Southwest said yesterday it will locate 300 flight attendants at a new crew base at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in early July and expects to expand the base by 500 flight attendants by yearend. The move reflects Southwest's growth on the East Coast, said VP-Inflight and Provisioning Donna Conover. Southwest expects to name a manager for the base in May. The carrier expect the number of employees in the Baltimore/ Washington area to grow to more than 1,500 by the end of the year.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W.Va.) speech at FAA's aviation forecast conference will be featured on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Washington's NewsChannel 8.
Genesis, the computer reservations system owned and operated by travel agencies, is forming two more travel agency registries, the Indian Standard Travel Agent Registry and the Mexican Standard Travel Agent Registry. India and Mexico will bring 6,000 travel agencies as potential Genesis subscribers. Seventeen other countries are actively pursuing organizational efforts to form Genesis registries, said Genesis President and Chief Executive Bruce Bishins.
Horizon Air has reduced fares between Sun Valley, Idaho, and several cities served by Horizon and Alaska Airlines for travel through June 5. Sample one-way fares to Sun Valley include $79 from Seattle, $99 from Reno and $109 from Los Angeles. Tickets must be purchased seven days before travel. A one-night minimum stay is required.
British Airways has established British Airways Travel Finance, a venture to lend money to its British customers. The novel approach reflects survey findings that vacations are the third most popular reason for taking out a loan, after car purchases and home improvements. BA made the service available initially at some of its U.K. shops, including Kingston, Birmingham, Bromley, Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds. If passengers support the move, it will be offered in all 23 U.K. travel shops.
National Transportation Safety Board member John Goglia will conduct a human factors focus group meeting Monday in an attempt to widen the use of new training techniques and make human factors programs more effective. Representatives of government agencies, 26 airlines, five colleges and universities and 11 associations have been invited to share experiences at the event, which will be held at the Adam's Mark Daytona Beach (Fla.) Hotel. A similar meeting last year at Indianapolis drew 130 participants.
KLM has signed with Internet firm Pandesic LLC to reach new markets and increase its role in the flower distribution business. Pandesic, a company formed by Intel and SAP, is partnering with KLM to create NewFlowers.com to push the sale of flowers via the Internet from international points to the U.S. market. Pandesic is providing accounts receivable, credit management and other tools, and it has set up a system by which orders can be bundled into a larger purchase order.
National Airlines asked DOT to allow it to begin issuing tickets and accepting payments April 19, before it receives FAA operating authority. The startup carrier plans to begin service May 27 from its Las Vegas hub, and it said FAA advised DOT on Tuesday "that it expects to grant National operating authority within seven to eight weeks." DOT issued National a conditional certificate under Docket OST-98-4538 to conduct scheduled combination service in a final fitness order on Feb. 11.
City Pair Markets With Regional Jet Service Grouped By Passengers Per Day One Way Passengers Per Day Under 50 57% 50 - 99 19% 100 - 199 11% 200 - 299 7% 300 - 399 3% 400 - 499 1% More Than 500 2%
A U.S.-China aviation agreement initialed Tuesday in China, likely to be signed today, will allow a fourth U.S. carrier to serve China in 2001 and will double over the next three years the number of U.S.-China flights each country's airlines can operate. The fourth U.S. carrier is a concession by China, which has three carriers operating international services and had been reluctant to expand U.S. rights beyond parity. Each country may designate a fourth carrier on April 1, 2001.
Correction: John Douglass, president and chief executive officer of Aerospace Industries Association, was misquoted March 31 by The DAILY. Douglass said the U.S. aerospace industry "can be proud of its trade record and continuing growth in the global market, especially when our national trade deficit is at an all-time high."
Fairchild Corp. will reserve a $32.7 million stock-sale gain in this year's third fiscal quarter to offset expenses it will incur disposing of its Fairchild Technologies Division. The gain is from selling AlliedSignal common stock recieved in January 1998 by Banner Aerospace, and it will be reserved in the quarter that ended March 28. Fairchild Technologies ran into what Fairchild Corp. termed "problems in the Asian market" and has been accounted for as a discontinued operation since February 1998. Fairchild Corp.
