Brazil has implemented a fivefold increase in its international passenger departure tax. As of yesterday, travelers pay $90 to leave the country, up from $18.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic Second Quarter 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 2,917 3.65 827 2,412,049 America West 4,582 2.22 884 4,051,732
Three days of U.S.-Brazil talks opened yesterday in Washington, with expanded service opportunities as the goal. Rather than open skies, negotiators are aiming for additional passenger and cargo frequencies and more charter rights.
Pilots at Midwest Express subsidiary Skyway Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, were awaiting management response yesterday after accepting a proffer for an arbitrated settlement by the National Mediation Board. The parties have tried to negotiate a contract for Skyway's 125 pilots for about two years, ALPA said.
British Airways, dominant at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, has selected London Stansted as the launch point for a new no-frills carrier due to take to the skies next year. BA is creating the yet-to-be-named subsidiary to battle the rise of low-fare airlines - especially within Britain, where EasyJet and Debonair are based at London Luton and KLM subsidiary Air UK keeps its home at Stansted, north of London.
U.S.-Japan negotiators achieved a positive tone in San Francisco's bilateral talks last weekend, but sources said yesterday there is little evidence that substantial progress was made. Formal negotiations will resume the week of Dec. 15 in Tokyo. A State Department official described the latest talks as a "productive two-day session with signs of forward movement." Sources said, however, there probably was not enough movement for the framework of an agreement to be unveiled at next week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Vancouver.
U.S. District Judge John McBryde has ordered Dallas and Fort Worth to make a "good-faith" effort to negotiate a settlement of their dispute over changes in Wright Amendment limits on service at Dallas Love Field. Threatening to penalize both parties if they fail, McBryde ordered them to bring people with decision-making authority to the table and meet "face to face...in person, not by telephone or other remote means." He said he wants a "status report" by Dec. 12.
British Airways will prohibit smoking on all flights as of March 29, the start of its summer schedule. More than 95% of BA's 7,000 flights per week already are non-smoking, but several airlines banned smoking worldwide earlier than BA. Some of BA's last routes to go smoke-free are in markets with the most ardent smokers - Japan, Spain, Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Russia and Latin America. BA's alliance partners that are not already smoke-free will make the change March 29 as well.
The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services and Nav Canada have tracked a flight crossing the North Atlantic simultaneously using satellite-based surveillance, a first for countries on opposite sides of the ocean. Under Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) procedures, data were transmitted between the aircraft - a British Airways 747-400 flying from Los Angeles to London Heathrow early this month - and the NATS Air Traffic Management Development Center at Bournemouth and the Nav Canada Technical Systems Center in Ottawa.
Eurocontrol has begun formal testing of a computerized air traffic surveillance system designed to streamline data distribution among Europe's regional ATC bodies. The purpose of the system is to ease the introduction of uniform aircraft separation minima and increase airspace capacity. The Netherlands' aviation authority, Luchtverkeersbeveiliging, will be the first to use the system operationally. Eurocontrol sees the system as a way of boosting civil-military coordination of European airspace, a complex planning process in Europe's crowded skies.
Swiss World Airways will not obtain operating authority in time to start service in December as planned initially. Switzerland's transport ministry said it will need two to three months to examine SWA's application, so the launch of scheduled service can be expected in March 1998 "if all the necessary conditions are met by then." SWA Chairman Philippe Rochat, who still hopes to launch services as soon as Dec. 15, said his company is "considering resorting to foreign or Swiss partners." Negotiations are under way, he added.
Alaska Air Group said yesterday it will offer 3 million shares of common stock early in December, allocating the proceeds to working capital and general use. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter will manage the offering.
DOT tentatively granted Continental two-year exemption authority to operate between San Antonio and Mexico City and withdrew the designation and regulatory authorities for United to serve the market under code share with Mexicana. The U.S.-Mexico bilateral allows only one carrier from each country to serve a city-pair, but both countries agreed to double- designation service for San Antonio-Mexico City. U.S. policy favors services operated by carriers using their own aircraft, as does American, also designated in this market.
