Several more customers will step forward to buy the 107-seat A318 in the next two months, Airbus says. Airbus will consider CFM engines for the Pratt&Whitney-powered twinjet. "Today, it is one engine. We are considering CFM," said Airbus VP-Marketing Colin Stuart at the Paris Air Show. "It's not an exclusivity contract."
Flight Physiology and Human Factors for Aircrew, 2nd edition, by Richard Reinhart, senior FAA aviation medical examiner. Tells pilots what they need to know to be fit for flight and how to read the warning signs of incapacitation, however subtle. Iowa State University Press; $27.95. To order, call 800-862-6657.
Midwest Express is counting on its reputation for outstanding customer service to help it go head-to-head with United and MetroJet at Dulles. Midwest Express is launching nonstop Dulles-Milwaukee and one-stop Kansas City-Dulles service Sept. 1. In a recorded message to employees, Chairman and Chief Executive Timothy Hoeksema said the company is "in for some healthy competition" and success depends on its ability to "wow" new customers and outshine competitors.
House Appropriations Chairman Rep. C. W. Young (R-Fla.) said Friday that when the Appropriations Committee-approved transportation money bill is on the House floor this week - probably Wednesday - he will offer an amendment to cut transportation appropriations below last year's level. The move could jeopardize fiscal 2000 House appropriations increases over the Senate Appropriations level for FAA operations, facilities and equipment and Airport Improvement Programs.
DOT, finding that each of the three carriers eligible for 17 U.S.-China frequencies "submitted a credible proposal," issued a show cause order Friday tentatively allocating the frequencies "as equally as possible" to Northwest, United and FedEx. The incumbent carriers in the market wanted eight frequencies available to them under the amended U.S.-China bilateral (DAILY, April 9) as of April 1 and nine available April 1, 2000.
Grupo Taca revised jet service connecting Miami with Belize City, Belize, and Flores, Guatemala, for the summer months. It offers morning service to Belize from Miami with a late afternoon return and provides connections to European and domestic U.S. flights. The service continues from Belize to Flores, the entry point to the Mayan ruins of Tikal and Guatemala City. Flights will be operated with a two-cabin Grupo Taca Boeing 737.
U.S. National and Regional Carriers Traffic May, 5 Months 1999 (000) May May % 1999 1998 Change Air Wisconsin Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 88,130 72,070 22.3 Available Seat Miles (000) 144,482 112,266 28.7
National Air Traffic Controllers Association political action committee and the Raytheon PAC ranked among the top 50 PACs in terms of contribution increases in 1998, compared with 1996, according to a Federal Election Commission analysis.NATCA's PAC ranked 28th, with an increase of $178,600 for a total of $540,650, while Raytheon's PAC was 34th with a gain of $166,475 to $448,858. Raytheon is the prime contractor for FAA's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System program and an important defense contractor.
American Society of Travel Agents and the Coalition for Travel Industry Parity calls Rep. John Sweeney's (R-N.Y.) Omnibus Airline Passenger Fair Treatment Act "the most complete answer yet to the problems faced by consumers and travel agents in dealing with the airline industry." Sweeney's bill, H.R.
Air France and Delta officials would not confirm or deny a report in Paris newspaper Les Echos that the two carriers will make an announcement June 22 about forming an alliance. An Air France spokesman told The DAILY the carrier still is in discussions with both Delta and Continental and would say only that a decision would be made by the end of the year. Les Echos reported that Air France executives met with airlines in the Wings alliance in Amsterdam this week but still remain "profoundly divided" on the issue.
Airbus has obtained the new JAR 21-G production approval from French and German airworthiness authorities. The approval authorizes Airbus to request airworthiness certificates for aircraft coming off the production lines without additional controls by the certification authorities. The approvals are part of the harmonization of European rules as JAA regulations are adopted.
Airline "delays worsened in the first months of this year, expectations for the future are dismal, and even greater difficulties can be anticipated in the medium term," European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock told EU transport ministers meeting yesterday in Luxembourg. In a resolution adopted yesterday, the ministers "agreed to return to the issue of air traffic delays in Europe," but it will be too late to avoid this summer's expected chaos.
Delta Chief Executive Leo Mullin, one week after deferring future 777 orders, is not confident the airline will reach agreement in time to keep the 777 in its fleet. Mullin, responding to questions at the Paris Air Show, said the distance between pilots and management on 777 flight pay" is so great that we cannot see the high likelihood of concluding an agreement in time." Delta last week deferred future 777 deliveries because the deadline for an agreement had passed. Delta operates two 777s and five more are in the production pipeline.
Mo Garfinkle, president of GKMG Consulting Services, and Bill Swelbar, managing director of GKMG, will discuss the proposed regional jet coalition, comprising 15 airports and state aviation authorities, on Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Tower Air said an arbitrator's consent award "upholds the airline's right to assign flight attendants to flights on their guaranteed days off (GDO) in circumstances of operational necessity." The decision "will remain binding pending a future arbitration of the contract provisions pertaining to" GDOs. The carrier fired Jason Weber for "insubordination when he refused a direct order...to operate a legal extension of a Tower Air flight." Under the ruling, Weber is reinstated with two months of unpaid leave.
Big manufacturers with idle assets or excess inventory to get rid of - from hand tools and spare parts caches to one-megawatt generators - can sell items through online auctions managed by TradeOut.com, a new World Wide Web-based business-to-business exchange. Sellers can accept sealed bids or ask for a fixed price, all electronically, and for a fraction of what it costs to tie up staff with ad hoc sales efforts.
Lufthansa Chairman Jurgen Weber warned yesterday that the airline may lower its full-year earnings projections due to competition on transatlantic routes and the crisis in Kosovo (DAILY, June 16). Weber told shareholders at the annual meeting that the carrier's projected pretax profit of 2 billion Deutschmarks (US1.1 billion) might be "too optimistic." The airline earned DM2.48 billion in 1998. NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia and air traffic control difficulties in Europe caused more problems than anticipated, Weber said.
Airbus has sold 1,193 A320 family aircraft since Boeing's 1993 launch of the 737 new-generation series, according to Airbus President and Chief Executive Noel Forgeard.The A320 had a 52% market share in that period. In top alliance airline portfolios, the A320 has a 68% share of orders, he said at the Paris Air Show.
Indonesia's Sempati Air filed for bankruptcy in a local court this week after ceasing operations in June 1998. The carrier was crippled by the region's monetary crisis, and the government initially offered financial assistance but the company's total debt of 413 billion rupiah (US$14 million) and $102.9 million in outstanding foreign currency loans was too deep to recover, carrier officials said.
Australia passenger traffic in the Asia/Pacific region grew 1.4% last year, according to new government figures issued yesterday. A total of 14.3 million passengers traveled in the market, of whom 36.4% chose to fly on Qantas. According to the Department of Transport and Regional Services, the economic crisis hurt the lucrative Tokyo-Sydney route the most, with passenger traffic plunging more than 11%.
