Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit said again yesterday that contract negotiations are at an impasse and claimed that company negotiators agree with them. The two sides were in talks Wednesday and Thursday. The National Mediation Board called a recess Thursday afternoon. Northwest ALPA spokesman Paul Omodt said talks ended with "no progress whatsoever" and negotiators for both sides agreed that talks had run out of steam. Omodt said management "had no other proposals to make.
Airbus Industrie said this week it booked 287 new firm orders, including 40 widebodies, worth $18.7 billion in the first six months of the year, and that the orders represent 52% of the market for the period. Airbus attributed the performance to major sales to United, Sabena, Iberia, Air France, and Latin American carriers LanChile, TACA and TAM. Airbus said it had 460 firm orders worth $29.6 billion during all of 1997 when it had a market share of 45%. Boeing said that through the first six months it had 282 orders "so our math works out to 50.04% for Airbus.
Great Lakes Aviation posted a 238.7% increase in revenue passenger miles to 23.2 million last month, as capacity climbed 254.4% to 41.9 million available seat miles. The results were boosted by "Denver growth opportunities granted to the company by United Airlines," said Great Lakes President Douglas Voss. The resulting load factor - 55.3% - was 2.6 percentage points lower than the figure the United Express affiliate achieved in June 1997. Boardings climbed 196.6% to 81,039. June 1998 June 1997 6 Months 1998 6 Months 1997
Honeywell Inc., Phoenix, has acquired Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG's Airport Systems, a Wedell, Germany-based supplier of airport lighting products, airport information management systems and project services. The acquired business, which becomes part of Honeywell Airport Systems, will remain in Germany, and no reduction in the 120-employee work force is anticipated.
Stallion Airlines, a privately owned carrier in India, has finalized a deal to purchase five 19-seat Fairchild Metro-23 aircraft from Fairchild Dornier, Stallion officials said Monday. This is the first time that an Indian carrier has acquired Dorniers. The acquisition - at a cost of $19.25 million - will help launch the airline's operations by September, officials added.
Minneapolis-based Mesaba Airlines' employees this week rejected representation by the International Association of Machinists. Of the 780 employees eligible to vote, 191 cast ballots for union representation, said Mesaba spokesman Warren Wilkinson. Minnesota tends to be a strong union state. The voting was supervised by the National Mediation Board.
Raymond Long, FAA's Year 2000 program manager, will discuss the agency's effort to ensure that its computer-based systems, and those of airports and airlines, will operate properly after Dec. 31, 1999, on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
American Eagle, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, this week started nonstop regional jet service between Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Chicago O'Hare, using new 50-passenger ERJ-145s. American Eagle replaced turboprops with the RJs on two of its six daily roundtrips and will replace two more turboprops with RJs on two more flights, beginning Aug. 27. The ERJ-145 features navy blue leather seats, a wardrobe for hanging bags and a lavatory large enough to accommodate a baby changing station.
Following a series of splits, regional-airline stocks averaged a 14.5% jump during June, reaching $22.02 per share, up from $19.23 at the market close on May 29. Market value of the eight issues increased by $763.6 million to nearly $5.5 billion. Only one of the eight stocks - United Express Atlantic Coast - was down on the month by 13 cents to $30. Delta Connection Atlantic Southeast led all gainers with an increase of $10.31 per share, or 26.3%, to $49.63. Delta/United affiliate SkyWest followed with a $6.38 per share jump to $28, an increase of 29.4%.
Japanese authorities told DOT that 22 additional weekly slots are available at Tokyo Narita, starting in the 1998-99 winter season, for service by U.S. airlines. DOT is inviting designated carriers to apply for the slots by July 13; Japan wants notification of DOT's allocations by Aug. 12.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) wrote to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater objecting to the department's interpretation of recent action concerning the proposed competition policy (DAILY, June 26, 27). Attached to the FAA reauthorization bill sent to the House floor by Shuster's committee was an amendment calling for studies of the policy. Opponents of the policy said the studies will help kill it by subjecting it to real scrutiny, while DOT officials said it affirmed their authority and would not significantly delay implementing the policy.
Qatar Airways selected IAE V2500 engines to power its on-order fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. The carrier, which placed six firm orders and took options on five more, will begin A320 operations next year using a separate batch of four leased aircraft. The purchased aircraft will be delivered from 2001 to 2005. Qatar Airways was launched in 1994 as a low-cost airline serving mostly expatriate workers based in the Persian Gulf. It was relaunched last year as an upmarket carrier, a move that resulted in the A320 orders.
