Kiwi, grounded Wednesday by FAA, met with agency officials yesterday to answer questions and find out what it will take to return to service. FAA revoked Kiwi's operating certificate, saying the airline's safety oversight had deteriorated to the point that "without constant monitoring" Kiwi "is no longer able to sustain safe operations." Kiwi appealed the revocation Wednesday night with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Orders and options for regional jets of up to 70 seats now stand at 1,817 aircraft, including those already delivered. That is just 10 years after Bombardier announced development of the Canadair Regional Jet in 1989. Included are 1,010 for the CRJ family, of which 776 are for the 50-seater and 234 for the 70-seater. Embraer has a total of 763, of which 454 are for the 50-seater and 309 for the 37-seater. Fairchild Dornier had hard orders for 44 32-seat 328JETs, but an options figure was not immediately available.
Atlantic Coast Airlines' common stock price tumbled in recent days but showed signs of turning around yesterday. The issue hit a closing high of $33.38 on March 9, falling 27.3% to $24.25 Tuesday. It came on news Monday that the United Express carrier would miss Wall Street earnings estimates for the first quarter by three to five cents per share due to weather-related canceled flights. Although average daily volume on the stock has been 301,000 shares over the past month, the volume hit 1.9 million shares Tuesday, falling to a low of $21.25 during the day.
DOT has tentatively decided to award Glennallen, Alaska-based air taxi Wrangell Mountain Air a certificate authorizing scheduled service. Wrangell intends to provide two roundtrips daily from May 15 to Sept. 15 between McCarthy, Alaska - in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park - and Chitina, Alaska, using one five-passenger Cessna 206. (Docket OST-99-5010)
Low-fare airlines garnered a 21% share of U.S. domestic traffic during 1998, more than ever before, according to a study by George Washington University and Roberts, Roach&Associates. The number of passengers on low-fare airlines has more than tripled this decade, to nearly 84 million last year from 25 million in 1990. Of all city-pairs with more than 300,000 annual passengers, 70% have "meaningful" low-fare competition, defined as a low-fare market share of at least 5%.
FAA said this week regional air carriers will enplane 71 million passengers this year, jumping to 74.9 million in 2000, an increase of 5.5%. By 2010, enplanements will reach 123.8 million, up 74.4% over 1999. The agency said in its annual forecast that regional revenue passenger miles will total 17.5 million this year, increasing by 116.6% in 2010 to 37.9 million. It predicted that the regional fleet would stand at 2,094 at the end of this year. That number is expected to grow 38.8% in 2010 to 2,886 aircraft.
Delta said yesterday that the first of 13 custom-designed 777 aircraft will arrive Friday at its Atlanta base. The aircraft is the first 777 with Delta's new BusinessElite cabin, with 52 seats for premium-fare passengers. The carrier said it will offer the "first intercontinental business class with five feet of space between its sleeper seats. There are no middle seats in the premium cabin, but there are 225 seats in the main cabin. The $1.4 billion 777 order will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines generating 92,000 pounds thrust each.
FAA's HOST and Oceanic air traffic control computer system replacement will be completely functional by October, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday at the agency's forecast conference, sooner than the recent target of January 2000. Eleven of the 20 HOST replacement computers are running.
United's $99 one-way Boston-London fare is not the only $99 transatlantic fare in the past seven years (DAILY, March 22). British Airways offered a $99 introductory Denver-London fare in July 1998 and sold more than 24,000 segments at that rate.
Travel was the No. 1 product purchased on-line in 1997 and the numbers are expected to grow rapidly in the next three years, said Fiona Swerdlow, a digital commerce analyst with New York-based Jupiter Communications, said yesterday at the FAA Aerospace Forecast Conference in Washington. Swerdlow projected that travel booked through the Internet will reach $3.1 billion by yearend, $6 billion by the end of 2000 and $11.7 billion by the end of 2002, of which airline tickets will account for $1.8 billion.
SkyWest Airlines, which flies as United Express, will expand its Los Angeles operations this spring by adding new service to Santa Rosa/Sanoma County and Merced and increasing service to four existing California markets. SkyWest will offer nonstop Los Angeles-Santa Rosa service four times daily beginning April 4 and direct Los Angeles-Merced service the same day. It also will increase daily roundtrip service from Los Angeles to Fresno from 12 to 15; Monterey from 13 to 15; Palm Springs from 19 to 20, and Santa Barbara from 14 to 15.
