U.S. Airports Sources of Non-Operating Revenue Medium Hub Airports* Fiscal Year 1997 (Dollar Amounts in Thousands) Passenger PFC Facility Per Bond Grant Charges Passenger** Proceeds Payments Albuquerque 8,789 2.73 33,740 2,115
LanChile traffic for November rose 16.7% on 19% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 1.2 percentage points to 60.6%. The airline's passenger total rose 13.8% to 247,611 in November and 2.7 million for 11 months.
German aircraft manufacturer Daimler Chrysler Aerospace (DASA) last week paid the final tranche of government loans it was granted for the development of the Airbus A320, the German Ministry of Finance said. DASA received a total of 3.572 billion Deutschmarks ($6 billion), of which the last payment was DM1.75 billion.
Moody's Investors Service yesterday said the airline industry should have another good year in 1999 after five straight profitable years, but the industry's cycle of "unprecedented profitability has finally peaked." Profits this year will not be as high as last year, the ratings firm said, and it "does not expect much more improvement in the industry's credit quality." It also does not believe 1998's sharp drop in jet fuel prices to yield the record profits the industry enjoyed in 1998.
British Airways plans to equip its airplanes with air-to-ground cardiac monitors in addition to defribillators. The carrier is assessing the feasibility of linking heart-monitoring equipment via satellite to medical experts on the ground. BA would be the first airline to take this additional medical step but is following several carriers with defibrillators. BA will begin installing LifePak500 debfibrillators in April and equip all 250 aircraft within a year.
America West Vacations, a division of The Leisure Company, is promoting vacation packages for the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Prices are good for travel during January and February and do not require advance booking. Packages include roundtrip air on America West or Continental, hotel, facility charges, a Vacation Welcome Pack, optional ground transfers and optional rental car. Sample package prices are $254 from Dallas/Fort Worth or Indianapolis, $314 from Atlanta or Chicago and $334 from Columbus or Newark.
Omni Air International said it has purchased from Lufthansa/Condor a DC-10-30 that will join two DC-10-10s and one DC-10-30 in its fleet. Omni said it will buy a second DC-10-30 from Lufthansa/Condor in June.
Tower Air's traffic grew 7.6% in December on 11% more capacity, compared with the same 1997 month, depressing the load factor 2.3 percentage points to 73%. Tower flew 325 million revenue passenger miles and 445 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 16.8% to 146,000 as total block hours flown declined 17.3% to 3,085. For 12 months 1998, RPMs grew 13.9% on 16.3% more ASMs, lowering the load factor 1.5 points. Passengers flown jumped 21.7% and total block hours were up 3.1%.
Midwest Express saw a 15.7% increase in traffic on 20.2% more capacity for December 1998 over the same month in 1997, which depressed the load factor 2.4 percentage points to 61.6%. The carrier flew 138.9 million revenue passenger miles and 225.3 million available seat miles. Passengers flown increased 13.5% to 154,319. Subsidiary Skyway Airlines' traffic rose 7.2% to 5.8 million RPMs on 12.5 million ASMs, down 4.3%, pushing the load factor up 5 points to 46.3%. Passengers flown grew 8.2% to 26,078.
AirTran posted a 15.7% rise in traffic on 17.6% more capacity for December over the same month in 1997, depressing the load factor 0.9 percentage points. AirTran flew 254.2 million revenue passenger miles and 456.3 million available seat miles, creating a 55.7% load factor. Passengers flown grew 38.1% to 467,164. Year 1998 RPMs jumped 34% and ASMs 28% from 1997, boosting the load factor 2.6 points. Passengers flown increased 33.2%.
Denver-based Frontier reported a 37.4% jump in traffic on 23.5% more capacity for December 1998 compared with the same 1997 month, boosting the load factor 5.9 percentage points to 57.8%. The carrier flew 134.3 million revenue passenger miles and 232.4 million available seat miles. Passengers carried surged 35.8% to 149,941. Year-to-date RPMs increased 30.5% and ASMs 20.6%, pushing the load factor up 4.1 points. The number of passengers flown jumped 24%.
Air-India Employees Union, representing more than 13,000 of AI's roughly 18,500 employees, has asked the civil aviation ministry to move up the retirement age from 60 to 58 years. India last year introduced a 60-year limit for all its employees. The union said it fears the new limit will result in "demotivation" of AI personnel as vacancies at higher job levels would be blocked. AI management has not issued an official statement on the issue.
Jet fuel price declines have mirrored the plunging cost of gasoline at the street pump, and for airlines the savings during 1998 could reach $2 billion. The phenomenal drop in the price of jet fuel boosted airline profits but also masked a worsening unit revenue picture. "For 1998, without a fuel price drop, operating profits would have been down," said Edward Starkman, airline analyst with Warburg Dillon Read. He estimates that lower fuel prices mean $1.9-$2 billion in expense savings for U.S.
