The DOT inspector general's investigation into airline commission overrides will not turn up any abuses by travel agents, and an investigation by the Justice Department six months ago found nothing, either, the American Society of Travel Agents said.
Malaysia Airlines and KLM said Friday they have completed the marketing alliance and code-share program they agreed to in principle last winter (DAILY, Jan. 13). The accord will take effect July 1 to coincide with the opening of Kuala Lumpur's Sepang KLIA Airport near Kuala Lumpur, which Malaysia Airlines wants to develop into a major hub for the region. The carriers will code share on seven weekly nonstops between KLIA and Amsterdam Schiphol, four operated by KLM and three by Malaysia Airlines, which plans to add a fourth later this year.
- In Federal Register dated June 12...Issued an AD on certain British Aerospace Jetstream series aircraft requiring replacing the windshield wiper arm attachment bolts...Issued an AD on certain British Aerospace Jetstream aircraft requiring repositioning the fuel across feed pipes...Proposed an AD on Aerospatiale ATR 72 aircraft to require inspections of the stiffeners for the upper engine cowl...Proposed an AD on certain McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft to require a new protector cap in fuel tank boost pump housings.
Qantas is adding service between Australia and the Philippines, reflecting Philippine Airlines' recent decision to end service to Australia. Qantas will increase its Sydney-Manila frequency to daily from five times per week during the coming week.
Orally approved emergency cabotage cargo flights by Antonov Design Bureau with an unspecified aircraft for General Electric Aircraft Engines, for a one-way flight between Seattle/Boeing Field and Wilmington, Ohio, and two one-way flights between Wilmington and Seattle/Boeing Field, carrying up to six GE90 engines plus ancillary equipment between June 16 and July 3...Renewed an exemption for Guyana Airways for combination service between Georgetown, Guyana, and New York/Miami via Curacao and Port of Spain, for one year ending June 16, 1999...Renewed an exemption, under Cat
Genesis, planned as a not-for-profit computer reservations system (CRS), will become a lower-cost, for-profit CRS if airlines and suppliers fail to back if financially by Aug. 1, according to Bruce Bishins, president of the United States Travel Agent Registry. Bishins will meet with airlines and distributors June 30 in Houston to present legal documents required for backing the project, but he told The DAILY he has been approached by numerous financial interests offering help to make Genesis for-profit. Genesis needs $50 million to launch as a not-for-profit CRS.
Civil Aviation Administration of China requires that load factors reach 75% before carriers add frequencies on existing domestic routes.Incumbent carriers have priority for expansion, and CAAC permits other carriers to launch competing service only when the incumbent cannot add flights. On international routes, a second Chinese carrier is allowed only after 100,000 passengers are carried annually and load factors reach 68% - 80% when there are four or fewer weekly flights.
Crown Technical Systems named Joy Nemetz sales manager. FlightSafety International appointed Jean-Luc Lechantre manager of the training center at Paris Le Bourget Airport and named Al Ramsey center manager at Houston. BFGoodrich Aerospace - JcAIR Test Systems named Thomas Corum sales and marketing director. Rolls-Royce appointed Frank Leftwich senior VP-engine services in North America. SH&E hired Kostadin Botev as a director. Vaisala Artais hired Roger Hammill as a marketing/sales assistant.
Hong Kong Jetfoil has launched high-speed ferry service between downtown Hong Kong and Macau Airport, an hour away. When Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport opens next month, an express train to downtown will take 30 minutes but cab rides will take more than an hour.
Pay issues, scheduling rules, working conditions and the blanket deferral of a flow-through agreement to move regional pilots up to mainline operations helped kill a tentative contract agreement between Continental and its Continental Express pilots last week. The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) board will meet today to discuss the reasons behind the vote, in which 64% of members opposed the pact and 30% supported it. The union will launch a poll of Express pilots this week.
Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1997 B747-100 TWA United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 4 11 14 Total Fleet Operations Departures 5 19 24 Block Hours 37 97 134
Critics of DOT's proposed competition policy are making headway in lining up congressional support to delay or prevent its implementation, which may take the form of a bill calling for study of the issue before the policy sets precedent. Partisans who consider the majors guilty of abusive predatory activities are crying foul while Republican and Democratic leaders try to reach a consensus.
