DaimlerChrysler is flying a corporate A320 between Stuttgart and Detroit.The aircraft, configured with 52 seats, operates the route four times a week. It will be replaced in November by a similarly configured A319, which will make possible nonstop flights.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic December 1998 Revenue Ton Miles (000) January January % 1999 1998 Change Domestic Freight 746,245 771,814 (3.3) Mail 172,206 189,505 (9.1) Total 918,451 961,319 (4.5) International
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Over 750 Miles O&D Passengers Third Quarter 1998 1998 Average Long 1998 Non- Passen- Haul Mkt Stop ger Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day (% Share) 1 1 Los Angeles - New York 2,467 9,074 American (31.0)
Air France will expand worldwide service aggressively this summer and is intent on strengthening its alliances, Isabelle Koch, general manager for U.K. and Ireland, said as she announced the opening this month of a European reservations center near London (DAILY, March 26). Air France flew 34 million passengers in 1997-98 and posted an operating profit of 1.89 billion French francs (US$308 million). Koch pointed out that the French flag carrier is ranked fourth worldwide in international passenger transport and third worldwide for freight.
Delta announced policies for transporting animals during the summer. Effective immediately, passengers must notify Delta of plans to check a pet as baggage when the reservation is booked or as soon as plans are made. Especially during June, July and August, passengers with pets must travel in the morning or after 6 p.m. Delta will not accept live animal cargo if temperatures will reach 85 degrees F during any travel segment.
A report from American's Allied Pilots Association leadership to its rank and file warns of dire consequences for pilot jobs if American continues acquiring airlines and building alliances without APA running interference. The Special Report to the Membership lays out the union's concerns over the Reno acquisition and alleges that American would like to follow British Airways and Japan Airlines, whose pilots do not have a scope clause, in turning flying over to lower-paying partners.
Honeywell Airport Systems has formed an industry consortium to develop, certify and produce Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) equipment that will be integrated into the U.S. national airspace system, the company said yesterday. The consortium will include air carriers, airports, avionics suppliers and aircraft manufacturers, Honeywell said, and it will operate in partnership with (Continued) FAA to equip aircraft and airports to use Global Positioning System satellite data for instrument landings.
MetroJet is offering introductory fares to launch low-fare service between Washington Dulles and Columbus, Ohio, and St. Louis on April 7. One-way walkup fares of $59 for Dulles-Columbus and $85 for Dulles-St. Louis are available until April 16 for travel April 7-30.
Austrian Airlines this week began a second, later flight from New York to Vienna. In addition to its daily 6:30 p.m. departure from JFK, the carrier is operating a 9:30 p.m. nonstop three times a week. Beginning June 1, the late flight will operate six times weekly. The seasonal service ends Oct. 25.
Air-India has decided to reopen the office in Los Angeles it closed more than a year ago. Apart from serving its passengers and travel agents in the L.A. area, the office would help passengers on the code-share arrangement the Indian national carrier has firmed up with Singapore Airlines. The arrangement opens up connections from Singapore to several cities in India.
Vanguard Airlines yesterday proposed a one-for-five reverse stock split for shareholder approval May 18. The unusual move would reduce the number of outstanding shares to 17,078,549.
US Airways yesterday made plans to repurchase an additional $500 million in common stock, which will bring to $1.9 billion the total amount authorized for buyback. Nearly all of the $1.4 billion and 24.2 million shares previously authorized has been repurchased. The airline also said first quarter earnings will be affected by an "abnormally high number of cancellations" due to bad weather. US Airways still is transitioning to new information technology systems, a situation which "compounded" the bad-weather effects.
Challenging DOT's tentative allocation of 67 summer-season Chicago O'Hare-London roundtrip frequencies to United, American said it "disagrees with the outcome of the department's balancing test" for deciding the issue. In its tentative order, DOT said more competition at London Heathrow outweighs American's proposed daily London Gatwick service, which the carrier would operate for about three months during the seven-month season (DAILY, March 26).
