Arinc has signed a contract to be Atlas Air's global data link service provider when Atlas receives its first satcom-equipped 747-400. Atlas plans to take delivery of 10 data-link-equipped 747-400s over the coming year, Arinc said.
Sustained growth in travel paved the way for recent attempts by airlines to raise fares. Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) said this week that domestic travel during the first six months was up 7% over the first half of 1997, with 608 million person-trips - travel of more than 100 miles from home. Leisure travel is particularly strong, TIA said. The 415 million trips during this period is an 11% increase. Increased travel is reflected in airline load factors but air travel as a share of all trips is down, from 19% in 1997 to 17% this year.
Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), FAA and Eurocontrol, in collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organization, will co-sponsor a conference to identify and discuss safety issues related to the Very Large Transport Airplane (VLTA). The conference, to be held Oct. 13-16 at the Leeuwenhorst Congress Center in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, will consider potential problems linked directly to the aircraft's size and the number of passengers it would carry.
KLM forced its pilots union into court yesterday after the group made plans to strike alongside alliance partner Northwest's pilots, if the U.S. carrier reaches that point later this month. The Dutch Air Line Pilots Association VNV is calling for its members to show solidarity by grounding KLM flights to several cities in the U.S. on or after Northwest's Aug. 29 strike deadline. The targeted flights are on the alliance's core hub-to-hub routes, between Amsterdam and Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis.
A group of niche airline executives and civic officials wrote DOT Secretary Rodney Slater this week asking that he act to protect smaller carriers from unfair practices before completing a variety of studies into the issue. Bills not yet signed into law direct internal DOT studies of competition issues and an independent analysis by the National Academy of Sciences before adopting competition guidelines. Investigations on other fronts, including analysis of comments on how airport practices affect airline competition, are in progress.
Mesa Air Group Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein has finished overhauling top management with the departure Aug. 14 of Chief Operating Officer Clark Stevens and Chief Legal Officer Gary Risley. None of the Mesa operating officers who were on board when Ornstein arrived in May remain. Replacements have not been named for Stevens and Risley - the nephew of founder Larry Risley - although the acting COO is Mike Lotz, a Continental veteran. Kenn Sinclair is replacing Sara Pitcher as corporate communications manager, coming from an Illinois school district...
Ethiopian Airlines wants to amend its exemption authority for U.S.-Ethiopia foreign combination service via Rome to include a stop in Newark. The Ethiopian carrier began serving the U.S. June 4, after DOT concurrently granted its exemption and assessed penalties against it for promoting the service while the application was pending (DAILY, May 27). It told DOT demand for direct service between the two countries is increasing. It plans to operate the service as part of its twice-weekly Addis Ababa-Rome-Washington Dulles flights using 767-300 or A340-300 aircraft.
In the latest update on whether U.S. carriers will increase fares, all major airlines yesterday rescinded a 4% hike that has been suggested so many times few industry veterans could keep track. As of today, fares are basically the same as they were during the past 12 months, although that may change yet again, judging from what has been dubbed the on-again, off-
Average load factor for 16 of the nation's largest regional airlines surpassed the 60% mark for the second consecutive month. The average stood at 61.1%, compared with 62.2% in June and 58.1% in July 1997. No carriers were below 50%, which used to be the norm, and eight of the airlines tallied load factors above 60%. At the top of the list was United Express Air Wisconsin with 75.5%, up 3.8 percentage points over the year-ago period. Only two carriers posted load factors that were lower than a year ago.
Airbus and Fokker, Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day, First Quarter 1998, A320-100/200, A300-600, F100 Airbus and Fokker Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1997 A320-100/200 America West Northwest United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 26 51 46 124
Peter Lehner, senior attorney with the National Resources Defense Council, and Shari Zuskin, project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency, discuss deicing and storm water runoff issues, plus other environmental topics, on Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
North American Airlines said it has added the 737-800 to its fleet. It is the second U.S. airline after Continental and the first U.S. charter carrier to do so. Dan McKinnon, president, said the airline plans to use the 169-seat aircraft for feeder flights for El Al and for charter flights for Club Med, GWV and others plus the White House press corps. Once the aircraft is certified for extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS), North American will use it to serve the Azores, he said.