Former FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond says an FAA draft plan to retain a skeleton system of VOR/DMEs and ILSs only at major airports is an "ATA- sanctioned scheme" and a "severe threat" to air safety. "Amazingly," the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is going along, he says, even though general aviation "gets no backup at all" - the equipment would be scrapped at small airports.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) will wait until the next Congress before pushing a series of airline reform bills, including one on code-share disclosure, strong feelings notwithstanding. At an aviation hearing last week, DeFazio decried code shares that bill themselves as major-airline flights but are not. "The fact is, you're flying a turboprop with an airline run by four guys from Minnesota," he said, as James Oberstar (R- Minn.) looked on in mock horror.
David Thomas, 85, an architect of the U.S. air traffic control system and a former FAA deputy administrator, died June 17. Thomas joined the former Civil Aeronautics Administration in 1938 as an air traffic controller and remained with it as it became the Federal Aviation Agency and then the Federal Aviation Administration. He was acting administrator for eight months in 1968-69.
The Sabre Group has incorporated electronic ticketing on Canadian Airlines and Air Canada in the U.S. for U.S. agencies that report sales to Airlines Reporting Corporation. Agents also can sell Air Canada e-tickets for domestic Canada and transborder U.S. routes. Qantas has upgraded its participation in Sabre to Direct Connect Availability, which gives agencies real-time, last-seat availability. It is the 18th carrier to do so.
Boeing, which delayed publication of this year's 20-year market forecast in order to assess the impact of the Asian economic crisis, expects the crisis to be "short term," according to Bruce Dennis, VP-marketing for Boeing Commercial. The crisis will reduce airplane orders for all manufacturers by about 150 over the next five years, Dennis said. Boeing forecasts that Asia/Pacific airlines will add 4,760 new aircraft worth $427 billion during the next two decades.
House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday approved unanimously the Airline Service Improvement Act and a one-year FAA reauthorization including the Airport Improvement Program for fiscal 1999, sending both to the full committee. It attached to the reauthorization more than 20 bills on a range of issues, including whistleblower protection, contract tower funding, independent validation of FAA costs and family assistance plans.
Single-aisle jet transports will account for seven out of every 10 airplanes delivered over the next 20 years and will bring in 43% of the money spent on new airplanes, Boeing predicted yesterday in its annual market forecast. Some 12,260 small jet transports will be built, the company said. Intermediate-size aircraft, such as the 767 and 777, will account for one of four future deliveries and 44% of new-aircraft investment, it said, estimating a market for 4,360 in this class. Large- size aircraft will account for 1,030 aircraft and 15% of the dollars, Boeing said.
A Fairchild Metro II was severely damaged and all 11 on board died Thursday morning during an attempted emergency landing at Montreal's Mirabel Airport. The accident occurred shortly after the aircraft departed Dorval, the city's primary commercial airport, en route to Peterborough, Ont. According to early press and unofficial government reports, the crew reported smoke in the cockpit and the Propair Flight 420 was redirected to Mirabel.
Air France today begins its first U.S. code sharing, with Delta and Continental. All three carriers' U.S.-France routes will carry multiple codes except for Air France's Paris-New York Concorde service. Each of the U.S. partners has coordinated schedules with Air France, making connections for passengers smoother in 10 U.S. gateways and Paris. The code sharing from 26 U.S. cities reflects the U.S.-France air services agreement negotiated in April. Air France operates 95 flights between Paris and the 10 U.S. gateways, and Delta and Continental combine for 49.
U.S. carriers seeking additional U.S.-France frequencies question whether Tower Air should continue to hold its own frequencies in the market, an issue raised previously by American. Tower held eight weekly frequencies to France and received four more this year. In its reply to U.S.-French service applications, United asked DOT to investigate and monitor Tower's frequency use. US Airways said DOT should reallocate the frequencies to the extent that they are going unused.
Hawaiian Airlines reported a 1% decrease in traffic and a 1.9% increase in capacity for May, reducing the load factor 2.3 percentage points to 77.5%. Hawaiian flew 368.8 million revenue passenger miles and 476 million available seat miles. Year-to-date RPMs dropped 3.3% and ASMs 2.2%, pushing the load factor down 0.8 points compared with the first five months last year.
