The Emirates Group, comprising Emirates and ground-handling and travel unit DNATA, reported profits of $117 million, up 15.6%. Group revenue rose 8.8% to $1.3 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31. The airline contributed $1.2 billion to group revenue and DNATA's share was $154 million. The airline's profits increased 19.3% to $85 million, while DNATA's profits grew 6.6% to $32 million. "It was an extremely tough year," said Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
The 10 largest U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrivals record of 75.7% in April, not as good as March's 78.1% or April 1998's 79.1%, according to DOT's latest Air Travel Consumer Report. Northwest was first, 80.6%, TWA second, 80.3%, and Continental third, 78.4%. America West was eighth, 71.6%, United ninth, 70.9%, and American 10th, 69.7%. Alaska improved from 10th in March to sixth in April, 72.5%.
United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines will expand regional jet service between its Washington Dulles base and Indianapolis by adding early-morning departures in both directions, starting July 11. The new flights, operated with 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jets, mean "business travelers can spend the entire day in the nation's capital and still return home that same evening," said VP-Sales Angie Shermer. United Express offers 584 daily departures from Dulles and Chicago O'Hare.
Alaska Air Group said traffic declined by 0.1% for Alaska Airlines in May to 939 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose by 1.3% to 1.4 billion available sat miles. Load factor was 67.8%, down from 68.7%. Passengers carried rose slightly. Through May, traffic was up 7.3% to 4.6 billion RPMs, capacity was up 6.1% to 6.9 billion ASMs, load factor rose to 66.9% from 66.2%, and passengers carried rose to 5.3 million from 5 million.
Grupo TACA has begun twice-weekly all-cargo service to Panama with Airbus A300 aircraft. Depending on demand, TACA will increase the service to as many as seven flights a week by rescheduling its three A300 freighters, said Julio Flores, VP-cargo. Flights leave from Miami and fly nonstop to Panama, then continue to El Salvador, Guatemala City and Los Angeles.
Continental flew 8.1% more revenue passenger miles and 8.3% more available seat miles in May than in the same month a year ago. The resulting load factor, 72.6%, was the second highest May load factor in the carrier's history. Most of the RPM increase came from international traffic, which rose 15.9%. For the year to date, Continental's systemwide traffic increased 11.4% and capacity 9%, lifting the load factor 1.5 percentage points to 72.1%.
United this month is introducing electronic ticketing to Chile and Venezuela. In Chile, e-tickets opened for sale this week for travel beginning June 15. Passengers traveling to or from Venezuela will be able to buy e-tickets beginning June 10 for travel July 1.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic Fourth Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 2,965 7.23 832 2,466,822 8.59 America West 4,244 (0.71) 928 3,939,522 4.77
Atlantic Coast Airlines reported May traffic jumped 33.6% to 91.6 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity was up 37% to 155 million available seat miles. Load factor was 59.1%, compared to 60.6% the same month last year. Passengers carried rose by 31.7% to 287.4 million. For the year to date, RPMs were up by 41.3% to 388.3 million, ASMs rose by 37% to 694 million, load factor rose by 1.7 points to 56% and passengers carried rose by 35.2% to 1.2 million. The United Express carrier operates a fleet of 80 aircraft serving Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare.
A six-month deadline to develop a new protocol for testing the fire resistance of aircraft insulation has come and gone, and FAA said yesterday it is "not going to speculate on when this whole effort might be done." The study was ordered following the crashes of TWA 800 and Swissair 111 (DAILY, Nov. 30). FAA now says the new protocol is likely to prove costly to industry and that it needs more time to study the impact.
Pakistan International Airlines asked DOT to amend its foreign air carrier permit and in the interim grant it an exemption to operate all services permitted under U.S.-Pakistan open skies (DAILY, May 6). (Dockets OST-99-5757, 5758)
US Airways applied to DOT to register the trade name US Airways Shuttle as an additional US Airways' trade name. The carrier plans to use the US Airways Shuttle name "for marketing purposes" for U.S. Northeast corridor services. The only carrier identified with the 'same or similar name' is Shuttle, Inc., which previously registered the trade name US Airways Shuttle.
