An inflight cargo fire of undetermined origin was the probable cause of the FedEx DC-10 accident Sept. 5, 1996, at Stewart Airport, Newburgh, N.Y., the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. The three crewmembers and two passengers evacuated the aircraft after an emergency landing, and the captain and flight engineer suffered minor injuries during the evacuation. The aircraft was destroyed by the fire.
SkyWest yesterday reported a 124.2% increase in net income, to $9.7 million, and a 27.1% boost in operating revenues, to $91.6 million, for the June quarter, the first in its fiscal year. Operating income rose 114.3% to $14.3 million, and operating expenses grew 18.2% to $77.3 million despite lower fuel prices. SkyWest, which operates for Delta and United and until July 15 flew for Continental as well, grew capacity 5.6% and attracted 14.1% more traffic and 42.8% more passenger enplanements.
British Regional Airlines Group, one month after its initial public offering on the London stock market, reported an 11.7% gain in passenger boardings for the first six months of its fiscal year. The carrier attributed the increase to new routes, such as Inverness-Gatwick, Manchester-Geneva and Southampton-Dublin/Zurich. It also introduced larger jets on its domestic and international network operated from Southampton, increasing capacity on these routes about 60%. The increased capacity reduced the load factor 2.4% but boosted revenue passenger kilometers 31.3%.
TWA has asked DOT for a two-year initial exemption to operate nonstop New York-Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and New York-St. Maarten service. It plans to begin daily year-round service to Puerto Plata and five-times- weekly seasonal service to St. Maarten on Dec. 17. The St. Maarten service will be "the first new service proposed" under the U.S.-Netherlands Antilles open-skies pact signed last week, TWA said (DAILY, July 16). (Docket OST-98-4144)
Delta, which code shares between the U.S. and Mexico with AeroMexico, was granted a waiver until Aug. 15 to serve additional city-pairs (DAILY, July 22). (Docket OST-97-3289)
The Philippines DOT this week told Philippine Airlines to stop grounding aircraft and cutting services. PAL, which has reduced its fleet from 54 to 15, is operating a skeletal international and domestic network. DOT Director General Caesar Gomez said PAL also was told to stop bickering with the PAL Employees Union and the pilots' union. "The government wants the airline to start thinking and planning its future, not squabbling with the unions. Its services should also be gradually increased, starting with the more lucrative routes first," Gomez said.
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development is lending the Republic of Bulgaria 12.3 million dinar (about US$40.1 million) to help finance development of Sofia Airport. The project includes construction of a passenger terminal to serve as many as 2.5 million passengers a year; reinforcement, improvement and extension of the runway to 3,600 meters; new taxiways and expansion of existing taxiways and aprons, and construction of automobile parking lots and access roads.
General aviation aircraft shipments increased 61.8% to 956 during the first six months of 1998, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Billings for the period rose 20.8% to $2.4 billion, said GAMA President Ed Bolen. Shipments of piston-engine aircraft increased 92% to 672, jet deliveries were up 21.8% to 173 and turboprop shipments rose 12.1% to 111, Bolen said.
Europort Vatry has chosen the Societe d'Exploitation Vatry Europort (Europort Vatry Operating Co.) to develop, operate and manage its all-cargo and multimodal facility for 20 years. SEVE comprises Aeroport de Montreal Capital (Montreal Airport Authority), Pingat/SNC Lavalin, VITA GTI, Sogaris, Ienair and the combined chambers of commerce of Reims-Epernay, Chalons and Troyes. The goal is an aggregate of 125,000 tons over the first five years - 2000-2004 - which Europort Vatry said would be enough to make it the second largest air freight facility in France.
America West will expand service this fall from its Las Vegas hub, adding four daily nonstops - one each to Philadelphia, Boston, San Diego and Ontario, Calif. - using A320s configured for 12 first-class and 138 coach seats.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines set revenue and net income records during the second quarter, parent ASA Holdings reported yesterday. Net income grew 32.3% over the 1997 quarter to $19.5 million. Revenue increased 7.1% to $106.7 million as traffic gained 12.6% but yield fell 5.2%.
