FAA Flight Standards Division managers' meeting last week in Washington was overshadowed by apprehension that FAA may merge it with Regulation and Certification. "The two cultures cannot merge," one source said, noting that Certification's engineering philosophy allows for little deviation, which differs sharply from Flight Standards, "where compliance is an issue in which you have to be flexible."
The Global Pilot Alliance has strengthened provisions in its compact for support of a member group involved in a strike or job action. Meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland, representatives of pilots at Delta, Swissair, Sabena, Austrian, Finnair and TAP Air Portugal approved an amendment encouraging member groups to include language in their collective bargaining agreements that would prevent their employers from requiring them to perform flying related to another member's industrial action.
Lufthansa Cargo, taking delivery of new MD-11 freighters from Boeing, notes that they have "reduced specific fuel consumption on a yearly average by 30%, compared with the fuel burn of Boeing 747-200 freighters." Lufthansa Cargo says it is "confident" that it will "further extend its market lead in the international air cargo business."
Pratt&Whitney-Rus, a Pratt&Whitney Canada subsidiary, was granted a developer's certificate by the Interstate Aviation Committee of the Russian State Aviation Register, permitting it to design, develop and support aviation engines in Russia.
AirTran is offering one-way fares between $39 and $99 for travel between selected points in its system. A three-day advance purchase is required, and the deadline for buying tickets is Thursday. Travel must be completed by Jan. 31, and Dec. 23-27 and Jan. 3 are blacked out. Sample fares include $39 Atlanta-Fort Walton Beach, $49 Philadelphia-Boston, $59 Atlanta-Dayton and $99 Dallas/Fort Worth-Buffalo and Houston-Boston.
Fairchild Corp. said it proposed to acquire the remaining 15% of Banner Aerospace it does not already own through a merger of Banner with a newly formed subsidiary of Fairchild.
Three of Boeing's major suppliers said they expect no measurable impact on earnings this year or next from production cutbacks by the airplane maker announced last week (DAILY, Dec. 2,3). Pratt&Whitney said it took action in October, announcing the elimination of about 2,000 positions over the next two years. "Nothing that Boeing said surprised us," a spokesman said. The layoffs at Pratt were "driven not only by the Asian situation but by a dip in military orders.
FAA Friday ordered inspection and repair of the center fuel pumps and canisters of Airbus A300-600 aircraft to prevent a "possible ignition source in the center fuel tank." The order follows a similar action by its counterpart, the French Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile. The DGAC received three reports of damaged center tank fuel pump canisters and pumps. Investigation showed that the pump canister legs had cracked due to fatigue. This caused separation of the upper part of the canister from its lower part, which is attached at the center tank bottom wall.
Taiwan has begun work on a two-stage project designed to expand the terminal at Makung Airport on the offshore Pescadores islands. The first stage of the US$105 million project, intended to bring the airport up to international standards, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2001.
Pembroke Capital Ltd., an aircraft lease and financial services company based in Dublin, will acquire 10 Boeing 717s to be delivered in 2000 and 2002, according to BMW Rolls-Royce, which supplies the engines for the 100-seat aircraft. Pembroke Chief Executive Shane Cooke said the company "will make a material contribution to the development of market acceptance for this new aircraft type." Orders for the 717 now total 65. It is powered by two new BR715 turbofans in the 20,000-pounds thrust class.
United named Scott Praven VP-revenue management and Lynn Hughitt VP-financial controls and assigned VP-Finance Jack Brace additional responsibility for treasury and corporate insurance.
DOT Office of Inspector General said there are limitations to FAA's plan to use the Direct Access Radar Channel (DARC) as the primary air traffic control system during the Host Replacement, including the possibility of delays in air traffic. FAA is replacing Host at 20 domestic air route traffic control centers and three oceanic computers by 2000. DARC backs up the Host computers, and an FAA analysis of its performance over several years showed better than 99% reliability.
Mercury Air Group said Friday it has acquired Jackson Air Center in Jackson, Miss., a full-service fixed-base operation. With the Jackson location, Mercury Air Group operates 15 FBOs nationwide under the name Mercury Air Centers.
Atlantic Coast Airlines announced another near-doubling of monthly traffic and said it will accelerate increases in regional jet service it planned for the first half of 1999. The Washington Dulles-based United Express carrier said it flew 74 million revenue passenger miles last month, 99.2% more than in November 1997, on 132.7 million available seat miles, up 70.9%, increasing the load factor 7.9 percentage points to 55.7%.
FAA - In Federal Register dated Nov. 25...Issued an airworthiness directive on Lockheed L-188 aircraft concerning operations in icing conditions...Issued an AD on certain Douglas MD-11 aircraft requiring inspection of the seat tracks...Issued an AD on Embraer EMB-145 aircraft concerning landings with the anti-icing system active...Issued an AD on Boeing 747-400 aircraft requiring replacement of components of the thrust levers...Proposed to supersede an AD on General Electric CF6 engines concerning inspections of the high-pressure compressor rotor.
Letters from city leaders supporting air service are not unusual, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley did his part recently by writing President Clinton to back American frequencies to Rome. But Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, upped the ante with an ecclesiastical appeal to Clinton. George noted the large Italian-American population in his region, the many Catholics expected to make pilgrimages to Rome for Jubilee Year 2000 celebrations, and one key traveler committed to using the route.
US Airways and Renaissance Cruises have formed a frequent flyer miles partnership offering members the chance to earn up to 20,000 miles per cabin on selected cruises.
Vanguard Airlines, potential merger partner of Frontier, still is not out of the woods financially despite a record third quarter. As of Sept. 30, Vanguard's liabilities exceeded assets by $7.8 million, even though the airline received a $5.2 million cash infusion from shareholders in August. At that time, the carrier said the injection gave it working capital until October 1999.
TWA posted a 6.4% decline in November traffic on 5.5% less capacity, which pushed the load factor down 0.7 percentage points to 65%. Domestic traffic fell 2.1% on 1.3% less capacity, lowering the load factor 0.5 points to 64.7%. International traffic was down 25.8% on 24.8% less capacity, resulting in a load factor of 67.1%, down 0.9 points. Nov 98 Nov 97 11 Mths 98 11 Mths 1997 RPMs 1,745,694,000 1,865,207,000 22,548,469,000 23,096,072,000
Willis Lease Finance named Donald Moffitt, chairman of CNF Transportation, and Robert Rau, former president and chief executive of Rohr, to the board as outside directors.
SAS has asked DOT for an exemption to continue its daily Chicago O'Hare-Copenhagen roundtrip service through the summer 1999 season, which begins in April. DOT granted SAS approval to fly Chicago-Stockholm in October and granted an exemption for a 5:40 p.m. arrival slot at O'Hare, so the airline could maintain existing Chicago-Copenhagen service through April. SAS, in its DOT filing, said it filed with FAA for a slot at O'Hare so it could continue the service to Copenhagen, but FAA denied the request last month.
Merrill Lynch projects weaker GDP growth, higher capacity growth and higher fuel prices next year to result in 21% lower earnings for the airline industry.Even so, Merrill Lynch expects 1999 profits of $4 billion and a 4.6% net margin, which it says would be "a remarkable achievement" compared with past downturns, when airlines could not make money.
