Agreeing with accusations made by American last October, DOT said Delta's law firm violated confidentiality rules in the American-Iberia case (DAILY, Oct. 23, 1997). Delta's answers related to that code-share proposal are being stricken from the dockets, but no other sanctions are being taken due to mitigating factors, DOT said. Delta's actions were a "serious breach," the department said, but "we believe Delta did not intend to divulge confidential information inappropriately" and no "serious harmful disclosure" occurred.
Comair Holdings, parent of the Cincinnati- and Orlando-based Delta Connection carrier, reported net earnings of $24.3 million, or 36 cents per share, in the December quarter, up 57% from the year-earlier period.
The Australian Civil Aviation Authority has awarded Level 4 certification for the FlightSafety International Saab 340 full-flight simulator. The simulator, produced by FlightSafety Simulation of Tulsa, Okla., is located at the Ansett Airlines training center near Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. The device will be used by pilots at Australian and New Zealand regionals, including Kendell Airlines, Hazelton Airlines and Air Nelson. The simulator is the fifth A340 simulator operated by the FlightSafety International and the first based in Australia.
Aer Lingus expects to decide this year on a strategic alliance with a major airline or airline group under a mandate from the Irish government, according to Group Chief Executive Gary McGann. The government, which owns 95% of Aer Lingus, ordered the alliance assessment last summer. Aer Lingus reported back that an alliance is appropriate and possible, and currently it is trying to choose a partner. "We know who is interested and who is not interested," McGann told The DAILY, and a key question is whether the ally will acquire equity.
FAA, following a briefing to a DOT official this week, appears close to recommending that the government abandon its policy of establishing the Global Positioning System as a sole-means air navigation system. George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition, believes that the danger of interference with GPS signals is great enough to warrant making the GPS-based Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) a primary, rather than the only, navigation system for precision approaches and landings.
The Potomac Highlands Airport Authority in Cumberland, Md., which hopes to attract additional regional service to the community, will receive a $1 million loan from the state of Maryland for development of a maintenance hangar at Greater Cumberland Regional Airport.
Canadian regional Air Atlantic will decide by the end of January whether to continue its affiliation with Canadian Airlines International, with which it has undisclosed problems. The carrier has been acquired by IMP Group of Halifax, which also owns IMP Aerospace and the Innotech FBO chain.
DOT tentatively selected Horizon Air to provide Essential Air Service to Ephrata/Moses Lake, Wash., for an additional two-year period, through Dec. 31, 1999, operating 12 weekly roundtrips. Horizon, an Alaska Airlines code-share partner and the incumbent, proposed providing the community with two one-stop roundtrips to Seattle via Wenatchee each weekday and over each weekend with 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft.
Boeing's 737-600 made its first flight yesterday, a two-hour, 28-minute endeavor. It begins a seven-month flight test, with certification and delivery to launch customer SAS this summer.
U.S. District Court Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth, Texas, has granted a motion by the City of Fort Worth to remand its Wright Amendment lawsuit to the 48th District Court of Texas, in which it was filed, denying the City of Dallas's attempt to transfer the case to federal courts. The seven-page order does not deal with the merits of the suit, which challenges relaxation of limits on airline operations at Dallas Love Field.
Chicago has become an on-time battleground between United and American. Hometown carrier United claims better on-time performance in November, its first victory since October 1996. American has been running full-page ads in Chicago newspapers to publicize that it ranks No. 1 in on-time performance at O'Hare.
Woonsocket, R.I.-based Aero Programs is offering a corporate flight stress program designed to reduce business travelers' flight stress. Business travelers make up the bulk of regional passengers. The program, using a flight simulation format, provides instruction concerning the way various mental and physical systems respond to stress, and techniques for managing stress and helping participants develop an individualized management plan.
