Midway Airlines began nonstop service yesterday from its hub in Raleigh- Durham to Charleston and Myrtle Beach, S.C., using its fifth new Canadair Regional Jets. The carrier is offering four daily roundtrips to each city. It has eight more CRJs on order for delivery during the next 12 months.
DOT renewed for one year Cathay Pacific's exemption to conduct Hong Kong- Los Angeles/New York scheduled combination service via Vancouver, and scheduled all-cargo service between Hong Kong and co-terminal points Anchorage, Chicago and New York via Toronto. (Docket OST-95-940)
Twelve of the 14 major carriers hired 302 pilots in May, according to Atlanta-based Air, Inc. National carriers were the most active, hiring 446 pilots. Pilot hiring totals 6,480 so far this year and is projected to reach 15,372. US Airways has 281 pilots on furlough.
Cathay Pacific will offer economy-class meal enhancements when it starts service July 6 from Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport. Changes include new wood-like meal trays and other equipment designed by the Dutch firm De Ster and Pacific Jet (Asia) of Hong Kong.
Emirates is introducing smaller-sized headsets for children. The carrier realizes that "the better entertained our younger passengers are, the more chance there is for relaxation for their parents and other passengers," said Don Foster, senior general manager-inflight services. Emirates' Skyrider video channel is exclusively for children.
FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association yesterday announced agreement on a "historic" five-year contract that includes reclassifying controllers according to the amount of traffic they handle and the complexity of their jobs (DAILY, June 11). Still at issue, however, is the program under which controllers can use annual leave to take free "familiarization trips" on airlines. This question may have to be decided in the courts.
Exec Express II d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air said United's "redundant answer" continuing to oppose Aspen's request for Chicago O'Hare slot exemptions attempts "to raise in this forum the same arguments already rejected by FAA." Seeking slot exemptions denied by FAA, United complained that FAA withdrew United slots for international operations of other carriers. Aspen "is poised" to begin O'Hare-Sioux City, Iowa/Branson, Mo. operations and urged DOT to act promptly to allow it to do so.
Ryanair boosted its net after-tax profit 41% during the fiscal year that ended March 31, its first year as a publicly traded company. Earnings per share grew 52% compared with the year ended March 31, 1997. Ryanair's operating revenues rose 34% from 136.4 million Irish pounds (US$191 million) to IR182.6 million ($255.6 million). Operating expenses grew more than 40%, however, due to higher depreciation charges and maintenance costs linked to fleet expansion. Ryanair added seven 737s to its fleet, which totaled 20 aircraft at the close of the fiscal year.
Sabena is launching a home pickup service that will enable passengers to bypass baggage and check-in procedures at Brussels Airport International (BAI). Passengers of partner airlines Swissair or Austrian also will have access to the service, which Sabena said was created in response to strong demand from travelers for more flexible check-in and departure procedures at BAI.
TWA and flight attendants represented by the International Association of Machinists reached agreement on staffing for 757 flights. The agreement, reached Friday and revealed yesterday, covers 4,200 flight attendants.
KLM Cargo and Beijing-based East Asiatic Company Logistics are forming a strategic alliance to serve the Chinese market. Building on a memorandum of understanding signed by the two parties last December, the alliance will draw on KLM Cargo's logistics management expertise and on EAC Logistics's distribution network across China, where the company moves some 4,800 cubic meters of freight to more than 195 cities per day. The partners will offer customers access to more than 40,000 cubic meters of storage space at 12 locations.
Delta Chief Executive Leo Mullin, speaking last week at a Merrill Lynch conference, said his carrier wants to add a significant amount of service to Europe from Atlanta and New York Kennedy. Delta may launch service from Atlanta to as many as 10 new markets.
Citing a desire to separate air traffic control regulation from operation, U.K. Transport Minister Gavin Strang announced last week that the government plans to reorganize National Air Traffic Services (NATS) as a public-private partnership, perhaps through a public flotation of 51% of the organization. The announcement follows release in April of a report by the Select Committee on Air Traffic Control, a panel set up by the Department of The Environment, Transportation and the Regions (DETR).
AlliedSignal said yesterday FAA has certified its Quantum multi-mode receiver (MMR), which will provide precision-landing approach guidance and en route navigation for ground-based Instrument Landing System and non- precision guidance for the space-based Global Positioning System. Future upgrades of the MMR will adapt it to provide precision approach guidance when differential GPS corrections are available through the proposed Local Area Augmentation System, expected to be operational by 2003.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals May 1997 - April 1998 Total Total Cost Cents Per Gallons (Dollars) Gallon 1997 May Domestic 1,125,948,181 683,020,060 60.662 International 401,574,982 266,650,627 66.401 System Total 1,527,523,163 949,670,687 62.171
DOT's competition guidelines are the wrong solution to a genuine problem, according to Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). Both represent states with many of the smaller communities that deregulation critics say are underserved by airlines, and Frist is one of many members of Congress who have introduced legislation on the issue. Under DOT's guidelines, the department could challenge a major carrier if it dramatically increased capacity and slashed fares in the face of a new entrant.
South African Airways has hired Coleman Andrews, non-executive chairman of World Airways, to be president and chief executive officer. SAA is close to reporting its 1997 financial results, and a large loss is expected.
Continental asked DOT yesterday to expedite consideration of its application to restore its Cleveland-London Gatwick designation, telling DOT it now has firm plans to begin nonstop 757 service Feb.
Lufthansa and John Menzies plc, British distribution and freight handler, are awaiting a review by European Commission competition authorities of their proposed joint cargo operation at London Heathrow Airport. The deadline for public comment on the proposal was yesterday, and a decision is expected next month if the EC's competition directorate has no objections. A deeper investigation would push back a decision to late autumn, however.
Continental, expecting record load factors this summer, is adding routes, expanding its electronic ticketing and Internet booking services, increasing accommodations for disabled passengers and investing more than $12 million in 352 additional ground service vehicles. The carrier has hired 400 additional agents and 200 "Service Ambassadors" for the peak travel period. Entering 13 new markets, Continental is enlarging overhead storage bins on its new 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft to carry four roll-on bags instead of three.
American Eagle said yesterday Transport Workers Union ratification of an agreement for mechanics, ramp service employees and flight dispatchers will help the carrier complete the transition of its operations from four carriers into one. Eagle President Dan Garton said the pact is the last of three major labor contracts the unified regional carrier had to negotiate. Rank and file ratified an agreement that company and union negotiators reached April 30.
Negotiations between Northwest pilots and management yielded no progress late Friday and the pilots described the situation as an impasse, a term a company spokeswoman disputed. No new talks have been scheduled, and Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit said that after three days of meetings last week management still is unwilling to negotiate in earnest, but the Northwest spokeswoman noted that the mediator assigned to the case has not declared an impasse.
British Aerospace named Kevin Smith group managing director-new business; Mike Rouse group managing director-military aircraft and support systems; Mike Donovan group managing director-defense systems, and Tony Rice group managing director-commercial aircraft; Chris Geoghegan, managing director-BAe Airbus, will join Airbus Industrie to work on preparation for the Airbus Single Corporate Entity.
