Improved operating margins in all operating units helped Boeing achieve "solid and clearly improving performance" during the first quarter, Phil Condit, chairman and chief executive officer, said yesterday. The company reported earnings of $469 million in the quarter on sales of $14.4 billion, versus year-earlier sales of $12.9 billion and profits of $50 million following a $219 million after-tax forward loss on the next-generation 737 program.
India's finance ministry has approved in principle a proposal from national carrier Air-India to raise up to $100 million through one or more securitization deals in foreign capital markets, Air-India sources said yesterday. The approval also confirmed that the B-plus rating assigned to the proposal by international credit-rating agencies is adequate. Roadshows for raising the funds will start in May, after Air-India receives formal approval from the ministry, carrier officials said.
A U.S. envoy will visit Europe next week carrying a promise to work with European Union nations on pushing a Chapter 4 engine noise limit through ICAO if the EU will back off its determination to ban hushkitted aircraft when its transport ministers vote on the issue April 29. The compromise is contained in a letter to European officials from the secretaries of Commerce, Transportation and State and the U.S. Trade Representative.
...Boyd points out that American Eagle is dropping all turboprop service from Chicago O'Hare to Wausau, Wis., and those O'Hare slots and other turboprop slots are being used to initiate long-haul RJ service to Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and other larger markets. American Eagle also is abandoning O'Hare service to Montgomery and Shreveport, points it has been serving with exemption slots. "Small airports are not going to be saved by RJs, with or without legislation or studies on union scope clauses.
Great Lakes Aviation received a 146% boost in essential air service (EAS) subsidies during 1998 and a 328.6% increase from 1996, according to the carrier's annual 10K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 1998 amount was $15 million, compared with $6.1 million in 1997 and $3.5 million in 1996. As of Dec. 31, Great Lakes served 29 EAS markets with subsidy.
Continental yesterday posted a first quarter net profit of $84 million, up 3.7% from the year-earlier period, as both domestic and international revenue outpaced its capacity-adjusted growth. The airline's 16th consecutive quarterly profit grew out of a revenue gain of 10.9% to $2.1 billion. Operating income increased 6.7% to $160 million. Continental gained $19 million in the quarter from American's labor troubles, $15 million domestically and $4 million from Latin America. "I think we got some long-term benefit from this," said Chairman Gordon Bethune.
National Air Transportation Association has named Clif Stroud director of communications at the organization. Stroud, currently editor of DAILY affiliate ATC Market Report, will begin with the association at its annual convention next week in Phoenix, April 20-22. A successor to Stroud at ATC Market Report has not been named.
Embraer has confirmed that it is in negotiations with Crossair of Switzerland and Regional Airlines of France for as many as 210 regional jets with up to 108 seats. Crossair is talking 200 alone, including up to 40 50-seat ERJ-145s, 160 70- to 108-seat ERJ-170s and -190s. The carrier also is in discussions with Fairchild Aerospace for 728 and 928 jets. Regional Airlines, already an ERJ-145 operator, would take 10 ERJ-170s priced at $21 million each.
Canadair RJ manufacturer Bombardier posted a net profit of C$193.7 million (US$129.9 million), or 27 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, an increase of 28.6% from the same period one year earlier, when the company earned C$150.6 million (US$101 million), or 21 cents per share. The Montreal-based manufacturer this week also announced sharply higher annual profits and revenues (DAILY, April 14).
Rep. James Oberstar's (D-Minn.) speech to the International Aviation Club in Washington will be the focus of this week's Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and British Aerospace signed an agreement under which MHI will assemble main wing parts of two Airbus aircraft, the A319 and A320, as a subcontractor to the British manufacturer. The contract is valued at about $2.5 million a year. Mitsubishi is the second Japanese company to participate in an Airbus program - Kawasaki Heavy Industries assembles A321 fuselage panels - and the European consortium apparently expects MHI to become involved in other projects, including development of the A3XX superjumbo.
European Regions Airline Association is encouraging the European Commission and its next Transport Commissioner, not yet named, to spread their liberalized air regime - and the growth they could bring - to several countries in Central Europe. The EC is negotiating with 10 Central European Countries (CECs) to expand the current liberal air transport area comprising the 15 European Union states, Norway and Iceland.
