Japan's Ministry of Transport will construct a second runway at crowded Tokyo Narita Airport that likely will be 2,200 meters (7,216 feet) long, shorter than one it pursued for decades. Several landowners still have not agreed on a 2,500-meter (8,200-foot) runway proposal, though local leaders near the airport have "strengthened their movement to seek cooperation from the landholders," MOT said. "The expansion of airport capacity for international aviation in the Tokyo metropolitan area has been an urgent issue for the nation." Lately, it has been more urgent.
Vanguard stockholders approved an amendment to the company's certificate of incorporation to effect a one-for-five reverse stock split of all outstanding shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share. The stock split became effective May 20. The Kansas City-based company's common stock will trade under the ticker symbol "VNGDD" for 30 calendar days. Stockholders also re-elected Chairman, Chief Executive and President Robert Spane and approved Ernst&Young LLP as Vanguard's independent auditors for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 1999.
Alitalia, KLM and Northwest will have to submit "certain relevant information" not included in their joint application seeking antitrust immunity for their "proposed tripartite alliance," according to a new DOT order (DAILY, May 13). The department wants the carriers to detail corporate data on their potential combined market and its effect on competition and labor forces. The airlines also must provide: -- Corporate documents from the last two years addressing competition on the U.S.-transatlantic markets;
Northwest Airlines Cargo has acquired a ninth 747-200 freighter that will enter service on transpacific markets Sept. 1. With the addition, the carrier will offer the New York and Chicago markets full aircraft capacity on Monday going westbound, Northwest said yesterday. These markets currently share capacity on a single freighter. The Los Angeles and San Francisco markets will get dedicated freight capacity on Thursday and Saturday, and Seattle will gain additional capacity westbound on Thursday and Saturday.
Orient Thai (OT), a Thai-owned regional carrier, wants the government to speed up deregulation of the aviation industry, which has been promised for six years. The last time the government considered liberalizing the aviation market was in December 1997. OT Managing Director Udom Tantiprasongchai said it is time to deregulate the industry so private carriers can move forward and operate domestic routes without restriction. The government also told private carriers that it wants them to participate more aggressively in the aviation industry.
Grupo TACA will offer nonstop service from New York Kennedy to both Guatemala City, Guatemala, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras, June 19. The seasonal service will continue through September. JFK-Guatemala will operate three times per week nonstop and on a one-stop basis the rest of the week via San Pedro Sula. JFK-San Pedro Sula will operate four times per week nonstop. Grupo TACA will use Airbus A320s on the routes, configured for 12 business- and 138 economy-class seats. TACA also serves San Salvador, El Salvador, and San Jose, Costa Rica, from JFK.
Cathay Pacific has entered a promotional licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to use Looney Tunes characters. The promotion features six familiar faces - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Marvin the Martian and Tasmanian Devil - will be used in children's amenity kits and meals, starting June 1.
United has asked its Air Line Pilots Association unit to modify its letter of agreement regarding regional jet flying, but some pilots want restrictions to be included in any new agreement to prevent expansion at the expense of ALPA. Pilots in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago domiciles said they want changes to the current RJ agreement to be part of a collective bargaining agreement. Pilots in San Francisco and other domiciles have stipulated that a new agreement must result in United's complete ownership and control of its regional feeders.
An FAA official has assured American pilots that the agency would "pursue a vigorous enforcement strategy" on pilot rest rules, Richard LaVoy, Allied Pilots Association president, said yesterday. The Air Line Pilots Association earlier called for FAA to enforce rules on preventing pilot fatigue, particularly for reserve pilots. LaVoy said, "This is a very positive move on the part of the FAA.
FAA yesterday issued an airworthiness directive on all Boeing 737s requiring operators to check for cracks in part of the power control unit (PCU) valve system. The AD affects the worldwide fleet of 3,059 737s. The agency earlier ordered inspections of older Boeing 727s to determine if electrical arcing had burned a hole in conduits carrying fuel pump wiring through fuel tanks. Both conditions are thought to have caused fatal crashes.
