Sabena and private Brazilian carrier Vasp have signed a marketing cooperation agreement to cover joint operation of flights and code sharing. Starting May 4, the airlines will offer five weekly flights between Belgium and three destinations in Brazil, Sao Paulo, Salvador de Bahia and Recife. The accord provides for expanding the arrangement to other city-pairs.
Prudential Securities, citing questions about Boeing's commercial aircraft profit margins in competition with Airbus's, is lowering its 1998 earnings estimate to $2.20 from $2.50. Prudential left unchanged its 1999 estimate of $4.25, "though with the immensely competitive pricing environment pervasive throughout the commercial aircraft markets since last summer, this forecast also could prove overly optimistic."
United and All Nippon Airways agreed yesterday to a code-share and marketing alliance, making formal what has been understood for more than a month. Beyond the code share, the carriers will work closely on "both marketing and operational strategies," ANA said, indicating that the Japanese airline could become a player in the integrated Star Alliance. ANA and United expect to begin code sharing in October, pending government approval.
World Airways is renewing complaints against the government of Korea for not permitting it to operate services beyond Korea that it and the U.S. government have said are permitted under the bilateral. The carrier is opposing renewal of an exemption for Korean Airlines to fly between Korea and Saipan. "Despite the efforts of the U.S.
Air France and Royal Air Maroc agreed to an alliance that will include a code share on routes from Casablanca to Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg. The initial flights with both airlines' codes will begin next month. Royal Air Maroc's Boeing 737 service from Casablanca to Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse and from Oujda, Morocco, to Marseille will be part of the agreement. Air France will gain access, eventually, beyond Royal Air Maroc's Casablanca hub to points in Africa, including Fez, Tangier, Agadir, Marrakesh and Ouarzazate.
London Luton Airport has selected the consortium of Airport Group International, Bechtel Enterprises and Barclays Private Equity as the preferred bidder for a concession to operate the airport for 30 years. Copenhagen Airport/Peel Holdings and National Express also submitted proposals.
British Airways traffic rose 4.6% in February on 9.7% more capacity, which lowered the load factor 3.2 percentage points to 65.5%. Traffic continues to be affected by the strength of the pound sterling and political uncertainties in Africa and the Middle East. The Asia/Pacific region showed a 5% traffic growth, however, and a 1.2-point decline in load factor. Premium traffic rose 1%, economy traffic 5.4%, and cargo volume 6.3%.
Barlow Investors III, an individual investor group managed by former Continental Express executive Jonathan Ornstein, would have controlled close to 20% of the voting power of Continental Airlines if David Bonderman's holdings were sold and converted to common stock. Since the Bonderman shares were put into a voting trust, Barlow decided to sell some of its holding as well, in a separate purchase by Northwest Airlines last week valued at $59.5 million (DAILY, March 9).
French airline AOM signed a code-sharing agreement with TAP Air Portugal, due to take effect at the end of summer. Like TAP, AOM recently entered commercial agreements with Swissair and Sabena. AOM and TAP intend to develop their activities on routes linking Portugal with the South of France, as well as on intercontinental routes served by AOM, such as Sydney and Cayenne. Under the agreement with Swissair, AOM also will launch a service between Paris Orly Airport and Zurich, serving the route three times daily with 737-500s.
AlliedSignal said it is in a joint venture with Shanghai Avionics Corp. to assemble and sell avionics equipment and services in China. The venture intends to assemble and test radars, direction finders and communications equipment. Other AlliedSignal products eventually could be added to the joint venture, the company said.
Aviation Sales Co. said yesterday it completed its previously announced merger with Caribe Aviation and Caribe subsidiary Aircraft Interiors. The purchase price was about $25 million.
FAA's 23rd annual Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. The theme of this year's conference is "Overcoming Barriers to World Competition and Growth." Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey are scheduled to speak. Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, will be the March 12 luncheon speaker. The event is co-sponsored by Airports Council International-North America.
February was a good month for pilots. Twelve of the 14 major airlines produced 355 new pilot jobs during the month, according to AIR Inc.'s March report, and overall 1,305 found jobs. So far in 1998, 2,458 pilots have been hired. The major airlines hired 683 and national carriers accounted for 831.
Malaysia Airlines will add Asia-U.S. service in a non-standard routing - via the Middle East. The airline's Boeing 777s will operate from Kuala Lumpur via Dubai to Newark. The route becomes the first nonstop service between the Persian Gulf nation and the U.S. The service, which will operate three times weekly, is part of the airline's attempt to establish a hub in Dubai. The direct service will take 19.5 hours from Newark and 21 hours from Kuala Lumpur, beginning April 13.
Boeing said yesterday it has selected SR Technics to perform flight deck conversions as part of a program to reconfigure FedEx DC-10s into MD-10 cargo aircraft. SR Technics will modify 15 airplanes at its Zurich facility, beginning in 2000, and Boeing has options for as many as 10 more. Boeing said SR Technics's installation of the Advanced Common Flightdeck is the second phase of work in the program. The first phase, converting the fuselage to freighter configuration, is under way at Goodyear, Ariz., Mobile, Ala., and Venice, Italy.
The German and French transport ministers have given their backing to an Irish demand for a new study into the effects of abolishing duty-free sales in Europe 16 months from now. Mary O'Rourke, Ireland's Minister for Public Enterprise, last week expressed satisfaction with the support of Bonn and Paris for her campaign to ensure survival of the duty-free sector in Europe.
Air Wisconsin reported a 4.6% drop in traffic and a 0.8% rise in capacity for February 1998 over February 1997, which caused the load factor to decline 3.1 percentage points. The carrier reported 43.0 million revenue passenger miles and 77.2 million available seat miles. Load factor was 55.8%. Passengers enplaned rose 0.3% to 155,485. Year-to-date RPMs dropped 2.1%, while ASMs rose 1.8%, pushing the load factor down 2.1 points. Passengers enplaned rose 0.7%.
Delta and Aeropostal signed a code-share agreement between the U.S. and Venezuela. Pending government approval, the Venezuelan carrier will put its code on Delta's new Atlanta-Caracas flights, which begin April 2. Aeropostal started up in January 1997 and operates DC-9s.
Honeywell said it has received FAA certification for its new-generation "Pegasus" flight management system, "ushering in the long-anticipated era of Communication/Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management" (CNS/ATM). The new FMS received its first certifications on Boeing 757 and 767 and MD- 90 aircraft.
Aerospatiale reported that its net income jumped to $236 million in 1997, up 75% from the previous year's results, on sales that increased 11%. The company said all business segments shared in the performance gain. The order book stands at an all-time high of $26.8 billion.
The number of takeoffs and landings at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport could rise by a staggering 100,000 per year beyond current levels, according to Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma. In a letter last week to the Dutch parliament's lower house, she said the increase could take place "in due course" and subject to "certain conditions." Currently, a maximum of 380,000 movements is authorized at Schiphol in 1998. The Dutch government has restricted future growth to about 20,000 aircraft movements a year until 2003.
Belgium's intention to sell 17% of Sabena already is attracting a possible buyer - Sabena partner Virgin Express is considering an investment. Among the two carriers' current cooperative activities is the Brussels-London route.
Russia's Transaero Airlines is forming the first aviation alliance among Russian civil aviation firms to improve growth and competitiveness with foreign airlines. The initiative, called Commonwealth of Independent States Alliance (CISA), includes two companies, Transaero and Uzbekistan Khavo Jullary. Their goals for CISA include increasing air service, encouraging competition with foreign airlines, improving quality and helping operations become more efficient.