Air France expects to unveil the name of its future U.S. partner in the coming weeks, the carrier said yesterday in Paris, when it announced financial results. Final deliberations are under way. Management has lined up a series of meetings with its counterparts from Continental, Delta and Northwest. No clear front runner has emerged, but in-house rumors point to Delta. Air France also said it "is confident it will be able to post a significant increase in operating income for the current financial year," the French airline said yesterday.
Mexicana, responding to seasonal market fluctuations, will suspend service from Mexico City to Denver between July 1 and Dec. 19. Flights will resume Dec. 20 to accommodate peak holiday and ski season traffic. Passengers currently booked on Mexicana flights to Denver will be rerouted through Los Angeles and San Antonio for connecting flights on other airlines.
Continental Express will start regional jet service from Baton Rouge, La., to Houston Bush Intercontinental Sept. 9, replacing one of nine turboprop flights in the market. Continental's regional subsidiary will operate the service with 50-passenger Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft.
TIE Aviation d/b/a Trans International Express applied for a certificate to conduct scheduled combination service between points in the U.S. and Israel, as well as "worldwide charter authority." TIE wants to start New York Kennedy-Tel Aviv service about Sept. 1, operating twice-weekly nonstops using a 462-seat Boeing 747-300 leased from Singapore Airlines, plus "charters to various destinations," including Berlin, Rome, Munich, Seattle and Las Vegas.
Frontier's advertisements published Nov. 11 in the Dallas Morning News and other newspapers failed to state clearly that advertised fares were one way and required a roundtrip purchase, DOT said in a consent order. DOT assessed Frontier $18,000 in compromise civil penalties for not stating "prominently and in close proximity" to the advertised fares that they were one-way tariffs available only on a roundtrip basis.
JAL Express (JEX) and Japan TransOcean Air (JTA) asked DOT for an exemption to wet-lease aircraft to Japan Airlines (JAL), their parent company, for JAL's code-share service with American. Approval would enable JAL to display American's designator code on intra-Japan flights operated by JAL using aircraft it wet-leases from JEX and JTA. Neither wet-lessor's code would be displayed on the flights.
Delta and Air Jamaica applied jointly at DOT for authority to expand their reciprocal code-share service between the U.S. and Caribbean points. They requested an exemption for Delta to provide scheduled combination service between Atlanta, New York, and Miami and Grenada, and between Los Angeles and Antigua and St. Lucia. They also asked for an exemption for Air Jamaica to conduct scheduled combination service between Montego Bay/Kingston and Phoenix/Salt Lake City.
MetroJet yesterday announced it is beginning daily nonstop flights between Boston Logan to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and adding a third daily flight between Boston and Tampa. Michael Scheeringa, VP-US Airways Shuttle and MetroJet, said that as part of a special introductory offer, advance purchase one-way fare in each market is $75. The new service quadruples flights between Boston and Florida for the carrier, he said.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Fourth Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (miles) (000) Change Alaska 247 27.32 1,144 282,204 28.75
American posted a 0.5% decline in May traffic, compared with the same 1998 period, and 0.1% gain in capacity, which eased the load factor 0.5 percentage points to 69.5%. Passenger boardings were off 2.8%. Traffic on Latin America and domestic segments contributed most heavily to the decline with drops of 5.0% and 2.4%, respectively. Capacity was down 10% on Latin America routes and 1.1% internationally. Traffic on Pacific routes, American's smallest division, was up sharply at 59% and capacity gained 34.8%. The resulting load factor was 72.8%, up 11 points.
Midwest Express will begin service Sept. 1 from its Milwaukee hub to Washington Dulles. The airline will offer two flights in each direction on weekdays. Three of the flights will provide one-stop, direct service between Kansas City and Washington Dulles. The carrier currently provides nonstop service between Washington Reagan Airport to Milwaukee and Omaha. Timothy Hoeksema, chairman, said the decision to expand service was based on growth potential.
National Transportation Safety Board this week recommended that FAA establish within two years "scientifically based hours-of-service regulations that set limits on hours of service, provide predictable work and rest schedules and consider circadian rhythms and human sleep and rest requirements" for flight crew.
