The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents cabin crew at United and has launched an organizing campaign at Delta, said yesterday that it is viewing a possible United-Delta alliance with "cautious optimism." Kevin Lum, AFA Master Executive Council President at United, said the alliance would be good for the workers as long as it strengthens both companies and increases profitability. "In cases of mergers or alliances, United flight attendants' pay, working conditions and job security are protected by their union contract," Lum said.
US Airways is adding service to its MetroJet network Aug. 3 between Orlando and Baltimore. Tickets start at $84 one way with a seven-day advance purchase. MetroJet will fly five daily nonstop roundtrips on the route, the new low-fare carrier's ninth destination. A seventh daily nonstop MetroJet flight between Baltimore and Providence will begin June 1.
The United States Travel Agent Registry (USTAR) is launching a European platform, European Standard Travel Agent Registry (ESTAR), which will bring the Genesis computer reservations system to 15 European countries. A European steering committee has been formed, and plans are under way to introduce ESTAR, a not-for-profit cooperative of travel agencies that will become Genesis subscribers. Klaus Lukas, the Austrian delegate to the European Parliament for tourism and technology, said Europe will be a very important part of the Genesis structural plan.
The alliances under consideration by Northwest-Continental, Delta-United and US Airways-American have the potential to benefit credit quality, said Phil Baggaley, travel industry analyst with Standard&Poor's. While today's alliances have lower potential returns than the full mergers of previous years, they also face fewer risks, he said. Given the healthy state of airline finances, eight of the 10 major carriers now carry a positive credit watch.
Grupo TACA Chief Executive Federico Bloch told a conference of Latin American carriers not to trust the U.S. to keep its word, saying that after five Central American countries signed open-skies agreements last year, the U.S. failed to live up to its side of the deals. "We took the U.S. at its word and we've been fooled, we've been absolutely fooled," Bloch said at the International Airline CEO conference this week in Orlando.
U.K. issued another permit for 30 days authorizing continued operation of US Airways' Philadelphia-Gatwick service until the end of May. A U.K. source described recent government actions and filings by US Airways and British Airways on U.S.-U.K. service as an "unfortunate escalation," adding the U.K.
TAP Air Portugal pilots warned yesterday that they will strike two days a week from May until August, in protest against their company's plans to charter aircraft from other carriers. One of the strikes is scheduled on May 22, the starting day of Expo '98, the world exhibition in Lisbon, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors and boost air traffic. The strike warning issued by the pilots union has yet to be confirmed, at a general meeting May 4.
Environmental groups in Europe renewed their campaign to impose a tax on aviation fuel and air travel as the European Union held its first joint meeting of national environment and transport ministers over the weekend. The groups insist that Europe must take the lead to reduce aviation-related greenhouse gases to cut the rapid growth in the sector's emissions predicted for the next 15 years. The joint session of ministers met in Chester, U.K., April 25-26 to review the EU's Kyoto Conference commitments to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions.
FAA is ordering emergency inspections of Boeing 747-200F/C aircraft after two reports of fatigue cracking in upper deck floor beams. FAA said actions specified in its airworthiness directive are "intended to prevent" fatigue cracking. It said floor beam failure "could result in damage to critical flight control cables and wire bundles." Boeing earlier issued an Alert Service Bulletin describing inspections procedures and is developing a preventive modification, FAA said.
British Airways filed a response at DOT to "clarify the assertions made by US Airways," which requested that BA's application for Denver-London Gatwick service be held "in abeyance" pending availability of commercially viable Gatwick arrival slots for US Airways' proposed Charlotte-London service (DAILY, April 22). "The fact that those arrival slots fall outside the parameters deemed commercially acceptable by US Airways does not give rise to a bilateral violation," BA stated. U.S. carriers "can urge the U.S.
Air Alaska, a Fort Worth-based leasing firm, last week signed a letter of intent to purchase the outstanding stock of Paradise Island Airlines from PIA Holdings of Boca Raton, Fla. The purchase price was not disclosed. Air Alaska Chairman Thor Tjontveit said the purchase is part of the carrier's aggressive growth strategy. In January, it acquired 70% of the stock of Pan Am Air Bridge, formerly Chalk's International Airlines, a seaplane airline based at Miami's Watson Island (DAILY, Feb. 4).
Atlantic Coast Airlines, which operates as United Express in the eastern U.S., will increase the daily number of banks of flights at Washington Dulles from two and one-half to seven. The new bank structure will consist of four primary and three secondary banks. The primary banks will peak at 40 aircraft. The schedule change will provide more than 8,600 connection opportunities, almost doubling the existing connections. The change also ties into United's new 9:30 p.m.
