A Rolls-Royce Trent engine joint venture, launched this week at a signing ceremony in Singapore, is scheduled to open in 2002 at Singapore Changi Airport. The new facility, Singapore Aero Engine Services Ltd. (SAESL), is 50% owned by SIA Engineering Co., 30% by Rolls-Royce and 20% by Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Ltd. The Trent engine powers 48% of Airbus A330 and Boeing 777s ordered by Asia/Pacific carriers.
AD OPT Technologies, Montreal, has sold personnel management software to Swissair and the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration. The Swiss carrier will use two of the company's products, the Altitude Preferential Bidding System and the Altitude Pairing system, to schedule work by about 1,200 cockpit crew members and 4,600 cabin crew members. Both systems are expected to be fully implemented by the end of the year.
DOT extended for 30 days, through April 15, its deadline for taking action on Northwest's complaint against the European Union's prospective hushkit rule, citing continuing contacts between U.S. and European officials in the U.S.'s attempt to fend it off. Northwest, which hushkitted some of its aircraft to comply with Stage 3 noise limits in the U.S., complained Jan. 15 to DOT that the EU rule would limit U.S. carriers' access to Europe unreasonably, violating the Chicago Convention and bilateral agreements between the U.S. and individual EU member nations.
Overcapacity seems not to have hurt the U.S. majors last month.Six of them increased capacity year-over-year in February, and five increased their load factors as well.Of the four that decreased capacity, two had higher load factors. Put another way, five of the seven that grew their load factors did it despite higher capacity. But yields and costs, not reported, determine whether load factor gains turn into profit.
A core group of five international airlines is raising extraterritorial issues in seeking to modify provisions of the House Transportation Committee's five-year FAA reauthorization bill that would extend to foreign airlines current domestic requirements for transporting disabled persons. So far, it looks like an uphill battle. In identical letters sent last week to House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan Jr.
TWA said yesterday that William Compton will become the new chief executive and Gerald Gitner will become chairman of the executive committee, effective at the annual shareholders meeting May 25.
Association of European Airlines Traffic November 1998 Passenger Data % % Pts. RPKs Change ASKs Change Load Change Region (Mil) 98/97 (Mil) 98/97 Factor 98/97 EUROPE 8,939.9 6.1 15,448.0 7.5 57.9 -0.7
Virgin Atlantic asked DOT for an exemption from slot restrictions at Chicago O'Hare so it can operate daily Chicago-London Heathrow nonstops beginning Aug. 11 and continuing through Oct. 31 to "build up a market presence on this new route prior to the beginning of the 1999-2000 winter season." The U.K. notified the U.S. on March 4 that it has designated Virgin for the route, under double designation authorized under the U.S.-U.K. Bermuda 2 agreement for routes achieving specified traffic thresholds.
SAS traffic for February increased 4% SAS traffic for February increased 4% to 1.48 billion revenue passenger kilometers and passenger load factor was 58%, versus 54.4% in January. Freight volume rose 2% year over year to 58 million freight ton kilometers.
India will consider granting British Airways extra landing rights at Bombay and New Delhi if the U.K. will permit Air-India (AI) to increase its services to London. AI, which operates 14 flights a week, wants another eight. AI also wants fifth-freedom rights to the U.S. As for Virgin Atlantic's request to be allowed to operate flights into India, Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary Jayakrishna said this is a separate issue and should be dealt with under the proposed new bilateral accord with Britain.
AccessAir, cited last week by DOT as evidence that new entrants are is making a comeback (DAILY, March 10), is asking DOT Secretary Rodney Slater for help in warding off alleged predatory competitive practices by three major carriers. Roger Ferguson, chairman, chief executive and president of the Des Moines-based startup, wrote Slater that "the expected bear hug by the major airlines has begun," and that Northwest, TWA and Delta are offering fares in competing markets that are one-third cheaper than AccessAir's and far below the majors' normal fares and costs.
Kiwi Holdings, the holding company that owns 15% of Kiwi International Air Lines, completed a restructuring that includes a new name for the parent company - Chariot International Holdings. The company includes an interest in a $200 million cruise ship due to be launched next year.
Philippine Airlines has phased out the last of its Fokker 50 turboprop operation, giving the airline an all-jet fleet for the first time in its history. The 54-seat F50s are being replaced with 141-seat Boeing 737-300s. The move also shortens the flying time on domestic routes. The F50s have been the workhorse of domestic routes since they were acquired in 1988. PAL said the aircraft were "extremely uneconomical to operate" and caused losses throughout the 1990s due to high lease payments and extensive maintenance costs.
