London Luton Airport risks losing EasyJet as one of its main users if the latter gains an equity stake in Air Holland. EasyJet is expected to launch a friendly takeover bid for the Dutch charter airline soon in an attempt to set up operations elsewhere. Relations between Luton Airport authorities and EasyJet have been on the edge of hostilities since last year, when Luton rebuffed the carrier's offer to assume management of the airport. Luton authorities will unveil a short list of other candidates for the job soon, perhaps this week.
City-Pair Markets with the Largest Percentage Fare Increase Second Quarter 1997 vs. 1996 Average One-Way Fare Passengers Amt % Amt % CITY-PAIR 1997 1996 Chg Chg 1997 1996 Chg Chg BOSTON-DETROIT $260 $114 $146 128.1 $67,340 $105,651 -38,311 -36.3 CHICAGO-DES 200 88 112 127.3 33,943 64,064 -30,121 -47.0 MOINES ATLANTA
TWA and Ukraine International Airlines asked DOT to defer rather than dismiss TWA's application to provide code-share service to Ukraine and the carriers' joint application for authprity to operate the service. The carriers sought to serve New York-Paris-Kiev/Donetsk (DAILY, Oct. 16); DOT dismissed the applications, saying "at this time we have no aviation agreement with France that provides for TWA's proposed operations." DOT did not dismiss Ukraine International's request to serve the U.S. by code share with TWA.
AeroPeru has started service to Tacna, Pucallpa and Puerto Maldonado, three new domestic points. The first two cities will receive daily service from Lima, and Puerto Maldonado will receive four weekly flights via Cuzco. Also, AeroPeru will inaugurate Lima-Tarapoto service five times per week.
Finnair's international passenger traffic rose to 325,000 in November, an increase of 19.1% compared with November 1996. Total traffic, including domestic and charter passengers, expanded by 13.4% to 571,000, raising the total load factor 4.0 percentage points to 70.4%. Cargo and mail volume shot up 16.5% to 7,264 tonnes.
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise has taken delivery of the first of 14 A320s on firm order from Airbus. The A320, powered by IAE V2500 engines, will be operated by Irish charter carrier TransAer, which currently has six A320s and six A300s. Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise is owned by Singapore Airlines, Boullioun Aviation Services, Apfarge Investments and Seletar Investments of Singapore. It holds options on 10 Airbus aircraft of any type for delivery in the next four years.
Iberia denies that it is close to purchasing 70 aircraft worth $4 billion, as reported in Spain's Gaceta de los Negocios newspaper. The airline is talking with Boeing and Airbus and is thought to be a candidate for the newly renamed Boeing 717 twinjet, formerly the MD-95, to replace its 727s and DC-9s.
KLM will merge its sales offices in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg into a single unit, KLM Benelux, with a head office in Hoofddorpp and support organizations in Brussels and Luxembourg.
FAA teams will be at Boeing's 737 facilities in Renton, Wash., and Wichita, Kan., until Friday, conducting unannounced inspections of the company's manufacturing process documentation and meeting with senior company officials. The inspections follow the loss of a new Silkair 737-300 in which investigators found that 26 fasteners were missing from the horizontal stabilizer. It is not known whether this was a factor in the crash. Inspectors may look at parts of aircraft or entire aircraft as they follow the company's documentation process, FAA said.
SAS traffic for 1997 grew 5% to 20.6 billion revenue passenger kilometers. Passenger load factor fell to 60.2% in December, but the full-year average was 65.1%. The Star Alliance member carried 20.8 million passengers last year, up 5%. Freight volume rose 15% to 690 million freight ton kilometers.
Azzurraair of Italy concluded its first year of scheduled operation from London City Airport last month with the acceptance of the first of four Avro RJ70s. The aircraft has been placed in service on the carrier's London Luton-Milan Bergamo-Rome Ciampino route, operated under a code-share agreement with Debonair Airways. The regional carrier expects to take delivery of three more RJ70s by the end of March, bringing its RJ fleet to seven aircraft.