Sabena President Paul Reutlinger predicts the airline will turn in a "healthy profit" in 1998 because of the past two years' restructuring effort and surging passenger traffic. Speaking in Paris Monday, he said the airline's passenger traffic should exceed 8 million as the carrier consolidates its hub-and-spoke structure while taking advantage of new code-share destinations, such as Cincinnati, which it operates with U.S. partner Delta.
U.S Carriers Systemwide Market Share At Leading U.S. Airports U.S. Major, National and Commuter* Carriers The Year 1997 (Part 2 of 2) New Orleans Enplaned Percent Passengers Market Share Southwest 1,127,484 26.73 Delta 845,532 20.05 Continental 550,787 13.06
House and Senate conferees reconciling spending in the supplemental appropriations bill for Bosnia and related defense spending agreed to restore the Airport Improvement Program to its full $1.7 billion level, although their decision to take $295 million in unused contract authority as an offset - a figure higher than FAA had hoped - means there could be an impact on the funds spent through the end of fiscal 1998.
Inflight testing will begin in mid-May on the first Boeing MD-11 freighters for Lufthansa Cargo, with delivery scheduled at the end of June. The carrier has placed firm orders for eight MD-11Fs and expects to receive them by yearend. Lufthansa Cargo says the MD-11F burns 39% less fuel per ton kilometer than the 747-200F, of which it has 12. "Additionally, the MD-11F's noise emissions dip below Chapter 3 requirements, equipping it to meet all future noise restraints."
United said it operated its 100,000th over-water flight last week with an airplane certified for extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS) up to 180 minutes. The carrier's first ETOPS flights took place in the spring of 1990 between Washington Dulles and Frankfurt, said Louis Mancini, VP- engineering. Since then, United's 767-200 fleet of eight aircraft has performed 21,622 ETOPS flights, he said. United's 767-300s entered the fleet in May 1991 and by the end of 1997 accomplished 47,918 ETOPS flights. The 767s are powered by Pratt&Whitney engines.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater met yesterday with U.K. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, visiting in Washington. A DOT source said the meeting was held at the request of Prescott and both agreed it was a "good meeting." They discussed a variety of aviation issues for nearly an hour. Slater emphasized the "importance of resolving the issues related to US Airways' desire for service to London Gatwick," and Prescott agreed "it is important to resolve this matter;" Prescott said he would re-assess the issue.
Passenger traffic at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport shot up more than 13% for the first three months of 1998, compared with the same period last year. Aircraft movements rose at nearly the same rate, while cargo volume increased by 6.1%. Schiphol reports that 7,020,424 passengers moved through its gates during the January-March months, an increase of 13.6% from the same 1997 period. The gain was nearly matched by Schiphol's growth in air transport movements - 13.1% - which totaled 88,787 for the period. Total cargo volume for the three months was 297,639 tons.
Air France is asking DOT to approve its exemption for service to all U.S. points, as permitted by the new bilateral, by April 30 as requested, rather than being linked to approvals to U.S. carriers or dependent upon code- share approvals requested by United that Air France sees as outside the scope of the bilateral. The carrier wants immediate approval so it can prepare for new services set to launch June 1.
Canadian Airlines has launched a six-week cross-Canada event called "The Way You Want To Win." Customers will receive scratch cards - for the possibility to win instantly one of 2.5 million grand prizes - every time they fly between April 23 and June 7. Prizes include one year's unlimited free travel on Canadian Airlines, hotel packages in the Asia/Pacific region, up to $100 off on a Canadian Airlines flight or up to 10,000 bonus Canadian frequent flyer points. Some restrictions apply.
British Aerospace and ATR plan to dissolve their regional aircraft consortium - Aero International (Regional) - the companies said yesterday in Toulouse, France. AI(R) was set up in 1996 to market aircraft made by BAe and ATR, an alliance of France's Aerospatiale and Italy's Alenia. AI(R) also intended to develop a range of regional jets - the Airjet in 58- , 70- and 84-seat versions. The $1.2 billion program was meant to compete with Canadair's CRJs. Last December, AI(R) said it had abandoned the Airjet program.
DHL Airways received an initial two-year exemption to operate scheduled foreign cargo service between Austin, Texas, and Guadalajara, Mexico, for which the carrier submitted a service proposal. DOT dismissed DHL's request to serve Mexico City and Monterrey from Austin because the carrier did not present "firm plans" for service.
U.S Carrier Systemwide Market Share At Leading U.S. Airports U.S. Major, National and Commuter* Carriers The Year 1997 (Part 1 of 2) Atlanta Enplaned Percent Passengers Market Share Delta 26,139,344 80.17 Atlantic Southeast 1,482,863 4.55 ValuJet 1,350,692 4.14
Pilots at US Airways and American, concerned about the impact of a domestic marketing alliance and code share between their carriers, are seeking assurances the partnership will not take away pilot jobs.
