The Association of Flight Attendants filed a petition Tuesday with the National Mediation Board calling for a representation election at Midwest Express. AFA filed the petition after receiving signed union authorization cards from what it called "an overwhelming majority" of Midwest's more than 350 flight attendants.
Boeing said airline demand for its digital troubleshooting aid for aircraft mechanics soared by 100% in 1998. The number of airlines using the portable maintenance aid (PMA) or signing letters of intent jumped from 47 at the beginning of the year to 95 at yearend. Boeing said the PMA puts an "entire technical library of key maintenance information in a laptop computer that a mechanic can carry directly to the airplane," eliminating trips to the crew room or airline reference library. A more powerful PMA will be available at midyear.
By all rights, Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), the very visible chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, should be staying out of the spotlight. Under a Republican Conference rule that limits chairmanships to six years, he is in his last two years as chairman of House Transportation. House sources say his attempt to retain a seat on the House Intelligence Committee was denied by new Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), an abrupt putdown compared with former Speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-Ga.) willingness to overlook House rules to permit Shuster to stay.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic January 1999 (000) January January % 1999 1998 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 856,000 767,000 11.6 Available Seat Miles 1,379,000 1,254,000 10.0 Load Factor (%) 62.1 61.2 America West
Change U.S. Major Carriers RPM Market Share 1994 to 1998* 1994 1995 1996 United 21.939% United 22.069% United 21.591% American 20.016% American 20.281% American 19.356% Delta 17.493% Delta 16.811% Delta 17.379% Northwest 11.852% Northwest 12.369% Northwest 12.714%
Air France and Middle East Airlines will cooperate and code share on service to several cities beyond both ends of the Paris-Beirut route. The agreement, effective June 1, is part of a formal discussion between the airlines that began last August. Both carriers serve Paris-Beirut with A310s, Air France nine times per week and MEA 10. MEA will transfer its flights from Paris Orly to Air France's Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 hub, giving it connections to 90 destinations beyond Paris.
Appropriators concede that the biggest aviation issues this year are in the authorizing committees - taking the aviation trust fund off budget, the general revenue fund contribution to FAA spending, reallocating slots, competition and increasing passenger facility charges. One congressional source likes to put it this way: The authorizers "will figure out the architecture of the system" and the appropriators "will figure out how to pay the bill."
Air Canada reported a 0.4% increase in systemwide traffic on a 2.2% decline in capacity for January 1999 compared with the same 1998 month, which pushed the load factor up 1.7 percentage points to 64.9%. Systemwide, the carrier flew 1.7 billion revenue passenger miles and 2.6 billion available seat miles. Domestic RPMs grew 0.5% to 580 million on a 1.2% drop in ASMs to 890 million, boosting the load factor 1.2 points to 65.2%. International RPMs rose 0.3% to 1.1 billion on 2.7% fewer ASMs, or 1.7 billion, growing the load factor 1.9 points to 64.7%.
General aviation industry, which is introducing new models at a rapid rate, also is pouring money into research and development. Dave Caplan, chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and head of Pratt&Whitney Canada, said the company has invested $400 million in R&D over the past two years, "over 20% of our sales." Other industries average R&D spending of 3% to 4% of sales.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee, has found himself frequently on the opposite side of issues from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its high-profile chairman, Bud Shuster (R-Pa.). This year promises to be no different. Before the current Congress was sworn in last month, Wolf was making it abundantly clear that he opposes Shuster's plan to take the aviation trust funds off budget. In a Dec.
Northwest's International Association of Machinists unit, representing about 18,000 employees, said yesterday that preliminary results of a contract ratification vote indicate the tentative deal will pass. A union spokeswoman said the official vote will be tallied next week. IAM represents clerical, office, fleet and passenger service personnel, in addition to baggage handlers, stock clerks and plant security workers.
Canadian Airlines and code-share partner Alitalia will launch Toronto-Milan service this summer, offering five nonstops a week. The service begins June 1, and booking is available immediately.
SonicAir, a UPS Logistics Group company, said yesterday it will expand its repair operation in Louisville, Ky., making it one of the largest material recovery and repair operations in the nation. The move signals a continuation of SonicAir's growth into the service parts logistics market. The company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz.
DOT granted a joint motion by United Parcel Service and Polar Air Cargo, permitting UPS temporary use of two of the 16 Tokyo Narita slots awarded to Polar. The carriers told DOT that Polar "cannot use two of the awarded slots at this time." UPS will use the slots for U.S.-Tokyo-Taiwan all-cargo service. The action is effective through March 26, 2000. UPS received two Narita slots under the order granting the 16 slots to Polar, for the carriers' new all-cargo services under the 1998 U.S.-Japan bilateral (DAILY, Aug. 6, 1998).
The European Union's draft legislation banning hushkitted aircraft will be formally rubber-stamped by the EU's Council of Ministers "perhaps as soon as next Monday," an EU Council spokesman said yesterday in Brussels. The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU member states, which discusses EU decisions before formal confirmation by the ministers, unanimously agreed to pass through the new legislation "without any debate" at their meeting Tuesday in Brussels, the spokesman said. "No further discussion is required," he said.
FAA has commissioned its Multi-Sector Oceanic Data Link system at the Oakland, Calif., Ocean Air Traffic Control Center, contractor Raytheon Co. said. The commissioning follows several months of testing and controller training, the company said. The system provides controller-pilot data link communications over 18.7 million square miles of oceanic airspace.
Calls for caution about accepting the Global Positioning System (GPS) and its various augmentations as sole means of navigation are on the rise following release of a Johns Hopkins report endorsing the concept. Sieg Poritzky, head of the U.S.
Moody's Investors Service downgraded Aerospatiale's short-term debt rating for commercial paper to Prime-2 from Prime-1 to reflect the decline of the French government's "ownership in and implied support." The company is to be privatized.
Pressing its bid for all 67 additional summer season Chicago-London roundtrip frequencies, United urged DOT to use the same methodology by which it allocated additional winter capacity - progress toward "competitive parity" between American and United. DOT allocated 97 of 129 additional winter frequencies to United and 32 to American, bringing parity to the limited-entry market. American had 422, including its minimum entitlement of 390 under the bilateral, while United had 421, including its minimum entitlement of 324 (DAILY, Oct. 22, 1998).
The National Mediation Board has given America West and its flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), the green light to enter a 30-day cooling-off period yesterday and ending March 20. NMB on Feb. 8 declared an impasse in contract talks. The board will continue intensive mediation during the cooling-off period. The union is threatening CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System), which could mean a mass walkout for days or a week at a time, or flight attendants may walk off individual flights at random.
FAA yesterday issued an emergency directive requiring inspections of certain lap joints on Boeing 727 aircraft to detect fatigue cracking of the lower skin panel. Fatigue cracks could result in rapid decompression.
The Air Transport Association (ATA) board has endorsed a combination of FAA reforms and off-budget status for the aviation trust fund as its program for Congress's "Year of Aviation," Southwest Chairman, President and Chief Executive Herbert Kelleher said yesterday. Speaking at the Wings Club in New York, Kelleher laid out an ATA position that combines elements of the administration's FAA plan (DAILY, Feb. 4, 9), the trust fund proposals of Reps. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and James Oberstar (D-Minn.) (DAILY, Jan. 7), and recommendations from study groups of recent years.
