British Airways London Gatwick-based franchise partner CityFlyer Express will increase daily services from Gatwick to Guernsey with the beginning of the summer schedule on March 31, 1998. The carrier will operate four daily flights and also is considering whether to introduce larger aircraft on the route. British Airways' routes operated by CityFlyer Express now link Gatwick with 13 European destinations with a combination of ATR 42s, ATR 72s, and Avro RJ100s.
U.S. Carriers Maintenance Expense Third Quarter 1997 % Of Total Maintenance Operating Expenses Alaska $ 29,743,000 8.40 America West 50,666,472 11.83 American 487,774,000 13.41 Continental 182,574,000 12.31
Mesa posted a 9.3% increase in traffic last month to 111.3 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity climbed 7.1% to 204 million available seat miles, while the load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 54.6%. Boardings were up 3.8% to 501,228.
With the end of the 30-day cooling-off period on the horizon, Skyway and its pilots will resume talks next week in Washington under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. A Skyway spokeswoman said negotiations are scheduled for Dec. 17, 18 and 19. The cooling-off period ends Dec. 20.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR saw a 7.2% drop in traffic to 11.2 million revenue passenger miles and a 20.1% decrease in capacity to 20.7 million available seat miles in November 1997, compared with November 1996. As a result, the load factor climbed 7.5 percentage points to 54.1%. Nov. 1997 Nov. 1996 11 Mths 1997 11 Mths 1996 RPMs 11,178,066 12,043,634 132,055,514 138,229,396 ASMs 20,677,839 25,872,085 259,827,988 290,661,372
Revenue passenger miles jumped an average of 13.3% in November among 14 regional airlines. That compared with an average increase in available seat miles of only 4.4% - a spread of nearly nine percentage points. Northwest Airlink Mesaba, which is adding Saab 340s and Avro RJ85 quadjets to its fleet monthly, saw its capacity soar by 78.4% on the month, but that was sharply outpaced by traffic, up by 94.4% for a 16.5-point spread.
Negotiators from the U.S. and the Netherlands Antilles initialed an open- skies agreement this week in Washington. The pact, provisionally in effect until formal adoption, includes seventh-freedom cargo rights.
AMR Eagle Maintenance Unit To Perform 'C' Checks On ASA ATR 72s AMR Eagle's Regional Aircraft Maintenance Center Inc. has won a contract to perform "C" checks on 12 of Atlantic Southeast's ATR 72 aircraft, Eagle reported. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The work, which began earlier this month, will be performed at the maintenance unit's 126,000-square-foot facility at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Gwinn, Mich.
Major computer reservations systems commenting on CRS rules defended themselves against charges of abusive practices and the American Society of Travel Agents said its members have few alternatives to passive bookings, criticized by America West and others for running up charges without producing paid travel. AMR Corp.'s Sabre Group said there is no need to regulate booking fees, disciplined as they are by an increasingly competitive market. Sabre said it is a "common myth" that carriers cannot control their CRS bills.
CCAIR has signed a memorandum of understanding to lease 20 Jetstream 32EP aircraft from British Aerospace Asset Management. Fourteen aircraft will replace the regional's existing fleet of 14 Jetstream 31s, while six aircraft will be interim replacements for its Shorts 360s, which are being returned to the lessor. Deliveries of the J32EPs are expected to start before the end of the year.
Lockheed Martin, eager to begin overdue deliveries of its C-130J transport to Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., has hopes of obtaining FAA certification for the aircraft next March. Company officials, in Washington last week for a demonstration flight of the stretched C-130J-30, said they were confident the schedule for certification will not slip. Deliveries to the U.K. would begin almost immediately after certification, one official said. The Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force are slated to take delivery of their first airplanes in June and July.
Aero International (Regional) partners have abandoned the proposed AI(R)JET project, citing the need for a "more global European approach" to the 70- to 120-seat market segment, which apparently defers to Airbus Industrie. Consortium members Aerospatiale of France and Alenia of Italy backed the program, but it was no secret that British Aerospace - flush with recent success with its Avro RJ85/100 line - balked at the $1.2 billion in development costs to build a new 70-seater. Recent efforts to lure CASA of Spain into the AI(R)JET program also apparently failed...
