America West began service from Phoenix to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico, last week, using two-class 737s configured for 132 passengers. The twice-weekly flight will operate year-round.
AAR Cargo Systems promoted Pete Compton to VP-sales, based in Livonia, Mich. Bureau Veritas, Paris, named Alain Borestel executive VP-Aeronautics and Space Division. C-S Aviation Service named James Walsh VP and chief financial officer. Fairchild Dornier named Craig Fahning VP-corporate aircraft sales. GKMG Consulting Services, Inc. named M. Grier Graham a consultant.
InVision Technologies announced a plan to repurchase up to 500,000 shares of its common stock. The company said the buys will be made periodically on the open market or in negotiated transactions off the market. InVision plans to use existing cash to finance the repurchases.
DOT is amending its charter air transportation regulations to update the rules, make changes to reflect current operating procedures and include specific modifications. The final rule, published The Federal Register dated May 22, becomes effective after 30 days and closes out a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) issued Sept. 12, 1992.
Mesaba plans to open a maintenance facility at the Rhinelander-Oneida County, Wis., Airport, the carrier announced. The facility, scheduled to open about June 1, will be able to house up to four Saab 340 aircraft. Mesaba said it would employ as many as 14 mechanics.
U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could determine the extent to which the Warsaw Convention is the exclusive remedy for incidents that do not involve airline accidents. The case involves a passenger who was searched before boarding an El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv in 1993. She was strip-searched in a private security area by a female guard before boarding, and reported emotional trauma and filed a multi-million-dollar suit in state court for false imprisonment and physical and mental abuse.
Fairchild Dornier's official launch of four new airplanes this week has left more questions than answers for many in the industry. Chief among them is the definition of a launch, which generally means hard orders. There are no hard orders for the 428JET, 528, 728 or 928. Crossair and Lufthansa CityLine have"expressed their desire" to take 60 each plus a like number of options for the new line of 55- to 90-seaters, and have signed what is described as a "pre-letter of intent." But "expression of desire" (EOD) is new to the aviation lexicon...
Strong unit revenue figures for April are prompting at least one Wall Street analyst to raise second quarter earnings estimates. PaineWebber analyst Sam Buttrick said April's domestic revenue per ASM growth of 6.9% "should serve as a wake up call to investors that industry fundamentals remain pretty darn impressive." Airlines' stocks have dropped 12% in the past month.
What had been known as the ATR 72-210 will be known as the ATR 72-500, Aero International (Regional) announced. The change "underscores the high level of commonality between the ATR 72-210A and the ATR 42-500, which is the other new-generation member of the company's regional aircraft product line," AIR said. The ATR 72-500's standard seating capacity is 68 passengers, compared with 66 on the standard ATR 72. The ATR 42 seats 48.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall discusses the 737 inspection program, FAA's recently announced Air Transportation Oversight System and other aviation safety issues on Aviation News today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead said an audit of FAA's contract tower program provided air traffic control services "at a lower cost for 110 towers that were previously operated" by the agency. The program, which involves turning the towers over to private enterprise, "also provided air traffic control services at 50 towers that FAA would not have staffed because they were too expensive to operate," the audit says.
Cancun, Mexico-based regional carrier Aerocaribe will lease five Jetstream 32EPs from British Aerospace Asset Management Turboprops under an agreement announced by BAe-AMT this week. The carrier, which also took five options, will take delivery of the 19-seat aircraft this summer. Aerocaribe's current fleet consists of six DC-9-15s and two Cessna Grand Caravans. Aerocaribe also operates six FH-227s, three of which will be replaced by the J32EPs. Aerocaribe feeds Mexicana as a Mexicana Inter affiliate. In addition, BAe-AMT:
Regional Airline Association spring meeting in Minneapolis this week was termed a success by the association with more than 1,600 attendees - by far the most ever - and 187 exhibitors.
Worldspan, the computer reservations system owned by Delta, Northwest and TWA, opposes America West's motion asking DOT for a separate, expedited ruling on CRS booking fees. Like United, Worldspan opposes America West's proposal to cap booking fees, although United said it did not have a position on separating fees from other elements of DOT's longstanding review of CRS rules.
Air Transport Association predicts today will be the busiest day in aviation history with over 2 million passengers flying the nation's airlines. ATA expects more than 12.5 million passengers will fly over the Memorial Day holiday, with load factors ranging as high as 83%.
Continental, which earlier this month bought a 49% stake in Panama's COPA (DAILY, May 13), intends to move forward with its alliance despite DOT's American-TACA alliance approval, of which COPA is a part.
German carrier Eurowings will place an initial order for 30 of the 728JET family of regional aircraft, Fairchild Dornier announced. The order is subject to the approval of Eurowings' Supervisory Board. In addition, Air France partner Proteus Airlines, which currently operates six Fairchild Dornier 328s and is launch customer for the 328JET, has made an initial order for 15 of the newly launched 728JET family (DAILY, May 20).
...Jim Robinson, president of Fairchild Aerospace said the combined development cost will be "north of $1 billion" - more like $1.2 billion- plus, including more than $800 million in development costs. Fairchild Dornier has $400 million in cash with zero debt and anticipates $300 million from risk-sharing partners and an unspecified amount from the Bonn and Bavaria governments. Costs will be minimized because the new model is a "dust-off" of the previously canceled MPC 75 twinjet, in which Dornier participated. Skeptics abound, however.
LanChile posted a 29.1% rise in first quarter profits to $21.8 million and a 35.4% increase in operating income, to $28.3 million. The income growth is remarkable when considering the carrier has been investing in rapid growth. First quarter traffic rose 12.3% on 16.6% more capacity, and the load factor settled at 66.2% for the quarter after reaching 70.3% in January. Cargo volume increased 54.3% in the period.
DOT is soliciting comments on its plan to revise the document filing requirements to provide for electronic submission (ES) of information to DOT's dockets management system (DMS). A notice, to be published in the Federal Register May 26, includes questions, "intended only to elicit any thought or ideas" about ES enhancement to DMS. It asks customers to comment on user-system interaction, size and format of documents submitted and ES security issues.
Atlantic Coast Airlines is reaching out to its home state with a $98 roundtrip fare from Washington Dulles to any of the six other cities - Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond or Roanoke - ACA serves in the state. Under the rules of the "Great Virginia Value Fare" promotion, travel must begin on or before Sept. 15. A 21-day advance purchase and Saturday stay are required, and seats are limited.
Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System does not have an audible alarm to indicate errors or failures, the Professional Airways Systems Specialists said yesterday.
Lufthansa Technik AG (LTAG), United and Air Canada have created a joint venture to supply the world's airlines with used parts at competitive prices. The venture, AirLiance Materials, will function as the exclusive buyer and seller of "pre-owned" or aftermarket parts for the founding airlines, which aim to expand participation in their group to other carriers. David Sisson, formerly head of Aerospatiale's Atlanta-based division, AVSCO (Aviation Service Corp.), will become the venture's president and chief executive.
Comair will begin nonstop jet service between Green Bay and Cincinnati Aug. 3. The carrier will operate three daily roundtrips using the 50- passenger Canadair Regional Jet.
United Airlines got at least one thing right in its criticism of DOT's tentative award to American Eagle of 16 O'Hare slots, Eagle says - DOT should not use the "unprecedented procedure of reassigning and 'replenishing' slots used in unrelated EAS service." United had called that procedure a "musical slots" exercise (DAILY, May 14). Eagle agreed, saying that instead, "the Department should use direct procedures to award small community slots to American Eagle, consistent with the Congressional directive."
