Charlotte, N.C.-based US Airways Express affiliate CCAIR posted last month a 1.7% decline in traffic to 13.1 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity, meanwhile, plunged 14.7% to 21.6 million available seat miles, enabling the carrier to achieve a record passenger load factor of 60.5%. Enplanements were off 0.4% to 72,740. CCAIR June 1 inaugurated service to Washington Dulles and Savannah, Ga., from Raleigh/Durham, bringing its daily services to 210 flights connecting 26 communities in seven states.
All Nippon Airways is gradually expanding its U.S. service under freedoms available to it as an incumbent under the new U.S.-Japan bilateral. ANA added a Saturday nonstop from Tokyo Narita to Washington Dulles in April, and will add a Tuesday flight July 7, bringing the weekly total to six with no service on Thursday. The same month, ANA moves into the new Terminal B at Dulles. On July 5, ANA adds a second Sunday flight to its daily Los Angeles-Tokyo nonstops, giving it eight flights a week, and on Oct.
US Airways has speeded up delivery on its Airbus order. In addition to the six A319s planned this fall it will receive 21 A319s, six more than originally scheduled, and in 1999 it will take five A320s. In 2000, it will receive 33 A319s and 10 A320s, an increase of 11 A319s from the previous schedule. It will retire nine older aircraft in 1998, 24 in 1999 and 35 in 2000.
Spencer, Iowa-headquartered United Express affiliate Great Lakes Aviation's aircraft were considerably closer to full last month, on average, than they were in May 1997. Traffic was up 39.5% to 19.2 million revenue passenger miles while capacity gained 28.3% to nearly 39 million available seat miles, driving up the load factor 3.9 percentage points to 49.2%. Boardings were up 46.5% to 67,893.
Bob Kelly, aviation director of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey will discuss DOT's airport practices task force and other competition issues on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Birmingham, England-based Maersk Air has ordered a sixth Canadair Regional jet, a Series 200LR, which is scheduled to enter service in August 1999. Value of the order was placed at about US$21.3 million. Maersk also holds options on another nine CRJs. Maersk Air placed in service June 3 its first CRJ - and the first to be operated in the U.K. - which will flown between Birmingham and Copenhagen.
British Airways reported a systemwide 7.6% rise in traffic and a 10.1% jump in capacity for May 1998 over May 1997, which reduced the load factor 1.6 percentage points. BA reported 9.574 billion revenue passenger kilometers and 14.008 billion available seat kilometers, producing a 68.3% load factor. Passenger enplanements grew 6.4% to 3,112,000. Year-to-date RPKs rose 6.6% and ASKs 10%, boosting the load factor 2.2 points from the same period last year. Passenger enplanements went up 5.3%.
Seoul's new Inchon Airport, due to open in a year and a half, will have 44% fewer poor-visibility days each year due to fog. The Korea Airport Construction Authority has measured meteorological conditions at the site since 1990. Fog restricts landings at Seoul Kimpo Airport 68 days each year.
London Stansted-based carrier Love Air has purchased a Jetstream 31 to expand its scheduled and charter operations from London's close-in Biggin Hill Airport, British Aerospace-Asset Management announced. The aircraft, to be delivered June 10, initially will be used by Love to operate a series of World Cup soccer match charters to various destinations in France. Then the aircraft will be placed in scheduled service between Biggin Hill and Le Touquet. By late next month, weekend services to Deauville will be introduced.
Northwest reported no change in systemwide traffic and a 1.5% drop in capacity for May 1998 over the same month last year, causing the load factor to rise 1.2 percentage points to 74.8%. Systemwide, year-to-date traffic and capacity rose 1.7%, leaving the load factor at 72.4%. May 98 May 97 5 Mths 98 5 Mths 97 RPMS 6,027,631,000 6,025,072,000 28,698,216,000 28,231,512,000 ASMs 7,933,547,000 8,052,468,000 39,614,071,000 38,966,902,000
AB Airlines, based at London Stansted Airport, has ordered six 737-700s with options on four more for delivery beginning in January 2001. AB soon will receive two 737-300s from Ansett Worldwide and will put them into service from London Gatwick to Berlin, Lisbon and Shannon.
