Continental and its Transport Workers Union of America unit reached a tentative contract agreement following four days of intense negotiations. Subject to membership ratification, the agreement would begin July 1 and become amendable Dec. 31, 2003. The current TWU contract becomes amendable in April 1999. Terms of the agreement will be revealed to the membership during the next few days.
The American Society of Travel Agents is telling its members to beware of signing long-term computer reservations systems (CRS) contracts, and to seek legal advice when renegotiating contracts. At its meeting in Tampa last weekend, ASTA's board of directors supported an initiative to provide the membership with the tools to take advantage of rapid advances in technology, including supplying members with the names of attorneys who can assist in negotiating shorter-term CRS contracts.
Northwest has appointed Robert Nazarian as treasurer, replacing Joe Francht, who will leave the carrier Aug. 1. Nazarian was chief financial officer for Air New Zealand. Mark Powers was named VP-finance and president of Northwest Aircraft. Neal Cohen, formerly VP-financial planning and analysis, will be VP-finance and controller, and Rolf Andresen, former VP and controller, will be VP-finance and chief accounting officer.
DOT Inspector General's office will audit funding for the extension of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to San Francisco Airport. The audit, to start this month, will examine cost sharing and allocation of charges between BART and the airport for the life of the project, and whether airport revenues are being used for non-airport project costs.
Europort Vatry, France's $200 million multimodal all-cargo facility, started work on its control tower, security control, freight terminal, customs and sanitary-control buildings. Construction is expected to continue through the second quarter of 1999 and the site is expected to be fully operational in the fourth quarter. Europort said it is negotiating with the Montreal Airport Authority to manage the operation under a 20-year contract.
Great Lakes Aviation will fly as United Express between Springfield, Ill., and Chicago Meigs Field, beginning June 15. The carrier will operate eight roundtrips on weekdays between the airports, plus five weekday United Express flights between Springfield and Chicago O'Hare, with a reduced weekend schedule. The weekday total between Springfield and the Chicago area will be 13 roundtrips. Meigs Field will increase Great Lakes United Express service to 68 airports in 13 states.
Citing "changed circumstances," DOT reversed an earlier order and approved the applications of TWA and Ukraine International Airlines for exemption and authority to operate Chicago/New York-Kiev/Donetsk code-share service via Paris. The carriers asked DOT to review staff action dismissing their applications to serve New York-Paris-Kiev/Donetsk (DAILY, Jan. 14) and later added a request for authority to put Ukraine International's code on TWA's New York-Chicago service. DOT's dismissal order, issued Dec.
The European Commission yesterday in Brussels "raised no objections" to the payment of a second tranche of 500 billion Italian lire (US$285 million) to Alitalia. This sum is part of a total state aid package of LIT2.75 trillion ($1.5 billion), authorized in July 1997. "The Alitalia restructuring plan has been implemented satisfactorily," the EC said.
Fleet and passenger service employees at Mesaba Aviation will vote this month on whether to be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The National Mediation Board ordered a representation election last week after it found sufficient interest by employees. NMB was to mail ballots this week and will count them July 6 in Washington, D.C.
A joint industry/government task force that began work more than two years ago developed 99 recommendations designed to improve the safety of Canada's more than 1,000 commercial air taxi operators (DAILY, June 1). In a report issued last week, Transport Canada said the Safety of Air Taxi Operations (SATOPS) task force met with air taxi operators, pilots and mechanics during 34 consultation sessions across Canada to identify problem areas and develop recommended practices.
Continental reported a 15.8% increasing in systemwide traffic and a 13.2% rise in capacity in May 1998 over the same month last year, boosting the load factor 1.6 percentage points to 72.6%. Year-to-date traffic rose 13.1% and capacity 11.5%, creating a load factor gain of 1 point. May 98 May 97 5 Mhs 1998 5 Mths 97 RPMs 4,537,756,000 3,917,242,000 21,064,289,000 18,627,229,000 ASMs 6,247,855,000 5,519,096,000 21,064,289,000 18,627,229,000
The Sabre Group has released AgentExplorer, which enables travel agents to create a personal page of travel content - five-day weather reports, travel advisories, currency exchange rates, driving directions, and destination activities - based on client interests. The Sabre Group and MasterCard also are teaming to provide agents access to special discount offers for their customers and a "destination of the month" featuring special discounts and deals.
