Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson will address the International Aviation Club Sept. 24. For reservations, write to John Ash, Global Aviation Associates, 1800 K St NW Suite 1104, Washington, D.C. 20006.
Following the lead of Canadian authorities, FAA yesterday issued an emergency airworthiness directive covering the flap system of the Bombardier CRJ100. FAA said the action is intended to prevent an "unannunciated failure of the flap system, which could result in a flap asymmetry, and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane." The order requires revising the maintenance program and providing the flight crew with revised procedures for checking the flap system. The failures of the flap system were attributed to an internal fault within the No.
Competitors do not seem to be taking the Fairchild Aerospace 728JET family of regional jets seriously, although Bombardier presented its proposed BRJ-X in an identical configuration with underslung engines and the same cross- section. ATR CEO Antoine Bouvier said Fairchild does not have the customer base to support it, while his company has 550 airplanes flying with 95 operators. Jeff Marsh, BAe senior VP-marketing and sales, said proposed 728 launch customer Crossair is getting cold feet because it could not operate at London City Airport or Lugano, Switzerland.
Pemco Nacelle Service was selected by Raisbeck Commercial Air Group to convert 727-100/200 Stage 1 non-acoustic panels with modern acoustic configuration to meet Stage 3 noise standards. Pemco said it expects to deliver more than 200 units by December 1999.
International airline deregulation has been just as beneficial to consumers as U.S. deregulation, according to TWA Chairman Gerald Gitner.In 1946, TWA charged $675 for a New York-Paris roundtrip ticket. Today, adjusted for 3% annual inflation, the same ticket would cost $3,135. In fact, New York-Paris tickets are available today for as little as $329.
FAA has doubled the number of cabin safety inspectors and for the first time is assigning one to each U.S. major carrier as part of its Safer Skies agenda, the agency said yesterday. The buildup is intended to enable FAA to pay more attention to issues such as passenger interference with crews, carry-on baggage, seat-belt discipline and use of child restraint systems.
Great Lakes Aviation received notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange that it has met all applicable conditions to continue listing its common stock on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. Effective Sept. 17, the airline's common stock symbol will be restored to GLUX.
Satellite Technology Implementation said it is the first company authorized by FAA to develop Global Positioning System instrument approaches. STI said it has completed 29 approaches in the six months since agreements with FAA were reached, and work is under way on 51 more for this year. "Operators who desire an approach procedure now have an alternative to services previously available only by FAA," said Daniel Norman, co-owner of STI.
Chautauqua Airlines applied at DOT for exemptions to slot restrictions at Washington Reagan and New York LaGuardia to provide nonstop service to the two high-density, slot-restricted airports from Bloomington/Normal, Ill. The Indianapolis-based carrier, recently acquired by Wexford Management, Greenwich, Conn., predicted respective load factors of 55% and 59% for its planned services, the first nonstops in those markets.
Continental Express will take its Dallas Love Field case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, said President David Siegel. COEx has been blocked by a local court from launching regional-jet service from Love Field to Cleveland, even though its ERJ-145s are under the 58-seat Wright Amendment limit, passed to protect the interests of the new Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. "Once we get the litigation out of the home-town court, we will prevail," he said, adding that consumers should be able to decide where an airline flies rather than the courts...
Nav Canada said it has received government approval to begin charging user fees for aircraft weighing eight tons or less. John Crichton, president, said "all users of air navigation services will now contribute to the recovery of costs. This compares to the previous approach, which primarily relied on one group of users, namely those who paid the air transportation tax, which applied to most commercial airline tickets.
American Aircarriers Support plans to acquire three affiliated companies - American Jet Engine Services, an FAA-certified overhaul and repair shop; Global Air Spares and Atlantic Airmotive, redistributors of engines and engine parts. American Aircarriers said worldwide sales in the aircraft redistribution market for companies such as AAS totals about $1.3 billion.
Southwest said yesterday it will launch nonstop Baltimore/Washington-Phoenix and Baltimore/Washington-San Antonio service. It also will increase flights from BWI to Providence, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 7. Joyce Rogge, VP-marketing, said the schedule enhancements come in response to the carrier's "phenomenal growth" at BWI. The BWI-Phoenix nonstops, to operate three times daily, will join four daily direct and connecting flights in the market and two similar Phoenix-BWI flights.
American has canceled its interline agreement with Lloyd Aero Boliviano, coinciding with U.S. advice that travelers avoid flying Bolivian carriers within Bolivia, according to Aviation-Latin America&Caribbean. Both airlines said one event had nothing to do with the other. The agreement was axed July 10 because it favored the Bolivian carrier and not American, LAB said.
Philippine Airlines said yesterday it will shut its doors forever midnight Sept. 23, although President Joseph Estrada made one final plea to unions last night to keep the airline alive. Management was seeking a 10-year suspension of collective bargaining in exchange for board seats and 20% stock ownership, but PAL said the talks failed and it must now shut down, after a year of strikes, layoffs and service cutbacks, ending 57 years of service.
St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Airlines posted a 77.7% increase in enplanements last month to 457,064. Revenue passenger miles climbed 41.5% to 97.2 million as capacity increased 26.1% to 160.3 million available seat miles, driving up the load factor 6.6 percentage points to 60.6%. Aug 98 Aug 97 8 Mths 98 8 Mths 97 RPMS 97,202,146 68,701,258 585,782,729 502,567,573 ASMs 160,342,850 127,148,030 1,060,202,480 986,132,030
America West, through regional partner Mesa, is launching new regional airline service from Phoenix to Bakersfield, Calif., and Hermosillo and Guaymas, Mexico. The two daily flights to each Mexican city are flown with 19-seat Beech 1900s, while the four daily trips to Bakersfield use 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8s.
Orenda Recip, Toronto, this week officially opened its aero engine manufacturing assembly and aircraft conversion facility in Debert, Nova Scotia, near Halifax. The facility will produce the company's high-output, turbocharged OE-600A reciprocating engine. The powerplant, which develops 600 horsepower, is designed to be used on several aircraft types, including the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 Otter; Piper pressurized Navajo, Cessna 421, Beech King Air C90, Rockwell Twin Commander and Lancair Tigress.
Sixteen of the nation's largest regional airlines posted an average traffic gain of 22.8% in August, a 5.2-percentage-point spread over the 17.7% average increase in capacity. At the top was United Express Atlantic Coast, which saw its revenue passenger miles jump 77.8% as it continues to take delivery of CRJ-200s and put them on relatively long routes. ACA's available seat miles increased 70.3% in comparison. At the other end of the spectrum was Mesa Air Group, which has lost its United Express franchises on the West Coast and at Denver.
Cathay Pacific said yesterday it will give away 3,500 tickets and four new Volvo automobiles to passengers flying to Hong Kong Oct. 1-Nov. 30. The airline will give away one economy-class roundtrip ticket on every flight landing in Hong Kong, excluding those from Vietnam and United Arab Emirates. "Fly To Win" winners, who will be randomly chosen from passengers on board, will be "invited to act as Hong Kong ambassadors," the airline said, helping promote Hong Kong as a destination.
Aero Systems Engineering said it was contracted by Boeing to modernize its transonic wind tunnel facility in Seattle. ASE said the contract involves design, fabrication, equipment supply and installation of a major portion of the tunnel in the next 30 months.
The airline industry is an "unregulated monopoly" and Congress should "begin the process of releasing" consumers from the major carriers' control, even as the time remaining for the 105th Congress is short, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said this week as he introduced the Friendly Skies Restoration Act (H.R. 4577).
