Helped by rapidly declining unit costs, Washington Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines posted a net income of nearly $3 million, or 32 cents per share, in the first quarter of 1998 - more than four times as much as it earned in the first quarter last year. The carrier's cost per available seat mile fell 14.6% to 18.3 cents from 21.4 cents in the year- ago period, while revenue per ASM declined 8.2% to 19.9 cents from 21.7 cents.
InVision Technologies, which has the only FAA-certified explosives detection system (EDS), said that the agency is "so desperate for a competitive environment," that a Technical Center employee suggested to InVision a 60-40 split in production revenue if it would help competitor L3 produce a certifiable machine." InVision also said that former FAA Deputy Administrator Linda Daschle is lobbying Congress on behalf of L3 but "has not told lawmakers that L3 has failed repeatedly to get certified, and that deployment of commercial machines following certification takes up t
Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Wendell Ford (D-Ky.) and others introduced the Air Service Restoration Act of 1998 this week, the latest in a series of bills intended to improve air service to underserved communities. The Democrat-backed bill, whose sponsors also include ranking Commerce Committee member Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), would create an Office of Small Community Air Service Development at DOT to "oversee efforts to bring more regular and affordable air service to small communities," Rockefeller's office said.
Regional Airlines Code-Sharing Partnerships as of April 1998 Airline Partner (s) Primary Hub(s) Alaska Era Aviation Anchorage Harbor Seattle/Tacoma Horizon Air# Boise, Spokane, Portland, Seattle/Tacoma Peninsula Airways Anchorage Trans States Los Angeles, San Francisco
Great Lakes Aviation is in negotiations with United to renew its code- sharing agreement that expired Dec. 31 and expects a new agreement "to be finalized on a mutually advantageous basis," the carrier told SEC in its 1997 10-K filing this week.
Tom Weidemeyer, president and chief operating officer of UPS Airlines, will speak on competition and government policy issues at a luncheon meeting of the Aero Club of Washington Tuesday at the Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C.
United told DOT it wants to integrate its authorities to serve Chicago and Buenos Aires to operate nonstop 767-300 scheduled combination service on the route, beginning Sept. 9. The U.S.-Argentina market is limited by the requirement for allocation of frequencies, which United already holds. If DOT determines that an exemption is necessary, United wants a two-year exemption until DOT acts on its application under Docket OST-95-495 for comprehensive U.S.-South America authority (DAILY, Jan. 23).
Great Lakes Aviation this week reported a net loss for 1997 of $18.3 million "after recognition of $9.2 million for shutdown and other non- recurring expenses" connected with the carrier's shutting down temporarily under FAA pressure last May "and the partial phase-out and reduction of its EMB 120 (Brasilia) fleet." Total revenues reached $83.8 million; total expenses were $97.4 million, for an operating loss of $13.7 million.
Several European carriers have teamed to participate in EurAir Pass, offering U.S. travelers intra-Europe flights to England, Ireland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. Nonstop flight segments among more than 50 cities may be paid with coupons, each costing $90, plus airport taxes. Travel from Spain or Portugal to the Canary Islands is available for two coupons each way.
Barlow Partners, collectively and individually, now control roughly 9% of the outstanding stock in US Airways Express carrier CCAIR. Additionally, they hold warrants for an another 150,000 shares as compensation for handling the carrier's fleet rationalization program, during which 45 aircraft were moved on and off the carrier's certificate, including nine Shorts and 14 J31s that were removed. The partnership includes Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein and Vice Chairman Jim Swigart, who also are chairman and CEO respectively of Virgin Express.
Carriers busily forming alliances have failed to consider their impact on employees and the safety of air transportation, Association of Flight Attendants International President Patricia Friend said last week at the Seventh Annual International Aviation Symposium in Phoenix. Speaking on a panel on assessing individual airline interests in global aviation, Friend said consolidation is compounding existing problems that the major carriers are not addressing.
