US Airways inaugurated long-fought-for Charlotte-London Gatwick service Saturday evening with a full flight and praise for Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) from Larry Nagin, executive VP-corporate affairs and general counsel. "Sen. Helms led the way in standing up for competition and for the rights of U.S. consumers and businesses. We would not be here today but for his efforts." Helms, in attendance at the service launch, in turn praised DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.K.
Executive Jet's order for 50 of Raytheon Aircraft's new Hawker Horizon business jets, plus options for 50 more, gave the manufacturer the largest business jet transaction in its history. The deal for the composite fuselage aircraft, valued at $2 billion, was announced Sunday at the opening of the Paris Air Show. Executive Jet is scheduled to accept delivery of its first Horizon in 2002. The order continues a string of large fleet orders by Executive Jet to provide lift for its growing list of NetJets fractional ownership customers.
InVision Technologies, citing high turnover of personnel in airport security firms, has expanded the availability of training options for operators of its CTX 5000 explosives detection systems. InVision also enhanced its "train the trainer" courses and made available training materials for use by independent training firms. InVision will continue to offer its internally developed operator training courses directly to customers and will maintain support development of third-party training resources.
US Airways Express will offer daily nonstop regional jet service between New York LaGuardia and Columbia, S.C., and Indianapolis July 9, US Airways said yesterday. On Aug. 6, it will add RJ service between LaGuardia and Burlington, Vt., Charleston, S.C., Dayton, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky. Under the new schedule, US Airways Express will operate one roundtrip each day in the markets. Rakesh Gangwal, president and chief executive of US Airways, said the new schedule will expand the airline's service significanty between New York and smaller thriving communities.
Boeing has begun marketing an advanced version of a digital, portable maintenance aid. The software product consists of key maintenance information contained in a few compact disks that can be loaded into a laptop computer and taken directly to an airplane. This saves mechanics from having to make repeated trips to a crew room or technical library to look up information on paper or microfilmed documents. The new tool also provides hyperlinks from illustrations to text. Customers can add airline-specific maintenance information and insert their own hyperlinks.
Mesa Air flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, have ratified their first contract with the airline. The four-year deal gives employees five pay raises over four years and 25 cents more in per-diem pay for time spent away from the base. Flight attendants will receive time and a half for six holidays per year and the company will cover the complete cost of uniform changeovers.
Airbus Industrie forecasts that revenue passenger kilometers will grow 5% a year over the next 20 years, while freight tonne kilometers will average yearly growth of 5.9%. The active passenger fleet will nearly double from 10,000 jet aircraft at the end of 1998 to 19,106 at the end of 2018, an increase of about 9,100 aircraft. Dedicated freighters will grow from 1,450 aircraft to 3,400. Boeing projects passenger growth of 4.7% a year to 2018 and cargo growth of 6.4% a year. The total market for new commercial airplanes is 20,150, Boeing says.
AeroMexico's revenue passenger kilometers for May rose 10% and available seat kilometers 11.1%. The airline's passenger total grew 9.1% to 722,134. Year-to-date traffic was up 11.7% and capacity 13%. Freight volume in May was down 3.2% to 6.97 million freight ton kilometers and fell 13.5% for the year.
Denver-based Frontier posted a 49% jump in traffic on 50.6% more capacity in May, which depressed the load factor 0.6 percentage points to 59%. Passengers flown climbed 48.4%. Year-to-date revenue passenger miles gained 38.5% and available seat miles 35.9%, pushing the load factor up 1.1 points. Passengers flown increased 39.6%. As of today, Frontier will serve 20 cities coast-to-coast with a fleet of 19 Boeing 737s.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronauticas Sociedad Anonima (CASA) agreed to create "the first European aerospace group" on Friday. In a second step, the companies will try to integrate other European manufacturers into their group. "European integration is the only solution to survive facing the United States," said Spanish Minister of the Industry Josep Pique said in Madrid.
LHT expects the market for on-demand services to keep growing this year despite burgeoning competition and a worldwide dip in demand for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). "The increasing percentage of our sales being made to international customers outside the Lufthansa Group reflects a continuing trend," says LHT board member Gerald Gallus. Shortages of MRO capacity led customers to opt for longer-term contracts to be sure of "getting the service they need when they need it," he adds.
DOT General Counsel Nancy McFadden said DOT "doesn't have the resources" to monitor and enforce passenger rights effectively. The agency's monthly review of consumer complaints with airlines is "more effective than enforcement actions," she said. McFadden predicts a "ratcheting down of government attention" once carriers commit to improvements. She questioned ATA's proposed Dec. 15 compliance date and June 2000 implementation date, saying the periods are longer than DOT takes to start new rules.
Airline Traffic Publishing Co. elected Aleks Popovich, general manager-revenue management at British Airways, chairman and Henry Sienkiewicz, VP-computer services, an officer of the company.
If the Air Transport Association jumped the gun on releasing a voluntary passenger rights plan Thursday, House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) jumped the gun in his reaction. Shuster called ATA's plan - which immediately was withdrawn - "a step in the right direction" and he vowed to "take a serious look" at ATA's proposal.
Vanguard's common stock has been accepted by the Nasdaq SmallCap Market for listing tomorrow. The company's ticker symbol will return to VNGD. The listing follows the successful completion of a reverse stock split and four consecutive quarters of operating profits, said President and Chief Executive Robert Spane.
Average One-Way Fare By Stage Length Medium Hub Airports to All U.S. Domestic Destinations In Dollars, Year 1998 Stage Length (Miles) 0 to 250 to 500 to 1,000 to Medium Hubs 249 499 999 1,499 Albuquerque ABQ $74 $78 $109 $151 Anchorage ANC $56 $104 $183 $164
U.K. Transport Minister Glenda Jackson announced new night flying restrictions at London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports for the next five years that could force changes in airline flight schedules. Jackson made the decision while admitting that current night restrictions "are among the most stringent in Europe." Night movements by aircraft meeting Chapter 3 noise standards are not limited at most other European airports. The new night quotas will apply from Oct. 31 and go through to the end of the 2004 summer season.
Delta Friday carried out its threat to defer delivery on all future 777s because it has no agreement from its pilots to fly them. Talks between Delta and its pilots union on terms for flying the new Boeing 777 aircraft will resume tomorrow. The deferral affects 11 outstanding 777 orders. Delta said in April it would defer delivery of four 777-200s scheduled to arrive between December and April 2000 because it could not reach a timely agreement with its Air Line Pilots Association unit (DAILY, April 16).
Introduced June 7 by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) - to amend Title 49, U.S. Code, to require air carriers to conduct safety audits of foreign air carriers as a condition of approval of certain cooperative arrangements between the carriers. Transportation and Infrastructure.
American's pilots filed Friday in opposition to a change in ETOPS (Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations) policy proposed by the Air Transport Association, Boeing and the Air Line Pilots Association. American is an ATA member. The Allied Pilots Association, American's union, does "not choose to oppose this important change lightly. Our pilots currently operate 757, 767, 777 and A300 aircraft on routes that require ETOPS procedures." Proponents want FAA permission to extend the current 180-minute diversion to 207 minutes under certain limited circumstances.
Lufthansa Systems Division North America promoted Robert Gonzalez to product manager-ground services and named Nina La Via Luckenbach account executive.