Cincinnati-based Comair, which flies as a Delta Connection carrier, reported a 23.2% surge in traffic on 23.1% more capacity for December 1998 compared with the same month in 1997, which left the load factor unchanged at 60.9%. Comair flew 184 million revenue passenger miles and 302 million available seat miles. Passengers flown grew 20.1% to 541,344. Year-to-date RPMs gained 17.1% on 11% more ASMs, boosting the load factor 5.5 points. Passengers flown jumped 16.6%.
United traffic for December rose 3.8% on 3.6% more capacity, which raised the load factor 0.1 percentage points to 69.4%. Pacific traffic fell 7.5% on 13.7% less capacity, boosting the load factor 4.8 points to 72.3%. North American traffic gained 7.2% on 7.6% more capacity, resulting in a 70.2% load factor, down 0.2 points. Atlantic traffic grew 6.7% on 15.5% more capacity, forcing load factor down 5.2 points to 64.0%. Latin American traffic increased 4% on 7.2% more capacity, lowering the load factor 2.0 points to 62.7%.
FAA yesterday issued a proposed rule amending slot allocations at the three high-density airports - Chicago O'Hare, New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan - that are specifically addressed in the Feb. 24, 1995, bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Canada. The agreement provides that Canadian carriers will be able to obtain slots at the airports under the same prevailing allocation system as U.S. carriers. The base level of slots for Canada includes 42 at LaGuardia, plus 36 winter and 32 summer slots at O'Hare.
Lufthansa has installed automated check-in terminals complete with baggage loading systems at its Frankfurt hub. The Terminal 1 improvement enables passengers traveling with electronic tickets to check themselves in with touch-screen technology and place their bags on a conveyor belt, where they are shipped from one of six locations in the airport to the aircraft. The baggage terminals, which weigh baggage and print out a two-part tag for bags and passenger, can be used by all passengers traveling on nonstop flights operated by Lufthansa and SAS.
The 10 largest U.S. carriers achieved improved month-over-month and year-over-year records during November 1998 for on-time arrivals and mishandled baggage, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report. The airlines posted an on-time record of 83.3% in November, higher than October's 81.7% and November 1997's 78.2%. The carriers' reported November mishandled-baggage rate, 4.21 per 1,000 passengers, was an improvement from the 4.39 posted in October and 4.66 in November 1997.
Virgin Express posted a 25.5% rise in December traffic on 18.8% more capacity, boosting the load factor 3.8 percentage points to 71.1%. The airline flew 231,107 passengers last month, up 32.6%.
Delta has graduated the first group of flight attendants who are trained to become on-board leaders. More than 4,400 flight attendants completed the special program, designed to emphasize commitment to superior customer service. The participants underwent interviews, assessments and performance reviews.
Sabena and El Al signed a pact under which all flights between Brussels and Tel Aviv will be code shared, starting April 1. The Belgian airline announced yesterday in Brussels that it will increase its services to Tel Aviv from five to six frequencies weekly on Jan. 17. Beginning in April 2000, flights will be daily. Starting in April 1999, El Al will operate five weekly frequencies to Brussels, with six weekly flights in April 2000.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, has introduced a bill in the House that would prohibit abuses in FAA's Liaison and Familiarization Training Program cited in the Transportation Inspector General's memo last year on the program.
U.S. and U.K. aviation representatives are scheduled to meet informally Feb. 17-19 in Washington, according to a British embassy official. Characterizing the talks as "exploratory" in nature, she said the meetings will be an opportunity for the two sides to "get back in touch" after formal negotiations held Oct. 5-7, 1998, in London broke down when the U.S. delegation walked out, citing "no possibility for making progress" (DAILY, Oct. 8, 1998). A DOT spokesman said that the U.S.
Thailand's Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has proposed a computer reservations system code of conduct that would give the Amadeus CRS a monopoly for all domestic bookings made on Thai Airways International. The move would shut out Abacus International, which for four years has been asking Thai authorities to liberalize the CRS market instead. Abacus Chief Executive and President William Liu has urged Thailand to open up its CRS market to free and fair competition for the benefit of the country's travel trade.
America West reported a 3.8% rise in December traffic on 6.5% more capacity, lowering the load factor 1.6 percentage points to 62.8%. Traffic levels of 1.3 billion and 16.4 billion revenue passenger miles set records for December and the full year, respectively. The airline carried 17.85 million passengers last year, 2.6% less than the 18.33 million passengers transported in 1997. Dec 98 Dec 97 12 Mths 98 12 Mths 97 RPMs 1,337,052,000 1,228,226,000 16,370,438,000 16,204,139,000
