British Midland will inject fresh competition into the Budapest route from London next March when it introduces a daily direct flight to the Hungarian capital. The route, used in 1997 by more than 320,000 travelers, is currently served by British Airways and Malev. In a further bid to expand its growing network in central and eastern Europe, British Midland has won the right from the U.K. Civil Aviation authority (CAA) to rehear its application to serve Moscow from London Heathrow Airport.
Tanzania's Precisionair has purchased three 19-passenger LET L410 commuter aircraft, LET parent Ayres Corp. announced. Ayres President Fred Ayres said Precisionair is the first customer to purchase the turboprop directly from the Kunovice, Czech Republic, factory since Ayres, based in Albany, Ga., acquired LET in September.
Austrian Airlines will start twice-weekly flights to Uzbekistan, Tashkent, on May 5, subject to government approval. Austrian is trying to position itself as the Western European airline for connections to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Tashkent will become its 33rd destination in the two regions.
United, in what it called a first for a U.S. combination carrier, will launch a time-definite freight service in February, Jim Hartigan, VP-cargo, said yesterday in Chicago. The new business, modeled along the lines of a service offered by its Star Alliance partners Lufthansa and SAS, at first will operate only on international routes, Hartigan said. While more details are to be announced early next year, Hartigan said the domestic time-definite service will be introduced late in 1999.
Finnair, exploiting its links to British Airways via the Nordic Alliance, this week began improved services from Helsinki to Britain and continental Europe. Code-share arrangements with BA will cover three new routes to Edinburgh and Glasgow via London Heathrow and to Birmingham via Dusseldorf, Brussels and Copenhagen. Finnair also has started an evening departure from Tallinn to Helsinki and will serve Riga twice daily throughout the work week.
Moody's Investors Service ratings on the debt BE Aerospace intends to use in its acquisition of SMR Aerospace are held down by uncertainty about whether and how the company will end or reduce its involvement in inflight entertainment systems, Moody's said. IFE "is one of the few businesses in which the company is not a technological leader," the ratings company said.
AirTran has been furloughing employees, including pilots and flight attendants, "to match the level of activity" created by restructuring its fall schedule, a spokeswoman confirmed.She declined to say how many employees were furloughed, but the Association of Flight Attendants estimated that 69 cabin crew have been laid off. No data were available on the number of pilots furloughed.
United and All Nippon Airways implemented their alliance, the first between a U.S. and a Japanese carrier following the U.S.-Japan aviation agreement, which makes code sharing possible (DAILY, Feb. 2). United gains access to Sapporo, Okinawa, Nagoya and Fukuoka and ANA will reach United markets throughout the U.S.
Continental Express will introduce ERJ-145 service between Cleveland and Indianapolis Nov. 1, the Continental subsidiary announced. Currently, Continental and Continental Express have seven departures from Cleveland to Indianapolis, using EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops, Boeing 737s and DC-9s. On Nov. 1, Continental Express will upgrade three of the turboprop flights with the RJs.
...Embraer CEO Mauricio Botelho said that the whole problem is not ProEx. He said the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet was designed as a business jet and is thus much heavier than the ERJ-145 - by 4,500 pounds - and more expensive to operate. Bombardier held a monopoly position in the market for years and "cannot accept the competition," he added. Mauricio said the ProEx program is in full compliance with World Trade Organization rules on the use of government support for export financing and that he welcomed the WTO investigation of the dispute.
Dublin Airport passenger traffic shot up 12% to 9 million in the first nine months this year, compared with 1997. While U.K. traffic accounted for nearly 60% of the total, the strongest growth occurred in transatlantic traffic, which was up 22% to 520,399 passengers.
Charlotte N.C.-based CCAIR said it has settled a Canadian government insurance program's claims against it totaling several million dollars in connection with previous lease agreements - by reaching a new lease agreement for a Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-100 covered by the same insurance program. CCAIR said as a result of entering into the new lease agreement, it has resolved all claims by the Canadian agency against it, as long as it fulfills its obligations under the lease for the new aircraft. The lease term is seven years.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic August 1998 Revenue Ton Miles (000) August August % 1998 1997 Change Domestic Freight 753,113 714,377 5.4 Mail 124,976 187,050 (33.2) Total 878,089 901,427 (2.6) International
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater today will announce the eight African countries to be asked to participate in the President's Safe Skies for Africa initiative. Also slated to be present at the announcement are FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, Ambassador Johnny Carson, principal deputy secretary of state for African affairs, and members of the African diplomatic corps. The initiative, which aims to promote sustainable improvements in aviation safety and airport security, was announced by Slater and President Clinton during their April visit to Africa.
