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.
C-S Aviation said International Cargo Charters Canada has taken delivery of a third A300B4 freighter under a five-year lease agreement. ICC Canada will operate the aircraft under contract to Emery Worldwide from routes in Canada to Emery's Daytona hub. CSA manages more than 60 aircraft, including Airbus A300s and Boeing MD-80s, 737s and 727s.
Japan Air System (JAS) canceled 28 domestic flights Friday, with more cancellations expected this week after pilots staged a strike to protest the carrier's plan to contract some operations to Harlequin Air, a wholly owned subsidiary. No international flights were affected by the cancellations, which hit several profitable routes between Tokyo Haneda Airport and Sapporo, Aomori, Misawa, Komatsu, Osaka and Fukuoka.
French regional airline Air Liberte last week joined the Europe by Air pass program. The carrier, which is partially held by British Airways, becomes the 17th airline to join the European network. Air Liberte, which started in 1987, operates 42 aircraft, including DC-10s, MD-83s and Fokker jets. Europe By Air passes are sold in countries outside of Europe only and are not available to European residents. Each pass costs US$99, is subject to a minimum purchase of three tickets, and is valid for 120 days.
Survey by National Air Traffic Controllers Association of its members shows the rate of controller retirements will rise sharply until 2007, when it will peak at 1,260, or 8.4% of the work force. Retirement rates will remain high until 2018, when they will drop below 4%. Cumulative retirements will exceed 50% of the current work force in 2010. This rate is higher than General Accounting Office estimates, which do not exceed 5% in any given year.
