Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson has asked the Indian and U.K. governments to allow more flights on routes between the two countries. In a letter to Ananth Kumar, India's minister of civil aviation, Branson made a case for additional flights and the benefits they would bring consumers. As the second-largest long-haul scheduled airline in the U.K., Virgin wants to provide air services to countries that have strong business, tourism and family links with the U.K.
Boeing and FlightSafety Boeing Training International were selected by the Air Force to update the training manuals for the VC-25A aircraft, best known as Air Force One. FSB will update about 3,500 pages of training documents for the aircraft, based at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. After the training document is updated, FSB will provide up to seven weeks of special training for each maintainer assigned to the aircraft.
Airline passengers, testifying yesterday before the House aviation subcommittee, related the kind of experiences that inspired H.R.700, the Passenger Bill of Rights. They told of being stranded for hours on aircraft with no food or water and overflowing bathroom facilities, baggage that took up to 12 days to arrive, and, in one case, the sexual molestation of a child traveling on an unattended minors program.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses Third Quarter 1998 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Freight Revenues Change Revenues Revenues Alaska 430,347,000 5.35 376,931,000 17,815,000 America West 481,939,734 5.75 451,274,998 5,377,088
Standard&Poor's has changed its outlook on Midway Airlines to negative from positive after Southwest announced its first service from Midway's home base in Raleigh/Durham. "Southwest's entry into Raleigh/Durham will likely divert some traffic from Midway and reduce its currently high yields, since Southwest is known for its low fares," S&P said. Midway's growth "could be constrained by Southwest's entry into those markets Midway had deemed attractive for future growth," the firm said.
House Transportation Committee will meet today to consider AIR 21, the bill introduced by Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) with 123 House co-sponsors last week. AIR 21 would improve air safety, increase competition and unlock the aviation trust fund, a development Shuster said would enable Airport Improvement Program funding to jump from the present $1.95 billion to $5 billion a year, starting in fiscal 2000 and running through 2003.
Denver-based Frontier reported a 30.1% increase in traffic on 30.7% more capacity for February 1999, compared with the same 1998 month, depressing the load factor 0.2 percentage points to 57.4%. Frontier flew 135.2 million revenue passenger miles and 235.6 million available seat miles. Passenger boardings grew 31% to 153,813. Year-to-date RPMs climbed 34.1% and ASMs 31.2%, growing the load factor 1.2 points. Passengers flown increased 35.3%.
International alliances create an opportunity to build competitive networks that overcome a worldwide system "splintered" by bilateral agreements and government ownership restrictions, and competition authorities in Europe may underestimate their value, according to Patrick Murphy, DOT deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs.
Air Transport Association (ATA) said it, too, supports a change in extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) limits from the current 180 minutes maximum flying time from an airport to 207 minutes, joining the Air Line Pilots Association and the Independent Association of Continental Pilots. ATA said it also agrees with the pilots' groups that the extension should apply on a case-by-case exception basis. The Allied Pilots Association has spoken out against changing the ETOPS policy.
American will launch nonstop service between Houston Hobby and Washington Reagan May 1, offering two daily flights using 139-seat MD Super 80 aircraft. The new route also will receive same-plane service between Houston and San Antonio. American Eagle, American's regional affiliate, launched nonstop regional jet service between Memphis and Chicago O'Hare this week and plans to initiate nonstop RJ service between Pittsburgh and O'Hare March 20. The airline is operating three daily roundtrip Memphis-O'Hare flights with new 50-seat ERJ-145s.
Matthias Wissmann, minister of transport in Germany until 1998, who pursued the liberalization of the transportation sector culminating in the open skies agreement with the U.S., has joined Wilmer, Cutler&Pickering as a partner in its Berlin office. Wissmann also worked to help privatize Lufthansa.
United is donating several aircraft to U.S. schools with aviation departments, including one recently retired Boeing 737-222 to Southern Illinois University. The plane has been in United's fleet since 1968 and will become part of the school's Department of Aviation and Flight. Thirty years ago, United donated a Vickers Viscount four-engine turboprop to SIU. UAL Services also is donating a 737-200 to Purdue University and Lewis University in Illinois. Plans are under way to give an aircraft to the "Wings Over the Rockies" aviation museum near Denver.
