AirTran Airways has named Robert Fornaro president. Joe Leonard, who has been serving as president since he joined the company in January, will retain his duties as chairman and chief executive.
Delta applied at DOT for an exemption to provide scheduled combination service between any points in the U.S. and any points in the U.K. except London Heathrow and Gatwick airports, consistent with 1995 amendments to the U.S.-U.K. bilateral. The carrier plans to expand its U.S.-U.K. third-country code share with Air France about June 1, placing its code on Paris-Birmingham flights operated by Air France, and it asked DOT to grant its application by April 5. Delta does not hold underlying authority to serve Birmingham. (Docket OST-99-5391)
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) did not appear before the House Rules Committee yesterday to seek authority to offer a House budget resolution amendment earmarking for aviation $15 billion, the projected aviation trust fund surplus over five years, but he said the Republican House leadership has accommodated him. "I'm not going to offer an amendment because I have a deal [with the leadership] which is very acceptable to me," Shuster told The DAILY in a brief interview off the House floor late yesterday.
Hit by a sluggish economy, Taiwan domestic airlines' traffic volume fell 10.4% in 1998, to 16.67 million revenue passenger miles from 18.61 million in 1997, according to statistics compiled by Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration. Far Eastern Air Transport was Taiwan's leading domestic carrier last year, boarding 5.08 million passengers for a 30.5% market share. UNI Airlines carried 4.15 million passengers and held 24.9% of the market.
Curtiss-Wright signed an eight-year contract to supply Boeing with flight control systems for 737, 747, 757 and 767 aircraft. Products include the trailing edge flap actuators on the next generation 737, 757-300 and 767-300 series of aircraft.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater's last-minute attempt to persuade European Union transport ministers to postpone the phaseout of hushkitted aircraft achieved no concrete results yesterday but may be bearing fruit. A regulation preventing EU carriers from adding hushkitted aircraft to their fleets as of April 1 is scheduled to be adopted by EU transport ministers Monday in Brussels. "It is still on the agenda. There is no reason why it should not be adopted," said a spokeswoman for EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock.
Dragonair will increase frequencies to handle Easter holiday travel during the next few weeks. The carrier is adding seven flights from Hong Kong to Guilin and boosting service to Beijing, Kunming and Xian. International flights will be added to Phuket, Thailand; Sendai, Japan, and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The airline's year-over-year holiday travel bookings have increased.
Delta frequent flyers can earn miles with purchases from 1-800-FLOWERS. SkyMile members will earn 300 miles for every purchase of $29.99 and an extra 100 miles for each additional $10 spent on the same purchase. Platinum Medallion members will earn 100 bonus miles for every order, and Gold and Silver Medallion members will earn 50 bonus miles with each order.
United will relocate to the new north wing of Terminal 1 at Tokyo Narita Airport from its space in the south wing. All departure and arrival facilities will move to the new terminal. United will have expanded facilities, including as many as 36 ticketing and check-in counter positions and more room for administration and employee support. A new 5,500-square-foot Red Carpet Club with 142 seats will open in the new area. The airline handles 5,500 passengers each day at Narita.
Fresh from gaining authority from DOT (DAILY, March 16), All Nippon Airways and Varig firmed up plans to launch code-share service March 29 between Japan and Brazil as part of closer ties through the Star Alliance, which ANA will join in October. The first element of the code share covers five weekly flights via Los Angeles to Japan flown by Varig 747-300s. The service will increase to daily on June 29. Under the U.S.-Brazil bilateral signed in December, Varig has secured fifth-freedom rights that allow it to sell tickets between Los Angeles and Japan.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Regionals February 1998 to January 1999 Total Total Cost Cents Per Gallons (Dollars) Gallon 1998 February Domestic 873,928,737 479,037,769 54.814 International 315,687,408 188,681,767 59.769
Emery Worldwide asked DOT for an indefinite-duration exemption to provide scheduled foreign cargo service between Dayton, Ohio, and Monterrey, Mexico. The carrier wants to start service on the route April 13, using its own DC-8 aircraft and crew to operate five weekly flights. No carrier is currently authorized to serve the city-pair, it said. Emery requested that DOT combine this authority with its certificate authority for Laredo-Monterrey and Dayton-Mexico City/Guadalajara service. (Docket OST-99-5415)
America West Holdings said it continues to expect the airline's 1999 operating cost per available seat mile to increase approximately 1% versus 1998. The expectation is based on the carrier's new five-year tentative contract agreement with its flight attendants and current estimates of fuel prices.
