DOT should not delay making final its tentative decision selecting Delta, Northwest and United for three U.S.-Romania third-country code-share opportunities available April 1, United and Delta said in a filing, Continental's objections notwithstanding (DAILY, Feb. 24). Continental was selected in the order for authority available Nov. 1 (DAILY, Feb.
Jonathan Etherton was named to the newly created post of assistant VP-legislative affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association. He was a staff member of the Senate Armed Services committee for 14 years, said AIA President John Douglass.
Vanguard Airlines reported a 14% jump in traffic on no change in capacity for February 1999 compared with the same 1998 month, boosting the load factor 9 percentage points to 70.6%, the highest in the company's history. Vanguard flew 56.4 million revenue passenger miles and 80 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 18% to 121,679. Year-to-date RPMs grew 7% on 6% fewer ASMs, growing the load factor 8 points. Passengers flown climbed 12%.
The House yesterday approved by voice vote a bill that would ban the Concorde supersonic transport from operating in the U. S. if the European Parliament enacts regulations to ban most U.S.-based Stage 3 hushkitted and re-engineered aircraft. The vote is basically a political statement putting the House on record that if the European Union Council of Ministers approves draft regulations banning the addition of hushkitted aircraft, then there will be a price to pay. A companion measure has been introduced in the Senate.
SkyMall's inflight catalog will be available for three months on some British Airways transatlantic flights originating in Boston and at New York Kennedy.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic July 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 53 22.24 1,109 59,302 27.38
National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which says it has the "singular distinction" of being the federal-sector union with the highest percentage of eligible employees as members, has declared an "open season" through March 30. Non-members can join the union without paying the initiation fee.
Virgin Atlantic has hired Internet Travel Network (ITN) to create the airline industry's first booking-capable website created specifically for a short-term promotion. The limited-time project is for U.S.-based passengers booking for any flight on Virgin to London. The airline tasked ITN to create quickly a fully functioning site that can handle real-time reservations, issue tickets, mail them to passengers and perform quality checks to ensure that the bookings are processed correctly.
Delta's acquisition of ASA Holdings has received clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Delta intends to operate Atlantic Southeast Airlines as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Alaska Airlines' traffic rose 9.1% in February on 8.2% more capacity, which boosted the load factor 0.6 percentage points to 65.5%. The airline carried 950,000 passengers last month, up from 891,000 in the same 1998 period. Subsidiary Horizon Air's traffic jumped 26.6% on 25.2% more capacity, forcing the load factor to rise 0.7 points to 60.7%. Horizon carried 359,000 passengers in February, up from 289,000 in the year-earlier period.
New Air defended the absence of specific service proposals in its request for 75 New York Kennedy slots on grounds that it needs flexibility to compete as a low-fare new entrant against JFK incumbents TWA and Delta. Rebutting a rash of concerns raised by the two majors, the International Association of Machinists and the Queens Borough President, the prospective startup said it has analyzed the more than 40 potential markets it wants to serve from JFK in terms of conservative passenger forecasts, fares and frequencies.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is going ahead with its sale of equity stakes in three units within the airline, two of them to U.S. companies. A high-level MAS official told The DAILY that Boeing will be taking over the carrier's technical training and flight simulator departments with a 90% stake in each, and the Memphis Group is finalizing negotiations for similar equity in the materials management department, which manages spares and components worth several million dollars. The official said the selloff will strengthen the airline's cash flow.
After record traffic in January, Delta yesterday posted another record month for February, as it added more capacity throughout its system. Traffic grew 6.6% and capacity rose 4.4%, leading to a load factor of 68.3%, up 1.4 percentage points. Domestic traffic increased 6.6% on 3.2% more capacity, resulting in a load factor of 69.1%, up 2.2 points. International traffic rose 6.6% on 9.5% more capacity, lowering the load factor 1.8 points to 65.0%. Delta boarded 7.8 million passengers last month, up 4.4%.
