Michael Lexton, managing director of Lehman Brothers, will discuss aviation infrastructure issues and the work of the National Civil Aviation Review Commission on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The program also will include excerpts from American Chairman Robert Crandall's Nov. 13 speech at the National Press Club.
Mountain Air Express followed its majority owner - Western Pacific - into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, citing a shortage of cash due to revenues tied up in the Airline Clearing House. It failed to make last week's payroll of $250,000, owes the Denver airport $550,000 and its fuel supplier $200,000. Operations continue as normal, however, and President Tom McClain said the company was in negotiations with a group to fund the receivables deficit and invest in the company, eventually taking it public to recover their investment.
No risk is involved in Mesa's agreement this week to operate 12 Canadair Regional Jets as US Airways Express in eastern markets (DAILY, Nov. 12). US Airways will tell Mesa where and when to fly the 50-seaters and will pay a flat fee for the service - essentially a wet-lease. Five of the selected markets - Philadelphia-St. Louis and -Charleston, W.Va; Charlotte-Toronto and -Little Rock; and Washington National-Birmingham - will be net new nonstops for US Airways. In five other markets, Mesa likely will replace or complement existing US Airways Express service.
SkyWest Airlines, a St. George, Utah-based Delta Connection and Continental Connection affiliate, enjoyed a 0.9-percentage-point increase in passenger load factor to 50.3% last month, as traffic rose 5.6% to 62.5 million revenue passenger miles and capacity climbed 3.9% to 124.4 million available seat miles. Oct 1997 Oct 1996 10 Mths 1997 10 Mths 1996 RPMs 62,513,979 59,214,279 624,585,526 590,258,220 ASMs 124,386,250 119,964,279 1,233,969,220 1,139,014,274
Mahalo Air was placed into Chapter 7 liquidation by a federal bankruptcy judge in Honolulu Monday. But Judge Lloyd King, in an unusual ruling, gave the carrier two weeks before executing the order to give the company one last chance to raise the necessary money for a restart. That money may be forthcoming. Mahalo attorney Jerrold Guben told The DAILY Wednesday the company had indeed put together "solid financing that would put Mahalo back into the air." He said a proposal would be presented to the bankruptcy court late this week or early next.
Vacation Travel International filed against Sunworld International Airlines' application to fly from U.S. points to St. Martin, Netherlands Antilles. VTI is pressing its case against Sunworld stemming from a March 8 incident at Kansas City that stranded college students bound for spring break in Mazatlan (DAILY, July 28). Seeking renewal of its certificate earlier this year, Sunworld said it was not obligated to operate the flight, but VTI and four other tour operators, whose customers were involved, said the incident raised questions about Sunworld's fitness.
Capitalizing on population growth in the Tampa and Austin areas, United will launch daily Tampa-Los Angeles and Austin-Washington Dulles nonstops on Feb. 11. Tampa-Los Angeles will be United's first transcontinental nonstops out of the Florida point, leaving at 7:30 a.m. for arrival in Los Angeles at 9:52 a.m., and returning from Los Angeles at 10:10 p.m. and arriving in Tampa at 5:40 a.m. The Dulles flight will leave Austin at 12 :05 p.m. for a 4:01 p.m. arrival, returning from Washington at 4:50 p.m. and arriving in Austin at 7:34 p.m.
World Airways flew 21% fewer block hours in October 1997 than in October 1996, mainly due to the return of two aircraft from Philippine Airlines and the delay of passenger operations for VASP. Block hours totaled 4,104 in October 1996 and 3,241 in October 1997. Average daily utilization was down to 8.7 block hours per day compared with 10.1 per day in 1996. Average aircraft units also were down, to 12.0 from 13.2.
Bilateral negotiations opened yesterday in Moscow with a Russian proposal that would reduce frequencies and eliminate third-country code sharing, sources said, but most observers regard the move as a bargaining position. "That's not really where they're going," an informed source said. "The impression is that they're looking for broader code shares with limits. No one was really surprised with the proposal." After talks ended yesterday, U.S. negotiators worked late to put the finishing touches on their counterproposal, which they will present today.
American has become the first airline to ask FAA to implement and enforce uniform carry-on baggage rules. American Executive VP Robert Baker and the heads of American's pilots and flight attendants unions wrote FAA Administrator Jane Garvey yesterday asking for a uniform carry-on policy that will take the issue out of the arena of competition. The Association of Flight Attendants is holding a conference today to discuss the risks of excess carry-on bags.
Debonair, the London Luton-based independent airline, posted an operating profit of #1.1 million ($1.7 million) for the first six months of fiscal year 1997, which began April 1. The carrier reported an operating loss of #6.6 million ($10.5 million) for its first year of operation, which ended March 31. Chairman Franco Mancassola said the company is "clearly moving in the right direction." He said revenues for the six months just ended are up 68% from the preceding half-year.
