United is evaluating restoration of its daily Singapore-Hong Kong flights, suspended last year. Bill Byrne, United's general manager for Singapore, said demand in the sector is strong, and he is optimistic the service will restart. "I reckon it is only a matter of when," said Byrne, who was appointed to the position in October. The service was suspended because of the economic downturn in the region. Currently, eight airlines are offering a total of 14 flights a day on the route, described as the most lucrative in the region.
First quarter U.S. airline earnings will be 42% lower - $603 million versus $1 billion in first quarter 1998, according to BT Alex. Brown analyst Susan Donofrio.She picked United and Southwest for possible earnings surprises. Salomon Smith Barney singles out United, American and Continental for upside earnings potential. Two fare hikes during the period signal strong domestic traffic and will narrow the business-leisure fare gap, analysts said.
FAA should reject a proposal, expected to be issued in a week or two, to permit twin-engine aircraft to fly up to 207 minutes from a diversion airport, pilots from several airlines said yesterday at a news conference in Washington (DAILY, March 2). The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA) also called for FAA to get moving on updated flight and duty time rules and on requiring freighters to be equipped with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems.
Pilot scope clause provisions that impose limits on an airline's regional jet flying short-circuit competition and should be eliminated, according to a study due to be published in two weeks.
AlliedSignal Inc. has restructured its aerospace business into three segments in a move that the company said yesterday will bring savings of up to $50 million a year. The $7.5 billion business will consist of Engines&Systems, which includes the engines, components and accessories businesses; Avionics&Lighting, comprising avionics, defense and space and aircraft lighting businesses, and Aerospace Services - aftermarket, logistics, technical services and consulting.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) over the next five months plans to ground and withdraw from commercial service 37 aircraft of the Russian Tupolev series in operation at 13 airlines. Another 33 of various models will be grounded between September and December. Known as the flying trash cans because of their poor condition, these aircraft are more than 14 years old, according to CAAC Director Liu Chen Ge. Ten of the aircraft are used for flights to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Spirit Airlines, as the result of record growth and the maturing of new routes added in 1998, saw traffic leap 121.6% and capacity jump 104.4% in March 1999 compared with the same 1998 month, which pushed up the load factor 6.5 percentage points to 84.1%. Spirit flew 220.5 million revenue passenger miles and 262.1 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 94.4% to 240,225. Year-to-date RPMs gained 115.1% and ASMs 107.6%, boosting the load factor 2.9 points. Passengers flown increased 89.2%.
Grupo TACA had the highest March load factor in its history at 68%, up 11 percentage points from March 1998. Traffic was 276 million revenue passenger miles, with capacity totaling 408 million available seat miles. The airline attributed the load factor surge to its new hub structure begun in December using both San Salvador, El Salvador, and San Jose, Costa Rica.
Communities in Louisiana and Alabama applied for Chicago slots that will be available for reallocation by DOT as a result of the June 1 termination by American Eagle of nonstop O'Hare service to Shreveport, La., and Montgomery, Ala. American Eagle was awarded the slot exemptions solely for nonstop regional jet service from the communities to O'Hare (DAILY, April 21, Sept. 28, 1998). The Baton Rouge Greater Airport District and the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority each filed applications for four exemption slots.
United is asking its flight attendants to report cabin maintenance problems by picking up a GTE Airfone while in flight and calling the maintenance directorate. The new link enables cabin crew to dial "*FIX" and give details about the broken item directly to an aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). "With direct two-way telephone communication, we gather more information than we could get through the old maintenance reporting procedure, and it speeds up the repair process," said Mike Lapacek, staff analyst-maintenance planning, in an internal communique.
Bulgarian Transport Minister Wilhelm Kraus chose European Airbus equipment for national carrier Balkan Airlines despite the fact that Prime Minister Ivan Kostov criticized the European Union's attitude toward Bulgaria. On March 2, Kraus said a work group headed by him chose two A310s to replace Boeing 767s. One of the 767s was returned at the beginning of the year and the second departed last month as their leasing contracts expired.
DOT yesterday upheld its earlier decision that federal law takes precedence over a Texas court's ruling to bar Legend Airlines and Continental Express from flying out of Dallas Love Field. DOT told the City of Fort Worth and the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Board that state law and a bond ordinance aimed at protecting DFW do not preclude rights set down by the Shelby and Wright amendments allowing certain carriers to operate interstate routes. Dee Kelly, attorney for Fort Worth and American, said the ruling was "no surprise at all.
