Travelocity's new look, to debut this month, offers a more user-friendly homepage, streamlined flight booking path, increased customization features, more amenity searches and more airline schedule choices, including the nine best fares for a particular destination, according to Terry Jones, spokesman for The Sabre Group. He noted that the site incorporates suggestions from some of its 4 million members. "Our research has shown that our customers are most interested in simplicity and speed when booking travel online," he said.
AirLiance Materials, a joint company formed by United, Air Canada and Lufthansa Technik, plans to move to a permanent headquarters and main warehouse facility on airport property by mid-1999. The Des Plaines, Ill.- based company pools the inventories of its partners and buys and sells materials for partners and other airline customers and maintenance organizations. David Sisson, president, said that since the partners fly almost every modern passenger jet, the company can quickly provide parts for an unusually wide range of aircraft.
Federal Express denied yesterday that as many as 1,000 of its 3,500 pilots could receive furlough warnings by tomorrow. Fedex Pilots Association (FPA) VP Byron Cobb said FedEx has not notified pilots officially of furloughs, but "the word has come down" from company managers that furloughs are on the way unless the union agrees to the company's latest contract proposal. "Nothing is in writing," said Cobb.
Martinair Cargo is increasing its Latin American program to 12 cargo gateways in nine countries. Both routes and capacity in the region will increase by 80% by the end of the first quarter of 1999, the company said. The program will be based out of Miami and Atlanta, chosen for their modern perishable goods centers.
Singapore Airlines posted a net profit of S$400 million (US$247 million) for the six months ended Sept. 30. Operating profit of S$246 million (US$152 million) was down 44.2% and net profit fell 26.5%. The DAILY Oct. 26 reported an incorrect percentage change for the net profit.
Cathay Pacific moved one step closer to having a major role in running Philippine Airlines (PAL) yesterday as the Interim Rehabilitation Receiver of PAL accepted the Hong Kong-based carrier's conditional investment offer. Cathay reportedly plans to invest US$100 million in PAL, and PAL's major shareholder, Lucio Tan, would invest a smaller amount to rehabilitate the fledgling flag carrier.
Hawaiian Airlines has entered an agreement with Renaissance Cruises to operate exclusive air service between Los Angeles and Tahiti, beginning August 1999. The deal is worth approximately $70 million, and Hawaiian will acquire widebody DC-10-30 aircraft that will bear the Hawaiian Airlines and Renaissance Cruises logos. The aircraft will be configured for 84 business-class and 172 upgraded coach-class seats.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a member of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee and a narrow winner last Tuesday in an election subject to a recount, said he will run for Senate Minority Whip. Congressional sources said Reid may not face opposition to taking over the No. 2 Senate Democratic leadership position. He would succeed Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), who did not run for re-election. Senate Democrats will decide their leadership posts the first week in December.
Ladeco received an initial one-year exemption to operate scheduled foreign cargo service between points in Chile and co-terminal points New York and Los Angeles, via intermediate points, and to co-terminalize New York and Los Angeles with its co-terminal point Miami. Ladeco and Fast Air, both Chilean carriers and subsidiaries of LanChile, are set to merge Nov. 17 (DAILY, Nov. 4). DOT also approved Ladeco's request to register the trade name Fast Air, under which it will operate Fast Air's current all-cargo services. (Docket OST-98-4682)
Vivid Technologies said revenue for its 1998 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was $38.7 million, a record and an increase of 22% over 1996-97. Net income - $6.6 million, up from $5.9 million - also set a record. For the fourth quarter, revenue was $1.7 million, up from $1.1 million, but net income declined to $1.2 million from $2 million. David Ellenbogen, chief executive, said the company's explosives detection systems have been selected by 19 countries for 36 airports.
City of Dallas has asked Texas District Judge Bob McCoy of Fort Worth to clarify how his Oct. 16 ruling prohibiting airlines from providing service from Dallas Love Field beyond the five states in the original Wright Amendment affects Southwest and Continental Express airlines. Specifically, the city wants to know if Southwest can provide connecting service from Love to Kansas, Mississippi and Alabama, the states added in the so-called Shelby Amendment, and whether Continental Express can sell connecting service from Houston.
Boeing is distributing to nearly 700 of its commercial airplane customers a new training aid to teach pilots how to react to a variety of aircraft control situations. The aid, developed by an industry-wide team and funded jointly with Airbus Industrie, includes an illustrated manual and two videotapes intended to help reduce the number of accidents caused by loss of control of large, swept-wing aircraft. Between 1988 and 1997, there were 31 in-flight-loss-of-control accidents involving commercial airplanes that resulted in more than 1,900 fatalities, Boeing said.
