British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and DOT Secretary Rodney Slater will meet April 20 in Washington to follow up on their March 26 discussions in London on moving forward toward a new U.S.-U.K. bilateral, according to a DOT spokesman. Prescott's visit to the U.S. will include talks with Vice President Gore on environmental and sustainability issues, and he is scheduled to attend the Earth Day Summit in New York, according to the British Embassy.
Continental initiated 3% leisure and 1% business fare increases Thursday. The fate of the increases industry-wide was not decided Friday, but as of close of business United and Delta had matched them. The fact that the increase was floated "does reflect strong demand in some regions of the country," said Merrill Lynch. There have been two fare increases so far this year.
DOT - Approved a Vacation Express charter using an Allegro MD-83 or 727 for eight roundtrips carrying 165 passengers on a Cancun-Nashville/Memphis-Cancun routing May 18-July 6...Approved a British Ministry of Defense charter using a Royal Aviation A310 for two one-way flights carrying 175 to 188 passengers on Seattle-Goose Bay, Canada-Brize Norton, U.K., and Seattle-Goose Bay, Canada-Brize Norton, U.K.-Calgary routings April 7-9...Approved in part, with the remainder deferred, an Aerolineas Uruguayas charter using a Fast Air DC-8 or 767 for 52 roundtrips carrying general c
FAA - In Federal Register dated April 2...Issued an airworthiness directive on Boeing 737-600/700/800 aircraft requiring inspection of the power distribution panels. -In FR dated April 5...Issued an AD on Allison AE 3007 series engines concerning engine ground starts...Proposed an AD on General Electric CF34 series engines to require new life limits for certain high pressure compressor spools...Proposed to supersede an AD on Bombardier CL-215 aircraft concerning inspections of the wing to fuselage frame angles.
Comair Holdings Inc. reported a 27.1% rise in traffic on 22.7% more capacity for March, which grew the load factor 3.6 percentage points to 63.6%. The Cincinnati-based carrier flew 207.4 million revenue passenger miles and 326.1 million available seat miles. Enplanements increased 18.8% to 589,767. Year-to-date RPMs gained 23.4% and ASMs 20.5%, boosting the load factor 2.4 points. Passenger boardings increased 17.2%.
City Bird of Belgium has added online booking capability to its web site at www.citybird.com. Passengers may reserve and pay for seats and are given 24-hour electronic access to flight schedules and availability and price information.
Engineers with Pratt&Whitney, Boeing and FAA are working out a test and inspection program for high-cycle PW4000 engines with 94-inch fans to identify which ones have enough high-power stability to be at low risk for surges, P&W confirmed. FAA officials are close to putting out an airworthiness directive making the testing regime mandatory and requiring overhauls for engines that do not pass. The work is part of a continuing program to address compressor surges on engines with 1,200 or more cycles.
Frontier Airlines' profitability has translated into a mushrooming stock price. Since September, when it traded at $2.88 per share on the NASDAQ exchange, the value has almost quadrupled. Shares traded at their 52-week high last week, closing Friday at $10.94 per share.
United will upgrade seats and in-flight entertainment systems on 16 of its Boeing 777A model used in international service. "Currently, the number of market opportunities for 777 aircraft exceeds the number of 777Bs United has in its fleet," the airline said in a memo to employees. Because of this, the 777As will stay on United's international routes instead of being used solely for North America routes, as the company originally had planned.
In an attempt to improve maintenance service to RB211 operators at London-area airports, Rolls-Royce is expanding on-wing and off-wing capabilities at its Hatton Cross facility at London Heathrow. The company will install tooling at Hatton Cross for many major off-wing repairs that currently entail returning engines to rework shops. On-wing services will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Northwest and United asked DOT to include in several docketed and undocketed files at DOT their joint letter and memorandum outlining their concerns on DOT's recent actions in removing exclusivity provisions from some carrier code-share agreements (DAILY, April 8). The letter, dated April 2, is addressed to Brad Mims, DOT acting assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs; Joel Klein, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, and David Marchick, the State Department's assistant secretary for transportation affairs.
Barringer Technologies received a $9.5 million FAA contract for Ionscan explosives detectors. FAA already had ordered $6.4 million of the total, $4 million of it in December.
Alaska Airlines and its Association of Flight Attendants unit have begun to exchange opening proposals in an effort to expedite negotiation of a new contract. As agreed in their 1994 contract, the two sides will use interest-based bargaining this year and apply jointly to the National Mediation Board for federal mediation if they have not reached agreement by July 30. Tom Lent, president of the Alaska AFA Master Executive Council, said the union is optimistic that it can achieve a fair contract in a reasonable time using interest-based bargaining.
Air Canada launched a spring sale with reductions of up to 40% to more than 160 destinations. The sale continues until April 19. All travel to Canadian and U.S. destinations must be completed by Sept. 23, and the deadline for most international departures also is Sept. 23. Sample roundtrip fares include $277 Los Angeles-Toronto, $286 Houston-Calgary and $346 New York-Vancouver.
Atlantic Coast Airlines is again said to be close to a deal with Fairchild Aerospace for up to 50 328/428JETs, having said in its recent SEC 10-K report that it intended to operate regional jets of 44 and fewer seats. Complicating the deal is ASA's commitment of $47 million in lease payments to British Aerospace for 28 Jetstream 32 19-seaters for up to seven years (DAILY, April 2). BAe is said to be uncooperative, which means that Fairchild would have to eat those leases to complete the deal.
US Airways Express wholly owned affiliate PSA will begin service between Columbia, S.C. and Washington Reagan Airport on May 4, operating three daily roundtrip flights with 32-passenger, 335-knot-cruise Dornier 328 turboprops. PSA, based near Dayton, Ohio, is one of nine US Airways Express regionals.
Eight significant incidents involving burned or charred insulation blankets have been uncovered by technicians and accident investigators since late 1993, according to National Transportation Safety Board statistics revealed Wednesday at Aviation Week's Global Safety and Security Conference in Atlanta. Four of the incidents occurred on MD-11s, including the aircraft involved in the Swissair crash near Halifax last Sept. 2.
Continental and Alaska Airlines said they will begin selling tickets on code share flights Saturday for travel starting April 19. Horizon will have flights available for sale on April 24 for travel starting April 26. Continental will code share on 43 West Coast and Pacific Northwest routes operated by Alaska and Horizon, including service to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska; Spokane, Pasco and Pullman, Wash.; Eugene and Medford, Ore., and Redding and Sacramento, Calif.
United's fuel hedging program locked in prices too high and cost the airline $200 million last year and $40 million in the first quarter, according to Salomon Smith Barney. The airline "made some bad fuel hedging bets," the firm said.
British Airways lost no time announcing that it intends to serve Tripoli, Libya, planning three 737 flights per week subject to government approval. The carrier acted following the removal of United Nations restrictions on commerce with Libya after suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, were turned over to authorities.
FAA estimates that it will cost some $67.8 million to develop its proposed "damage-tolerance-based" inspections for 21 model-groups of aging regional and commuter aircraft, and that for some models, development work would uncover the need for model-specific structural modifications, either to make the aircraft inspectable or to replace elements determined to be uninspectable and subject to critical fatigue damage. Cost estimates of the likely modifications range from $10,200 to $168,800 per affected airplane depending on size and certification basis...
