Hawaiian Airlines will offer two drive-through check-in lanes adjacent to its departure terminal at Honolulu Airport, beginning this summer. Agents will check passengers in, take their baggage and direct them to parking and their boarding gates.
List of potential candidates for FAA director of Flight Standards Service, including a prominent industry association official, is being sent to Administrator Jane Garvey. Tom Stuckey, who has had the job in an acting capacity for the past year, is not on the list.
Air Transport Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, adopting a joint policy on GPS, pointedly "praised" Wide Area Augmentation System managers "for keeping the program on schedule." Many believe J.C. Johns, who was FAA's GPS product team leader, was removed from the job unfairly for continuing contract work with Raytheon. Johns was acting on the recommendation of FAA's Joint Resources Council.
Northwest sees a 42-year life for 173 of its DC-9s and believes its DC-10s can fly even longer. The carrier estimated in an SEC filing that the DC- 9s, averaging 27.3 years old last Dec. 31, "could fly on average approximately 15 additional years beyond 1997" based on their life cycle and projected use. It said its DC-10 fleet, 23.5 years old on average, could fly 23 years longer.
As thousands of Boeing commercial production workers face the ax, the company plans to hire students at Saint Louis University even before they graduate. The students will get tuition and book fees plus a starting salary of $14 an hour, with benefits, to work on military programs. They will be promoted after they graduate.
U.S. and Peru will meet May 7-9 in Lima for open-skies talks, and progress may be possible with Italy as well. U.S. and Italian officials will meet informally April 29 in Rome to try to set a firm date for their next formal open-skies round. Liberalization talks with Russia resume tomorrow through Thursday in Washington, and Korea open-skies talks run Wednesday and Thursday in Seoul.
No one wants reregulation, but if DOT's latest initiative to impose competition guidelines does not work, the department could face pressure to form a governing board to hear predatory pricing complaints on a default basis, DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead said last week in Phoenix. Addressing a panel at the Seventh Annual International Aviation Symposium on whether consumers have benefited from consolidations and alliances, Mead said the governing board would be similar to the Surface Transportation Board, which oversees railroads.
DOT is scheduled to announce legislative proposals today to create a performance-based organization to operate the air traffic control system, as recommended by the National Civil Aviation Review Commission.
National Aviation Hall of Fame inducted James Lovell, astronaut; Sam Williams, inventor and entrepreneur; Harry Armstrong, physician who developed the medical criteria used in pressurized cabins, and Gervais Raoul Lufbery, America's first Ace and third-highest scoring American World War One Ace.
U.S. Major Carriers Change in RPMs, ASMs and Load Factor Fourth Quarter 1997 Load Factor (%) Carriers 1997 1996 Pts. Change Alaska 64.7 66.0 -1.3 America West 64.9 69.1 -4.1 American 67.7 67.8 -0.1
SAS traffic for March rose 9% to 1.78 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The load factor was 65.1%, up from 58.1% in February. The airline carried 1.9 million passengers, up 12%. Cargo volume increased 18% to 65 million freight ton kilometers.
AirBC, an Air Canada regional, will begin three daily nonstops between Victoria, British Columbia, and Seattle. The service will be operated as a code share with Star Alliance partner United. AirBC will operate de Havilland Dash 8 turboprops on the route, configured for 37 or 48 passengers. AirBC is offering a one-way introductory fare of $89 (C$123). United offers about 50 daily flights from Seattle.
Newcastle, Englad-based Gill Airways has placed an order for an ATR 72-200, which will be the seventh ATR turboprop in its fleet. The carrier, which operates two ATR 72s and four ATR 42s, serves a regional network in Northern England and Scotland and provides night freight services to the Royal Mail. It also is a franchisee for Air France on the New-castle-Paris route.
Air Transport Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association jointly are recommending to FAA that an independent risk assessment be conducted of GPS-based sole-means navigation. They also recommended continuing the Wide Area Augmentation System to provide sole-means navigation by 2001 in light of the risk assessment.
Continental filed for its exemption under the new U.S.-French bilateral permitting operations between any points in the two countries, and for beyond service to open-skies partners or points for which Continental already holds authority. The carrier will use its new authority in its code-share agreement with Air France.
New Regional Aircraft Deliveries, January 1998 Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines Trans States 7 EMB RJ-145 25 EMB RJ-145 AE3007A Orders - Last 12 Months - Options Carrier Delivery Dates No. Type No. Type Trans States June 98-July 99 - - - -
United will add a daily, nonstop flight between Miami and Caracas July 30. The new service will operate on a seasonal basis through Oct. 4 using Boeing 737s. More than 425,000 passengers travel between Miami and Caracas each year and the market is expected to grow 50% during the next five years, United said.
Charles Hunnicutt, DOT assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs, will speak Tuesday at a monthly luncheon of the International Aviation Club. The event is scheduled at 11:45 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Delta, planning new flights this summer with its three Atlantic Excellence Alliance partners, will begin serving Karachi June 4 and Budapest June 20 from Zurich under code share with Swissair. The two carriers offer daily service to Zurich from Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, New York Kennedy, Newark, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and six weekly flights from Chicago. With Austrian Airlines, it will operate daily Washington Dulles-Zurich service via Boston. With Sabena, it plans to start code-share service connecting the U.S. to Gambia and Guinea this summer.
Discussions between International Lease Finance Corp. and Boeing on the 100-seat 717 "slowed considerably in March and thus far in April," and ILFC is looking now at the Airbus competitor, Steven Udvar-Hazy, ILFC president, told The DAILY. Boeing targeted ILFC early this year for 50 orders and 50 options on the 717, he said. Udvar-Hazy also reported that ILFC has been "heavily preoccupied with late delivery problems, particularly involving the 737X series, 757s, 767s and 747-400s, most or all which are running late, and our airline customers are not happy."
Siberia Airlines has contracted with U.K. consulting firm Atlas Project Management to aid it in modernizing management, operations and marketing. Siberia, one of Russia's seven largest carriers, operates passenger and cargo flights and is based at Tolmachevo Airport, where it has a large maintenance base.
United Express carrier Great Lakes Aviation, meanwhile, has told the SEC that its annual 10-K filing for the year ended Dec. 31 will be late due to significant changes in results from the year-ago period. The carrier cited the impact of the "voluntary" suspension of operations in May mandated by the FAA, termination of the company's Midway Connection operation at Raleigh/Durham, and the anticipated disposition of the Embraer Brasilias from its fleet, which will result in certain charges against the year.
