Grupo TACA has changed schedules of several flights to improve connections and handle summer demand on flights to and from the U.S. LACSA discontinued nonstop San Jose-Dallas/Fort Worth service June 1 in favor of a one-stop via Guatemala City flown by Aviateca. LACSA's San Francisco service now will depart from El Salvador and has been changed to TACA Flight 610/611. TACA Flight 411 now is routed Guatemala City-San Jose- Panama City.
Air France will launch once-weekly service from Paris to Havana Sunday using a 747-200 in a dense, 471-seat configuration with 22 seats in first class, 75 in business class and 374 in economy. Flights will leave Paris every Sunday, and a second weekly flight will be added in October.
The government of Jamaica is seeking pre-qualification applications by July 15 from parties interested in the privatization of Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Acting through the National Investment Bank of Jamaica Limited, the government plans to transfer part of its interest in the airport to an investor who will have "strategic control" of airport operations and will be expected to provide development financing.
Detroit-based Spirit Airlines, for a while a quiet leisure DC-9 operator, has acquired its first longer-range MD-80 and is close to unveiling further expansion plans. The carrier "will make announcements soon on fleet composition," Spirit Chief Financial Officer John Severson told The DAILY yesterday. The airline will increase both the number and the average size of its aircraft, opting for MD-80s in a 165-seat configuration. Thirteen of its 14 current aircraft are 117-seat DC-9-30s.
European Union air transport ministers are expected to outline the future organization responsible for civil aviation safety in Europe when they meet tomorrow in Luxembourg. The prospective European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) concept dates from December 1996, when the European Commission suggested creation of an agency comparable to the U.S. FAA, capable of defining global safety standards. This week in Luxembourg, the 15 EU states are expected to define EASA's institutional shape and tasks.
Mesa Airlines appointed Donna Lisle senior director of inflight services. Lisle, who spent eight years at America West, will oversee Mesa's flight attendant program.
Ryanair is offering a new rock-bottom fare of 29.99 Irish pounds (US$41.99) for a one-way flight between Dublin and Brussels and IP59.98 ($83.98) for a roundtrip. Tim Jeans, director of sales and marketing, said the success of Ryanair's IP19.99 ($27.99) fares to the U.K. prompted the airline to offer a similar service to the Belgian capital. Ryanair said last week it will buy an additional 737-200 aircraft from GECAS for US$6.1 million. It will spend $1.3 million more to hushkit and refit the aircraft, financing the entire purchase from cash flow.
WDL Aviation of Cologne intends to move into the passenger charter market and has signed a contract to buy a BAe 146-100 from British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets (AMJ), for delivery after the current lease to Air UK expires June 30. Using the aircraft to enter the ad-hoc and contract charter market, WDL will configure it with 74 seats, six abreast and with a 32-inch pitch. The WDL sale reduces AMJ's portfolio to 94 BAe 146s.
United Parcel Service asked DOT to amend its certificate to allow it to serve 48 additional countries from the U.S., expanding its international service and enhancing its route flexibility and ability to respond to increased customer needs and new markets. Basing the request on unrestricted open-skies agreements, other bilaterals or comity and reciprocity, UPS asked DOT to waive evidentiary requirements because of the "non-controversial nature" of its request and extensive information concerning UPS already on file.
Northwest is giving double frequent flyer miles to travelers who buy first- and business-class tickets from the U.S. to Asia. The offer, in effect until Sept. 1, also covers Asia service by Northwest's strategic partner, KLM.
Korean Air and Delta will add 140 weekly seats next month to their transpacific code share, bringing total joint seats to 700. Now that the U.S.-Korea open-skies pact has removed restrictions, Korean Air says the partners have a three-stage plan to add as many as 30 cities.
Malaysia Airlines' plan to dry-lease five Boeing 737-400s to Jet Airways of India has hit a snag due to U.S. sanctions following India's nuclear tests last month. The Export-Import Bank of the U.S., which was to have financed the transaction, has indicated that it will not endorse the lease. Under the terms of the financing agreement, MAS can only wet-lease the aircraft for a maximum of two months while economic sanctions are being enforced.
