FAA yesterday ordered 747 operators to change fuel pump procedures immediately to prevent dry operation that "could result in ignition of the center fuel or horizontal stabilizer tanks." The emergency order will cut about an hour of flight time from the 747-400 and could have a huge impact on operating costs and schedules. It could have a greater impact on already ailing carriers in Asia than in the U.S. - where only United and Northwest fly the 747-400 - if Asian nations comply with the FAA order.
William Buechner, of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, discusses budgetary treatment of highway, mass transit and aviation trust funds on Aviation News Today to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
LaGuardia slots, of which BizEx has about 90, may be Eagle's biggest target, but there are a number of other synergies as well. Not the least of those is that BizEx Chairman and CEO Bob Martens is the former president of American Eagle and has substantially revitalized BizEx, which emerged from more than a year in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 1997. Both carriers operate large fleets of Saab 340 aircraft and both have Embraer ERJ-135 regional jets on order. BizEx is controlled by the Philadelphia investment banking firm of Dimeling, Schreiber&Park.
The leading investor in Kansas City-based Vanguard Airlines is proposing a merger with Denver-based Frontier Airlines. While no talks have occurred between the companies, Frontier has not ruled out considering the proposal. Bill Hambrecht, the former Hambrecht&Quist investor who helped save Vanguard, is behind the initiative. Hambrecht's W.R. Hambrecht&Co. bought 8% of Frontier stock, or roughly 1.1 million shares, during the past week. Hambrecht, with investment partner Ed Shea Jr., already owns more than 50% of Vanguard.
Delta plans to terminate all essential air service to Bangor, Maine, after March 1, the carrier said in a filing with DOT this week, but its affiliate Comair will serve the market with regional jets. Delta, in its 90-day notice of termination of service at Bangor, told DOT that its Connection carrier Comair plans to operate three daily nonstop roundtrip jet flights between Bangor and Cincinnati on March 2, which will improve service above EAS criteria. (Docket OST-98-4837)
Startup carrier Puerto Rico Airways Corp. has applied at DOT for a certificate to operate interstate scheduled service between New York Kennedy and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airline said it also will consider service to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, a the market develops. (Docket OST-98-4838)
FAA has awarded New York Kennedy-based Trans International Express its Part 121 certificate, and the carrier has begun limited service to various Northeast points, the company reports. TIE, an air taxi based at Kennedy's new international terminal, expects shortly to receive full commuter authority from DOT, with which it will operate more extensive scheduled service using 36-seat Shorts 360 aircraft from Kennedy to Atlantic City, N.J.; Hartford (Bradley), Conn.; Rochester, Albany and Syracuse, N.Y., and Worcester, Mass.
Comair is going to have a new neighbor at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Northwest Airlink Mesaba said Thursday it will build a new 126,000-square-foot maintenance hangar on the south airfield portion of the airport for its growing fleet of Avro RJ85s. Operating maintenance facilities at various locations is common for regional airlines, but apparently this is the first time a carrier has located a large facility at the principal hub of a major competitor. Mesaba called it a convenient location within its route structure.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, which sought eight months ago to have DOT award it exemptions to serve Chicago O'Hare from Savannah, Ga./Hilton Head, S.C., continues to criticize an October application by rival American Eagle to obtain slots to serve Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., from O'Hare with ERJ-145 jets (DAILY, Oct. 29, Nov. 12 and Nov. 24).
Indianapolis-based US Airways Express carrier Chautauqua Airlines will begin service between Dayton and Washington Dulles Jan. 6, the carrier announced.
After a tumultuous ride, eight regional-airline stocks settled for a 20-cent average gain in November, to $18.76 per share. Total market value of the eight issues fell $50 million to $4.77 billion. The average price per share for the eight carriers climbed from $18.55 at the October close to $19.52 on Nov. 6, dropping to $17.43 on the 12th and riding a bumpy road to $18.76 at the November close. Four of the stocks were negative, four positive. Biggest gainer was Mesa Air Group, up $2.94 per share to $8 from $5.06, a 58% jump on the month.
Jet Airways will introduce three new destinations in India this month - Khajuraho, Varanasi and Imphal, all tourist centers. The carrier also plans to add frequencies on a number of routes by Jan. 3. Jet Airways, India's largest privately owned scheduled airline, will serve 29 cities across the country, including the new points. Its fleet of 19 737s includes the first of 10 new 737-400s and -800s currently being delivered.
Fedex Pilots Association (FPA), back in contract talks with the company, has set up a team to inform members about contract proposals.The team will obtain sections of the contract as they are completed and post them on the union's web site. The entire contract comprises more than 200 pages. The union says it is not concerned that its decision to postpone a strike until after the holidays will hurt its chances to negotiate an acceptable contract.
