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.
British Airways' announcement Monday that it will revise travel agent commissions - reducing its costs - drew a variety of responses from U.S. travel agents, one of whom described the action as a "sneak attack." John Melchior, managing director of international operations at Woodside Travel Trust, the world's largest travel management partnership, said BA did not advise agents or consult with them in advance. "The agency community certainly realizes that this will impact their business significantly," he said.
Korean Air, promoting itself more actively in the U.S. lately, operates to more cities in China from the U.S. - Beijing, Shenyang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Harbin, Tainjin, Shenzhen, Sanya and Hong Kong - than any other airline in the world.
CCAIR has named Carletta Sullivan VP-employee resources. Sullivan joined the carrier in January 1993 and served most recently as director of employee resources.
Load factors for domestic regional airlines increased an average of 3.56 percentage points in October year-over-year. Based on a sampling of 15 of the nation's largest regional carriers, October load factors averaged 55.78%, up from 52.22% the previous year. Northwest Airlink Express Airlines I led the pack with a 62.59% load factor in and out of its Memphis hub, a 5.17- point increase. Delta Connection Comair tied with 62.59%, but was up 5.14 percentage points.
Sabre Group and Japan Airlines have completed a joint development project enabling JAL to use Sabre's WorldFare pricing system as its own internal fare system. WorldFare is now the exclusive pricing system for 116 JAL reservations and corporate offices worldwide and 6,900 travel agency locations that subscribe to Axcess, the largest computer reservations system in Japan.
Portland-Seattle was the largest single regional market in the U.S. for the second consecutive year during 1996, according to statistics gathered by AvStat Associates of Washington, D.C., for DAILY sister publication Business&Commercial Aviation. The market, which generated 584,268 O&D passengers, down 0.1% on the year, is dominated by Horizon Air. Los Angeles- San Diego moved up from third to second with 540,482 enplanements, up 7.1%, while Dallas/Fort Worth-Houston Hobby jumped from 24th to third with 503,428 passengers, up 119.6%.
Germany's regional government of North Rhine-Westphalia granted final approval this week of selling its 50% share in the publicly owned Dusseldorf Airport to a consortium comprising the German industrial group, RWE, and Air Rianta, Ireland's airport operator. The German-Irish consortium will buy the stake for 353 million Deutschmarks, defeating a bid by a consortium of Germany's Harpen Group and Airport Group International of the U.S. The city of Dusseldorf will retain control of the remaining 50% of airport shares.
Northwest's board has waived the right to push back for four years the delivery of one of two 747-400s it is scheduled to receive in March 1999. The carrier has a firm order for four 747-400s powered by Pratt&Whitney engines, two for delivery in 1999 and two in 2002. It has the right to slide either or both of the 1999 deliveries back to 2003, and it said it expects to decide on the second "slide" early next year.
Fine Air Services' objection to the Federal Express-Florida West International route transfer is based on factual and legal errors, FedEx and FWIA told DOT. The department recently renewed FWIA's temporary U.S.- Colombia all-cargo certificate authority and approved the sale of the authority to FedEx.
New Aircraft Orders And Options August 1997 Last 12 Months Firm Orders Options Orders Options Carrier # Type # Type Engines Del. Dates # Type # Type Aer Lingus* 2 A321-200 - CFM56-5 4/-7/98 - - Air Cairo 3 TU204-120 - RB211-535E4 98- - -
Although the National Mediation Board has released Skyway Airlines and its Air Line Pilots Association unit into a 30-day cooling off period, the union and the company want to continue negotiations and avoid a strike. NMB released the parties Wednesday after the union rescinded a proffer of arbitration it made on Monday. The cooling-off period ends at 12:01 a.m. on Dec.
Used Jet Aircraft Deliveries August 1997 Carrier # Type Engines Previous Operator Air One 1 737-200 ADV JT8D-15 Lufthansa Air Philippines 1 737-200 JT8D-7B United Air UK Ltd 1 Fokker 100 Tay620-15 KLM Airborne Express 1 767-200 CF6-80A All Nippon AirTran Airways 1 737-200 ADV JT8D-9A(H) Gecas
Mesaba's order for 22 Saab aircraft announced this week comprises 19 new 340BPlus and three used 340A aircraft converted from options (DAILY, Nov 20). The order nearly doubles the new units called for under the 22 options taken in March 1996 and shrinks the used-aircraft portion to three. The 22 options placed in March 1996 called for 10 new 340Bplus aircraft and 12 used 340As - the options were in addition to a firm order for 30 new 340Bplus aircraft and 20 used 340As.
Aloha Airlines is seeking federal mediation in contract talks with its Air Line Pilots Association unit, and ALPA is labeling the request "a delaying tactic." Aloha's fleet comprises 17 Boeing 737s, and its pilots have been working without a contract for nearly a year, ALPA said.
DOT revoked JetTrain Corp.'s operating certificate after a one year lull in the niche carrier's operations. JetTrain, which offered passenger service out of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston and Nashville, stopped operating last November in the face of intense East Coast competition (DAILY, Nov. 15, 1996). The carrier filed a request with DOT in March to restart operations but subsequently withdrew it.
DOT reissued ValuJet Airlines' certificate under the name AirTran Airlines to reflect parent company ValuJet Inc.'s merger with AirTran Airways' parent, Airways Corp. DOT issued a notice Sept. 17 registering the AirTran Airlines trade name for ValuJet, which has used the new name since late September.
Taiwan-based China Airlines applied to DOT for exemption authority to fly scheduled combination and charter service from points in and behind Taiwan to the U.S. and beyond. Taiwan and the U.S. initialed an open-skies agreement this year, and the pact is in force provisionally even though it has not yet been formalized through an exchange of diplomatic notes. The exemption application is largely a formality, a DOT spokesman said.
Despite stepped-up competition over the Atlantic, U.S. carriers had the highest operating margins in the region during the second quarter of 1997, the most recent period for which divisional figures are available. Among all world regions, Delta's, Continental's and Northwest's Atlantic divisions had the top operating margins in the quarter, at 25.5%, 25.3% and 24.7%, respectively. The Atlantic results came despite new competition from carriers such as CityBird, Virgin Atlantic, Air Europa, Laker Airways, Emirates and Aer Lingus.
The carriers of Canadian Airlines' regional system posted last month an 18.1% increase in traffic to 98 million revenue passenger miles despite a capacity reduction of 1.3% to 149 million available seat miles, compared with figures for October 1996. As a result, the load factor jumped 10.8 percentage points to 65.8% from 55% in the prior period. Although on average the company's regional aircraft operated two-thirds full, the parent did even better - domestic flights achieved a 78.2% load factor. Enplanements were not reported.
American Eagle has placed orders with IBM for 365 network computers with which it hopes to save "millions in long-term computing costs." The regional system will install the new IBM Network Stations at its 20 line and maintenance centers to automate and accelerate parts ordering and inventory, "which are now paperwork intensive," Eagle said in a prepared statement.
Aero International (Regional) is demonstrating the ATR 72-210A in a five-day tour across China this week, the company said. AI(R) estimated the potential Chinese market for the aircraft at more than 200 units over the next 15 years. More than 40 Chinese airlines will test the aircraft during the tour, the company said.
Untied has opened a new 98,500-square-foot cargo transfer facility at New York Kennedy Airport. The facility is equipped to handle bulk and containerized shipments and has a drive-through capability for landside or airside deliveries. It includes a 2,000-square-foot cooler space, a 500- square-foot security area and 13,500 square feet of office space. Four drive-up ramps accommodate automobiles and vans, and there are 12 standard truck doors and two oversize docks with scissor lifts.
