Approved an initial one-year exemption for Mexicana to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas...Approved an initial one-year exemption for Air Jamaica to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Houston, Texas...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Spirit to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Atlantic City and Bermuda...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Delta to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Atlanta and Budapest, H
FAA told the DOT Inspector General's Office it was taking action in response to IG's criticism of misspent and undercollected revenues at Denver International Airport. Responding by a Feb. 3 deadline, FAA said it would monitor the disposal of Denver Stapleton property more closely to ensure funds are appropriately spent, and will try to seek a three-way agreement among the city, carriers and FAA on Stapleton's disposal. The pact is to specify DIA funds that can be spent for maintenance and disposal of Stapleton and for what specific purposes, FAA said.
Atlantic Coast Airlines is finding friends abroad. After Lufthansa sang ACA's praises for its strong Washington Dulles traffic, Spanair called its ACA interline pact "a surprisingly good" traffic generator.
American Chief Executive Don Carty told employees Friday that flying at newly acquired Reno Air will be made available to American pilots as soon as possible. American's Allied Pilots Association claims Reno flying violates its contract. Its board held a conference call Friday afternoon to determine what action to take.
U.K. has reached an agreement with airlines and representatives from flight safety, environmental and police authorities on the type of data needed to measure the scale of the "air rage" problem and to find ways to combat it. The first set of figures will be available toward yearend. U.K. also plans to amend the Air Navigation Order to stop passengers from interfering with crew members.
Kitty Hawk appointed Raymond Lawlor VP-international sales for subsidiary, Kitty Hawk International, previously known as American International Airways.
The Air Line Pilots Association's (ALPA) safety director told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee last week that there were more than 300 runway incursions in 1998 and asked that Congress earmark funding of at least $3 million to reduce the problem. John O'Brien, director of ALPA's engineering and air safety department, international, noted that FAA reported 298 runway incursions in the first 11 months of 1998, and counting other incidents that could be characterized as incursions, the total was "well over 300" for the year.
Several new routes added by U S. carriers to Latin America between late 1997 and mid-1998 have performed poorly, with some load factors below 50%, according to DOT data. In the first nine months after their startup in September 1997, Continental's load factors from Newark to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were 32% and 43%, respectively.
ICAO's Year 2000 coordination group, reasonably confident that Boeing and Airbus aircraft will be able to avoid Y2K computer problems, will meet Wednesday and Thursday in London on a big uncertainty and greater concern - preparedness of Russian-built aircraft, the airlines that operate them, and the Russian air traffic control system.
China Southern has agreed to have Mercury Air Group's Hermes Aviation Division become its exclusive cargo sales agent in the U.S. and Mexico. Last year, China Southern transported 344,000 tons of cargo, 24.7% of China's air cargo volume.
Viad Corp. subsidiary Dobbs International named George Alvord VP-marketing and sales and Gordon Anderson VP-operations on an interim basis following the death of President and Chief Executive Fred Martin.
Consumer uncertainty about Year 2000 issues could reduce passenger bookings severely and cost airlines tens of millions of dollars in revenue, even if everything works, according to a study by RMB Associates and The Boyd Group."If traffic is down only 10% for five days, that's $100 million in lost revenue," said co-author Michael Baiada.
TWA asked DOT for an exemption to integrate its certificate and exemption authority so it can take advantage of operational flexibility available through fifth-freedom rights negotiated by the U.S. The integration would include St. Louis-London, -Toronto and -Tokyo certificates and exemptions for New Orleans-Mexico City, St. Louis-Mexico City, New York-Bahamas, New York-Morocco-Ivory Coast in a Royal Air Maroc code share, New York-Puerto Plata/St.
Commerce Department will begin publishing data in mid-2000 that show for the first time the impact of online shopping on airline ticketing and other retail activity. DOC Secretary William Daley and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Robert Pitofsky noted, however, that 86% of Americans are concerned about threats to personal privacy. They urged businesses to "step up to the plate on this issue and regulate themselves."
DOT tentatively found Sun Jet International fit to resume charter combination services. FAA notified DOT that the carrier is close to receiving FAA authority to resume operations. The carrier will be required, under a DOT's policy of monitoring new carriers, to submit a detailed progress report after its first year of service. Sun Jet holds a certificate for the services, which it operated until June 18, 1997, when it ceased operations and sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
