Fedex Pilots Association leaders said Friday they believe the union's rank and file will approve the contract agreement negotiated late last week without the need for a sales campaign. Two previous tentative agreements on a first-ever FedEx contract were defeated in ratification votes, and FPA members will get a look at the new one next week. Pilots will begin receiving copies of the proposed contract Dec. 29, FPA said Friday, and a ratification vote should take place about Feb. 4. FPA's board will meet tomorrow to draw up majority and minority opinions.
Northwest's Pacific passenger revenues were cut nearly in half in the third quarter, down $310 million to $360.5 million, as capacity fell 28.6%. With pilots' strike effects, yield plunged 18.7% in the Pacific and 16.8% over the Atlantic.
AAR named Vincent Corso VP-airline sales at AAR Cooper Aviation and Robert Botticelli VP sales and marketing at AAR Aircraft Component Services-New York.
Recent briefings to FAA, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association indicate that the much-anticipated Johns Hopkins Global Positioning System risk assessment will be delivered on schedule Jan. 19.
Iberia, which experienced double-digit traffic growth in November, began adding 80 holiday-season flights over the weekend to take advantage of a surge of Spanish travelers. The carrier is adding frequencies to New York, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Spanish cities of Las Palmas, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Ibiza, Menorca and Mallorca. Its November traffic was 2.6 billion revenue passenger kilometers, up 14.3% year-over-year for its biggest gain this year but down 12.1% from 2.9 billion RPMs in October.
Professional Aviation Maintenance Association is alarmed that FAA plans to quit publishing its Alerts this month in favor of an Internet-only version. PAMA says Alerts' monthly reports on maintenance incidents from voluntarily submitted data are read by more than 29,000 mechanics and pilots. PAMA called FAA's decision a "major safety error." The data are part of Service Difficulty Report procedures.
United and its Air Line Pilots Association unit began negotiations on a new contract Friday, 16 months before the current agreement becomes amendable. United ALPA said it hopes to revise the 400-page agreement without the kind of bitter confrontations that have been part of labor talks at other airlines.
Pigs in Peru have been eating airline food smuggled out of Lima Airport garbage. Despite the popularity of the food among swine, police stopped the practice because the waste needs to be incinerated to prevent the spread of disease.
Aeropostal filed at DOT for an exemption to operate scheduled combination service under reciprocal code share with American from points in Venezuela to Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, and to 31 points beyond Miami, New York, DFW and San Juan, its U.S. gateways. The Venezuelan carrier holds authority to serve the gateways and Caracas-Orlando/Atlanta via Aruba. It wants to place its code on American flights to the gateway cities and on American/American Eagle flights to the beyond points.
Flight attendants at Midway have voted for representation by the Association of Flight Attendants, AFA said Friday. Of 107 eligible voters, 82 cast ballots for AFA after what the union called a "fierce battle" for representation. An earlier representation election was overturned after the National Mediation Board found that Midway had violated workers' rights.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries September 1998 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air China 1 747-400/CO PW4056 1 Air Pacific 1 737-700 CFM56-7B24 -
FAA and Chile's Director General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) completed the first test flights in Chile demonstrating the capabilities and benefits of the Wide Area Augmentation System in what FAA described as "the latest step toward achieving a seamless, worldwide satellite-based air navigation system." The test flights were conducted at Santiago International Airport.
Delta Chief Executive Leo Mullin believes the airline's buildup in Latin America will stimulate the region's economies by almost $600 million during the next three years.But the level could be higher if it weren't for restrictions "that thwart the development of a sound transportation network," he said this week in New Orleans.
Florida-based Gulfstream International flew 12.8 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 38.17% increase compared with November 1997. Gulfstream's parent, G-Air Holdings Corp., acquired Paradise Island Airways in August (DAILY, Aug. 13). Capacity climbed 36.5% to 23.4 million available seat miles, while the load factor edged up less than one percentage point to 54.7%. Boardings rose by nearly 51% to 74,555.
Frank Swoboda, Washington Post transportation writer, discusses DOT's proposed airline competition policy, airline alliances, airport economics and FAA reauthorization on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Washington's NewsChannel 8.
Great Lakes Aviation has been ordered to continue providing essential air service at Fairmont, Minn., Norfolk, Neb., and Yankton, S.D., for an additional 30-day period through Jan. 22, 1999. The carrier has an application pending at DOT to continue to provide service, with subsidy under a new agreement, at the three points plus Devils Lake and Jamestown, N.D., and Brookings, S.D. (Dockets OST-1998-3843, -3704 and -3703)
British Aerospace Regional Aircraft this week delivered a Jetstream 41 aircraft to the Hong Kong Government Flying Service (GFS), the first to be delivered of two ordered in May 1997. The second aircraft will be delivered before month-end. The aircraft will be used in a maritime search-and-rescue role by the GFS. BAe adapted the J41s for their surveillance mission in association with FR Aviation, Bournemouth, England.
Cincinnati-based Comair Holdings Inc. has been placed on the 1999 Nasdaq-100 Index, Comair reported. At the time the company was selected for the index, it had a market capitalization of $2.1 billion. Comair made its initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock market in 1998. Comair Holdings Chairman David Mueller, expressing pleasure with the placement, said, "Our consistent growth over the years has been fueled by the support of our shareholders and employees."
Northwest Airlines wholly owned subsidiary Express Airlines I posted a 9% traffic decline last month to 25.9 million revenue passenger miles, compared with November 1997. Capacity fell 11.5% to 42.9 million available seat miles, allowing the load factor to increase 1.7 percentage points to 60.5%. Boardings were off 7.8% to 99.5 million. Express Airlines I, which is based in Memphis, attributed the capacity decline to removal of the 19-seat Jetstream 31 from its fleet in October 1998.
Amadeus will increase its prices to airlines 5.2% as of Jan. 1 and offer them a territorial pricing option in which cost varies for different parts of the world depending on origin of the booking. In a letter to airline subscribers explaining the price increase, Amadeus said it will focus on providing better tools based on the industry's requests to manage distribution. Many tools, such as Encoded Rules or Automatic Ticket Number Transmission, will remain free.
Robert Brown, who will become president and chief executive of Bombardier succeeding Laurent Beaudoin, joined the company in 1987 after a long career in government service. Brown, who assumes his new positions Feb. 1, is currently president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace (DAILY, Dec. 14).