TWA asked DOT for a two-year exemption to serve Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas, from New York Kennedy. The carrier plans to inaugurate daily nonstop service, using MD-80s, to Nassau on Feb. 11, 1999, and to Freeport on May 1, 1999. TWA is expanding its service to Caribbean points; it serves San Juan and Santo Domingo nonstop from New York and plans to add daily service to Puerto Plata and five-times-weekly service to St. Maarten in December. It told DOT it will be the only carrier providing nonstops from Kennedy to Nassau and Freeport. (Docket OST-98-4646)
Atlantic Coast Airlines will be flying 96 GPS routes out of its Washington Dulles hub by the end of first quarter 1999 with its Jetstream 32/41 turboprop fleet. The United Express carrier, working with FAA, has been operating eight such routes since earlier this year on a test basis and will add 10 in December and 25 per month thereafter. The routes are not pure great-circle GPS and still require some use of VORs and waypoints due to East Coast traffic complexities. "It is still a zig-zag, but certain portions have been straightened out," said VP/COO Tom Moore.
Four airlines - Air Mauritius, Air Madagascar, Air Seychelles and Reunion Island - are in the final stages of negotiations to pool their resources and create a new regional carrier. Negotiations started in August and are expected to end next month before a decision is made.
St. Louis-based regional carrier Trans States Airlines has exercised six options for the 50-seat regional jet ERJ-145, Embraer announced. The carrier signed last February the original contract for nine firm orders and 18 options, which now stands at 15 firm and 12 options. Trans States has taken delivery of four ERJ-145s and has begun regional jet service for United Airlines as United Express in Chicago and Delta Connection at New York Kennedy Airport.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has penalized China Airlines (CAL) for a second time within three days by barring it from introducing new routes until its safety record improves. CAA has rejected an application from CAL to start flights from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City and Hsinchu-Kaoshiung. Three days ago, three senior pilots were suspended for four months for violating flight navigation rules, which resulted in a 747-400 making an unauthorized stop in Abu Dhabi recently.
Go, British Airways' low-cost unit based at London Stansted Airport, will launch twice-daily service to Munich Nov. 25 and increase the frequency to three flights per day Dec. 8. The carrier will launch service to an eighth destination, Venice, and increase Bologna service by one flight per day on Dec. 8, and it will increase Edinburgh service from three flights per day to five on Nov. 25. Travel to Munich and Venice booked and flown by Feb. 11, 1999, will cost #80 (US$127) roundtrip. Go also serves Rome, Milan, Copenhagen and Lisbon.
Belgian regional VLM and Luxair will cooperate to offer daily services between London City Airport and Luxembourg. Starting Nov. 16, the partners will offer three daily roundtrip flights from Monday to Friday between the two cities, as well as a single roundtrip service on Saturday and Sunday. The flights will be operated by VLM with a Fokker 50 aircraft.
British Airways and Emirates have signed a code-share agreement on selected flights between the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates. Starting Dec. 1, BA flights between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi also will carry Emirates' EK codes and Emirates services between Manchester and Dubai also will bear the BA flight prefix. This is a bilateral pact between BA and Emirates and does not extend to Emirates membership in the new oneworld alliance between BA, American, Canadian, Cathay Pacific and Qantas announced Sept. 21.
SAirGroup will acquire a 45% stake in Air Europe, the privately held Italian charter carrier, in an attempt to develop leisure travel on Air Europe's international routes and "establish a domestic scheduled network for the Italian market," the companies said yesterday. Air Europe, which had sales of 418 billion lire (US$258 million) in 1997, operates seven 767-300 aircraft on long-haul charters from Rome and Milan. Price of the SAirGroup stake was not disclosed. Majority ownership will remain with its senior management, headed by Chairman Lupo Rattazzi.
Comair nonstop regional jet service to begin Dec. 1 between Dayton and Boston is not seen as hub-bypass, but rather "cherry picking" its own nearby hub at Cincinnati, according to one analyst. There will be more such service from mid-size cities such as Dayton to major metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington on the East Coast and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle on the West Coast.
An analysis by accounting giant Ernst&Young concludes that Embraer's use of the ProEx export financing program "leads us to conclude that such financial support is an abuse of the program and a direct subsidy of roughly US$2.5 billion to regional-aircraft purchasers, which translates into an important cumulative negative effect on Brazil's budget and balance of payments." Described as a "comprehensive analysis" based on "an array of Brazilian and other public and government financial documents, financial reports of various airlines, interviews with air-carrier executi
