Alitalia has chosen Unisys Corp.'s Customer Loyalty System to provide personalized service to passengers and increase revenues via targeted customer marketing. The contract is valued at more than $1 million.
Delta has added a web site section - www.delta-air.com/baggage - to assist customers with delayed baggage. Customers can enter their baggage report number with their last name for verification and check the status of delayed baggage. The feature shows the latest status of the bag and arrangements made for its delivery. Delta personnel are available to answer questions at the baggage service center.
Exec Express II d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air (AMA) filed an amendment to its application for slot exemptions to serve Sioux City, Iowa, and Branson, Mo., from Chicago O'Hare, reducing its request for exemptions during slot-controlled hours at O'Hare from eight to five - the number of slots it calculates DOT has yet to award of the department's self-imposed limit of 60 additional daily O'Hare slots. AMA would combine the five slots with one outside slot-controlled hours for three daily roundtrips.
Delta's planned alliance with United is part of a growth strategy that will increase airline competition, according to Delta Senior VP Scott Yohe, who told reporters yesterday that opposition is based on the false assumption that such alliances amount to industry consolidation.
FedEx Pilots Association is asking its members to approve a salary assessment of one flying hour per month for the next six months to fund activities of its strategic planning committee. The union is trying to negotiate a contract more acceptable than the one pilots turned down in March. Members also are being asked to vote for a new negotiating committee.
Greater Washington Aviation Open last week presented a check for $56,000 to the Corporate Angel Network, which provides transportation for cancer patients nationwide. Most of the tournament proceeds are generated by an auction of airline tickets and hotel packages. This year, the 10th anniversary of the golf and tennis charity event, Sen. Wendell Ford was the honorary chairman and Ken Gazzola, executive VP-McGraw-Hill Aviation Week Group, was the industry honorary chairman.
FAA announced its criteria, application procedures and schedule for designating more airports in the current fiscal year for the Military Airport Program (MAP).
After about a year and a half of exclusivity, Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 now has competition on Airbus's proposed A3XX family of very large aircraft, with the GE-Pratt&Whitney Engine Alliance this week signing a deal to power the aircraft with its GP7200 turbofan, Airbus reported yesterday. "Our customers expressed a preference for a choice of engines on the A3XX program," said Airbus Managing Director Noel Forgeard.
Atlantic Southeast parent ASA Holdings, Inc., has named George J. Berry to its board of directors. Berry currently is senior VP of Cousins Properties Inc., an Atlanta real estate development firm. During much of the 1980s to 1990, he was Georgia commissioner of industry, trade and tourism. During his earlier career as Atlanta's commissioner of aviation, he "supervised a major expansion of the Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport," ASA said.
Air France will cancel between 75% and 90% of its flights from Monday until Thursday next week because of a pilot strike organized by all its pilot unions, the French flag carrier announced yesterday in Paris. The cockpit crews are rejecting plans to swap a pay cut for company equity.
Boeing 767 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1997 B767-200 American Delta TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 30 15 12 Total Fleet Operations Departures 57 60 21 Block Hours 345 157 140 Flight Hours 318 132 129
Iberia and Royal Air Maroc signed a letter of intent aimed at "developing a wide-ranging agreement" between the companies, Iberia said in Madrid. The accord will cover schedule coordination, frequent flyer programs and code- sharing operations. The joint services will link Tangiers and Casablanca in Morocco with Barcelona and Malaga in Spain.
Tatonduk Flying Service submitted a proposal to DOT to provide Essential Air Service to Central and Circle, Alaska, and, based on Tatonduk's filing, Warbelow's Air Ventures, which had been tentatively reselected to provide subsidized service for two years (DAILY, April 13), resubmitted its proposal. Tatonduk wants to provide five-times-weekly service with Piper Lance aircraft, each carrying up to five passengers or loads of up to 900 pounds, for an annual subsidy of $14,326.
Blue Dart Express, India's leading air express company and global service partner of U.S.-based Federal Express, has begun domestic charter flights to meet the growing demand for cargo space from international airlines, freight forwarders and corporations, Blue Dart officials said this week. The Mumbai-based company's two 737 freighters offer a capacity of 16 tonnes each, enabling it to provide overnight delivery for shipments to 973 locations countrywide.
American Eagle will launch daily jet service to Cedar Rapids from Chicago O'Hare July 7, operating two daily flights with 50-passenger Embraer ERJ-145s. The same date, the carrier also will add two jet flights to Des Moines, replacing turboprop service and making the route all-jet; and place an additional jet flight on its Indianapolis route. Eagle claims to be the third largest carrier at O'Hare, based on daily departures, and the seventh largest in the U.S. Eagle will take delivery of 20 ERJ-145s this year.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air has launched a weekend discount fare promotion in most of the markets it serves. The fares, which will be as much as 40% below the level of its already discounted 14-day advance purchase fares, are available for trips departing on Saturday and returning Tuesday. The fares will be blacked out Nov. 27 and 28, and Dec. 22, 26 and 29, as well as Jan. 2, 1999.
Shuttle America, which filed May 22 for a scheduled combination-service certificate to serve the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states with 50-seat Dash 8-300s, declined to name specific markets for competitive reasons (DAILY, Sept. 28). Based on stated mileage, however, those markets appear to be Hartford-Trenton, Trenton-Norfolk, Trenton-Buffalo, Hartford-Buffalo, Trenton-Providence, Providence-Islip, Islip-Washington Dulles and Dulles- Trenton. The carrier projects a profit after the first quarter with a load factor of 57.5%.
Plans to convert Airbus next year into a bona fide independent corporation should have no bearing on indirect government aid to the four national industries that comprise the consortium, Aerospatiale Chairman Yves Michot said. "Boeing says the transformation of Airbus to a single corporate entity should be accompanied by a cessation of support. But the fact that Boeing is quoted on the stock market does not mean that it doesn't receive government support for research and technology and other contracts," Michot told the European Aviation Club yesterday in Brussels.
Longtime Air New Zealand Chairman of Directors Bob Matthew is retiring from the carrier June 30. Replacing him will be Deputy Chairman Selwyn Cushing. Matthew, chairman since April 1989, helped transform the airline from a government-owned entity to a successful private company. He joined the carrier in January 1989 following a successful bid from a consortium led by Brierley Investments Ltd. During the 1990s, ANZ more than doubled its international flying and acquired a 50% interest in Ansett Holdings.
Air-India has turned down an offer from Boeing to buy back two 747-200 aircraft, instead shortlisting Air Ground Equipment Services of Scotland for their selloff, AI officials said this week. "Boeing wanted to link the buyback with the sale of new aircraft as part of our acquisition program, and that was not acceptable to us," a senior AI official said. AGES was the only contender to bid in response to an AI selloff tender floated in January 1998, AI sources said, adding that the combined price quoted was about $12 million.
TPI International Airways won its third appeals victory May 21 when the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals re-opened its $28 million breach- of contract claim against the Air Force. The small Brunswick, Ga., cargo carrier claimed sabotage on its airplanes and Air Force/FAA collusion to shut it down in August 1990. Earlier victories were before the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, the most important of which was the release of the "Dutch Memorandum," which exonerates the carrier of wrongdoing in the FAA shutdown (see story below).
DOT set noon today as the deadline for answers to a Justice Department request for confidential treatment of two pleadings filed with its American-BA findings (DAILY, May 22). Replies to answers are due June 2. The documents contain internal business information and detailed fare data, and Justice asked DOT to grant confidential treatment to the two pleadings for at least 10 days, so affected parties have a reasonable opportunity to request additional confidentiality restrictions.
