U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal by the Professional Pilots Federation and others and let stand an FAA rule requiring airline pilots to retire at age 60. FAA received more than 4,000 comments on a decision in December 1995 not to initiate a rulemaking to change the age 60 rule, which prompted the court process. The U.S. appeals court last year ruled in favor of FAA (DAILY, July 16).
Shanghai Airlines has signed on with Abacus International, the Asia/Pacific computer reservations system based in Singapore. Shanghai will participate on all levels - Full Availability, Direct Access, Direct Connect Sell and AnswerBack. Abacus now has as participants a total of eight Chinese carriers. The other participants are Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, China Southwest, China Northern, China Northwest and Xiamen Airlines.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) last week introduced a bill to curb class- action lawsuit abuses. Co-sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), S. 2083 requires that notice of settlement be stated in plain English and that state attorneys general be notified if any settlement affects residents of their states. It also requires that attorney fees consist of a "reasonable" percentage of actual damages and actual costs of complying with the settlement agreement. One abuse Grassley cited was the outcome of a 1988 class-action suit against major U.S.
The American-Iberia code share will begin May 27 on flights between several U.S. cities and points in Spain. The accord, announced last fall (DAILY Oct. 6), will include frequent flyer cooperation and other joint marketing elements. American's code will begin appearing next week on Iberia's Miami-Madrid service, and will appear June 10 on New York Kennedy-Madrid and San Juan-Madrid. As of July 1, code sharing will begin on Iberia's service beyond Madrid to Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca in Spain.
Singapore Airlines parent SIA Group posted an 8.9% increase in pre-tax profits for the year ended March 31 despite turmoil in Asia that lowered traffic flow and tourism in the region. The company's pre-tax earnings reached S$1.17 billion (US$708 million) and operating profits grew 11.5% to S$999 million ($604 million). Net profit rose 2% to S$920 million ($556 million), mainly due to the sale and lease-back of four 747-400s.
Delta, like other American-British Airways opponents, is fighting BA's attempt to withhold two documents that were produced during discovery procedures in the US Airways breach-of-contract suit against BA. (See related story on Page 300.) Delta faulted BA for routinely challenging DOT relevancy determinations. One of the documents concerns the effect of pricing on US Airways-BA prorate arrangements, a discussion BA calls irrelevant to American-BA particularly since the US Airways-BA alliance was terminated.
Boeing's local officials in Mumbai denied yesterday that the withdrawal of the U.S. Eximbank's loan guarantees following trade sanctions in response to India's nuclear tests last week has weakened the aircraft maker's bid to supply 23 medium-capacity long-range aircraft to national carrier Air- India. "The withdrawal won't make a significant difference to the cost of raising financing for the deal," a senior Boeing official said, adding that the Seattle-based company is eager to make its offer attractive.
DOT granted Northwest's request for two-year renewal of the carrier's exemption to operate scheduled foreign combination service, under code share with Alaska Airlines, between Anchorage and Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Petropavlosk-Kamchatski, Russia. Initially granted in 1996 and renewed for one year in 1997, the exemption is consistent with still- used, expired annexes of the U.S.-Russia air agreement, now under negotiation, with the next round scheduled in July. (Docket OST-96-1357)
Atlantic Southeast Airlines reported an 11.2% rise in traffic and a 1.4% increase in capacity for April this year from April last year, causing a 4.9-percentage-point boost in load factor. ASA recorded 86.2 million revenue passenger miles and 153 million available seat miles, creating a 56.3% load factor. Year-to-date RPMs rose 9.3%, while ASMs declined 1.4% from the same period last year, pushing the load factor up 5.2 points.
Machinists at United are "cautiously optimistic" about a resolution of the swipe system controversy, according to a recorded message to members of the International Association of Machinists (DAILY, May 11). Following 12 hours of meetings last week, IAM says the company has expressed its willingness to consider alternatives to the swipe system, which it instituted last month to track hours and payroll.
Asia/Pacific airlines during the weekend began a major airlift of foreign nationals out of riot-torn Indonesia, as Asian governments began tapping their flag carriers to withdraw business and government officials. In addition, the U.S. government contracted with Cathay Pacific Airways to bring U.S. nationals out of Indonesia. Carriers in the region added at least 8,000 seats over a five-day period that began Saturday, according to data obtained by The DAILY.
American and its Allied Pilots Association have until June 14 to settle out of court a lawsuit brought last year by pilots who were prohibited by management from handing out literature opposing the new contract. If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, they will be back in court with an eye to going to trial. APA President Rich LaVoy said pilots brought the suit during the 1997 contract ratification process when the company barred them from handing out literature in Operations opposing the contract.
