Delta will provide more than $1 million for American Red Cross disaster relief under a three-year "Signature Partnership" agreement with the charity. The carrier supports Signature Partnership organizations through corporate sponsorship, the Delta Foundation and employee contributions.
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines is offering a range of special fares to promote the expansion of its own and senior partner United's Washington Dulles service. The off-peak one-way fares, available to 40 destinations from Dulles and pegged as low as $39 with none higher than $69, are part of a campaign called "Pick a City. Any City." The promotional fares are available for roundtrip travel only and include a Saturday night stayover.
American, talking to members and staffers of the Senate and House aviation subcommittees about passenger rights bills, is "raising the real-life impact that these proposals will have on industry," a company spokesman said.The airline denied reports that it and two other airlines are leading an effort to kill the bills (DAILY, April 27).
Rep. James Duncan (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, will be honorary chairman of the 11th annual Greater Washington Aviation Open, scheduled May 24 at Indian Spring Country Club, Silver Spring, Md. The tournament, close to being sold out for the fifth consecutive year, has raised more than $350,000 for charity during the past decade.
Both U.S. and European Union officials came under fire yesterday from industry groups who oppose - for very different reasons - the compromise reached this week on hushkitted airplanes (DAILY, April 29). The deal, confirmed yesterday by industry ministers in Luxembourg, delays for one year the EU deadline for phasing out hushkitted aircraft, and U.S.
Canadian Airlines reported a 9.7% gain in system-wide traffic on 5.5% more capacity for March 1999 compared with the same 1998 month, boosting the load factor 2.7 percentage points to 70.3%. Canadian flew 1.5 billion revenue passenger miles and 2.1 billion available seat miles. Domestic RPMs remained flat at 412 million and ASMs rose 2.5% to 617 million, reducing the load factor 1.6 points to 66.8%. International RPMs climbed 14.8% to 975 million on 7.6% more ASMs, 1.3 billion, increasing the load factor 4.6 points to 73.3%.
Merrill Lynch called Mesa Air Group's 7.5% first quarter operating margin "quite an accomplishment" after last year's quarterly margin of -9.6%. It was the best first quarter margin for Mesa since 1994. Merrill Lynch expects the Mesa-CCAIR merger to close this quarter. Mesa also is close to a 35- to 40-jet aircraft order.
The Allied Pilots Association said yesterday that as part of a negotiated settlement of litigation between the union and American, the union will not contest the court's characterization of the job action as a "minor" dispute under the Railway Labor Act. The single word "minor" may be at the crux of the dispute over whether the union had the right to stage a sickout and disrupt operations in protest of American's acquisition of Reno Air. "This is no small detail," said American spokeswoman Andrea Rader.
Minnesota attorney general has asked DOT to investigate possible unfair competitive practices by Northwest against Sun Country Airlines, which plans to start scheduled services from Minneapolis/St. Paul June 1. Northwest is using a "three-front attack [that] creates a climate of expanded seating, reduced prices, and scheduling conflicts designed to push an emerging competitor out of this marketplace," according to an April 23 letter by Attorney General Mike Hatch to Steven Okun, DOT special counsel for airline competition.
United, AlliedSignal Aerospace and Coherent Technologies Inc. (CTI) are joining forces to develop a sensor for airliners that will detect "virtually all types of air turbulence." United said it signed a memorandum of understanding with CTI for joint development of sensor and alerting requirements and crew procedures. AlliedSignal Aerospace agreed in an MOU with CTI to explore combining its enhanced microwave weather radar with CTI's infrared radar. Microwave radar uses radio waves to detect turbulence in moist air found in or near storms.
Angel Airlines, two months after starting operations, has secured landing rights to serve China. Starting today, Angel will offer four weekly Bangkok-Chiangrai-Kunming flights and three weekly Bangkok-Chengdu services, using Chiangrai as its northern hub in Thailand. Also today, it will start a daily Bangkok-Chiangrai service, using rights enjoyed by no other local domestic carrier. Chiangrai-Sipong flights in China will start July 1. All services will use 737-400 aircraft.
