Airport advocates yesterday portrayed their goal of raising or removing the passenger facility charge ceiling as an issue of local government control, but Air Transport Association Senior VP Edward Merlis told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee to "just say no" to the "addiction of easy tax money" PFCs represent. Merlis described a "fiscal-responsibility void" in the absence of a requirement that airports conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each PFC-funded project.
Virgin Express traffic in February soared 93.6% to 81.5 million revenue passenger miles on 58.2% more capacity, which pushed load factor up 12.6 percentage points to 68.3%. The airline carried 168,591 passengers, 75.5% more than a year earlier.
Traffic growth for a sampling of 15 of the nation's regional airlines averaged 15.8% in February year-over-year, compared with a 13.3% average increase in January. Setting the pace was Northwest Airlink Mesaba Airlines with a 107.2% jump in revenue passenger miles versus an increase of only 88.1% in available seat miles as it continues to add 69 seat Avro RJ85 quadjets and 34-seat Saab 340s to its fleet. The carrier also this year is counting traffic from Minneapolis/St. Paul routes that were served by Express Airlines I a year ago.
Continental Express apparently has settled on the Embraer RJ-135 as its 30- seat-category regional jet. The 37-seater has been in competition with Fairchild Dornier 328JET, a 32-seater. In a recorded message to members on last week's tentative five-year contract with Express pilots, the Independent Association of Continental Pilots said pay schedules for a proposed 37-seat jet were one of three remaining issues. Others were labor protection and first-officer pay.
United, fresh from restructuring its feeder agreements on the West Coast and at Denver, may make further changes in regional operations, according to United President John Edwardson. "There's still a little bit of sorting out to do," he told The DAILY. United, which recently restructured its agreements covering Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, also has relationships in Chicago and Washington.
Pilots at Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement with the company. The pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, voted 413-43 against the contract, which was negotiated over two and a half years. Ninety-three percent of eligible union members voted. The Master Executive Council will ask pilots why they voted the contract down and schedule more negotiations with ASA and the National Mediation Board.
Dennis deGaetano has been named acting FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition. He succeeds George Donohue, who told The DAILY he recommended that deGaetano be named to the position before testifying to Congress this week. DeGaetano, who has been Donohue's deputy, also is acting acquisition executive for FAA. Donohue is now special adviser- technology to Administrator Jane Garvey.
US Airways Express will add Canadair Regional Jet service to 10 cities beginning May 1. Mesa will move five RJs that had been attached to its Fort Worth operations into the US Airways Express System. Mesa this month decided to discontinue its independent RJ operations at Fort Worth and Colorado Springs.
As many international carriers curtail service to Asia, Air France believes there are opportunities for it to expand in China. The airline will launch service to Shanghai from Paris May 11 with two weekly nonstops. In September, Shanghai service will expand further to three flights. Air France also will increase Paris-Beijing service to five weekly flights from four. The Shanghai service will operate with Airbus A340-300s, equipped with six seats in first class, 42 in business and 204 in economy.
Horizon Air has cut fares on flights from Klamath Falls, North Bend and Pendleton, Ore., by as much as 48% to Portland, Boise, Seattle and Spokane. The reductions "are designed to fill seats aboard Horizon's 37- passenger Dash 8 aircraft that recently replaced 18-seat Metroliners serving the three communities," the carrier said. Horizon provides four daily flights to Portland from North Bend/Coos Bay, Klamath Falls and Pendleton, and serves 37 cities in toto throughout the Northwest.
Iberia asked DOT for an exemption from high-density airport slot restrictions to allow it to operate Chicago O'Hare-Madrid service from Aug. 1 until the end of the 1998 summer season. The Spanish carrier is seeking slot approval from DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, who has authority to grant slots for foreign carriers, because FAA turned down its request for lack of slots. Iberia wants to offer daily nonstop roundtrips on the route, which currently has no nonstop or single-plane service, using A340-300 aircraft.
Continental traffic for February rose 12.2% on 10.7% more capacity, which raised the load factor 1.0 percentage point to a record 68.1%. Domestic traffic increased 5.1% on 2.8% more capacity, raising the load factor 1.5 points to 67.7%. International traffic jumped 28.5% on 29.7% more capacity, lowering the load factor 0.6 points to 68.8%. Continental Express traffic increased 36.8% on 23.8% more capacity, resulting in a 52.6% load factor, up 5.0 points. February 1998 February 1997 2 Months 1998 2 Months 1997
Malaysia Airlines will offer a free business-class upgrade to North American passengers purchasing a full-fare economy ticket to Asia. In turn, anyone buying a full-fare, business-class ticket will receive a free upgrade to first class. The offer is valid on tickets bought through Nov. 30.
Lufthansa has placed orders for three more Canadair Regional Jets to be used by subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine when deliveries begin in the first quarter of next year. The jets will expand the Lufthansa CityLine RJ fleet to 34.
Civil Aviation Administration of China will increase Chinese carriers' international service to 124 routes from 106 by July. Air China launched Beijing-Hiroshima service recently. China had 5.05 million travelers from overseas last year, up 14.7%.
...Route transfers by major carriers to their regional affiliates will diminish considerably in 2000 and beyond, FAA said. Thus, the future rate of growth in enplanements will be lower than previously experienced. "Also contributing to the slower growth...is the fact that the large commercial carriers are operating at relatively high load factors. This tends to diminish the value of additional feed traffic.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater said yesterday he is "ready to meet with the United Kingdom" on an open-skies agreement, and DOT is launching more open- skies efforts this month in Africa. U.S.-U.K. negotiations currently are suspended with no schedule to resume, and an open-skies deal is a U.S. precondition for immunity from antitrust laws for the proposed American- British Airways alliance. Results from the European Commission's current review of American-BA and other alliances are widely expected to establish a framework for American-BA action by both countries.
Frontier reported a 48.3% jump in traffic and a 51.7% leap in capacity last month from February 1997, which depressed the load factor 1.4 percentage points. It flew 103.9 million revenue passenger miles and 180.3 million available seat miles, producing a 57.6% load factor. Passenger enplanements rose 17.0% to 117,396.
TWA described Vanguard as a questionable candidate for slot exemptions, telling DOT it was a money-losing operation whose failure to provide operating statistics further undermines its bid for service from New York Kennedy to Kansas City and Pittsburgh, markets with "ample" nonstop service.
Comair will expand facilities at its Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport hub if the Kentucky legislature cooperates by capping the annual sales tax liability on jet fuel for air-related industries and if the regional can reach agreement with the local airport authority, Comair said. The planned expansion, the cost of which Comair pegged at $25 million, will include maintenance and training facilities as well as office space. The carrier estimated the project could create as many as 900 jobs over the next 10 years. Comair currently employs 3,500 systemwide.
Aer Lingus is conducting a web site auction of four pairs of tickets from Newark to Shannon or Dublin as a promotion to celebrate year-round service to Newark. The two-week auction ends March 22, and tickets may be bid via the airline's web site, http://www.aerlingus.ie.
Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) drafted a provision that would permit reliever airport owners and operators to deny access to public charter operators. The amendment stems from an effort by an Arapahoe County, Colo., resident to block a scheduled charter operator, using Jetstream aircraft, from beginning service at Denver Centennial Airport.
Reno Air is reducing its fleet from 30 aircraft to 28 and cutting back service in an attempt to rationalize its schedule, reduce costs and restore profitability. The moves will eliminate 150 to 200 jobs, some of them unfilled. The carrier will drop Reno-Ontario, Calif., and Las Vegas- Albuquerque service April 1 and Reno-Detroit May 4. Reno lost $12.3 million last year.
