The Association of Flight Attendants says United has failed to obey U.K. maternity laws requiring the carrier to find alternative work for pregnant flight attendants. United spokeswoman Christina Price said the issue is under pending litigation and she would not comment. AFA claims United places pregnant flight attendants on unpaid leave instead of finding other jobs for them, a violation of U.K. law, which requires employers to offer pregnant employees alternative work at equivalent pay or place them on full paid leave.
Two class-action suits alleging price fixing were filed last month against Delta, US Airways Group, Northwest and the Airlines Reporting Corp. In the first lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed the defendant airlines and other airlines conspired with Delta in keeping anticompetitive prices for flights to and from its Atlanta and Cincinnati hubs.
The Hungarian government said it will buy back shares in Malev from two local banks before trying for a second time to find a foreign partner for its national airline. APV, the government's asset holding agency and majority owner of the airline, will buy a 35% stake in the airline from Air Invest, a joint venture between OTP Bank and Magyar Kulkereskedelmi Bank, Hungary's largest and fourth-largest banks. Air Invest bought the stake from Italian national airline Alitalia in December 1997 for about $65 million.
Garuda Indonesia will turn its ground-handling and maintenance divisions into separate profit centers. Foreign firms will be invited to bid for a stake in the new companies, which would be set up later this year, provided plans fall into place. Garuda President Abdul Gani said spinning off these divisions would not only reduce the operating costs of the airline but also infuse the much-needed foreign capital into the proposed new companies to give them a good head start. Other divisions also may be spun off if the proposed plan is successful.
US Airways and its International Association of Machinists (IAM) unit, which represents about 7,000 mechanics and related personnel, will resume contract talks Aug. 16 with the National Mediation Board after a tentative contract deal failed ratification this week. US Airways IAM rank-and-file rejected the offer by 75%. The union's negotiating committee will compile a list of issues that led to rejection, said IAM National Assistant Airline Coordinator Jim Varsel.
Lauda Air is negotiating a fresh code-share deal with Malaysia Airlines with the aim of mounting more flights on the Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney route. Lauda wants to increase the current eight weekly flights to at least nine by April to accommodate the burgeoning number of business travelers. Each carrier offers four services. According to Lauda Air Chief Executive Otmar Lenz, both carriers enjoy 79% load factors. MAS and Lauda have plans to operate seven flights a week each.
U.S. major airlines will report disappointing second quarter earnings next week due to lagging traffic, increased capacity growth and higher fuel prices, analysts say. US Airways forecast of lower earnings through the rest of the year reinforced analysts concerns that industry consensus profit estimates are too high. Second quarter earnings appear to be "fairly disappointing," said Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Susan Donofrio.
DOT tentatively found Puerto Rico Airways (PRA) fit to provide scheduled passenger and cargo combination service and proposes to issue the carrier certificate authority. PRA, with headquarters in San Juan and New York, plans to operate low-cost passenger and cargo service between New York Kennedy and San Juan with two leased Boeing 727-200 aircraft configured for 173 seats in a single class.
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.
