Swissair Chief Executive Jeff Katz, faced with a high cost structure, lower yields and competition from small carriers and mega-alliances, is taking steps, with the cooperation of employees, to alter the airline's structure. A series of changes will be visible this year and next as Katz grows the airline and its alliances and rationalizes the fleet to position it better against the realities of Switzerland's higher costs.
January's U.S. domestic yield and revenue per available seat mile fell 3% and 0.8% year-over-year, according to Salomon Smith Barney analyst Brian Harris. Adjusted for stage lengths, yield dropped 2.1% and RASM rose 0.1%. Harris expects February RASM to climb 1% due to reduced capacity from the American pilot sickout and a boost from the fare hike that took effect Jan. 29.
America West stock climbed $2.75 per share Friday, or 14%, on speculation that United had made a cash offer for the Phoenix-based carrier. United's stock rose 25 cents to $59.50. While sources say United still is interested in America West, neither side would confirm that a deal has been reached or an offer made. United refused to comment. America West's Air Line Pilots Association spokeswoman Yvette Freeman said ALPA was trying to find out if the rumors were true. "We have asked to be involved, but we've been left out of the loop so far," she said.
The Master Executive Council of Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit will meet today to discuss the impact of the carrier's Atlantic Southeast acquisition on Delta pilot careers.Delta's pilot director and the MEC chairman wrote the rank and file last week, each giving his own perspective of the deal. The pilot director sees it as a business transaction and the MEC chief wants to know what it means for jobs.
Airline management in a mature, post-deregulation U.S. environment has shifted away from executives schooled in operations and piloting and toward analytical and finance-savvy leaders, according to Michael Bell, VP with search firm SpencerStuart. "It's a more competitive industry today," he said, but traditional airline knowledge still is critical to a successful company.
In Federal Register dated Feb. 17...Issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Boeing 727 aircraft requiring inspection of the lower skin panel at the lower row of fasteners in certain lap joints of the fuselage.
Aeronautical charting involves "critical flight safety issues," says the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, protesting plans to transfer charting to DOT's Administrative Services Center, which handles parking services, employee fitness centers and urine collection services. "Just because [the center] has a print shop does not mean it has the expertise to collect and publish safety-related aeronautical data on a timely basis," according to AOPA President Phil Boyer.
Rockwell Collins presented to Iowa State University an endowment to fund a scholarship honoring retired president and alumnus John Cosgrove, and named Gary McGraw and Rodney Mickelson corporate engineers of the year.
Despite commission cuts and caps imposed during the past year by major airlines, commissions paid out in January were down only 4% year-over-year, from $427.1 million to $408.2 million, according to Airlines Reporting Corp. Domestic commissions declined 5% and international 4%, and average weekly sales per agency location climbed 3%.
Swissair has become the Swiss public's favorite corporation, according to a survey published Thursday by daily newspaper Le Temps in Geneva. "Swissair benefited from a reaction of support" after one of its MD-11 aircraft crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia last September, killing 229 people, said Manuela Duss, who managed the survey for Swiss polling company IHA-GFM. "The good results registered by the company have also had a positive impact," Duss said.
FAA officials, including Monte Belger, acting deputy administrator, will give briefings on the agency's proposed fiscal 2000 budget at an Air Traffic Control Association symposium Wednesday at the Crystal City Hyatt Regency Hotel, Arlington, Va.
Airbus and Fokker Aircraft Operating Costs Third Quarter 1998 Dollars Per Block Hour A320-100/200 America West Northwest United Average A300-600 Crew Cost $347 $829 $610 $616 $816 Fuel&Oil 369 442 482 441 937
Helicopter Association International named winners of 1998 Aviation Maintenance Technician Scholarships: William Stearns, Shasta College, first place; Kyle Shelley, Purdue University, second; Jeremy Prengaman, Lane Community College, third, and Ramandeep Singh, University of New York at Farmingdale, fourth.
Austrian Airlines wanted to celebrate 10 years of transatlantic service by rolling prices back to 1988 levels on its long-haul routes. "But we found it was much more expensive then," said Paul Paflik, Austrian's director of airline alliances.
The Regional Airline Association says it plans to tell Congress the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 1999 (H.R.700), introduced recently in the House and Senate, "is an unwarranted and unjustified overreaction to isolated events which would introduce increased costs and administrative burdens." RAA said its staff will provide Congress with statements, arguments and other positions on why it does not want the bill to go forward. "We would not attribute anything we use to individual carriers unless that is desired," RAA pledged.
Northwest appointed Fay Beauchine VP-passenger sales and customer relations, Lizabeth Shultis VP-reservations sales and services, John Temple VP and general manager of subsidiary MLT and Susan Edberg managing director-international advertising and WorldPerks marketing.
