Continental raised objections last week to DOT's tentative decision to award Delta the one available U.S. carrier designation to South Africa and proposed award of the service to itself instead. The carrier said giving the service to Delta would "perpetuate the dominance of the largest airlines and the largest alliances on U.S.-South Africa routes where new competition is critically important." DOT's tentative selection of Delta delays Continental's ability to establish a foothold in Africa and compete with other U.S. carriers there, Continental said.
Pilots from American and Reno Air want to meet with management to get a better picture of how American plans to incorporate Reno into its operations once it acquires the carrier (DAILY, Nov. 20). The pilots themselves met last week to talk about their unions - Allied Pilots Association at American and Air Line Pilots Association at Reno - and their internal processes and bargaining history. American expects the Reno deal to be completed by the end of first quarter 1999.
Travel agent sales processed for October 1998 were even with those of October last year at $5.8 billion, Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) said. Domestic fares were up 1% to $3.8 billion, while international fares were down 2% to $1.6 billion. Domestic commissions dropped 3% to $251 million while international commissions rose 5% to $238 million. Average weekly sales per agency location increased 6% to $32,089 and credit card billings grew 1% to $4.8 billion. Electronic tickets processed through ARC accounted for 30.16% of the total volume by the end of October.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, urged incoming Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.) last week to adjust majority-minority ratios on committees in the new Congress to represent Democrats' increased strength. In a Nov. 23 letter, Oberstar said, "I am extremely concerned by the Republican majority's recent track record on establishing committee ratios and by press reports indicating" Livingston would make "only limited adjustments" to the ratios.
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer issued a statement Wednesday from Geneva welcoming World Trade Organization deliberations of Brazil's trade dispute with Canada, charging that Canada "unfairly subsidizes the Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier.
Southwest will deploy Orbix by IONA Technologies as its middleware solution. The carrier said Orbix will help it integrate business applications that have been developed using different programming languages and database management systems.
Load factors for U.S. airlines will increase to 70.9% for 1998, up 0.4 percentage points, according to the Air Transport Association.The gap between the actual and breakeven load factor will grow 0.1 points to 62.5%. This year will be the fifth straight year of load factor gains and the actual/breakeven spread will be the biggest since deregulation 20 years ago.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) said last week it plans to bring a formal complaint at the Justice Department against carriers that have capped travel agency commissions for international ticket sales. ASTA directed its Washington, D.C., attorneys to prepare a complaint against "one or more airlines" that recently capped commissions on international ticket sales made in the U.S. at $100 per roundtrip and $50 one-way.
The number of Taiwanese travelers on international and domestic flights has fallen significantly this year, according to statistics issued by Taiwan's Directorate-General of Budget Accounting and Statistics. The report, covering the first 10 months of the year, says the number of passengers flying on domestic routes fell 11.9% from the corresponding period a year earlier. The number of incoming tourists totaled 1.88 million during the 10 months, down 5%, while the number of Taiwanese traveling abroad fell 6.5% to 5.01 million.
Hawaiian Airlines said yesterday it has added two DC-10-30s to its fleet for use on new routes between Los Angeles and Maui and Los Angeles-Maui-Kona, beginning next March. The carrier plans to acquire a third DC-10-30 for its new charter route between Los Angeles and Tahiti beginning next August. Hawaiian currently operates 10 DC-10-10s on flights to Hawaii from the mainland and the South Pacific. It also operates 13 DC-9s on 140 flights a day among the Hawaiian Islands.
Mesaba Holdings said yesterday its board has authorized the repurchase of up to $30 million of its common stock through December 1999. Bryan Bedford, president, said the authorization was an "excellent investment opportunity for the company and our shareholders." Mesaba Holdings is the parent of Mesaba Aviation, which does business as Mesaba Airlines, a Northwest Airlink affiliate. The airline serves 91 cities in 18 states and Canada with a fleet of 92 turboprop and jet aircraft.
AB Airlines intends to sign two code-share agreements - one with a U.S. airline and one with a European carrier - covering passengers transiting London Gatwick, which would boost its biggest route, Shannon-Gatwick.The small U.K. carrier recently handed a boarding pass to its 500,000th passenger and next year plans to offer more than 250,000 seats on the Shannon route alone.
Continental yesterday filed suit in the Superior Court of California in San Diego against Delta over baggage sizers Delta has installed at security screening points at San Diego Airport. Delta shares the screening devices with Continental and America West. Continental has petitioned the court to stop Delta from "interfering" with its carry-on policy and operations.
Qantas has launched twice-weekly direct service between Sydney and Buenos Aires, using a 747-400 aircraft configured with three classes. The carrier will continue its twice-weekly code share in the market with Aerolineas Argentinas, which operates the service with a 747-200.
KLM uk is poised to launch two new routes to Italy Nov. 30 from the U.K. as part of its strengthening alliance with Alitalia. Both services will operate twice daily - one from London Stansted to Rome and the other from Manchester to Milan Malpensa. The flights, to be operated with Fokker 100 aircraft, are in addition to KLM uk's existing three-times-daily service between Stansted and Milan Linate. All services will operate under a code share with Alitalia.
Construction has begun in Sacramento of a new Cessna-owned Citation Service Center. The facility will be similar in size and layout to the company's San Antonio center, which opened in 1996.
British Airways Engineering will turn to BAX Global to manage its supply logistics at London Heathrow Airport under a new multi-year contract. BA said it chose BAX because the company understands BA's business better than its competitors. BA will use BAX's split storage concept for time-sensitive parts shipments on or close to Heathrow and less critical parts for use within five miles of Heathrow. The fast-delivery facility will be built and operating by the end of 1999.
Organizers of the GA Team 2000 learn-to-fly program are encouraged by an increasing number of student pilot starts and strong financial support from the industry. They are gearing up for a third year of the program and preparing to transition it into a long-term, continuing effort. The transition brings a new name for the project, Be A Pilot, and a new series of advertisements in selected magazines and cable TV stations.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic Second Quarter 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change AirTran Airlines 1,503 42.56 557 837,483 32.94
Aloha Airlines will introduce electronic ticketing to Hawaii's interisland travelers in the first quarter of 1999. E-ticketing also will be available on Island Air, Aloha's affiliate carrier. Aloha and Island Air are the first interisland carriers to offer e-ticketing on interisland flights.