City-Pair Markets with the Largest Percentage Fare Decrease Second Quarter 1997 vs. 1996 Average One-Way Fare Passengers Amt % Amt % CITY-PAIR 1997 1996 Chg Chg 1997 1996 Chg Chg BALTIMORE PROVIDENCE $53 $181 $-128 -70.7 $142,324 $14,469 127,855 883.6 KANSAS CITY
DOT received brief answers from American and TACA on its request for information on the relationship between the American-TACA and American- LanChile alliances.
CityFlyer Express, a British Airways franchise operator, will offer three- times-daily service between London Gatwick and Zurich, starting March 29 using Avro RJ100s configured for 100 passengers in two classes of service. Once the flights start, departing from Gatwick's South Terminal, BA will cease operating the route from the North Terminal. CityFlyer Express expects about 1.5 million passengers this year.
FedEx said yesterday it will equip its fleet with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems, making it one of the first cargo carriers to do so. The company said it also will equip its fleet with the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System on an accelerated schedule.
Aerospatiale will spin off its Airbus business this year, clearing the way for its integration into a new Airbus corporate entity, the company said yesterday in an announcement of record results in 1997. Chairman Yves Michot said at a news conference that the ATR commuter airplane business also will be spun off, as part of a British-French-German general restructuring of the European aerospace industry. "This was a very satisfactory development for Aerospatiale, which has long worked to achieve this objective," said Michot.
Japan Airlines posted a 2% increase in domestic traffic during the Dec. 26 to Jan. 6 holiday period, but international traffic fell 3.9%. Domestic traffic set a record with 707,446 passengers carried in the period, and the load factor rose 1.0 percentage point to 70.2%. Traffic to Australia and New Zealand declined 13.1%, Japan-China fell 10.2% and Japan-Korea was off 9.2%. Passenger traffic to all of Southeast Asia dropped 9.9%. The lone bright spot in international operations was traffic to the U.S. - service to the U.S.
Former Mesa Air Group executives Jonathan Ornstein, Jim Swigart and Blaine Jones, part of a group acquiring a 5.3% stake in Farmington, N.M.-based Mesa, intend to seek changes in the regional carrier group's board, management and fleet. The investment follows last month's announced resignation of Mesa Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Risley, who will retire April 30. The company has not named a successor, and the new investors would like to have a vote in its future direction.
DOT renewed until Feb. 2, 1999, authority for Czech Airlines to display Continental's designator code on flights between Prague and Newark and amended CSA's authority so it may display Continental's code on Prague- Bratislava/Kosice, Slovak Republic, service. The department separately granted Continental and Continental Express a co-extensive complementary exemption renewal and amendment. Dismissing CSA's request for exemption authority to serve 24 U.S.
Cathay Pacific introduced electronic ticketing this week on a single route, Hong Kong-Singapore. Although e-ticketing is available domestically in the U.S. and throughout Europe, Cathay is the first to make it available on service to or from Hong Kong. Robert McFadden, manager distribution automation support, said e-ticketing will be especially beneficial after Hong Kong passenger volume grows with the opening of Chek Lap Kok Airport. Later this year, Cathay will make e-ticketing available on more routes and for travel agent bookings.
Sources familiar with progress in the U.S.-Japan aviation talks say same- country code sharing and the viability of loaned FedEx Narita slots are the two chief obstacles that await resolution. A State Department official said the U.S. is "reasonably optimistic" the two sides can sketch out a framework agreement - an "agreement to agree" - next week, but a few "speed bumps" remain. Formal talks start Tuesday.
The U.S. airline industry, having grown recently without cutthroat competition, may now have too many hubs, a situation that could be improved with airline consolidation, according to an analysis by Lehman Brothers. In its release of The 1998 Hub Factbook, Lehman airline analyst Brian Harris said the industry is entering a "mature, more stable phase" that has resulted in many smaller hubs. There are "too many hubs doing the same thing," Harris said, and the industry would be more efficient with fewer but larger hubs.
Electronic ticketing increased 28% at United last year in the markets where the service was available. About 41% of passenger itineraries in those markets used e-ticket, and the share reached 51% in December. United launched e-ticket on flights to the U.K. Nov. 1, and more than 16,000 U.S.- U.K. passengers selected it in the last two months of 1997.