Delta will begin code-share service from Zurich to Bucharest, Romania, on May 1 on Swissair's aircraft. The airlines recently received approval to code share on the route.
DOT issued a notice yesterday inviting the three U.S. carriers currently designated for U.S.-China services to apply for additional frequencies available under the liberalized U.S.-China aviation pact. United, Northwest and Federal Express, which currently operate a total of 27 weekly roundtrips, may apply for the eight additional frequencies that became available following amendment of the U.S.-China bilateral (DAILY, April 9) and for nine more frequencies that become available April 1, 2000, DOT said.
FAA said yesterday that Japan complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and has been rated as Category I.
AirTran, which lost money throughout 1997 and 1998, yesterday reported a first quarter profit of $3.1 million. The carrier lost $7.9 million in the first quarter of 1998. New Chief Executive Joe Leonard attributed the gains to a strong economy and "conscientious efforts" by employees. AirTran's revenue increased 26.8% to $119.9 million, while expenses rose 13.8% to $110.9 million. Operating profits increased to $9 million, up from a loss of $2.9 million.
Singapore Airlines has delayed joining the Star Alliance until Oct. 1 while it negotiates for a larger role, an airline official told The DAILY in Singapore. Details of SIA's participation will be announced at the next meeting of the Star Alliance, May 3 in Sydney. The official said that as a major global carrier, SIA wants a bigger say following its proposed acquisition of News Ltd.'s 50% stake in Ansett. "SIA will push for a more influential say," the official indicated.
Aviation officials from the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates initialed an open-skies agreement Tuesday following one day of meetings in Washington, according to a DOT spokesman. He said the agreement, provisionally in effect immediately, is a full open-skies accord, with no phase-in provisions. The accord is the second with a Middle Eastern country; Jordan and the U.S. agreed to open skies in November 1996.
MCI WorldCom said it was selected by Delta to upgrade the carrier's data communications network at 28 locations nationwide. The contract is the first phase of Delta's larger Airport Renewal Project, under which the carrier plans to upgrade another 100 sites over the next two years. MCI WorldCom said its "asynchronous transfer mode" (ATM) and frame applications will help Delta expedite certain automated services including passenger check-in and board, credit card verification, baggage management and communications integration.
Virgin Atlantic applied for an exemption to operate Chicago-London Heathrow combination service. The carrier has been designated by the U.K. as the second British carrier on the route and is seeking slot exemptions at Chicago O'Hare for summer season service (DAILY, March 17) under Docket OST-99-5239. It noted that the City of Chicago is "strongly urging" DOT to grant its slot exemption application. Virgin said it would bring needed competition and generate economic benefits to Chicago, which "among U.S. cities [is] the fourth largest exporter of goods to the U.K.
DOT has made final a tentative decision to award Glennallen, Alaska-based Wrangell Mountain Air a certificate to offer scheduled service (DAILY, March 26). (Docket OST-99-5010)
Air Canada reported a 0.7% gain in systemwide traffic to 1.9 billion revenue passenger miles on 1.5% less capacity to 2.6 billion available seat miles for March 1999 compared with March 1998, which grew the load factor 1.6 percentage points to 71.4%. Air Canada's domestic RPMs dropped 1.5% to 640 million and ASMs 1.2% to 920 million, depressing the load factor 0.2 points to 69.6%. International RPMs gained 1.9% to 1.2 billion on 1.7% fewer ASMs, 1.7 billion, which boosted the load factor 2.5 points to 72.3%.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, a United Express carrier, will offer an additional regional jet flight between Sioux Falls and Chicago O'Hare, beginning May 17. The change creates a new schedule with a total of three United Express jet roundtrips to Chicago, replacing the combination of jet and turboprop service formerly offered at Sioux Falls. On May 7, ACA will expand its weekend-only jet service from Washington Dulles to four destinations and place extra flights on existing all-jet service to Savannah/Hilton Head and Fort Myers.
Contract aircraft have flown a total of 14 missions to date in support of the humanitarian airlift of food and supplies from the U.S. to refugees in Albania. The airlift contract has cost the U.S. military $2.6 million, and that number is expected to climb. Five additional missions are slated and more are possible, said Air Force Capt. Jeff Glenn, Air Mobility Command spokesman.