National Air Transportation Association, which represents fixed-base and small-aircraft charter operators, is taking issue with FAA over the regulations governing Part 135 - small aircraft - cargo operations.
Regional-aircraft demand over the next 10 years will be 4,700 units of which 75% will be jets, according to a study by the Boyd Group, Evergreen, Colo. Of the total, about 17%, or 750 to 800 units, will be sub-50-seat "micro-jets." "But the real growth will be above 50 seats in the 70- to 90-seat large regional-jet (LRJ) category, where the demand will be for 1,500 units," said group President Michael Boyd, noting that the availability of first-class cabins "will be critical." He questioned whether the three existing manufacturers can handle that demand.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has certified Advanced Navigation&Positioning Corp.'s Transponder Landing System (TLS) as a Category 1 precision approach aid, and the company immediately began pitching the system to China, offering to compare it with ILS, MLS and Honeywell's Differential GPS. Garvey certified TLS in a May 29 letter, and China expressed interest in the system earlier, the company said.
SIA Engineering Co. and Hamilton Standard yesterday announced a joint venture, Fuel Accessory Service Technologies Private Ltd., to repair and overhaul engine fuel components. The new company, based near Changi Airport in Singapore, will begin operations next February. Hamilton Standard will hold 51% of the shares.
Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee holds a hearing today on domestic and international airline alliances. Witnesses include DOT's Charles Hunnicutt and Antitrust Division's Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Nannes. Room 253 Russell, 2:15 p.m. House Transportation aviation subcommittee holds a hearing June 11 on H.R. 3064, the Carry-On Baggage Reduction Act of 1997. Room 2167 Rayburn, 9:30 a.m.
Boeing will phase out MD-11 production with the delivery of 22 current orders and options, making February 2000 the last rollout of the trijet, Boeing Commercial President Ron Woodard said yesterday. "Despite our best marketing efforts, it became clear to us that there simply was not enough customer interest in either the passenger or freighter versions of this airplane to justify keeping the production line open," Woodard said. The company said last November it will phase out the MD-80/MD-90 twinjet program in January 2000.
French Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement shook up the aviation community yesterday in a France Info radio interview, saying he could "consider the hypothesis where the Air Force could replace Air France" if the pilots' strike jeopardized the World Cup soccer competition. Later in the day, Chevenement issued a statement saying he was only being "ironic" and asking the pilots to "have a sense of civic responsibility."
Reliant Airlines applied at DOT for certificates to operate interstate and foreign all-cargo charters. The carrier wants to launch the service Sept. 1 using a DC-9 aircraft already in its fleet, serving points in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Reliant, organized in 1984 in Michigan, conducts Part 135 all-cargo operations within the U.S. and to Latin America and Europe with its own 13 Falcon Jet aircraft, providing "immediate response air cargo services" mainly for U.S. automotive manufacturers and overnight delivery services.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1997 DC-10-10 American United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 13 23 36 Total Fleet Operations Departures 26 55 82 Block Hours 126 155 281 Flight Hours 113 133 245
Alaska Airlines and KLM announced a marketing alliance under which Alaska is carrying KLM's code on certain flights that connect with Northwest- operated KLM service at Seattle and KLM-operated service at Los Angeles, San Francisco and, pending government approval, Vancouver. Alaska and KLM passengers can earn and redeem miles in each other's frequent flyer programs. The alliance, which also includes Alaska Air Group regional carrier Horizon Air, took effect Monday.
Northwest is on a campaign to persuade pilots to abandon their union's contract goals, according to the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit. "Expect direct mailings from management and personal contact from compliant management representatives when they have an opportunity," said Northwest ALPA spokesman Paul Omodt in a recorded message to pilots.
The Asian aviation market has shown some demand improvements in recent months, Korean Air Lines said this week in the first signal among airlines in Asia that the bottom of the region's economic crisis may have been reached. Load factors for the Seoul-based carrier, which fell as low as 60% during the December-February period, have crept up since March to more than 70%
