Lufthansa has placed orders with Bombardier Aerospace for 10 70-seat Bombardier CRJ Series 700 aircraft - with options for another 10 - as well as 10 50-seat Series 100 CRJs, Bombardier announced. The manufacturer valued the deal at about US$475 million. Deliveries of the Series 100s are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2000 and be completed in the second quarter of 2001, and deliveries of the 10 firm Series 700s will begin in the first quarter of 2001 and be completed in the second quarter of 2002.
Carl Albert, chairman and chief executive of Fairchild Aerospace Corp., will speak at a luncheon meeting of the German American Business Council Oct. 14 at 11:30 a.m., addressing the topic, Regional Jets and the Airline Industry in a Global Economy. For additional information, contact the Council at Suite 1400, 1413 K Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. Telephone: 202-371-0555, Fax: 202-408-9369.
Atlantic Coast Airlines President and Chief Executive Kerry Skeen says the airline is experiencing growing pains at Dulles International Airport, but with a new regional jet facility on the way, there is light at the end of the tunnel. "The good news is we have broken ground on the new RJ facility that will be dedicated to us and it will open in less than one year," Skeen told The DAILY. ACA broke ground on the approximately 70,000-square-foot terminal June 10 and will move at least part of its operations into the facility in April or May.
The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands will contribute $1.2 million to startup Virgin Islands International Airlines, the carrier announced. The government also "has agreed to endorse, market and...aid the airline in promoting its new services" to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Antigua, the company said. VIIA, affiliated with longtime Grand Canyon air tour operator Las Vegas Airlines, will use one Piper Navajo Chieftain, three de Havilland Twin Otters and one Dash 8 (DAILY, Aug. 14).
ATR since July 1 has been given "total freedom" to continue the 70-seat AIRJET project, according to new CEO Antoine Bouvier. "We are assessing the market and gathering all elements of decision before yearend," he told The DAILY. With development costs at $1.2 million, "we must be sure it is something the market requires." Of concern, he added, is that neither the CRJ-700 nor the Boeing 717 is selling well. Nevertheless, he left a clear impression that it is all but a done deal and that ATR would sell about 800 of a total 2,000 in the class over 15 years.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Northwest Airlines regional subsidiary Express Airlines I flew 29.5 million revenue passenger miles in August, up 7.8% from the same 1997 month.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his staff are undergoing another round of lobbying on the panel's yet-unpassed FAA reauthorization bill, S. 2279, this time after the belated discovery of a provision that could return to United's Chicago O'Hare operation slots it gradually lost to foreign carriers. United attempted to regain them through DOT, but the department turned the airline down earlier this year.
Arinc, Samsung Electronics and Korea Telecom consortium was awarded a $40 million contract by the Korean Airport Construction Authority to install an integrated Airport Information System (AIS) at the new Inchon Airport near Seoul. The AIS is to be operational by mid-2000, shortly before Inchon opens. It will provide the flight information display system, the data communications system, information kiosks and the terminal operations center.
Emirates will begin service Jan 1. and Jan. 2 from Dubai to Islamabad and Lahore, Pakistan, respectively. The four weekly Islamabad and three weekly Lahore flights will be operated with A310-300s. The 13-year-old carrier, which also serves Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan, now operates to 47 cities.
Arinc said it has deployed its latest high frequency data link (HFDL) ground station in Reykjavik, Iceland, providing coverage over much of the North Pole and remote northern oceanic and land regions. The station joins a network already operational in San Francisco and Molokai, Hawaii. "The operational service is ready to support airline operational data communications today," Arinc said. Seven other ground stations are scheduled for deployment this year. The 10 stations will provide air/ground HF data link coverage over 85% of the world, Arinc said.
Systems Resources Corp. received a contract from DOT's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to provide engineering support services in communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS). The contract has a potential value of more than $100 million over five years. It is the third in a series of five-year CNS omnibus contracts awarded to SRC by Volpe.
Continental unveiled plans yesterday to launch daily nonstop service from Newark to Zurich and Brussels next spring. Zurich service, beginning April 14, will be the only non-Delta-alliance nonstops from the U.S. Delta and Swissair operate all scheduled nonstops to Zurich. Continental's Zurich service will be operated with two-class, 242-seat DC-10-30 aircraft. Newark-Brussels flights, beginning May 3 with 172-seat Boeing 757s, will bring to 15 the number of European points Continental serves.