Milan Malpensa Airport, plagued by problems bordering on chaos since its opening two weeks ago, absorbed its share of a nationwide four-hour strike by Italian airport workers yesterday and faces another work stoppage today. The labor disruptions follow a bizarre facilities problem at the end of last week - the surface of the P1 landing runway went soft and asphalt slabs were found stuck to the wheels of some 20 aircraft. The state prosecutor for the city of Busto Arsizio, whose jurisdiction includes the airport, has launched an inquiry into the incident.
Philippine Airlines will resume service to Taipei and Singapore on Nov. 18. Jun Ordillano, general manager of PAL's Taipei office, said the carrier will also resume flying its 747-400s on trans-Pacific routes on Dec. 1.
FAA, agreeing with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), has turned off a new computer program that has been plagued with glitches at the Dallas/Fort Worth Tracon so the problems can be resolved off line. Similar problems were reported with new equipment at New York, Denver and Southern California, but reportedly only the DFW program will be turned off for the troubleshooting efforts. NATCA complained that sometimes airplanes did not show up on the computer program, which went on line Sept. 19, or the system painted aircraft that did not exist.
Flight Dynamics said a recent order from Southwest pushed its head-up guidance system sales over the 1,000 mark. Since initial orders by Alaska in 1987, 14 airlines have ordered the systems.
Swissair will launch service between Newark and Basel Dec. 17 with code-share partner Delta. Swissair is offering an introductory $298 roundtrip fare, plus taxes, for economy travel through Jan. 31.
Boeing has completeBoeing has completed a contract to build four C-32A executive jets (757s) for transporting government officials. The aircraft will replace Air Force C-137s (707s) used for this purpose since the 1950s.
The scheduled completion date of the new Nankan Airport, to be built in the offshore Matsu Island group, will be brought forward by a year, placing the new completion date before the end of 2001, according to Lin Feng-chang, Taiwan's minister of transportation and communications. The new airport will cover an area of 94 acres, more than three times the size of Matsu's current Peikan Airport, and will have a 5,000-foot runway. Lin also said a plan to expand Peikan will be implemented before yearend, with completion in two years.
Kansas City, Mo.-based Vanguard Airlines flew 21% more traffic in October on the same capacity as October last year, which pushed the load factor up 11 percentage points to 61.7%, the highest October load factor in the company's history. The carrier reported 56.1 million revenue passenger miles and 91 million available seat miles. Passengers boarded jumped 45% to 121,856. Year-to-date RPMs decreased 11% on 22% fewer ASMs, compared with the first 10 months last year, boosting the load factor 8 points. Passengers boarded increased 13%.
Air Methods posted third quarter revenue of $12.7 million, up 16%, and a net loss of $188,000, down from net income of $583,000 the year before. For the first nine months, revenue rose 39% to $36.8 million, and net income remained flat at $1 million.
SimuFlight Training International said it will acquire up to 10 new full-flight FAA Level D simulators and add 10 simulator bays to its Dallas/Fort Worth Airport training center. SimuFlite plans to add at least five new aircraft training programs by mid-2001. Models under consideration include Cessna, Gulfstream and Raytheon products. Selections will be announced later this year.
Mandarin Airlines and Formosa Airlines are in merger talks that could produce results by early next year, according to Taipei's United Evening News. Mandarin, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Airlines, operates three aircraft on routes connecting Taiwan to Canada and Australia, while Formosa, in which CAL holds a 40% stake, operates a 16-plane fleet on domestic routes. A CAL spokesman said a possible merger between Mandarin and Formosa was discussed at a CAL board meeting last week, but no decision was reached.
Merrill Lynch is optimistic that Cathay Pacific's management is handling the Asian economic crisis well and that the airline will be well-positioned when traffic in the region comes back. The investment house raised its ratings of the airline for both the intermediate and long term. "Although yields are still under a lot of pressure, management's cost cut efforts should position the airline well for a cyclical upturn," said analyst Wendy Wong in the report.
FedEx asked DOT for an amended certificate for U.S.-France service to "reissue the route description...to conform to the liberalized...authority" available under the U.S.-France bilateral to FedEx as the incumbent U.S. flag cargo carrier. The agreement enables FedEx to operate scheduled all-cargo service from any points in the U.S. to any points in France either directly or via intermediate points, and to and from points behind the U.S. to points beyond France subject to fifth-freedom limitations.
