Olympic Airways has ordered eight 737-800s valued at $408 million, with delivery beginning in early 2000. The new aircraft will replace older 737s and 727s.
The European Commission is expected to launch tomorrow an inquiry into Air France's commercial pacts with Continental and Delta, a source close to the European Union's competition watchdog said yesterday in Brussels. The news is to be announced after the commission's weekly meeting. Air France notified the EC of its transatlantic alliances in the first half of 1997. The agreements will be reviewed like other accords currently under investigation, such as the proposed American-British Airways alliance, the source said.
TWA yesterday unveiled new food service menus for passengers in first class, part of its continuing effort to draw a larger share of the business travel market, said Executive VP-Marketing Don Casey. On Monday, TWA will launch its upgraded first-class domestic product, Trans World First, with an aggressive advertising campaign touting the new menu, plus bigger first- class cabins. Menu planners Kevin Chapa and Steve Albert consulted with cabin crew and frequent TWA passengers to identify what types of foods passengers prefer.
PROS Strategic Solutions said it signed contracts to provide its Strategic Solutions revenue management technology to China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines of Taiwan. The program will enable the carriers to manage pricing and seating inventory, the company said.
Aer Lingus will begin transatlantic service to Newark on March 1, 45 days earlier than planned. "When we announced last year that we would begin offering Newark service year-round, our corporate clients were most enthusiastic," said Jack Foley, executive VP-North America. "In fact, many said they wished the service would start earlier. We're accommodating that." From March 1 through April 14, Aer Lingus will fly from Newark to Dublin and Shannon on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. On April 15, the service will be daily, using two-class Airbus A330s.
Hawaiian Airlines passengers, beginning March 1, will be able to purchase coupons for interisland flights through Bank of Hawaii automated teller machines (ATMs) on all major islands, pending regulatory approval. The coupons, which will be available in quantities of one, two, four and eight, can be purchased with an ATM card, Visa or MasterCard. They will be valid for one year and will cost the same as coupons purchased at Hawaiian's ticket offices. Passengers who buy the coupons still must reserve seats through the ticket offices.
Air France and Air Afrique began joint weekly service yesterday between Paris and Pointe-Noire, Congo. The service uses a 120-seat A320 and makes a technical stop in both directions in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
American and LanChile told DOT that antitrust immunity for their code-share and marketing alliance is a necessity given the innumerable objections that competing U.S. carriers would throw in their way without it. "Given the rhetoric that other U.S. carriers have generated in response to LanChile and American's code-share-related applications and elsewhere, it is safe to say that those carriers would be quick to attack any extensive cooperative operations by LanChile and American on antitrust grounds," the alliance carriers said in an application for immunity.
French aircraft parts company Latecoere S.A. is joining with Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to produce a new generation of Airbus jets. A memorandum of cooperation, signed last month in Taipei, is the first such agreement in the aerospace field between the Republic of China and a European partner. According to its terms, a group of Taiwanese companies under AIDC's aegis will provide the capital and perform certain aircraft development and production activities.
Citing low positive test results over the past two years, FAA said it is reducing the amount of random alcohol testing for aviation industry employees. The agency has been testing at least 25% of personnel in safety and security related positions annually, including pilots, controllers and security screeners. The alcohol violation rate was 0.06% for 1995 and 0.08% for 1996. The regulation requiring the tests allows FAA to cut alcohol tests to 10% of the target population if the violation rate is less than 0.5% for two consecutive years.
Aviation Industry Stock Performance December 1997 Closed Closed Majors Symbol 12/31/97 11/28/97 Alaska Air Group ALK 38.750 37.375 America West (Class B) AWA 18.625 15.938 AMR AMR 128.500 121.188 Continental (Class B) CAI.B 48.125 45.563
Sabena posted a 30.7% rise in November traffic and a 24.5% gain for the first 11 months of 1997. Cargo traffic jumped 31.1% but only 2.9% year-to- date. Sabena is offering U.S.-Europe roundtrip winter packages, including hotel, starting at $439. Discount deals from five U.S. gateways are available through March 31.
Virgin Express reported a 73.2% increased in December traffic on 48.9% more capacity, pushing the load factor up 9.4 percentage points to 67.3%. The Brussels-based airline carried 174,558 passengers, up 52.4%.
Business Travel Contractors Corp. (BTCC) is suspending operations after three and a half years in business, said its president, Kevin Mitchell. He told The DAILY yesterday that he decided to fold BTCC after unsuccessful attempts to gain financial and political support from the five mega-travel agencies. Only two agencies signed on. Mitchell said he hopes to find enough support to keep the company's lobbying arm, Business Travel Coalition (BTC), alive, and did not rule out the possibility of rejuvenating BTCC in the future.
Robert Dynan has been named to replace Clark Stevens as president of Mesa Airlines, Inc., a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. Stevens had been serving as interim president of the airline and will return to his full-time duties as president and chief operating officer of Mesa Air Group. Mesa Air Group continues its search for a replacement for Chairman Larry Risley, who is leaving in March.
United will explore whether there is enough staff support for an extension of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) with which it restructured itself in 1994. In a message to employees, Chairman Gerald Greenwald and President John Edwardson said that although they do not know yet what will happen after the ESOP stock allocation period ends in 2000, "we intend to begin examining the possibility of an ESOP extension." During the next two years, the "will" of employee groups should become evident and "employees' feelings on ESOP II will become clearer," they said.
With 20 years of U.S. deregulation experience at their fingertips, European low-fare carriers have patterned themselves after - and sometimes borrowed executives from - U.S. success stories. But what examples do they have to work with? U.S. start-ups this decade have been poor role models. There have been so many visits to bankruptcy court, Ryanair may do better to visit a psychic. Few have come close to copying Southwest or Herb Kelleher, and many have tried and failed. But one U.S. carrier has set a new standard for low-fare airlines: Reno Air.
City of Decatur, Ill., filed in support of Great Lakes Aviation's proposal for Essential Air Service slots out of Chicago O'Hare, one of which could restore service to Decatur. Great Lakes flew to Decatur among numerous other points before being shut down under FAA pressure last year; it has since relaunched a reduced schedule. City of Decatur said while it qualifies for EAS-subsidized service, it has been able to support revenue operations in the past.
Dutch Ministry of Transport has formally accepted a usage plan for 1998 for Maastricht-Aachen regional airport. The facility was forced to modify its original plan in November to accommodate ministry demands for stricter noise controls around the airport. Maastricht-Aachen airport authorities will be required to submit quarterly reports as the usage plan is implemented.
Laker Airways may cease operating scheduled daily service between Florida and the U.K. and focus instead on its charter operations, a Laker official said last week. The carrier recently suspended its winter vacation package between London and Orlando and is considering eliminating its scheduled service. It also is entertaining new investors.
The Netherlands government has given the green light to the country's national railway authority, Dutch Rail, to construct a short rail link between Amsterdam Schiphol and the City of Utrecht, reducing travel time by some 15 minutes. The new spur will be completed in 2003, with the government providing 427 million guilders (US$218 million) to help finance the project.
