U.S. Carriers Labor Expense Fourth Quarter 1997 Major Carriers % Of Total Labor Operating Expenses Alaska 104,947,000 31.93 America West 103,819,840 23.89 American 1,167,717,000 32.13 Continental 398,867,000 26.26 Delta 1,047,957,000 33.34
DOT approved new authorities and U.S.-Spain code-share exemptions for American and Iberia, together with regional affiliates American Eagle, Air Nostrum and Aviaco, and for TWA and Spanish carrier Air Europa.
U.S. carriers do little to promote tourism interest in Brazil, mainly because 80% of the 2 million annual U.S.-Brazil passengers originate in Brazil, Varig Chief Executive Fernando Pinto said yesterday. The airline leader used a speech at the International Aviation Club in Washington, D.C., to try to rally support for Brazilian traffic and seek a correction of the current "imbalance" between U.S. and Brazilian carriers. South American aviation has undergone "deep structural changes" and finally is ready to achieve the 8% annual growth forecast for it, Pinto said.
Business Travel Coalition does not believe government should automatically block airline alliances, but remedies should be found "to address existing barriers to entry as well as likely additional problems caused by these mega-alliances," BTC President Kevin Mitchell said in a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and DOT Secretary Rodney Slater. Mitchell was responding to prospective alliances between United and Delta, US Airways and American, and Continental and Northwest.
A recent letter from DOT Assistant Secretary Charles Hunnicutt to Europen Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert confirms views made public by Hunnicutt last month at a House Transportation aviation subcommittee hearing (DAILY, April 30) and an International Aviation Club luncheon (DAILY, April 22) on U.S. concerns over EC alliance actions. Hunnicutt's letter, sent in mid-April and reported this week in The Financial Times, details U.S. concerns about the EC's approach to safeguarding competition, which the U.S.
U.S. and Japanese officials expect to meet late this month or early in June to discuss pricing. The U.S.-Japan bilateral permits some new flexibility, but when the bilateral was signed officials agreed to hold meetings on further price liberalization. A Japanese parliamentary commission issued a report supporting full domestic price deregulation, and the U.S. will tell Japan the report has implications for the international market, DOT Assistant Secretary Charles Hunnicutt said last week.
National Mediation Board has asked Northwest's machinists union to set a schedule for resuming contract talks, which have been suspended since April 6. The International Association of Machinists represents almost 27,000 mechanics and related personnel, clerical staff and agents.
CCAIR Inc., which flies as US Airways Express in the southeast U.S., reported a 0.9% increase in traffic in April despite an 18.3% drop in capacity, which pushed the load factor up 23.6 percentage points over the same month last year. The carrier reported 12.3 million revenue passenger miles and 20.3 million available seat miles, creating a 60.7% load factor. Passengers enplaned declined 2.5% to 68,937. Year-to-date, RPMs dropped 5.3% and ASMs 21.8%, which pushed the load factor up 21 points.
Delta Express last week expanded its service by adding three daily, nonstop roundtrip flights between Houston and Orlando, two between Boston and Fort Lauderdale, and three between Cleveland and Orlando. It also added two daily nonstops between Washington Dulles and Tampa. The expansion is the largest since the carrier's inception in 1996. Paulette Corbin, managing director, attributed the carrier's success to the involvement of employees from all service levels from the very beginning.
The Japanese transport ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau plans to buy three aircraft to replace YS-11 low- and medium-altitude navaids flight check aircraft. The bureau intended originally to replace its six YS-11s with five Saab 2000s, but it had ordered only two when Saab ended the production program. For the remaining three, the bureau seeks a twinjet or twin turboprop that can use runways less than 1,800 meters long. Requirements include a flight check speed of 150 knots, at least five hours' flight duration and a payload capability greater than 5,800 pounds.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), whose district includes Chicago O'Hare Airport, recommended measures last week to control what he regards as passenger facility charge and other airport funding abuses. Hyde accuses major carriers of monopolistic practices at fortress hubs, including United and American at O'Hare, supports construction of a third airport in the region and criticizes PFC spending at O'Hare.
Continental and Brazil's second-leading carrier, VASP, received approval yesterday from the U.S. and Brazilian governments for a code share and marketing alliance, beginning July 1. VASP will code share on Continental's flights between its Newark hub and Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and 20 destinations in the U.S. and Canada. Continental's code will appear on VASP's service between Sao Paulo and Miami, Los Angeles and 14 cities in Brazil.
