The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) has approved a new contract by a 66% vote, IACP announced Friday. Of the 3,900 eligible voters, 3,129 cast ballots, 34% of them against the contract. IACP President Len Nikolai said pay increases alone, "when measured against the monthly pay caps at other airlines, move Continental pilots to the very top in terms of monthly end rates." He said pilots will reach industry standard based on the average of the five top airlines within 18 months.
Aeromexico traffic for May increased 9.9% on 6.9% more capacity. The passenger count rose 6.1% to 661,855. In the first five months of 1998, Aeromexico's traffic has grown 9.7% to 4.22 billion revenue passenger kilometers, while capacity was up 5% to 6.55 billion RPKs.
Australia has given Ansett Australia the go-ahead to form a major alliance with Singapore Airlines. The draft resolution will permit code sharing and an investment by SIA in Ansett, even though Air New Zealand already owns half of the Australian carrier.
Air Canada reported increases of 7.7% in traffic and 10.3% in capacity for May, reducing the load factor 1.7 percentage points to 72.3%. Systemwide, the carrier reported 2.014 billion revenue passenger miles and 2.787 billion available seat miles. Year-to-date RPMs rose 6.8% and ASMs 9.8% over the first five months of 1997, which pushed the load factor down 1.9 points.
FAA said Friday it is conducting a "fact-finding review" of one of its employees and of Northwest, but the agency refused to characterize what the review concerns. FAA made the statement following published reports that its principal maintenance inspector in Minneapolis was not providing proper oversight of Northwest, and that Northwest's DC-9 fleet was being maintained improperly. Northwest, responding to the reports, said that it has "absolute confidence in our DC-9 fleet" and that allegations by a former employee already had been investigated twice by FAA.
DOT should issue American Eagle and Simmons certificates "in full compliance with the contractual restrictions" on American's operations at Dallas Love Field, Legend said as it pursued its request that the department reconsider language in its order transferring and reissuing certificates to the AMR units.
U.S. aerospace industry is increasingly dependent on foreign customers, according to Aerospace Industries Association. Some 40% of its sales last year were to foreign customers "and most future growth will depend on exports." But "the great impediment to maintaining export growth is unilateral controls on exports imposed by our own government for foreign policy and national security reasons," AIA says. "All too often, the actual consequence of such actions benefit our competitors."
American Trans Air reported a 45.1% increase in scheduled service traffic and a 44.9% rise in capacity for May 1998 over May 1997, which kept the load factor level at 75.2%. ATA flew 472.3 million revenue passenger miles and 627.8 million available seat miles during the month. Passenger enplanements climbed 56.8% to 353,494. Charter service experienced a 26.8% decline in RPMs and 20.4% in ASMs. Block hours flown were down 23.8% For the first five months, scheduled service RPMs and ASMs each rose 38.8% and the load factor was up 0.1 points.
Orlando-based AirTran Airlines has installed business-class seating in its 737 aircraft, completing the configuration of its entire fleet of 11 737s and 37 DC-9s for business class.
A government source confirmed that U.S. officials will head to Brussels for airline alliance discussions but expressed doubt that the visit will result in delaying European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert's proposed competition remedies until early July. Even before meeting with a Van Miert deputy in Washington (DAILY, June 11), the U.S. officials believed the remedies could come then, giving them time to launch the Brussels delegation.
LanChile is unveiling its $30 million corporate makeover in North America this week, and the changes include a new aircraft livery, new premium seats, inflight menu changes, airport signage, revised inflight and ground uniforms and a new slogan, "The Spirit of the South of the World." Last week, the carrier received the first of three aircraft that will be repainted this year in the new blue, white, red and silver livery, with an arch representing the shape of Chile.
US Airways opened its new US Airways Club at Philadelphia International Airport Saturday. The 23,300-square-foot club, the largest and most modern in the carrier's system, has 440 seats with a panoramic view of the airfield, a full service bar, private telephone booths, separate smoking areas and other amenities, plus a business center. The new terminal, which opened yesterday, has 12 canopied curbside check-in positions and 53 ticket counter positions housed in a naturally lit, two-story ticket lobby.