IPO for Fairchild Aerospace? The U.S./German manufacturer has launched a new ad campaign in The Wall Street Journal with the theme of "The Proof Is In Doing It." It features full-page color photos of historic events and describes the turnaround of German-based Dornier following its acquisition from Daimler-Benz in 1996. The San Antonio-based company has hinted at an initial public offering to help finance its new 728-series of regional jets with capacities of up to 55, 70 and 90 seats.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a Delta Connection affiliate, posted a 13.6% increase in traffic last month to 93.6 million revenue passenger miles, compared with June 1997. Capacity climbed 1.7% to 155.7 million available seat miles, as the load factor jumped 6.3 percentage points to 60.1%. Enplanements rose 5.8% to 358,799.
Steven Zaidman has been appointed FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition by Administrator Jane Garvey. Dennis DeGaetano, who has been the acting associate administrator, will return to his job as deputy. Zaidman, who succeeds George Donohue in the post, has been director, Office of System Architecture and Investment Analysis.
The Indian government will not permit state-owned or local, private airlines to lease aircraft from other carriers. A civil aviation official told The DAILY in a telephone interview from New Delhi that the carriers will be allowed to lease equipment only directly from leasing companies. This ruling will be enforced within the next two months. The official says written approval from the authorities must be obtained before any local airline negotiates with the lessors.
Mesaba Airlines' load factor last month rose 2.4 percentage points to 59.8% as revenue passenger miles soared 79.2% to 96.8 million and available seat miles jumped 72.1% to 161.8 million. Passenger boardings for the Northwest Airlink affiliate were up 63.9% to 377,000.
America West's traffic for June increased 4.8% but capacity rose faster, at a 5.9% rate, forcing the load factor down 0.8 percentage points to 73.5%. In the first half of 1998, America West flew 8.8 million passengers, down 473,000 or 5.1% from the first half of last year. First-half traffic fell 2.5% on 2.5% more capacity, lowering the load factor 3.4 points to 66.4%. June 98 June 97 6 Mths 98 6 Mths 97 RPMs 1,501,430,000 1,432,851,000 7,921,164,000 8,127,368,000
Though American and British Airways are relatively positive about EC Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert's proposed alliance remedies, two of the proposals are particularly troublesome, according to American Chief Executive Don Carty. The potential London Heathrow slot transfer is inequitable compared with the treatment of United-Lufthansa, he said this week, and steps to reduce American-BA frequencies represent the kind of bureaucratic "micromanagement" open skies is intended to eliminate.
FedEx parent FDX Corp. reported a 2.9% gain in fiscal fourth quarter revenue, to $4.1 billion from $3.96 billion. Net income, excluding expenses in the Caliber merger, was $170.7 million, up from a year-earlier loss of $40.4 million. For the fiscal year, revenues were $15.9 billion, up from $14.2 billion. Net income was $582.7 million excluding merger expenses and non-recurring items at Viking, up from $371.1 million.
U.S. Carriers Maintenance Expense, First Quarter 1998 Major Carriers % Of Total Systemwide Operating Expenses Alaska $ 30,576,000 9.43 America West 55,178,926 12.94 American 475,786,000 13.31 Continental 183,618,000 11.85 Delta 299,775,000 9.68
Comsat Corp. said yesterday it received a five-year, $57 million contract from FAA to provide satellite and ground communications services for the Wide Area Augmentation System. The contract has options extending an additional five years, with an estimated value of $120 million.
NetJets Europe said yesterday it plans to hire eight more pilots this year for its "rapidly growing aircraft fractional ownership program." NetJets Europe, which currently has 25 pilots on its roster, is hiring pilots with more than 4,200 hours of experience, an official said. It operates seven Citations and will acquire three more this year. NetJets is an extension of Executive Jet, which plans to expand into the Middle East, Latin America and the Pacific.
Bombardier Aerospace last week took delivery of the first PW150A engine from Pratt&Whitney Canada. Bombardier intends to use the powerplant, designed for high-speed turboprops of the 50- to 80-passenger-seat class, on its de Havilland Dash 8Q-400 aircraft. The engine, flat-rated at 5,071 shaft horsepower for takeoff, received Type Approval on schedule 36 months after program launch, P&WC said. The 350-knot Dash 8Q Series 400 is on schedule for certification and entry into service in the first quarter of 1999.
Cincinnati-based Comair posted a 14.3% increase in traffic last month to 180.8 million revenue passenger miles, as capacity climbed 7.3% to 263.5 million available seat miles. As a consequence, the load factor rose 4.2 percentage points to 68.6%, compared with June 1997. Enplanements were up 16.5% to 543,547. June 1998 June 1997 6 Months 1998 6 Months 1997 RPMs 180,786,000 158,150,000 950,703,000 836,197,000 ASMs 263,526,000 245,675,000 1,541,012,000 1,463,694,000
