US Airways will recall 50 pilots who have been on furlough since 1991, President and Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Gangwal said yesterday. The recall will begin as soon as possible, and all 50 pilots could be back on the job by Oct. 31. "We are delighted," the US Airways Air Line Pilots Association unit's Master Executive Council chairman, Jon Bryan, told The DAILY. In a recorded message to pilots, Bryan said the union was meeting yesterday morning with Gangwal when he announced the recall.
Some members of the National Transportation Safety Board believe their independence is under attack after receiving draft memorandums that would require them to submit their international travel plans to a staff official - Managing Director Peter Goelz - sources said yesterday. "Many people around here believe it infringes on the independence of the board members," one source said.
British Airways said it intends to start service as soon as possible between London and Shanghai following a U.K.-China air services agreement. BA has no specific start date for the service and is unsure yet whether London-Shanghai will be served nonstop or via Beijing, a spokesman said.
International Civil Aviation Organization said yesterday it has developed a "comprehensive action plan to assist states in addressing potential computer failures and malfunctions associated with the Year 2000 Problem (Y2K) in worldwide air traffic services." ICAO Council President Assad Kotaite said the plan, which will work in tandem with a plan developed by the International Air Transport Association, focuses on disseminating information about the problem, raising the level of awareness about its consequences within the international civil aviation industry, assessin
British Airways is being asked to give up more than slots at Heathrow.In another controversial issue in the U.K., BA said passengers want the airline to be less British and more friendly in flight. BA will retrain flight attendants to lose their English ways. Newspapers in Britain are calling for the airline to give up its name.
The Justice Department cleared the way yesterday for American to move ahead with its proposed acquisition of 8.5% of Aerolineas Argentinas and a stake in Austral Lineas Aereas following agreement by American to restructure the Aerolineas deal and overcome objections by DOJ's Antitrust Division.
Despite their optimistic tone early this week, TWA and its Air Line Pilots Association unit made little progress in two days of contract negotiations, TWA ALPA Master Executive Council Chairman Joe Chronic said yesterday. The two sides were scheduled to meet again yesterday afternoon. Chronic told The DAILY the two sides disagree over what benchmark they should use to determine industry standard pay.
The European Commission wants American and British Airways to relinquish as many as 267 slots at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports as they form their strategic alliance, European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert said yesterday in Brussels. Likewise, the United-Lufthansa-SAS alliance, already in place, will have to give up as many as 108 slots at Frankfurt and Copenhagen.
Two executives - one from a major carrier and the other from a low-fare airline - faulted DOT's proposed competition guidelines this week while offering divergent perspectives on what constitutes predatory activity. Addressing the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, Cyril Murphy, United VP-international and regulatory activities, said DOT is pleased that its policy already is having a "chilling effect" on major airlines' decisions on whether to offer at any price the "perishable commodity" of an empty airline seat.
Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee yesterday approved a bill including $9.85 billion for FAA in fiscal 1999, $2.1 billion for the Airport Improvement Program, and report language urging DOT to use existing authority to ensure competition in the airline industry. The bill will be marked up tomorrow by the full Appropriations Committee.
Northwest and Kenya Airways received DOT approval for their reciprocal U.S.-Kenya code-share arrangement. Northwest will display Kenya's code on U.S.-Amsterdam flights and Kenya Airways will display Northwest's code on Amsterdam-Nairobi, Nairobi-Mombasa and Nairobi-Lilongwe flights. Kenya Airways, privatized in 1996, is 26% owned by Northwest partner KLM. DOT said it is "disappointed that Kenya has not yet approved Delta's pending code-share application" with Sabena.
Frontier, in an effort to extend its reach, is aggressively pursuing domestic and international alliances, Lowell Miller, director of Frontier's newly formed marketing programs and alliances department, told The DAILY yesterday. Frontier has been talking with British Airways in hopes of entering the European market when BA receives approval for Denver.
Northwest has spent the early part of 1998 shifting transpacific capacity to adjust to the Asian economic downturn, but the region remains unprofitable for the carrier, according to Michael Levine, executive VP-
Continental yesterday became the first U.S. customer to take delivery of a 737-800. Continental, which will be Boeing's largest customer this year and next, is scheduled to receive 64 aircraft this year and 58 in 1999.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater arrived in Cape Verde for the start of his six- nation visit to Africa. Slater and his delegation will stop in Cape Verde, Senegal and Zimbabwe to develop the Safe Skies for Africa initiative, with visits to Angola, Cameroon and Ethiopia to discuss airport security issues. The trip ends July 15.
SAS asked DOT for an exemption for one slot at Chicago O'Hare in order to expand service to Scandinavia. FAA told the carrier it likely would not obtain the requested winter season 5:40 p.m. arrival slot through FAA's slot allocation process, as requests exceed available slots. The carrier wants to shift its current daily O'Hare-Copenhagen service to the late Chicago departure window, arriving at O'Hare at 5:40 p.m. and departing at 10:05 p.m., outside the period of restricted operations.
Scenic Airlines, operating national park tours in the southwestern U.S., receives 80% of its business from foreign travelers. The airline has 38 international offices and offers tours in 17 languages. It is adding Russian and Korean.
Despite the prospect that they may have to transfer Heathrow Airport slots to competitors, American and British Airways reacted positively to the European Commission's proposed conditions for alliance approval, compared with United, Lufthansa and Germany's transport minister, Matthias Wissmann. American and BA objected to elements of the proposal, published yesterday, but said they are more optimistic that they will win approval of their two-
Seven state transportation commissioners wrote yesterday to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) objecting to his proposal to permit exceptions to the perimeter rule at Washington Reagan Airport, which bars service to points more than 1,250 miles distant. Transportation commissioners from Virginia, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Florida and Kentucky wrote McCain that service to their states would be damaged if exceptions were adopted.
Fairchild Corp. said this week it will spin off its Fasteners Division instead of its technology products segment and other assets, as announced previously. "We believe that Fairchild Fasteners will best prosper as a stand-alone aerospace entity," said Jeffrey Steiner, chairman.
Pratt&Whitney and SIA Engineering Co. said yesterday they have launched a commercial large jet engine overhaul joint venture for Asia. The new company, Eagle Services Asia, is based in the current engine overhaul facility operated by SIA with Singapore Airlines as the primary customer. SIA Engineering is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. P&W owns 51% of the new venture, which will provide services for 94- and 10-
Former airline executive Ed Beauvais, blamed for past bankruptcies at America West and Western Pacific, is seeking financing to start another carrier, said George Washington University's Prof. Darryl Jenkins."In the airline industry, hope springs eternal," he said.
