Jersey European Airways will lease five BAe 146 quadjets previously owned by Thai Airways International under a complicated scheme arranged by British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets. The first three aircraft already have been delivered to Exeter, England-based Jersey European, and the carrier will have all five aircraft in hand by the middle of next month, bringing its BAe 146 fleet to 17 aircraft.
Air Canada has not revealed the cross-border markets it plans for new affiliate Voyageur Airways of North Bay, Ontario, only that the carrier would use its fleet of 10 new Beech 1900Ds in new markets in southern Ontario and the northeast U.S. One analyst familiar with the geography, however, identified Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Allentown, Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Burlington, Vt.; Portland, Maine, and Providence, R.I., as likely candidates. Voyageur is an air ambulance and ad hoc charter operator across Canada with 15 aircraft.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will discuss airline competition, rural air service and airport funding on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Amadeus is spending $25 million to ensure that its computer systems are free of Year 2000 problems, the company said yesterday. Amadeus will take its first millennium booking on Jan. 4, 1999. The Amadeus Year 2000 Project, begun in 1996, began testing in 1997 to simulate operations of the central system in 2000. The company has completed inventories and analyses of all systems and applications.
A memorial mass will be conducted July 1 at 7:30 p.m. for Frank Colson at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Vienna, Va. Colson, executive director of the Defense Department policy board for federal aviation, died June 11. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Air Traffic Control Scholarship Fund or the Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, DC.
DOT revoked for reasons of dormancy the Rich International Airways foreign certificates that authorized its charter combination service and scheduled all-cargo service between the U.S. and the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. DOT earlier revoked Rich's certificates for interstate charter and scheduled combination service and domestic scheduled all-cargo service. The carrier was grounded by FAA in September 1996 for technical documentation discrepancies and regained its air carrier certificate in February 1997, but DOT never restored its economic authority.
The Court of First Instance of the European Union yesterday annulled the European Commission's 1994 decision authorizing the injection of 20 billion French francs (US$3.3 billion at current exchange rates) into Air France, but the judgment does not mean the state-owned carrier will have to pay back the money. The airline also is expected to continue preparations for the public sale of shares. Demanding reimbursement "would not be realistic," acknowledged a source at SAS, one of the airlines that filed the complaint against the recapitalization.
Pilots with more than l,500 flight hours, preferably rated for de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft, are being offered an opportunity to obtain a German ATPL license and fly with Augsburg Airways/Team Lufthansa in Europe. The scheme, which is operating under a special agreement, gets under way with a training course in Bavaria in Germany starting July 6 with a test from the German LBA. Applications have to be filed by July 1.
The Master Executive Council of Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit filed a group grievance Wednesday challenging the proposed Continental-Northwest code share, claiming it violates scope provisions of its current contract. The carrier and the pilots are scheduled to resume negotiations toward a new contract Monday under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. Northwest ALPA spokesman Paul Omodt said the union told management it had reservations about job protections when the Continental alliance was initially proposed.
General Electric Co. p.l.c. said it has completed the merger of Tracor with its U.S. subsidiary. Tracor will be managed by the North American operations of GEC-Marconi. "The addition of Tracor to the GEC-Marconi family of companies in North America strongly reinforces our position to become the number one transnational aerospace/defense electronics and information systems company," said Mark Ronald, president of Marconi North America.
Both sides in the DOT competition guidelines battle claimed victory yesterday after the House Transportation Committee endorsed an amendment that calls for an independent study of airline competition and gives the department explicit review powers over domestic alliances, but no new powers for prior approval. The amendment, adopted as the committee marked up H.R. 2748, the Airline Service Improvement Act, was endorsed strongly by aviation leaders from both parties after difficult negotiations.
The Dee Howard Co. sold its commercial aircraft maintenance activities to Code, Hennessy&Simmons, a private equity investment fund. The Dee Howard Co., a unit of Finmeccanica/Alenia, employs more than 1,000 people and its customers include UPS, Northwest, Delta, Airborne, Canadian Airlines and America West.
Northwest pilots say they have no beef with fellow ALPA pilots at Mesaba over flying a growing fleet of 69-seat Avro RJ85 quadjets. Their beef is with management for pitting the pilot groups against each other. But the battle could presage what one analyst calls the "Shootout At The RJ Corral" when new contracts are negotiated in the 2000-2001 time frame at other major carriers.
ClickRewards users have a chance to earn frequent flyer miles and free tickets to leisure destinations through the company's World Giveaway Sweepstakes. ClickRewards is part of Netcentives Inc., an Internet incentive program that enables online shoppers to earn frequent flyer miles on most airlines. Travelers who register on the ClickRewards site, www.clickrewards.com, become eligible to win prizes each week. Destinations, selected by travel writers in a poll, include Paris, the Caribbean, Latin America, San Francisco, London, New York and Tokyo.
Carriers Added Dropped Continental Airlines Continental Exp. Cleveland-Dallas - Love Field Cleveland-New York LaGuardia Houston Bush- Cincinnati Houston Bush-Dallas Love Field Delta Air lines
Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) flight testing began this week using a small aircraft and will be extended to large cargo transports in October, according to Steve Alterman, president of the Cargo Airlines Association. IIMorrow, Salem, Ore., which is developing ADS-B technology for the association, equipped its corporate aircraft with multiple data links for the test, conducted at its facilities in Salem.
AAA estimated that 5.3 million of 35.7 million U.S. travelers during the Fourth of July holiday will reach their destinations by air, 6% more than in 1997. Projections are based on a national telephone survey of 1,500 adults by the Travel Industry Association of America.
American Eagle President Dan Garton nearly has completed his integration of four carriers into one, he told reporters yesterday at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Three of four wholly owned Eagle carriers have been merged and Executive Airlines is the last remaining. The process will be finished soon, he said.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic The Year 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change American Trans Air 5,269 (0.45) 1,705 8,980,621 2.70
Express Airlines I, the Memphis-based wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest, is pleased with its new Jetstream 31 service launched two months ago between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, S.D. The service - managed entirely from Memphis, 900 miles away - links the state's two largest cities with three daily roundtrips. The one hour, 45-minute flight is the only alternative to a six and one-half hour drive 312 miles across the state. Load factors have reached 33%, which is close to break-even, said VP- Marketing Phil Reed, who is getting calls from other communities.
Swissair parent company SAirGroup is considering purchasing at least 34% of LTU, Germany's third-largest and Europe's fifth-largest tour operator. The 34% stake is held by German bank Westdeutsche Landesbank, which was ordered this year by German antitrust authority Bundeskartellamt to dispose of it because the bank was to be the dominant shareholder of TUI, Germany's largest tour operator, following a reorganization of the country's travel sector. Manager, a Hamburg-based magazine, was to publish a report today asserting that SAirGroup wants to take 100% of LTU.
Continental Micronesia has spent six months adjusting east-west and north- south flight schedules to create a hub operation in Guam."We're finally able to bring in flights from Japan and Honolulu at the same time," said Wally Dias, VP-sales. With rising load factors and improved aircraft utilization rates, capacity has risen and is off only 5% from a year earlier.
American, British Airways, Qantas, Canadian Airlines and likely Japan Airlines have been developing a global brand identity similar to the United-Lufthansa Star Alliance. The airlines are working with a design firm and have "narrowed it down to a few" concepts, American Senior VP- Marketing Mike Gunn said yesterday. The new brand must be "simple and portable" and win agreement from all airlines involved, "which has been difficult," Gunn said.
