British Aerospace has chosen Sydney, Australia, as the location for a support office for its regional aircraft customers throughout the Asia/Pacific area. BAe Australia will establish and operate the Sydney office, to be headed by Bruce Jones, senior VP-Australian support. The office opened Monday with a team of 10 people and will become fully operational in October. Its main role will be to provide a coordinated point of contact for customers operating BAe 146/RJ, J21/J32, HS748 and ATP aircraft.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic, June 1998 Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic June 1998 Revenue Ton Miles (000) June June % 1998 1997 Change Domestic Freight 777,214 744,320 4.4 Mail 135,857 141,292 (3.8) Total 913,071 885,612 3.1 International
Top 25 U.S. Gateways for Nonstop Travel To/From Europe The Year 1997 % Change % Change Departures 97 vs. 96 Passengers 97 vs. 96 1 New York, Kennedy 56,436 -4.4% 9,898,538 -1.2% 2 Chicago, O'Hare 22,584 9.9% 3,795,249 14.3% 3 New York, Newark 19,771 33.1% 3,632,783 34.5%
New Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard used this year's Farnborough Air Show as the launch platform for marketing the consortium's 100-seat A318 transport - and for raising prices 3% across the board. The Airbus board is scheduled to vote in December on launching the A318, formerly the A319M5, Forgeard said. In the meantime, the board has given the sales staff "authorization to offer" a number of aircraft in a customary pre-launch phase, to support a launch decision.
DOT moved from Sept. 8 to Sept. 25 its deadline on replies to comments on its proposed competition policy. Department officials have been meeting with a number of parties on the issue, a source said, and DOT wants time to summarize those discussions for the docket. The new deadline also immediately follows Deregulation 20 Summit, a conference in Washington focusing on the first two decades of deregulation, and comments, including DOT Secretary Rodney Slater's keynote address, may be filed from that source as well.
Bombardier Eyes 90-Seat-Class RJ Series Bombardier intends to develop a BRJ-X regional jet aircraft series in the 90-seat class, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Laurent Beaudoin said yesterday at the Farnborough Air Show. The company has formed an Airline Advisory Council to seek customer views on design requirements and is in "discussions with potential partners in the project," Beaudoin said.
The economic downturn in Asia, continuing to take a toll on airlines, has led cash-strapped Philippine Airlines (PAL) to stop flights to Kuala Lumpur and close the station, laying off 15 staff members. From a network of 42 international destinations, PAL now flies only to five - Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It will resume services to Fukuoka Oct. 1 with three weekly flights. Australian national carrier Qantas has suspended its three-times-weekly Sydney-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore service due to unsustainable returns on the route.
Lawyers descending upon the Swissair Flight 111 crash site in Halifax have found a variety of ways to attract attention and win business from victims' families. One legal team presented a seminar for families about choosing lawyers, while another asserted that the crash was "wholly preventable," and that the MD-11 could have landed "seven minutes after the first communication" of a problem.
Flight Dynamics said its 14 airline customers passed the three-million-flight-hour mark using aircraft with head-up guidance systems Flight Dynamics said its 14 airline customers collectively have passed the three-million-flight-hour mark using aircraft with head-up guidance systems (HGS). HGS flight hours now exceed 100,000 per month, said President John Desmond. He said the company is in the final phase of Category 111A certification of the HGS for the 737-700. HGS is certified on the 737-300/400/500, he said. Programs are under way on the 737-800/600 and 900.
Flight attendants at AirTran, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, will vote this month on their first tentative agreement with the carrier, concluded during the weekend. If the tentative contract is ratified, AirTran's 500 flight attendants will receive a 10% pay raise, effective Oct. 1, and annual raises of 4% over the life of the four-year agreement. They also will gain the $1.25 per diem they had been fighting for - equal to the pilots' rate - the same sick pay as pilots, plus vacation pay and protection in the event of a merger.
Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit leadership is advising pilots not to bid for October flying, which the airline believes might delay restarting operations when the strike is resolved.The union also is alerting its members that Northwest is trying to conduct maintenance ferry flights using non-seniority pilots and charter companies. The union is warning that it considers such flights struck work.
Northwest told DOT yesterday neither law nor economics back the department's order directing Northwest Airlink commuters to resume Essential Air Service flights and Northwest itself to provide necessary ground services. Mesaba and Express Airlines I, which were supposed to resume service yesterday, were preparing similar petitions for reconsideration, according to Northwest.
