KLM Engineering&Maintenance and Canadian Marconi Co. said the joint Boeing 747 cockpit upgrade has been granted a supplementary type certificate by FAA following test flights. The upgrade will extend the life of KLM's 13 747-200/300 aircraft well beyond the year 2010, they said. KLM introduced the first modified aircraft, one of two freighter conversions, into revenue service last May, followed shortly by a passenger aircraft. Participating in the upgrade were Smiths Industries and Hollingsead International.
Michael Bonsignore, chairman and CEO of Honeywell Inc., discussed modernization of the air traffic control system and free flight in a speech recently before the American Association of Airport Executives' annual conference in Phoenix, which will be broadcast Sunday on Aviation News Today on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Air cargo rates on Taiwan-U.S. routes will increase by an estimated 10% today and a similar increase for Europe-bound traffic is expected in September, sources said. Volume to the U.S. and Europe increased by more than 10% during the first half of the year, and analysts predict growth in the second half will be even stronger.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday a new, streamlined administrative action process for minor violations will start Aug. 30. Garvey said the process will be a more efficient way to resolve violations that do not warrant serious legal enforcement action. FAA wanted to begin the new process earlier but met nearly unanimous industry opposition for what was described as a lack of due process.
American's Allied Pilots Association this week filed a notice of appeal to the $45.5 million imposed by a Texas court over the February pilot sickout. U.S. District Court Judge Joe Kendall levied the fine after he found the union in contempt of his temporary restraining order to end the sickout, which resulted from a dispute over American's acquisition of Reno Air. The appeal was filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The filing comes as the union and management attempt to reach an agreement on Reno.
Boeing yesterday reported second quarter net earnings of $701 million which, aided by a gain of $181 million from a federal income tax audit settlement, were up $443 million over the same quarter in 1998. Revenues were up 13% to $15.1 billion. Boeing said comparable net earnings for 1998 were $258 million, reduced by $78 million related to the planned termination of the MD-11 program and late delivery costs on its next-generation 737 aircraft. Excluding the non-recurring expenses, comparable earnings were up 55%.
Debonair, the U.K,-based low-fare airline, put its second Boeing 737-300 into service at the beginning of this month. The aircraft, refurbished by British Midland engineering, has 132 seats with a 33-inch seat pitch. It will complement Debonair's fleet of British Aerospace 146s and will operate on the longer routes of Debonair's network. The carrier celebrated its third birthday on June 19, having launched a new route to Perugia, Italy, June 1. Since the airline started, it has carried more than two million passengers.
Express Airlines I, a fully-owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines that flies as Northwest Airlink, reported a 12.8% drop in traffic on 10.5% less capacity for June compared with the same 1998 month, which drove down the load factor 1.7 percentage points to 65.2%. The Memphis-based company says the changes reflect the removal of a 19-seat Jetstream 31 from its fleet and a reduction in aircraft to accommodate the total refurbishment of its Saab 340 fleet by December.
National Airlines began accepting online reservations through its Internet site yesterday, offering customers the ability to choose their seats in addition to standard flight schedule and fare information. In addition, frequent flyer members booking flights online will receive a 25% bonus award. The Las Vegas-based carrier also unveiled the details of its frequent flyer program, National Comps. Members receive one point for every $10 spent on airline tickets and customers can accrue and use points on National flights and at selected Las Vegas partner hotels.
United "misapprehends Hawaii's position" proposing liberalized extrabilateral authority for foreign carriers to serve the mainland U.S. via Hawaii, the state told DOT. Expanded authority should not be granted to foreign carriers whose homeland governments restrict U.S. carriers' traffic rights or operating flexibility, Hawaii said in response to United's concerns over restrictive bilaterals in the Asia/Pacific region (DAILY, July 1). Hawaii agrees with United that extrabilateral exemptions to serve additional U.S.
Air Wisconsin is adding six Fairchild Dornier 328 turboprops to its fleet, to be operated as United Express. The airline currently operates a fleet of 10 328s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin this month. Air Wisconsin also operates 18 BAe-146 88- to 100-seat jets and four 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets.
Delta will introduce daily nonstop New York JFK-Shannon-Dublin beginning today using Boeing 767-300s. The JFK flights will operate nonstop to Dublin, continuing to Shannon, four days a week and nonstop to Shannon, continuing to Dublin, on the other days. Delta already offers daily nonstop service to Ireland from its Atlanta hub. With the addition of the new service, Delta said it will be the largest U.S. carrier to Ireland.
