DOT issued an order revoking the 1985 ban on the sale in the U.S. of air transportation that includes any type of stop in Lebanon. The order applied to U.S. and foreign carriers or their agents as a condition of holding authority to engage in U.S. air transportation. DOT revoked it after the White House issued Presidential Determination 98-32, permitting U.S. carriers to "engage in foreign air transportation, solely through interline arrangements, of U.S. and non-U.S. citizens to and from Lebanon," and permitting sale of such services in the U.S. by U.S.
Air Wisconsin has ordered four Canadair Regional Jet Series 200LR aircraft from Bombardier for delivery in the fourth quarter of 1998 and the first quarter of 1999. The carrier said it will use the 50-seat jets to expand its Denver United Express feeder operation. Geoff Crowley, president, said the 200LR's range will "allow us to expand our service area out of Denver to over 1,300 miles."
Supporters of DOT's competition policy yesterday decried major airline efforts to derail it, but opposition to the policy continued and labor opposition is undermining a full-fledged Democratic defense. Sources said aviation leaders such as Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and William Lipinksi (D-Ill.) were considering their options carefully, given their labor constituencies and the fact that many unions have notified DOT of their opposition to the policy.
Arinc and Technology for Communications International (TCI) have entered an agreement under which TCI will provide dynamic frequency management information to support Arinc's high-frequency data link service, GlobaLink/HF, which became operational in January. TCI's Dynacast technology, based on a global constellation of oblique sounders, will enable Arinc to provide reliable service with high availability in spite of ionospheric disturbances caused by geomagnetic storms and solar flares. TCI will provide the service beginning next year.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Fourth Quarter 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 194 (1.13) 1,132 219,181 2.77
David Schwarte, American's managing director-international affairs, will leave the carrier to join Kelly, Hart&Hallman for a law practice specializing in aviation, computer reservations systems and technology issues. The law firm is Fort Worth's largest and its founder, Dee Kelly, is on the AMR and Sabre boards. Schwarte has been with American for 25 years and will report to his new post Aug. 1.
Air Canada and Royal Jordanian will begin code-share service between Canada and Amman, Jordan, via London Heathrow Airport on July 2. Air Canada will offer customers originating in Canada economy seats on up to four Royal Jordanian flights per week between Heathrow and Amman. Royal Jordanian passengers will be able to purchase hospitality-class seats on Air Canada flights between London and Toronto/Montreal.
Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit is upset about the carrier's new agreement to extend Northwest Airlink regional jet flying by Mesaba (DAILY, June 23). The agreement increases the number of Avro RJ85s Mesaba will operate from 18 to 36. Northwest ALPA spokesman Paul Omodt said management and the union have been trying to negotiate the RJ issue, but giving Mesaba 18 more jets indicates that the carrier is not really willing to bargain.
Challenge Air Cargo has select Dallas/Fort Worth Airport as its second hub. The Miami-based carrier said it will provide new daily cargo service from north Texas to Latin America and inaugurate up to seven DC-10 daily roundtrips, starting in September. The company also plans to use the site as a base for serving customers in the Southwest. The hub will occupy the entire space of a recently completed 205,000-square-foot facility.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) appointed Reps. Constance Morella (R- Md.) and Steve Horn (R-Calif.) to co-chair a House task force on the Year 2000 computer date-logic problem. The task force is the counterpart of a Senate special committee chaired by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah). Morella sits on the House Science Committee and chairs its subcommitee on technology. Horn is a member of the Transportation Committee.
Swissair will add service this month to four destinations, including new code-share service by Air One of Italy and Swissair partner Crossair to Bologna and Venice using Saab 2000 turboprops. Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, will become Swissair's 19th African destination with a weekly MD-11 flight. On June 7, Swissair began four weekly flights from Zurich to Skopje, Macedonia, using A319s.
The head of the world's busiest airport suggested yesterday that the U.S. government encourage the formation of new entrants and use existing standards rather than its proposed competition guidelines to prevent unfair competition. Although DOT's intent is sound, "I am unconvinced that new complicated formulas and standards, subject to widely varied interpretations, are the answer," Mary Rose Loney, Chicago's aviation commissioner, said in a speech to the Aero Club of Washington.
