Boeing donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross and the company's employees contributed $92,500 to the Red Cross, Feed the Children, Northwest Medical Teams and World Vision, all for relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America.
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) has signed a deal with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Astronautics Corp. licensing AIDC to set up a service station for equipment on the Sikorsky S-70 helicopter. Under the agreement, Astronautics will provide AIDC with the technology required to service Astronautics' equipment installed in the S-70. AIDC and Sikorsky reportedly are in talks on a number of other possible ventures, including helicopter manufacturing, assembly and testing, parts fabrication, maintenance and pilot training.
WestJet Airlines has finalized a C$27 million fixed rate loan facility with Newcourt Capital. The Calgary, Alberta-based airline, which operates 10 737s, will use the funds to expand.
Southwest Airlines Vacations, the Salt Lake Convention Visitors Bureau and a group of ski resorts in Utah are offering family vacation ski packages that let kids ages 2-11 fly free and stay and ski free with the purchase of an adult Southwest Airlines Vacation to Alta, Brighton, Park City Mountain Resort, Snowbird or Solitude for two or more nights. Southwest will give adults their second-day lift ticket free for packages booked by Jan. 31.
Kiwi International Airlines will begin seasonal Boston-Palm Beach service Friday at fares starting at $99 with no advance purchase or Saturday night stay required. The fare is available until Dec. 15. Northwest is offering Phoenix travelers deals on one-way fares for travel Jan. 1-5. Sample unrestricted fares include $374 to Boston, $575 to Miami and $486 to New York. Through Nov. 30, Northwest will offer double WorldPerks miles for flying on selected coach-, first- or business-class service.
DOT on Friday granted Polar Air Cargo a one-year exemption, through Dec. 31, 1999, from its startup deadline for a weekly all-cargo U.S.-Thailand frequency, one of two allocated under a certificate issued in 1996 enabling the carrier to operate service from points in the U.S. to points in Thailand. The certificate included a startup deadline of April 1, 1997. One frequency already has reverted to DOT. The department earlier granted Polar extensions of the startup date for the remaining frequency through Dec. 31.
Dulles, Va.-based Atlantic Coast Airlines plans to upgrade to United's ORION revenue management system early next year. ACA President and Chief Executive Kerry Skeen said the system "will help manage the thousands of different passenger origins and destinations that flow over our combined systems every day." ORION uses IBM's "Deep Blue" computer to carry out the calculations involved in the analysis.
All Nippon Airways and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines will cooperate on Japan-China service, beginning in February, under an agreement signed Friday in Tokyo. Initial joint operations will be on Kansai-Shanghai service and Kansai-Beijing service via Qinado. The carriers hope to serve Tokyo-Shanghai jointly soon.
Business travelers are not returning to pre-strike levels at Northwest, BT Alex Brown analyst Susan Donofrio said as she downgraded the carrier's investment rating.Based on talks with NWA management two months after its pilots strike, Donofrio expects revenue per available seat mile to drop nearly 15% in the fourth quarter.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has hired its first environmental director and plans next month to consider its first environmental policy in light of new concerns over its contribution to worsening air conditions over the Dallas/Fort Worth "Metroplex." The Environmental Protection Agency, which ranks the area's ozone problem as "serious," may up the rating to "severe," which would trigger required compliance with more stringent anti-pollution rules.
In a bid to increase revenue, Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to target the corporate sector directly through its marketing department. The airline would offer its largest corporate customers net fares and corporate incentives. When told that such a move could lead travel agents to boycott the airline, SIA Manager-Passenger Marketing Tan Chong Beng said the agents "would be consulted" before the program takes off. Tan said SIA offices around the world would cater to passengers who want a point-to-point ticket.
Federal Express and the Fedex Pilots Association, which represents most of the company's 3,500 pilots, are meeting today in Washington, D.C., with the National Mediation Board (NMB) to try to resolve the bitter contract dispute that threatens to set off a pilots strike in December. Discussions began yesterday after NMB ordered the parties back to the table, sources close to the talks said yesterday, and they probably will continue through tomorrow.