Northwest traffic, which dropped 6.8% in January and 3% in February year over year, increased 0.8% in March. Capacity declined 0.5% and the load factor was 76.7%, up 1.0 percentage point. Domestic traffic rose 2.2% on 1.3% more capacity, which lifted the load factor 0.7 points to 73.5%. International traffic declined 1.3% on 3.3% less capacity, and the load factor increased 1.6 points to 82%. Cargo traffic grew 0.5% to 186 million ton miles, but domestic cargo was down 17.7% in March.
Iberia is demanding 4 billion pesetas (US$26 million) in damages from its pilots' union, Sindicato Espanol de Pilotos de Lineas Aereas (SEPLA), the Spanish carrier said yesterday in Madrid. Iberia argues that the staggered strikes of March 26, 27, 29 and 31 and April 1, 2, 4 and 5 caused an "abusive and disproportionate prejudice," and that the union did not act "in good faith" as required by Spanish law. The airline said the strike led to a 12% reduction in reservations, a loss of 100,000 passengers, during the Semana Santa holiday week before Easter.
The Fedex Pilots Association still is waiting to sign the contract its members ratified early this year (DAILY, Feb. 5).The contract kicks in May 31, and the union says that although FedEx has made no effort to delay the signing, it doesn't have a date. FPA continues to plan for the FedEx acquisition or merger it's convinced may be just around the corner. "We do not know what plans the company has in this regard, but the rumors are certainly prevalent," FPA VP Wally Huggins said this week in a recorded message to pilots.
Airlines operating small airplanes will get little help from manufacturers in developing the engineering-based inspection system mandated under a newly proposed FAA rule, and it is "unrealistic" to expect them to be able to do it on their own, the National Air Transportation Association said. The proposal, part of FAA's aging aircraft initiative, would apply to aircraft older than 14 years (DAILY, April 5). NATA said large and regional carriers that operate transport-category aircraft will get "strong support" from manufacturers in complying with the rule.
Delta's proposed U.S.-Russia third-country code share is intended to "restrain competition...and pre-empt Continental's code share with Air France," and American's would do no more than add capacity on a route already served by nonstops, Continental told DOT. American, Continental and Delta have applied for two U.S.-Russia designations available Jan. 22, 2000. Arguing that its proposal is the only one that will "expand competition between airline networks and add new hub gateways for on-line U.S.-flag service between the U.S.
Boeing expects to announce a buyer during the second quarter for its Boeing Information Services (BIS) subsidiary, which provides information and systems integration services to the federal government, the company said yesterday.
Former American Chairman Bob Crandall was the highest paid executive in the company last year, even though he retired May 20. This and other facts were revealed in recent days in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Leaders of Continental, US Airways and American received sizable pay increases and bonuses in 1998, while United's executives received smaller raises and maintained pay rates lower than competing carriers.
TWA's traffic for March rose 4.7% on 2.4% more capacity, which raised the load factor 1.7 points to 77.2% and enabled the carrier to post its best boarding total for a March since 1978. The February load factor also was a record. Domestic traffic rose 7.9% on 4.8% more capacity, which boosted the load factor 2.2 points to 75.9%. International traffic dropped 10.6% on 11.1% less capacity, resulting in a load factor of 85.4%, up 0.5 points. TWA boarded 2.3 million passengers last month, up 7.5%.
United's traffic increased 6.1% in March on 4.6% more capacity, which forced the load factor up 1.0 percentage point to 71.6%. Domestic traffic grew 4.7% on 5.9% more capacity, which lowered the load factor 0.9 points to 70.6%. Pacific traffic rose 2.4% on 5.7% less capacity year-over-year, resulting in a load factor increase of 5.8 points to 73.0%. March was the ninth straight month the Pacific load factor grew. Atlantic traffic jumped 22.6% on 19.3% more capacity, pushing the load factor up 2.2 points to 81.4%. "Demand for travel between the U.S.