DOT selected Air Nevada d/b/a Pacific Wings to replace Trans Executive Airlines on an emergency basis to provide Essential Air Service to Kamuela, Hawaii, as soon as Kahului-based Pacific Wings can institute service. Pacific Wings will provide two daily nonstop roundtrips, one each to Honolulu and Kahului, at a yearly subsidy rate of $335,454, through Jan. 31, 2000. Kamuela has been without passenger service since Dec. 15, when TransAir voluntarily suspended its scheduled passenger service, grounding all of its Cessna 402s. (Docket OST-97-2833)
DOT has turned down in toto a Great Lakes Aviation application for slot exemptions that would enable 20 additional flight operations from slot-restricted Chicago O'Hare Airport to six Essential Air Service points in Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. Great Lakes had sought the 20 exemptions to increase service to three roundtrips a day from two, six days a week, from Ironwood and Manistee, Mich; Mattoon, Mount Vernon and Sterling/Rock Falls, Ill., and Ottumwa, Iowa.
Association of European Airlines Traffic November, 11 Months 1997 November 1997 Passenger Data RPKs % Change ASKs Region (Mil) 97/96 (Mil) EUROPE 8,393.0 13.5 14,319.3 NORTH AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST 1,497.2 14.7 2,315.8 LONGHAUL North Atlantic 9,775.3 9.4 13,615.0
FedEx said the Dutch Competition Authority granted it permission to acquire Caliber System without restrictions. FedEx said this completes the approval process on domestic and international levels.
Canadian Airlines and LanChile yesterday entered into a commercial alliance, effective March 11. Initial routes include Toronto-Miami- Santiago and Vancouver-Los Angeles-Santiago. The Canada-Chile market is estimated at 40,000 passengers per year, and the two carriers expect to generate more than C$100 million in revenue over the next five years.
Nav Canada reported first quarter revenue of $243 million, including $178 million of transition-period payments and $65 million from fees for oceanic air navigation services and sales of training services. Operating expenses totaled $173 million. Non-operating expenses, including interest, depreciation and amortization, was $41 million.
Southwest yesterday posted its best profit margin in 15 years, on the way to reporting annual net income of $317.8 million, up 53.3%. For the fourth quarter, net profits mushroomed 186% to $80.6 million from $28.2 million. Quarterly revenues surged 17.3% to $975.6 million, compared with $831.8 million. Southwest experienced a strong gain in revenue per available seat mile of 6.5% to 8.49 cents, while unit costs dropped 1.7% to 7.37 cents. For 1997, unit costs fell 1.3% to 7.4 cents.
Embraer posted the best improvement in exports of any company in Brazil during 1997 and received the Foreign Trade Award for the Export category from the Ministry of Industry Trade and Tourism. The company ranked ninth in exports among all Brazilian companies and from January through September exports totaled $394.7 million. In addition, the company holds a firm- order backlog of $3.3 billion, including $2.6 billion for commercial aircraft and $700 million for military products. Embraer exports in 1998 are expected to be in excess of $900 million.
..."If a contractor on an Air Force Base makes allegations of sabotage, you say that's not serious? Newman asked. "Um, these allegations were made with a raft of other allegations that...some foreign oils were being introduced into our (sic) aircraft...." "Does that make it less serious or not?...They thought it serious enough to have their fluids analyzed," the judge added. "I don't understand you are saying it's not serious." "Um, I am not saying it's not serious, your Honor..." Nevertheless, the appeal was denied this week with no opinion issued (DAILY, Oct.
St. George, Utah-based SkyWest posted net earnings of $5.4 million, or 52 cents per share, for its fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, 1997, compared with a net loss of $821,000, or eight cents per share, for the comparable period in the previous year. Operating revenues were up 15.1% to $73.3 million for the quarter, compared with $63.7 million in the prior period. For the fiscal year to date, net income reached $17.3 million on operating revenues of $225.7 million.
TPI International Airways' appeal of an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals denial in its breach-of-contract case against the Air Force drew expressions of disbelief from U.S. Appeals judges in Washington this month. While there were charges of sabotage on the small Brunswick, Ga., carrier's Lockheed Electra aircraft at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., in 1990, "these were not seriously advanced...to the extent that would trigger an internal investigation by the Air Force," Justice Department lawyers said.
