Air Aruba has completed the tender process for its privatization and will recommend that the Aruba government accept a bid by Aserca, a business group. A letter of intent is expected to be signed next week. The airline serves Tampa, Miami and Newark from Aruba.
Boeing delivered 61 airplanes in June and 139 in the second quarter, both records, and company officials said yesterday they believe the production recovery plan they began nine months ago has been successful. Now, they said, Boeing can focus its efforts on reducing costs and increasing productivity. Still worrisome are Asian economic troubles, which have led to the storage of 19 airplanes, five of them 747s, said Chairman Phil Condit.
U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian sentenced a Santa Barbara, Calif., woman to two years in prison for disrupting a Continental flight, U.S. Attorney Norma Manella announced. Susan Callihan, of Goleta, Calif., was convicted Jan. 20 on a federal charge of interfering with the flight crew. Manella said Callihan partially kicked through the cockpit door of the Continental airplane. Her companion, Thomas Kasper, is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20 for pouring hot coffee on a flight attendant, Manella said. The violations occurred July 14, 1997, Manella said.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses The Year 1997 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Freight Revenues Change Revenues Revenues Alaska 1,370,868,000 11.62 1,173,663,000 63,588,000 America West 1,842,503,067 7.62 1,709,698,139 25,806,346
Northwest has named Douglas Steenland executive VP-general counsel and secretary. He is responsible for the carrier's legal activities and is the senior executive in charge of labor relations.
Continental will lift baggage restrictions for summer travel to selected Latin American destinations. From July 15 to Sept. 30, the carrier for a fee will accept unlimited excess baggage from any U.S. city to San Salvador, El Salvador; Managua, Nicaragua; Lima, Peru, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Excess bags will arrive in San Salvador, Santo Domingo and Managua within 72 hours of baggage check-in and in Lima within 96 hours. Pete Garcia, staff VP-Latin America, said lifting limits on baggage will enable travelers to take gifts home to family and friends.
Alaska Airlines has added Thrifty Car Rentals to its frequent flyer program effective Sept. 1. Alaska will award 500 miles for every airport-arriving leisure car rental or 250 miles for corporate or government rentals in conjunction with an Alaska or Horizon Flight at participating Thrifty locations. It also will offer 250 miles for parking three times within 12 months at participating Thrifty locations.
Emery Worldwide will add five DC-10 cargo aircraft to its North American operations over the next two years, the carrier said yesterday. It operates 90 owned and leased DC-8s and 727s. David Beatson, president, said the aircraft will "significantly lower our unit costs on our major traffic lanes and will have the additional advantage of being used for charter activity both domestically and internationally." The first DC-10 will enter service before the end of this year.
United and Delta, in a move both carriers see as the first step toward a code-share alliance, yesterday unveiled a cooperative frequent flyer agreement beginning Sept. 2, in which passengers who fly on either airline can decide where they want to bank their miles. "We had said all along this [alliance] would be done in phases, and this is the first phase in implementing the alliance," said Delta spokeswoman Jackie Pate.
Air Canada has appointed John Hamilton manager, media relations for central Canada and Manitoba. Hamilton was director of communications with Tourism Toronto. Former VP-Customer Service Eileen McCoy was named senior VP- customer service, responsible for airports, inflight service, call centers and customer relations. Doug Port, formerly senior VP-Europe, is now senior VP-international in charge of all operations, sales and customer service outside North America.
The American Society of Travel Agents' airline passengers "bill of rights" is a self-serving publicity ploy, Air Transport Association said yesterday. "This is something primarily designed to get publicity for ASTA. It is not designed to help customers at all," said ATA spokesman David Fuscus. "If you look at the components of this so-called bill of rights, there are some things that are very self-serving to travel agents." ASTA this week released a set of principles that the organization says should govern air transportation.
Northwest and its Air Line Pilots Association unit returned to the bargaining table yesterday under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. Talks are scheduled through tomorrow, and NMB has requested a news blackout. The Northwest ALPA negotiating committee has reached a tentative agreement on 19 of 29 sections of the contract.
Guillermo Cabeza was elected president and chief operating officer of Arrow Air. He succeeds Jonathan Batchelor as president. Batchelor was elected chairman and will continue as chief executive. Former Chairman Todd Cole will remain on the board and serve as an adviser. Cabeza was VP- operations.
