Approved a request by Spanair to commingle Spain-Dominican Republic traffic with Spain-U.S. traffic on 26 flights May 5-Oct. 27...Approved a date change, now April 18-30, for six roundtrip cargo charter flights by Atlas Air between points in the U.S. and points in Brazil...Approved eight roundtrip cargo charter flights by World Airways between points in the U.S. and points in Brazil April 15-30... Approved eight roundtrip cargo charter flights by Fine Air Services between points in the U.S.
LanChile and its flight attendant union signed a new contract to succeed the current two-year pact, which expires in September. The new contract runs for four years, providing more flexibility in negotiating future agreements while reducing the frequency of negotiations, the carrier said. All LanChile labor contracts have been negotiated through the end of 2001 except for that of mechanics, which is set to be renegotiated in September 1999.
U.S. Major Carriers Unit Revenues and Expenses, By Region Fourth Quarter 1997 Operating Operating Operating Revenues Expenses Profit/Loss Yield per ASM per ASM per ASM per RPM Carrier (cents) (cents) (cents) (cents) Alaska 9.15 8.54 0.61 12.14 Domestic 9.35 8.70 0.65 12.32
Hawaiian Airlines told DOT that environmentalists raising objections to Hawaiian's designation as a flag carrier to Japan due to runway extension concerns are not taking account the applicable law, which "categorically excludes" from the National Environmental Policy Act route awards that do not involve supersonic service or increase commercial aircraft operations by 1% or more.
Rosenman&Colin LLP named Timothy Lynes special counsel in the Aviation Industry Practice Group and named Jane Cavanaugh and Thomas Healy associates in Washington and Michelle Carey and Susan Kang associates in New York.
A significant decline in demand for U.S.-Brazil cargo charter operations has prompted DOT to reinstitute simplified charter allocation procedures it had abandoned a few years ago. DOT's show-cause order detailing the decision last week said that for the first eight months of the 1997-98 charter year - through Feb. 28 - U.S. carriers operated only 288 of the 750 available flights. The department said more than half the available charters could remain unused for the year ending in June.
GKN Westland Helicopters of the U.K. and Agusta of Italy plan to merge early next year to create one of the world's largest helicopter manufacturers, with an aggregate order book of $8.5 billion. GKN plc and Finmeccanica, parent companies, announced the merger. Working agreements with other companies, including Eurocopter, will be maintained.
Canadian Airlines reached a resolution with the Federal Aviation Authority of Russia concerning transit of Russian airspace for all its flights after it was denied permission to overfly Russia during its April 13 Beijing-Vancouver flight. The flight returned to Beijing and passengers were accommodated on the next flight the following day. Calling this a "highly unusual action," Canadian was later informed of a new FAAR overflight-verification requirement and is taking immediate steps to comply with the regulation.
Vanguard's first-quarter 1998 performance was an improvement over the same period last year but still a loss - $4.6 million, compared with $7.9 million. The niche carrier's red ink includes $811,000 in non-operating expenses related to deferred debt issuance costs and interest expense, up from $512,000 last year.
Air France named Richard Pasciuto director-U.S. eastern region sales; David Brucia director-U.S. western region sales and the following district managers - Joel Goldowsky, Northeast region; Deborah Masgrau, Washington, D.C.; Douglas Petersen, Chicago; Philippe Pelletier, Miami, and Ava Thomas, Los Angeles.
Northwest and TWA combined expect to spend only a fraction of AMR Corp.'s estimated cost - $250 million - of modifying computer systems for Year 2000 operations. Northwest intends to spend $55 million and is funding projects from cash on hand. TWA estimates the changes at $18.7 million and intends to complete work by mid-1999.
AlliedSignal, the only FAA-licensed manufacturer of enhanced ground proximity warning systems, estimates the worldwide market potential at $1 billion. U.S. airlines are installing the systems voluntarily on 4,300 airplanes, and AlliedSignal estimates that more than 40,000 other commercial, military and private aircraft worldwide are potential customers.
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.
