FAA will announce shortly decisions on a revised schedule for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) and on which color display will be selected for the 173 Tracons and 190 military facilities that will be equipped with the system, the agency said yesterday. Competing for the color display are Raytheon's early display configuration (EDC), which is part of the original STARS program, and Lockheed Martin's common automated radar terminal system (ARTS).
FAA has approved Kitty Hawk's floor modification kit for Pemco and AEI 727-200 aircraft converted for cargo operations, the company said yesterday. Tom Christopher, chairman, said the kit terminates an airworthiness directive on the cargo floor strength of converted aircraft and upgrades the average weight to 6,000 pounds per cargo position.
Emirates and Air Lanka have agreed to code share on Emirates' twice-weekly Colombo-Singapore and Colombo-Jakarta flights. Air Lanka already operates five weekly flights to Singapore, and the code share will enable it to offer daily service. Jakarta is a new destination for Air Lanka. In addition, Emirates is starting new daily flights from Dubai to Zurich via Istanbul, using A310-300s, and adding frequencies to Hong Kong.
Pemco World Air Services delivered a 737-800 to International Lease Finance Corp. following an avionics upgrade and interior modifications. ILFC will lease the aircraft to China Hainan Airlines.
A House Transportation Committee source yesterday called the fiscal 1999 FAA funding formula set by appropriations conferees - 15% from general revenues and 85% from the aviation trust funds - an "aberration" that was done "without our consultation." The source said the committee will try in this year's FAA reauthorization conference to restore the 30-70 split that prevailed in fiscal 1998.
Summary of U.S. Regional Jet Operators Scheduled Services as of Second Quarter 1999 Code Share Active In Aircraft Carrier Partners Aircraft Fleet Orders Air Canada Canadair 24 0 Air Wisconsin UA Canadair 4 5 American Eagle AA Embraer 25 102
Royal Nepal Airlines (RNA) canceled its 58 daily flights, 52 domestic and six international, as a strike by its pilots entered a second week. Captain Bijaya Giri, president of the Nepal Airline Pilots Association (NAPA), said the strikers are protesting RNA's one-year wet-lease contract with China Southwest Airlines for a 757-200 aircraft. The pilots say they will stay out on strike until Royal Nepal terminates the wet-lease and returns the aircraft. The wet-lease took effect March 10, and NAPA served notice for the strike a week later.
Eagle USA Airfreight believes it will report better-than-expected financial results for the second quarter of its 1999 fiscal year, the company said yesterday. It forecast net income of $5.2-$5.6 million, or $.27-$.29 per share versus a First Call estimate of $.24, on sales of $131-$133 million. In the year-earlier quarter, the company earned $4 million on $90.5 million in sales.
All Nippon Airways will reduce its board from 31 members to 19 in June, at the time of its annual meeting, and will carry out a reorganization in the meantime in an attempt to streamline decisionmaking and reduce costs. Kichisaburo Nomura, president and chief executive officer, said reform is necesary because of Japan's airline deregulation and "intense pricing competition," new accounting and financial systems and "the potential for a protracted economic recession." Among principal initiatives will be formation of:
U.S. Major Carriers Atlantic Share of Service Fourth Quarter 1998 Total Revenue Departures American 6,192 Continental 3,284 Delta 6,445 Northwest 2,324 TWA 1,621 United 4,806 US Airways 1,756 Total 26,428 Average Number of
Alaska Airlines traffic in March mirrored its February increase, up 9.1% on 7.2% more capacity. The load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 69%. The airline carried 1.15 million passengers last month, up from 1.08 million in March 1998. First quarter traffic was up 9.9% on 8.4% more capacity. Subsidiary Horizon Air's traffic grew 32.8% on 29.2% more capacity, forcing the load factor up 1.7 points to 61.8%. Horizon carried 421,800 passengers last month, up 24% from 289,000 in the year-earlier period.
DOT granted one-year renewals for Consorcio Aviacsa to continue to conduct scheduled combination service between Houston and two points in Mexico, Monterrey and Mexico City. (Dockets OST-98-3512, 99-5441)
Continental flight tested the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) of a 737 for Year 2000 date change capability during what the carrier termed the first flight in a simulated Y2K environment by a commercial airline. Last week, United reported an ACARS Y2K demonstration using a 747-400 that did not leave the ground (DAILY, March 31). Continental set the flight management computer and other date-related systems of a 737-700 for the last hour of 1999 and flew the aircraft for one hour at Houston while the systems advanced into Jan. 1, 2000.