AMR Eagle is evaluating the potential acquisition of Business Express, its code-sharing partner at Boston, according to reliable sources. The "due-diligence" process has not been confirmed by either party. "We are in a no-comment mode," said a spokesman for BizEx. "We are always looking but cannot comment," replied a spokesman for American Eagle. The major question is the future of the marketing agreements BizEx has with Delta and Northwest. Boston is not a hub, as such, but sends a lot of traffic to the New York airports Kennedy and LaGuardia...
Regional operators called "grossly inaccurate" FAA's cost estimates for requiring terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) on all turbine aircraft with six or more seats and asked the agency to change the compliance schedule. FAA issued the proposal to require installation of TAWS - also known under the AlliedSignal name of enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) - last summer.
Texas lawsuits involving commercial operations at Dallas Love Field "might have been settled some time ago" if Legend, Continental and the City of Dallas were not so confident that they will benefit by DOT's intervention, the City of Fort Worth said in a supplemental motion to dismiss the department's proceeding. When DOT launched the proceeding, it said it was trying to settle issues over which it has jurisdiction and clarify the Texas suits, and Fort Worth opposed the move from the start (DAILY, Aug. 26, 27).
American has asked DOT for a waiver of the 90-day dormancy condition on its frequency allocation for New York-Cuzco, Peru, via Lima. The carrier initiated service April 13 but because of unfavorable economic conditions, suspended the service Sept. 30. American in its filing said it plans to resume service when economic conditions improve. (Docket OST-97-3073)
US Airways said this week it has "resolved issues" with the Labor Department stemming from an audit of historical pay practices concerning women. DOL found no problems with upward mobility for women at the company, but US Airways agreed to make payments totaling $390,000 to 30 women to resolve the audit.
Canada 3000 will expand its summer 1999 U.K. flight program to include two additional weekly flights from Dublin to Toronto, plus an extra weekly London Gatwick flight to Montreal. The Dublin service will operate Mondays and Fridays between May 3 and Sept. 27, and the Montreal service Sundays from Gatwick, using new Airbus A330-200 series aircraft. The airline also will offer flights between Canada and Australia via Honolulu and Fiji this winter, serving Sydney from Toronto and Vancouver.
FAA estimates of the cost of modernizing the air traffic control system have increased $3.8 billion since February to nearly $42 billion, the General Accounting Office (GAO) said yesterday. The increase was attributed to new funding levels provided by the Office of Management and Budget that allow for acceleration of the modernization effort, it said. GAO said it has identified 18 projects that are key to FAA's efforts to replace the national airspace system's aging infrastructure.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has been named to fill the lone Republican vacancy on the Senate Appropriations Committee in the new Congress. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Richard Durbin (Ill.) were named to fill Democratic openings on the committee. Spokesmen for the two Democrats said they would not know subcommittee designations until next month. The Republican vacancy was created by the defeat of Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R-N. C.) last month.
The government of Trinidad&Tobago has designated Air Caribbean as the national airline of the country. The airline already had the right to serve Miami and Caracas but was required to receive the designation to support its application to Venezuela and the U.S. Air Caribbean will begin twice-daily service to Miami by Feb. 1 and to Caracas in March. It has acquired three additional 737-200s, while currently operating one 737 between Guyana and Barbados.
American Eagle last month posted a 15.2% traffic increase to 236.4 million revenue passenger miles, compared with November 1997. Capacity grew 8.5% to 374.2 million available seat miles, the load factor climbed 3.7 percentage points to 63.2% and boardings rose 11.9% to 1,082,747. (More regional airline to follow.) Nov 98 Nov 97 11 Mths 98 11 Mths 97 RPMs 236,387,000 205,169,000 2,549,477,000 2,337,727,000 ASMs 374,190,000 344,926,000 4,082,683,000 3,854,363,000
AirTran Holdings, Inc. reported a 31% jump in traffic on 22.6% more capacity for November 1998 from the same month last year, which pushed the load factor up 3.8 percentage points to 59%. AirTran reported 256.3 million revenue passenger miles and 434.4 million available seat miles. Passengers boarded gained 46.2% to 475,203. Year-to-date revenue passenger miles grew 35.8% on 29.1% more available seat miles from the first 11 months last year, boosting the load factor 3 points. Passengers flown rose 32.8%.
Air Tahiti Nui, celebrating new Airbus Los Angeles-Tahiti service, is offering exclusive consumer packages for travel through Pleasant Tahitian Holidays Jan. 1-March 31, 1999. Special prices are available on Tahiti/Moorea and Radisson Seven Seas-Paul Gauguin Cruise holidays.
