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.
The Air Line Pilots Association said it will "vigorously" defend against "all allegations of wrongdoing" in the suit filed by Comair. The airline sued the union Dec. 16 after pilots refused to fly, citing equipment mechanical problems. Comair canceled approximately 270 flights last week but returned to normal last Thursday. ALPA said it did not condone the pilot job action and its priority is to work with the company to maintain normal operations.
Experimental Aircraft Association President and Chief Executive Tom Poberezny was selected as the sixth commissioner on the Centennial of Flight Commission, which will coordinate the celebration commemorating 100 years of powered flight in 2003.
U.S., which had wanted to negotiate a liberalized bilateral with the U.K. first - ahead of a multilateral U.S.-EU arrangement - now must "see the reality" of the situation with the U.K., DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said."We must spend our time wisely" and move forward with Europe, and "let the U.K. decide how they relate to us," he said.
American last week began daily nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Belize. American will operate the DFW-Belize service with Boeing 727s. The route becomes the 14th destination in Latin America served by American from the DFW gateway.
Tower Air pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, last week rejected a tentative contract agreement reached Oct. 1. Ninety percent of the union rejected the deal. David Burnett, chairman of Tower Air's ALPA unit, said he is "more interested in working with the company to obtain a ratifiable agreement" than in commenting on why it was rejected. He said the two sides will return to the bargaining table in the near future.
Air France will start a daily Cincinnati-Paris roundtrip May 15 with a Boeing 767-300ER. Delta, Air France's global alliance partner, will code share on the new Air France-operated service, while Air France will continue to code share on Delta's flight from its Midwest hub. Cincinnati will be Air France's 12th U.S. gateway.
American and United were crippled at their Chicago O'Hare hub Friday following a snowstorm and an aircraft accident. An American 737 arriving from Detroit with 120 people on board ran off the end the runway, ramming its nose landing gear and right main gear into 18-inch-deep mud. No one was injured, but the accident closed one runway, said American spokesman John Hotard. Airport operations also were affected by a winter storm that was "stronger and lasted longer" than predicted, he said. American was forced to cancel about 35% of its flights during the day.
US Airways still has not signed a deal with a new code-share partner for its California regional routes following Trans States' decision to cease intra-California service Dec. 28. US Airways has negotiated a temporary arrangement with American Eagle and United Express to accept ticketed passengers until a permanent deal is reached. Sources said American Eagle is the front runner to replace Trans States. Despite last-minute scrambling, Trans States informed US Airways officials of its situation "many months ago," a spokesman told The DAILY.
Air Canada systemwide November traffic grew 8.8% and capacity 7.9% from the same 1998 month, which pushed load factor up 0.5 percentage points to 65.1%. Domestic traffic climbed 2.3% and capacity 2%, growing load factor 2 points to 67.3%. International traffic surged 12.6% on 11.2% more capacity, boosting load factor 0.7 points to 64%.
American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is "extremely pleased" about DOT's plan to review airline overbooking practices, access to lowest fares and customer service commitments. ASTA Chief Executive Joe Galloway called DOT's decision "a resounding victory for air travelers everywhere, and it serves as a vindication of all our collective efforts." Congress earlier passed two amendments to the DOT appropriations bill that directed DOT to investigate certain airline practices.
Approved a two-year renewal for Continental Micronesia for Guam-Cairns, Australia, service...Approved an Air Royale International charter using a Canadian Airlines DC-10-30 for one roundtrip carrying 264 passengers - for MTV's airborne millennium celebration - on a Vancouver-New York-Prague-Rome-Paris-London Gatwick-New York-Vancouver routing Dec. 19-30...Approved an Intrav charter using an Air France Concorde for one roundtrip carrying 100 passengers on a New York-London routing Dec. 23...
Boeing Commercial President Alan Mulally says about 30% of deliveries are replacing older, less fuel-efficient aircraft. The 757-300 now in operation with Condor is "getting a lot of interest" because of its economics. Mulally believes that the current price of jet fuel is "coming down to more reasonable historic levels."
Midway Airlines reported a 13% increase on 8% more capacity for November, compared with the same year-ago month, which grew the load factor 3.2 percentage points to 69.9%.
U.S. National Carriers Traffic November, 10 Months 1999 (000) November November % 1999 1998 Change Air Wisconsin Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 88,540 76,885 15.2 Available Seat Miles (000) 147,603 116,143 27.1 Load Factor (%) 60.0 66.2
Midway Airlines will inaugurate three daily nonstop roundtrip jet flights between Rochester, N.Y., and Raleigh/Durham. It also will add and upgrade some existing services. On Feb. 1, Midway will offer a sixth daily roundtrip flight to Atlanta, Newburgh, N.Y., and Philadelphia, and add two daily roundtrip flights to Boston and one to Fort Lauderdale, using its new Boeing 737-700 aircraft.
Colombia's Satena, a commercial airline operated by the national air force, has started Monday-to-Friday roundtrip service with Fokker F28 aircraft between Bogota and Valledupar. Satena stepped in when private Intercontinental de Aviacion recently withdrew from that market just as the high vacation season began.
UPS named Randy Pulito to the newly created post of VP-international strategies. John Warrick, now VP for new product development, will succeed Pulito as president of UPS Europe.
San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Cape Air will operate 13 daily scheduled flights to the British Virgin Islands, and six between St. Thomas and Beef Island in Tortola.
U.S. hopes to liberalize cargo operations with Brazil and Jamaica early next year, Slater said last week. Jamaica wants to take the lead in proposing a regional multilateral aviation agreement covering passenger services among the member nations of CARICOM, the Caribbean economic organization, Slater said.
