Britten-Norman plans to re-enter the U.S. market with its Islander line of twin-engine piston- and turbine-powered utility and commuter aircraft. Until recently, the U.K.-based manufacturer was owned by Pilatus of Switzerland and focused its marketing efforts on the military and utility markets. The eight-passenger aircraft was popular in the early 1970s, particularly for short-range scheduled service in the Caribbean and related markets. Wings Airways of suburban Blue Bell, Pa., long served Philadelphia Airport with frequent flights, overflying traffic gridlock.
Used Regional Aircraft Transactions, December 1998 Carrier No. Type Engines Previous Operator Aerocaribe 4 Jetstream 32 TPE331-12UAR-701H BAeAMT Africair 1 Cessna 208B PT6A-114A Thunder Airlines Air Caraibes 1 Do 228-202 TPE331-5-252D Air Vendee Air Cargo 1 Shorts 330 PT6A-45R Corporate Carriers Air Europa 1 BAe ATP PW126 BAe AMT
FlightSafety Boeing broke ground on its $100 million Miami Training Hub, beginning demolition of a warehouse on a 5.5-acre site adjacent to Miami Airport. The 134,000-square-foot facility is sized to train about 7,000 pilots and 3,000 maintenance technicians per year, and the company plans to move into it next March.
TWA's new chief executive, Bill Compton, has made profitability his number one priority, pledging to keep his eyes glued to the airline's cost structure and unit revenue growth, and he is not ruling out alliances if that's what will free the carrier from its 10 straight years of losses. "We're starting to get some wind in our sails," he said in an interview. Two days into his job, he told The DAILY that TWA is a healthier airline than many in the industry believe.
San Antonio-based Fairchild Aerospace has appointed aerospace industry veteran Robert Stangarone VP-corporate affairs. Also this week, the corporation announced the appointment of Daniel Kirkpatrick as VP-technical support.
Osaka Kansai, opened in September 1994, is facing financial difficulty, possibly as a result of its high landing charges, generally considered to be one of three highest in the world. In October 1998, British Airways, Mongolian Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlines stopped flying into the airport, and at the start of this year, South African Airways and Brazil's VASP also dropped out.
U.S. government proposals to implement more rules in the airline business would not solve any problems, could have an adverse effect on safety and could cost airlines more than $6 billion in lost revenue, according to a study by the Economic Strategy Institute (ESI). Passenger Bill of Rights legislation could result in "higher air travel fares, lower efficiency in the industry, poorer customer service, reduced profitability and incentives that may come in conflict with safety objectives," said study co-author Scott Gibson.
Ozark Air Lines, a startup carrier headquartered in Columbia, Mo., applied at DOT for a certificate authorizing scheduled and charter combination service. The carrier, not connected with the Ozark Air Lines that became part of TWA in 1986, plans to offer service from Columbia Regional Airport to markets in "the Mid-United States," and it is seeking initial approval to provide scheduled service from Columbia to Dallas and Chicago with two 32-seat Dornier 328 jets, not yet certificated.
TWA's flight attendants, represented by the Teamsters, says Gerald Gitner's resignation as chief executive in favor of Bill Compton is "an executive shuffle that will not work," and the union wants TWA's board to remove Gitner and reject Compton's appointment. The union also blames the pair for what it considers an impasse in contract talks. Union Chair Sherry Cooper and President and General Chairman William O'Driscoll said TWA's board "must reject this manipulative shuffle.
China Airlines, TransAsia Airways and Far Eastern Air Transport Service have entered a joint venture to form Kaohsiung Airport Catering Services Ltd. A CAL spokesman said the new company will be capitalized at NT$270 million (US$8.2 million), with CAL and TransAsia each holding a 45% stake and Far Eastern the remaining 10%. The new company is expected to gain a 75% share of the market in the southern Taiwan region and is projected to generate revenues of $12.2 million annually, with a yearly profit of nearly $1 million.
Brazil's ProEx interest-rate-equalization program as applied to exports of the Embraer ERJ-145/135 regional jets will not go away, The DAILY is told by Embraer CEO Mauricio Botelho. To comply with the recent World Trade Organization ruling on ProEx, he said the program likely would be tied to the London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIPOR), which is typical in aircraft-lease transactions. ProEx currently pays 3.8% on 85% of the aircraft value over 10 to 15 years. The WTO ruled that unacceptable. The program will continue in one form or another (story below).
