The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) is accusing the airline of releasing details of management's proposed scope clause in an attempt to win pilot support. IACP and Continental are in contract negotiations under the National Mediation Board, and IACP VP and negotiating committee chairman Bill Borrelli said management is attempting to negotiate directly with the pilots. He said the scope clause as presented by Continental offers no protection in a successorship or merger transaction, substantial asset sale or change in ownership.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority took its own vote to approve renaming Washington National Airport in honor of former President Ronald Reagan. Board members were concerned about issues of local control of the airport, which is operated by the authority but whose site is owned by the federal government and leased to MWAA.
Northwest and China Airlines added their support to American's DOT petition proposing that the department lessen the burden on carriers and itself by establishing indefinite duration for certain authorities (DAILY, Jan. 28). China Airlines, which has a code-share agreement with American, said adoption would "inject a healthy dose of common sense into the regulatory framework for international air transportation" and relieve a system that "seems increasingly anachronistic" in a world of successful, liberalized aviation relationships.
Flight attendants at AirTran Airlines will hold a protest rally at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport today from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. as part of their CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System) campaign to win a first contract. The flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, have been negotiating with the airline, formerly ValuJet, since September 1995. AFA said the talks, now in federal mediation, are not close to success.
Tyrolean Airways of Austria placed a firm order with Bombardier for two de Havilland Dash 8Q Series 300, one Series 400B and two Canadair Regional Jet 200B long-range aircraft. The order was valued at $97 million.
Sabena is expected to announce in the coming weeks its choice of an engine supplier for the 34 medium-haul aircraft it ordered from Airbus Nov. 18. Two consortia are competing for the $400 million contract - International Aero Engines, which includes Rolls-Royce and Pratt&Whitney, and CFM, the international joint venture of General Electric and Snecma, France's leading engine manufacturer.
ALM 1997 Airline, the corporate successor to ALM Antillean Airlines, applied at DOT to register the trade name "Air ALM," which it wants to use to "enhance its marketing efforts." ALM Antillean's and ALM 1997's application to transfer ALM Antillean's foreign carrier permit to ALM 1997, filed last May, is pending at DOT. ALM Antillean, owned by the Netherlands Antilles government, was reorganized and its assets were transferred to ALM 1997, which belongs to a holding company owned 95% by the Antilles government and 5% by KLM.
TWA has launched a fare sale to most of its North American destinations and to Hawaii and Puerto Rico, with discounts up to 30% off its 21-day advance fare. Sale fares are non-refundable, require a 14-day advance purchase and a Saturday night stay, and are valid for travel through June 13. Tickets must be purchased by Feb. 18. Other restrictions apply.
United has begun selling electronic tickets on service to Canada, offering its branded E-Ticket product on flights between Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver and any U.S. city, plus the U.K. Travel using E-Ticket will begin March 1. "Customer demand for E-Ticket has grown steadily since we introduced it on the Shuttle in 1994 and expanded it to all of our U.S. domestic flights in 1995," Theo Fleckles, senior staff representative- Distribution Planning, said to employees. Canadian travel agencies will be able to offer E-Ticket in March.
The European Commission is expected to make a decision "in March or April" on the transatlantic airline alliances it is currently reviewing, a top EC official working with European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert said yesterday in Brussels. The EU's competition watchdog has been examining the proposed alliance between British Airways and American and three current alliances - United and Lufthansa/SAS, Delta and Swissair/Sabena/Austrian, and Northwest and KLM - since July 1996.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Regionals January 1997 - December 1997 Total Total Cost Cents Per Gallons (Dollars) Gallon 1997 January Domestic 1,101,300,372 813,226,114 73.842 International 373,500,996 303,186,777 81.174
Japan Airlines and Continental Micronesia added to the stream of applications for Japan initiatives in light of new opportunities in the U.S.-Japan framework agreement, but DOT rejected Hawaiian Airlines' request for a pause. The carrier, which operates no scheduled international service, asked DOT to delay filings until March 2 or at least delay choosing the fifth Memorandum of Understanding carrier.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday she sees a "growing sense of consensus among the entire aviation community" concerning modernization of the National Airspace System for "Century II" of aviation. FAA will use a building-block approach to provide benefits to users "as soon as possible" instead of relying on "too grand a vision and losing sight of the achievable," Garvey told a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Arlington, Va. Citing the National Route Program, Garvey reported "major success" in the past few years.
