Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) investigators believe that Embraer's EMB-120 aircraft had not met FAA certification standards at the time of the Jan. 9, 1997, Comair EMB-120 crash in which all passengers and crewmembers were killed. The turboprop has shown a "demonstrated history in icing conditions that indicated the aircraft did not meet the requirements of FAR Part 25," the union said in the January issue of Air Line Pilot magazine, which is distributed to members and others.
Delays in scheduled-service arrivals and departures at London's five airports increased year-over-year in the third quarter of 1998 and the average delay got longer, the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reported. The ratio of scheduled flights at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City that were on time - within 15 minutes of schedule - dropped to 65% from 71% in the third quarter of 1997. The average delay increased from 13 minutes to 16 minutes.
Continental Express reported that its December load factor jumped 3.4 percentage points to 58.6% - its highest December load factor ever - as revenue passenger miles rose 39.6% to 143.1 million and available seat miles climbed 31.5% to 244.3 million available seat miles.
Traffic for regional airlines grew 15.1% during the July-September 1998 period to 4.79 billion revenue passenger miles, compared with the same 1997 period, Regional Airline Association said this week, citing statistics compiled by Washington, D.C.-based AvStat Associates. The overall load factor for the three months grew 2.6 percentage points to 60.4%, as capacity gained 10.1% to 7.9 billion available seat miles.
U.S. Carriers Interest Expense Third Quarter 1998 % Of Total Interest Operating Expenses Alaska 3,321,000 0.90 America West 8,057,364 1.80 American -- -- Continental 31,376,000 1.77 Delta 41,858,000 1.26
Southwest posted an 8.9% increase in December traffic on 8.7% more capacity, which raised the load factor 0.1 percentage points to 62.7%. Traffic for the year rose 10.8% on 6.9% more capacity, producing a load factor of 66.1%, up 2.4 points. Southwest's average length of haul grew 6% last year to 597 miles from 563. The airline flew 52.6 million passengers last year, 2.2 million more than in 1997. Dec 98 Dec 97 12 Mths 98 12 Mths 97
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday underscored Chairman Bud Shuster's (R-Pa.) intention to take the aviation trust fund off budget this year by expanding the size of its aviation subcommittee from 32 to 50 members. Committee sources said the 56% increase in size was in expectation of an enhanced agenda as part of Shuster's aim to do for aviation this year what he did last year for highways - take the trust fund off budget. Shuster has dubbed fiscal year 2000 "the year of aviation."
Eight regional-airline stocks closed up 78 cents, on average on Dec. 31, a gain of 4% to $19.54 per share. Total market value was up $283 million on the month to just over $5 billion. Only three of the eight issues gained ground during December, however. United Express/Delta Connection SkyWest led the gainers with an increase of $5.83 to $32.69 per share. Delta Connection Comair saw its stock price increase $3.13 to $33.75 per share, while Northwest Airlink Mesaba Holdings had a $1.88 gain to $20.63.
United's plan to reinvent the Washington Dulles hub that it trimmed back several years ago could prove worrisome for Express carrier Atlantic Coast. Although the two airlines recently penned a new 10-year code-sharing agreement, the senior partner has the reputation of "eating its young." Two of the markets United plans to expand are New York LaGuardia and Hartford, where ACA has six and eight weekday roundtrips, respectively, with both CRJs and J41 turboprops. The carrier also serves Tampa with one flight as well as Jacksonville and Fort Myers, not targeted.
FAA has issued a final rule permitting authorized repair stations and aircraft operating certificate holders to approve aircraft products or articles for return to service after major repairs using "self-developed repair data that have not been directly approved" by the agency. The rule amends and extends Special Federal Aviation Regulation No. 36, which provides an alternative to a requirement to obtain direct FAA approval of major repair data.
Washington Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines, a United Express affiliate, posted a 67.7% increase in traffic last month to 71.7 million revenue passenger miles, compared with 42.8 million in December 1997. As the carrier continues to acquire Canadair Regional Jets, its capacity climbed 55.4% to 137.8 million available seat miles, compared with 88.7 million in December 1997. The load factor, as a result, climbed 3.8 percentage points to 52.1%. Passenger boardings were up 46.9% to 224,334.
City of Charlotte, N.C., told DOT that although it now "enjoys the nonstop service of one carrier - British Airways," US Airways' long-planned Charlotte-London Gatwick service "will bring highly desirable competition" to the market. Competition would increase travel options and "fares will become subject to increased market discipline," Charlotte said, stating that it "very much hopes that US Airways will have success in the near future" in its attempts to obtain commercially viable slot times at Gatwick.
Cathay Pacific and Swissair yesterday stepped in line with other carriers and lowered their travel agent commission rate structure for tickets issued in the U.S. and Canada to 8%, starting Feb. 1. Cathay's change encompasses all international flights. Both carriers instituted a US$100 maximum commission for roundtrips and $50 for one-way tickets.
