Louisville Airport-Standiford Field, Ky., will receive $4.6 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program money, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said this week. The airport will use the funds to construct runways, acquire land for development and noise compatibility, and provide relocation assistance, DOT said. Slater announced several DOT initiatives as part of Transportation Week observances, May 16-22. Louisville Airport had 3,534 operations in February.
Garuda Indonesia is expected to return to profitability by 2001, according to Lufthansa Consulting GmbH (LCON), hired by the airline to stem the flow of red ink and restructure the carrier. Team leader Walter Prenzler said LCON's priority is to work out repayment terms for remaining debts totaling US$400 million. After registering a loss of US$45 million in 1997, the airline posted an operating profit of US$101 million in the past fiscal year. "The carrier is certainly on the road to where it is supposed to be - profitable," Prenzler said.
Norwegian carrier Braathens posted a net loss of 321 million Norwegian crowns (US$41 million) in the first quarter of 1999, compared with a profit of 11 million crowns in the same period in 1998. The airline projected it will "most probably" end the year with a deficit. Braathens, which holds a 50% market share of Norway's domestic market, blamed its losses on increased competition in the Scandinavian market, now fully liberalized, and on problems linked to the opening of Oslo's new Gardermoen Airport, which opened in October.
Moody's placed its ratings of Atlas Air debt on review for possible upgrade. The review was prompted by Atlas's strong operating results in fourth quarter 1998 and first quarter 1999. The ratings company said it will continue to take into consideration Atlas's success in the "relatively narrow market niche within which it operates, the number of highly specialized aircraft Atlas has placed in service and the use of debt to fund Atlas's rapid growth."
Airbus Industrie will establish an Office of Safety and Technical Affairs in Washington and name former National Transportation Safety Board member John Lauber to head it as VP-safety and technical affairs. Lauber previously was VP-training and human factors at the Airbus Training Center in Miami.
Taiwan's state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) will increase its paid-in capital by NT$6 billion (US$180 million) to NT$15 billion before the end of the year in preparation for privatization. AIDC has registered capital of NT$15 billion and actual paid-in capital of NT$9 billion. A company spokesman said plans call for raising the additional NT$6 billion from the private sector, creating 40% private ownership in the firm before the release of additional shares.
DOT granted Delta a two-year initial exemption to engage in scheduled combination service between points in the U.S. and Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and to integrate the authority with existing rights. The carrier plans to serve Tbilisi via Vienna under code share with Austrian. (Docket OST-99-5594)
In a bid to raise the communication ability - and safety practices - of pilots at Chinese carriers, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has enacted new regulations making English compulsory, effective immediately. Language issues have been a safety concern in Asia for some time and contributed to confusion in the cockpit prior to the crash of a Korean Air Boeing 747 in Guam in 1997. But Asian nations have been reluctant to address the issue, even though English is the language of air traffic controllers worldwide.
Air Aruba has added 39% capacity within the last 12 months, after launching service to Philadelphia and Baltimore and increasing seats to Newark. The additions have boosted Aruba's seat capacity to the U.S. 13% since last year to 60 weekly flights. Weekly seat capacity has grown to 9,622 from 8,306, also because of American's additional service from Miami and Continental capacity addition from Houston. ALM flies twice weekly nonstops to Atlanta as well.
United has shifted some of its business-market aircraft to weekend leisure market flying, and has brought in $2 million in the first quarter from the new activity. The amount is nearly 100% more than in the first quarter last year. As business destinations dry up over the weekend, the carrier has found ways to generate new sources of revenue from redeploying its assets.
American Eagle, the regional affiliate of American, will begin regional jet service between New York LaGuardia and Cleveland Hopkins airports July 29, offering six daily roundtrips using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets. Service will be timed throughout the day for business travelers, departing from Gate D-1 in LaGuardia's Central Terminal.