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association filed at the National Mediation Board yesterday a petition to hold a representational election that could unseat the Machinists union as representative of Northwest mechanics.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey sat through a two-hour meeting this week in which speaker after speaker told her the agency will damage its relationship with industry and unions if it goes ahead with its Streamlined Administrative Action Program to "ticket" rules violators.FAA officials stressed that the program is administrative and not a legal action, but industry representatives remained opposed.
China Airlines expects to post a record net loss of nearly US$24 million for the current fiscal year as a result of the Feb. 16 crash of a CAL A300 at Taiwan Chiang Kai-shek Airport. The expected pre-tax loss of $64 million will be the company's first since 1985.
United yesterday turned in record second quarter net earnings of $418 million, up 11%, as it realized fuel and domestic economic benefits and was not hit as hard as rival Northwest in the Pacific. Revenue increased 1.4% to $4.44 billion and yield declined just 0.1% to 12.58 cents. Operating profits increased 10% to $702 million. The earnings result "demonstrates that we can manage United Airlines in the difficult times as well as the good times," said John Edwardson, president.
Detroit-based Spirit Airlines reported a 71.3% traffic increase to 83.7 million revenue passenger miles and capacity grew to 102.9 million available seat miles in June, up 52.3% compared with June 1997. The load factor was up 12.5 percentage points to 81.4%. Passenger enplanements rose 76.9% to 111,200. During the first six months, it flew 80.7% more RPMs on 80.2% more ASMs, boosting the load factor 0.3 points. Passenger enplanements jumped 92.2%. Spirit expanded service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., recently and introduced its first MD-80 in February.
House Appropriations Committee in its markup yesterday ratified fiscal 1999 funding levels recommended by its transportation subcommittee last week, including $9.478 billion for FAA, 4.1% more than this year's level, and $1.8 billion for the Airport Improvement Program, a $100 million boost. User fees would bring total FAA funding to $9.524 billion, up 4.6%. At DOT, the panel recommended cutting administrative expenses, including 34 staff positions from the Office of the Secretary. Key FAA funding recommendations:
Average air fares based on a 1,000 mile one-way trip have risen only 2.2% from June 1997, according to the Air Transport Association's first monthly Domestic Airfare Report, issued yesterday. ATA's study is based on yield data from 85% of all domestic first-class and coach fares. In June 1998, the average fare was $136.83. ATA did not use data from Southwest.
US Airways Group yesterday reported record second quarter operating profits of $376.6 million, but net income dropped 5.5% to $194.3 million due to tax rate changes. The company paid a 40.3% tax rate in the quarter, compared with an 11.4% rate during the year-earlier period. Revenue grew 3.8% to $2.3 billion. US Airways Group, which comprises several divisions, ended the quarter with more than $2 billion in cash after spending $407 million on stock repurchases. US Airways' fleet fell to 370 aircraft from 390 a year ago.
British Midland and Virgin Atlantic are expanding their code-share agreement to include new services between London Heathrow and Warsaw, starting Aug. 17. The broadened accord will enable passengers traveling between the Polish capital and Heathrow to take advantage of Virgin's transatlantic, South African, Japanese and Hong Kong network. Other points served from London under the code share are Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Belfast, Teesside, Amsterdam, Dublin and Brussels.
Midwest Express will begin winter service between Milwaukee and Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa and Phoenix on Dec. 5. Service will continue through April 18. Also on Dec. 5, the carrier will launch year-round weekend service between Omaha and Orlando.
Inland Aviation Services notified DOT of a June 19 Cessna 207 accident in a supplement to its application to provide scheduled combination service within Alaska using Cessna 172 aircraft (DAILY, May 27). The carrier said it "experienced an enroute engine failure and executed an off-airport controlled crash landing" near Holy Cross, Alaska, during a charter flight carrying three passengers and the pilot.
Troubled Greek flag carrier Olympic Airways will receive less state aid than the European Commission authorized in 1994, a commission official told The DAILY yesterday. The EC "will cut part of the aid" next week, the official said.
