Air New Zealand launched a new advertising campaign yesterday with the tag line "The World's Warmest Welcome." A new television commercial, which began airing on New Zealand and Australia stations Sunday, began the marketing blitz. It will be followed with print and billboard advertising in both countries.
British Airways is one of several carriers in discussions with the Greek government to manage struggling Olympic Airways amid reports that BA is about to win the role. BA is one of several airlines still negotiating with the government, and the contract has not yet been awarded, a BA spokeswoman said. Speedwing, BA's consulting division, is in intense competition with Lufthansa, United and American to win the management contract to make a final attempt to revive Olympic.
India and China are working toward signing a bilateral air services agreement in a bid to develop tourism ties. If plans fall into place, the accord could be signed before the end of the year, and India could see the first arrivals of Chinese tourists soon after. Guangzhou International Travel Service Outbound Manager Crystal Wu said negotiators are working on identifying the Chinese carriers that would get the rights to fly to India and extending Air-India's current services beyond Hong Kong.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey named Carl Burleson as chief of staff, reporting directly to Garvey. He succeeds Lynne Osmus, who moved to Brussels to head FAA's Europe, Africa and Middle East area office.
China Airlines (CAL) is preparing to place an order for as many as 13 Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft in a move to increase the size and capacity of its cargo fleet, according to reports in Taipei's leading newspapers. CAL is awaiting final approval from Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications before it announces the US$2 billion order, the reports said. A CAL spokesman confirmed that the company is formulating a plan to expand its cargo operations but stressed that the plan is still in the formative stage.
Virgin Atlantic unveiled its new Internet site Friday, one that offers ticket booking capability and destination information with three-dimensional graphics of the carrier's new livery and corporate identity. The site, www.virgin-atlantic.com, also offers the airline's flight schedule and soon will offer frequent flyers access to account updates. San Francisco-based iXL was selected to build and develop the site. EDS, which owns Shares - Virgin Atlantic's computer reservations system - was chosen to build the ticket booking engine.
DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary Patrick Murphy is leaving government later this summer to join Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Gerchick in consultants' work, in Gerchick-Murphy Associates. Murphy, who has held his current post since 1988, started with the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1971; he received a medical discharge from the Army for combat injuries in 1969. Murphy has been a point man for DOT's airline competition guidelines and other issues.
International Total Services appointed Tom Vaiden president-agitation staffing services, promoted Chuck Licata to president-commercial staffing services, and named Neal Davis VP-northwest region, Robert Kuhlenschmidt director-commercial aviation security and John Wagner manager-quality assurance, aircraft cleaning.
-- Approved an initial two-year exemption for America West to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Newark and Birmingham and Manchester, England, and Glasgow, Scotland, and between Newark and Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, Germany, which the carrier intends to operate under code share on flights operated by Continental...Approved, conditioned on American and China Eastern not invoking exclusivity provisions in their code-share agreement, a two-year exemption renewal for American to provide scheduled combination service, under code share with China Eastern, b
AirTran is discounting fares to promote its new service to Newark, beginning July 1. Sample fares from Newark to 21 cities are $79 to Atlanta, $89 to Fort Lauderdale and $135 to Moline/Quad Cities, Ill.
Airplane orders hoarded by Airbus and Boeing to announce at the Paris Air Show find Airbus the winner in number of orders, but Boeing captured the value sweepstakes, as well as one of Airbus' prized airline customers, in a battle for long-range aircraft. Singapore Airlines said Friday it is exercising options for 10 777-200 IGWs powered by Rolls-Royce Trent engines to replace 15 A340-300s in its fleet, plus two on order. The SIA order brought Boeing's tally to 72 airliners valued at $4.9 billion. Airbus announced orders for 93 aircraft valued at $4 billion.
DOT issued consent orders last week for wet-lease, advertising and paperwork violations. The department found that Trans Air Link Corp., a U.S. all-cargo carrier with domestic and foreign authority, did not obtain approval for a long-term wet-lease agreement with Aerochago, a carrier of the Dominican Republic. The U.S. carrier negotiated the agreement in 1995 and "performed numerous flights for the foreign carrier over a four-year period." U.S. carrier certificates require DOT approval of long-term wet-leases to foreign carriers.
Competing business groups headed by China Airlines and EVA Airways have passed the initial qualifying stage to bid for the right to operate at the Taipei Air Cargo (TAC) terminal at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. They also qualified to build and operate a new terminal, based on the build-operate-transfer model. The group winning the bid to build the new terminal will have three years to complete the project, after which it will be entitled to operate the facility for 20 years with the option to extend 10 more years.
Hawaiian Airlines reported a 4.4% rise in traffic and 10.4% more capacity for May, depressing the load factor 4.2 percentage points to 73.3%. Passengers flown gained 4.4%. Year-to-date revenue passenger miles climbed 9.2% and available seat miles 6.8%, boosting the load factor 1.7 points. Passengers flown rose 7.1%.
Uganda's parliament rejected an offer by South African Airways (SAA) to purchase a 49% stake in Uganda Airways. Under the deal, SAA offered a purchase price of US$1 million in addition to investments worth US$3 million, but the parliament said the bid was too low and called it "ridiculous." The government also complained that SAA had plans to remove the Ugandan flag from its aircraft and use the SA code on the carrier's flights.
TWA's mechanics will receive a $10 million grievance payment under the new tentative contract currently out for ratification. TWA will pay at least $5 million by Nov. 1, 2002. The contract also allows TWA to use feed by as many as 18 regional jets immediately, increasing to a maximum of 30 as its mainline fleet grows. No jobs will be lost because of substituting RJs for mainline flying, the contract promises.
Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) said Friday he will delay considering passenger rights legislation in the House Transportation Committee until he sees how the Air Transport Association's voluntary Customer Service Plan alleviates the grievances of air travelers. "I'm not going to schedule anything now," Shuster told The DAILY in an interview. He added that he will "wait and see what's happening" as the voluntary plan goes into effect over the next six months. He said he would not set a timetable for the delay, however.
