Qantas, in an unprecedented test of passenger loyalty, plans to charge its frequent flyers a fee for account keeping. Effective June 1, the airline will charge its members A$20 (US$13) every two years to recover some of its program administration costs. Members who fail to pay within 30 days from the effective date will have their accounts suspended. Several regular Qantas passengers told The DAILY in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore that the move is a slap in the face for their loyalty. "The situation now is take-it-or-leave-it for the customer.
Northwest traffic fell 6.8% last month on 6.8% less capacity, which left the load factor unchanged at 66.2%. Domestic traffic fell 5.3% on 5.4% less capacity, keeping the load factor at 62.2%. International traffic declined 8.8% on 8.8% less capacity, resulting in a load factor of 72.3%, unchanged from January 1998. Cargo traffic was down 5.1% to 163.9 million ton miles.
Singapore Airlines continued its string of international airline awards in January, winning 23 separate best-airline accolades from publications and groups in Europe, Asia and North America. It nearly swept the Jan. 19 OAG awards in Hong Kong, with 11 gold awards. The honors came as the carrier launched a S$500 million program to upgrade aircraft interiors.
Ranking House Transportation Committee member James Oberstar (D-Minn.), annoyed by European Union plans to impose restrictions on hushkitted Stage 3 aircraft (see Page 224), plans to introduce a bill today removing the noise waiver that allows supersonic Concorde flights to the U.S.The bill bars operation of any supersonic civil transport to the U.S. if it does not comply with Stage 3 rules.
United plans to suspend fights to New Delhi from London and Hong Kong April 4 because of disappointing profitability and a likely slowdown in traffic during India's lean summer season, United officials said yesterday. The airline's management in India declined to give a date for resumption of service, citing pending decisions on "certain major operational issues....But we're certainly intent on resuming the service later in the year," a senior official said, adding that the carrier is exploring the introduction of nonstop flights between the U.S. and India.
Swissair will suspend its two weekly MD-11 Hong Kong-Bombay-Zurich services effective March 24, citing increasing overhead costs. It will be the fifth airline to reduce or suspend flights into Hong Kong due to high landing charges and escalating operational cost in the former British colony. The other four are Varig, SAS, Lauda Air and United.
New Air Corp., which plans to apply soon for FAA and DOT certification for scheduled combination service, applied at DOT for exemption from the high-density rule at New York Kennedy.
Midway Airlines last week started nonstop New Orleans-Raleigh/Durham service, using the 11th of its new Canadair Regional Jets. Midway will offer two daily roundtrip flights that connect to the Northeast and Midwest.
American Chief Financial Officer Gerard Arpey gave AeroPeru General Manager Jaan Albrecht a letter of intent Friday to conduct a due diligence process that could lead to the purchase of the Lima-based carrier, The DAILY has learned. At press time Friday, Albrecht was expected to reveal some of his recent negotiations with American at a Lima news conference. Delta, which owns 35% equity in AeroPeru, supports the move to bring more money into the Peruvian carrier. "Delta recognizes that AeroPeru needs to produce new investors," said Delta spokesman Todd Clay.
Boeing 737 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1998 B737-300 America West Continental Delta Southwest Number of Aircraft Operated 44 79 13 200 Total Fleet Operations Departures 252 305 69 1,549
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Approved an initial one-year exemption for Mexicana to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas...Approved an initial one-year exemption for Air Jamaica to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Houston, Texas...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Spirit to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Atlantic City and Bermuda...Approved a two-year exemption renewal for Delta to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Atlanta and Budapest, H
FAA told the DOT Inspector General's Office it was taking action in response to IG's criticism of misspent and undercollected revenues at Denver International Airport. Responding by a Feb. 3 deadline, FAA said it would monitor the disposal of Denver Stapleton property more closely to ensure funds are appropriately spent, and will try to seek a three-way agreement among the city, carriers and FAA on Stapleton's disposal. The pact is to specify DIA funds that can be spent for maintenance and disposal of Stapleton and for what specific purposes, FAA said.
Atlantic Coast Airlines is finding friends abroad. After Lufthansa sang ACA's praises for its strong Washington Dulles traffic, Spanair called its ACA interline pact "a surprisingly good" traffic generator.
American Chief Executive Don Carty told employees Friday that flying at newly acquired Reno Air will be made available to American pilots as soon as possible. American's Allied Pilots Association claims Reno flying violates its contract. Its board held a conference call Friday afternoon to determine what action to take.
U.K. has reached an agreement with airlines and representatives from flight safety, environmental and police authorities on the type of data needed to measure the scale of the "air rage" problem and to find ways to combat it. The first set of figures will be available toward yearend. U.K. also plans to amend the Air Navigation Order to stop passengers from interfering with crew members.
Kitty Hawk appointed Raymond Lawlor VP-international sales for subsidiary, Kitty Hawk International, previously known as American International Airways.
The Air Line Pilots Association's (ALPA) safety director told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee last week that there were more than 300 runway incursions in 1998 and asked that Congress earmark funding of at least $3 million to reduce the problem. John O'Brien, director of ALPA's engineering and air safety department, international, noted that FAA reported 298 runway incursions in the first 11 months of 1998, and counting other incidents that could be characterized as incursions, the total was "well over 300" for the year.
Several new routes added by U S. carriers to Latin America between late 1997 and mid-1998 have performed poorly, with some load factors below 50%, according to DOT data. In the first nine months after their startup in September 1997, Continental's load factors from Newark to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were 32% and 43%, respectively.
