with an airworthiness directive on certain Mode C transponders with single Gillham code altitude input. The AD is limited to aircraft that can be operated for extended periods at cruise altitudes above 24,000 feet, the agency said. These aircraft have more exposure to potential risks of incorrect altitude reporting, it said. The revised AD continues to require repetitive testing of the transponder's air data computer and certain wiring connections.
Aerolineas Argentinas will use Airline Automation Inc.'s automated flight-firming application known as Predator, as well as its Troll application, to identify fictitious names, and Dupe Snooper, to identify and cancel duplicate bookings. AAI will provide these and other reservations- and ticket-related services from its Tucson, Ariz., facility.
A New Zealand court last week ordered a company trading in domain names to deregister the name "qantas.co.nz" after a lawsuit from the airline. Qantas Group General Manager E-Commerce Paul Shepanski said the decision was a "significant one" for Qantas, as it is committed to protecting its name and goodwill on the Internet. "Just as we have vigorously protected our brand and trade mark rights to date, we will continue to do so in new global business media such as the Internet," he said.
U.S. Industry Traffic Market Share as of November 1999 November 1999 RPMs Share (%) 1. United 9,844,882 18.49 2. American 9,154,586 17.20 3. Delta 8,307,444 15.61 4. Northwest 5,759,210 10.82 5. Continental 4,942,854 9.29 6. US Airways 3,486,683 6.55
The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD) has taken the commander of a China Southern Airlines (CSA) to task for failing to report that 45 passengers on his aircraft had been injured by turbulence before landing in Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong two months ago. According to the CAD director, Alex Au, clear air turbulence caused the Boeing 757 aircraft on a flight from Kunming to Hong Kong to plunge 2,000 feet in 10 seconds.
Six regional carriers serving the Mekong, Indochina, area - Angel Air, Bangkok Airways, Lao Aviation, Myanmar Airways International, Royal Air Cambodge and Vietnam Airlines - plan to form an alliance under a proposal made by Angel Air last week at the Carrier Breakout Session on Alliances in Bangkok. The Mekong region encompasses Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand.
A group of former aviation executives has formed aviationX, Inc. to provide the aviation industry with its first neutral business-to-business electronic marketplace. The startup Internet company says it will offer the aviation industry's buyers, sellers and intermediaries a simple, easy way to conduct commerce. "AviationX.com users will save significant amounts of time and money by using the network to exchange information and procure goods and services," the company said in a statement.
Determined to grow its global network and boost traffic feed, Singapore Airlines signed a significant agreement over the weekend to acquire a 49% minority holding of Virgin Atlantic. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed in London Saturday, SIA will pay 600 million pounds (US$963 million) for the 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, including a capital injection of 49 million pounds ($79 million). Virgin Atlantic is the holding company for Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Holidays, Virgin Sun and Virgin's cargo operation, Virgin Aviation Services.
TWA asked DOT for an exemption for New York-Turks&Caicos service, with plans to serve the route with a weekly nonstop - the first in the market - beginning Feb. 5. The schedule TWA filed with DOT indicates that the carrier would operate MD-83 service between New York Kennedy and Providenciales on Saturdays "effective Feb. 5-Sep. 2." TWA noted that the service "will assist Turks&Caicos in developing tourism, on which its economy so heavily relies." (Docket OST-99-6667)
FAA yesterday started controlling arrivals and departures by using the new air traffic controller workstations of its Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) as part of an effort to debug the system before nationwide installation. Jane Garvey, FAA administrator, hailed the event as the first major milestone in the agency's modernization program. Garvey said STARS, developed by Raytheon, is the first component to become operational as part of a strategy to phase in state-of-the-art systems nationwide.
November domestic unit revenue rose 2.4%, well ahead of analyst expectations and the best monthly figure since August 1998, according to PaineWebber.Yield declined 0.4% said Merrill Lynch analyst Candace Browning, "which was actually quite a respectable performance," given the 4.1% increase in capacity, she said.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey told her employees that the agency will "make plain language part of the culture of FAA." Garvey quoted a 20-year veteran Continental pilot as saying, "I have no confidence that I could tell you whether or not I am legal on a given situation. I just cannot tell you. I just do not know." Garvey says, "We need to communicate better with all of the aviation community." The effort was launched last week.
TWA last week launched New York's only nonstop jet service to Grand Bahama Airport, Freeport. The airline now offers nonstop MD-83 service from New York LaGuardia Thursday through Monday.
