Fortis Aviation Group has reached an agreement to lease two used Shorts 360-300 (serial numbers 3732 and 3735) turboprops to RAS Fluggesellschaft mbH of Dusseldorf, Germany. The aircraft were manufactured in 1988.
Delta's Washington-Boston shuttle additions (see Page 58) means there will be 54 daily departures in the cutthroat Northeast corridor market, 30 of them from Washington Dulles and 24 from Washington Reagan. Add to this Southwest's 11 daily flights from nearby Baltimore/Washington Airport to Providence and eight daily to Manchester.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, which operates as United Express, posted a 38.6% gain in traffic to 80.1 million revenue passenger miles and a 35.6% jump in capacity to 140.3 million available seat miles for March 1999 compared with March 1998, boosting its load factor 1.3 percentage points to 57.1%. Atlantic Coast Sees Jump In March Traffic March 99 March 98 3 Mths 99 3 Mths 98 RPMs 80,111,000 57,802,000 208,605,000 139,596,000 ASMs 140,331,000 103,500,000 396,140,000 284,981,000
Appleton, Wis.-based United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin flew 102.3 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 93% increase from the march 1998 figure. Capacity, meanwhile, grew 79.5% to 155.5 million available seat miles from 86.7 million, which boosted the load factor 4.6 percentage points to 65.7%. Enplanements were up 76.4% to 322,341. Air Wisconsin Load Factor Jumps 4.6 Points March 99 March 98 3 Mths 99 3 Mths 98 RPMs 102,258,000 52,970,000 255,148,000 141,155,000
British Airways's traffic increased 9.6% in March but did not keep pace with capacity, up 10.5%, causing the load factor to decline for the third straight month. In March, the load factor fell 0.7 percentage points to 73.1%. Premium traffic was down 0.2% while non-premium leisure traffic rose 11.4%. BA's intercontinental traffic rose 10.1% and capacity increased 11%, causing a load factor decline of 0.6 points to 75.7%. U.K./Europe traffic grew 6.9% on 8.6% more capacity, lowering the load factor 1.0 point to 63%.
A joint venture to lease a wide range of Stage 3 jet engines to airlines was announced by GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Engine Services and the principals of Curtis&Co., San Francisco.
Luxair will join the Airlines Reporting Corporation as a participating carrier, effective with sales on April 19. Luxair, the national airline of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, recently introduced nonstop Luxembourg-New York service with four flights per week.
The Regional Airline Association is concerned that some provisions in the spate of passenger rights bills currently up for consideration in the House and Senate are not clearly defined and are based on only a few incidents. RAA recently met with staff of the House and Senate aviation subcommittees to discuss the impetus behind some of the bills' elements. Several versions of passenger rights legislation have been introduced in both the House and Senate, and the Clinton administration has added its own version.
KLM traffic for March increased 3% on 2% more capacity, which lifted the load factor 0.6 percentage points to 79.7%. The airline said passenger traffic growth was strongest on routes to Africa, up 24%, the Middle East and South Asia, up 12%, North Atlantic, up 6%, and Asia/Pacific, up 4%. Cargo traffic rose 4% and capacity 5%, resulting in a cargo load factor of 72.1%. Cargo traffic in Asia/Pacific rose 11%, exceeding the capacity growth of 6%.
Indianapolis-based US Airways Express carrier Chautauqua Airlines this week began nonstop roundtrip service between Grand Rapids, Mich., and Washington Dulles Airport. The carrier operates two daily flights.
ERJ-145 manufacturer Embraer of Brazil posted a net profit of US$102.9 million last year on gross revenue of US$1.3 billion, the company announced. The manufacturer called the year its most successful since Embraer was founded three decades ago. By comparison, in 1997 Embraer recorded a net loss of US$29.6 million on gross operating revenues of US$746.1 million. Net margin - net profit divided by gross revenues - was 7.846%. The U.S. accounted for $1.2 billion of Embraer's revenue, or about 92%.
