DHL Airways said yesterday it has selected the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport to build a $170 million hub and sort facility. Ground-breaking for the 150-acre project is contingent on final contract execution by the Kenton County Airport Board and the airport securing infrastructure improvement funds, including a proposed state grant from Kentucky, DHL Airways Chairman Patrick Foley said. The decision is the result of a 24- month review of candidate locations in the Midwest.
House Transportation aviation subcommittee has scheduled hearings during March on reauthorization of FAA and the Airport Improvement Program in light of recommendations of the National Civil Aviation Review Commission. Hearing topics are passenger facility charge increases, March 12 at 9:30 a.m.; FAA and the civil aviation commission, March 18 at 10 a.m.; airports, March 19 at 9:30 a.m., and airport users, March 25 at 10 a.m. All hearings will be conducted in 2167 Rayburn.
SAS Group reported pre-tax income of SEK2.23 billion (US$274.4 million), up 22.8% from a year earlier. Revenues increased 10.6% to SEK38.9 billion ($4.8 billion), but without currency exchange differences in the three- nation carrier, revenue grew 7.6%. Passenger traffic rose 4.2% in 1997 and was strongest late in the year. Traffic within Europe grew 9%, slightly less than the Association of European Airlines group average of 10%.
Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications has ordered the grounding of all nine Airbus A300-600R jetliners belonging to China Air Lines pending the completion of full safety checks. The grounding, in response to Monday night's crash of Flight CI676 at Taiwan's Chiang Kai- shek Airport, has failed to satisfy a growing number of critics, some of whom are calling for the grounding of CAL's entire fleet.
US Airways cannot afford to let low-fare carriers like Southwest continue to invade its routes, President and Chief Operating Officer Rakesh Gangwal told employees yesterday at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. US Airways held a special employee meeting to talk about MetroJet, its new low-fare carrier, which will be based at BWI (DAILY, Feb. 5). "Like it or not, low fares are coming....We decided we couldn't let the Southwests and Delta Expresses of the world take over our route network."
FAA said it is interested in developing a Government Industry Partnership with interested commercial and government entities on the Local Area Augmentation System and will hold a briefing on the issue April 4. The agency said it will try at the briefing to explain its LAAS development method and the subsequent acquisition program. The first stage will involve the development and certification of the system and meeting all requirements through Category 1 operations. Second stage is development and certification including Cat 3.
U.S. Regional Carriers Traffic January 1998 January January % 1998 1997 Change Air Wisconsin Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 45,096 44,879 0.5 Available Seat Miles (000) 85,505 83,260 2.7 Load Factor (%) 52.7 53.9
U.S. National Carriers Traffic January 1998 January January % 1998 1997 Change AirTran Holding Corp.* Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 210,327 N/A N/A Available Seat Miles (000) 394,277 N/A N/A Load Factor (%) 53.3 -- Passengers 325,628 N/A N/A
Korean Air Lines, which curtailed regional service recently, is offering an incredible transpacific fare - $400 roundtrip between Los Angeles and Tokyo. The deal, available only via the Internet, is the first of many Asian destination promotions KAL will offer every two weeks.
Tennessee Sens. Fred Thompson (R) and Bill Frist (R), the latter a member of the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, wrote to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater seeking approval of the Simmons/American Eagle application for 60 weekly slot exemptions to fly from Chicago O'Hare to 10 points including Chattanooga. Noting four months have passed without a decision, the senators said American Eagle has committed to start Chattanooga service June 15 if DOT approves the request by the end of February.
China will spend $2.2 billion in 1998 to upgrade its aviation infrastructure, including large projects in Beijing and Shanghai, China's Xinhua news service reported. The major projects in 1998 are terminal expansion at Beijing Airport and construction of Shanghai's Pudong Airport. In addition, six major programs underway include Yanjiagang Airport in Harbin, Gaoqi Airport in Xiamen, a new apron at Urumqi Airport, and construction at Changbei Airport, Nanchang, Meilan Airport, Kaikou, and Zhongchuan Airport, Lanzhou.
Syracuse government officials last week rejected offers of stock from Northern Airlines in exchange for forgiving a two-year-old $90,000 seed money loan to the would-be startup carrier, instead setting a Sept. 1 deadline for Northern to begin the jet service it promised two years ago or pay back the loan plus interest. Members of the Syracuse Economic Development Corp. (SEDCO), a nonprofit agency controlled by the City of Syracuse, voted unanimously against taking a stake in Northern.
Frontier Airlines lost $11.5 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, citing "a glut of excess capacity added to the Denver market" by Western Pacific before the carrier's shutdown. The loss, worse than the $8 million loss a year earlier, came on $33.1 million in revenue. The quarter was marked by "a series of deep-discounted pricing actions by Western Pacific," which Frontier was forced to match, said Frontier Chief Executive Sam Addoms. Two-thirds of Frontier's capacity overlapped with Westpac's.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater will visit four African nations starting Feb. 20 on a mission to promote transportation development and economic growth under President Clinton's African economic development initiative. Slater will visit Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Mozambique and South Africa, returning Feb. 25.
Pan Am said yesterday it faces "severe liquidity shortfalls" and may not be able to fund its ongoing operation "beyond the immediate future." The airline has received default notices from aircraft leasing firms, and Airline Reporting Corp. has demanded a $3.3 million increase in security deposits. The ARC payment is due by Feb. 23 for travel agent sales and refunds, but Pan Am said in a statement it does not have funds available to pay it. Travel agents sell 70% of Pan Am's tickets.
Lufthansa's board met yesterday to consider forming a short-haul division with six to 14 aircraft using Lufthansa's brand, management and flight crews. But the carrier has not settled on a plan that will lead to progress on the intra-Europe routes and will study the idea a few more weeks.
Mountain Air Express (MAX) will operate fewer flights in the coming week as it makes the transition to become part of Air Wisconsin. Air Wisconsin announced over the weekend it will purchase MAX, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, for $1.5 million from the MAX Acquisition Group. MAX will remain a separate entity and will do business as United Express. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver is expected to approve the transaction Friday.
After a decade of technology investment, Pratt&Whitney plans to certify within three years the PW8000, a geared medium-thrust turbofan for 120- to 180-passenger narrowbodies. P&W is trying to claw back some of the market share it has lost over the past decade to the CFM International joint venture of GE and Snecma, losses only partly offset by its investment in CFMI rival International Aero Engines and the V2500 medium turbofan.
Franco Mancassola, chairman and chief executive of U.K.-based, low-cost, low-fare airline Debonair, has expressed concern about the new British Airways subsidiary GO to the European Commission's competition directorate in Brussels. Mancassola claims the BA subsidiary is not entering the low- cost, low-fare market as a fair and sporting competitor.
United took one more opportunity to question DOT's tentative decision granting code-share authority to the American-TACA partnership, responding in part to American assertions that United submitted incomplete and misleading information by failing to note new competition between U.S. carriers to Central American points. Among these, American said earlier this month, are service introductions by Continental from Houston, Newark and Los Angeles; Delta from Atlanta and United from Chicago.
Sabena's restructuring efforts of the past two years will pay off in substantially improved financial performance for 1997, according to Chief Executive Paul Reutlinger. Speaking in anticipation of the carrier's 1997 final results, expected at monthend, Reutlinger said, "There will be a significant improvement in our operating results" compared with 1996, when Sabena posted an operating loss of 4 billion Belgian francs (US$112 million).