DOT made final its order to award an operating certificate to Shuttle America, a Connecticut-based regional that plans to launch service with two 50-seat Dash 8-300s and expand to nine within a year (DAILY, Aug. 24). The certificate limits the carrier to the nine aircraft pending another fitness demonstration if Shuttle America wants to expand beyond that level. (Docket OST-98-3876)
Alaska Airlines posted a 7.6% traffic increase in August on 9% more capacity, which forced the load factor down to 73.7% from 74.7%. So far this year, traffic rose 7.4% and capacity 8%. Affiliate carrier Horizon Air reported a 34.2% rise in traffic on 31.9% more capacity. The load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 68.8%. Aug 98 Aug 97 8 Mths 98 8 Mths 97 RPMs 1,179,000,000 1,096,000,000 7,618,000,000 7,091,000,000 ASMs 1,599,000,000 1,467,000,000 11,153,000,000 10,327,000,000
InVision Technologies received an order from FAA to upgrade all 59 CTX 5000 explosives detection systems InVision Technologies said it received a $3.8 million order from FAA to upgrade all 59 CTX 5000 explosives detection systems purchased by the agency to its second-generation CTX 5500 DS. The 5500 screens baggage up to 30% faster with a lower false alarm rate, InVision said.
Airlines throughout the world chose the Farnborough Air Show to unveil a series of orders worth nearly $10.8 billion, with the lion's share of the 186 jets on firm order won by Embraer and Boeing. Boeing is expected to announce more orders today. The largest order so far was yesterday's American Eagle buy of 75 firm and 75 optioned 37-seat ERJ-135 regional jets from Embraer. The $2 billion order doubled the ERJ-135's orderbook and was one of four billion-dollar-plus deals announced yesterday.
Bell Helicopter Textron and Agusta will form a joint venture to develop and sell Bell's 609 commercial tiltrotor aircraft and a new twin-engine helicopter from Agusta, the AB139, the companies said yesterday at the Farnborough Air Show. Agusta will invest and participate in developing the 609, from which Boeing dropped out as a 49% risk-sharing partner in February, and the Italian company will manufacture parts of the aircraft and perform final assembly for 609s delivered in Europe and other parts of the world.
Boeing Business Jet made its first flight Sept. 4 Boeing Business Jet made its first flight Sept. 4, taking off from Renton Municipal Airport, Wash. The aircraft, designed for corporate and VIP applications, is a joint venture with General Electric. It combines the size of the 737-700 fuselage with the strengthened wings and landing gear of the larger and heavier 737-800.
Top 25 European Gateways for Nonstop Travel To/From The U.S. The Year 1997 % Change % Change Departures 97 vs. 96 Passengers 97 vs. 96 1 London, Heathrow 39,477 10.2% 8,779,414 12.1% 2 Frankfurt 25,253 -4.0% 4,993,467 0.4% 3 London, Gatwick 20,700 8.8% 4,415,451 4.8%
Fine Air Services received a flurry of approvals from DOT, gaining two-year exemption renewals for scheduled foreign cargo service to Central America, South America, Spain and the Caribbean from its Miami hub. The Spain service is to Vitoria, Madrid and Valencia. DOT granted the Latin America and Caribbean exemptions until it acts on the carrier's certificate application in Docket OST-98-4076.
Air New Zealand, feeling the effects of lower Asia/Pacific tourist travel, posted a net profit of 144.8 million New Zealand dollars (US$72.7 million) for the 12 months ending June 30. The profits were down 3.6%. Pre-tax earnings fell 11.6% to NZD$129.7 million ($65.1 million), while revenue increased 5.4% to NZD$3.1 billion ($1.55 billion). Tourist arrivals to New Zealand dropped 6.1%, reflected in the carrier's Asian traffic decline of 24.7%. But ANZ is experiencing stronger tourist travel from North America after years of zero or negative growth from the region.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater Friday rejected the claims of two Northwest Airlink commuters that Essential Air Service rules permit them to shut down during the Northwest strike. Slater gave Mesaba and Express Airlines I until today to resume operations to 17 smaller communities, simultaneously ordering Northwest to provide ground and related services the regionals said they need to operate. Slater said many of the personnel that provide such services are still on duty for other carriers including Northwest partner KLM.
Midcoast Aviation named Elaine Weatherby manager-southeast regional sales. Saab Aircraft appointed Gert Schyborger, currently president, general manager-commercial aircraft within the Saab Group.