United will offer daily nonstop service between Seattle and Tokyo, starting Oct. 5, while trimming service from Los Angeles. The 747-400 used for the Seattle roundtrip will come from LAX-Tokyo service, which will drop to a single daily flight Oct. 4 from the current two. United was forced to give up Seattle-Tokyo in 1989 after a prolonged battle following United's purchase of Pan Am's Pacific routes in 1985.
Hawaiian Airlines reported a 1% decrease in traffic and a 1.9% increase in capacity for May 1998, compared with the year-earlier month, creating a 2.3-percentage-point rise in the load factor to 77.5%. The carrier flew 368.8 million revenue passenger miles and 476 million available seat miles. Year-to-date RPMs declined 3.3% and ASMs 2.2%, reducing the load factor 0.8 points.
DOT told startup Northern Airlines it has "21 days to provide information which will make its application whole," and if it does not submit a finalized financial plan within that time, DOT will dismiss its application without further notice. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based carrier filed last fall for a certificate to serve several medium-sized communities and major metropolitan areas using Fokker F28-4000s (DAILY, Nov. 4, 1997). (Docket OST-97-3075)
Tower Air pilots have voted for representation by the Air Line Pilots Association. Of the 218 pilots eligible to vote, 75.6% voted for ALPA and 16.5% voted for the current union, the Tower Air Cockpit Crew Association.
Startup carrier Legend Airlines will unveil tomorrow its plans and design for an executive terminal at Dallas Love Field. President and Chief Executive Allan McArtor said the company plans to launch service during the fourth quarter of 1998. The new $14 million, 105,000-square-foot terminal is being designed by Chicago-based McClier Engineering, aviation consultants whose clients include Air Canada, British Airways, Northwest and United.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic December 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles % (000) Change (Miles) (000) Change Alaska 997 11.83 833 830,335 14.49
Virgin Atlantic is increasing amenities for children on its international flights. The carrier, saying that family travel can be "a stressful experience" for all passengers, is featuring a new dedicated "K-iD's TV" channel, special kids menus, a complimentary back-pack filled with games, gifts and a free story book, and a selection of up to 10 Nintendo video games. The back-packs include brand-name items, such as Pez candy, a collectible item such as a Wallace and Gromit figure and a baseball cap. A kid-specific audio channel will be introduced later this year.
Frontier posted May increases of 29.4% in traffic, to 108.7 million revenue passenger miles, and 30.1% in capacity, to 182.5 million available seat miles, reducing the load factor 0.3 percentage points to 59.6%. Passenger enplanements rose 4.5% to 119,325. For the first five months, traffic increased 39.1%, capacity 45.1% and enplanements 11.7%, and the load factor dipped 2.5 points.
Frontier will launch twice-daily Denver-San Diego 737 flights July 23 with fares starting at $79 each way. Also on July 23, Frontier will increase its daily roundtrip frequency in three current markets: Denver-Salt Lake City and Denver-El Paso, from two to three, and Denver-Los Angeles, from three to four.
Lufthansa CityLine racked up record profits in 1997 and higher-than-ever passenger traffic. Profit as a return on sales was a middling 6%, however. Operating revenues jumped 24% to 1.37 billion Deutschmarks (US$834 million) last year from DM1.10 billion ($660 million) in 1996. Total revenues edged up slightly to DM1.44 million ($864 million) from DM1.39 billion ($834 million), and pre-tax profit soared to DM84.6 million ($50.7 million) from DM6.5 million ($3.9 million). The work force rose to 1,491 employees from 1,407.
Western Europe's air traffic management-related delays were highest in France, Spain and Britain during May. The fewest ATM delays were registered in Germany, Greece and Italy. According to Eurocontrol, 27% of all flight delays in May due to ATM problems occurred in France. Spain came in second with 17%, followed by Britain, 13% and Switzerland, 10%. Germany had the lowest rate of ATM delays at 6%, followed by Greece and Italy, each with 9%. Delays in all other Western European countries made up the balance, 9%.
