FAA will hold a public meeting Dec. 8-9 to get comments on its "current draft rule to require the retrofit of improved seats in air carrier transport category airplanes." The agency's notice of proposed rulemaking requiring more crashworthy seats dates from May 17, 1988.
Friday's approval of expanded code-share service to points in Africa by Northwest and KLM is a component of DOT's commitment to improve travel options to the continent, according to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater. He said DOT's interest in resolving the Northwest pilots strike was in part to enable the carrier to "move forward in this mighty and visionary way."
FAA, faced with criticism from industry and labor groups, appears to be backing off its controversial plan to issue tickets for "administrative violations." Administrator Jane Garvey said Friday the agency still wants to streamline the way it handles administrative violations but "perhaps not issue a ticket on the spot." Industry and unions saw the proposal as "punitive," Garvey said. In a wide-ranging interview with reporters, Garvey also said:
National Aircraft Resale Association elected Matthew Huff, Tyler Jet Aircraft Sales, chairman; John Foster, O'Gara Aviation Co., vice chairman; Nick Cerretani, Miller Aviation, president, and Jim Amador, Stevens Aviation, VP.
Maybe FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will put their feuding on a back burner now that top officials of both agencies are talking to each other. Peter Goelz, NTSB's managing director, and Tom McSweeny, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, had lunch last week. Earlier, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey got together with NTSB Chairman Jim Hall.
Flight attendants at United are solidly behind the carrier's decision to limit oversized carry-ons by placing templates at airport security checkpoints. A spokesman for United's Association of Flight Attendants unit, in a recorded message to members, said some passengers have told the media they will fly American if they can't take their oversized bags aboard. But the spokesman said it was about time the carrier drew the line on the "spoiled-brat petulance" of carry-on abusers. He predicted United will win new passengers from the initiative.
The closest House aviation races involve Merrill Cook (R-Utah), Jon Fox (R-Pa.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee, and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Robert Cramer Jr. (D-Ala.) of the Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee. Fox and his opponent, former Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, are staging a rematch of 1996's most competitive race - Fox won by fewer than 100 votes.
Tower Air, Inc. reported a $24.2 million operating profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $17.6 million for the same period last year. Net income was $12.1 million, up from $8.5 million. Total operating revenues increased by 3.8% to $162.9 million, and operating expenses were down $5.9 million, or 4.1%, to $138.7 million. Last year's third quarter operating expenses were $144.6 million.
Northwest's Aircraft Technical Support Association ratified a tentative contract Friday by a margin of 84.5%. More than 90% of eligible members voted. The contract provides six pay increases, beginning with 4% on the signing date, followed by 14% over five years. It also provides lump sum retroactive pay equal to 3.5% of wages for the 27 months beginning Aug. 1, 1996, about $3,600 per employee. The deal has a no-layoff provision for all ATSA employees on the payroll as of Aug. 1, 1996, and a 50% rise in pension benefit levels.
Southwest nearly sold out by Friday the eastbound half of its Thanksgiving Day transcontinental flight, a one-day special priced at $99 one way and advertised only on the Internet. A spokeswoman said the Oakland-Baltimore leg was almost full but space still was available on the Baltimore-Oakland segment. Southwest is testing transcontinental service operations, such as handling trash in a galley that has not been configured for food service.
Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, re-elected Patricia Friend international president and George Donahue international VP and international secretary-treasurer.
Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania and Zimbabwe will participate in President Clinton's Safe Skies for Africa initiative, DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said Friday.
Hawaiian Airlines is seeking final DOT action on its application for U.S.-Japan service, which involves an exemption for combination service in the Maui-Narita market, beginning about Jan. 1, 2000. The carrier was awarded seven weekly Maui-Tokyo frequencies. DOT, in an order awarding combination service in the U.S.-Japan market, said it would act on Hawaiian's request for Maui-Japan service in a separate order.
All Nippon Airways' net income for the six months ended Sept. 30 increased 68.2% to 10 billion yen despite growth of only 0.3% in operating revenue, to 468.4 billion yen, the Japanese carrier reported last week. On domestic routes, ANA carried 19.8 million passengers, 2.6% more than in the year-earlier period, but the load factor dropped 1.1 percentage points to 63.3% and operating revenue decreased 0.7% to 324.9 billion yen.
British Airways, finding the prospective limitations on its proposed alliance with American too restrictive, is backing off its push for full-fledged antitrust immunity while remaining committed to the partnership. A U.S.-based BA spokeswoman told The DAILY that "the terms put forward by the European Commission are not acceptable to us commercially." The EC wants the carriers to relinquish up to 267 slots without compensation at London Heathrow and Gatwick airports (DAILY, July 9). BA's stance eases pressure on the gridlocked bilateral negotiations between the U.S.
DOT - Approved a one-year renewal for Spanair to engage in scheduled foreign combination service between Madrid and Washington Dulles...Approved a one-year renewal for Linea Aerea Mexicana de Carga to conduct all-cargo charter operations between Mexico and the U.S...Approved an exemption for HeavyLift Volga-Dnepr to operate a one-way emergency cabotage cargo flight between Seattle and Mojave, Calif., using an An-124 to transport an outsized wing assembly for the Joint Strike Fighter for Boeing...Approved an exemption for HeavyLift Volga-Dnepr to operate a one-way emergency
FAA - In Federal Register dated Oct. 26...Revised an airworthiness directive on Pratt&Whitney PW2000 engines concerning life limits on certain high-pressure turbine parts.