American and US Airways unveiled a broad marketing alliance late yesterday, hours before a United-Delta partnership expected this morning. The dueling announcements were expected to shape competitive battle lines in the industry for years to come. American and US Airways want to code share but realize approval from their respective - and different - pilots unions is needed before code sharing is possible. Regional airline code sharing between American Eagle and US Airways Express carriers is expected to begin shortly.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey's briefing on the administration's new FAA reauthorization legislation, and an interview with Gerald Dillingham of the General Accounting Office regarding airport development financing, will be shown on Aviation News Today on Washington's NewsChannel 8, Sunday at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Great Lakes has completed refinancing 30 of its 37 Beech 1900 aircraft under lease and debt agreements with Raytheon, its largest creditor. The Raytheon agreements went into default in the first quarter of 1997 due to non-payment. In return, Raytheon provided the carrier with a $5 million working-capital line of credit in addition to a $4 million short-term loan, which are due June 30. In addition, Raytheon was granted a 10-year warrant to acquire one million shares of Great Lakes stock at 75 cents per share.
A Regional Airline Association table showing code-sharing relationships appears above and a table showing most popular regional aircraft in U.S. airline use appears below. The tables were developed by Washington, D.C.-based AvStat Associates.
U.S. and South Korea yesterday reached an open-skies accord in Seoul, after the third round of negotiations. Two earlier rounds were held last year. The agreement brings to 30 the number of open-skies pacts the U.S. holds. "Korea, which is our second-largest market in Asia, is now our largest open-skies partner in the region," said DOT Secretary Rodney Slater. United, Northwest and several Asian carriers have pulled capacity from Seoul recently due to the region's financial crisis.
Travelers to and from small communities pay higher fares, as a group, than travelers between large hubs, and carriers garner higher yields in markets involving such points, a DOT study concludes. The study notes, however, that it is based on limited data - the 10% ticket sample of DOT's origin-and-destination survey, in which small certificated carriers and commuters do not participate. The rural fares study was required by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 1996.
St. George, Utah-based SkyWest posted a 2.9% traffic increase to 67.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, compared with March 1997. Capacity declined 2.9% to 122.9 million available seat miles, driving up the load factor 3.1 percentage points to 54.6%. Enplanements were up 18.5% to 289,251. Top Regional Aircraft In U.S. Service, 1997 (By Total Seats) Total % Of Total Aircraft Fleet
...CCAIR President Ken Gann has congratulated employees on the carrier's best overall performance in its history in March. On-time departures within five minutes were 89% versus 75% a year ago and arrivals within 14 minutes were 90% versus 71%. The load factor was up from 47.9% to 56.7%. The carrier is expanding its new Raleigh/Durham (RDU) hub, from where it competes with Corporate Express (JI) to Charleston, S.C., and Norfolk. It also serves Asheville and Greenville/Spartanburg from RDU.
It may be "a while" before Dallas responds to American's request for two gates at Dallas Love Field for intrastate and eventually interstate service (DAILY, April 23), Dallas Aviation Director Danny Bruce said yesterday. A "scarce resources" provision in the city charter empowers Dallas to require a tenant airline to share gates with a new entrant that is otherwise permitted to offer service, Bruce told The DAILY. He said the airline wanting to use that provision must first appeal to incumbent carriers for gate space and be refused.
Airbus, in its forecast issued yesterday, said there will be a demand for more than 16,700 jetliners by 2017 and that 1,330 of them will be aircraft seating more than 400 passengers. There also will be demand for 2,900 medium-, long- and ultra-long-range jetliners in the 300- to 400-seat category, Airbus said. The total number of aircraft will be needed to satisfy average traffic growth of 5% a year and replace some 8,500 aging aircraft, Airbus predicted.
Starting this year, Air France plans to increase its capacity to India by 30% annually for the next three years in an effort to increase its presence in India and South Asia, airline officials said this week. Last year, the carrier targeted and achieved 12% growth. Specifically, Air France has firmed up an agreement to add two flights - one each from New Delhi and Mumbai in a code-sharing arrangement with Air-India, effective next month. In 1997, Indian visitors to France numbered nearly 40,000, while as many as 70,000 French nationals visited India.
House members at a Transportation aviation subcommittee hearing warned yesterday that they would adopt legislation to control major airline behavior, pledged that they are not in favor of re-regulation and voiced differing positions on small-community service, demonstrating the hard road ahead for the numerous proposed competition and access bills. Yesterday's hearing focused on familiar small-community and slot control issues, and a second one will examine airline alliances and international agreements.
