Mexican negotiators told their U.S. counterparts in Mexico City last Friday that they would formally respond to the U.S. code-share proposal within 60 days. Code shares are handled now on an extrabilateral basis.
Members of the American Eagle Master Executive Council for flight attendants at Eagle carriers Executive, Flagship, Simmons and Wings West unanimously recommended ratification of the tentative agreement with American Eagle on a single contract. The flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, previously were under four separate contracts, and the new pact would consolidate their wages and working conditions for the first time.
Delta has agreed to purchase The Sabre Group's AIRFLITE flight scheduling software, in a contract valued at more than $10 million. "Flight scheduling is one of the most complex functions at an airline and requires advanced technology to maximize the return on the allocation of assets," said Mark Drusch, Delta's VP-market development. Delta expects the software to improve decision-making and modeling capabilities, enable earlier and more comprehensive schedule planning and help on-time performance.
Raytheon yesterday reported record earnings of $848.5 million for 1997 on record sales of $13.7 billion. The results do not include a fourth quarter charge of $321.7 million. For 1996, earnings totaled $783 million, without including a special charge of $22.1 million, on sales of $12.3 billion. The 1997 statement includes only partial-year results related to the July acquisition of Texas Instruments' defense operations and less than two weeks' results related to the December merger with Hughes's defense business.
Airtours, Britain's tour operator and travel group, has completed its acquisition of Ostend, Belgium-based Sun International and its affiliated airline, Air Belgium, for 3.23 billion Belgian francs (US$90.4 million).
Swissair and Turkish Airlines have agreed to deepen their cooperation with a wider range of flight operations and expanded collaboration in logistics and catering. A memorandum of understanding signed Jan. 24 in Ankara builds on a code-share arrangement between the two parties established in June 1996 to cover flights between Switzerland and Turkey. It does not cover the exchange of equity stakes. The new accord calls for expanding code-share flights, initially focusing on new Turkish destinations.
Aviation Industry Stock Performance The Year 1997 Majors 01/30/97 02/27/97 03/30/97 Alaska Air Group ALK 21.620 23.750 25.625 America West (Class B) AWA 14.875 13.875 15.625 AMR AMR 80.500 78.750 82.500 Continental (Class B) CAI.B 27.870 28.620 31.875 Delta DAL 79.000 80.500 84.125
Lufthansa will decide this week whether to create a separate low-cost airline to handle increased competition within Europe. The company may increase the role of one of its subsidiaries, but after British Airways' launch of Operation Blue Sky, Lufthansa is expected to follow suit.
The conclusion of U.S.-Japan talks was a moving target Friday as negotiators mulled whether to work around the clock into the weekend or back off into a more deliberate pace, possibly into this week, sources said. Both sides believed last week they had a basic, common understanding of what the framework will look like, with the devil in the details.
Overall Percentages Of Reported Domestic Flights Arriving On Time By Carrier Overall Percentages Of Reported Domestic Flights Arriving On Time By Carrier, November 1997 Carrier 4th Q 1996 1st Q 1997 % (Rank) % (Rank) Alaska 64.0 (10 76.1 (4) America West 68.0 (9) 74.8 (5) American 75.1 (3) 72.9 (7) Continental 77.9 (2) 76.3 (3)
Delta and TAP Air Portugal received a one-year renewal of their authority to engage in a code-share/blocked-space arrangement for TAP- operated flights between New York/Newark and Lisbon. Under the pact, Delta can offer nonstops daily from Newark and three times weekly from New York. DOT dismissed the remainder of the two-year request.
DOT approved antitrust immunity last week for an IATA agreement revising practices covering travel documents, document forms, booking codes and collection of charges. The agreement establishes procedures on how to apply and collect the new U.S. flight segment tax on international tickets. That tax applies to domestic travel, DOT said, but if there is a stopover of more than 12 hours at a U.S. point on an international trip, the tax must be collected on any U.S. domestic legs flown beyond or beyond the stopover point.
