UPS will lease about 24 additional aircraft and more cargo belly space during its holiday peak period. The airline expects daily air express volume to peak at about 4.3 million on Dec. 22 - more than double its average daily delivery volume of 1.8 million. To aid in the delivery of air express packages, UPS will supplement its fleet - the world's 10th largest airline - with more than two dozen additional jets. The additions include Boeing 747s, DC-8s, DC-10s and MD-11s. UPS's peak season began Nov.
American posted a 7.1% jump in systemwide traffic on 5.9% more capacity for November, compared with the same 1998 month, which boosted load factor 0.8 percentage points to 68.5%. The largest gains came in Pacific operations, where traffic rose 43.6% and capacity 35.3%, pushing up load factor 3.7 points to 65.6%. Latin American traffic and capacity grew 2.6% and 0.9%, respectively, raising load factor 1.1 points to 65.9%. Atlantic traffic went up 12.2% and capacity 7.6%, pushing load factor up 3.1 points to 75.1%.
An Air Wisconsin BAe 146 with 48 passengers aboard struck the window of a terminal at Chicago O'Hare late Tuesday, breaking the glass and sending a gate agent to the hospital. Air Wisconsin President Geoffrey Crowley said the firm did not know why the pilot was unable to stop the plane before it hit the terminal. None of the passengers was injured. "The airplane does not appear to be damaged," Crowley said yesterday.
Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas Sociedad Anonima (Casa) yesterday formally joined the French-German European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company (EADS) at a ceremony in Madrid. EADS will hold 80% of the Airbus consortium, while British Aerospace has the remaining 20%. The agreement was signed by the chairmen of both EADS partners, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace's Manfred Bischoff and Aerospatiale Matra's Jean-Luc Lagardere, and by Pedro Ferreras, chairman of Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (Sepi), the Spanish State holding which owns 99.28% of Casa.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic April 1999 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (miles) (000) Change AirTran Airlines 591 12.42 536 316,490 1.52
General Electric's wing support facility has set up operations at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, 18 miles outside Kuala Lumpur. GE also has center in the U.S., U.K. and China. The company plans to open another facility in South Korea this month. Known as GE On Wing Support Malaysia, it will initially perform work on CFM56, CF-80C and Pratt&Whitney P4000 engines, but plans to GE's GE90-115B, the only power plant for the 777X, at a future date.
Continental posted a systemwide 72.9% November load factor, the highest November load factor in its history. Revenue passenger miles climbed 16.8% from the same 1998 month and available seat miles rose 11.8%, which pushed load factor up 3.1 percentage points. Domestic traffic gained 10.5% and capacity 5.7%, raising load factor 3.2 points to 72.9%. International traffic grew 29.6% on 24.2% more capacity, growing load factor 3.1 points to 72.9%.
Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) net profit for the first nine months jumped 62% to $50.1 million, while revenues rose 2% to $1.45 billion. "IAI is in a period of sustained growth, and the increase in its backlog will secure its future," said President and Chief Executive Moshe Keret. IAI signed new contracts worth $2.02 billion for the period, an increase of 73% from last year. Officials noted that the "positive trend" of improved operating margins for IAI activity is continuing and has reached a level of 5.5% of revenues.
Peru joined the Fortaleza Air Freight Agreement, signed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The agreement, named for the Brazilian city where it was approved, provides free access to Brazil for domestic air cargo carriers from other signatory countries.
As part of its plan to keep cash flow healthy and to restructure its finances, Shanghai Airlines (SAL) plans to sell some of its aircraft and lease them back. The airline has not identified the aircraft type for the transaction. According to SAL President Zhou Chi, the decision will be made soon. SAL has a fleet of seven Boeing 757-200s, two 767-300s and two 737-200s. As an independent carrier, SAL is finding it extremely difficult to get permission from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to expand its services.
Iberia's traffic grew 6.7% to 3.1 billion revenue passenger kilometers in October, and freight volume rose 6.5% to 78.8 million ton kilometers. The airline carried 2.0 million passengers, up 3.3%.
Aer Lingus became the ninth member of the oneworld alliance in New York yesterday after formal election by the chief executives of the established members at their quarterly governing board meeting. The airline's election follows the signing last week of marketing agreements with the carrier by American and British Airways, covering code sharing and other areas (DAILY, Nov. 30). Both Aer Lingus and LanChile, whose ratification as a member of the alliance was announced in May, plan to offer oneworld services, beginning in the second half of next year.