Carriers should offer a simplified fare structure based on cents per mile to any point in a carrier's system, require airlines to strike better bargains with small and mid-sized businesses, and develop new methods for redeeming frequent flyer miles on alliance carriers, contends Business Travel Coalition President Kevin Mitchell. Mitchell is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee airline competition hearing today on how alliances will affect business and leisure fares.
Frontier filed in opposition to an Air Transport Association request to extend the comment period on DOT's proposed airline competition policy. ATA told DOT the 60 days provided for comment were inadequate given the complexity of the issues surrounding predatory activity and DOT's failure to cite, in a timely fashion, supporting research for the rule.
U.S. National and Regional Carriers Traffic April, 4 Months 1998 April April % 1998 1997 Change Air Wisconsin Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 52,174 46,031 13.3 Available Seat Miles (000) 83,640 74,956 11.6 Load Factor (%) 62.4 61.4
India's state-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines has firmed up plans to issue a global tender later this week to dry-lease four A320 aircraft for three years in an effort to beef up its fleet strength, IA officials said yesterday. The tender document stipulates that the aircraft, besides having a Class Two configuration and meeting all the minimum requirements stipulated by India's Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, also must have collision avoidance systems, non-containerized loading systems and dual Mode S air traffic control transponder systems.
Tokyo's domestic airport, Haneda, has opened to business and general aviation aircraft for the first time, though not without several restrictions. The Japan Civil Aviation Board (JCAB) is allowing four GA operations into Haneda each day. Foreign-registered private aircraft must first land at an international airport in Japan, however, and clear customs before flying on to Haneda. Outbound flights have the same restrictions. In addition, the JCAB requires all pilots to pass a test before obtaining slots and completing flights into Haneda.
American Eagle has begun regional jet operations, with Embraer ERJ-145s replacing turboprops between Chicago O'Hare and Cleveland, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Eagle is the seventh largest carrier in the U.S. based on daily departures.
BMW/Rolls Royce will generate an operating profit after 2000, in the first half of the next decade, said Klaus Nittinger, chairman of the British- German engine manufacturing joint venture. BMW/Rolls Royce, created in 1990, is expecting an operating loss of 400-500 million Deutschmarks (US$240-300 million) this year, with revenues of DEM800 million ($480 million). In 1997, the operating loss was DEM662 million ($397 million).
DOT approved an initial two-year exemption for American International Airways to operate scheduled all-cargo service between Miami and Caracas and Valencia, Venezuela. The two Venezuelan points may be served only as separate terminal points, DOT noted, as the U.S.-Venezuela agreement does not provide for co-terminalization of Caracas and Valencia. (Docket OST- 97-3072)
Air New Zealand reached agreement with Virgin Atlantic for the British carrier to acquire five 747-200Bs, as well as spare engines and parts. The aircraft will be delivered to Virgin between March 1999 and January 2001. ANZ valued the deal at NZ$240 million (US$130 million). Separately, Air New Zealand signed an engineering contract to refurbish the 747s prior to their delivery. The move, which eliminates one aircraft and engine type from ANZ's fleet, gives it a cushion as it takes delivery of a new 747-400 in October and another a year later.
A hail storm that pummeled the Minneapolis region and damaged airplanes on Friday, and machinists working to rule contributed to a spate of Northwest flight cancellations and delays. Friday's weather knocked 27 aircraft out of commission and caused the cancellation of 102 flights during the weekend, said spokesman Jon Austin. Some passengers making connections in Minneapolis on Sunday waited more than six hours to board flights. The company declined to say how many flights were canceled or delayed by the machinists' work-to-rule action.
Canadian Airlines reported a 3.6% rise in traffic and 6.7% in capacity for April from the same month last year, causing a 2-percentage-point decline in the load factor. Systemwide, Canadian reported 1.341 million revenue passenger miles and 1.970 million available seat miles, creating a 68.1% load factor. Domestic RPMs dropped 1.9% to 415 million, while ASMs went down 3.9% to 608 million, which boosted the load factor 1.5 points. International and charter operations recorded a 6.2% boost in RPMs and a 13.1% gain in ASMs, which depressed the load factor 4.5 points.
Continental is offering discount summer fares for travel to selected U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Canada markets. Fares offer savings of as much as 25% on structured off-peak fares and 15% on peak fares, for travel May 28-Sept. 8. Fares must be purchased 14 days in advance but before May 22, and require a roundtrip purchase and Saturday night stay.
