National Transportation Safety Board yesterday asked FAA to issue an airworthiness directive "as soon as possible" requiring detailed inspection of fuel quantity indication system wiring in Boeing 747-100/200/300 aircraft and to issue another AD requiring the "earliest possible replacement" of Honeywell terminal blocks on 747 fuel probes with blocks that do not have sharp edges. The board's recommendations grew out of its investigation of the crash of TWA 800.
Boeing named Richard James president-Boeing Europe, a new position in which James will represent the company's three principal aerospace activities - commercial, military and space. James, who was VP-commercial business development, will be based in Brussels. Boeing has more than 400 major suppliers in 19 European countries.
Emirates has signed a $56 million contract with Matsushita Avionics Systems and will be the first airline to equip its fleet with the advanced Matsushita 2000E inflight entertainment and telecommunications system. The contract covers the equipment, installation and maintenance for two Boeing 777s due to arrive this year and for 16 Airbus A330-200s scheduled for delivery between 1999 and 2002.
Air New Zealand will sell some assets within its Mount Cook Group subsidiary to Tourism Holdings Limited, a major tourism operator in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. Assets in the transaction include fixed-wing aircraft used for ski plane and scenic flights, a fleet of helicopters and Mount Cook Line surface coaches. The airline will continue to own and operate Mount Cook Airlines, which recently added 66-seat ATR 72 turboprops. The regional aircraft took over the Christchurch-Invercargill route, which Air New Zealand has operated with 737-200s.
US Airways will add Miami and Jacksonville to its MetroJet routes, effective July 6, when the low-cost subsidiary will begin two daily nonstop roundtrips to each point from Baltimore. On the same date, MetroJet will add two daily flights between Baltimore and Manchester, N.H., bringing to five the total number of daily nonstops it operates in the market.
It's a rare airline that does not know the value by now of selling via the Internet, and many are adding new products to put them ahead of the competition or improving their online booking services.
Several small carriers said yesterday they are happy with DOT's proposal to crack down on alleged anticompetitive behavior by the major carriers. Paul Dempsey, vice chairman at Frontier, which claims it was hurt by such behavior by United, said his carrier is "very optimistic.
Boeing delivered 108 jet transports in the first quarter - 34 737 series, 12 next-generation 737s, 12 747s, 11 757s, 10 767s, 20 777s, two MD-80s, four MD-90s and three MD-11s. The company expects to deliver 550 aircraft this year.
Reno Air will discontinue its Gulfport-Biloxi and Tampa-St. Petersburg service on June 1. Chief Executive Joe O'Gorman said eliminating the service is part of the company's efforts to rationalize its schedule, reduce costs and focus on its core markets.
British Midland has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321. The carrier will receive 12 A321s and 10 A320s over the next five years and will take three A321s in the first half of this year.
Standard&Poor's assigned a double-C rating to TWA's $150 million 11.375% senior unsecured notes due 2006. S&P also affirmed its triple-C corporate credit rating and revised the outlook to positive from stable.
An unnamed investment fund is investing $15 million in Denver-based Frontier Airlines, receiving 33.3% of the carrier's outstanding stock and the right to designate two directors. Frontier said yesterday that it accepted a commitment from the investor to buy 4,615,385 newly issued shares of Frontier common stock at $3.25 per share. The investment fund also will receive warrants to purchase 758,000 additional shares at an exercise price of $3.75 per share.
America West will report first quarter profits at the upper end of analysts' estimates, Chairman William Franke said yesterday. The company, which will report earnings April 21, said most estimates put first quarter per-share earnings between 40 cents and 47 cents. In addition, America West expects strong second quarter results if fuel prices remain stable during the period. In last year's first quarter, when fuel prices were increasing, the airline posted a record net profit of $14 million and earnings per share of 31 cents.
U.S. Carriers Average Aircraft Operations By Aircraft Type Year Ended Third Quarter 1997 Aircraft Average Aircraft Per Day Operated Per Day Block Hours Departures RPMs ASMs Turboprops ATR-42 73 8.3 6.9 37,458 67,416 ATR-72 43 8.4 6.6 55,640 100,101
DOT made final its tentative reselection of Great Lakes Aviation to provide subsidized Essential Air Service at Dickinson, N.D., for two more years, through March 31, 2000. Doing business as United Express, the carrier is to operate 12 weekly nonstop roundtrips to Denver using 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft. Annual compensation is $329,673. (Docket OST-95-697)
US Airways yesterday opened the second phase of its new terminal at Boston Logan Airport. The facility will feature a 27,000-square-foot passenger gate area and a 75% increase in space for US Airways.
Stephen Munro, group publisher, newsletters at Hart Publications Inc., Rockville, Md., will become publisher of Aviation Week Newsletters on April 27, Kenneth Gazzola, executive VP of McGraw-Hill Aviation Week Group, announced yesterday. Munro, an editor at McGraw-Hill energy newsletters from 1981 to 1989, has been in editorial and publishing positions at Thompson Publishing Group Inc. and Hart Publications since then. He succeeds Edmund Pinto, who left McGraw-Hill in February to become a managing director at GKMG Consulting Services Inc.
Representatives of the U.S. and France are excepted to conclude a new air transport agreement today in Paris. Last week's talks continued through the weekend, and "we hope to come to an agreement on Tuesday," said a spokesman for the French ministry of foreign affairs, adding that the negotiators are "solving wording problems, which takes a long time." The two sides are "getting very close," U.S. government sources confirmed. "We're very pleased with the progress," said a U.S.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration is permitting Formosa Airlines to resume service between Taichung and Hualien, Kaohsiung and Taitung, routes that only Formosa has authority to serve. The CAA grounded all Formosa flights following the crash March 18 of a Saab 340 in which 13 people died. A CAA official said Formosa completed a series of special safety checks to qualify itself to resume service on the three routes. Formosa will be operating 25 flights per day, about one quarter of its pre- March 18 operations.
Association of Flight Attendants has represented flight attendants at Tower Air for 10 years, the association said. Tower President and Executive VP-Operations Terry Hallcolm said he believed AFA is new to Tower (DAILY, April 3).
DOT approved an initial one-year exemption for Mexicana to conduct scheduled combination service between co-terminal points Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta and Tampa. Separately, the department granted new authority to Condor Flugdienst to display Mexicana's code on flights between the three North American points and Frankfurt. Condor requested one-year authority but DOT granted it only through Aug. 23, 1998. (Docket OST-98-3591)
Air France completed the reorganization of its top management last week with the appointment of Pierre-Henri Gourgeon to succeed Marc Veron as executive director general. Gourgeon and Air Frances' Chairman, Jean Cyril Spinetta, worked together in several ministerial cabinets. In 1990, they organized the grouping of France's state-owned airline companies - Air France purchased Air Inter and UTA - under the authority of former Transport Minister Michel Delebarre.
DOT approved an indefinite-duration renewal of seven U.S.-Brazil combination frequencies for Delta, which uses them to provide scheduled service between Atlanta and co-terminal points Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. DOT is making such allocations contingent on carriers continuing to hold the underlying authority to serve the markets involved. In granting Delta's Brazil request, DOT used a streamlined version of its Notice of Action Taken process, rather than issuing an "oral approval" followed up by a confirming order. (Docket OST-98-3442)
