DOT has extended Great Lakes Aviation's service obligation at Fairmont, Minn., Norfolk, Neb., and Yankton, S.D., an additional 30 days to Oct. 23, or until replacement service begins. Great Lakes, which filed its notices of intent to suspend service at the three points last spring, has since filed a proposal to serve, with subsidy the three destinations - plus Devils Lake and Jamestown, N.D., and Brookings S.D. - (Dockets OST-1998-3843, OST-1998-3704 and OST-1998-3703)
Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise asked DOT to amend its foreign carrier permit application for service between Addis Ababa and Washington Dulles, via a non-traffic stop in Rome, to include Newark as a co-terminal point. The carrier was granted initial one-year exemption authority to operate U.S.-Ethiopia service in May (DAILY, May 27) and began operating Washington-Addis Ababa flights in June. DOT granted Ethiopian an exemption amendment to add Newark in Docket OST-98-4345 (DAILY, Sept. 18). The carrier plans to begin serving Newark Oct.
Three-year-old Spanish carrier PauknAir, flush with what it called "considerable success" flying between Spain and the autonomous Spanish region of Melilla, has agreed to lease extensions on two 86-seat BAe 146 jet aircraft, British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets announced. PauknAir is owned by Spanish company A Paukner SA, which holds 80% of the carrier, Melillian private interests and the governing Melillian Council, BAe-AMJ said. Each of the PauknAir 146s operates approximately 3,000 cycles annually.
Business Express will begin service to Presque Isle, Maine, from Boston Nov. 1, the company announced. The carrier, which has code-sharing relationships with American (as the American Connection), Delta (Delta Connection), and Northwest (Northwest Airlink), will operate four daily nonstop roundtrips between Presque Isle and Boston Logan.
The Senate's FAA reauthorization bill, S. 2279, appears headed for passage, probably by today. Key opponents to provisions adding 12 daily slots at Washington Reagan and granting exceptions to its perimeter rule accepted amendments to mitigate their effects. These include directing DOT to certify the changes will not compromise safety or unduly damage the environment, giving high-density airports, including Reagan, priority in receiving federal noise mitigation funds, and allowing no more than two new operations per hour per day at Reagan.
DOT has tentatively decided to reselect Big Sky Airlines to provide essential air service at seven Montana communities, for which the carrier would receive annual subsidy of nearly $4.7 million. The carrier's service pattern for the points - Glasgow, Glendive, Havre, Lewistown, Miles City, Sidney and Wolf Point - consists of 17 roundtrips per week from Sidney to Billings and 12 weekly roundtrips from the other six communities to Billings with 19-seat Metro III aircraft. The new term for serving the points would begin Dec. 1 and expire in two years.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has asked experts from The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in Delft to study installation of a digital switching system for the lighting along its arrival and departure runways. Schiphol's lighting system, comprising thousands of lamps, is operated by switching large groups of up to 300 lamps on and off manually. The airport wants the ability to operate the lights individually and automatically, so that only those needed by a particular pilot are illuminated.
Detroit-based niche carrier ProAir said yesterday it expects to announce - possibly within 30 days - a half-dozen more corporate contracts similar to the ones it reached with General Motors and Chrysler.Chairman and Chief Executive Kevin Stamper said he wants to double his 737-400 fleet to four by yearend and has placed a firm order for one. He plans to add six aircraft by the end of 1999 to satisfy a growing corporate contract client base.
Randolph Babbitt, retiring at the end of 1998 as president of the Air Line Pilots Association, will speak on the evolution and future of airline labor relations at an Aero Club of Washington luncheon Tuesday at the Capital Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) will operate its last flight today, from Singapore to Manila, after which it will cease operations. PAL, the oldest carrier in Asia at 53 years, has been plagued with problems - internal squabbling and strikes since 1993. A board member told The DAILY there is no way to save the airline and it has to close. He said the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) voted 90.7% for closure. PALEA also rejected a last-minute appeal by Chairman Lucio Tan to accept his offer of three board seats and shares worth US$6,900 for each current staff member.
