Barlow Investors III, an individual investor group managed by former Continental Express executive Jonathan Ornstein, would have controlled close to 20% of the voting power of Continental Airlines if David Bonderman's holdings were sold and converted to common stock. Since the Bonderman shares were put into a voting trust, Barlow decided to sell some of its holding as well, in a separate purchase by Northwest Airlines last week valued at $59.5 million (DAILY, March 9).
French airline AOM signed a code-sharing agreement with TAP Air Portugal, due to take effect at the end of summer. Like TAP, AOM recently entered commercial agreements with Swissair and Sabena. AOM and TAP intend to develop their activities on routes linking Portugal with the South of France, as well as on intercontinental routes served by AOM, such as Sydney and Cayenne. Under the agreement with Swissair, AOM also will launch a service between Paris Orly Airport and Zurich, serving the route three times daily with 737-500s.
AlliedSignal said it is in a joint venture with Shanghai Avionics Corp. to assemble and sell avionics equipment and services in China. The venture intends to assemble and test radars, direction finders and communications equipment. Other AlliedSignal products eventually could be added to the joint venture, the company said.
Aviation Sales Co. said yesterday it completed its previously announced merger with Caribe Aviation and Caribe subsidiary Aircraft Interiors. The purchase price was about $25 million.
FAA's 23rd annual Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. The theme of this year's conference is "Overcoming Barriers to World Competition and Growth." Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey are scheduled to speak. Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, will be the March 12 luncheon speaker. The event is co-sponsored by Airports Council International-North America.
February was a good month for pilots. Twelve of the 14 major airlines produced 355 new pilot jobs during the month, according to AIR Inc.'s March report, and overall 1,305 found jobs. So far in 1998, 2,458 pilots have been hired. The major airlines hired 683 and national carriers accounted for 831.
Malaysia Airlines will add Asia-U.S. service in a non-standard routing - via the Middle East. The airline's Boeing 777s will operate from Kuala Lumpur via Dubai to Newark. The route becomes the first nonstop service between the Persian Gulf nation and the U.S. The service, which will operate three times weekly, is part of the airline's attempt to establish a hub in Dubai. The direct service will take 19.5 hours from Newark and 21 hours from Kuala Lumpur, beginning April 13.
Boeing said yesterday it has selected SR Technics to perform flight deck conversions as part of a program to reconfigure FedEx DC-10s into MD-10 cargo aircraft. SR Technics will modify 15 airplanes at its Zurich facility, beginning in 2000, and Boeing has options for as many as 10 more. Boeing said SR Technics's installation of the Advanced Common Flightdeck is the second phase of work in the program. The first phase, converting the fuselage to freighter configuration, is under way at Goodyear, Ariz., Mobile, Ala., and Venice, Italy.
The German and French transport ministers have given their backing to an Irish demand for a new study into the effects of abolishing duty-free sales in Europe 16 months from now. Mary O'Rourke, Ireland's Minister for Public Enterprise, last week expressed satisfaction with the support of Bonn and Paris for her campaign to ensure survival of the duty-free sector in Europe.
Air Wisconsin reported a 4.6% drop in traffic and a 0.8% rise in capacity for February 1998 over February 1997, which caused the load factor to decline 3.1 percentage points. The carrier reported 43.0 million revenue passenger miles and 77.2 million available seat miles. Load factor was 55.8%. Passengers enplaned rose 0.3% to 155,485. Year-to-date RPMs dropped 2.1%, while ASMs rose 1.8%, pushing the load factor down 2.1 points. Passengers enplaned rose 0.7%.
Delta and Aeropostal signed a code-share agreement between the U.S. and Venezuela. Pending government approval, the Venezuelan carrier will put its code on Delta's new Atlanta-Caracas flights, which begin April 2. Aeropostal started up in January 1997 and operates DC-9s.
Honeywell said it has received FAA certification for its new-generation "Pegasus" flight management system, "ushering in the long-anticipated era of Communication/Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management" (CNS/ATM). The new FMS received its first certifications on Boeing 757 and 767 and MD- 90 aircraft.