FedEx plans to increase its Orlando, Fla., sorting operations by moving to a new facility at Orlando Airport, the Greater Orlando Airport Authority said yesterday. The company will spend about $8.5 million to build the facility and $6 million to equip it, and the airport authority intends to spend $15.7 million, $11 million of it from revenue bonds, on a taxiway apron and other site work.
Hawaiian Airlines reported a 15.4% jump in February 1999 traffic to 297.7 million revenue passenger miles and a 1.5% gain in capacity to 437.2 million available seat miles, compared with the same 1998 month. As a result, the load factor rose 9.3 percentage points to 68.1%. Passengers flown were up 12.1% to 438,478. Year-to-date RPMs jumped 14.7% and ASMs 2.8%, forcing the load factor to grow 7.7 points. Passengers flown climbed 10.6%.
Average load factor for 16 of the nation's largest regional airlines increased by just over a percentage point in February to 53.8%, compared with 52.7% in the year-earlier period. Four carriers turned in load factors below 50%, while three were above 60%, but barely. The leader again was United Express Air Wisconsin, whose load factor climbed nearly six points to 61.7%. Horizon Air, another perennial leader, was up from 59.8% to 60.8%. Gulfstream International, one of the smaller carriers in the group, came in at 60.5%, compared with 59.1% a year ago.
Abu Dhabi Airport has started work on an extension that will increase passenger capacity to 7.2 million per year. The work is scheduled to be completed in 2007.
Cathal Flynn, FAA associate administrator for civil aviation security, will discuss airport security issues in an interview on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The House Transportation aviation subcommittee heard testimony from airline executives and lobbyists yesterday that the industry is trying to improve its customer service. But committee members said they were not convinced that the airlines are taking full responsibility for consumer complaints or have specific plans for doing anything about problems that resulted in last week's accounts of passenger horror stories (DAILY, March 11).
DOT yesterday granted Continental's request for an exemption to delay until June 30 the startup date of its Cleveland-London Gatwick service. Under terms of its certificate, the carrier's authority would expire May 17. (Docket OST-99-5165)
American Eagle, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, is offering special fares to residents of surrounding cities to Chicago or Dallas/Fort Worth for the weekend. The "Shopper Fares" range from $58 to $88 roundtrip, with travel beginning the weekend of March 27. Sample roundtrip fares to DFW include $58 from Longview, Tyler, Waco or Wichita Falls, Texas. Roundtrip fares to Chicago include $58 from Springfield, Ill., $78 from Evansville, Ind., and $88 from Duluth, Minn., Montgomery, Ala., or Shreveport, La.
After failing to secure fifth-freedom rights from the U.K., France, Germany and Switzerland for Malaysia Airlines flights to the U.S., the Malaysian government has turned to Warsaw. Malaysia has signed a bilateral air services pact with Poland and asked Polish authorities for fifth-freedom rights permitting MAS to carry Polish passengers on flights to New York. Minister of Transport Ling Liong Sik said MAS wants to start service to Warsaw, but it would be uneconomical if the flights were to terminate in the Polish capital.
Skynet Holdings Inc. acquired a regional courier company, Nevada Fleet Management Inc., in what Skynet Chief Executive Vic Nizic said is the first of a planned series of "platform" deals to open up "new geographic service areas...around the world" for its time-sensitive delivery business. Skynet did not disclose terms of the deal.
Airports Council International-NA Executive VP Rob Wigington has left ACI to become senior associate for Booz-Allen&Hamilton's Airports Management Consulting Group. Wigington was with ACI since 1985, and was executive VP since 1996.
TAP Air Portugal flew 9.36 billion revenue passenger kilometers in 1998, up 6.6%, although freight volume fell 2.1% to 230 million ton kilometers. The airline transported 4,537,756 passengers, an 8.9% jump from 1997.
TWA's Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council on Tuesday unseated MEC Chairman Joe Chronic, who served during contentious contract negotiations last year. Chronic was up for re-election but was replaced by Tom Brown, a New York-based MD80 captain who has worked in the grievance arena and served four terms as the New York local council flight engineer representative. Brown has been with TWA since 1969 and experienced two furloughs, the union said.
