As investors dumped airline stocks in recent weeks, affecting nearly all carriers without regard for their individual outlooks, Atlantic Coast Airlines has been "unnecessarily punished," said BT Alex Brown analyst Susan Donofrio. Regionals "should be in much better position to weather the next downturn, due to their high percentage of business traffic (70%) versus the majors (40%)," she said in a report.
Aspiring new entrant AIRPortland recently named David Banmiller, former Pan Am president and chief executive and former president and chief operating officer of Air Cal, the new AIRPortland president and CEO. Jack Bland, AIRPortland founder and board chairman, said Banmiller, 54, "is exactly what we need to take AIRPortland to the next level, which includes raising the final round of private funding, the commencement of flight operations and ongoing management of the company." AIRPortland, organized in October 1996, is based in Portland, Ore.
United will drop its daily Hong Kong-Singapore service Dec. 14 because of lower traffic on the route and will use the aircraft to fly daily between Hong Kong and Bangkok, starting Dec. 15. "Although our Tokyo-Singapore service remains stable, we are seeing travel between Hong Kong and Singapore drop off," Don Curran, VP-Pacific south, said in an internal communique. Load factors and fares have declined on Hong Kong-Singapore, making Thailand more attractive for United because of better travel values and lower operating costs on the shorter route.
Italy and the European Commission have reached agreement on traffic distribution at Milan Malpensa Airport, the Italian Ministry of Transport said yesterday evening in Rome. Last month, the EC rejected as "discriminatory" Italian plans to move service from close-in Milan Linate Airport to the new Malpensa. Negotiations continued, but compromise seemed unlikely as recently as Wednesday (DAILY, Oct. 8). According to the accord struck yesterday, all airlines will be allowed to keep 34% of their flights at Linate and will have to transfer the rest to Malpensa.
Southwest is offering a second day of skiing free to passengers who book a ski vacation by Jan. 31. The offer is valid for travel all season to all of Southwest Airlines Vacations ski destinations.
The loss of United Express franchises at Denver and on the West Coast has had a material impact on enplanements for Mesa Air Group. September boardings were down 54% from the same month a year ago, its peak September in recent years. The carrier's remaining US Airways Express and independent operations carried 266,193 passengers during the month, down from 579,219 enplanements in September 1997. The carrier says that it has taken a number of steps to increase unit revenue that should more than offset reduced load factors.
Mike Cardellichio, longtime VP-marketing at Fairchild Aerospace and at Dornier before that, has left the company. The company has named Georgina (Gina) McAllister as its new VP-corporate communications. Reporting directly to Fairchild Aerospace President Jim Robinson, McAllister will be responsible for media relations, advertising, trade shows and exhibits, community relations, employee communications and editorial services worldwide. McAllister most recently was director of communications for United Technologies' Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., in Stratford, Conn.
Boeing has issued an advisory to operators of "DC-10 type" airplanes about a recent incident involving "burnt and charred" wires on an auxiliary hydraulic pump. Boeing said the operator experienced five such failures "involving smoke" in the past two weeks. Describing the latest incident, Boeing said "it has been reported that no hydraulic pressure was noted during preflight inspection after commanding the auxiliary hydraulic pumps on. Investigation revealed that several feet of wiring associated with auxiliary hydraulic pump No. 1 was burnt and charred.
InVision Technologies said it has shipped its next-generation CTX 9000 DSi explosives detection system (EDS) to the United terminal at San Francisco Airport for field trials and data collection. The company expects to obtain FAA certification for the new system by yearend. It said the CTX 9000 has twice the throughput of the CTX 5000, which it expects to continue in production for stand-alone applications in airport lobbies. The new system is designed to be integrated into baggage conveyor systems.
KLM was named most admired airline among companies throughout the world ranked by Fortune magazine. U.S. companies dominated 17 of 21 industry categories, but KLM beat U.S. carriers. American placed second, Southwest third and Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines tied for fourth.
Turboprops are not down and out, however, says Steve Ridolfi, Bombardier Regional Aircraft's VP-marketing and aircraft programs. Turboprops make money, and 75% operate in markets of fewer than 250 miles. The 85 firm and conditional orders for the new Dash 8-Q400 are higher than for the CRJ at this stage in its development cycle, he said. Introduction of new technologies is triggering a swing back to turboprops. "With 40% less ASM costs and a cabin as quiet as the CRJ, tell me there is not an application for that.
