-- In Federal Register dated Feb. 6...Issued an airworthiness directive on British Aerospace 748 aircraft requiring inspection of the gust locks of the flight control system...Superseded an AD on Fokker F28 aircraft concerning failures of the emergency direct current alternating current bus power supply...Issued an AD on Eurocopter SA-365/366 helicopters requiring inspection of the main gearbox magnetic plug.
LanChile's 1997 profits leaped 68% to $64.1 million from $38 million the year earlier. The result includes a $3.3 million charge related to aircraft returns and other items. The airline will issue complete audited results in early March.
National Transportation Safety Board member John Goglia is among people being mentioned as a potential FAA deputy administrator. His nomination is urged by members of Congress and some industry officials, who point to his operational and technical background. Other names in circulation are John Fearnsides, senior VP and general manager of Mitre; John Kern, senior VP- operations and safety at Northwest, and Robert Baker, executive VP- operations at American. George Donohue, the original nominee, withdrew and plans to leave the agency (DAILY, Feb. 10).
Skymark Airlines, the Japanese low-fare startup airline formed by a travel agent organization, has applied for a business license to start service. Skymark intends to begin Tokyo-Fukuoka service Sept. 13 using 309-seat 767- 300s leased from a U.S. firm. The route is one of the most heavily traveled in the world. Skymark has $10.6 million in initial capital. Five other Japanese startups are waiting in the wings.
WestJet Airlines will begin service to Winnipeg from Calgary on March 20. The Canadian 737 carrier will provide connecting service to Edmonton, Vancouver and other points in Canada. WestJet, two years old next week, cited Greyhound Airlines' failure and the rise in air fares in Winnipeg as reasons to consider the service.
Europe's major airlines say they want rapid passage and implementation of the European Union's draft directive on airport charges. "We want the legislation to be introduced in a strong, effective way and not watered down to a meaningless document, as happened with the EU's ground-handling directive," said Sefik Yuksel, general manager for trade affairs at the Association of European Airlines.
United is upgrading its medical equipment aboard all aircraft, including adding automatic external defibrillators. Corporate Medical Director Gary Kohn said the equipment will be placed on United's entire fleet.
Former FAA administrators will meet Feb. 24 with current Administrator Jane Garvey, who is heeding advice from House Appropriations transportation subcommittee chairman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) that she establish an "informal working group" of former FAA chiefs. Wolf said the subcommittee believes the "views of these former executives could be invaluable in helping shape the agency's future."
National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday it is suing a Cleveland law firm for violating a federal law barring lawyers from soliciting business from the families of accident victims within 30 days of an accident. The suit is the first attempt to enforce the prohibition, the board said. The case against James Lebovitz and the firm of Nurenberg, Plevin, Heller&McCarthy, with offices in Cleveland and New York City, is being prosecuted by the Justice Department as a violation of the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996.
DOT selected Great Lakes Aviation to provide Essential Air Service to North Platte and Scotts-bluff, Neb. The order stated that DOT "is relying on the subsidy-free proposal," which showed that the routes would be profitable, submitted by the carrier. Great Lakes will operate the service as United Express. Mesa Airlines, the incumbent, also had submitted a proposal for EAS service. (Dockets OST-97-2954, 2955)
SkyWest Airlines, operating as United Express, is adding flights out of Los Angeles to Bakersfield, Carlsbad, Fresno, Inyokern, Orange County, Oxnard, and Visalia. Service will be phased in beginning April 23. SkyWest also is adding roundtrip service at Seattle and Portland on April 23. Service will be available from Portland to Eugene, Medford, Pasco, Redding, Redmond, and Seattle/Tacoma. Service will go from Seattle/Tacoma to Bellingham, Eugene, Pasco, Portland, and Yakima.
An FAA audit on Boeing 737s following the SilkAir accident Dec. 19, 1997, found no safety issues in the way Boeing builds and assembles 737 horizontal stabilizers, although it identified some non-safety-related problems, Tom McSweeny, director of aircraft certification service, said yesterday. The detailed Aircraft Certification Systems Evaluation Program (ACSEP) audit was carried out Jan. 12-21 at plants in Renton, Wash., and Wichita, Kan. McSweeny said FAA inspectors found 12 instances where the company did not comply with its quality control system.
Boeing said yesterday it plans to sell its commercial helicopter business and become a subcontractor in the Bell-Boeing joint venture on the 609 commercial tiltrotor aircraft, in order to concentrate on the military market. Boeing said it is negotiating with several potential buyers. The company said it has agreed to transfer its tiltrotor interest to Bell Helicopter Textron as of March 1.
SkyWest this week added an insult - an agreement to take over the Fresno maintenance facility of Mesa unit WestAir - to an injury - WestAir's earlier loss of its United franchise on the West Coast to SkyWest. The fate of Mesa's Denver United Express franchise is still undecided. SkyWest will use the Fresno facility for the additional four or five San Francisco- based Embraer Brasilias each night that cannot be handled by its Palm Springs and Salt Lake City maintenance bases. The carrier is increasing its Brasilia fleet by 17, to 67 aircraft.
Airport executives speaking yesterday before a Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee hearing advocated lifting the $3 cap on passenger facility charges, but Air Transport Association's Edward Merlis opposed that move, citing FAA's approval of a rail project for New York Kennedy as an example of misdirected funding.
SkyWest reported a 0.5% rise in traffic to 55.9 million revenue passenger miles and a 2% increase in capacity to 121.4 million available seat miles for January 1998, compared with the same year-ago month. January 1998 January 1997 Rev. Passenger Miles 55,863,820 55,576,273 Available Seat Miles 121,378,550 118,950,780 Load Factor (%) 46.0 46.7 Passengers 231,096 211,542
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) will discuss his legislation on small-community air service, the recently completed U.S.-Japan framework agreement and other aviation-related issues on Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
General aviation industry, completing a turnaround since passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act, last year had record billings of $4.7 billion, up from $3.1 billion the previous year, reported Ed Bolen, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. He predicted that 1998 "will be even better." Shipments were the highest since 1985, rising to 1,569 units from 1,130 the previous year. Piston-engine aircraft sales leaped 64.2% to 985 from 600. Business jet sales were up 44.4% to 348 from 241. Turboprop sales declined 18.3% to 236 from 289.
Franklin Resources, the investment house that recently took a 9% stake in Mesa Air Group, has followed up with an 11.4% stake in United Express Atlantic Coast Airlines (DAILY, Jan. 30). Unlike in the Mesa acquisition, Franklin had no ancillary comments concerning the ACA acquisition in its filing with the SEC. In the Mesa filing, Franklin chided the carrier for getting into the aircraft distribution business with the Sino Swearingen SJ30 small business jet through its Four Corners Aviation FBO subsidiary and said it should stick to its core business.
Aloha Airlines and its Air Line Pilots Association unit have reached a tentative contract agreement after 10 days of intense negotiations with the help of a federal mediator. The contract will take effect upon ratification and run through June 30, 2002.