Sources familiar with FAA procedures for emergency revocation of a pilot's license and the U.S. Court of Appeals' handling of motions to stay such revocations are not convinced that a bill introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) would expedite the review of whether a true emergency exists. Inhofe, a licensed commercial pilot, wants to give a certificate holder the option of requesting a hearing before the National Transportation Safety Board within 48 hours of an emergency revocation to determine whether an emergency actually exists (DAILY, April 1).
Intense competitive pressures between two of FAA's biggest contractors, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, prompted the agency to come to the defense yesterday of one of them - and of one of its biggest air traffic control modernization programs. The agency said "someone leaked" information unfavorable to Raytheon, prime contractor for the $1 billion Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), after Lockheed Martin tested a Raytheon color display.
Eight major airlines have agreed to limit discounts on economy-class fares from India to Europe. Air-India, Lufthansa, Air Canada, KLM, Air France, Swissair, SAS and British Airways signed a fare agreement after the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR) India consented to the move in an attempt to avoid repetition of last year's fare wars. An economy-class New Delhi-London roundtrip ticket will cost US$1,110 this year, compared with last year's US$605.
DOT "will move quickly" to award rights available immediately under the liberalized U.S.-China civil aviation agreement signed yesterday by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, according to a DOT spokesman. DOT will "very shortly issue a notice" inviting incumbent carriers Northwest, United and Federal Express to apply for the eight additional frequencies. There are 27 currently available.
Grupo TACA is adding 61 destinations to its route network by coordinating route planning and connections with six regional airlines in Central America. TACA is integrating its schedule with SANSA of Costa Rica, INTER of Guatemala, INTER of Cuba, Islena Airlines of Honduras, La Costena of Nicaragua and Aeroperlas of Panama. The new links provide TACA with "an excellent cost structure and schedule flexibility to continue to feed our jet operation," said Mark Kuhns, VP regional airlines.
Southwest said yesterday it will locate 300 flight attendants at a new crew base at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in early July and expects to expand the base by 500 flight attendants by yearend. The move reflects Southwest's growth on the East Coast, said VP-Inflight and Provisioning Donna Conover. Southwest expects to name a manager for the base in May. The carrier expect the number of employees in the Baltimore/ Washington area to grow to more than 1,500 by the end of the year.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W.Va.) speech at FAA's aviation forecast conference will be featured on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Washington's NewsChannel 8.
Genesis, the computer reservations system owned and operated by travel agencies, is forming two more travel agency registries, the Indian Standard Travel Agent Registry and the Mexican Standard Travel Agent Registry. India and Mexico will bring 6,000 travel agencies as potential Genesis subscribers. Seventeen other countries are actively pursuing organizational efforts to form Genesis registries, said Genesis President and Chief Executive Bruce Bishins.
Horizon Air has reduced fares between Sun Valley, Idaho, and several cities served by Horizon and Alaska Airlines for travel through June 5. Sample one-way fares to Sun Valley include $79 from Seattle, $99 from Reno and $109 from Los Angeles. Tickets must be purchased seven days before travel. A one-night minimum stay is required.
British Airways has established British Airways Travel Finance, a venture to lend money to its British customers. The novel approach reflects survey findings that vacations are the third most popular reason for taking out a loan, after car purchases and home improvements. BA made the service available initially at some of its U.K. shops, including Kingston, Birmingham, Bromley, Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds. If passengers support the move, it will be offered in all 23 U.K. travel shops.
National Transportation Safety Board member John Goglia will conduct a human factors focus group meeting Monday in an attempt to widen the use of new training techniques and make human factors programs more effective. Representatives of government agencies, 26 airlines, five colleges and universities and 11 associations have been invited to share experiences at the event, which will be held at the Adam's Mark Daytona Beach (Fla.) Hotel. A similar meeting last year at Indianapolis drew 130 participants.