AirTran saw a 20.1% gain in traffic on 13% more capacity for February 1999, compared with the same 1998 month, which raised the load factor 3.6 percentage points to 59.8%. AirTran reported 255.1 million revenue passenger miles and 426.7 million available seat miles. Passengers flown jumped 41% to 470,880. Year-to-date RPMs climbed 17.7% and ASMs 11.6%, boosting the load factor 2.9 points. Passengers flown surged 37.1%.
British Airways traffic for February increased 8.5% on 9.7% more capacity, reducing the passenger load factor 0.7 percentage points to 64.8%. The load factor also fell slightly in January. Premium traffic grew 1.2%, while non-premium traffic was up 10%. BA's intercontinental premium traffic was up, but Club Europe business-class traffic fell. BA noted that it was helped internationally by American's 10-day pilot sickout.
Frontier has added Las Vegas to its vacation packages and is offering travel agents up to 13% commissions. Packages include roundtrip air travel, a compact rental car, hotel accommodations, a $10 Planet Hollywood gift certificate, lunch or dinner at the House of Blues, Continental One-Pass mileage credits and sightseeing tours. Travel must be completed by May 30.
The four largest U.K. airports operated by local public authorities would be freed from borrowing controls April 1 under a proposal the national government will send to Parliament this month, Transport Minister John Reid said. Answering a question in the House of Commons, Reid said the companies that run the four airports - Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford and Norwich - applied for borrowing freedom and were found to be financially sound, a condition for approval.
More than half of the European Regions Airline Association's 40 members posted passenger growth rates greater than 11% in the first three quarters of 1998.The level is down from a year earlier, however - 56% instead of 70%. The average load factor was steady at 58.1%.
DOT assessed civil penalties yesterday against Delta and Northwest for code-sharing violations, the second and third times, respectively, that the carriers have been cited. In consent orders issued for each carrier, DOT said Delta and Northwest each failed to notify consumers that a carrier other than the one they contacted would be performing the service. "This notice must be given to the consumer regardless of whether the consumer makes a reservation," DOT said.
American's new monthly inflight entertainment guide, including Spanish translations of all articles, will be available this month on all international and hundreds of domestic flights. The guide, AAttractions, gives customers information about movies, first-class and international business-class personal videos, 12 audio channels, video games and other special programming. The inaugural issue highlights the Academy Awards. American is spending $11.5 million on a Latin service initiative, and the Spanish-language section of the guide comprises 31 of its 64 pages.
FAA yesterday ordered inspections of float switch wiring in the center fuel tanks of Boeing 737s and the removal or deactivation of the switch before an aircraft accumulates 30,000 total flight hours or within 30 days. "Wire chafing caused by vibration could potentially provide an ignition source inside the fuel tank," the agency said. The switch prevents the fuel tank from being overfilled by automatically closing the fuel valve when the tank is nearly full.
FAA yesterday ordered new inspections of the nacelle struts on certain Boeing 747s after finding new cracking at a lower threshold than is covered by an airworthiness directive the agency proposed last Nov. 24. The FAA emergency directive is aimed at 747s powered by Rolls-Royce engines. It reduces the compliance time for new, repetitive inspections for fatigue cracking or loose or missing fasteners from 12,000 total flight cycles or 90 days to 8,000 total flight cycles or 30 days.
Aviation Group reported net income for its second quarter of $67,000 on record revenues of $6.4 million, up from net earnings of $63,000 and revenues of $6.1 million in the same period a year ago.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking Democrat James Oberstar (Minn.) plan to introduce a multi-year FAA reauthorization bill today, a committee spokesman said. The timing of the bill is related to the need to inform the House Budget Committee of Shuster's intention to push legislation taking the aviation trust funds off budget, so that the Transportation panel is not locked into a low budget ceiling that could preclude such a move.
The government of Spain hopes to decide this spring how to privatize the national aerospace manufacturer, Casa. "We hope we will reach a decision before June," said Pedro Ferreras, chairman of Sociedad Espanola de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), the state holding company that controls Casa. In an interview published by business daily Expansion, Ferreras said Spanish authorities are examining offers by British Aerospace, Aerospatiale of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany and Alenia of Italy.
