Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics Sector consolidated aftermarket spare parts and logistics services into a new unit of its Aircraft&Logistics Centers, based in Greenville, S.C.
Boeing has delivered its first 737-800 to launch customer Hapag-Lloyd of Germany, which has ordered 16. The 737-800 can carry as many as 189 passengers.
Running a profitable airline has little to do with traditional benchmarks - load factor, unit costs and yield - and everything to do with yield management, ownership structure, customer satisfaction and other factors, an SH&E survey shows. The study, spearheaded by senior VP Don Garvett and presented last week at the International Airline CEO conference in Orlando, also showed that stage length and relative unit revenues were key predictors of profitability.
Forcing major airlines to maintain low fares for a time after they drive out new entrants is a "good suggestion," ranking House Transportation Committee member William Lipinski (D-Ill.) said at last week's House aviation subcommitteehearing. The idea was suggested by a consumer filing comments on DOT's predatory competition policy (DAILY, April 17). DOT's Charles Hunnicutt said DOT wouldn't want to require that kind of behavior.
Southwest named James Wimberly executive executive VP-chief operations officer replacing Gary Barron, who will remain as executive VP; Dave Ridley VP-ground operations; Joyce Rogge VP-marketing and Donna Conover VP- inflight service and provisioning.
Northwest canceled several dozen flights throughout its system last week as a result of work slowdowns, mainly by machinists at Detroit Metro Airport. The company attributed the cancellations to a small group of employees engaged in a variety of illegal work actions to protest the pace of contract negotiations. Ray Vecci, executive VP-customer service, issued a statement of apology to travelers whose flights were canceled and said he recognized it would be difficult to win back their loyalty.
Figgie International will seek shareholder approval at its annual meeting May 20 to change its name to Scott Technologies Inc. The proposal reflects the company's strategy of trying to build its business around its Scott Aviation division.
FAA named Mary Walsh assistant chief counsel for legislation and Thomas Zoeller deputy assistant chief counsel for legislation. Walsh was minority counsel for the House Transportation aviation subcommittee and earlier was staff attorney for the litigation and regulation/certification divisions of FAA's Office of Chief Counsel. Zoeller has been legislative assistant since 1995 for Senate Commerce Committee member Wendell Ford, who is retiring. Previous posts include counsel for the Senate Rules Committee.
Eagle USA Airfreight said second quarter revenues increased 47% to $90.5 million while net income rose 35% to $4 million. For the first half of its fiscal year, revenues grew 46% to $188 million while net income jumped 32% to $9.9 million. The carrier said it experienced "strong same-terminal revenue growth" in the latest quarter, in which the gross profit margin was 44.1%, up from 43.4%.
Union-Transport reported revenues of $529 million for its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, compared with $504 million the previous year. The freight forwarder's operating profit was $16.6 million, up from $14 million, and net profit was $11 million, up from $8.2 million. The company said almost two-thirds of its worldwide revenues are in currencies other than dollars, and its revenues were adversely affected by a strengthening dollar.
Comair is on a pace to become the 11th major U.S. airline sometime in 2001, when its revenues should top $1 billion. The regional carrier currently serves 80 cities - 50% more than Southwest - and took delivery of its 60th regional jet last week.
Revenue management systems, glorified by major carriers, still are used by only 105 of the world's 1,472 scheduled airlines, according to Graham Parker, VP-marketing for PROS Strategic Solutions. Customers using PROS systems have averaged 3%-7% in revenue gain, and some got boosts greater than 10%. Revenue management systems can take several months, "or sometimes just weeks," to pay back the initial investment, he said.
Boeing demonstrated its latest digital information offerings aimed at replacing paper and microfilm maintenance documents at an airline symposium in Seattle. Each guest was provided $20,000 in fake money to allocate among 11 investment choices. The biggest total, $395,000, went to Boeing's online data service, followed by $371,000 for digitizing data for out-of- production airplanes, $245,000 for "intelligent" graphics and $241,000 for a low-cost system to help non-digital airlines make the transition to a digital world.
Boeing will display its aircraft at Internationale Luftfahrtaustellung (ILA), the Berlin Air Show, for the first time this year. The presence of the airframe giant alongside other U.S. market leaders - GE, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Pratt&Whitney, Northrop Grumman and others - is seen as a reflection of ILA's rapid expansion.
Lufthansa Group posted a record fiscal 1997 pre-tax profit of 1.65 billion Deutschmarks (US$920 million), up 140% over the previous year, as the company wiped out all remaining debt. Net profits rose 49.6% to a record DM835 million ($465 million), while revenue grew 11% to DM23.1 billion ($12.9 billion). Expenses increased 6.3%. The group financial position, which has improved steadily during the past two years, reached a new level last year as Lufthansa ended the year with a DM1.8 billion equity leap.
Neither US Airways nor American has begun or even scheduled talks with their pilots unions on their proposed alliance, even though both carriers need pilot approval to enter a domestic code share. United and Delta, whose domestic code-share alliance also is subject to approval by pilots, began talks with their unions shortly after announcing their plans.
Executives from Delta, American, United and Northwest assured the House Transportation aviation subcommittee last week (DAILY, May 1) that competition will not be harmed by their respective code-share agreements. Northwest VP Elliott Seiden suggested his carrier's alliance with Continental is the most beneficial for consumers, since the partners' route systems have very little overlap and, combined, would create a single entity nearly the size of its top competitors.
Approved an initial one-year exemption for Mexicana to operate scheduled combination service between Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and co-terminal points Baltimore and Washington...Approved, subject to FAA-approved routings, a Russian Bureau of Travel charter using a Transaero DC-10-30 for one roundtrip carrying 300 passengers to the Second Annual Galactic Conference on a Moscow-Las Vegas routing May 10-18...Approved, subject to FAA-approved routings, an Erickson Air Crane charter using an Air Foyle An-124-100 for a one-way flight carrying an Erickson Air Crane helicopter o
As airlines wait for European Commission recommendations on international alliances, the guessing game on the release date continues. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recently the department expected the findings in late April (DAILY, April 28), a target that like many others has come and gone. One likely scenario, sources said, is for EC's recommendations on American-British Airways and the United-Lufthansa- led Star alliance to come out simultaneously, followed by the others.