London-based AB Airlines said yesterday it applied with U.K. authorities for London Heathrow slots it expects to be freed up with approval of the American-British Airways alliance. AB said it would not rule out using the slots for North American routes, but its primary interest is to expand its system to Europe and "one or two U.K. destinations that were dropped by the major U.K. carriers in the pursuit of slots." AB flies from Gatwick to Berlin, Lisbon, Nice and Shannon, and from Birmingham and London Stansted to Shannon.
Next-generation 737-600 has received type certification from Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities. Delivery of the first 737-600 to launch customer SAS is scheduled this month.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, discusses his efforts to secure Senate passage of FAA reauthorization legislation, including changes to the existing perimeter rule, on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Delta asked DOT to reconsider its dismissal of the U.S.-Argentina portion of Delta's "omnibus U.S.-Latin America certificate application." The carrier said DOT "inexplicably dismissed Delta's entire request for U.S.-Argentina rights;" Delta had filed a contingent request to consolidate only the Atlanta-Buenos Aires portion of the application, "filed solely because Continental had filed for institution of a carrier-selection proceeding" for U.S.-Argentina service, which DOT dismissed in an order stating that United holds economic authority to operate Chicago-Buenos Aire
FAA selected Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector to develop and produce the Airport Surveillance Radar-Weather Systems Processor (ASR-WSP) under a $49 million contract. Five systems will be built and tested, followed by production of as many as 37. Officials said the new processor will provide a cost-effective update for the ASR-9 radar.
Lufthansa said yesterday it will begin Frankfurt-Detroit and Frankfurt-Philadelphia daily nonstops with its summer 1999 schedule, which begins March 28. The airline returns to Philadelphia after a five-year absence and becomes the second airline to launch nonstop European service competitive with US Airways from there. Northwest recently began Philadelphia-Amsterdam nonstop service, which also competes with a US Airways nonstop. Detroit-Frankfurt competes with a daily Northwest nonstop on the route.
Sundstrand Aerospace said it signed a 10-year contract with American to support the carrier's Tulsa maintenance facility. The contract includes a materials cost guarantee plan for constant speed drive, integrated drive generator and generator parts to support repairing several types of aircraft.
Pelangi Air will replace its two Fokker 50s with larger F28s to meet the heavy demand for its flights. According to Pelangi's chairman, Baharuddin Ismail, the aircraft to be leased will be delivered in October. Pelangi is talking to several interested parties to sell the two F50s. As part of its expansion plans, Pelangi will lease two more F28s early next year. The carrier operates seven regional routes in Indonesia and Thailand and 10 domestic routes.
TWA Chairman and Chief Executive Gerald Gitner called domestic code-share alliances of its U.S. rivals "gigantic cross-marketing schemes" that have no consumer benefits. In a speech Wednesday to the Wings Club in New York, Gitner said the six carriers - United-Delta, Northwest-Continental and American-US Airways - that have formed alliances have "embarked on a strategy of homogenization." He added that major U.S.
Northwest Airlink Express Airlines I of Memphis was out of the strike box and running after 16 days on the ground - days that were not idle. The carrier Wednesday was at 100% within three days after the Northwest pilots strike ended with a 100% completion rate and a 99% on-time record. "We managed our way out of this; we had a good plan going in," said Phil Reed, VP-marketing. There were no layoffs and all outstation ticket counters maintained regular business hours throughout. Reed said the airline's ALPA unit came to management ahead of time with a plan.
Siegel said COEx will move to a fleet of all 37- and 50-seat Embraer regional jets through the next decade, "at a minimum." The carrier currently flies 100 turboprops, including 32 Brasilias that are being phased out. "The decision is based on costs," he said, claiming that the jets produce a 30% improvement in traffic as well as higher revenues. "Passengers are overwhelmingly pleased" with the jets, which already account for 30% of the carrier's ASMs. "Every jet market has been profitable from day one. I am one very, very satisfied customer," he said.
Aviation officials and Europe's airlines have stepped up their attack on what they say is the European Commission's restrictive stance on airline alliances, notably United-Lufthansa-SAS and the proposed American-British Airways. IATA Director General Pierre Jeanniot accuses the EC of "micro-managing" the business strategies of alliances, and the Association of European Airlines says the commission's attempts to stimulate competition on specific routes will reduce network operators' efficiency and increase their costs and prices.
Milan's Malpensa Airport will start operations on schedule Oct. 25, but with a relaxed requirement for airlines to shift flights to it from closer-in Linate Airport, the Italian Transport Ministry said yesterday in Rome. Bowing to a European Commission finding in favor of nine protesting airlines, the government said it will change its plan for traffic distribution to allow foreign airlines to keep some of their flights in Linate (DAILY, Sept. 16).