Delta, which applied for authority to operate a daily Atlanta-Rome nonstop immediately after DOT issued a notice inviting U.S. carriers to apply for seven additional weekly U.S.-Italy frequencies (DAILY, Nov. 16), announced plans for new service from New York Kennedy to Venice and from Atlanta to Milan, which would complement its daily New York-Milan service. The carrier said it will extend its second daily New York-Rome flight from summer to year-round service.
Taiwan and Australia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a plan to cooperate in aviation safety. The MOU was signed by Liu Po-luen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia and Sam Gerovich, representative of the Australian Commerce and Industry Office. Also attending the signing ceremony were Weng Cheng-i, chairman of Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, and Rob Lee, director of the Australian Bureau for Air Safety Investigation (BASI). With the signing of the MOU, BASI becomes Taiwan's first official partner in aviation safety.
AirTran is offering special fares through Nov. 19 starting at $39 one way, for travel through Jan. 31. Sample fares from Atlanta include $79 to Boston, $69 to Miami or Washington Dulles and $49 to Newport News.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic June 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change AirTran Airlines 480 33.75 489 235,000 10.08
DOT granted Queen Air, Aeronaves Queen, S.A., an initial one-year exemption to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and the co-terminal points San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami and New York (DAILY, Oct. 23). The Dominican carrier also received charter authority. All services must be operated under wet-lease, because the Dominican Republic's civil aviation authority is rated Category 3 by FAA. Queen Air plans to operate services with an A320, configured for 170 economy seats, wet-leased from TransMeridian.
Air France expects to cancel 45% of long-haul flights and 40% of intra-Europe service today and Wednesday due to a strike by many of its 10,000 flight attendants. The union supporting the group is conducting the 48-hour work stoppage as a negotiating tactic to push for more money and shorter work days. Other unions among the airline's 14 labor groups are expected to join the flight attendants. The strike comes after the airline received a pledge from pilots not to strike for three years.
British Airways is expanding its electronic ticketing to all 21 U.S. gateways following a six-month trial on routes to London Gatwick. E-ticketing is available for travel starting Wednesday, and the airline has installed self-service check-in machines at New York Kennedy, which will speed check-in for all passengers as lines get shorter. Using a credit card or BA Executive Club card, passengers choose their seat and print their own boarding pass. BA has made e-ticketing the preferred method of ticketing from the U.S. to the U.K.
Federal Labor Relations Authority has agreed to mediate the dispute between FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association over free familiarization flights in the cockpits of airline aircraft.The DOT Inspector General, which pointed out the possibility for abuse (DAILY, Aug. 5), agrees with this approach. FLRA is trying to schedule the issue within a couple of weeks.
Reactions to United's decision to cap travel agent commissions at $100 on tickets for international travel booked from the U.S. ranged from surprise to combativeness friday and prompted vows to seek legal intervention. Air New Zealand's U.S. and Canadian regional managers said they were surprised and have no plans to follow suit.
SkyWest Airlines reported a 50.9% leap in traffic on 35.8% more capacity in October, increasing the load factor 5.6 percentage points to 55.9%, a record for the month. SkyWest flew 94.3 million revenue passenger miles and 168.9 million available seat miles. Passenger enplanements jumped 78.7% to 479,126. Year-to-date, RPMs grew 22.7% and ASMs 12.3%, boosting the load factor 4.7 points. Passenger enplanements surged 50%.
As part of a three-year corporate restructuring program, Ansett Australia will shed 1,700 staff by selling its inflight catering operations and door-to-door retail freight business. According to Ansett Executive Chairman Rod Eddington, the program is aimed at lifting annual profits to 10% of revenues. Negotiations for both divisions are expected to be completed by April 1999. Eddington said the sales would help free capital funds for high-priority uses, such as aircraft acquisition and airport terminal expansion.