Sabre Technology Solutions has developed a non-radar aircraft position indicator for airport authorities and air traffic controllers at facilities not equipped with radar. It said the new indicator technology provides real-time knowledge of aircraft identity and inflight position by tracking transmissions from the aircraft's transponder. The information can be used not only to increase safety but also to ensure smooth traffic flow, improve gate arrival and departure, manage noise and improve planning of ground staff and equipment use.
The Myanmar government has abandoned plans to sell a 40% stake of national carrier Myanmar Airways International (MAI). The decision follows a breakdown of talks with the Evergreen Group of Taiwan through its subsidiary, EVA Air. According to Hla Thann, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yangon, the government will continue alone to develop the carrier after receiving a fresh infusion of funds from the treasury.
United said its United Connection at www.ual.com posted a record-breaking $30 million in online travel sales in April. United's online travel planning product had $200 million in sales in 1998, including flights with United and more than 500 other carriers.
American's labor agreement with flight attendants led to another labor issue for CEO Don Carty. The 3 a.m. phone call alerting Carty to the flight attendants deal awoke his wife and prompted her to go into labor. Son Donald John Carty Jr. was born two hours later.
Air France will suspend its code-sharing agreement with Korean Air for one year, the French airline said yesterday. The decision was made by both companies for commercial reasons, following Korean Air's "image problem," a spokesman for Air France said. Korean authorities recently announced sanctions against Korean Air, following a series of nine serious incidents that affected the airline in the past eight months. Air France and Korean Air's code-sharing operations comprised four weekly frequencies between Paris and Seoul, one of which was operated by Korean Air.
KLM, reporting its earnings today, is expected to show another loss.Merrill Lynch projects KLM to lose 2.09 Dutch guilders per share, 58% worse than the prior year's 1.32 guilders. "Although results in the March quarter may be disappointing, recent traffic growth has been strong, up 2% in April, with Asia passenger traffic up 8%," said Merrill Lynch analysts.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day, Fourth Quarter 1998 DC-10-10 American United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 13 18 31 Total Fleet Operations Departures 27 51 77
Vaisala Columbus, manufacturer of automated weather observing systems (AWOS), has received FAA approval of its SA20 Strike-Alert thunderstorm sensor for use on AWOS. The sensor can detect thunderstorms within a 30 nautical mile range of the airport. It also provides distance and direction data to the pilot.
Hong Kong International Airport's second operational runway will open May 26, giving Hong Kong a two-runway airport for the first time. Initially, the north runway will open during the 10 a.m.-4 p.m. peak period and during a few other periods as navigation instruments are calibrated and additional maintenance is performed. Despite the new capacity, the airport will continue to operate at the limited maximum of 37 movements per hour. By October, the figure will rise to 40 per hour and the new runway will be rated Category III, allowing operations in zero visibility.
Organizers of a high-level international aviation conference this fall hope to focus the world's attention on the barriers to growth in aviation, chiefly from lack of infrastructure development. The "Global Summit on International Aviation Infrastructure," Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Washington, is being organized by George Washington University's Darryl Jenkins, executive director of the school's Aviation Institute. The co-chair is Norman Mineta, former House aviation subcommittee chairman and former chairman of the 1997 National Civil Aviation Review Commission.
Airbus Industrie yesterday delivered its 2,000th aircraft since the consortium was established 30 years ago. The aircraft, an A340-300, was delivered to Lufthansa. "Airbus Industrie's goal is to maintain half of the market share for commercial airliners in terms of value," said Noel Forgeard, chief executive. He said Airbus delivered less than 1% of commercial jetliners in 1974, but that share of deliveries grew to 30% in 1998 and will reach 40% in 2000.
Overcapacity in China and a drop in domestic travel has prompted Chinese carriers to explore wet-leasing aircraft to other airlines. China Southern Airlines (CSA) will lease two Boeing 777-200s to Biman Airlines of Bangladesh. The aircraft will be used for the Hadj pilgrimage to Mecca, starting in July. CSA flight services official Zhang Wu said the airline was advised against wet-leases by its maintenance subsidiary because the interior is always damaged by passengers who have never traveled in an aircraft before.
