Drawing on support for its position from a variety of parties, United urged DOT yesterday to act swiftly on its complaint against the European Commission and the conditions the EC proposes to impose on alliances. United's International Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act complaint says proposed EC "remedies" for the United-Lufthansa-SAS portion of the Star Alliance would violate open-skies agreements and restrict the alliance, which won antitrust immunity in the U.S.
A coalition of pilots from nine carriers that have code-share agreements with Japan Airlines, and pilots from JAL itself, will sign an agreement tomorrow in Tokyo aimed at protecting pilot jobs and preventing management from playing off one union against another in the event of job actions.
Emery Worldwide and Co-Operative Shipping Service of Cape Town have formed an alliance to provide transportation and logistics services in South Africa, Emery said yesterday. Co-Operative Shipping, which has facilities in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, will represent Emery at those locations. Emery will represent Co-Operative Shipping in Johannesburg, where Emery opened a service center last year, and link the South African company to its more than 600 service centers and agent locations in 229 countries.
United has altered its daily London-New Delhi nonstop, flying south of Afghanistan instead of north, in an effort to avoid the recently bombed nation by a wider margin.The airline also has increased security at various airports.
TWA's Air Line Pilots Association unit will announce results of the pilot contract ratification vote on Aug. 31. The union leadership has been involved in a tough campaign to win ratification.
The community of Flint, Mich., filed for slot exemptions at Reagan Washington Airport to support two daily roundtrip flights with 50-seat Embraer RJ-145s by US Airways Express carrier Chautauqua Airlines. In a DOT filing submitted by Bishop International Airport Authority Airport Director James Rice II, Flint said Chautauqua qualifies as a new-entrant carrier under DOT rules, since it holds no slots at Reagan and has not traded in any since Dec. 16, 1985.
BFGoodrich Aerospace has opened a $15 million, 130,000-square-foot landing gear repair and overhaul facility at Miami, Fla. The old facility occupied 90,000 square feet, and BFGoodrich said yesterday it believes the new one's process improvements will enable it to more than double overhaul capacity, reduce turn-times and hold employment at the current 275 employees.
Aerospace employment may have plateaued at 898,000 in the first quarter, registering no gain since yearend 1997, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. Sales are laying the foundation to eclipse last year's export record of $50 billion, AIA said.
Garuda Indonesia is reviewing whether to suspend its four remaining services to Europe, operate them on a code-share basis or terminate them altogether. The four points are Amsterdam, London, Paris and Frankfurt. Services to six other European destinations - Vienna, Zurich, Rome, Brussels, Munich and Madrid - have stopped. Garuda has concluded a code-
U.S. ban on flights over Sudan and Afghanistan (Aug. 24, 1998) The U.S. ban on airline flights over Sudan and Afghanistan (DAILY, Aug. 24) applies to a foreign airline operating with the code of a U.S. partner, regardless of whether the flight carries passengers who bought their tickets in the U.S., according to FAA.
Atlas Air asked DOT for a certificate to allow it to provide scheduled cargo service between any point in the U.S. and any point in about 150 countries. The carrier noted that DOT granted similar certificate authority to FedEx and UPS.
For the second time in a week, Northwest raised fares then rescinded the increase. After months of carriers seeking this year's first fare hike, in the end, fares fell 4% yesterday in certain non-hub connecting markets. On Friday, Northwest increased fares in some markets. Once the industry matched, Northwest rescinded the increase and then lowered fares. "It seems Northwest's weekday pricing managers and weekend pricing managers have a difference of opinion," said PaineWebber analyst Sam Buttrick. "Factually, I can explain the list of events.
Emirates will increase service from Dubai to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to 10 flights per week from the current seven, effective Oct. 25. The three additional flights will operate using Airbus A300-600R aircraft with 256 seats in two-class service via Male, capital of the Maldive Islands. The stopover will replace current Dubai-Male-Singapore service. In addition, Emirates will begin serving Melbourne via Singapore, starting Oct. 25. The daily service will use Boeing 777s.
SAS has received DOT exemption from slot restrictions at Chicago O'Hare Airport to operate a new daily roundtrip nonstop from Stockholm. FAA had turned down the carrier's slot request. SAS, which is shifting its O'Hare-
British Airways said yesterday it will suspend service from Birmingham, U.K., to New York and Toronto during the winter because of mounting losses. The airline has lost $16.2 million on the routes since they were inaugurated in 1993. Flights will resume next summer and continue only during the March-to-October period, operated in the future by affiliate British Airways Regional. Service from Birmingham to New York was launched with Boeing 767s, and capacity was reduced in 1995 to 757s. Flights to Toronto via New York Kennedy were added in July 1996.
Malaysia Airlines will lease out its 10 A330-300s and return two others to the lessor, a MAS senior flight operations official said. Shrinking passenger traffic to most Asian destinations is making it costly for the carrier to continue operating the A330s, he added. "We have tried leasing the aircraft out to airlines in Asia [but] we have not been successful. The A330s are not marketable in Asia currently as other Asian carriers are also going through a lean spell," he said. On the possibility of leasing the equipment to U.S.
Hundreds of United employees have sent comments to DOT opposing its proposed competition policy, saying the action would be anti-consumer, anti-labor and harmful to small communities. The deadline for comments on the policy was July 24. Most, if not all, the comments were mailed just before the deadline. The deadline for replies is Sept. 8. American pilots represented by the Allied Pilots Association mounted a similar write-in campaign opposing the policy.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic January 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 65 (9.17) 1,144 74,013 (6.68)
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic January 1998 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change AirTran Airlines 199 44.42 667 132,673 105.39
British Airways' service to India has been "insulated from the Asian crisis," and the airline would like to explore additional service to the country if the bilateral would permit it, according to BA Regional Director-Asia/Pacific John Wood.
FAA is advertising for chief information officer applicants, having decided it needs someone to advise top officials on information management and technology, and be its principal source on information technology issues before Congress, other agencies and the public. Applications submitted in postage-paid government envelopes will not be considered for the $106,412-$125,900 post.
DOT issued a show cause order last week granting an operating certificate to Shuttle America, a Connecticut-based commuter startup that plans to launch service with two 50-seat Dash 8-300s before expanding to nine by the end of its first year, serving nine city-pairs with 106 roundtrip flights each month. Service cannot begin until the carrier receives operational approval from FAA.
DOT issued an order permitting Great Lakes Aviation to terminate its United Express Essential Air Service at Pellston, Mich., at the end of its 90-day notice period. The carrier told DOT last month that it wanted to end the service, effective Sept. 9 (DAILY, July 17).
Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit says it received hundreds of calls from members supporting its decision to terminate consideration of the United code-share proposal after Delta's board of directors rejected a voting seat on the board for the union.The Master Executive Council expects Delta Chief Executive Leo Mullin to mount a campaign to convince other employees, and ALPA rank-and-file, that the code-share still is in their best interests.
American has shrunk during the past five years while Southwest, Alaska Airlines, Midwest Express and Comair have doubled or nearly doubled in size, analysis of airline market share, traffic and capacity data shows. American's share of the U.S. domestic market, measured in available seat miles, fell from 21.2% in July 1993 to 17.2% in July 1998. Five years ago, American led the U.S. with a single-month capacity of 14.3 billion ASMs, but last month the level was 13.5 billion. American still ranks number two in the U.S.