Northwest, which requested a two-year renewal of 14 weekly roundtrip U.S.-Philippines frequencies to provide daily scheduled combination service in the Seattle-Tokyo-Manila and Minneapolis-Osaka-Manila markets, was granted the allocation for an indefinite period. It also received an indefinite-duration renewal for two frequencies to provide all-cargo service between the U.S. and the Philippines via Tokyo and Bangkok.
DOT said yesterday it has settled enforcement cases with United and its code-share partner Lufthansa for violating federal laws covering access to air transportation by disabled passengers. The case is the first finding a U.S. carrier in violation of laws protecting disabled passengers on a flight operated by a foreign code-share partner and the first finding any carrier in violation of the "statutory prohibition against unreasonable discrimination in foreign air transportation," DOT said.
As the planned shutdown last night of Philippine Airlines was proceeding, the Philippine government is allowing another troubled national carrier, Air Philippines, to resume service following a mandated shutdown. The Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board said Air Philippines, the country's second-largest airline, has complied with safety requirements for two of its fleet of 12 aircraft. The carrier was expected to have a half dozen flights in the air by yesterday.
The stage is set for government intervention in future labor negotiations, a panel of airline experts said yesterday at the Deregulation 20 Summit in Washington. Deregulation has created a dynamic market that has, in turn, brought about serious labor problems, as witnessed by the recent Northwest pilots strike, which led DOT and a White House emissary to step in and jump-start talks.
Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is trying to fend off attempts to change DOT's proposed competition policy through House-Senate conference committee amendments to the Fiscal 1999 DOT appropriations bill. The Commerce Committee's FAA authorization bill reached the floor only yesterday, and McCain objected to a potential money bill maneuver recently in a letter to Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).
Oneworld alliance is expected to invite three more airlines to join, in addition to already declared Iberia.Japan Airlines, Finnair and Dragonair, part-owned by founding member Cathay Pacific, are professing their eligibility for membership in the five-airline cooperative.
Virgin Express reported August traffic of 112.9 million revenue passenger kilometers, up 25.3%, on 22.1% more capacity. Load factor increased 2.0 percentage points to 78.8%. The Brussels-based airline flew 244,819 passengers last month, up 36.7%.
AirTran and its ValuJet predecessor have contributed considerably to fare declines in large, medium and small markets, according to an Air Transport Association study. Among 28 city-pairs showing significant drops in ticket prices over a five-year period, AirTran operated in 12. The entry of Vanguard and Spirit helped reduce fares in four markets each among the 28.
American's opposition to a request by Continental and Northwest for additional U.S.-Japan frequencies should not stop DOT from granting their joint request, Continental and Northwest told DOT. "Neither American nor any other party has requested the additional frequencies sought" by the two carriers following release of the 14 frequencies by TWA and Delta last month.
Inflammatory issues raised by Love Field operations must "be decided under federal law," Legend Airlines told DOT, or litigation will "go on indefinitely." Most issues cited by opponents to expanded use of Love - American, Fort Worth and their supporters - "are not genuine." Those parties are continuing their long-term efforts to quash competition from Legend, Continental Express and Southwest, Legend said.
Airlines involved in three of the five most recent controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accidents had received the joint Boeing/Flight Safety Foundation CFIT training program, according to AlliedSignal's Don Bateman, chief engineer for Flight Safety Systems. "It was just sitting on a shelf gathering dust," he said at this week's Global Safety&Security conference in Washington.
U.K.-based Debonair plans to operate a daily scheduled service to Paris Express Cergy-Pontoise Airport from London Luton, starting Nov. 16. The low-fare carrier will fly the route initially twice daily, with plans to increase to four flights a day, using British Aerospace 146 aircraft. The airport has been chosen as it is most convenient for the business district of Paris at La Defense and also the Champs-Elysees area. There are good links to Paris by road and rail, each taking about 35 minutes to reach the city center.
