Frontier Airlines will add on Feb. 1 a third daily nonstop flight between its Denver hub and New York LaGuardia Airport. The carrier received DOT slot approval in October for three daily roundtrip flights to the LaGuardia market. It introduced its first two flights Dec. 3, using 136-seat 737-300 twinjets.
Sunworld International has become an Airlines Reporting Corp. participant, and as of Dec. 22 agents may begin reporting their Sunworld sales through ARC. Sunworld, based in Fort Mitchell, Ky., provides weekly connecting service from Cincinnati to Grand Cayman, St. Croix, and St. Maarten, and weekly service between Indianapolis and St. Louis and Grand Cayman, using 727-200s.
Federal Express reported expiration of the waiting period for regulatory review of its agreement to acquire Caliber System Inc. Stockholders for Caliber and Federal Express are scheduled to vote on the takeover Jan. 9 and 12, respectively. FedEx said the merger will provide it with a broad range of transportation, logistics and supply services.
Belgian aircraft maker Sonaca SA predicts banner results in 1998 on the basis of strong demand for Airbus Industrie aircraft, for which it manufactures fuselage parts. After three financially shaky years, the Charleroi-based company will finish 1997 with a small but solid profit.
Boeing Commercial plans to lay off 12,000 production and other workers next year once it solves its assembly line problems and nears completion of its current development programs, President Ron Woodard said yesterday. The company has stopped hiring except in some critical areas, Woodard told a news conference, and the layoffs are expected in the second half of the year. Woodard said he did not know how the layoffs will be proportioned between Seattle and the Long Beach facilities of former competitor McDonnell Douglas.
Northwest Airlines still may be able to purchase a 14% stake in Continental and form an alliance that would enable the carriers to feed passengers into each others' systems, a source close to the discussions told The DAILY yesterday.
FAA has agreed to purchase Lockheed Martin Corp.'s baseline software for the Common Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS), a move the company said brings closer to implementation an air traffic control upgrade that will increase safety at U.S. airports. "Common ARTS consolidates a roomful of computer and communication equipment into one rack for most of the 145 small- to medium-sized airports" and into three triple redundant racks for larger airports, Lockheed Martin said.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, said yesterday a study by Boeing concludes that lifting the perimeter rule at National Airport may decrease aircraft noise because airlines use equipment that has better range and fuel efficiency for longer routes. The study, done at the request of the aviation subcommittee, compares takeoff noise produced by the same aircraft while taking into account the different fuel weights that would have to be carried on flights within and beyond the 1,250-mile perimeter.
Standard&Poor's yesterday revised upward its outlook on UAL Corp. and United Airlines Inc., after the airline said it expected record results in 1997 and 1998 (DAILY, Dec. 16). S&P raised its outlook to positive from stable for both UAL and United, and affirmed its double-B-plus corporate credit and double-B-minus preferred stock ratings. United is "reporting solid profits from almost all markets served and expects to grow seat capacity only 2% next year, which should allow it to maintain healthy pricing," S&P said.
More passengers flew more miles on regional airlines in the third quarter of 1997 than in the third quarter of 1996, the Regional Airline Association reported this week. Revenue passenger miles rose 11.6% to 4.2 billion and available seat miles were up 3.2% to 7.1 billion. Enplanements reached 17.8 million, 1.6 million more than in the 1996 third quarter. The industry completed more than 1.15 million departures, RAA reported.
DOT granted a second 90-day exemption to Volga-Dnepr J.S. Cargo Airline to operate scheduled cargo service between the Russian Federation and New York and added authority to serve intermediate points as requested by the carrier. The department noted that the authority Volga-Dnepr requested "was encompassed" by the U.S.-Russia bilateral. The annexes to the agreement expired May 31, but "they continue to be invoked by both parties as the operative source of the route rights governing the relationship," DOT said.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic, November, 11 Months 1997, (000) November November % 1997 1996 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 813,000 740,000 9.9 Available Seat Miles 1,267,000 1,134,000 11.7 Load Factor (%) 64.2 65.3 America West Revenue Passenger Miles 1,231,171 1,224,822 0.5
Skyway's pilots union is preparing a strike center in Milwaukee as the clock runs down to the end of the 30-day cooling-off period. On Nov. 19, the pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, were released from negotiations into a cooling-off period that ends Saturday. Talks resumed in Washington today, with both sides expressing hope of averting a strike.