American will ask randomly chosen employees to participate in focus groups and complete surveys by mail during the next few weeks. The goal of the initiative is improving customer service.
A Denver bankruptcy court judge yesterday gave Mountain Air Express Acquisition Group, financiers for Mountain Air Express, approval to fund the carrier with an additional $5 million to help it through bankruptcy. The group has not decided whether to provide the additional funding. MAX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November and plans to emerge by mid-March. If the acquisition group gives MAX the additional funds, it will have a $2.3 million interest in the carrier, said spokeswoman Amanda Sullivan.
Justice Department has approved the formation of a trade association promoting usage of on-line travel services. The Interactive Travel Services Association, as proposed by a group of 10 providers, would promote consumer awareness of the availability of travel service on-line. The providers are American Express, Biztravel.com Inc., Internet Travel Network, Microsoft Inc., Preview Travel Inc., America Online Inc., Excite Inc., Pegasus Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems and The Trip.com Inc.
Ireland's minister for public enterprise, Mary O'Rourke, says she will take up the matter of preserving duty-free sales in Europe with her British and German counterparts this month. "I believe the time has come for a more accelerated and focused drive to pull together the various strands - political and economic - and battle harder for the retention of duty free," she told participants at an airports trade conference yesterday in Dublin. O'Rourke said she plans to meet John Prescott, Britain's deputy prime minister, Feb.
Continental and Delta pointed to the Department of Justice's comments questioning DOT's American-TACA code-share approval, but the TACA group said open skies paved the way for the agreement and denied it would give an unfair advantage to U.S. airlines far more powerful than itself.
Officials of two KLM subsidiaries said they plan to file a complaint with the European Commission against Dutch government plans to reduce the number of flight movements at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, but Dutch officials responded to that move and other pressures last week by saying they will reconsider the limits and discuss ways of adding 20,000 flight movements a year. While the Dutch cabinet discussed the proposed 1998 restrictions on Friday, about 1,000 employees of KLM, Transavia, Martinair and Air Holland demonstrated in The Netherlands capital city.
FAA yesterday announced approval of most aspects of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's application to collect and spend passenger facility charges (PFCs) on a light rail system connecting New York Kennedy Airport to the local transit system. FAA approved $1.148 billion in PFCs to fund the on-airport loop and links to the Howard Beach and Jamaica transit stations.
Air New Zealand is expanding service between Australia and New Zealand to meet customer demand. Trans-Tasman Sea service will jump 100% from Wellington, 50% from Christchurch and 15% from Auckland. In April and May, the airline will put three new 737-300s on service between Wellington and Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. In August, it will add service to the three Australian destinations from Christchurch. From Auckland, ANZ will coordinate with code-share partner United and offer additional capacity to Sydney and Melbourne, starting May 4.
Northwest and United filed to amend their Japan-authority certificates and DOT approved a longstanding Japan Airlines application as a result of the new U.S.-Japan framework agreement, which awaits final, formal approval from the two governments.
Swissair will halt its services between Zurich and Seoul March 29, as demand plummeted due to the Southeast Asian financial crisis, the Swiss carrier said. The capacity made available will be used to launch a route to San Francisco, which will be served five times weekly starting May 27. The Swiss carrier said it is in talks with Korean Airlines on finding "an alternative solution" for its customers on the Seoul route.
Midway Airlines Chief Executive Robert Ferguson's assertion that his carrier is in "excellent financial condition" is borne out by revenue data. In addition to the airline's $25 million in profits last year, yield grew 16.4% to 20.4 cents and revenue per ASM jumped 29% to 13.4 cents. Midway's net margin was 13.4%.
