Sun Country and its pilot union reached tentative agreements on several key issues Friday after two weeks of intense negotiations under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. The carrier and its Air Line Pilots Association unit found common ground on training, dead-heading, leaves of absence, vacations and non-wage compensation, but they did not reach agreement on minimum guarantees of flight time or wage rates. NMB recessed the talks for resumption either after Thanksgiving or the first of the year.
United is offering "soaring in style" flights out of San Francisco with complimentary headsets and Godiva chocolates. On selected flights, passengers will have a chance to win instant rewards, such as limousine service, $500 in "mad money" for a day off, dinners for two, roses and retail certificates. The airline also is offering four fantasy inflight giveaways - getaways to a race car driving school in Florida, Hollywood and baseball spring training in Arizona, and time at the controls of a flight simulator.
ANZ Investment Bank has arranged a $17 million syndicated loan to enable state-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines to finance capital acquisitions and other projects, IA officials said Friday. The five-year loan, IA's first overseas borrowing without a federal government guarantee, is priced 55 basis points higher than the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor). Among participants in the syndication are Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken of Stockholm, BW Bank Ireland Plc, Indian Bank's Singapore branch and Banca Commerciale Italiana of Singapore.
Lufthansa Cargo AG said it has become Germany's first air cargo carrier to receive ISO 9001 certification, the international quality standard. The company applied for the certification two years ago and was put through more than 2,600 individual audits. The result is a four-volume quality manual LCAG will distribute to its operating and marketing sites across Germany.
DOT's new World Wide Web site is open for business with rulemakings, docket filings and other regulatory documents from all transportation sectors, including aviation. DOT is promoting the free service, accessed at http://dms.dot.gov, as part of Vice President Gore's initiative to reinvent government. Within months, interested parties will be able to file dockets over the Web as well.
Lufthansa, reorganizing its activities in Asia, will set up a central office in Singapore that will manage all of its operations from India to Japan. The German carrier's announcement fueled speculation that it is about to unveil a cooperation agreement with Singapore Airlines (DAILY, Nov. 20). Lufthansa will hold a press conference this week in Singapore with Chairman Jurgen Weber as a participant. Singapore Airlines is currently linked to Swissair and Delta Air Lines, rivals of Lufthansa's Star Alliance partnership.
American Trans Air reported a 16.6% increase in traffic, to 669.2 million revenue passenger miles, a 10.3% gain in capacity, to 962.1 million available seat miles, and a 22.9% jump in block hours flown, to 11,143, in October 1997 compared with October 1996. In scheduled service, the AmTran subsidiary's traffic was up 26% to 361.3 million RPMs as capacity rose 17.1% to 531.4 million, boosting the load factor 4.8 percentage points to 68%.
Lufthansa intends to increase its passenger capacity to Peru by 15% during 1998, according to Peru's Gestion. The airline forecasts that 40% of traffic will be local Peru travelers, up from 22% currently. The carrier is considering direct service between Frankfurt and Lima in 1999. Sales from Peru will total $5.6 million this year and should increase due to code-share service with United and Varig.
Boeing is nowhere near its accustomed 70% market share for civil aircraft sales this year, particularly when its merger with McDonnell Douglas is factored in. Boeing reported sales of 480 aircraft through the first 10 months, compared with 425 firm orders for Airbus Industrie. This gives Airbus 47% of the market, close to its 50% target.
Aerospatiale and Honeywell have agreed to expand current cooperation in test equipment. Honeywell will develop and maintain test program sets for its avionics for the Boeing 777 and new generation 737 series on Aerospatiale's ATEC Series 6 tester. Both parties will market jointly to airlines.
Orally approved an exemption for Singapore Airlines to conduct scheduled combination service from points behind Singapore via Singapore and intermediate points to points in the U.S. and beyond, scheduled cargo service between the U.S. and beyond points, and charter operations, as envisioned under this year's open skies agreement with Singapore...Orally approved an exemption for American International Airways permitting it to delay startup of approved, scheduled all-cargo service between the U.S.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will discuss next year's Airport Improvement Program reauthorization, passenger facility charges and airline competition legislation on this week's Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
FS Air, Anchorage, Alaska, has filed an application for renewed authority to provide subsidized scheduled essential air service to Seward, Alaska. The carrier, which serves the point from Anchorage and has four years' experience on the route, asked for an annual subsidy of $73,499.00, but said it hoped "to fly this route without a subsidy in the near future. Continuity in marketing and in service, will help this route grow." (Docket OST-97-2942)
Memphis-based Northwest Airlines regional subsidiary Express Airlines I flew 32.3 million revenue passenger miles last month, an 18.2% drop from October 1996. But capacity dropped 27.9% to 51.6 million available seat miles, driving the load factor up 7.5 percentage points to 62.6%. Fellow Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba Airlines took over flying for Express I at Minneapolis/St. Paul effective Aug. 1.
DOT granted Viscount Air an exemption from rules requiring revocation of certificate authority after ceasing operations for a year, giving it until April 30, 1998, to resume service. Viscount holds certificates issued in April 1995, to conduct interstate and foreign combination charter service. Operations after January 1996, were under bankruptcy protection, and Viscount stopped all airline service in October 1996. On Oct.
Ward Air has been tentatively re-selected by DOT to serve Chatham and Funter Bay, Alaska, from Dec. 1, 1997, through Nov. 30, 1999. The department proposes to continue to pay the carrier an annual subsidy of $9,187 for the service, which it provides from the state capital, Juneau, using Cessna 185 aircraft. (Dockets OST 97-(46478)
Atlantic Coast Airlines Thursday exercised options for 12 additional Canadair Regional Jets - six firm and six conditional - on the strength of senior-partner United's pilots this week approving the use of RJs by United Express carriers (DAILY, Nov. 19). The order will bring ACA's CRJ fleet to 24 with 24 options. Delta Connection Comair also converted 12 CRJ conditional orders Thursday in a move that will grow its twin-jet fleet to 80. The conditional orders were contained in an order for 30 last May. Comair still has options for an additional 45 CRJs.
Business Express wants to outfit all its aircraft with 16g seating, and has placed an order with B/E Aerospace for 36 shipsets and options for another 20. Delivery and installation are scheduled between January and March. The initiative "will make Business Express Airlines one of the first carriers in the nation to be in total compliance with new safety requirements expected from the FAA next year," the regional said. Busex operates 39 Saab 340 aircraft.
Great Lakes Aviation has filed with DOT a notice that it will drop service at Mount Vernon, Ill., Feb. 16. Great Lakes is the only carrier serving the point. Great Lakes, which operates two daily flights to O'Hare with Beech 1900s, noted that the elapsed flying time on the route is about two hours, whereas "St. Louis International Airport is about a 90-minute drive from the Mount Vernon area." It also said it was "hampered in its efforts to improve its schedule offering to serve even the local market between Mount Vernon and Chicago by the lack of O'Hare slots."
Atlas Air has been notified by the National Mediation Board that the Air Line Pilots Association has filed an application for a determination of representation of the cargo carrier's pilots, Chairman Michael Chowdry said yesterday. Chowdry said he was "disappointed at this development.
British Airways is closing one phase of its Business Efficiency Program - major restructurings and division selloffs - and will seek the remaining #400 million of its #1 billion savings target from better use of assets and improved third-party contracts.
