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.
Delta posted record traffic for each of the first three months of the year and set a load factor record for March. Systemwide traffic for March rose 2.3% on 0.7% more capacity, boosting the load factor 1.1 percentage points to 75.7%. Domestic traffic showed all the gains, up 2.9% on 0.8% more capacity, resulting in a load factor of 75.3%, up 1.5 points. International traffic was flat while capacity increased 0.3%, lowering the load factor 0.3 points to 77.1%. Delta boarded 9.4 million passengers last month, up 0.9%.
United began nonstop hourly Washington Dulles-Boston jet service Sunday, increasing the number of daily direct trips from four to 14. The carrier is serving the market with three types of aircraft - A320s, A319s and 737s.
Worldspan yesterday released an enhanced, fully intuitive version of its World File client profile management system. The New Interactive World Files store client data, such as travel preferences, and billing information. The system retrieves and enters the data automatically when needed to complete an air, car or hotel reservation. This eliminates repetitive keystrokes, reduces travel agent error and helps direct bookings to preferred vendors.
ICAO members are scheduled to report their Year 2000 readiness by July 1, and little will be known until then about how some nations are progressing, Joe Morgan, head of FAA's international Y2K effort, said yesterday in Washington. In the U.S., FAA will check the top 50 airports by then and visit the top 150 by Aug. 1, said Dave Bennett, director, Office of Airport Safety and Standards. As for the U.S., Ray Long, director of FAA's Y2K program office, said all 641 FAA systems requiring Y2K repairs were successfully renovated and tested as of March 31.
Continental posted another double-digit traffic increase last month and the load factor set a March record, 75.7%. Traffic increased 12.8% on 9.8% more capacity, which raised the load factor 2.1 percentage points. Continental's international traffic gained 20.1% on 15.7% more capacity, boosting the load factor 2.8 points to 76.9%. Domestic traffic grew 9.1% on 6.8% more capacity, lifting the load factor 1.6 points to 75%. For the first quarter, the airline's traffic rose 13.8% and capacity 9.7%.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) did not resolve their differences on added flights at Washington Reagan Airport before Congress started its current recess, and developments in Kosovo have prevented further talks since then.McCain's committee-approved FAA reauthorization bill would add 48 daily slots. Warner favors the 24 approved last year by the Senate and has introduced a similar bill this year.
United urged DOT to make final its tentative allocation to United of 67 Chicago-London summer-season roundtrip frequencies (DAILY, March 26), arguing that DOT's conclusion that competition on the route is centered at London Heathrow makes the decision in favor of United "appropriate." United said American's objection to the award "again extols the advantages" of service to London Gatwick (DAILY, March 31), which would not increase competition in the market.
