United Chairman Gerald Greenwald yesterday announced orders for 23 new widebody aircraft from Boeing as part of a plan to grow the fleet by 68 aircraft, from 571 at yearend 1997 to 639 at yearend 2001. The expansion will add up to capacity growth of about 3% a year, Greenwald said. United announced orders last month for 30 Airbus narrowbody aircraft (DAILY, March 5). The Boeing order comprises one 747-400, 16 777-200s and six 767-300s, to be delivered between 1999 and 2002.
Federal Express is building its fifth national hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C. The $300 million Mid-Atlantic hub is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the state. FedEx selected Greensboro because it met the cargo carrier's expansion needs.
Alaska Airlines will resume service to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East April 28, adding a second weekly flight to Yuzhno-Sakalinsk that continues to Vladivostok. The airline's specially equipped 140-seat MD-80 departs Seattle, stops in Anchorage and arrives in Yuzhno-Sakalinsk after an enroute stop in Petropavlovsk. Alaska has served the oil-rich region north of Japan since 1991.
The government of Australia will receive A$730 million (US$478.6 million) from the sale of long-term leases on 14 airports in the second phase of airport privatization. Preferred bidders on the last of the leases - Darwin, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Archerfield Airport in Brisbane - were announced last week. Last year, the government received A$3.34 billion for leases on Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth airports in the first round of privatization (DAILY, May 8, 1997). Each lease is for 50 years with an option for another 49 years.
U.S. and Korea will hold open-skies talks April 22-23 in Seoul at the request of Korea, U.S. officials said yesterday. This round will be the third in the talks, which began in May and July last year and have been dormant since then. A State Department source said the U.S. is reasonably optimistic of making good progress this time.
Northwest World Vacations is offering luxury packages to Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong, starting at $991. Prices include accommodations at Sheraton or Shangri-La hotels, breakfast and refreshments, and air fares on Northwest. Sample prices from the West Coast, coach class, are $1,244 to Beijing, $991 to Bangkok and $1,228 to Hong Kong.
Atlantic Coast yesterday declared a two-for-one stock split, payable May 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business April 24. The move will make the stock more affordable to investors and improve the amount of liquidity in the trading of common stock.
DOT's fifth quarterly Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report (DAILY, April 14) can be downloaded at http://www.dms.dot.gov/ost/aviation. The report is available in Adobe and Microsoft Word formats. Past reports also are available.
Japan's three major carriers - Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System - have been embarrassed by hard-nosed negotiations with their flight crew unions. Japanese airline managers, knee-deep in red ink, see this strike period as a critical chance to roll back what they consider unwieldy pilot pay that does not allow Japanese carriers to compete with lower-cost international carriers.
Japan's Transport Ministry, the Defense Agency and the local Ibaragi government agreed April 7 to construct a 2,700-meter second runway at Hyakuri air force base that eventually will relieve congestion at Tokyo Narita. Hyakuri is 70 kilometers northeast of Tokyo and 45 km north of Narita. The new runway, built on the west side of the field, will not be operational until 2005. After its completion, a portion of Narita's traffic will be shifted to Hyakuri, the fourth military/civil airfield in Japan.
U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Share of Service Fourth Quarter 1997 Total Revenue Departures Alaska 37,502 America West 50,658 American 168,555 Continental 99,839 Delta 233,530 Northwest 137,364 Southwest 199,385 TWA 69,021
Aspen Mountain Air's application for slot exemptions linking Chicago O'Hare to Branson, Mo., and Sioux City, Iowa, meets none of the requirements for approval and would duplicate other proposals under consideration, according to United. Exec Express II d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air asked for eight O'Hare slots for Dornier 328 turboprop service.
Swissport International, the ground-handling subsidiary of the SAirGroup, has purchased Fernley Airport Services Ltd. from Aer Lingus. Fernley has a staff of 425 employees and provides aircraft cabin cleaning services to more than 70 airlines at the London-area airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Swissport said it will look for ways to establish administrative synergies between Fernley and Swissport U.K. Ltd., its subsidiary at London Heathrow. No price was given for the transaction.