Comair Holdings has elected Randy Rademacher, former chief financial officer and senior VP-finance, president of Comair Holdings and Comair. He will succeed David Siebenburgen, president, chief operating officer and chief executive of Comair Holdings. Siebenburgen will head the Delta Connection network and have direct responsibility for Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines operations, which will remain separate companies under Delta ownership. Skip Barnette will continue as ASA president.
U.K.-based Jersey European Airways and Dusseldorf-based European Air Express have joined the Europe by Air pass program, said Europe by Air President Bill Wolf. Jersey operates 27 aircraft - 17 British Aerospace "Whisper Jets," seven Fokker F27s and three Shorts 360s. European Air Express flies three F50s. Jersey serves Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands and carries more than 2 million passengers annually. It operates to business destinations in the U.K., Ireland, Scotland and Germany. It also operates daily flights from Birmingham to Toulouse and Glasgow.
Atlantic Southeast will start Canadair RJ service between Jacksonville, Fla., Greensboro/High Point/Winston Salem, N.C., Columbia, S.C. and Richmond, Va. and New York LaGuardia on March 16. This is the first time the Delta subsidiary has launched nonstop jet service to points other than a primary hub, Delta said.
United foresees three regulatory issues facing the world's airlines in the next five years - e-commerce, taxation and the environment.Shelley Longmuir, senior VP of international, regulatory and governmental affairs, told reporters yesterday that several international regulatory bodies are beginning to investigate the possibility of taxing airline e-commerce transactions. "It's a daunting task, but it's clearly out there," she said.
With three times the number of frequencies available being sought by U.S. carriers eager to serve Argentina in 2000, DOT instituted a proceeding to award U.S.-Argentina frequencies available to U.S. carriers in 2000 and 2001. Seven frequencies become available Sept. 1, 2000-Phase 1, with seven more available June 1, 2001-Phase 2. The bilateral does not limit the number of U.S. carriers that may be designated. Continental, Delta and United each seek frequencies for year-round service to Buenos Aires (DAILY, Sept. 27).
General Aviation Manufacturers Association named Barry Valentine senior VP-international affairs, beginning Dec. 13. Valentine comes to the association from Farragut International, where he headed the Aviation Technical Services group. He was acting administrator of FAA in 1997.
Northwest and KLM will add a fifth daily nonstop flight between Detroit and Amsterdam during the peak travel season next summer. The expansion will increase capacity on the route by 13%. Northwest and KLM operated four daily Detroit-Amsterdam flights in summer 1999 and currently offer three daily flights during the winter season. The new flight will operate June 1-Oct. 27 with a Northwest DC-10. With the start of the fifth daily Detroit-Amsterdam service, Northwest and KLM will offer for the first time roundtrip connections from Detroit to St.
In what is believed to be one of India's largest computer-aided design deals, state-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has signed a US$1 million contract with a consortium of two software developers for writing the engineering design and product design management program for its aircraft design and research center, HAL officials said last week.
InVision Technologies said FAA awarded the company $150,000 for Phase 1 of the agency's Argus program, a four-phase research and development contract with a potential value of several million dollars over an 18-month period. Argus is an FAA program to develop a low-cost, automated explosives detection system (EDS) to scan checked baggage in small airports. During the three months of Phase 1, InVision will develop an initial system design to meet FAA's criteria for weight, size and cost.
Airline Reporting Corp.'s Interactive Agent Reporting electronic reporting system accounts for more than 50% of dollar volume and more than 49% of transactions being reported electronically, ARC said recently. ARC also has completed development and testing of a new Internet interface for IAR that will give agents the option of accessing IAR through the Internet.
A group of major U.S. airport representatives strongly oppose consideration by the U.S. of a "mini-deal" with the U.K. that would address the cancellation of British Airways service to Pittsburgh. Representatives of airports without Heathrow nonstops - including Dallas/Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and St. Louis - joined forces yesterday to tell U.S. officials the proposal would largely benefit cities already enjoying Heathrow links, rather than major gateways with "historic claims" to Heathrow service. For years, one source said, U.S.
Oneworld alliance partners met in New York yesterday to discuss a way to save partner Canadian Airlines. Oneworld partners are not anxious to see Canadian purchased and merged with Air Canada, which currently has the only option on the table available to Canadian shareholders. Oneworld chiefs began discussing alternatives to the Air Canada bid yesterday morning following a news conference in which they announced their intention to name UNICEF as their global charity. The group also named Aer Lingus as oneworld's newest member.
AirTran has been awarded 82 Florida government contracts. The contracts were awarded through a bidding process to provide transportation to travelers on official government business between specific city-pairs. An AirTran spokeswoman said the company did not know how much the contracts are worth and Florida does not provide an estimate. "But we believe it's significant," she said.