Boeing still plans to increase its production rate from the current 40 aircraft a month to 43 a month in the second quarter but is having second thoughts about ramping up the rate to 48 aircraft a month, the company said Friday. "We have taken precautions to protect our ability to adjust rates either up or down," the company said, adding that it had never "officially" said it would increase the rate to 48 aircraft a month.
United told DOT its bid in the U.S.-Brazil frequency allocation proceedings to serve the Los Angeles-Sao Paulo market would provide daily nonstop service by a U.S. carrier to the largest U.S.-Brazil market without such service. The city-pair receives nonstop service from several foreign carriers; U.S. carrier service is via connections through gateways or foreign carriers through code shares.
Europe can turn to "other wealthy or industrialized regions of the world" to collaborate on a next-generation Global Navigation Satellite System if the U.S. government refuses to cooperate on it, European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock said last week as the EU unveiled its new, full-European-role GNSS strategy (DAILY, Jan. 22). Russia, whose Glonass satellite navigation system is one of two available for the near- term GNSS, is a potential partner for the longer term. "Russia has the technology but lacks the financial resources," he said.
Orally approved a two-year exemption renewal for American Trans Air to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between New York and Belfast, Northern Ireland, both as a terminal and intermediate point with continuing service to Shannon, and between New York and Dublin and Shannon...Orally approved a startup deadline exemption until March 6 for Polar Air Cargo to begin scheduled all-cargo service in the U.S.-Philippine market...Ap-proved 10 one-way passenger charter flights by Continental Micronesia between Niigata/Shonai/Akita, Japan, and Guam/Saipan March 19-29..
In Federal Register dated Feb. 16...Superseded an airworthiness directive on Boeing 747 aircraft powered by Pratt&Whitney JT9D-3/7 engines concerning inspection of the forward engine mount bulkhead of the nacelle strut...Issued an AD on Fokker F28 aircraft requiring modification of the hook and latch assemblies of the engine cowl doors. In FR dated Jan. 20...Proposed an AD on certain Pilatus PC-7 aircraft to require inspecting the elevator and rudder attachment brackets.
Raytheon Systems Chairman William Swanson, asked about his reaction to the possibility that FAA will move away from using the Global Positioning System for sole-means navigation (DAILY, Jan. 23), said he is not worried because Raytheon has capability in both GPS and Mode-S. But he quickly added that he does not think FAA will back away from GPS. Raytheon is the largest GPS-related contractor. (See related story, Page 130)
Atlantic Coast Airlines began code sharing Friday with Lufthansa on 10 routes in the eastern U.S. Markets now carrying both the Lufthansa and United codes from Washington Dulles are Charlottesville, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, Newport News, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Raleigh/Durham, Syracuse and Greensboro, N.C.
IATA's 250-plus member airlines have reached an agreement that will give carriers a new and possibly more efficient method of transferring funds and selling services across country borders - they will adopt the Euro as the currency of sale and ticketing after it is introduced in Europe on Jan. 1, 1999. Although Euro coins and paper money will not be available until 2002, Europe's new single currency will be used in corporate accounting until then.
DOT granted American International Airways (AIA) an additional 90-day exemption to delay startup of U.S.-Ecuador scheduled cargo service. The carrier was awarded three weekly frequencies which originally were set to expire Nov. 20, 1997, under dormancy provisions . AIA told DOT it "believes that the necessary approvals by the Ecuadorian authorities will be secured by April 20," the date to which DOT granted the extension. (Docket OST-97-3126)
Spirit Airlines filed at DOT to renew an exemption for scheduled combination service between Newark and Bermuda, granted in March 1997 but not yet operated. The carrier said it was unable to make the necessary arrangements in advance of the peak travel season. It continues to make progress for launch at the "earliest practicable date" and said its service would provide a low-cost alternative in the market. (Docket OST-97-2189)
