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.
KLM has taken delivery of its first 737-800. The carrier had nine Boeing aircraft on order, five 737-800s and four 747-400s, and it plans to lease a 767-300ER from International Lease Finance Corp.
An economic downturn will hit the U.S. and Europe just as the latest order cycle is winding down, but the biggest impact will be on orders for new widebody aircraft, according to CFM International President Gerard Laviec. Laviec told reporters Monday in Evendale, Ohio, that he expects a transatlantic fare war as more capacity moves to the Atlantic from Asia, the first area to experience the economic crunch.
Milwaukee-based Midwest Express Airlines reported a 23.2% jump in traffic on 26.6% more capacity for February 1999, compared with the same 1998 month, lowering the load factor 1.5 percentage points to 58.1%. Midwest Express flew 134.1 million revenue passenger miles and 231 million available seat miles. Passenger boardings grew 19.9% to 147,853. RPMs for affiliate Skyway grew 12.4% to 5.9 million on 12.4 million ASMs, down 0.4%, boosting the load factor 5.4 points to 47.3%. Passengers flown jumped 14.2% to 27,019.
The Master Executive Council of US Airways' Air Line Pilots Association unit is expected to vote today on a tentative interim agreement between the company and its Shuttle pilots covering pay, retirement and job security improvements and additional growth opportunities for mainline pilots. The MEC, conducting its first-quarter meeting in Charlotte, N.C., has asked for more information on how the interim agreement will help Shuttle pilots reach pay parity.
Virgin Atlantic reduced ticket prices last weekend on long-haul routes, including London-New York service priced #2 less than that of archrival British Airways. "We'll never be beaten by BA on price and we always offer better quality," said Virgin chief Richard Branson.
AirTran will allow passengers to use cellular phones aboard aircraft and in the jetway when aircraft doors are open. The pilot can allow the use of cellular phones after the doors are closed but the aircraft still is on the ground and clear of the runway. These changes do not apply to laptop computers, portable audio players, electronic games or any other electronic device.
FAA is going ahead with a rulemaking that would require a collision avoidance capability for cargo aircraft, but the agency is not committed to any particular kind of system.The Air Line Pilots Association wants the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System and cargo carriers are testing Automatic Dependent Surveillance-B. FAA, drafting the proposed rule, has no estimate of when it will be completed and ready for public comment.
DOT dismissed United's complaint against the Russian Federation and terminated its proceeding after the carrier withdrew its complaint (DAILY, Feb 18). DOT initiated the proceeding in September 1997 in response to United's complaint that Russia had violated the U.S.-Russia bilateral (DAILY, Sept. 22, 1997). In 1995, Russia forced United to end its U.S.-Frankfurt-Moscow code-share service with Lufthansa, which United expects to be restored following a Germany-Russia pact. (Docket OST-97-2888)
FAA has posted its updated National Airspace System (NAS) plan, Version 4.0, on its web site. Version 4.0, approved in January, provides a three-phase modernization program centered on development of a Free Flight regime in which pilots have flexibility to choose the most efficient, economical routes to their destinations.
French bank Paribas will seek investors willing to take control of Air Afrique under a privatization plan accepted by the 11 African states that own the carrier. The countries tabled plans last November to reduce their share to 51%, but no investor showed interest. Four months later, the council of ministers representing the 11 government-owners accepted in principle a reduction of their joint stake as low as 22% - a decision called "salutary and courageous" by Tidjane Sylla, Senegal's transport minister and chairman of Air Afrique.
The largest U.S. airlines have reduced the "most egregious" forms of competition against small carriers during the past year, but moves toward consolidation bear watching, DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary Patrick Murphy said yesterday.
US Airways posted a 2% increase in systemwide traffic on 4.5% more capacity for February 1999, compared with the same 1998 month, which depressed the load factor 1.7 percentage points to 66.5%. The airline flew 3 billion revenue passenger miles and 4.5 billion available seat miles. Domestic RPMs dropped 0.2% to 2.6 billion and ASMs grew 2% to 4 billion. International RPMs jumped 23.7% to 324.6 million but ASMs rose 29.7% to 501.5 million.
DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead recommended to a key House subcommittee yesterday that FAA defer software decisions on the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) until the military system is completed and that the agency fund a backup for the Global Positioning System (GPS) for the next 15 years because GPS will not be in place until 2015. Mead made these recommendations to the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee in a hearing on the $10.1 billion fiscal 2000 FAA budget and on air traffic control modernization.