House Transportation Committee will mark up bills including H.R. 4057, the FAA reauthorization act, and H.R. 2748, the Airline Service Improvement Act, tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2167 Rayburn. The markup also may include legislation postponing DOT's proposed competition rules, pending study.
Increased fare discounting, currency volatility, higher unemployment and a thirst for cash are reducing the chances that Asian airlines will see any positive business trends this summer or this year, according to a just- issued report from Salomon Smith Barney. Because Japan's shaky economy has weakened travel further in the region, increased regional currency instability is likely in the coming 12 months and the Asian slump "could be steeper and more widespread than first expected," the report said.
Chinese airlines carried 56.3 million passenger in 1997, just 1.3% higher than in 1996 and a major slowdown from past growth of 8.6% from 1995 to 1996 and 26.7% from 1994 to 1995. The four busiest airports in China were Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
For naysayers who predict the imminent demise of Kiwi International Airlines, President and Chief Executive Jerry Murphy has a message - don't bet on it. Murphy acknowledged that "people have written Kiwi off," but it survived the small carrier-tainting publicity from the ValuJet crash and FAA's mandate to ground four airplanes in 1996. Two years later, and almost one year after spinal surgeon and entrepreneur Charles Edwards pulled it out of bankruptcy, Kiwi still is losing money and industry consultants say it lacks an image.
Critics of DOT's proposed competition policy oppose what they see as government intervention in the market, but proposals in Congress would force carriers to publish a variety of statistics on fares and business relationships that could affect consumers. House Transportation aviation subcommittee member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has temporarily shelved four bills until the next Congress, in which the Democrats would have a majority if 11 seats change parties in this year's congressional elections. DeFazio's amendments deal with:
United is looking for flight management computer (FMC) software changes on its 777s as a result of flight delays last week caused by FMC problems, a United official said yesterday. The FMC provides essential information for navigation, flight planning and performance management. United's 33 777s experienced one diversion and delays as long as two hours after a routine FMC navigation database update made the navigation computers unable to make performance calculations.
Guam-based Continental Micronesia will boost service to several cities next week, according to Continental's Internet site. Starting July 1, "Air Mike" will begin daily nonstop service from Guam to Bali, Indonesia; Cairns, Australia; Noumea, New Caledonia, and Niigata and Okayama, Japan. The carrier reinstated nonstop service to Okinawa, Japan, on April 6. Passengers connecting in Guam for the new Asia/Pacific destinations will earn double frequent flyer miles through Oct. 1.
Air Asia, the latest Southeast Asian carrier hit by the region's economic downturn, reduced service after 20 months as Malaysia's second national carrier. The airline laid off 100 staff and suspended service to Penang, Jakarta, Kota Baru and Kaoshiung. It will keep flying to Pattaya, Langkawi Island, Taipei and Kota Kinablau in East Malaysia. Air Asia, which began operations in October 1996 with two wet-leased 737-300s, is owned by local conglomerates, 85% by the Hicom Group and 15% by the Mofaz Group.
Airshow Inc. is buying Pacific Systems, a cabin management manufacturing firm, for an undisclosed amount. Airshow offers passenger flight information systems, and both companies are involved in avionics for business aircraft. Pacific Systems will become a unit of Airshow and focus on general aviation components, such as aircraft power supplies, cockpit annunciators, passenger switches and touch-screen controls for aircraft cabins.
Northwest will make available to other airlines the "Turbulence Plot" system it uses to avoid areas of rough air, the carrier said yesterday. The system, being distributed by SkySource, Annapolis, Md., is part of Northwest's program to reduce turbulence encounters. The carrier's meteorology department continually produces warnings and forecasts of areas of turbulence, thunderstorms and other hazards. Messages are sent to aircraft crews.
European Commission probably will announce proposed conditions on airline alliances at a regularly scheduled EC meeting July 8, European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert said in Brussels.Earlier, the conditions were expected July 1. A source noted that time spent on other agenda items that day, including the WorldCom-MCI merger, could delay action on alliances further.
Morten Beyer&Agnew will conduct a conference July 14 at the Doubletree Hotel, Washington Reagan Airport, on the status of the Year 2000 problem as it affects aviation. Speakers will include Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.); Tim Fehr, VP-aircraft systems at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group; Tom Browne, head of Air Transport Association's Y2K efforts, and Sue Powers, VP-sales and marketing at Worldspan Information Services.
