Tickets on Canadian or American are available as electronic tickets through Sabre. American is the first Sabre participant to offer e-tickets to travel agents in Canada and the U.S. for travel in Canada, the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and on flights to Frankfurt. E-tickets issued through Canadian are good for travel within Canada.
Western Pacific has received a commitment of between $40 million-$50 million in debtor-in-possession financing that should enable it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The carrier is petitioning the U.S. bankruptcy court in Denver for approval of the reorganization financing, provided by New York-based Smith Management Corp. (SMC). The rescue would include $10 million of an initial debtor-in-possession loan by Dec. 4 that would pay for Westpac's aircraft lease obligations and give it some working capital.
Mesaba Airlines ordered 19 more Saab 340BPlus aircraft, bringing its 340 fleet to 72. In March 1996, the Northwest Airlink carrier ordered 30 340BPlus and 23 pre-owned 340As.
Canadian Airlines reported a 1.8% traffic increase in October despite a 6% drop in capacity. The result was a load factor gain of 5.6 percentage points to 73.8%. The Canadian domestic market showed the biggest growth, and the airline also benefited from shifting some capacity to transborder routes. Domestic load factor was up 9.9 points in October to 78.2% and 2.5 points year-to-date to 72.5%. Domestic capacity fell 12.8% in October.
FAA is expected to announce today the winner of its $1 billion, 10-year National Airspace Supplier Implementation Support Contract II (NISC). The principal bidders are Washington Consulting Group teamed with Raytheon and Tracor, and Lockheed Martin.
United and Lufthansa want to add code-share service beyond Germany to Sanaa, Yemen, Casablanca, Morocco, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to their joint request for United to code share on Lufthansa flights to Riga, Latvia (DAILY, Nov. 13). United's traffic from Germany will be blind-sector, connecting with United/Lufthansa services to Germany from the U.S. United needs exemption authority to serve the additional markets. The U.S. has no bilateral agreement with Yemen or Ethiopia, and the U.S.-Morocco bilateral does not address code shares.
Boeing Business Jets has received four new orders, bringing total orders to 29, VP Tom Lindberg said yesterday. Announcing the increase at the 1997 Dubai Air Show, Lindberg said about 25% of all orders come from the Middle East. About 40% of BBJ's customers are based in the U.S. and 60% are international, he said. Most of the customers have asked to remain anonymous.
Pilots at Midwest Express subsidiary Skyway Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, yesterday rescinded their proffer of arbitration settlement by the National Mediation Board and were released by the NMB into a 30-day cooling-off period. When the 30 days end, on Dec. 20, the 125-member ALPA unit will be free to strike. The pilots will conduct informational picketing Nov. 26 at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport near the Skyways ticket counter.
While political leaders in Dallas and Fort Worth debate the future of Dallas Love Field in light of congressional relaxation of Wright Amendment limits, there is "nothing going on" in the way of new services, according to officials of Dallas and Love Field incumbent Southwest Airlines. Legend Airlines is shooting for a mid-1998 startup with six leased Douglas DC-9- 32s to be reconfigured to 56 seats, said Legend Chief Executive Allan McArtor.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries August 1997 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Canada 2 A319 CFM56-5A5 14 All Nippon 1 767-300 CF6-80C2B2F - All Nippon 1 777-200A PW4084 5
LanChile's traffic and capacity both jumped 26.1% in September, leaving the load factor unchanged at 61.6%. For the first nine months, traffic growth outpaced capacity, 48.1% versus 45.4%, and the load factor was up 1.1 percentage points to 62.7%. Freight traffic has grown faster, by 61.6% in September and 73.2% year-to-date. LanChile carried 232,000 passengers in September and nearly 2 million in the first nine months. Its full-year total for 1996 was 1.9 million passengers.
UPS and its pilots union, the 2,000-member Independent Pilots Association, will resume contract talks Jan. 12 in Washington, D.C. In contrast to a contentious atmosphere earlier this year, both sides are optimistic about 1998. UPS spokesman Ken Shapero said the company is "coming back to the table in hopes it will have meaningful and productive talks that will lead to an agreement." IPA President Bob Miller said the union is looking forward to the negotiations as an opportunity to reach a "meeting of the minds."
Comair's capacity for the first 10 months of 1996 was 2,219,593,000 available seat miles. An incorrect figure was given in a traffic table in Friday's Regional Aviation section (DAILY, Nov. 14).
Flight Management Computer System (FMS) issues will be the focus of a Dec. 16 meeting of the Air Traffic Control Association at the Crystal City Hyatt Regency Hotel, Arlington, Va. Its purpose is to educate an audience largely unfamiliar with FMS, identify FMS and related issues and problems that need resolution, and make recommendations for widespread deployment of FMS procedures in the air traffic control system. FAA asked regional offices Sept. 16 to support development and deployment of FMS procedures in the 50 busiest terminals in the U.S.
Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are close to finalizing a marketing partnership and could announce the details within days. The deal probably will include code sharing and cross-participation in the carriers' frequent flyer programs, since each has similar links with other airlines. Code sharing would help each carrier in its current attempts to establish a foothold in the other's home market. Lufthansa said Singapore cooperation will not be linked - for the moment - to its Star Alliance with United, SAS, Air Canada, Thai and Varig.
Aeromexpress asked DOT for a one-year exemption to operate scheduled foreign cargo service between La Paz, Mexico, and coterminal points Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. It plans daily service to Los Angeles and New York and three-times-weekly Chicago flights, using 727 or DC-8 cargo aircraft. The Mexican carrier said it is "in the process of securing a designation and homeland authority for the three markets." It holds exemption authority to operate U.S.-Mexico cargo charters and scheduled all-cargo service between Mexico and various U.S. points.
Royal Jordanian is offering a week-long "Arabian Adventure" package for U.S. travelers, starting at $1,350 from New York, including airfare, hotel, daily breakfast and dinner, and sightseeing by private car. Chicago departures cost $1,420.
All Nippon Airways, one of the last major international airlines to sell smoking seats for both domestic and overseas flights, recently introduced an experimental "air curtain" to separate smoking and non-smoking first- class passengers on its 777s operating Tokyo-Beijing. ANA spent $28,300 per aircraft to install blowers that create a ceiling-to-floor air stream that isolates smoking sections.
Air Methods said revenues for the September quarter increased 43.2% to $11 million while net income rose 269% to $583,000, both records. For nine months, revenues grew 17.5% to $26.6 million and net income was $1 million, up from $205,000.
Northwest and its Air Line Pilots Association unit will enter eight days of negotiations in Kansas City in December at the request of National Mediation Board mediator Jack Kane, ALPA said yesterday. The two sides reached tentative agreement on sick leave, the 14th of 29 contract sections on which agreement is needed.
Hughes Training Division of Hughes U.K. received an $8 million contract from Denmark's Civil Aviation Administration to provide FIRSTplus air traffic control training systems. The installation will include 34 radar simulator work positions, five aerodrome trainers and one advanced ATC visual tower simulator.
Korean Air posted an 11% increase in cargo revenue during October, reaching a record $100.5 million. It achieved the gain despite persisting recessionary conditions in the Korean economy. The airline, which has the world's second-largest passenger airline cargo operation, has added service to Denver.
FAA's Terminal Integrated Product Team briefed FAA Administrator Jane Garvey yesterday on color display options for the tower at Dallas/Fort Worth. At issue is whether to implement the Early Display Configuration for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) or the ARTS Color Display in mid-1999. Internal FAA documents indicate that the ARTS solution would be ready about two months sooner but would cost about $11 million more. Both options could have a negative impact on the STARS program if funding comes from fiscal 1998 appropriations.