FAA denied a charge by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association that air traffic control facilities across the country are having asbestos exposure problems similar to those in Boston (DAILY, Nov. 10). NATCA made the charge after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued three citations concerning asbestos exposure at the Boston air route traffic control center.
Lufthansa's full privatization, completed recently, will give the airline increased flexibility in Europe, enabling it to respond swiftly to low-cost competition, and the company intends to continue to restructure to stay ahead of the fast-changing, liberalized airline market. "Our clear goal is to balance quality with competition," Fred Reid, Lufthansa's president and chief operating officer, said yesterday at a Wings Club luncheon in New York.
AirTran Airlines, formerly ValuJet, has extended its "Treat" sale for travel between Nov. 11 and Feb. 10. Holiday blackout dates apply and there are no special fares for nonstops to or from Atlanta. Seats, limited and non-refundable, must be purchased by Nov. 21. Sample "Treat" prices, up to 50% off walk-up fares, include $99 one way between Boston and Dallas and $89 between Chicago and Orlando. No roundtrip purchase or Saturday night stay is required.
AirTran Airways reported a 7.2% decrease in traffic in October, to 71.5 million revenue passenger miles, and a 2.8% increase in capacity, to 115.7 million available seat miles, reducing the load factor 6.7 percentage points to 61.8%. Year-to-date, RPMs were down 2.8% and ASMs 4.1%, with a 0.9-point rise in the load factor. AirTran Airways' merger with AirTran Airlines, formerly ValuJet, is expected to be approved by shareholders within a week.
Delta, in the second phase of a realignment and expansion program announced early this year, will launch five new nonstop flights next year from the U.S. to Europe using 767-300ER aircraft. The new flights, announced yesterday, are from Atlanta to Hamburg and from New York Kennedy to Barcelona, starting May 15, and from New York Kennedy to Stockholm, Stuttgart and Warsaw, beginning March 2.
United and Lufthansa filed a joint application at DOT for authority to conduct code-share service between the U.S. and Riga, Latvia, via Germany. The carriers anticipate approval by Latvia under comity and reciprocity. (Docket OST-97-3109)
Growing Russian traffic and an improving structure will enable Aeroflot to turn a profit in 1997, with earnings growing even higher in 1998 and 1999, according to a report from Salomon Brothers. Aeroflot, which lost $110 million in 1996 on revenue of $1.2 billion, is expected to post net income of $6 million this year and $19 million next year. Despite this expected gain, Aeroflot is faced with managing $2 billion more in debt, which will raise interest payments substantially.
Mesa Air Group said yesterday it exercised options to buy another 16 Canadair Regional Jets from Bombardier of Canada, bringing its firm CRJ orders to 32. Mesa valued the 16 aircraft at $350 million. The company announced Tuesday an agreement to operate 12 of the 50-seat jets for US Airways under a code-share agreement (DAILY, Nov. 12). Mesa said by yearend it will have taken delivery of 11 CRJs, eight of which will serve its independent jet operation and three its America West Express flights.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic May 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American Trans Air 439 21.31 1,598 702,311 Carnival 122 (18.48) 1,152 140,361
U.S.-Italy open-skies talks scheduled this month have been postponed until early next year.A DOT spokesman said Italian officials asked for the delay, saying Alitalia is not yet prepared for open-skies negotiations.
Singapore Airlines completed a sale and lease-back agreement on a 747-400 with Legend International Air. The lease is for eight and a half years. This is the fourth time SIA has arranged to sell and lease back a 747-400 under financial adviser Babcock and Brown of San Francisco.
Carry-on baggage, which has proliferated with growth in air travel, has become a safety hazard for passengers and cabin crew and should be addressed by FAA with a uniform policy and strict enforcement. This is the message the Association of Flight Attendants will convey at a conference on carry-on bags starting today in Washington. Flight attendants Linda Bok and Danica Wilhelm cited incidents in which passengers were knocked nearly unconscious by items falling from overhead bins. The frequency of such accidents is on the rise, they said.
Lufthansa Group subsidiary Condor will start year-round scheduled service to Denver from Cologne/Bonn Airport on Nov. 24. Describing the service as Denver's only nonstops to Germany, Condor said it will switch the German gateway to Frankfurt in May, enabling passengers to connect with Lufthansa's network. The weekly flight will operate nonstop from Denver but will stop in Las Vegas from Cologne. Fares start at $698 roundtrip on Condor's 767s, which feature 24 seats in business class and 245 in economy.
British Airways, which will observe the 20th anniversary of supersonic service between London and New York on Nov. 22, said the Concorde is capable of operating 20 more years. Each of BA's seven aircraft accumulate only three flight hours per day, compared with more than 13 hours for BA's 747-400s.
