Pro Air has entered an agreement with Hamilton, Miller, Hudson&Fayne (HMHF Fun Vacations) Travel Corp. to offer complete travel packages between Detroit and New York/Newark Airport. Packages will include flight, car rental, hotel and theater tickets. A package with roundtrip air fare and two nights in a hotel averages $302. Pro Air is a new carrier that provides service with 737-400s from its Detroit City Airport hub to Newark, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Fort Myers and Orlando.
Eastman Kodak Commercial and Government Systems named new sales and support managers for Aerial Systems - Jack Shevlin, northeastern U.S.; Richard Randall, Europe, Middle East&African regions; Daniel Brake, Latin American region, and John Connelly Asia Pacific, China and Japan regions.
American is not pleased that it will have to move from Paris Orly to Charles de Gaulle Airport because of the new U.S-France bilateral. The airline told employees it is "very disappointed" the U.S. government "acquiesced" to France's demands. The forced move "reduces consumer choice and is clearly inconsistent with the open-skies principles that the U.S. espouses."
DOT reselected Warbelow's Air Ventures Inc. to provide subsidized Essential Air Service at Central and Circle, Alaska, for two more years. The carrier will provide the communities with five roundtrips weekly to Fairbanks with an eight-seat Piper Navajo aircraft for an annual subsidy of $31,839. In April 1996, when Warbelow's was last selected for the service, the annual subsidy was $20,374 for the same number of trips using Cessna aircraft.
Air France will offer a $299 roundtrip midweek fare to celebrate the launch of Paris-Atlanta service, which begins June 19. The weekend fare is $25 higher. The introductory fare is available for sale today. Air France is offering a two-for-one business fare of $6,176 through Aug. 30.
Northwest is using the strength of the U.S. dollar in Asia as a marketing tool. In a mailing to frequent flyers this month, the carrier touted bargains for U.S. tourists who pay in Asian currencies. The dollar buys 115% more in Korea, 86% more in Thailand, 56% more in the Philippines and 21% more in Japan than it did a year and a half ago.
Standard&Poor's placed its long-term ratings of Boeing and Boeing units on CreditWatch with negative implications. The action was based on Boeing's continued production difficulties and their adverse impact on profitability, it said. S&P affirmed its A-1-plus short-term corporate credit rating on Boeing and its A-1-plus commercial paper rating on Boeing Capital Corp. These ratings are not on CreditWatch.
Foreign-registered general aviation aircraft should continue to pay Canadian air navigation system costs through a fuel tax, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said in reply to a Nav Canada request for comments. AOPA President Phil Boyer was replying to Phase 2 service charges for air navigation, in which Nav Canada is considering how general aviation will pay for using the air traffic control system, flight service station services and radio navigation aids. Under consideration is a form of fuel tax or an annual fee.
Singapore Airlines and Asiana of Korea have agreed to code share between the two countries beginning April 14. The agreement, subject to government approval, covers service between Seoul and Singapore three times a week. With the agreement, Asiana will pull out of the market and stop serving Singapore altogether. SIA's A340s and A310s operate the service, and Asiana will buy a block of seats on each flight.
Germany will step up its work to preserve duty-free sales within the European Union beyond the scheduled cutoff on June 30, 1999, Hansgeorg Hauser, secretary of state for finance, told the Bundestag. Hauser called on representatives of all parties to join the fight to safeguard the "many thousands" of jobs in Germany that depend on the duty-free sector. The following day, the European Parliament called unanimously on EU authorities to carry out an independent study of the social, economic and regional impact of doing away with duty- and tax-free sales across the EU.
Continental has expanded service on key routes as part of its continuing development of its U.S. hubs and preparation for summer travel. Changes at Houston include new jet service to Merida, Tampico and Veracruz, bringing to 14 the number of cities Continental serves in Mexico; more flights to Detroit, Portland, Ore., and Washington National; and more Continental Express service on five routes.
Exports of commercial transport aircraft last year rose by $7 billion or 54% to $21 billion, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. Parts exports were up $3 billion to $20 billion, with both categories accounting for most of a $10 billion overall gain to $50 billion. Military exports were down $494 million to $10 billion. The industry posted a trade surplus of $32 billion, up $5.6 billion. Imports rose 33% to $18 billion.
Iberia expects substantial improvements in profitability following the purchase of a license for the PROS IV revenue management and decision support system from Houston-based PROS Strategic Solutions. The package includes the PROS IV system for revenue optimization, the PROS Network Analysis Systems, PROS Network Origin-Destination Revenue Management Solutions and a system for passenger management. Iberia affiliates Air Nostrum and AVIACO are included in the agreement.
American, United and US Airways intend to add service to France by next year in the first significant expansion of U.S.-France service in five years. Following Wednesday's liberalized aviation bilateral with the U.S.'s oldest trading partner, U.S. airlines will have the right to add nine daily flights to France through 2002. And all price restrictions between the two nations will disappear in two years, allowing more competition across the Atlantic (DAILY, April 9).
FAA and Pratt&Whitney are investigating whether human error was involved in a cleaning process that resulted in the recall and eventual scrapping of more than 8,000 turbine blades for several kinds of commercial jet transport engines (DAILY, April 8). The company attributed the recall initially to blade damage that could have been caused by what it called an "overly aggressive" new ultrasonic cleaning machine at its Eagle Services subsidiary in New Haven, Conn.
Delta is offering sale fares for Easter starting at $128 roundtrip for travel tomorrow and return on Tuesday or Wednesday. Sample roundtrip fares include $128 Atlanta-Huntsville, $238 Atlanta-Los Angeles, and $245 Salt Lake City-Toronto.
KLM ordered four 737-800s, which will join four aircraft the carrier ordered earlier as part of its plan to expand its European network. The aircraft will seat 150 passengers in two classes, one of them a five- abreast business class. The first of the eight aircraft is to be delivered in February.
British Airways is considering the addition of a second building to accommodate more work under its program, begun last year, to transfer all of its transactions processing to India, according to Nick Hurd, finance change manager. BA has 110 workers at the India site and plans to have 250 by the end of the year.
Tower Air reported a 32.4% increase in traffic and a 38.3% rise in capacity, which pushed the load factor down 3.3 percentage points for March 1998 from the same month last year. Tower flew 241 million revenue passenger miles and 318 available seat miles, with a 75.8% load factor. Total block hours flown increased 23.8% to 4,255. RPMs went up 32.5% and ASMs 23.5% for the first three months of the year compared with last year, which caused the load factor to rise 5.2 points. Total block hours flown increased 30.6% to 10,156.
Barry Valentine, who held several positions at FAA, most recently acting administrator, is joining Zuckert, Scoutt&Rasenberger's consulting affiliate, Farragut International, where he will be director of aviation technical services.