Canada Industrial Relations board has certified the Air Line Pilots Association, International as the new collective bargaining agent for the pilots and flight engineers of charter and scheduled passenger carrier Air Transat, based at Montreal Mirabel Airport.
AeroMexico's revenue passenger kilometers for April rose 9.5% and available seat kilometers increased 11%. The airline's passenger total grew 9.4% to 692,392. Year-to-date traffic was up 12.1% and capacity 13.5%. Freight volume in April was down 21.3% to 6.28 million freight ton kilometers and for the year-to-date fell 15.7%.
Woodward Governor Co. said its Aircraft Engine Systems group was selected by Pratt&Whitney Canada to supply the fuel pump on the PW200, PT6C and PT6-9 families of turboshaft engines used in a variety of helicopter applications.
Qantas and Ansett Australia have launched a joint protest against the government's acceptance of recommendation to open up Australian domestic routes to foreign carriers. A report prepared by Australia's Productivity Commission (APC) concludes that Australia should sign open-skies agreements with its bilateral partners. Qantas Chief Executive James Strong and Ansett Executive Chairman Rod Eddington, normally industry rivals, have taken a common stand: It would be disaster for Australian carriers if Transport Minister John Anderson accepts APC's proposal.
The U.S. and the U.K. are ready to "move forward" on two key issues likely to be discussed at talks in mid-June, according to an industry official.U.S. carrier access to London Heathrow, including a definition of that access, and prospects for the American-British Airways alliance are part of the "multitude of issues" the two sides will address on the way to U.S.- U.K. open skies, he told The DAILY.
Great Lakes Aviation has secured DOT permission to suspend its Essential Air Service at Terre Haute, Ind., at the end of its 90-day notice period June 1. DOT last week called for proposals from carriers interested in providing replacement service at Terre Haute without subsidy, saying it would make four Chicago O'Hare slot exemptions available for the replacement carrier. (Docket OST-1999-5174)
Alaska Air Group elected Byron Mallott, executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund; Patricia Stonesifer, president of Gates Learning Foundation, and Richard Wien, chairman of Florcraft, to the board. Comair Holdings Chairman David Mueller was named Airline Executive of the Year for 1999 by Regional Airline World magazine. Continental elected Kirbyjon Caldwell to the board. Flight Time named Michael Finney VP-operations and planning. Frontier appointed Kevin Gornik city manager-Portland, Ore.
The French government decided Friday to drop plans to reorganize traffic within the Paris airport system. French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot initially considered forcing all long-haul flights to depart and arrive from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, while Orly would have been used specifically for service less than 5,000 kilometers. The plan was fiercely opposed by smaller French airlines, which claimed that having to set up operations in both airports would have jeopardized their profitability.
-- Approved a one-year exemption renewal for China Southern to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between Guangzhou and Los Angeles...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for TWA to provide scheduled foreign combination service between New York and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Northwest to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Minneapolis/St.
This could be Markup Week on Capitol Hill, with as many as three aviation bills going through Congress. The House Transportation Committee is scheduled to re-mark AIR-21 as Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) seeks to reduce the $89 billion, five-year authorization to a level more palatable to House Republicans. Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee may mark up its fiscal 2000 appropriations bill tomorrow. The House Appropriations transportation subcommittee tentatively will mark up its money bill this week.
Federal Communications Commission, at the request of FAA and ARINC, last week approved use of 112-118 MHz for differential Global Positioning System corrections and use of hand-held transmitters on frequencies in the Aeronautical Enroute Service. "The effect of these amendments would increase aircraft and airport safety and facilitate the efficient use of the aeronautical radio spectrum," FCC said.
Northwest and Airlink partner Mesaba have placed a new regional jet in service between Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and Memphis. The 69- seat Avro RJ85 offers a 16-seat first class, wide seats, roomy overhead bins with a built-in handrail for ease of storing baggage and boarding the aircraft.
Increasing the current maximum passenger facility charge (PFC) from $3 to $7 would generate about $1.63 billion more for large airports but would turn away passengers, particularly non-business travel, according to a General Accounting Office report to Congress. The higher fee would eliminate an annual $1.5 billion funding difference that GAO said it identified between large airports' planned development costs and available funding.