DOT issued an order "terminating Colgan Air's subsidy rate to provide essential air service" at Keene, N.H., on Sept. 1 and "allowing Colgan to suspend service on that date." Keene's air service has been subsidized since 1993. Its recent service is part of a two-city arrangement including Rutland, Vt., with half the $1,475,852 annual subsidy assignable to each community. DOT has negotiated a new subsidy rate with Colgan for Rutland-
...Mesa is refinancing 15 Beech 1900Ds for an annual savings of $5 million in cash, improving its monthly cash flow by $360,000. Beech 1900D costs have been a problem for Mesa, increasing to 27 cents per available seat mile from 17-18 cents per ASM as a result of the new Part 121 operating requirements, labor and airport costs, a company source said. Mesa over the next five or six months will trade in Brasilias to Bombardier for Canadair RJs.
LTU of Germany will introduce First Comfort premium service on selected long-haul 767-300ER service, beginning Nov. 1. The first U.S. destination will be Fort Myers, Fla., on flights to Germany costing $1,698 roundtrip, and the service will reach Miami, Orlando, New York and Los Angeles later. Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Cancun, Montego Bay, Windhoek, Male, Colombo and Cape Town are among destinations receiving early service.
A 747-400 aircraft powered by new production Rolls-Royce RB211-524G/H-T engines has entered service with South African Airways (SAA), joining six other 747-400s that eventually will be fitted with the same engine type. Coleman Andrews, SAA chief executive, said he was impressed with the performance of the engines, rated at 58,000-60,000 pounds thrust. The powerplant offers a combination of reduced fuel burn and what the enginemaker describes as "excellent on-wing life and increased revenue-earning capability."
Travel and tourism declines resulting from the Asian economic collapse are reflected in figures released by the Hong Kong Tourist Association, which said tourism receipts fell by 35.6% to $3.28 billion in the first six months of this year. Arrivals dropped 21% over the period, and those who visited Hong Kong spent less, to a large extent because of currency declines. Lower spending power was reflected by lower Hong Kong hotel rates, lower shopping prices and shorter average length of stay by visitors.
Inter-Canadien will extend services into Atlantic Canada beginning Oct. 25 under an expansion of its commercial agreement with Canadian Airlines - which coincides with the conclusion of Canadian Airlines' commercial agreement with Air Atlantic. Under the agreement, Inter-Canadien will operate jets and turboprops to Charlo, Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton and Saint John, New Brunswick; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Deer Lake, Gander, Stephenville and St. John's, Newfoundland; Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario, and Boston.
AeroMexico posted a 11% gain in July traffic on 6.9% more capacity. The airline carried 755,000 passenger in July, up 6.8%. Cargo volume is up 16.4% so far this year to 56.6 million freight ton kilometers.
Air Line Pilots Association won the right to represent pilots at Ryan International Airlines in a vote tallied yesterday by the National Mediation Board. ALPA won by a landslide as 221 pilots, or 72% of those eligible, voted for the union. There were 306 pilots eligible for voting, but the total pilot pool has since grown to more than 400, an ALPA spokesman said.
Gulfstream Aerospace said this week it has completed its previously announced acquisition of K-C Aviation for $250 million in cash from Kimberly-Clark. The newly acquired company will assume the Gulfstream Aerospace name immediately.
Transaero founder Alexander Pleshakov was removed by the airline's board last week.The carrier's new leader is the outspoken Russian aviation leader Boris Berezovsky, the majority shareholder of Aeroflot.
Sabena put fares between its U.S. gateways and Nairobi, Kenya, on sale for travel between Sept. 8 and March 31, 1999. Nonrefundable roundtrips start at $999 from New York, Chicago, Newark and Boston, and at $1,149 from Atlanta and Cincinnati. Fares cost $200 more for travel between Dec. 12 and Jan. 11. All service is through Brussels, from which Sabena serves Nairobi four times per week. A Saturday-night stay is required, and the maximum stay is one month. The U.S. State Department lifted a Kenya travel warning on Aug. 13.
Mexicana and Lufthansa have affiliated their frequent flyer programs and are on their way toward a full code-share alliance. The first code share flights, between Mexico City and Frankfurt, are expected to begin Oct. 25. Later code-share points are Guadalajara, Merida, Monterrey, Acapulco and Cancun. Mexicana's Frecuenta frequent flyer plan also is linked to Lufthansa partner United. Mexicana posted a July traffic surge of 25.5% on 10.4% more capacity, which pushed the load factor up 8.6 percentage points to 71.7%.
CCAIR, effective Oct. 4, will begin service between Tallahassee, Fla., and US Airways hub Charlotte, N.C., and between Tallahassee and Miami. The carrier will use 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft to operate four weekly roundtrips in each market, with reduced service over the weekends.