New-entrant airline management decision-making, especially route selection, is the underlying reason why so many have failed, George Washington University Prof. Darryl Jenkins said yesterday, and there is no evidence to suggest predatory practices have affected any airline bankruptcy. In a study released yesterday, Jenkins said all the new-entrant airlines GW tracked that filed for bankruptcy during the 1990s had senior executives who had been involved with previous bankruptcies, and more than 50% were involved in at least three.
Second quarter revenues of most cargo carriers will be impacted by the strike against General Motors, according to Gruntal&Co. The investment firm estimates that 5% to 9% of their revenues will be "exposed" by the strike. Between 1% and 3% of the second-quarter revenues of several passenger airlines also will be impacted, Gruntal believes.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Revenues and Expenses Fourth Quarter 1997 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Freight Revenues Change Revenues Revenues American Trans Air 175,436,551 25.16 99,787,401 -- Carnival N/A -- N/A N/A
International airlines flying to Taiwan can expect to pay substantially lower registration fees, starting next year. The Taiwanese government plans to slash the fees to makes its domestic airlines more competitive and promote the local aircraft leasing industry. Taiwan currently imposes the world's highest registration rates for commercial aircraft, according to the ministry of transport and communications. A carrier operating an A300 aircraft, for example, must pay $82,000 to register it in Taiwan, compared with only $8,400 in South Korea or $37,000 in Japan.
American last week relaunched its web site with the shortened "aa.com" and the carrier has put several personalized features into the site that will push competitors in this burgeoning market. American's address has been rated the most visited airline site on the web with more than six million page views per week by 650,000 people. In addition, the airline's NetSAAvers fares are transmitted via electronic mail to 1.6 million people every Wednesday, making the e-mail list the largest on the Internet.
SAirGroup said this week it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cathay Pacific Airways to introduce code-share services between their respective hubs of Zurich and Hong Kong and boost links between their frequent flyer programs. The code-share arrangement for seven nonstop frequencies begins with the opening July 6 of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport. The two airlines will expand their code-share services along the Zurich-Hong Kong route, starting next summer.
JAL Express, Japan Airlines' new subsidiary, will begin service today from Osaka's Itami Airport to Miyazaki and Kagoshima on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. JAL Express, the first new entrant in Japan's deregulated domestic market, will offer two daily flights to each destination using 737-400s aircraft. JAL operated the routes until yesterday, also with 737- 400s. The new unit, JEX, has a cost structure 20% lower than JAL's and is capitalized with 400 million yen (US$2.9 million).
Hong Kong-based Dragonair this week launched discounted travel packages via its web site, www.dragonair.com, available in Chinese and English. The packages, which can be booked electronically, include roundtrip air travel and overnight trips to China, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia. A three-day, two-night package from Hong Kong to Haikou, China, for example, costs HK$1,680 (US$240) including air fare. The airline's web site offers booking and seat-selection capabilities, as well as information on tourist destinations, history and holiday attractions.
Corporate Airlines, regional partner of Midway Airlines, will add service from Raleigh/Durham to Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., beginning Aug. 2. Corporate will offer three daily roundtrips to each city marketed under the Midway name and code. Mark Coleman, senior VP-marketing and sales at Midway, said Corporate offers a quality product that responds to the growth of Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg. The three daily flights will offer connections to other Midway and Corporate destinations.
The four U.S. incumbents in the U.S.-Brazil market, competing for seven newly available frequencies (DAILY, June 29), propose routes from four different U.S. gateways, three of them to Sao Paulo. All four services would begin Oct. 1, the day the frequencies become available.
Singapore Airlines' subsidiary, SilkAir, will start upgrading its flights to Southeast Asian cities to the A320 in October, following the delivery of its first aircraft of the type in September. Phuket, Medan, Xiamen, Cebu and Jakarta, currently served with 737-300s, will be the first cities to go on line with the new aircraft. Five A320s and three A319s are on order at a cost of US$420 million as part of the airline's fleet renewal program. SilkAir also has options for 10 A321s at a cost of US$560 million.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Revenues and Expenses Fourth Quarter 1997 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Freight Revenues Change Revenues Revenues Alaska 23,526,000 (0.73) 22,437,000 271,000 Latin 23,526,000 (0.73) 22,437,000 271,000