Raleigh/Durham-based Midway Airlines reported a 5.9% rise in traffic on 0.8% more capacity for February 1999 compared with the same 1998 month, which boosted the load factor 3.2 percentage points to 66.7%. Midway reported 79.5 million revenue passenger miles and 119.2 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 6.2% to 150,100. Year-to-date RPMs grew 5.3% and ASMs 0.3%, lifting the load factor 3 points. Passengers boarded rose 7.5%.
General Accounting Office and DOT witnesses yesterday gave FAA good grades for its strong effort on Year 2000 computer readiness in the past year and in putting in place a management structure to ensure systems compliance, but they were less than confident about compliance by some other elements of aviation operations. FAA Administrator Jane Garvey also testified before a combined hearing of two House subcommittees.
DOT granted a joint request by Northwest and Braathens for code-sharing authority between Minneapolis and Oslo, Norway. Braathens received an initial two-year exemption to conduct foreign combination service between the two points by placing its designator code on Northwest's Minneapolis-Oslo flights, and Northwest received indefinite-duration authority to display Braathens' code on those flights. KLM holds 30% of Braathens' stock, and DOT found that a waiver of ownership and control standard is warranted.
British World Airlines (BWA) will operate a series of domestic and scheduled flights on behalf of Jersey European Airways this summer, using two of its four British Aerospace ATPs. The contract, which includes BWA cabin crew and pilots, covers a four-month period with one aircraft and two and a half months with the other. Another of BWA's ATPs recently completed a contract with Air Baltic, operating between Riga and Scandinavia, and Binter Mediterraneo of Spain will complete a second short-term wet-lease contract with BWA this weekend.
Port of Columbus, Ohio, Airport shut down a runway and evacuated a concourse late Friday after security officials detected suspicious contents in checked baggage bound for an America West flight to Washington. According to published reports, the bag, later found to have no explosives, was checked by former DOT Inspector General Mary Schiavo with wires and other items that might warrant a security check, as part of a news story on aviation safety done with local television station WCMH. FAA, America West and airport officials declined comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday it found nothing new after inspecting two rudder control units removed from Boeing 737s after reported problems. The statement came a week before more 737 "sunshine hearings" on the ongoing rudder issues. NTSB inspected the rudder power control unit (PCU) of a United 737-300 after a Feb. 19 incident and of a US Airways/MetroJet 737-200 following a Feb. 23 incident. The United PCU had a mispositioned valve spring guide, but when it was properly positioned the PCU passed the standard acceptance test procedure.
Spirit Airlines, Detroit, flew 162.1 million revenue passenger miles and 198.3 million available seat miles last month, up 114.4% and 96.4% from the same 1998 period, resulting in a load factor jump of 6.8 percentage points to 81.7%. Passengers carried rose 86.9% to 171,190. Year-to-date RPMs soared 110.6% and ASMs 109.8%, boosting the load factor 0.3 points. Passengers were up 85.4%.
AirTran Senior VP-Marketing and Planning Jeff MacKinney is leaving the company this month to assume a similar position at TransMeridian Airlines in Atlanta. AirTran has not named his successor.
Alitalia has contracted with IBM to install 42 self-service kiosks in 10 Italian airports by mid-year. The kiosks enable passengers to check in within one minute and select seats, and make further reservations using a credit card. Members of Alitalia's frequent flyer program also can check their account status and obtain awards.
Varig received DOT authority for one year to carry All Nippon Airlines' passengers, property and mail on its single-plane Japan-Brazil flights via Los Angeles. Brazil, Varig's homeland, is not a signatory to the International Air Services Transit Agreement and so must request such authority specifically. Varig told DOT it understands that Brazil would grant "similar privileges" to U.S. carriers. ANA is designated by Japan for Japan-Brazil service. The carriers want to start the joint operations March 28.
The latest news of job cuts for Boeing Commercial Airplane Group is a sign that the unit "has made the turn" from recent production problems based on measurements used to gauge the health of the commercial production lines, a Boeing spokesman told The DAILY yesterday. "We're seeing significant improvement to where we will need fewer people," the spokesman said. "We're getting back to the health they've been working hard to regain," when measured in terms of reduced overtime, fewer parts shortages and less out-of-sequence work.
