America West introduced the Airbus A319 aircraft yesterday at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The A319 is the first new model to enter its fleet in seven years, and Chairman William Franke called its delivery "an important milestone in America West's very successful relationship with Airbus Industrie." America West last introduced a new plane to its fleet in 1991, when it took delivery of an A320. The carrier will receive two more A319s before the end of 1998 and aims to have 22 in service by the end of 2001. It has 34 firm orders and 52 options for A319s and A320s.
DOT granted Air Pacific Limited's request to amend its exemption for service between Nadi, Fiji, and Los Angeles via Honolulu to allow it to provide service via Auckland, New Zealand. The Fijian carrier plans to display Canadian's code on the Auckland-Honolulu portion of the route, offering the service three times weekly beginning Dec. 7. The amended exemption is effective through Dec. 31, 1999. (Docket OST-96-1842)
American has finished a rigorous testing phase and upgrade period and has declared 97% of all internal company systems Year 2000 compliant. "All of our internal reservations systems, accounting systems and operational systems are Y2K compliant," said Sylvia Urbina, senior project manager for the Year 2000 program. Despite the extensive progress, the company faces the daunting task of assessing 615 different information technology companies. "We're assessing all of them," she said.
The Italian government was voted out of office by the Parliament in Rome last Friday, only a few hours after European Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and Italian Transport Minister Claudio Burlando reached a verbal agreement on traffic distribution at Milan's airport system. Last month, the European Commission outlawed Italian plans on the basis that they were "discriminatory." Rome and Brussels consequently launched into adversarial talks but with a sense of urgency, as Milan's new Malpensa Airport was scheduled to open Oct. 25.
Philippine Airlines, still saddled with enormous debt, plus creditors and potential investors who are scrutinizing its restructuring plan, is postponing plans to resume international flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Those flights were supposed to begin this week, but PAL said it is not reinstating them because of requests from potential investors Cathay Pacific, Northwest and Singapore Airlines, according to the Associated Press. To operate its U.S.
TWA has introduced TWQ, its premium business service, to passengers traveling Dallas/Fort Worth-St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul-St. Louis. TWQ operates 10 roundtrips a day in each market.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement October 1, 1997 - August 31, 1998 RECEIPTS (Revenues) August 1998 Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas 5,216,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 307,645,000.00
Dragonair, acting on the belief that it needs to provide "ever-greater services to meet high passenger expectations," is launching a new advertising campaign using the slogan "We Aim Higher," according to spokeswoman Laura Ayson. The campaign, developed by Euro RSCG, will be broadcast internationally in the Asia/Pacific region.
Detroit-based Spirit Airlines logged a 54.4% traffic rise and a 61.2% capacity gain in September from the same month last year, which depressed the load factor 3.3 percentage points to 73.5%. The carrier reported 80 million revenue passenger miles and 108.8 million available seat miles. Passenger enplanements increased 47.3% to 100,151. Year-to-date, Spirit flew 76.9% more RPMs on 72.7% more ASMs, boosting the load factor 1.9 points. Passenger enplanements grew 83%.
Larry Clarkson, Boeing senior VP, intends to retire effective Feb. 1 to pursue "a variety of alternatives," including becoming a consultant, Boeing said yesterday. Clarkson, 60, was president of Boeing Enterprises, which was absorbed into the new Customer Service Business Unit in last week's Boeing Commercial Airplanes reorganization (DAILY, Oct. 8).
An agreement between Danish airline Maersk Air and Stockholm-based SAS signed last week has raised severe criticism from competitor Sun Air. The pact, which goes into effect March 28, 1999, covers code sharing and frequent flyer programs. Sun Air, a commercial partner of British Airways, is considering launching a complaint with the European Commission against the alliance, which it says would dominate the Scandinavian market.
Frontier reported a 31.5% surge in traffic on 15% more capacity for September, increasing the load factor 7.1 percentage points to 56.6%. The carrier flew 112.8 million revenue passenger miles on 199.3 million available seat miles. Passenger volume gained 21.7% to 123,782. Year-to-date RPMs grew 37.4% on 34.6% more ASMs, boosting the load factor 1.3 points. Enplanements were up 14.1%.
FAA reauthorization and DOT appropriations remained in limbo yesterday as Congress struggled toward adjournment. In the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued trying to include slot exemptions at high-density airports and exemptions to the perimeter rule at Washington Reagan in the reauthorization bill, despite attempts by others to drop these provisions in favor of a clean bill.
