Mesa Air Group has been trying to sell its WestAir West Coast feeder operation but recognizes in a securities filing that the unit "will most likely be liquidated upon expiration of the UAL code-sharing agreement" May 31. The company is making lease payments on 21 Jetstream 31s, 19 Embraer Brasilias and 11 parked Brasilias, but only through that date.
Air Canada has expanded electronic ticketing to all Sabre-equipped travel agencies in the U.S. The carrier began offering e-tickets through U.S. Apollo agencies in January, and through Canadian Sabre and Apollo agencies last year. E-ticketing will be available on routes out of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark and San Francisco.
Frontier has named Ben Baldanza and John Luth to its board. Baldanza is managing director and chief operating officer of Grupo TACA, and Luth is president and chief executive of The Seabury Group, LLC, an investment banking and financial advisory group in New York and Stamford, Conn.
Worldspan and Travelsavers have signed a five-year agreement that will exclusively promote and market Worldspan as the preferred provider of travel technologies and distributed products and services to Travelsavers members. Travelsavers also selected Worldspan Go! as the Internet/Intranet technology platform to serve and support members of the Travelsavers marketing organization. Worldspan Go! is a new technology platform that provides travel agencies with desktop access to worldwide Internet/Intranet-based travel resources and tools.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport told DOT its high percentage of flow-through traffic to London and new-entrant opportunities on the route argue against excluding it from antitrust immunity under an American-British Airways alliance. Justice Department recommended that DFW and Chicago be carved out from antitrust immunity if the alliance is approved (DAILY, May 22).
World Airways has signed a second wet-lease agreement for one MD-11 with Brazil's VASP that will start in mid-June for a six-month period. VASP currently uses one of World's DC-10-30 freighters. World has accords with Aer Lingus, Air-India, El Al, Florida Jet, Monarch and STAF Airlines.
DOT's May 22 deadline for comments on the American-British Airways alliance drew hundreds of pages of filings that elaborate on major-carrier opposition but also include letters of support drummed up by American. The carrier submitted comments supporting antitrust immunity for the alliance from nearly 200 civic and community officials, including the mayor of Miami/Dade County, the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and airport entities in Seattle, Indianapolis and Raleigh/Durham.
Nippon Cargo Airlines has agreed to cooperate with United Parcel Service and Northwest on transpacific freighter code sharing. The carrier hopes to implement joint service this summer, pending approval from Japan's Ministry of Transport. NCA and UPS would provide joint freighter service from Chicago to Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai using UPS aircraft, while NCA and Northwest would operate Osaka-Chicago with the aircraft of both companies. The cargo code sharing would be the first in the U.S.-Japan market.
Pilots from All Nippon Airways have notified the company that they may strike again early in June on international flights if management continues a flight duty allowance reduction. By law, the union cannot strike unless it notifies the company first. The union, which represents 1,380 pilots, held walkouts from April 6 through April 20, disrupting 94 Boeing 747-400 flights on overseas routes. The previous strikes forced the airline to transfer 21,900 passengers to other carriers.
Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise received a one-year exemption to conduct scheduled combination service between Washington Dulles Airport and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The carrier plans to begin twice-weekly service June 4 via a non-traffic stop in Rome. DOT concurrently released a consent order assessing compromise civil penalties of $12,000 against the carrier for promoting the proposed service while its application was pending. (Docket OST-98-3726)
DOT renewed allocation of seven weekly frequencies for American to operate scheduled foreign combination service between Miami and Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, until March 31, 1999. "As the current exchange of letters between the United States and the United Kingdom governing frequencies between Miami and Grand Cayman expires March 31, 1999, we dismissed without prejudice to refiling American's request for longer-term authority," DOT said. The authority expired March 20, and the carrier requested a two-year renewal.
DOT issued a report Friday showing that while it is "technically feasible" to provide wheelchair access to toilets on single-aisle aircraft, there would be a considerable variation in cost to do so. Cost per aircraft would range from $20,000 to $170,000, depending on type and design of the lavatory. The report stems from work by the Aircraft Accessibility Federal Advisory Committee, established to assess the feasibility of installing toilets accessible by wheelchair in aircraft with 100 to 199 seats.