American said yesterday it will serve Dallas/Fort Worth-Manchester and Boston-London Gatwick daily in the spring. On April 5, American intends to begin nonstop service to Manchester using 207-seat 767-300ERs in three- class configuration. That flight will complement its Chicago-Manchester service, which it has operated since 1986. On May 21, American's 192-seat A300, also in three-classes, will operate from Boston. The carrier already serves Boston-London Heathrow twice daily.
MOU frequencies are virtually a settled case and solutions on third- and same-country code sharing appear within reach at U.S.-Japan bilateral talks in Tokyo. But Japanese negotiators are assessing the long-term implications of the code shares and the question of slots remains unanswered, sources said. The talks are gaining some traction, however, and the two sides are strongly considering extending them into Thursday, one day past the original schedule.
Record numbers of aircraft passed through the U.K. air traffic control system this year with no compromise in safety, the U.K. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) reported. ATC staff at the London Area and Terminal Control Centre said they handled a record 1.5 million movements in 1997, and current forecasts show more growth is in store. NATS also said it has some new procedures in the pipeline to contain delays and enhance safety. The record traffic levels affected all areas of the U.K.'s ATC system.
Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline to sign a firm order for eight A340-600s with options on another eight. The Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft seats 378 passengers and has a range of 7,500 nautical miles.
Virgin Express reported an 84.8% increase in November traffic on 48.9% more capacity, which forced the load factor up 12.5 percentage points to 64.4%. The airline operated 119 million available seat miles and flew 163,097 passengers versus 100,093 a year ago. The carrier's web site is www.virgin-exp.com.
Tower Air reported an 82.7% increase in November traffic and a 2.6% rise in capacity, which lifted the load factor 3.9 percentage points from the same month in 1996. Revenue passenger miles rose to 274 million and available seat miles to 385 million, boosting the load factor to 71.2%. Total block hours flown jumped 66.7% to 3,067 hours, up from 1,840 hours.
U.S. Carriers Landing Fees, Third Quarter 1997 Cost Landing Fees Per Landing Major Carriers Alaska $ 6,389,000 151.33 America West 8,634,541 160.89 American 65,089,000 319.54 Continental 32,669,000 286.59 Delta 64,167,000 261.47
Austrian Airlines has more than doubled its stake in Tyrolean Airways, exercising a purchase option included in the 1994 agreement in which it took 42.85% of the regional carrier.
US Airways and The Sabre Group yesterday finalized the longest-duration airline information technology outsourcing contract yet signed, in which Sabre will take over for 25 years the airline's entire IT operation - facilities, hardware, software and people. When the companies signed a letter of intent on the deal last summer, Sabre described it as a "multi- billion-dollar technology relationship" that it expected to last "longer than the traditional 10-year agreement" (DAILY, Aug. 29).
Western Pacific has been paying its bills this month and is on track to making a full recovery after a $50 million commitment from Smith Management, said Westpac Chief Executive Robert Peiser. The carrier faces significant internal hurdles, however. Peiser, speaking at the Institute for International Research's Aircraft Finance Conference last week, said Westpac has a major void in its yield management capabilities and needs a quick improvement in revenue per available seat mile.
Contract negotiations between TWA and the Machinists union continued last week despite a Dec. 9 walkout at the carrier's hub in St. Louis. The job action was the culmination of years of frustration over cutbacks and give- backs, a spokesman for the Machinists' local chapter said, and Bob Grier, a member of the Machinists' grievance committee, said union leaders were "literally dumbfounded" when they heard ramp workers had walked off the job. He said the walkout was spontaneous and took place just as the union leadership came from a meeting with TWA.