Delta, The Comair Connection? Aviation wit and consultant Michael Boyd suggests, "After shifting core routes to its regional carriers, Delta Air Lines discovers that it must change its corporate identity. The new name: Delta, the Comair Connection. (Just kidding. Maybe)." In his 1999 predictions, Boyd said large airlines will continue to shift markets from mainline jets to small jets or their regional affiliates, and the majority of growth in the U.S. airline industry will be the result of new applications for the new regional jets.
Ansett Australia has chosen IBM Global Services Australia to manage its computer systems. The contract, for some 6,000 computers, covers administration, repairs, service and network support. Ansett expects to add 3,000 PCs during the next two years.
The battle over taking the aviation trust fund off budget is shaping up as the overriding aviation issue on Capitol Hill this year. It would be an epic struggle in a normal year, and this year it is intensified by pressure to enact an FAA reauthorization before the present six-month measure expires April 1.
Orders for new regional jets continued to heat up in 1998 and the trend will follow right through 1999 and beyond as airlines refine their use of RJs and the 30-seat class comes on line this year. The RJ does, indeed, reflect a transformation of the regional-airline industry and the mainline business as well. Pilot unions or no, the regional jet is providing the major carriers and their regional partners a whole lot of capacity flexibility on many mainline routes. There are some analysts who assert that these small jets are not regional at all.
BT Alex Brown analyst Susan Donofrio forecasts a 23% decline in fourth quarter net profits for the 10 major U.S. carriers. The drop, to $797 million from $1 billion a year ago, does not reflect consistently rising profits among regional airlines, however. Donofrio predicts that Atlantic Coast will post a 116% jump in net earnings, SkyWest 74% and Comair 32%. Airlines with positive earnings results will include those that have done little fuel hedging and could take full advantage of lower fuel prices. She cited Alaska and Comair among them.
American Eagle reported a 10.6% increase in systemwide traffic on 6.8% more capacity for December over the same month in 1997, boosting the load factor 2.1 percentage points to 61.4%. The carrier flew 238.5 million revenue passenger miles and 338.4 million available seat miles, and passenger enplanements grew 7.3% to 1,092,268. American Eagle Airlines saw a 9.3% gain in RPMs to 210.5 million and 5.5% more ASMs to 340.6 million; the load factor grew 2.2 points to 61.8%. Passengers flown rose 6.5% to 956,562.
Nearly four-fifths - 79% - of Air France's 3,650 pilots voted in favor of a shares-for-wage-cut scheme, according to referendum results unveiled yesterday in Paris. The plan will enable Air France to cut its annual costs by FRF240 million (US$40 million) and to reduce the total wage bill of its pilots and flight engineers by 7%. In exchange, pilots will hold a FRF1.3 billion ($221 million) stake in the airline's capital. The exact percentage size of their stake will be known after the valuation of the company.
Northrop Grumman said yesterday it will take pre-tax charges of about $125 million for the fourth quarter, reducing earnings for the year by about $1.18 per share, as a result of reduced Boeing 747 fuselage deliveries. The reduced delivery rates caused an increase in the estimated cost to complete work on the current 747 production block, it said.
Delta has joined with auto purchasing company Automotive Dealers Marketing to offer Delta SkyMiles members up to 15,000 bonus miles with the purchase or lease of a new car or truck from participating dealerships nationwide. Members can earn 10,000 bonus miles by buying a used vehicle, regardless of the price. They can earn 5,000 bonus miles with the purchase of a new vehicle worth up to $20,000, 10,000 miles on a purchase of $20,001-$40,000, and 15,000 miles for a vehicle over $40,000.
Mesaba reported a 32.3% jump in traffic on 31.7% more capacity for December over December 1997, which boosted the load factor 0.3 percentage points to 54.5%. Mesaba reported 101.8 million revenue passenger miles and 186.9 million available seat miles, and passenger volume grew 29.5% to 402,800. For full-year 1998, Mesaba's RPMs rose 42.5% on 40.2.% more ASMs, causing the load factor to climb 0.9 points. Passengers flown grew 42%.
Joseph Corr, chief executive of AirTran, has resigned, the company announced yesterday. Corr will be succeeded by Joseph Leonard, president and CEO of AlliedSignal's Aerospace Marketing, Sales and Service strategic business unit. Leonard, who also will become AirTran's chairman and president, is a 30-year airline industry veteran whose career includes executive positions at Northwest, Eastern and American. He is credited with vastly improving AlliedSignal's profits.
Olympic Airways pilots have been conducting a work-to-rule action since the beginning of the year, causing delays and postponement last weekend of two flights by 24 hours. The pilots refuse to work overtime and want the Greek carrier to hire more cockpit personnel. On Tuesday, a meeting between pilot union representatives and the company's management failed to resolve the conflict.
