Senate Friday passed its FAA reauthorization bill, S. 2279, named the Wendell H. Ford National Air Transportation System Improvement Act of 1998 in honor of the retiring senator and longtime member of the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee. The bill, which heads to a conference committee with the House this week, retains provisions adding 30 slots at Chicago O'Hare and 24 at Washington Reagan, and granting exemptions to the perimeter rule at the latter.
American and American Eagle canceled all flights into and out of their Miami hub as well as flights to most of Florida on Friday in response to Hurricane Georges. Service to the Caribbean was slowly returning to normal Friday.
U.S. Carriers Rental Expense Second Quarter 1998 Major Carriers % Of Total Rental Operating Expenses Alaska 47,447,000 13.66 America West 81,119,519 18.06 American 267,701,000 7.34 Continental 196,210,000 12.10 Delta 247,633,000 7.70
Fairchild Corp. named Eric Steiner president and chief operating officer, promoted Donald Miller to executive VP in addition to his position as general counsel, and appointed Robert Sharpe senior VP-operations.
Aer Lingus named Garry Cullen group chief executive Friday, effective Oct. 1. Cullen, chief operating officer since 1997, is a 30-year Aer Lingus veteran who was instrumental in restructuring the airline. Bernie Cahill remains executive chairman.
British Airways' low-fare airline Go is getting positive reviews from travelers and is well positioned to take advantage of a cultural shift in Europe in which more people travel across borders for less critical reasons, according to Barbara Cassani, Go chief executive. Four months after its May 22 start from London Stansted, the airline's customers are satisfied with the service. "Two-thirds say they're traveling more than they were five years ago - and over half because flights are more affordable," she said.
FAA has tasked the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee with more work on harmonizing U.S., European and Canadian airworthiness standards and practices, this time involving powerplant fire mitigation and inflight restarting, and turbopropeller/turbojet thrust reversing. Due dates for recommendations on specific issues range from Nov. 30, 2000, to July 31, 2001.
Transavia Airlines plans to expand operations by basing two 737-300s at Rotterdam Airport to operate scheduled services, starting with the 1999 summer season. Peter Legro, Transavia president and chief executive, said Rotterdam, the second-largest city in The Netherlands, was a natural choice as a scheduled services base operating to the Mediterranean destinations the carrier knows well. Alicante and Malaga will be the first points served, and the carrier is in discussions with possible customers to support services to Las Palmas and Faro.
An MD-80 nonstop to St. Louis on Sunday made TWA the first carrier to depart from Ontario (Calif.) Airport's new state-of-the-art twin terminal complex. The facility can handle up to 10 million passengers a year, up 58.75%.
Richard Van Osten, 80, a veteran aviation journalist and until recently a correspondent for Aviation Week newsletters, died Sept. 21 in Bad Homburg, Germany after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Monica, and two children.
AirTran President and Chief Executive Joseph Corr says airline labor relations would be better off if contracts were negotiated through the National Labor Relations Board rather than the National Mediation Board."Under NMB rules, the wound never heals. It festers and festers," Corr said at the Deregulation Summit 20 in Washington. AirTran recently reached a tentative accord with its flight attendants following long, often contentious negotiations.
U.S. and Italian negotiators on Friday concluded three days of talks in Washington "reconfirming their commitment to open skies," said a DOT spokesman. The talks built on meetings between President Clinton and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The next round of meetings is set for Nov. 9-11 in Rome.
Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive of FDX Corp., said Thursday that U.S. carriers would support easing restrictions on cabotage, seventh-freedom rights and foreign ownership only if U.S. carriers obtain reciprocal rights. On Sept. 25, The DAILY attributed the quote erroneously to US Airways Executive VP-Corporate Affairs Larry Nagin. Nagin said that before DOT considers any policy initiatives it should make sure existing rights under current agreements are being enforced.
AirTran is offering direct online booking through its web site at www.airtran.com. Passengers can purchase electronic tickets online and pick up boarding passes on the day of travel. The web site automatically presents departure time and connection options that start with the least expensive flights available. Through Oct. 31, passengers who purchase travel through the web site can earn double credits for AirTran's A-Plus frequent
British Aerospace Asset Management has appointed David Singleton managing director, succeeding Tony Rice, who has become group managing director, British Aerospace Commercial Aircraft. Singleton's role will be to take the business to its next stage by restructuring it to provide a single focus for customers and to prepare for the challenges of potential new partnerships in Europe.
Air Canada estimated the financial impact of its 13-day pilot strike at US$191.8 million - a US$218.3 million revenue loss partly offset by a net reduction in expenses of US$26.4 million. The strike will cause an operating and net loss in the third and fourth quarters, and probably a net loss for the year, the carrier said.
Aviation Sales Co., Miami, completed its acquisition of Triad International Maintenance Co. (TIMCO), Greensboro, N.C., from Primark Corp. for $70 million in cash. TIMCO revenues totaled $113.3 million last year and $72 million during the first half of 1998, and Aviation Sales said it expects the acquisition to increase its earnings slightly this year and by $0.10 to $0.15 per share in 1999.
DOT issued an order amending its award of 16 slot exemptions at Chicago O'Hare for nonstop services to Simmons Airlines d/b/a American Eagle (DAILY, April 21), increasing to 18 the number of O'Hare slots, to be used solely for nonstop regional jet service to Duluth, Minn., Fayetteville, Ark., Montgomery, Ala., and Shreveport, La. The carrier may reassign 18 of the slots it now uses to provide Essential Air Service program services between O'Hare and Bloomington and Champaign, Ill., and La Crosse, Wis.; DOT will replenish those slots.
DOT - Approved an Air Sea Broker charter using an Air Foyle An-124-100 for one roundtrip carrying 100 tons of automobile parts each way on a Luxembourg-Gander-Mexico City-Cincinnati-Luxembourg routing Sept. 20-24...Approved a General Electric charter using an Air Foyle An-124-100 for a one-way flight carrying 231,000 pounds of power-generating equipment on a Charleston, S.C.-Curacao-Valencia-Buenos Aires routing Sept.
U.S. Carriers Commission Expense Second Quarter 1998 Major Carriers % Of Total Commission Operating Expenses Alaska 23,786,000 6.85 America West 34,900,554 7.77 American 304,753,000 8.36 Continental 128,012,000 7.90 Delta 251,823,000 7.83
