British Airways will resume nonstop service between Scotland and the U.S. this summer. It suspended the service in November because of losses. On June 1, BA will offer five weekly nonstops from New York Kennedy to Glasgow, using a 757.
Big U.S. airlines keep getting bigger. The top five carriers flew more passenger traffic in 1997 than the U.S. industry did in 1989. Delta carried 21 million more passengers last year than in 1994. Northwest's traffic more than doubled in four years. It takes United four days to fly Frontier's capacity for all of 1997.
Daimler-Benz Aerospace's revenues increased 20% during 1997, from 12.7 billion Deutschmarks (US$7 billion) to DM15.2 billion ($8.3 billion), the company reported. Sales for DASA's Airbus business rose 40% to DM4.9 billion ($2.7 billion) and the unit set a record for incoming orders with 460, up from 320 in 1996. Its revenues from the Eurocopter joint venture with Aerospatiale amounted to DM1.1 billion ($605 million) and the propulsion systems subsidiary reported a 30% jump to DM3 billion ($1.6 billion).
U.S.-Japan talks intensified yesterday as the lead U.S. negotiator headed to Capitol Hill, MOU cities lobbied the U.S. for regulated expansion and FedEx officials met with the three MOU carriers for slot discussions.
Mexican regional carrier Aeromar has named Trade Wind Associates of New York City its general sales agent in the U.S. Aeromar, privately owned and based in Mexico City, was founded in 1987 and serves 22 cities, including Durango, Manzanillo, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Tepic, Salina Cruz and Huatulco in Mexico and Houston and San Antonio in the U.S. It operates eight ATR 42s, including two -500 series aircraft. It has code-sharing agreements with Aeromexico, Mexicana and United.
FAA authorized a full return to service for Amerijet. The carrier ceased operations Dec. 24 following an FAA inspection that the agency said "revealed serious deficiencies" in cargo handling.
Continental executives met last month with FAA Administrator Jane Garvey on ways to improve operations at the airline's Newark hub. One proposal is to redesign the airspace around Newark to lessen flight delays, according to Continental President Greg Brenneman.
Winair, fresh from receiving FAA operating authority, yesterday asked DOT to waive its six-day review period upon receipt of the carrier's operating specifications and certificate. The Utah-based startup plans to operate holiday and sports charters as well as transborder service to Mexico and Canada. (Dockets OST-97-2936, 2937)
Airbus Industrie board yesterday named Noel Forgeard, currently president of Lagardere and chief executive of Matra Hautes Technologies, to succeed Jean Pierson as managing director, effective April 1. Dietrich Russell, a member of the Daimler-Benz Aerospace board of management, will take over from Volker von Tien as chief operating officer. Manfred Bischoff, currently chairman of the management board of Daimler-Benz Aerospace, was named chairman of the Airbus supervisory board, succeeding the retiring Edzard Reuter.
Swissair parent company SAirgroup will not take a majority stake in Belgian carrier Sabena "before the year 2000" and only "provided the European Union and Switzerland sign an air transport agreement," said Sabena Managing Director Paul Reutlinger, according to Swiss newspaper reports. SAirGroup holds 49.5% of Sabena. The accord would extend the liberalized EU market to Switzerland. In exchange, the EU wants better transit rights through Switzerland for its trucks.
SkyWest, in its new role as a United Express partner at San Francisco beginning June 1, will operate 84 daily roundtrips linking 12 California points with the city, United said (DAILY, Jan. 21). SkyWest will operate 30-passenger Embraer Brasilia turboprops for the flights, which will replace service provided by Mesa Air Group division WestAir. SkyWest currently provides Express service connecting 11 markets in California, Nevada and Arizona with Los Angeles Airport and point-to-point service in several markets in California and Nevada.
United's request to amend its application for comprehensive U.S.-South America certificate authority to include points throughout Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay has drawn differing responses from Continental and Delta. Delta, which applied for certificate authority for the same markets - which may have designation or frequency limitations for U.S. carriers - said DOT should "consolidate the mutually exclusive portions" of Delta's and United's applications.
Defying the European Union's 15 national governments, the European Parliament says that Saudi Arabia no longer qualifies as an economically developing country and its noisy, aging aircraft should be banned from EU airports. During a plenary session in Strasbourg, the MEPs overwhelmingly approved a proposal by Dutch MEP Rijk van Dam to remove Saudi Arabia from the list of developing countries whose Chapter 2 aircraft are allowed at EU airports. The proposal concerns the imminent modification of EU Directive 92/14 by the Council of Ministers.
The Airport Authority of Hong Kong announced a schedule of charges this week for Hong Kong International Airport that represent, in the aggregate, an increase of about 20% over charges at the existing Kai Tak airport "in real terms - and even less for cargo aircraft." The schedule was drafted during and after eight rounds of consultations with domestic and foreign airlines between February 1996 and October 1997. The Hong Kong government announced last week that the new airport, built at Chek Lap Kok on Lantau Island, will open July 6.
Regional-aircraft manufacturers took firm orders for 474 aircraft during 1997. Bombardier Regional Aircraft was the biggest winner with 204 total units, or 43%, including 160 RJs. Embraer came in second with 141 firm orders, or 29%, including 134 RJ145s and seven EMB-120 Brasilias. Aero International (Regional) took orders for 79 units during the year, including the Avro RJ85/100 series and the ATR 42/72 series. Saab Aircraft registered sales of 34 turboprops, including 13 2000s, and Fairchild Dornier logged 16 orders, of which 10 were 328JETS.
European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert declined comment on reports that British Airways proposed a phase-in of its alliance with American to address competition issues. The idea has been in circulation for months, discussed by the EC and urged last November by Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.), ranking minority member of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee (DAILY, Nov. 24, 1997).
Boeing, Hexcel and Aviation Industries of China have announced a joint venture to build composites parts for commercial aircraft in China. The partners will build a facility in Tianjin to manufacture parts for secondary structure and interiors. The parts will be supplied to Hexcel's facility in Kent, Wash., for final assembly and shipment to Boeing and other customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Air Nostrum of Valencia, Spain, has taken delivery of its two first ATR 72s of four on order, Aero International (Regional) said. AI(R) last year sold 34 new ATR 72s and 20 new ATR 42s, "more than doubling the total number of ATR aircraft sold in all of 1996," AI(R) said.
American has rolled out a new frequent flyer program element that provides extra service, extra benefits and a specially trained staff to the airline's top customers. Super-frequent flyers can attain American's AAdvantage Executive Platinum level by accumulating points based both on fare paid and miles traveled. The higher the fare paid, the more points earned. The program follows a similar fare- and mileage-based program TWA introduced late last year.
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.
