Standard&Poor's has placed the triple-C-plus corporate credit rating of Tower Air on CreditWatch with negative implications, indicating that the airline may be downgraded. The move is based on Tower's announcement that it will suspend military charters until the U.S. Defense Department completes a review of Tower's operations. The review is expected to be completed in mid-February. Military charters accounted for 13.6% of Tower's revenue for 1998.
Honeywell Sensors and Guidance Products said last week it intends to acquire rights to Boeing's Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial technology, saying the technology "will rapidly become the standard bearer for many future guidance and navigation applications both in the commercial and military markets." The technology provides guidance and navigation information by placing a functioning gyro directly on a computer chip. Draper Lab originally developed the MEMS technology.
Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit says it will file a grievance over the condition of the MD-11 crew rest facility if the carrier continues to use the aircraft on its Atlanta-Tokyo route. The union wants oustanding legal and safety issues resolved before then, claiming the MD-11's crew rest facility does not meet union or FAA standards.
A new composite horizontal stabilizer torque box for the C-17 military airlift aircraft weighing 20% less than its aluminum counterpart has completed structural testing at Northrop Grumman in Dallas, where the horizontal tail is produced. The first production composite tail has been delivered to C-17 contractor Boeing at Long Beach and will be installed on production aircraft No. 51 next year after flight testing, scheduled to begin late this month. All C-17s from No.
Worldspan appointed Helen Porter director-product line management in distributed planning and development and Vela McClam-Mitchell director-global corporate and consumer marketing, and promoted Patrick Hochstein to director-associate sales and marketing.
DOT has found tentatively in favor of a certificate for startup National Airlines, approving it for service involving as many as eight 757-200 aircraft. With a hub at Las Vegas, National plans to begin operations this spring with four leased aircraft, offering two-class, full-service nonstops to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York Kennedy. It has a non-exclusive joint marketing agreement with companies that control two Las Vegas hotels, Rio Hotel&Casino and Harrah's, and own a combined 47.8% of the carrier.
Signature Flight Support promoted Vincent Papke to general manager at the New York LaGuardia facility and Joseph Bagosy to area general manager-Europe, and named Francis Zenisky avionics manager at the Hartford Regional Maintenance Center.
-- S.81 - introduced Jan. 19 by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) - to authorize FAA to establish rules governing national park overflights. Referred to Commerce, Science and Transportation committees. - S.82 - introduced Jan. 19 by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) - to authorize appropriations for FAA and for other purposes. Commerce. -- S.304 - introduced Jan. 25 by Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) - to improve air transportation service available to small communities. Commerce.
Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a Feb. 19 meeting of the advisory committee for the WRC 2000 radiocommunications conference. One issue sure to arise is how to protect the aeronautical navigation band from reallocation to powerful Mobile Satellite Service interests. The MSS group came close at the 1997 WRC.
American Airlines Cargo and TNT last week announced a worldwide Airline Service Level Agreement, including blocked-space availability, handling priority and rapid recovery. TNT said the agreement is its first with a U.S. carrier.
Pittston BAX Group said net income for the fourth quarter was $10.7 million on revenue of $481 million, compared with net income of $13.2 million on revenue of $448 million the same 1997 quarter. Global revenue increased 7% due to growth in Asia/Pacific operations and the acquisition of Air Transport International in the second quarter. For the year, Pittston reported a net loss of $13.1 million on revenue of $1.8 billion, compared with net income of $32.3 million on revenue of $1.7 billion.
KLM will halt its services from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Groningen and Enschede next month, the Dutch carrier said Friday at its home base in Amstelveen. The routes were loss-making, KLM said, and their function as feeder flights will be replaced by rail transport. Local authorities in Groningen and Enschede complained about KLM's decision, underlining that the Dutch carrier resumed operations to Eindhoven, Maastricht and The Hague's Zestienhoven Airport. KLM was operating 18 weekly flights to Groningen and 15 to Enschede.
Korean Air is the first airline to report that it has begun accepting reservations for flights on Jan. 1, 2000. The airline, which books trips 352 days in advance, said it passed the milestone without problems. It formed a special task force to run through all possible Y2K scenarios.
U.S. and Mexican aviation representatives, meeting last week in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, agreed to include code-sharing rights in the U.S.-Mexico bilateral and expand other services, effective immediately, according to a DOT spokesman. Some carriers have operated code-share service under exemptions held for direct service. The code shares may be operated by same-country or U.S.-Mexico carrier partners. The two sides discussed third-country code sharing but reached no agreement.
DOT announced Friday that a "significant new rule revising [DOT's] disadvantaged business enterprise [DBE] program" will appear tomorrow in the Federal Register. The rule makes changes to DOT contracting regulations based on the 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Adarand vs. Pena, as part of the Clinton administration's effort to "mend not end" affirmative action in federal contracting opportunities.
FAA - In Federal Register dated Jan. 27...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain Embraer EMB-120 aircraft requiring a new engine exhaust bracket.