US Airways on Dec. 15 will begin operating Envoy Class service for international business travelers, offering more legroom, reclining seats, gourmet meals, a snacking station for between-meal snacks, champagne and liquors, and seats with an in-arm video screen and more than 70 hours of contemporary and classical movies, news, comedies, sports and music.
Pan American announced that all its flights, including those formerly flown by Carnival Air Lines under the "KW" code, are operating under the "PA" code. Pan Am completed its acquisition of Carnival on Sept. 26.
Although recent attention about Southwest's growth has focused on its expansion in Florida and Providence, other increases emerge elsewhere in the U.S. from a comparison of the airline's seat capacity at its 20 largest stations in the third quarter of 1997 and the same quarter in 1994. "The fastest growth occurred in Nashville, as Southwest tripled its capacity in a race to fill the vacuum created by American's withdrawal," said economist Bob Gordon of Northwestern University. Capacity growth in Baltimore, 150%, was close behind.
Great Lakes Aviation posted a net loss of $1 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, unchanged from the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 38.4% to $18.2 million and expenses dropped 45.4% to $13 million. The carrier reported an operating profit of $2.9 million, offset by a $2.64 million shutdown expense. Revenue per available seat mile rose 35.3% to 21.8 cents and yield was constant at 36.9 cents per revenue passenger mile.
Bombardier Aerospace yesterday received an order for five Global Express and five Challenger 604 business jets from TAG Aeronautics. The $250 million order, a record for Bombardier, increases firm orders for the Global Express past 70. TAG Aeronautics is the exclusive representative of Global Express, Challenger, the Canadair Regional Jet and the new CRJ Series 700 in 22 Middle East and Arab countries. Last month it acquired Farnborough Airport in the U.K., where it plans to develop a business aviation center.
Unac-Cgc, the Air France cabin staff union that has issued 20 strike calls since March 1996 with no noticeable effect on traffic, is calling for a 48- hour strike Nov. 21-22 to protest B-scales for pay and working conditions imposed in December 1995 on new hires.
Shareholders of ValuJet Inc., parent of AirTran Airlines, yesterday approved the company's merger with Airways Corp., parent of AirTran Airways. The holding company was renamed after the vote to AirTran Holdings Inc., eliminating the last vestige of ValuJet. As of today, all shares of both airlines will be traded under New York's Nasdaq market symbol "AAIR." Still operating separately, the AirTran carriers fly 32 DC- 9s and 11 737s with 239 daily departures to 46 cities. They expect to operate 50 aircraft during 1998.
Air Transport Association accused the American Society of Travel Agents yesterday of disseminating erroneous information on airline profits during an ASTA press conference last week in Washington, D.C. ATA said ASTA "claimed that airline profits soared between 1993 and 1996 to a combined total of $16.1 billion dollars - overestimating the industry's four-year earnings by $13.4 billion. They then used this erroneous information to bash airlines, saying 'soaring profits for major airlines [equals] plummeting service for consumers.'"
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Second Quarter 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 197 3.29 1,062 208,862 Latin 197 3.29 1,062 208,862
Omni Air Express, which recently changed its corporate name to Omni Air International, received charter passenger authority from DOT. The carrier intends to provide the service under contract with tour operators and cruise lines from major U.S. cities to vacation destinations in Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii, and to offer sub-service to other carriers. It will begin passenger operations using one leased DC-10-10 and plans to add a second in mid-December.
British Airways yesterday reduced its travel agent commission structure in the U.K., Canada and Eastern Europe and implemented a staggered commission system in the U.S. The European changes will begin Dec. 1 but the U.S. structure started yesterday. BA cut its U.K. commissions from 9% to 7%, as of Jan. 1, but a performance reward scheme takes effect Dec. 1. The airline reduced U.S. commissions from 10% to 5% for Concorde and first class and 7% for Club business class, and it retained 10% for economy tickets.