Alaska Airlines, in a multimillion-dollar order from the Nordam Group, is installing hushkits on its 737-200s, becoming the first carrier in the industry to fly a quiet, all-Stage 3 fleet, the company said yesterday. The low-gross-weight hushkit uses a 12-lobe mixer assembly, developed by Pratt&Whitney. Other modifications include the addition of a spacer between the inlet guide vanes and the fan blades, and the installation of acoustical materials throughout the engine housing and tailpipe to further reduce noise.
Deutsche BA filed a complaint with the European Commission against Lufthansa, accusing it of abusing its dominant position on the Frankfurt- Munich route and using fare reduction systems aiming at driving competitors out of business. British Airways' German subsidiary claims Lufthansa slashed its fares 30% when Deutsche BA entered the market Nov. 24. Lufthansa replied that Deutsche BA is trying to "use the competition authorities...to gain competitive advantages in Germany." It dismissed Deutsche BA's pricing policy as "confused."
The Russian-built satellite navigation system jammer the U.S. Air Force intends to study (DAILY, Dec. 8) blocks satellite signals in four frequencies, affecting military as well as civilian - and Russian as well as U.S. - operations. Specifications for the jammer, offered for sale last summer at the Moscow Air Show, were provided to DAILY affiliate ATC Market Report by Oleg Antonov, chief of Aviaconversiya, the Moscow company that manufactures it.
DOT approved an initial two-year exemption giving Delta authority to conduct foreign combination service between Atlanta and Panama City, Panama, and to integrate the service with its existing certificates, exemptions and routes. Delta plans to operate daily nonstops with 757-200 aircraft, beginning April 4. No fifth-freedom intermediate or beyond rights or limited-entry route rights are included in the exemption.
Low-cost airlines in Europe will face increasing pressure from leaner flag carriers, and several startups are unlikely to survive the next economic downturn, according to speakers at yesterday's Aircraft Finance Conference in New York. Although several low-fare European airlines are healthy now, "many will not survive," said Rigas Doganis, former head of Olympic Airways and former head of aviation at England's Cranfield University.
Delta began offering daily nonstop service last week between Atlanta and Grand Cayman, using a 180-passenger 757 aircraft with an international two- class configuration. Flights leave Atlanta at 10:45 a.m. and arrive at 1:15 p.m., and depart Grand Cayman at 2:35 p.m. for a 5:15 p.m. arrival in Atlanta.
As of Dec. 15, United flight attendants in Denver, Newark, Philadelphia and San Francisco who call in sick will be offered medical advice via telephone by a nurse who also will determine when a flight attendant goes back to work. The nurse will have the authority to refuse sick leave and put the flight attendant on "did not fly status," which would mean no sick pay. United is experimenting with the system, which will affect about 6,500 cabin crew.
U.S.-French bilateral talks opened yesterday in Washington with a less encouraging tone than some in the U.S. had expected, given advances in the last round. A source said French negotiators were "more theoretical" than the U.S. had hoped, "rather than talking about a deal - which was surprising, I think, to everybody." Virtually no one expected agreement this week, but some thought enough progress could be made to seal an agreement during the next round of talks, in Paris. After yesterday, "I think people are starting to question that," the source said.
Northwest will start jet service to Jackson Jan. 7 - three roundtrips per day from the Memphis hub - with sale fares. Sample roundtrip fares include $98 to Birmingham, Little Rock, Memphis and New Orleans, and $178 to Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, Omaha, Orlando, San Antonio, Tampa and Wichita. Northwest will award double WorldPerks miles Jackson-Memphis travel from Jan. 7 through Feb. 28 and 1,000 bonus miles for roundtrips connecting through Memphis to selected cities.
Ongoing tests conducted in an attempt to duplicate electrical impulses that may have caused an explosion in the center wing tank of TWA Flight 800 "may or may not" prove useful in determining the cause of the aircraft's crash in July 1996, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall said yesterday at the board's TWA 800 hearing in Baltimore.
Gatwick Airport should not become the exclusive domain of scheduled carriers, the International Air Carrier Association said of charter airlines in Brussels. The charter carrier association opposes recent statements by British Airways that non-scheduled operations should be moved from Gatwick to Stansted or Luton airports in order to free up capacity for scheduled flights shifted from Heathrow to Gatwick due to noise complaints at Heathrow.