The Aviant plant in Kiev suspended assembly of a second Tu-334 airliner slated for certification testing because a Russian partner in the project is $3 million in debt. Four of the airplanes have been built by the Ukraine plant, three for ground testing and one for flight testing in Russia. With two flight-rated planes, the developers hoped substantially to cut the time required for certification of the medium-range, twin-jet airliner, designed to fly 102 passengers up to 2,500 kilometers. Work on the second flight certification Tu-334 was halted April 23.
Kendell Airlines, Australia's largest regional, is taking a 50-seat Canadair CRJ200 regional jet on a demonstration tour throughout the country this week in preparation for launching RJ service - its first jet flights - this fall. With help from Lauda Air Italy and Bombardier, Kendell will fly an aircraft to Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mackay and Rockhampton this week. The Ansett Australia partner has ordered 12 CRJ200ERs with options for more.
UPS's net income increased 42% in the first quarter to $499 million from $352 million in last year's quarter, the company said. Revenues were up 8% to $6.3 billion from $5.9 billion. Domestic package revenues rose to $5.2 billion from $4.9 billion, producing an operating profit of $765 million, up 29% from $594 million. International revenues rose 10.2% to $839 million, fueled by an 18.9% increase in express volume in Asia/Pacific operations. Operating profits from international operations increased to $44 million from $33 million.
Pilots at USAirways Express regional subsidiary Allegheny Airlines have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement that contains improved job security, scheduling and retirement provisions, the Air Line Pilots Association announced. ALPA said the contract has "considerable furlough protections" as well as provisions "alleviating hardships faced by reserve pilots." Allegheny pilots will keep their benefit pension plan and won increases in the amount the company contributes to 401(k) accounts.
Alaska Airlines said yesterday it was canceling about 10% of its flights because of a slowdown by its mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. "What is unusual is that the airline is not experiencing significantly more mechanical problems," Alaska said. "Repairs, however, are taking an unusually long time to be completed." Most of the cancellations have been at the carrier's primary hub, Seattle, and Alaska said it has been able to accommodate all passengers on other flights. The carrier said it is exploring court action.
Honeywell said net income for the first quarter rose to $105.4 million from $96.3 million in the same period last year, its 17th consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth. Sales were up 3.3% to $1.99 billion from $1.92 billion, and operating profit for space and aviation rose to $83.3 million from $70.3 million.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), a member of the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, will discuss air service to small communities, airline competition and infrastructure funding issues on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
TWA this week will begin adding summer flights in 21 U.S. city-pairs and two international markets - a second daily St. Louis-London Gatwick nonstop and a seasonal St. Louis-Paris nonstop. On May 1, TWA will begin service or add frequencies from St. Louis to El Paso, Richmond and Anchorage and on May 15 in Portland-Anchorage, St. Louis-Portland and St. Louis-Vancouver markets. On June 1, the second St. Louis-Anchorage nonstop begins, as well as added frequencies on routes between New York Kennedy and San Francisco, St.
Lufthansa has placed a firm order with Fairchild Aerospace for 60 units of the new 70-seat 728JET regional airliner in a deal worth about $1.6 billion, the manufacturer and airline announced. The carrier, launch customer for the aircraft, also took 60 options. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2002. Lufthansa, along with Swissair subsidiary Crossair, had been mentioned for some time as a strong candidate to become the launch customer for the airliner (DAILY, April 2).
Regional jets accounted for nearly one-quarter of regional lift last year in terms of the number of passenger seats, according to statistics compiled by AvStat Associates for the Regional Airline Association in its 1998 annual report. The report is available for $75 from RAA at 1200 19th Street N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036-2422. Top Regional Aircraft 1998 (In Descending Order By Total Seats) Percent of
Lufthansa Group said yesterday its pre-tax earnings for 1998 increased 42% to 2.5 billion deutschmarks (US$1.35 billion) and set a record. Last year's results also were a record. The company also had its best net profit ever, DM1.4 billion ($760 million), up 33%. "Growth in traffic volume continued unabated," Lufthansa said. The results, following a difficult period for British Airways, further established Lufthansa as the healthiest airline in Europe.
