SAS was forced to cancel about 100 flights in Europe last week because of a wing inspection on its DC-9s. An SAS spokeswoman in Copenhagen said the airline's maintenance officials discovered that routine inspections had not been performed regularly. The inspections will be completed in about one week.
British Airways' low-cost unit Go will add service to Spain and Portugal, starting this month, with flights from London Stansted to Malaga March 29, Bilbao May 20 and Madrid July 1. Service to Faro, Portugal, begins March 28. Go also will fly two daily Stansted-Lisbon flights, starting March 24.
American Trans Air parent Amtran Inc. reached an agreement in principle Friday to purchase all the outstanding shares of Chicago Express Airlines. The privately owned regional carrier serves ATA at Chicago Midway. No value was attached to the transaction.
-- In Federal Register dated Feb. 19...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft requiring checks of the valves of the main landing gear...Issued an AD on Saab 340 aircraft requiring inspection of the support straps of the flaps...Issued an AD on Boeing 777 aircraft requiring inspection of the outboard leading edge flaps...Issued an AD on Airbus A300-600 aircraft requiring a new fuel-level sensing amplifier.
DOT published a proposed rulemaking Friday in The Federal Register to extend the expiration date on its rules covering carrier-owned computer reservations systems for one year, to March 31, 2000. Current rules would remain in effect without disrupting compliance by CRS operators while DOT continues its "re-examination of the need for CRS regulations." The sunset date on the rules was last amended in December 1997.
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British Aerospace said its 20% share of Airbus caused a loss of $40 million last year, and it attributed the results to an aircraft price war with Boeing. This would mean the consortium lost about $200 million. Boeing reported its first annual loss in 1997. But even though the Airbus consortium lost money, its partners made a profit through the sale of parts to Airbus. Other consortium partners are DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, Aerospatiale and CASA. Attempts to turn Airbus into a public limited company have not been successful.
Delta's new brain, an O&D yield management system that goes on line March 17, will generate $100 million in incremental revenue this year and $185- $290 million in 2000, according to Merrill Lynch. Delta has a lot to gain - its old system is behind the competition and the airline carries more connecting traffic than others its size.
KLM said Friday it will offer 12,296,600 seats during the summer 1999 travel season beginning March 28, a 2.5% increase from last summer. The carrier will add three cities and increase frequencies to a number of European destinations. KLM will add no new service across the Atlantic, an area of increasing scrutiny because of the abundance of existing capacity. In total, KLM will have 43,630 roundtrips over the 217-day period until Oct. 30. The airline will begin twice-weekly service from Amsterdam to Shanghai, using a 747-400 Combi.
Virgin Express Holdings will seek shareholder approval April 13 of a plan to repurchase $15 million of its outstanding shares. The company initially would buy $7 million in stock if net earnings were at least $8 million this year. "We have no debt and a strong cash position," said Chief Executive Jim Swigart. "The repurchase of our shares should also be accretive to earnings per share."
TWA has "no more latitude for mistakes and missteps as it tries to find its place in this industry," TWA Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council Chairman Joe Chronic told pilots last week in a recorded message. Addressing TWA's alliance prospects, Chronic said he is watching what will happen now that America West has taken itself out of the acquisition market. "The big question, of course, is will - or can - there be some combination of events which would...lift us out of the sinkhole we seem to be stuck in....Things cannot stay status quo.
National Business Aviation Association named Bill deDecker, a partner with Conklin&deDecker, to the Associate Member Advisory Council. Wings Club named Marsha McGhee director-sales.
Approved five one-year exemption renewals for AeroMexico to conduct scheduled combination service between Tijuana and Las Vegas; Merida and Orlando; Hermosillo and San Diego; Mexico City and Phoenix, and Mexico City and the co-terminal points Austin and Washington...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Polar Air Cargo to provide scheduled foreign cargo service between the co-terminal points New York, Chicago, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Seattle and Honolulu and Manila, Philippines, via intermediate points Khabarovsk, Russia, Auckland, New Zealand, Sydney and Melbourne, Au
All Nippon Airways and China Eastern Airlines will begin the first Japan-China code share March 8 on the Osaka-Shanghai and Osaka-Qingdao-Beijing routes. The carriers signed a comprehensive alliance Nov. 13 and expect the code share to facilitate cultural and economic exchanges between Japan and China.
America West flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), said they will notify Arizona Valley businesses and travel agents in advance of the latest developments of CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System) activities against the carrier. The union, poised for CHAOS when the 30-day cooling-off period in its negotiations with America West expires, will write businesses and travel agents warning of disruptions that could begin at midnight March 19 in the absence of a tentative agreement.
Crossair, responding to growing demand at London City, has introduced a fifth daily flight to Zurich departing at 7:15 a.m. local time and arriving in the Swiss city at 9:45 a.m. The return flight, timed to depart Zurich at 8:40 p.m. and arriving at London City at 9:15 p.m., enables U.K.-based business travelers to have a full working day in Switzerland.
European Commission, pushing its members to develop the Galileo satellite navigation system, notes that U.S. Global Positioning System Block IIF satellites with a second civil frequency will be deployed over the next decade."If Europe waits, the new Block IIF will reinforce the present GPS dominance and the market will have adopted GPS as the standard. Realistically, Europe could then play only a supporting role," the commission said.
Although the U.S. market has the most mature hubs in the world, the country is "overhubbed" and would be more efficient with fewer and larger hubs, according to a Salomon Smith Barney analysis of 29 airports worldwide. Continental's hubs have the best growth potential, Northwest's are the most dominant and TWA has the industry's best gate utilization. "Continental, US Airways and United, in that order, have the greatest topline revenue potential" from their hubs, said analyst Brian Harris.