U.K. Transport Secretary John Prescott has given the green light to plans by London City Airport to double its annual aircraft movements to 73,000 per year. The airport's request was positively received by the London borough of Newham and the London Docklands Development Corporation last month. Prescott's office said it supports the authorities' decision. Richard Gooding, London City Airport's managing director, said he hopes to finalize the plan this month. The airport's passenger traffic in March shot up 41% to 116,138, compared with March 1997.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration has ordered the island's domestic airlines to implement identification checks on all passengers. Passengers will be required to present identity cards or passports when purchasing tickets, reporting to check-in counters and before boarding. Before 1993, ID checks were strictly enforced but in recent years, most of Taiwan's domestic airlines dropped the practice because the checks were seen as an inconvenience to passengers.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines reported a 34.2% rise in traffic and a 40.3% jump in capacity in March, which depressed the load factor to 60.2%, 2.7 percentage points lower than in March 1997. Frontier reported 120.8 million revenue passenger miles and 200.7 million available seat miles, and passenger enplanements rose 10.6% to 136,846. Year-to-date, the carrier reported a 39.6% increase in RPMs and a 48% rise in ASMs, which pushed the load factor down 3.3 points. Passenger enplanements rose 12.2% to 369,692.
Eurocontrol conducted a successful flight trial March 12 of the new aeronautical telecommunication network (ATN), which it is developing as part of the pan-European harmonized air traffic management project (EATCHIP). The main goal was to interrogate the ATN's full seven-layer protocol stack during the flight, which was carried out in cooperation with France's national air navigation agency, Service Technique de la Navigation Aerienne (STNA), and Britain's Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).
EuroAirport, the tri-national airport in southeastern France serving Basel, Mulhouse and Freibourg, is further clamping down on nighttime flights of Chapter II aircraft. Starting April 1, the airport imposed tighter restrictions by replacing its previous five-hour ban of midnight-to-5 a.m. for Chapter II aircraft with a new one starting at 10 p.m. and lasting until 6 a.m. The new rules complement higher landing fees imposed last month for noisy aircraft as the airport prepares to lock out all Chapter II airplanes by 2002.
DOT yesterday issued its fifth air fare report, this one listing average prices paid by consumers in the top 1,000 city-pair markets for the third quarter of 1997 and another 149 city-pairs that have been in the top 1,000 during previous quarters. The report consists primarily of tables listing the city-pair prices and a selected highlight of pricing patterns.
B/E Aerospace yesterday agreed to purchase Aircraft Modular Products (AMP) for $118 million. Miami-based AMP is the leading cabin interior maker for business aircraft, with a 60% market share.
Sabena cabin staff will serve business-class passengers and Virgin Express staff will serve in economy class when the two Belgian carriers launch three-flights-daily 737 service between Brussels and London Stansted Airport (DAILY, April 13). The carriers plan to offer three daily flights with a Boeing 737 configured for two classes of service. Business passengers will be served by Sabena staff, while economy travelers will be served by Virgin Express.
Delta is offering discounts on spring fares for travel April 25-June 17 to Europe; April 13-June 11 to Mexico, Central and South America and India, and April 13-June 11 to Korea. Travel must be completed by June 24 and tickets must be purchased by April 18.
DOT's expedited schedule for new opportunities under the U.S.-France bilateral sets this Friday as a deadline to apply for rights available in 1998, including combination, cargo and code-share opportunities that become more expansive under the term of the agreement (DAILY, April 7). The department will address remaining opportunities at a later unspecified time, it said in its order served yesterday. Answers are due April 22 and replies to answers April 24. The 1998 opportunities include:
Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities has recommended type validation of Boeing's 737-800, the final hurdle before certification. The approval comes one month after FAA certification. Launch customer Hapag-Lloyd of Germany is scheduled to take the first 737-800 this month. The charter airline will use the 160- to 189-seat aircraft to replace its -400s and -500s.
American Trans Air reported a 0.6% rise in systemwide traffic and a 3.8% increase in capacity in March over the same month last year. Block hours flown grew 17.5% to 13,773. ATA reported 886.7 million revenue passenger miles and 1.190 billion available seat miles. Charter service RPMs were down 23.1% to 388.6 million and ASMs declined 17.9% to 560 million. Block hours flown decreased 19.9% to 4,970.