Finnair is spending more than $30 million to refurbish its 12 DC-9-51 aircraft with hushkits, new avionics, renovated passenger cabins and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in cargo holds. The changes are expected to extend the fleet's operational life by as much as 10 years. Without hushkits, the aircraft would not be allowed to operate at European Union airports after 2002. Finnair is negotiating to sell two of the aircraft this year.
Airlines Reporting Corp. reported total travel agent sales of $6,436,131,000 processed in May, 11% more than in May 1997. Domestic fares were up 8% to $3,836,598,000 and international fares 17% to $1,067,133,000. Domestic commissions declined 11% to $261,971,000 and international commissions grew 7% to $291,136,000.
Probable cause of the fatal crash last summer of a Fine Air DC-8 freighter was the misloading of its cargo, which produced a "more aft center of gravity and a correspondingly incorrect stabilizer trim setting that precipitated an extreme pitch-up" at liftoff, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. The board faulted the failure of Fine Air to exercise operational control over the cargo loading process, and the failure of Aeromar, Fine's cargo loading contractor, to load the airplane as specified.
America West has entered a seven-year agreement by which EDS will continue to provide the airline with reservations and information technology services.
Vnukovo Airlines, recently Russia's top domestic carrier, is near total collapse. It built up to a fleet of nearly 50 aircraft, but only a handful are operating. The airline has sliced its schedule to ribbons, including service to its core markets in southern Russia and the Caucasus. At one point, Vnukovo had annual revenues approaching $200 million.
The owner and the chief inspector of Aero Power, a Cleves, Ohio, repair station, pleaded guilty to submitting false documents to FAA, the DOT Office of Inspector General reported. Owner George Geisz and inspector Douglas Walters, after surrendering the company's repair station certificate, continued to direct mechanics to repair and overhaul aircraft engines, according to the OIG. "During the investigation, it was determined that repair work was not performed in accordance with accepted industry standards," the OIG said.
FAA has bought eight InVision Technologies CTX 5500 DS explosive detection systems (EDSs) valued at $7.2 million, the company said yesterday. The order follows recent congressional approval to reprogram funds in the 1998 budget to purchase additional EDSs. InVision said FAA also reconfirmed its intent to buy eight more of the new systems. The EDSs on order, scheduled to be shipped to major U.S. airports by Sept. 30, will be the first of InVision's newest models to be installed in the U.S.
Eurocontrol says its plan to free up en route capacity in Europe is on track for implementation this fall but will not yield optimal results without the integrated, gate-to-gate tactical air traffic management flow regime planned for 2003. Moving away from routes based strictly on air traffic service points, aircraft operators will be able to plot straighter routes across Europe, ending compulsory zig-zag flight patterns. The planning latitude, which will take effect Oct.
DOT acknowledged registration by Mountain Air Express d/b/a MAX of the trade names Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation and United Express for use in its operations in connection with its new parent company, Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. d/b/a United Express.
Air Canada and Voyageur Airways have signed a 10-year commercial agreement that will expand Air Canada-Air Ontario service into new markets in southern Ontario and the northeastern U.S. Voyageur will purchase 10 new Beechcraft 1900D aircraft to serve these markets. The new service is in response to growing demand in southern Ontario and transborder markets. Air Canada will launch service this fall to several new destinations to complement its existing service and that of its regional airline, Air Ontario, and to provide added feed to its main Toronto hub.
The U.S. continues to work on Peru's ban on Fine Air operations, a DOT official said, but "after weighing all the interests of the U.S. we decided it was overwhelmingly in our interests to sign the open-skies agreement" with Peru. Fine objects to the pact given Peru's longstanding ban, stemming from an arms shipment dispute (DAILY, June 11). The U.S. raised the issue during open-skies talks, the official said, "but this is not your garden-variety objection involving commercial questions."