Singapore Airlines is expected to announce today a plan to invest in two of the three major airlines in Australia and New Zealand, The DAILY has learned. SIA Chief Executive Cheong Choong Kong intends to acquire the 50% of Ansett Australia now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. at a cost expected to be about A$500 million (US$320 million). Talks between the two airlines have been ongoing and reported in the media, but The DAILY also learned that SIA will take a 50% stake in Air New Zealand, Ansett's partner and owner of the other 50% of its shares.
Standard&Poor's downgraded British Airways' corporate credit ratings because of increasing competition and fare weakness in Europe and Asia and on transatlantic routes. Saying BA's credit outlook is "negative," S&P noted that the carrier lost money in the fourth quarter of 1998 and its operating margin after depreciation fell to a "weak" 4.3%. BA has been facing an "increasingly competitive fare environment" in Europe, Asia and across the Atlantic, "with the weaker revenue environment expected to continue over at least the next year."
Ryanair has taken delivery of its first 737-800. The low-fare airline has ordered 25 next-generation 737s to expand its European network. The Dublin-based carrier now operates 21 737-200s.
Continental Chairman Gordon Bethune said yesterday the total effect of the various passenger bill of rights proposals being debated in Congress will add an average of $19 per one-way segment, or $38 roundtrip, to every ticket issued in the U.S. Speaking to reporters at the FAA Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference in Washington, Bethune said he shared the Continental-developed $19 figure with members of Congress, including House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), and the Air Transport Association.
A European Commission proposal calls for the Galileo satellite system to be "fully operational" by 2008, according to a paper by the European Space Agency (ESA). The paper notes that Galileo is to be "designed for the 21st century, yet it needs to be interoperable with GPS," the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System. The Galileo constellation will include 21 spacecraft in medium earth orbit (MEO) and three in geostationary orbit over the European region to provide an "independent integrity signal."
Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) said bad weather during the first quarter will result in earnings three to five cents per share lower. The Washington Dulles-based carrier was forced to cancel 900 flights in the first 21 days of March, typically its strongest traffic month of the quarter. The 900 in 21 days compares with 1,097 weather-related cancellations in the entire first quarter of 1998. BT Alex.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded yesterday that all Boeing 737s in airline service, even the newly developed next-generation aircraft, have a rudder system "that could lead to a loss of control." The board said the dual-concentric servo valve used in all 737 main rudder power control units (PCUs) is not "reliably redundant." It said a reliably redundant rudder actuation system is needed for all 737s, "despite significant improvements made in the system's design." The recommendation followed a four-and-a-half-year investigation, the longest in U.S.
Grupo TACA is conducting a series of seminars in nine U.S. cities to promote flexible, reasonably priced air-inclusive packages to Central America. "Destinos Vacations" begins today in Orlando and finishes Oct. 29 in Houston. The travel agent events cover Belize, Cost Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama.
General aviation "has been driving the FAA workload" recently, according to John Rodgers, FAA director-aviation policy and plans.Tower operations in the U.S. rose 2.5% overall last year, but the GA portion grew 3.3%. Instrument operations increased 2.3% overall, while GA's total rose 4.3%.
AirTran Airways has named Robert Fornaro president. Joe Leonard, who has been serving as president since he joined the company in January, will retain his duties as chairman and chief executive.
Delta applied at DOT for an exemption to provide scheduled combination service between any points in the U.S. and any points in the U.K. except London Heathrow and Gatwick airports, consistent with 1995 amendments to the U.S.-U.K. bilateral. The carrier plans to expand its U.S.-U.K. third-country code share with Air France about June 1, placing its code on Paris-Birmingham flights operated by Air France, and it asked DOT to grant its application by April 5. Delta does not hold underlying authority to serve Birmingham. (Docket OST-99-5391)
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) did not appear before the House Rules Committee yesterday to seek authority to offer a House budget resolution amendment earmarking for aviation $15 billion, the projected aviation trust fund surplus over five years, but he said the Republican House leadership has accommodated him. "I'm not going to offer an amendment because I have a deal [with the leadership] which is very acceptable to me," Shuster told The DAILY in a brief interview off the House floor late yesterday.
