Philippine Airlines lost 6.09 billion pesos (US$150 million) in the six months to Sept. 30, nearly three times the net loss of 2.12 billion pesos in the first half of fiscal 1997, according to Reuters. Revenue fell 33% to 11.74 billion pesos ($296 million) from 17.58 billion. Newspaper reports from the region during the weekend suggest that the staggering loss could scuttle a rescue effort by Cathay Pacific.
Jerry Murphy has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Kiwi International Airlines, a position he has held since September 1995, the company said yesterday. Chairman Charles Edwards will be interim chief executive, and Jimmie Player, chief financial officer, has been named interim president. Edwards said Kiwi was "saddened" by Murphy's departure. "In addition to keeping the company together during bankruptcy in 1997, he contributed significantly to Kiwi's improvement in 1998.
AeroMexico traffic for October grew 3.7% to 892 million revenue passenger kilometers, while capacity gained 9.1% to 1.4 billion available seat kilometers. For the first 10 months, traffic increased 8% and capacity 6.6%.
Kiwi International Airlines reported a 56% jump in traffic on 36% more capacity for the third quarter 1998, compared with the third quarter last year, which pushed the load factor up 9 percentage points to 67%. Kiwi flew 226.5 million revenue passenger miles on 339 million available seat miles. Passengers carried climbed 23% to 211,572.
Memphis-based Express I Airlines, which flies as Northwest Airlink, posted a 23.7% decline in traffic on 13.5% less capacity in October, compared with October last year, which depressed the load factor 7.4 percentage points. The downturn was caused by the 15-day Northwest pilot strike in September, said Chief Executive and President Philip Trenary. Express flew 24.6 million revenue passenger miles and 44.6 million available seat miles, creating a 55.2% load factor. Passengers flown declined 8.3% to 111,158.
Reno Air reported a 10.1% drop in traffic on 8.5% less capacity in October, compared with the same month last year, causing a 1-percentage-point drop in the load factor. Reno, to be acquired by American (DAILY, Nov. 20), flew 224.4 million revenue passenger miles and 371.3 million available seat miles, creating a 60.5% load factor. Passengers boarded declined 12.6% to 404,280. Year-to-date RPMs were down 2.1% on 0.4% fewer ASMs, lowering the load factor 1.1 points. Passengers flown declined 3.7%.
Northwest will double its seasonal Tokyo-Anchorage flights during the peak 1999 summer season. The carrier will operate two weekly roundtrips from May 30 to Oct. 3, using 281-seat DC-10s. Northwest operated a weekly 747 during summer 1998. The airline estimates that its service to Anchorage contributes $21 million to Alaska's economy. The service connects with Northwest's flights from Tokyo to Asia and partner Alaska Airlines' flights from Anchorage to other points in Alaska.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic Second Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 3,108 6.53 850 2,640,718 9.48
FAA yesterday certified the eXaminer 3DX 6000 explosives detection system (EDS), manufactured by L-3 Communications of New York. The new EDS joins the CTX 5000 and 5500 systems made by InVision Technologies. Both firms' systems work on computed tomography (CAT scan) technology to detect a wide range of explosives. Cathal Flynn, FAA associate administrator for civil aviation security, said the eXaminer 3DX advances the agency's goal of providing competition among EDS manufacturers.
WestJet Airlines posted record third quarter pre-tax earnings of C$6.5 million (US$4.2 million). The profits were on revenues of C$38.7 million ($28.5 million), giving the carrier a pre-tax margin of 16.8%. Total revenue was up 60%, and charter and other revenues more than doubled to C$1.8 million. Net profit rose 6.7% to C$3million ($1.9 million). The record levels were remarkable in that WestJet grew year-over-year capacity 73% and spent C$12.5 million in the quarter for deposit agreements to purchase four additional aircraft.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Second Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 213 8.18 1,107 235,569 12.79
Air Canada named Douglas Port senior VP-corporate affairs and government relations. Port was senior VP-international. He will be succeeded in that position by Danielle Poudrette, previously senior director-integrated customer solutions.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey yesterday appointed William Davis deputy associate administrator for Civil Aviation Security, Nick Lacey director of Flight Standards Service and Elizabeth Erickson director of Aircraft Certification Service. The Davis and Erickson appointments took effect immediately and Lacey will join FAA in January. Tom McSweeny, associate administrator for Regulation and Certification, said the appointees "were selected for their technical expertise and their leadership skills." McSweeny, who was named to his post Oct.