Northwest is offering college students 18-22 years old special fare deals starting at $129 roundtrip for off-peak Monday-Thursday travel Dec. 7-Jan. 21. Outbound travel must take place Dec. 7-Dec. 16 or Dec. 25-26 and return travel Jan. 5-Jan. 21. Tickets must be purchased at least 30 days in advance and are non-refundable. Passengers must present a valid college ID at check-in.
Pratt&Whitney will eliminate about 2,000 jobs in an attempt to boost profits as production drops. The cutbacks will be divided about equally between Connecticut and Florida, where P&W employs about 13,000 and 5,000 people, respectively. The company employs about 13,000 more people worldwide, so the cutback amounts to nearly 6.5% of its work force. The eliminations will begin in the current quarter and continue through mid-2000. "Several hundred" employees will be moved from Florida to Connecticut.
An income squeeze at Boeing and the cost of an A3XX program at Airbus will shift the manufacturing giants' priorities from market share to profit and create "a truly duopolistic market...with higher prices" in the second half of the 2000 decade, Avitas predicts in a soon-to-be-published study, Global Outlook for Air Transportation.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Balance Sheet As of August 31, 1998 ASSETS August 1998 Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment 276.73 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables 100,704,757.66 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments:
Northwest is expanding its electronic ticketing service to Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean. VP-Distribution Planning Al Lenza said e-tickets are among Northwest's most popular products and are used by more than 40% of its domestic passengers. New e-ticket destinations are Mexico City, Cancun, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, St. Maarten, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. E-ticket sales for Mexico and the Caribbean begin immediately for travel starting Nov. 16; service to St. Maarten begins Dec. 19. E-tickets to Asia go on sale Nov. 16 for travel beginning Dec.
Virgin Atlantic has slashed prices on its international service, sparking a fare war with arch-competitor British Airways. After BA began a fare sale that runs through Oct. 28, Virgin undercut those prices, offering, for example, London-New York and London-Boston for #140 (US$241) roundtrip. BA's sale fare is #143 ($246). On London-Hong Kong, Virgin's #285 ($491) fare is slightly higher than BA's #279 ($480). Virgin is offering a roundtrip of #167 ($287) to Los Angeles, a bit lower than BA's #168 ($289).
Atlanta-based Atlantic Southeast Airlines will operate new nonstop service to Wilmington, N.C., beginning Dec. 1, to Albany, Ga., and Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 31, and to Wichita, Kan., March 2, all with Canadair Regional Jets. ASA will fly one daily roundtrip to Wilmington and Tallahassee, two to Albany and three to Wichita. In December and January, it will increase CRJ service between Atlanta and Fayetteville, N.C., Roanoke, Va., Evansville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., and Tri-Cities, Tenn./Va.
FedEx Pilots Association, a union board member and a member of its negotiating committee have been named in a lawsuit filed by a member of pilot management.The suit stems from statements allegedly made at a Sept. 27 domicile meeting in Memphis, according to a union recorded message. FPA, which has vowed to defend the pilots, refuses to discuss the case but is continuing to negotiate a new contract. More than 93% of FedEx pilots have joined the union.
Schreiner Airways asked DOT for an exemption to operate service between points in Europe on flights carrying the codes of both Delta and Sabena. It also requested a statement of authorization to operate a long-term wet-lease with Sabena. The Dutch carrier, which currently operates de Havilland Dash 8-300 aircraft for Sabena under wet-lease, said it filed the exemption application "out of abundance of caution." It said it seeks to provide efficient service and flight availability beyond Brussels by wet-lease to Sabena under the U.S.-Belgium open-skies agreement.
American Trans Air posted a systemwide 2.6% increase in traffic on 8.4% more capacity in September, compared with the same month last year. The carrier flew 688.5 million revenue passenger miles on 1.08 billion available seat miles, and its block hours grew 14.5% to 12,587. Charter service RPMs declined 16.8% to 283.7 million and ASMs 7.5% to 454.1 million, while block hours dropped 4.5% to 3,822. Scheduled service RPMs rose 24% and ASMs 25.9%, depressing the load factor 1 percentage point to 63.9%, but passenger boardings jumped 30.7% to 293,204.
Memphis-based Express Airlines I, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest that flies as Northwest Airlink, saw traffic and capacity plunge in September from September last year because of its shutdown during the Northwest pilots strike and Hurricane Georges. Express reported a 69.8% drop in traffic on 54.7% less capacity, which pushed the load factor down 19.8 percentage points to 39.7%. It flew 8.9 million revenue passenger miles on 22.4 million available seat miles. Passengers carried dropped 68.3% to 36,421.