Nonstop Traffic Analysis U.S. - Canada/Greenland Roundtrip Operations 12 Months Ended June 1998 Top Ten Nonstop Carriers U.S. - Canada/Greenland Onboard Percent Code Departures Passengers Of Total 1 Air Canada AC 61,999 4,207,504 25.7% 2 American AA 24,978 2,065,950 12.6%
Worldspan yesterday appointed Douglas Abramson VP-general counsel and secretary and Sam Galeotos VP-operations and customer service to the position of chief executive until the company names a permanent successor to the current CEO, Mike Buckman, who is leaving at monthend. Abramson will be in charge of the global strategic business initiatives and dealings with the board. Galeotos will focus on day-to-day global operational activities.
LanChile traffic for February increased 13.9% and capacity rose 11.3%, lifting the load factor 1.6 percentage points to 69.9%. International traffic was up 22.8% year over year on 21.6% more capacity, pushing the load factor up 0.7 points to 71.2%. Domestic traffic fell 8.4% on 11.8% less capacity, which forced the load factor to rise 2.4 points to 65.8%. With the international gain and domestic shrinkage, LanChile's international division had three times the capacity of the domestic system and nearly as many passengers.
DOT issued a show cause order yesterday tentatively finding that Kiwi International Airlines has failed to demonstrate its continued fitness and proposing to revoke its certificate. The department said it found that Kiwi "no longer meets any of the three standards for airline fitness: adequate financing, competent management, and a willingness to comply with applicable laws and regulations." DOT found that Kiwi has not made "timely payments for fees and services, including passenger facility charges," with "more than $750,000" owed to airports as of Feb.
The Philippine government has given the green light for liberalization of its skies to allow foreign carriers to operate routes from major Philippine cities to Australia and Europe, abandoned last year by national carrier Philippine Airlines. Transport Secretary Gemma Cruz-Araneta told The DAILY that this move is the only way to open up the routes and revive traffic from these two major markets. She said liberalization will be applied to Davao and Cebu, and two other points are being evaluated.
American Eagle is launching daily Grenada-San Juan, Puerto Rico, service May 25, operating one daily roundtrip flight with its largest aircraft, the 64-seat Super ATR. The carrier will suspend the flights Sept. 8 and reinstate them during the higher-demand winter months.
Ontario Inc., operating as Air Wave Transportation, Montreal, applied to DOT for a one-year exemption to fly all-cargo charters between Canada and the U.S. The company, launched in 1991 to carry courier freight from Toronto to eastern Canada, has flown charters throughout Canada and the U.S. since 1997. (Docket OST-99-5384)
Ethnic unrest in Indonesia has prompted five airlines either to reduce service to Jakarta or stop it altogether. Malaysia Airlines has reduced its flights from 18 a week to 13, British Airways from six to two, Lufthansa from seven to four and Singapore Airlines from eight daily to seven, while Turkish Airways stopped its three weekly flights. SIA also reduced flights to Surabaya by four to 10 a week. KLM, which has historical links with Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, is adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
Airlines Reporting Corp. reported a 6% increase to $6.2 billion in total travel agent sales processed for February 1999 compared with February 1998. Domestic fares rose 6% to $4 billion and international fares climbed 4% to $1.7 billion. Domestic commissions were up 2% to $263.1 million and international commissions grew 2% to $213 million. Average weekly sales per agency location were at $33,237, down 1%, while credit card billings jumped 5% to $5.1 billion.
Denver-based Frontier is offering discount fares starting at $69 one way based on roundtrip purchase for travel from Denver to Salt Lake City. Fares are based on a 14-day advance purchase for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday. Tickets must be purchased by April 4 for travel April 12-June 15. Sample one-way fares to other destinations include $159 Atlanta-Seattle/Tacoma or Chicago Midway-Phoenix, $89 Denver-Dallas/Fort Worth and $149 Baltimore/Washington-San Francisco. Fares also are available through the carrier's web site, at www.frontierairlines.com.
Steven Akey will leave DOT April 9 as the department's longest-serving head of public affairs to become senior VP in the Washington, D.C., office of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. Akey held various DOT posts since 1993, becoming director of public affairs in 1995. DOT Deputy Director of Public Affairs William Schulz will replace Akey.
National Transportation Safety Board, in an unusual approach to a draft report on an aircraft accident, yesterday tied two other events involving 737s into its analysis of the USAir Flight 427 crash near Pittsburgh in 1994.