American Trans Air will offer nonstop service to San Juan from New York Kennedy starting June 16 and from Fort Lauderdale June 9, operating six roundtrips per week in each market. Flights from JFK will use a Lockheed L-1011 and will operate every day but Tuesday. Service from Fort Lauderdale will be aboard a 727-200 and will operate every day except Tuesday to San Juan and every day except Wednesday on return to Fort Lauderdale. American Trans Air also offers nonstop service from Chicago Midway and Orlando to and from San Juan.
Express Airlines I, a Northwest Airlink carrier, posted a 5.3% increase in March traffic to 28,748 revenue passenger miles and a 0.6% rise in capacity to 46,273 available seat miles compared with the year-ago month, boosting the load factor 2.8 percentage points to 62.1%. Passengers flown declined 4.3% to 105,249. Year-to-date RPMs grew 0.2% on 4.5% fewer ASMs, growing the load factor 2.8 points. Passengers flown dropped 5.7%.
US Airways will temporarily suspend service between Philadelphia and Amsterdam on June 12 until it receives new aircraft for its international fleet. The airline said it will pull aircraft from another route to serve Charlotte-London.
China Southern Airlines has added an Airbus A320 flight training facility to its center in Zhuhai in southern China. At 100,000 square feet, the Zhuhai center is the largest flight training building in Asia, the airline said. China Southern has invested $100 million in the site, which meets FAA and other western standards. In addition to the A320s, the facility trains with two 737 simulators, one 757/767 and one 777, all made by Montreal-based CAE Electronics. The A320 simulator already is in use 20 hours per day.
Senate budget conferees, as expected, dropped a sense of the Senate resolution aimed at House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster's AIR-21 aviation funding bill after House Republican leaders "had problems" with the Senate's restrictive language, congressional sources said yesterday (DAILY, April 14). The phrase apparently was a reference to the commitment of the House Republican leadership to give Shuster a vote in the House on AIR-21, a five-year FAA reauthorization that would expand funding by taking the aviation trust funds off budget.
American applied at DOT for an extrabilateral designation to operate San Jose, Calif.-London Gatwick service. The carrier, unsuccessful last year in its bid for a movable U.S. gateway for service to the U.K. - awarded to Continental for Cleveland-Gatwick service (DAILY, Oct. 21, 1998) - asked DOT to seek on its behalf a designation beyond the restrictions of the U.S.-U.K. Bermuda 2 agreement. "The U.S. and the U.K.
GE Capital is selling five aircraft to Airborne Express and is buying 13 from China Eastern. Airborne said it has entered an agreement with General Electric Capital Corp. to purchase five used 767-200s, with the right to buy a sixth, bringing to 28 the number of 767-200s it has committed to purchase. To date, seven have been acquired and five are in service. The latest aircraft will be delivered this year and in 2000, when the possible sixth also would arrive. The aircraft are now on lease to TWA.
Shareholders of Virgin Express yesterday approved a plan to repurchase up to $15 million of the carrier's outstanding shares. Under the plan, adopted at a shareholders meeting in London, the company initially would purchase up to $7 million in stock. If earnings for 1999 reach $8 million, the company would be permitted to buy the entire $15 million amount. Shares will be purchased on the open market.
Bombardier yesterday reported revenues for the year ended Jan. 31 of C$11.5 billion (US$7.7 billion), up 35% from the previous year. Net income was C$554 million ($371 million), an increase of 32%.
The government of Indonesia has named Merpati Nusantara the backup airline to national carrier Garuda Indonesia. According to Muljadi Kartono, secretary general of the Ministry of Transport, Merpati is the only airline of the four local private carriers that operates domestic and international flights. The other three - Bouraq Airways, Mandala Air and Peliti - offer only scheduled domestic and chartered flights.
As the German capital moves from Bonn to Berlin shortly, Lufthansa is contemplating the reintroduction of transatlantic service from Berlin to the U.S. for the first time in seven years. When Delta pulled out of Berlin-New York Kennedy service last year, it left the new German capital with no Atlantic nonstops. "Maybe there will be a chance of installing a code-share flight between Washington and Berlin by 2000 or 2001," said Wolfgang Weber, director of Berlin operations for Lufthansa.
The House on Monday approved a five-year extension of the War Risk Insurance Plan by a vote of 392-1 and sent it to the Senate for final congressional approval. The program provides insurance for commercial airliners flying into war zones. Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.), a senior member of the House aviation subcommittee and floor manager of the bill, said the act is not currently being used in Kosovo, but it "could be needed at any time and, therefore, we cannot afford to allow the program to lapse."