Airline alliances are developing more slowly than alliances in other industries, according to Ron Stewart, Andersen Consulting's managing partner, Global Airline Practice. "Airlines have had more trouble making it all stick," he told The DAILY. Operational cooperation and joining passenger services have been slow to come to fruition. In many cases, regulatory and investment roadblocks have deterred progress, he said.
Delta and Atlantic Southeast Airlines yesterday amended their acquisition agreement that will drop the $5 million breakup fee Delta would get if ASA received and accepted a better offer for its shares. Delta's tender offer expires at midnight on March 19.
The Clinton administration yesterday submitted to Congress its own version of an airline passenger consumer protection bill - one that is "not as punitive" as bills proposed by members of Congress, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater told reporters following announcement of the bill by Vice President Al Gore. The legislation would double, to $2,500, minimum compensation for mishandled baggage, and to $800 for involuntary bumping. It would require U.S.
FlightSafety Boeing Training International, Seattle, has reorganized into four business units focusing on specific types of training, FlightSafety reported yesterday. The four units, run by managing directors, are: -- Flight Training, headed by Pat Gaines, which will conduct airline-oriented flight training at all 15 current locations and the regional hubs under development. -- Training Development, under Kevin Higman, which will develop and maintain training curricula, courseware and materials.
Lufthansa said yesterday its preliminary pre-tax profits for 1998 rose 40% to 2.4 billion Deutschmarks (US$1.3 billion). The company had a book-profit of DM377 million from the sale of Hapag-Lloyd shares. Revenue increased 4.6% to DM22.6 billion ($12.6 billion).
While many European airlines have been modernizing their aircraft fleets, some remain older than several U.S. carriers', according to a Salomon Smith Barney study. Major European airline fleets average 8.8 years old, more than three years younger than the average major U.S. carrier's. But without the younger-than-average aircraft at Swissair and Lufthansa, Europe's jet fleet average would be closer to the U.S. figure. Despite the perception that U.S. airlines fly aircraft older than their European alliance partners', the opposite is true in many cases.
Top FAA officials are visiting their counterparts at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal to assure them that the U.S. remains committed to sole-means navigation via satellite despite concerns being raised by ICAO members, in Congress and by the General Accounting Office and the DOT Inspector General. FAA has the support of the Air Transport Association and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Kansas City-based Vanguard Airlines, in cooperation with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, is giving away one free roundtrip ticket to each person who donates two cases or 48 cans of food to the food bank. Vanguard plans to give away 2,000 tickets in one hour today, all valid for roundtrip travel to any of its nonstop destinations from Chicago Midway - Cincinnati, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Pittsburgh. Tickets will be awarded on a first-come first-served basis.
Northwest's pilot leadership thinks the company did a fine job handling passengers during the Jan. 3 snowstorm that crippled Detroit Metro.Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council Chairman Steve Zoller wrote House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking member James Oberstar (D-Minn.) praising Northwest's judgment in refusing to let passengers deplane. Zoller said it would have been too dangerous to let them off, a consideration that far outweighs any hardships they endured.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Third Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 156 25.18 1,118 174,227 30.50
DOT deferred through June 3 the period for taking action on United's complaint against the European Commission and the national authorities of Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (DAILY, July 9, 1998). The department granted United's request for an additional deferral of the statutory deadline by which DOT must respond to the carrier's complaint seeking redress against actions proposed by the EC against the carrier's alliances with Lufthansa and SAS (DAILY, March 2).
National Transportation Safety Board, citing four recent fatal accidents and numerous others, recommended yesterday that FAA require retrofit of all cockpit voice recorders (CVR) after Jan. 1, 2005, with units capable of recording the last two hours of audio. The board also wants the digital CVR to be fitted with an independent power source that engages automatically and provides 10 minutes of operation whenever aircraft power to the recorder ceases.
