Rolls-Royce confirmed that its Trent 800 engine will power eight new 777- 200ERs ordered by American, bringing the carrier's total 777 orders to 19, and two option aircraft ordered by Delta, increasing its firm 777 orders to 12. Rolls valued the new business at $250 million.
The Los Angeles-Phoenix route was the 15th largest short-haul market in the third quarter 1997. A chart showing the top 25 short-haul markets assigned the ranking to an incorrect city-pair (DAILY, April 3). See corrected chart on Page 34.
FAA Office of Regulation and Certification this week is scheduled to submit its plans for complying with year 2000 (Y2K) standards, Ray Long, Y2K program director, said Friday. Long said FAA has a right to expect that avionics and aircraft manufacturers also are in compliance with the standards.
Evergreen International Aviation named Gerald Koenig assistant general counsel and Thomas Lydon director-government affairs. Midway appointed Dan Ryan VP-customer service. Northwest Airlines Cargo re-elected Gregg Pittelkow, business analyst-Cargo Business Results Team, to IATA's Live Animals and Perishables Board. Omni Air International named Charles Pollard managing director. Polar Air Cargo appointed Michael Hartley VP-flight operations.
Wingspan, the Air and Space Channel, began 24-hours-per-day, seven-days- per-week cable TV operations Thursday, providing programming on all facets of aviation and aerospace. Within its first week of operation, the channel will be available in the U.S., Austria, The Netherlands, Norway and parts of Belgium and England. Media General, Fairfax, Va., was the first cable system to sign up to carry Wingspan.
DOT granted Continental an initial two-year exemption to serve several points in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, and points beyond them, provided that the U.S. has open-skies agreements with the beyond countries or the carrier holds authority to serve them. Continental also may operate service between points in the U.S. and Belize City, Belize, and integrate that authority with existing authority.
China Southern, maintaining its dominance in the increasingly competitive domestic Chinese airline business, increased its operating profits 14.1% to RMB2.35 billion US($282 million) in 1997. Revenue increased 12.6% to RMB12.8 billion ($1.54 billion), and net profit rose 57% to RMB1.14 billion ($137 million). The carrier, which operates 273 routes within China, ranked first among Chinese airlines with a 27.1% share of the market. Traffic rose 6.4% to 17.8 billion revenue passenger kilometers, and the airline carried 15.24 million passengers.
Airports Council International-North America named Jeffrey Goodell VP- government affairs. Professional Aviation Maintenance Association named Edward Hendricks, director-maintenance for Marc Fruchter Aviation Inc., recipient of its 1998 Award of Excellence. Women In Aviation International inducted Peggy Baty, president and founder, into the Crown Circle for Aerospace Education Leadership.
Southwest chief Herb Kelleher is keeping his own salary steady. As pay soars at other carriers - Delta's new chief financial officer won a multi- million-dollar pay and benefit package, for example - Kelleher's compensation remained the same for the third straight year: $395,000, with a $172,000 bonus in 1997. US Airways' number four officer, John Long, received $680,000 last year.
Revised* -- Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers Third Quarter 1997 1997 1997 Nonstop Average Sht Hl Mkt Mileage Pax Top Carrier Rank Rank City-Pair Per Day (% Share) 1 2 Chicago - New York 723 7,894 United (39.5) 2 3 Honolulu - Kahului 100 6,895 Aloha (54.6)
Secretary Rodney Slater is scheduled to announce DOT's predatory practices policy today in Washington. As aviation interests anticipated it last week, Vanguard chief Robert Spane gave a Senate hearing a view of predation that goes beyond price matching. In 1996, Vanguard announced routes from Dallas/Fort Worth to Midwest cities. The "major carrier" at DFW - American - immediately reduced fares, boosted Kansas City service from nine flights per day to 12, replaced three Wichita turboprops with jets and resumed service to Cincinnati, which it left two years before.
Programs to privatize 15 airports are due for announcement in the March- April period, says Michael McGhee, managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston. Birmingham, Dusseldorf, Rome, Melbourne and Bristol are on the record, and airports in Berlin, Mexico City, Peru and New Zealand are expected this month.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has displaced the International Association of Machinists as the representative of mechanics and related employees at Alaska Airlines. AMFA won representation by a margin of nearly two to one in a vote conducted last week in Washington, D.C. AMFA National Chairman O.V. Delle-Femine said the union has enough cards to initiate elections at Northwest and Southwest Airlines.
- Orally approved an initial two-year exemption for ALM 1997 Airline to conduct scheduled foreign combination service from points behind the Netherlands Antilles, via the Netherlands Antilles and intermediate points, to points in the U.S.
Cockpit Weather Decisions by Terry Lankford. A no-nonsense guide to understanding the effects of weather on flight. McGraw-Hill; $31.95, paper. To order, call 1-800-722-4726.
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Board elected William Miller chairman and Howard McNulty vice chairman of the board. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey named Anastasia Song commissioner.
Air Transport Association reported an increase of 1.9% in revenue passenger miles in February compared with the same month last year. International RPMs increased 4.4% and domestic RMPs 1.0%. ATA reported a systemwide load factor of 66.1%, down 0.2 percentage points. The load factor was 67.3% for international flights and 65.8% for domestic.
Delta and Swissair cargo officials announced an alliance in which they will remain equal and separate partners while marketing their cargo capacity as a single network. They will use the cargo sales forces of both companies in common cities and offer joint pricing, beginning June 1 in Zurich. The combination is expected to be completed worldwide, including in the U.S., within 18 months. Swisscargo is the cargo marketing subsidiary of SAirLogistics, one of four corporate divisions of the SAirGroup.
Instrument Flying, 4th ed., by Richard Taylor. Provides complete, up- to-date information on every facet of IFR flight. McGraw-Hill; $29.95. To order, call 1-800-722-4726.
- In Federal Register dated March 27...Issued an airworthiness directive on Bombardier Cl-600 aircraft to require disabling the remote fuel/defuel panel...Proposed an AD on certain Airbus A300, A310 and A300-600 aircraft to require replacing the non-return valves in the engine fuel feed lines...Reopened the comment period on Boeing 747 series aircraft concerning a proposed requirement on shielding electrical wiring...Proposed an AD on Douglas DC-10 and MD-11 aircraft to require inspection of the lubrication holes on the forward trunnion spacer assembly...Proposed an AD
Northwest is asking its pilots for health insurance concessions that would cost each pilot's family about $1,705 in 1998, according to the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit. Among company proposals: each pilot family would pay 15% of insurance premiums, and deductibles would increase 250%.
US Airways Chairman Stephen Wolf received $323,857 in "other" compensation last year, in addition to a $500,000 base salary and $500,000 bonus. In the fine print of a securities filing, US Airways said it paid Wolf $168,724 in moving expenses, $101,316 in pension contributions and $53,816 in life insurance. The "other" total is enough to pay 16 full-time flight attendants.
Transport Canada is beginning a review of Canada's international passenger charter policy with a goal of liberalizing the air charter regime further. The Canadian Transportation Agency last year proposed regulatory changes dealing with international charters within the context of Canada's 1978 policy, but Transport Minister David Collenette plans to issue a new policy later this year and refer the issue to CTA for preparation of new regulations.
