The 10:45 a.m. London Gatwick arrival slot offered US Airways for its prospective daily Charlotte nonstop service is "perfectly viable," a U.K. government official told The DAILY, and the carrier is "quite lucky to get it." A US Airways official said using that slot would require a Charlotte departure at 9:50 p.m., and the carrier has postponed the start of service indefinitely beyond its original target of May 7 (DAILY, April 23). British Airways leaves Charlotte at 5:30 p.m. and arrives at 6:25 a.m., and Continental leaves at 4:55 p.m. and arrives at 7:55 a.m.
Load factors for a sampling of 14 regional airlines increased an average of 3.2% during March, from 53.4% a year ago to 56.6% in the month just ended. American Eagle Airlines led the pack with 61.8%, but that was down 1.7 percentage points from the same month a year ago. Gulfstream International followed with 61.4%, a 7.7-point improvement. Delta Connection Comair followed closely with 61.4%, up 4.3 points. The only other carrier to top the 60% level was United Express Air Wisconsin, down 5.8 points to 61.2%, the biggest drop for the group.
AlliedSignal's first quarter net income increased 16% to $300 million while sales rose 10% to $3.6 billion. Sales in aerospace units grew 23% to $1.7 billion and net income jumped 51% to $149 million. The company said the results reflected "continued strong demand for original equipment as well as aftermarket parts and services." Lawrence Bossidy, chairman, said the pending FAA mandate for enhanced ground proximity warning systems will "dramatically benefit sales." AlliedSignal has the only certified units.
Opponents of the American-British Airways alliance filed a joint motion this week asking DOT to suspend processing of the applicants' antitrust immunity case until the department decides whether documents from the US Airways suit against BA are relevant. DOT asked BA recently to turn over certain documents from the court case, stemming from the breakup of the US Airways-BA alliance, and US Airways suggests they are relevant.
Reno Air announced yesterday a restructuring that will eliminate 330 jobs, building on the 150-200 reductions involved in service cutbacks developed earlier (DAILY, March 13). Reforms include outsourcing revenue accounting work. The job cuts amount to about 15% of Reno's work force and fall most heavily on management and administration, which lost about 70 jobs, or 20%. Five of 11 senior management jobs were axed. Reno lost $12.3 million last year, and Chief Executive Joe O'Gorman said the new cutbacks are "absolutely necessary" to move toward profitability.
Ukraine International has hired Aviareps as its U.K. marketing representative. The carrier, launched in 1992, is a joint venture of the Ukrainian government, 68.37%, Austrian Airlines/Swissair, 18.37%, and GPA Group Plc., 13.26%.
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.
