Passengers on Continental and Continental Express can now use their cellular phones aboard the aircraft during boarding and deplaning while the main cabin door is open.
DOT issued an order Friday finding the American-LanChile application for antitrust immunity complete and calling on parties to file formal comment. Chile initialed an open-skies agreement with the U.S. but will conclude it only if DOT approves the American-LanChile bid.
FAA has renamed its Interim Host Replacement program the Host and Oceanic Computer System Replacement program, at least part of which might be developed under an existing FAA contract with Lockheed Martin. The renaming is said to reflect FAA's sensitivity at describing to Congress as "interim" a program on which it may spend more than $100 million. The program is considered urgent, however, because FAA cannot assure that the current Host systems at its 20 air route traffic control centers, will be able to operate safety and avoid groundings or delays on Jan.
Mitre has presented an alternative airspace modernization plan to the FAA National Airspace System Modernization Task Force. The company recommends major changes from the agency's current architecture plan, which it says is too risky and suffers from "unresolved institutional issues and lack of user commitment." Some of Mitre's changes would focus on near-term user benefits and delay some of FAA's planned full-scale development programs.
Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities recommended type validation of the next-generation 737-700, Boeing said last week. Actual type certificates will be awarded by individual countries. FAA certified the aircraft Nov. 7, 1997.
Cost-cutting Pan Am will lay off about 30 pilots and 50 flight attendants and ground its remaining A300s on Wednesday. It will cut service between New York Kennedy and Nassau, Ponce and Santo Domingo. In the next several weeks it will increase layoffs to 225 people, 15% of its work force, and 16 aircraft will remain. A spokesman said Pan Am has no current plans for more layoffs and will concentrate on core routes such as Miami-San Juan, New York-Miami, and New York-Fort Lauderdale.
Barringer Technologies, which produces explosives detection equipment, said fourth quarter revenues increased 106% to $7.3 million and net income 104% to $1.9 million. For the year, revenues rose 108% to $22.7 million and net income 179% to $5.8 million.
Sun Country's 225 pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have reached a tentative agreement with management on their first contract following nearly two years of negotiations.
DOT granted US Airways initial one-year exemption authority to operate daily nonstops in the Charlotte-London Gatwick market, beginning May 7. The order also designated Charlotte a new U.S. gateway and withdrew the movable gateway designations of Cleveland and Fort Lauderdale, which became dormant absent a "firm proposal" for service by Continental or Laker.
European Commission has not given up its objections over slot issues surrounding the U.S.-Japan framework agreement, and insists Japanese authorities treat slot availability impartially. Since U.S. airlines have five times as many slots as European Union airlines at Tokyo Narita, the EC said in a statement Friday, "Any allocated slots that over a period of time are not used should be reallocated according to fair and transparent criteria designed in part to favor new market entrants." Although Japan has said it will apply IATA rules, the EC said, "the U.S.
Rockwell Collins said it was selected to provide the full suite of navigation and communications equipment, collision avoidance systems and weather radar for the new Boeing Business Jet. The Collins multi-mode receiver was chosed for GPS navigation.
KLM Cargo is setting up a committee of industry and government representatives to study new pan-European safety rules that go into effect April 1 in 27 European countries. The rules, promulgated by the Joint Aviation Authorities, are known as the Joint Aviation Requirements for Operations, or JAR-OPS. The KLM Cargo committee brings together Dutch freight forwarder and air shipper organizations and government agencies to review how to implement the JAR-OPS rules.
British Airways flight attendant Susan Harwood drew on previous experience as a nurse to calm a passenger and avoid a diversion to Russia on a nonstop Hong Kong-London flight. She persuaded an elderly man, who tried to open a cabin door and claimed he was being abducted by aliens, to think of her as his nurse. She guided the man, who hadn't taken his medicine, to "a hospital bed" - a row of seats.
Orally approved a two-year exemption for Nicaraguense de Aviacion (NICA) to conduct scheduled foreign combination service, using wet-leased aircraft, from points behind Nicaragua, via Nicaragua and intermediate points to a point or points in the U.S. and beyond, plus charters...Orally approved an initial two-year exemption for Compania Panamena de Aviacion (COPA) to conduct scheduled foreign combination service from points behind Panama via Panama and intermediate points to a point or points in the U.S.
US Airways' MetroJet moniker for its low-fare offshoot results from a competition in which employees submitted 4,200 entries, 2,200 of which were not duplicates. The task force overseeing the launch of the new service whittled the entries down to 20 and settled on MetroJet after talking with employees and consumers.
The National Mediation Board will investigate Association of Flight Attendants charges that Midway Airlines interfered unlawfully with a representation election Feb. 13. AFA is asking the board to overturn the election and certify AFA as bargaining representative (DAILY, Feb. 19). With 130 flight attendants eligible to vote, AFA received 62 votes, four short of certification. NMB invalidated three ballots.
American plans to launch service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Chicago Midway in May or June, sources said. The carrier has never served Midway but has a large O'Hare presence. The move is competitive with Southwest, which is backing a $722 million expansion at Midway, and pre-emptive against soon- to-start Legend Airlines, which had named Dallas-Chicago as one of three startup routes. More details of the Midway service are expected this week.
Airbus remains confident in the wake of IATA's reduced traffic forecast based on concern over financial turmoil in the Asia/Pacific region (DAILY, Feb. 20). A spokesman said, "Airbus does not anticipate any major change to its global forecast published in March 1997. There may be some short- term limitations, with some delivery slots on firm orders put back to 1999 or 2000." The manufacturer says it has had no indications of cancellations so far.
FAA said Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland comply with international safety standards under its foreign assessment program, which evaluates the work of civil aviation authorities.
Planned job cuts by KLM-UK, KLM's regional operator in Britain, are harbingers of approaching job losses linked to the June 30, 1999, deadline for abolishing duty-free sales in intra-European Union travel, according to the Federation of Transport Workers Unions in the EU (FST). FST said it has been notified by its U.K. affiliate, the Transport and General Workers Union, that KLM-UK will reduce cabin crews on jet services by 25% when they cease to make duty-free sales, starting April 1. The Brussels-based group released the job loss statistics Feb. 19.
Atlas Air promoted Richard Shuyler to executive VP-strategic planning and appointed Stephen Nevin chief financial officer. BAX Global named Shelley Uitzetter director-quality. Northwest appointed Dwayne Tucker VP-human resources. South African Airways appointed Phillip Bekker executive VP-Americas. Southern Air Transport appointed Clarence Lindsey senior VP-technical services. US Airways named Thomas Fink VP-purchasing, expanding the position to include responsibility for the aircraft sales unit.
Inside The Sky, A Meditation On Flight by William Langewiesche. A commercial pilot and former foreign correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly describes what the pilot sees, thinks and feels and how flight has altered humanity's vision of the world. Pantheon Books; $24.95, available in June 1998. To order, call Meryl Zegarek, 212-572-2687.
AirTran Holdings, the parent of AirTran Airways and AirTran Airlines, lost $96.7 million in 1997, more than double the loss of $41.5 million in 1996. The company's fourth quarter net loss was $54.3 million. Revenue fell to $211.5 million from $219.6 million while expenses jumped to $313.2 million from $271 million. Fourth quarter expenses included $5.2 million to repaint aircraft, eliminating the former ValuJet brand, plus spending to establish the new brand and put in business-class seating.