Environmentalists opposing Hawaiian Airlines' bid to become a flag carrier to Japan because of related runway lengthening at Maui's Kahului Airport told DOT the law requires Hawaiian's bid to be suspended pending environmental procedures. The carrier and the State of Hawaii maintain that DOT's ability to designate carriers for international service takes precedence over certain environmental claims, which they say are being addressed through environmental impact assessments under way.
Independent Association of Continental Pilots will meet with management today and tomorrow to clarify flow-through language in the tentative contract agreement they reached Feb. 25. The sides disagree over interpretation of the language, which affects pilots who want to move from Continental Express to mainline operations, and IACP will not send ratification ballots to members until it is clear. The union's board voted last month to send out the ballots.
U.S. Carriers Maintenance Expense Fourth Quarter 1997 Major Carriers % Of Total Maintenance Operating Expenses Alaska 32,449,000 9.87 America West 53,201,889 12.24 American 488,804,000 13.45 Continental 172,780,000 11.38 Delta 294,677,000 9.37
Recent proposed domestic airline alliances represent "nothing less than a major transformation of the industry," and both DOT and the Justice Department have the "tools and the willingness to investigate whether such transactions would lead to a significant loss of competition" and to bar such harm, according to Patrick Murphy, DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary. Murphy made the remarks in testimony prepared for a Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee hearing on competition issues yesterday.
National Air Transportation Association is polling members on fractional ownership. The association said the growing success of fractional ownership programs has generated interest by managers of aviation businesses, and its survey will determine how best to respond to FAA proposals for regulating such operations. FAA is evaluating whether its current fractional ownership regulations are appropriate and may regulate these operations under Part 135 instead.
American Society of Travel Agents will hold a travel fraud conference Friday in Washington. Federal and state officials, travel professionals and suppliers will participate. It will focus on schemes and tactics ASTA says cost the public more than $12 billion per year, and how the industry can stop them.
The salaries of Air France's pilots are substantially higher than those of their counterparts at rival airlines British Airways and Lufthansa, announced the state-owned French airline yesterday, quoting a "final" report by the U.S. Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). A previous version of the report, unveiled last month, found that BA pilots were paid more than Air France pilots, allegedly because of calculation mistakes that were immediately attacked by the company's management.
DOT granted a second six-month exemption for Florida West International Airways to continue providing, following termination of its U.S.-Colombia certificate authority, scheduled U.S.-Colombia all-cargo service through Nov. 26 or until FedEx inaugurates service on the route. Under terms of the transfer of FWIA's Colombia certificate authority, FWIA's authority expired last Nov. 28 and FedEx's became effective. The joint applicants requested the six-month extensions to "avoid interruption" of U.S.
US Airways denied abuse of court and DOT procedures in its dealings concerning British Airways, and reaffirmed its support of delaying procedural dates in the American-BA antitrust immunity proceedings until the department decides whether new documents are relevant. The documents are from US Airways' breach-of-contract suit against BA, the latter claiming US Airways engaged in ex parte communication with DOT in bringing the items to the department's attention and that the documents are immaterial (DAILY, May 4).
Delta asked DOT to renew its 4.5 weekly U.S.-Russia combination frequencies for an indefinite period, provided that it continues to hold the necessary underlying authority. The carrier uses the frequencies to operate service to Moscow and St. Petersburg. (Docket OST-96-1672)
American, Continental and US Airways received two-year renewals for scheduled foreign combination service to Mexico. American may provide Los Angeles-Guadalajara service. Continental may serve San Jose del Cabo and Mazatlan from Houston. US Airways may operate service to Cancun from Charlotte and Philadelphia. US Airways did not seek to renew its authority to serve the Baltimore-Cancun market. (Dockets OST-95-244, 96-1300, 96- 1368, 97-2128)
The faulty guidewheel that caused a major snafu at Denver International Airport's underground shuttle train last week and left thousands of passengers stranded has never been a source of problems, said DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon. The part is being scrutinized by train contractor ADtranz in Pittsburgh, and airport officials do not yet know why it failed. "They had never seen this particular part fail before," Cannon noted.