Atlanta-based Atlantic Southeast flew 88.2 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 16.2% increase from September 1997. Capacity rose 0.7% to 152.4 million available seat miles, generating a 7.8-percentage-point increase in the load factor to 57.9%. Enplanements were up 7.6% to 338,191. Sept. 1998 Sept. 1997 9 Mths 1998 9 Mths 1997 RPMs 88,186,671 75,894,352 771,078,074 686,179,899 ASMs 152,410,442 151,339,902 1,371,372,851 1,357,633,814
Reno Air reported a 6.4% drop in traffic on 7.5% less capacity for September, boosting the load factor 0.7 percentage points to 63.1%. The carrier said its load factor grew despite its introduction of new markets and minimal benefits from the Northwest and Air Canada labor disputes. Reno flew 263.9 million revenue passenger miles and 375.2 million available seat miles. Passenger volume declined 8.7% to 414,801. Year-to-date RPMs dropped 1.3% on 0.5% fewer ASMs, depressing the load factor 1.2 points. Passengers flown declined 2.7%.
Dutch government restrictions on operations at Amsterdam Schiphol airport are threatening the long-term survivability of the Northwest-KLM alliance, a Northwest executive said yesterday, and the carrier is taking a more active role in letting the Dutch people know its position and what is at stake. Although Northwest is not being restricted currently, recent flight expansion difficulties and annual aircraft movement figures have caused it to view Schiphol's current capacity as the most that the government will allow.
Comair, which launched the regional-jet phenomenon in the U.S. in 1993, last week ordered another 70 CRJs that with orders and options could take its fleet to 245, and it is not stopping there. The Delta Connection carrier says it plans to order at least 20 smaller jets "and probably more." Comair is looking at both the ERJ-135 and the Fairchild Dornier 328/428JETs but appears to be leaning toward the 44-seat 428JET. A decision is expected in six months to a year. The smaller jets would be used to replace turboprops and on routes that do not support 50-seaters.
Madrid-based Amadeus and Royal Air Maroc, which operates out of Casablanca, have signed a joint venture agreement to establish a National Marketing Company in Morocco. Royal Air Maroc will hold 70% of the new entity and Amadeus 30%. The pact, strengthening a partnership deal signed in 1992, provides for Royal Air Maroc and Amadeus to set up Amadeus Maroc to distribute and market Amadeus products and services to Moroccan travel professionals. Amadeus Maroc will be headquartered in Casablanca and headed by Farid Bouab.
Kenya Airways plans to open new routes to key African destinations from its Nairobi hub starting with its winter timetable. On Oct. 25, the airline will launch three-times-weekly service to resort destination Lamu, a small island off the northeast coast of Kenya, in partnernership with Eagle Aviation using ATR 42s seating 45 passengers. On Dec. 2, it will add Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, subject to government approval, operating twice a week with a 737-300.
British Airways, Corsair, Lufthansa, Swissair and Air France want to purchase French airline AOM, which was put up for sale by French banking group Credit Lyonnais. Each of the five carriers sent a letter of intent last Friday to Consortium de Realisation (CDR), a holding company in charge of selling off the troubled bank's non-core assets, airline industry sources said yesterday. AOM's main attraction, in the eyes of its potential buyers, is its portfolio of slots at Paris Orly Airport.
New Regional Aircraft Deliveries July 1998 Last 12 Months Carrier No. Type Engines Delivery Air Georgian 1 Beech 1900D PT6A-67D 5 American Eagle 2 EMB ERJ-145 AE3007A 8 Atlantic Coast 1 Canadair RJ200 CF34-3B1 9
DOT published a schedule for the Oct. 26-28 oral hearing on antitrust immunity for the proposed American-British Airways alliance in which presentations begin at 9 a.m. and continue through 9 p.m. each day, divided into one- or two-hour time blocks. The schedule, part of a DOT order providing for discussion of entry barriers at London Heathrow Airport (DAILY, Oct. 8), includes lunch and dinner breaks of two hours each day except for a shortened, 90-minute dinner break on Oct.
Brymon Airways, Devon, England, predicts a record-breaking month for passenger growth in September. Passenger numbers on the airline's nationwide network of services are already running at more than 30% over last year's figures, and September passenger figures, not yet released, are expected to set a record. The British Airways subsidiary has introduced the Dash 8 on the route between Aberdeen and Manchester which it took over earlier this year.
Seattle-based Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air flew 102 million revenue passenger miles last month, an increase of 34.3% from the same year-ago month. Available seat miles climbed 29.3% to 159 million, as the load factor gained 2.4 percentage points to 64%. Passenger boardings grew nearly 21% to 382,700.
United has suspended service between Lima, Peru, and Santiago, Chile, from Oct. 4 through Jan. 1 due to what it termed "a substantial traffic decline." Under the U.S.-Chile bilateral agreement, United was given 14 weekly roundtrip flights between the two countries. It uses seven to serve Miami-Santiago nonstop and the other seven to fly Lima-Santiago. If service is discontinued for more than 90 days, DOT could reallocate the unused frequencies.
