Tarom will auction six Soviet-made aircraft March 25, the Romanian airline said yesterday in Bucharest. Auction prices for two Tupolev Tu-154s will start at $425,000 and $335,000, respectively. For three Antonov An-24s, Tarom proposes prices ranging from $95,000 to $140,000, while it asks a minimum of $150,000 for an Ilyushin Il-62. Tarom is implementing a restructuring plan aimed at getting the company back into the black by 1999. The plan includes renewal of half the fleet. The carrier sold 10 Soviet-made aircraft last year.
FAA was studying yesterday an incident Tuesday in which Air Force One disappeared from the New York Center radar scope for more than 30 seconds. President Clinton was aboard, but the agency said the incident did not endanger the presidential 747 or other aircraft in the vicinity. John Higgins, treasurer of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association unit at the center, said Air Force One disappeared from the scope at 8:40 a.m.
A US Airways pilot is being terminated for what the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit claims is a minor offense, and the union is citing the incident as another sign of deteriorating union-management relations. In a letter to members, US Airways ALPA Master Executive Council Chairman Jon Bryan said the chief pilot in Pittsburgh issued an ultimatum to the pilot in the form of an "onerous" disciplinary letter.
The European Commission decided yesterday to resume its legal action against eight European Union member states that signed air traffic agreements with the U.S. in recent years. The EC believes the agreements are "in violation of the law of the European Union" because they divide the single EU market and discriminate against EU carriers whose home countries have not signed an accord with the U.S. "By unilaterally granting U.S.
The Indian government celebrated International Women's Day last Sunday by directing Indian Airlines to operate an all-women crew flight from Mumbai to Karachi, Pakistan, carrier officials said Monday. The A320 flight was the airline's first international flight operated entirely by female pilots and engineers. "Karachi was a convenient destination because we could get back home the same day," said Sangeeta Bangar, who was the captain.
State-owned Air France "will open its capital" to other shareholders "whatever the issue of the talks with the pilots will be" said the airline's chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, in an interview yesterday with French business daily Les Echos. Last month, the French government announced plans for the partial privatization of Air France, including a portion of shares earmarked for pilots and high-revenue employees, in exchange for a 15% pay cut. The pilots rejected the plan in a recent poll.
George Donohue has been stripped of his title as associate administrator for research and acquisitions. He is now special assistant to the administrator.
Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aerea (Aena) said that on Jan. 12, following a short testing period, its automatic surveillance radar- secondary surveillance radar (ADS-SSR) control station (ECA) near Madrid successfully communicated with ADS/Satcom-equipped aircraft of the ADS Europe consortium. ADS enables automatic reporting of an aircraft's position to air traffic control systems on the ground, where the information is displayed to controllers.
FAA's aircrew designated examiner program depends on a "quid pro quo" agreement with airlines and "may preclude FAA from taking enforcement action when warranted," the DOT Office of Inspector General reported. Designated examiner agreements are "quite different than those envisioned by FAA's Flight Operations Quality Assurance Programs," under which FAA "clearly reserves the latitude to take necessary and appropriate enforcement action," the OIG said.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater met yesterday with 25 officials, including Air Carrier Association members, community airport representatives and corporate travelers, to discuss competition, DOT's upcoming predatory policy guidelines and the next round of slot exemptions, which are due roughly within the next several weeks. ACA President Ed Faberman told The DAILY he made the point that - unfortunately - there are "significantly fewer air carrier members today" than when the parties met eight months ago.
Pro Air, a niche carrier based at Detroit City Airport, wants slot exemptions for four daily operations at New York LaGuardia. The carrier, which currently serves Newark, Baltimore/Washington International, Indianapolis, Orlando and Fort Myers, said the prohibitive cost of buying or leasing slots at LaGuardia are a de facto barrier. It plans four daily Detroit-New York roundtips during the week and three on Saturdays and Sundays, using 737-400s with eight first-class and 138 coach seats.
Boeing depended on China and other Asian nations for 39% of its commercial sales in 1997, the company says in its not-yet-mailed annual report. In a 10-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing says about 50% of its contractual backlog value at the end of 1997 was with non-U.S. customers, and about 25% of combined accounts receivable and customer and commercial financing were amounts due from customers outside the U.S.
Vanguard Airlines lost $28.2 million in 1997, including $6.6 million in the fourth quarter. The annual results were worse than a year ago, when the Kansas City-based carrier lost $25.8 million. Quarterly revenues rose 36% to $18.9 million while expenses declined to $24.5 million from $26.4 million. Annual revenues were $81.4 million and expenses $106.8 million. The airline's load factor was 56.7% in the December period, but its breakeven remained much higher at 76.1%.
Omni Air International will operate charters to Hawaii during the 1998 summer season as sub-service to Ryan International Airlines. Ryan will operate the program for Sunquest Holdings, an affiliate of North American Leisure Group. The program will provide daily DC-10-10 charters to Hawaii from Los Angeles and San Francisco.
British Airways told DOT it wants to begin daily Denver-London Gatwick flights June 1 and asked the department to approve its request for a one- year combination-service exemption by March 20. The carrier intends to operate the only Denver-London nonstop service, using 777 aircraft. Under the U.S.-U.K. agreement, U.K. carriers can add one U.S. city. The U.K. made final its decision to accept BA's service proposal last Friday.
DOT revised United Parcel Service's recent exemption to serve Japan and granted initial exemptions to Polar Air Cargo, Federal Express and Japan Airlines requested under the U.S.-Japan agreement. In its initial decision on UPS, DOT limited its approval to points included in the carrier's service proposal (DAILY, March 6), but it "subsequently determined to award the authority at issue on a broader basis." UPS's authority now encompasses scheduled cargo service between points in the U.S.
Virgin Atlantic has begun "Drive-Thru Check-In" at Newark for business- class passengers. The move, two years after the service was introduced at London Heathrow, allows passengers in Virgin's free limousines to check in baggage at the curb.
China Airlines has fired three executives and released the company's entire 60-member advisory board in the aftermath of last month's crash of an Airbus A300-600R in which 202 people were killed. The executives who left the company are Lin Tzu-wen, director of the flight affairs department; Hsiao Jun-tsung, chief of the flight safety office, and Wu Yuan-chun, chief pilot of the A300-600R fleet. CAL also demanded the resignation of more than 60 paid and honorary advisers, including the company's honorary chairman, Wu Jung.
Clinton administration's plan eventually to fund FAA operations exclusively through user fees came under fire yesterday at a hearing of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee on FAA's fiscal 1999 budget request. Panel Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and others questioned the merits of the goal, which FAA Administrator Jane Garvey acknowledged could be difficult to achieve. The agency's budget request is for $9.7 billion.
American last month started its first new-hire class in nearly five years. Twelve recruits will train as 727 flight engineers and will be based in Miami, according to AIR, Inc.