Aerospace exports, imports and the trade surplus reached record highs last year, according to the Aerospace Industries Association's Aerospace Research Center. Exports rose by $14 billion to $64 billion and imports by $5 billion to $23 billion, AIA President John Douglass reported. The surplus, $41 billion, was up $8.7 billion from 1997. "Our legislators and government regulators need to remember that this $41 billion trade surplus is the largest in our national economy," Douglass said, contributing to "an all-time low" in the overall trade deficit.
U.S. and Argentine aviation officials, negotiating for four days last week in Buenos Aires, "made progress on all outstanding issues" that stand in the way of a U.S.-Argentina open-skies agreement, according to a DOT spokesman. The next round of talks is scheduled April 27-29 in Washington. Argentine President Carlos Menem visited the U.S. in January, and he and President Clinton urged their negotiators at the time to conclude an open-skies pact during the March meeting (DAILY, Jan. 13).
United and Aeronautical Radio Inc. (ARINC) have demonstrated that the flight management system in the airline's 747-400s will be able to communicate with ARINC's ground-based systems after Dec. 31. The companies used test facilities to conduct the experiment, so that current systems in operation would not be disrupted. The demonstration included the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), the global air-to-ground data link.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) ordered the island's airlines to complete all reprogramming and testing of computer systems for full compliance with Year 2000 date change requirements by the end of September. Carriers that miss the deadline face severe penalties, not yet specified, a CAA spokesman said.
General Electric said its CF34 engine, which powers the Canadair Regional Jet, passed three million flight hours recently with an inflight shutdown rate of one event per 228,200 hours. Shop visits averaged one every 17,300 hours.
Executives at Kiwi International Air Lines believe their carrier is caught in the middle of an "apparent rift" between DOT and FAA over the airline's March 23 shutdown. In a letter to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, Kiwi Chief Executive Eugene Gillespie asked the two officials not to hold hostage 80,000 travelers booked on Kiwi because of "what appears to be bureaucratic infighting." Gillespie indicated that FAA blindsided Kiwi by revoking its operating certificate, since the airline received no feedback from a recent safety inspection.
Northwest and Air China applied jointly at DOT for an exemption for Northwest to carry mail between New York Kennedy and Beijing and Shanghai, and for a statement of authorization for Air China to display Northwest's code on flights between Beijing and Shanghai and New York and Chicago O'Hare. Northwest holds economic authority to provide the service from Chicago. The carriers, which want to launch their mail code-share arrangement May 1, asked that the exemption be effective for two years and the code-share authority last indefinitely.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets, O&D Passengers, Third Quarter 1998 1998 1997 Average Mkt. Mkt Passengers Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Per Day (% Share) 1 1 Los Angeles - New York 9,074 American (31.0) 2 2 Chicago - New York 8,255 United (34.9) 3 4 New York - San Francisco 6,769 United (39.7)
The aviation trust fund amendment added to the Senate version of the fiscal 2000 budget resolution (DAILY, March 30) had the backing of Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).
Access Air's charge of predation against Northwest, Delta and TWA is the first in which a major did not follow a price increase by the startup, noted David Ulmer, Senior VP of Roberts Roach&Associates. The three majors matched Access's $198 introductory fares, but did not raise them when Access did. "You have to assume your fares are going to be matched in the marketplace," Ulmer said of the Access strategy.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers Third Quarter 1998 Short 1998 Non- Average Haul Mkt Stop Pax Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day (% Share) 1 2 Chicago - New York 723 8,255 United (34.9) 2 5 Boston - New York 183 6,393 Delta (40.4)
A Thai Airways International fleet rationalization study carried out four years ago has not reduced costs as planned, apparently because the airline's attempts to carry it out were turned aside within the Thai government. The carrier commissioned U.S. aviation consulting company Avitas in January 1995 to carry out a study of reducing the number of aircraft types in its fleet - then 17, including the Boeing 777, which was on order - and the number of engine types, then seven.