Aerospatiale reported that its net income jumped to $236 million in 1997, up 75% from the previous year's results, on sales that increased 11%. The company said all business segments shared in the performance gain. The order book stands at an all-time high of $26.8 billion.
The number of takeoffs and landings at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport could rise by a staggering 100,000 per year beyond current levels, according to Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma. In a letter last week to the Dutch parliament's lower house, she said the increase could take place "in due course" and subject to "certain conditions." Currently, a maximum of 380,000 movements is authorized at Schiphol in 1998. The Dutch government has restricted future growth to about 20,000 aircraft movements a year until 2003.
Belgium's intention to sell 17% of Sabena already is attracting a possible buyer - Sabena partner Virgin Express is considering an investment. Among the two carriers' current cooperative activities is the Brussels-London route.
Russia's Transaero Airlines is forming the first aviation alliance among Russian civil aviation firms to improve growth and competitiveness with foreign airlines. The initiative, called Commonwealth of Independent States Alliance (CISA), includes two companies, Transaero and Uzbekistan Khavo Jullary. Their goals for CISA include increasing air service, encouraging competition with foreign airlines, improving quality and helping operations become more efficient.
World Airways has signed an agreement to lease cargo aircraft to Florida Jet Support to provide service from the U.S. to points in South America, World said yesterday. The carrier also will supply crews, maintenance and insurance for a 14-month term. World will provide a DC-10-30 freighter for two months and an MD-11 for the balance of the agreement. Russell Ray, World president, said the deal is a "significant step toward achieving World's 1998 goals by building a base of new cargo customers."
CMF International said yesterday that Ryanair ordered CFM56-7B engines valued at $300 million to power 25 737-800s on firm order from Boeing. (See related story on Page 399.) CFMI said China Eastern placed an order valued at $140 million for CFM56-5B/P engines to power 10 new Airbus A320 aircraft.
Delta's traffic decreased 1.2% to 6.98 billion revenue passenger miles in February on capacity of 10.43 billion available seat miles, down 0.4%. The load factor fell 0.5 percentage points to 66.9%. Domestic operations accounted for the downturn - traffic was off 2.3% and capacity 1.3%, and the load factor lost 0.7 points. International traffic increased 3.6% on 3.2% more capacity, adding 0.3 points to the load factor. For the first two months of 1998, traffic rose 0.1% and capacity 0.6%, pushing the load factor down 0.3 points to 65.5%.
America West posted an 8.2% drop in February traffic on 1.1% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 6.1 percentage points to 61.1%. The load factor for the first two months of 1998 was 60.2%, down 4.8 points. The airline said revenue performance for February was in line with expectations. America West carried 131,000 fewer passengers last month than in February 1997. February 1998 February 1997 2 Months 1998 2 Months 1997 RPMs 1,114,397,000 1,213,280,000 2,293,623,000 2,458,016,000
Ryanair, one of Europe's leading low-fare airlines, ordered 25 737-800s and placed options on another 20, Boeing said yesterday. The manufacturer said Ryanair, which already operates 20 737-200s, said its experience with these aircraft led to the decision.
Lufthansa's 1997 profits shot up almost 100% compared with the previous year, the airline plans to announce next month, according to this week's issue of German news magazine Der Spiegel. The German airline declined comment on the report. Lufthansa posted a profit of 686 million Deutschmarks (US$412 million) in 1996. Last year's profit of almost DM1.3 billion ($780 million) was buoyed by the strength of the dollar and the pound sterling, as well as a cost-cutting plan launched in 1996, the magazine reported.
Tower Air reported 33.1% growth in traffic and 20.3% in capacity in February, which pushed the load factor up 7.2 percentage points over February 1997. Tower reported a 30.5% increase in block hours, to 2,511. The carrier flew 229 million revenue passenger miles and 308 million available seat miles for a load factor of 74.4%. Year-to-date RPMs rose 32.5% and ASMs 17.6%, increasing the load factor 8.5 points. Total block hours flown went up 36.0%.