Malaysian Airlines Chairman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli issued a statement in Kuala Lumpur to assure critics that his airline's restructuring is proceeding according to plan and that no shareholders will receive special treatment. Ramli said the restructuring "is not an attempt to satisfy the business interests of specific groups of shareholders within Malaysia Airlines." The carrier is working to enhance revenue and contain costs without undermining service. Ramli noted Malaysian achieved its highest- ever profit during fiscal 1996-97.
California-based union flight attendants and pilots at United are delighted over the failure in Tuesday's election of Proposition 226, which would have restricted union spending on pro-labor candidates. United's Association of Flight Attendants and Air Line Pilots Association units campaigned hard against the measure.
SAirGroup, parent company of Swissair, said yesterday it will launch a plan to increase its operating profit by 1 billion Swiss francs ($660 million) over the next three years. The plan - "Manage Through the Cycle" - was announced after a meeting of the group's 250 top executives at Montreux, Switzerland. "Air transport must live with the ups and downs of our sector and be prepared on time to succeed in the long term," said Chairman Philippe Bruggisser. The plan entails "flexibility, cost management, growth and optimization of capital allocation," SAirGroup said.
Talks between Air France and its pilots took place "in a more relaxed atmosphere" and were more constructive yesterday evening, said a representative of the French carrier's management. Christian Paris, the spokesman of pilot union Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne said yesterday, "Management is changing its point of view. Rather than a mere pay cut, it is transforming the issue into a request for investment aid." Air France's management did not confirm yesterday that it is considering asking for state aid.
Forecast International/DMS said it expects the market for large commercial jet transports to exceed $481 billion over the next 10 years. According to the analysis, 6,430 jets will be delivered between 1998 and 2007, 6,078 of them by Airbus and Boeing. More than 350 will be built in Russia and Ukraine. Boeing's market share is projected at 65%, increasing slightly between 2003 and 2007, and Airbus's at just over 35%.
Carrier Share of Operations Between Latin America and U.S. 12 Months Ended October 1997 % of % of Total Total Carrier Code Departures Departs Pgrs Psgrs 1 American AA 55,129 26.4% 6,208,856 29.1% 2 Continental CO 27,973 13.4% 2,510,165 11.8%
British Airways filed for confidential treatment of documents cited by the Justice Department in its comments on the American-BA antitrust immunity application. Justice notified DOT recently of the documents and BA's likely interest in keeping them confidential (DAILY, June 1). BA said it has already asked for confidential treatment under Rule 39 procedures for eight of the 13 documents identified by DOJ that are already in the docket.
Negotiations between AeroMexico and its flight attendants union continued yesterday under the auspices of the Mexican government, which took control of the airline Sunday after members of the Unionized Association of Flight Attendants called a strike (DAILY, June 2). The government ordered the flight attendants back to work. UAFA spokeswoman Alejandra Barrales said the talks are friendly and no one knows how long they will last. "We are thinking there will be a solution pretty soon."
US Airways has introduced electronic ticketing on its flights to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid and Munich. It plans to add Paris and Rome this year.
GE Engine Services named AAR exclusive supplier of JT8D engine parts for its subsidiary in Dallas. The program will integrate supply and repair of engine parts to support GE Engine Services-Dallas's JT8D engine maintenance.
FAA issued airworthiness directives at the rate of 1.8 per working day last year, according to consulting firm Morten Beyer&Agnew. This year, the rate is up 75% to 3.1 per day, MBA says.
The Death on the High Seas Act does not apply to victims of TWA Flight 800, a New York judge said yesterday, refusing to dismiss claims brought by victims' families against TWA and Boeing for non-monetary damages. TWA spokesman Jim Brown said monetary damages against TWA are limited by the Warsaw Convention, which does not apply to Boeing.