Constellation International Airways is based in North Carolina, not Florida (DAILY, July 13). Constellation will begin its certification process about one month after it receives financing.
Air Canada reported a 2.7% drop in systemwide traffic last month on 3.8% less capacity. Load factor rose 0.8 percentage points to 75.7%. Domestic traffic fell 2.6% and capacity 0.3%, which pushed load factor down 2.2 points. International traffic declined 2.8% and capacity 5.8%, causing a 2.4 point rise in load factor. Year-to-date statistics showed similar declines in traffic and capacity resulting in slight increases in load factors systemwide and on international routes, and a slight drop in load factor domestically.
AlliedSignal yesterday reported record second quarter per share earnings of 71 cents, up 16% from the same quarter last year. It was the company's 30th consecutive quarter of earnings per share growth of 13% or more. Second quarter sales were $3.8 billion compared with $3.9 billion. Net income increased 13% to a second quarter record of $395 million.
AirTran parent AirTran Holdings Inc. said second quarter profit rose 75%, far more than analysts had forecast, on higher revenue from business traffic. Net income rose to $15 million, or 22 cents a share, from $8.56 million, or 13 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings exceeded the highest Wall Street estimate of 16 cents a share.
The European Commission fined British Airways 6.8 million euros (US$6.9 million) yesterday for setting up a loyalty scheme to the benefit of travel agents and abusing a dominant market position, the European Union's competition watchdog announced yesterday in Brussels. BA replied that it would launch "an immediate appeal" against the decision. This follows a complaint lodged in 1997 by Virgin Atlantic. The EC found after a two-year probe that BA offered bonuses to travel agents that discouraged them from placing business with other airlines.
American led major U.S. airlines with first quarter commission expenses that totaled 7.47% of operating costs, with Northwest second at 7.45%. United's $282 million in commissions was 7.05% of expenses. Southwest paid the least, at 4.85%, followed by TWA and US Airways. Among national carriers, AirTran and Midwest Express paid the most, Aloha the least. (See chart to follow.)
U.S. Carriers Rental Expense, First Quarter 1999 U.S. Carriers Rental Expense First Quarter 1999 Major Carriers % Of Total Rental Operating Expenses Alaska 49,502,000 14.13 America West 86,566,416 18.75 American 273,202,000 7.61 Continental 230,145,000 13.01
U.S. Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans on Sept. 6 will hear arguments in the ongoing battle between Legend Airlines and American and the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. The court also is expected hear arguments from American and the airport, which are trying to overturn DOT's decision allowing Legend to operate out of Love Field.
Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger rejected EasyJet's request to launch a new route between Geneva and Barcelona, a ministry spokesman said yesterday in Zurich. However, the Swiss subsidiary of the British low-cost carrier will be allowed to start services from Geneva to Amsterdam and Nice at the end of July. Swiss law provides that Swissair holds a monopoly on the routes it serves out of Switzerland until 2008, unless a bilateral air agreement provides otherwise.
Singapore Airlines launched Internet booking capabilities on a limited number of routes from its new SQ-eTravel Internet site. Initially, the service will be available for booking economy-class travel between Singapore and Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manchester and Penang. The program will be extended to all classes by September and more routes will be added by the end of the year, officials said.
Air Transport Association and the International Air Transport Association will host a hazardous materials conference for support and logistics personnel Oct. 12 near Washington Regan Airport. Many aircraft supplies, including oxygen generators, fuel control devices, fuel regulators, storage batteries, compressed oxygen cylinders, paints, solvents, fiberglass resin kits and fire extinguishers are classified as hazardous materials.
Backed by a management team of experienced airline executives, approximately $130 million in capital and a drive to become New York City's hometown airline, New Air Corp. yesterday unveiled the name JetBlue Airways. The low-fare startup, which hopes to get off the ground in late January or early February, when it will take delivery of the first of 82 new Airbus A320 aircraft. The aircraft order is worth more than $4 billion. Chief Executive and founder David Neeleman chose the JetBlue name because it's straightforward and simple, just like the airline will be.
City of Chicago, after advocating to DOT on behalf of Virgin Atlantic's bid for winter-season Chicago O'Hare slots to start service to London Heathrow (DAILY, July 12), added its support to requests by other foreign carriers for slots from DOT. Air France, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and SAS appealed to DOT for slots to continue service at O'Hare following notification by FAA that it would not be able to grant their slot exemption requests.