The fruitless attempt to create a European Aerospace and Defense Company was pronounced dead last week in Stuttgart, when DaimlerChrysler Chairman Juergen Schrempp said it "won't happen." Presenting annual results for the German-American industrial giant, Schrempp said the recent alliance between British Aerospace and GEC Marconi "shattered the dreams of creating" an EADC.
Dragonair, taking delivery of its first of seven A321s under a three-year fleet renewal program, said it will operate the aircraft on several mainline routes out of its Hong Kong base, including Kunming, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Chief Executive Stanley Hui said the stretched A320 "is a perfect fit within our fleet. It ensures all our aircraft are from the same family, offering commonality with our A320s and A330s while giving us another capacity option." The carrier will take delivery of its next A321 in May and expects to have all seven next year.
US Airways' MetroJet unit will launch two routes from Milwaukee, to Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, in its latest expansion. When daily service under the MetroJet flag reaches Milwaukee in July, US Airways and its regional partners will offer 17 flights per day there. MetroJet is adding nine daily flights at Boston, four at Columbus, five at Hartford, six at Raleigh-Durham and eight at Baltimore/Washington.
The Congressional Budget Office has cut more than $42 billion from the projected long-term surplus in the airport and airway trust fund from the year-ago estimate, a development that threatens to undercut House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster's (R-Pa.) campaign to spend more of the trust funds with a greater federal contribution to aviation costs, congressional sources said yesterday. In January, CBO reduced the estimated uncommitted trust fund balance for the end of fiscal 2008 to $37.2 billion, down from $79.3 billion projected a year earlier.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators, meeting yesterday in Beijing, made progress toward an agreement on additional service opportunities between the two countries, a DOT official said. The duration of the current round had not been determined yesterday, and discussions were to continue today.
Boeing delivered 148 commercial transports in the first quarter, the company said yesterday. The deliveries comprised 14 737 classics, 61 next-generation 737s, 14 747s, 17 757s, 11 767s, 23 777s, two MD-80s, five MD-90s and one MD-11. Military and space deliveries were two C-17s, nine F-15s, six F/A-18C/Ds, two F/A-18E/Fs, three T-45TSs, two 767 AWACS aircraft and two Delta II space launch vehicles.
Castle Harlan Inc., a New York bank, completed the acquisition of AMR Services yesterday and renamed the company Worldwide Flight Services Inc. Terms were not disclosed. The airport ground services company has a staff of 8,000 and works for more than 200 airlines at 65 major airports. Last year, AMR Services had revenue of $230 million. Peter Pappas will remain as president and chief executive. Castle Harlan previously invested in aircraft sanitation firm MAG Aerospace Industries and baggage cart company Smarte Carte. It sold the latter in 1996.
Hollis Harris, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Air Canada, has been named chairman, president and CEO of Herndon, Va.-based World Airways effective May 1. He succeeds Russell Ray Jr., who will retire and continue as a director.
Lufthansa is threatening to test the legality of an agreement, reached in months of difficult negotiations, on financing Berlin's future large airport. Last week, Germany's federal government, Land Brandenburg's regional authority, the city of Berlin and a consortium led by Hochtief of Germany signed a 1,000-page contract to launch construction of Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI) in Schoenefeld, where the airport that served the former East Berlin is located.
Delta and Delta Express are offering reduced fares this week on domestic travel from four New York area airports - Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Islip. Sale fares, nonrefundable and requiring a Saturday night stay, are available through Friday for travel through May 27. Sample roundtrip fares cited by the company range from $158 for Islip-Fort Lauderdale to $298 for JFK-Los Angeles, JFK-San Francisco, JFK-Seattle and Newark-Salt Lake City.
US Airways traffic for March showed a 1.8% improvement, while capacity increased 3.6%, forcing the load factor down 1.3 percentage points to 73.9%. Domestic traffic declined 1% on 1.1% more capacity. International traffic rose 26.5% year-over-year on 28.6% more capacity. US Airways carried 4,984,086 passengers last month, off from 5,070,777 in March 1998. The load factor for the first quarter was 67.7%, down 1.3 points.