American and Canadian Airlines are offering a joint fare sale from four cities in California to Vancouver for US$88 each way, based on roundtrip purchase, until Sept. 30. The carriers offer 15 daily California-Vancouver nonstops. A joint $68 one-way fare is available from Portland and Seattle to Vancouver as well.
Lufthansa CityLine's use of heads-up guidance systems has enabled the carrier to undertake 50 flights that otherwise would have been canceled or diverted. The system also has helped the regional carrier improve on-time performance.
German Transport Minister Matthias Wissmann said European Commission efforts to launch infringement procedures against Germany and others with U.S. open-skies agreements would weaken European airlines and jeopardize the "proper functioning of a liberal aviation market." Wissmann, who made his observations in remarks prepared for an address at the ILA '98 international air show in Berlin last Saturday, said the EC will place European carriers at a competitive disadvantage if it tries to impose stricter conditions on them than U.S. authorities impose on U.S. carriers.
Reading, Pa., is the third Terminal Radar Approach Control facility to go operational with Lockheed Martin's Common Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS). Tracons in Atlantic City, N.J., and Pensacola, Fla., also have made the transition to Common ARTS, which replaces existing ARTS with new, off-the-shelf computers linked to a local area network. In response to a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation, and as part of FAA's national airspace modernization effort, Common ARTS for the first time provides Mode C Intruder at mid-size Tracons.
Cebu Pacific Airlines has added service to several destinations within the Philippines. The carrier now operates five daily Manila-Cebu roundtrips, one Cebu-Davao, five Manila-Davao, three Manila-Cagayan de Oro, three Manila-Tacloban, two Manila-Bacolod and one daily Manila-Kalibo.
Aero-Dienst of Nurnberg, Germany, has ordered a 609 civil tiltrotor for use in charter services and medical transport, said Bell Helicopter. The order brings to 67 the number of 609s ordered by 40 customers in 16 countries.
Boeing said Friday it has notified all 747 operators of three service bulletins dealing with the fuel system. Boeing said the SBs will assist airlines in scheduling concurrent maintenance. The SBs relate to the center wing tank inspection; replacement of the fuel probe terminal blocks and inspection of wiring in the center wing tank's fuel quantity indication system, and the installation of a flame arrestor in the scavenge pump.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said hazardous materials and emergency response information is available on the World Wide Web at http://hazmat.dot.gov. "This new online availability will enable users to receive information on hazardous materials rules and regulations, training, enforcement, publications and reports," Slater said.
America West elected Frederick Bradley, senior VP (retired)-Citibank; James Coulter, managing director-Texas Pacific Group, and John Tierney, managing director-Casteltown Financial Services, to a one-year term on the board; Richard Goodmanson, president-America West Holdings, and John Goolsby, president and chief executive-The Howard Hughes Corp., for a two- year term, and William Franke, chairman and chief executive-America West Holdings; Walter Krenz, chairman and chief executive-Beringer Wine Estates; Richard Kraemer, president-Chartwell Capital, and Denise O'Leary,
Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management is expected to announce today that it has won a major contract in South Korea to provide its automation product for a new air traffic control center. Negotiations with Korean prime contractor Samsung concluded last Thursday.
Airline Competition Committee membership has grown to 45 with recent additions including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Denver Office of Economic Development, Las Vegas McCarran Airport and the Houston Airport System. Members, who are trying to promote the successes of deregulation and fighting what they regard as re-regulation (DAILY, Feb.
United is more than one-third of the way toward meeting its pledge of hiring 2,000 welfare recipients by 2000. The carrier hired more than 760 from welfare rolls in the 12 months since the start of the national Welfare to Work Program, chaired by Chairman Gerald Greenwald. More than 4,000 companies are participating in the effort.
The Association of Asia/Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has hired a technical director and has been holding a series of meetings with non-Asian regulatory bodies in an effort to bring greater safety knowledge to the Asia/Pacific region. Leroy Keith, former director of Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority and a longtime McDonnell Douglas and FAA official, is spearheading a safety education effort that spans several countries and cultures. "We don't want to have to reinvent the wheel with this effort," Keith told The DAILY.