A breakdown in U.S.-U.K. open-skies talks is not grounds for dismissing an application by American and British Airways to form an alliance, the two carriers said in a DOT filing last week. The carriers responded to a motion filed Nov. 10 by Continental, Tower Air, TWA, US Airways and United to throw out their application. American and BA said the motion was based on the mistaken premise that an open-skies agreement between the U.S. and the U.K.
Consolidation of Europe's aerospace and defense industry "appears to be gaining momentum" but is unlikely to result in the single umbrella organization envisioned by some advocates, Moody's Investors Service said yesterday. The most likely outcome is "agglomeration of the major companies into a few huge groups," according to Senior VP Tassos Philippakos. Facing continued low levels of defense spending worldwide and increased competition for exports, "none of the European players...wants to risk eventually being shoved aside by the U.S.
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) wants documentation explaining why the U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO) has refused to review its request to investigate Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo's interference with a May 31 strike by AeroMexico flight attendants. Under the terms of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, AFA requested a review of Zedillo's actions, which NAO refused.
United flew more electronic-ticketed than paper-ticketed domestic passengers in October, the first month that has happened.E-ticketing attracted 53% of domestic passengers and 44% of the carrier's 7.55 million passengers worldwide. By yearend, United will offer e-ticketing to 10 more countries, bringing paperless travel to 91% of the cities it serves.
BFGoodrich and Coltec Industries yesterday announced their boards approved terms of a merger under which Coltec shareholders will receive 0.56 shares of BFGoodrich common stock for each share of Coltec. Based on the closing price of $35.94 Friday for BFGoodrich, the transaction was valued at $2.2 billion including assumption of Coltec debt. The companies expect to achieve annual cost savings of $60 million by 2001. John Guffey, Coltec chairman, will become a member of BFGoodrich's board, an executive VP of BFGoodrich and president of the industrial business.
General Service Administration (GSA) has amended Fly America regulations to reduce the connecting time for use of a U.S. flag carrier at an overseas interchange point. It also requires that airline tickets issued under a code-share agreement identify the U.S. flag air carrier's designator code and flight number and removes references to "gateway airports." GSA reduced connecting time from six hours or more to four hours at overseas points for determining whether U.S. flag service is unavailable. This move was opposed by at least two U.S.
Avianca has signed a wet-lease agreement with World Airways to provide daily MD-11 passenger service between New York Kennedy and El Dorado Airport in Bogota. The $3 million contract, approved by Colombian authorities, runs between Dec. 10 and Jan. 17.
Delta and Delta Express announced sale fares to Florida starting at $69 one way. Tickets must be purchased by Dec. 11 and are good for travel through Jan. 31. Fares on Delta require roundtrip purchase, but fares on Delta Express do not. Blackout dates during the Christmas and New Year's holidays apply.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) won the right to represent Northwest mechanics and related employees Friday. In results subject to certification by the National Mediation Board, an initial tally showed that AMFA won a representational election against the incumbent International Association of Machinists (IAM) by 56%. Of 9,079 ballots cast, 5,160 were for AMFA and 3,905 for IAM.
DOT made final its decision to withdraw four U.S.-France frequencies allocated to Tower Air and allocate seven weekly frequencies to American for Los Angeles-Paris service, seven to United for Chicago-Paris and seven to U.S. Airways for Philadelphia-Paris, all beginning next spring. The action follows a show cause order issued last month (DAILY, Oct. 22).
