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.
Frontier Airlines recorded a 50.3% increase in traffic, a 50.4% rise in capacity, and a 0.1% drop in load factor for October 1997 compared with October 1996. Revenue passenger miles were up to 89.2 million from 59.3 million, and available seat miles rose from 117.1 million to 176.2 million. The load factor was 50.6%, down from 50.7%.
Mumbai-based Jet Airways has taken delivery of its first purchased 737-400, Boeing said. The company in December 1996 announced plans to order four 737-400s and six 737-800s.
A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Monday ordered the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants to release an undisclosed amount to the International Association of Machinists, who represent TWA flight attendants. The order reverses an earlier decision by the court denying IAM's preliminary injunction against IFFA, which competed with IAM to represent TWA's flight attendants. IFFA was the official union of TWA flight attendants until March 6. In 1996, IAM submitted a bid to merge with IFFA, according to court documents.
Alaska Airlines has implemented electronic ticketing for travel agents and upgraded its AnswerBack connectivity level in Sabre. Alaska said it is the 11th carrier to offer e-ticketing through Sabre and the first U.S. airline to offer e-ticketing on flights to and from Mexico and Russia. Travel agents booking on Alaska can create an e-ticket directly through Sabre and receive instant confirmation from the airline.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic May 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 60 (3.03) 1,039 62,374 Latin 60 (3.03) 1,039 62,374 American 1,224 5.44 2,274 2,783,198
Frontier Airlines reported a $2.05 million net loss in its second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, nearly duplicating its $2.19 million loss in the same quarter last year. The loss, on revenues of $37.61 million, amounts to 23 cents per share. Six-month performance was a net loss of $4.13 million, or 46 cents per share, on $72.17 million in revenue, compared with a six-month loss of $850,000, or 11 cents per share, during the first six months of fiscal 1996.
American is heating up the local dialogue about whether Dallas and Fort Worth should allow new airlines at Love Field.The airline asked to join Fort Worth's lawsuit against Dallas, an attempt to maintain the status quo at Love Field. American said it is prepared to move assets and aircraft overnight from DFW to Love Field to protect its market share.
DHL Worldwide Express said yesterday it is developing a series of country- specific web sites to "respond to the varying needs of international shippers" in the 227 countries it serves. As part of this local approach to the World Wide Web, DHL said it opened a new site with comprehensive shipping and international business information for US.-based shippers, effective yesterday.
United again pressed its case at DOT for code sharing to Spain, this time filing in partial opposition to the TWA-Air Europa bid. Raising some points similar to those in opposition to the American-Iberia code share, United said Spain has refused to permit United to code share with British Midland between London and Mallorca, because London is not a named point on the route for which United is designated in the U.S.-Spain bilateral.
Fine Air Services filed for reconsideration of DOT's order permitting Florida West International Airways to sell its scheduled U.S.-Colombia authority to Federal Express. In its original filing, Fine said FWIA should not be allowed to sell authority it never used, and that the FedEx- FWIA bid was "unripe" until DOT acted on FWIA's renewal application.
IATA is frustrated with government inaction to improve air travel, and Director General Pierre Jeanniot called for infrastructure improvements that would speed air travel. The organization, meeting last week in Amman, Jordan, will begin watching airports and air traffic infrastructure more closely, as delays, especially in Europe, hinder airline productivity and increase costs.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic April 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American Trans Air 455 (16.13) 1,629 740,506 Carnival 190 (7.54) 1,186 225,403
Alaska Airlines filed comments on Mavial Airlines' application to renew authority to the U.S., not in opposition but to call attention to the "sharp contrast" between U.S. and Russian authorities' treatment of their counterparts' airlines. Alaska filed the comment to alert U.S. negotiators preparing for bilateral talks in Moscow starting today.
DOT accepted a 5% increase in fares from India, down from the 10% adopted previously by IATA's Tariff Coordinating Conferences. IATA had proposed the 10% increase from India to offset fuel price increases, but the Indian government approved only a 5% hike and IATA subsequently adopted the lower level.
Formal U.S.-Japan talks reconvene in San Francisco Friday and Saturday, the timing adjusted to accommodate previous commitments to travel by the lead negotiators on both sides. The two-day negotiation is considerably shorter than some of the recent sessions, but as a Japanese government official told The DAILY, longer discussions did not yield agreements so the key to success may not be lavish amounts of time. "Looking at the last round, we had two weeks of meetings, including the informal exchange of views, but we produced basically nothing," he said.
KLM and Polar Air Cargo are disputing the consequences of sharp noise limits at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, with Polar describing them as arbitrary, selective and threatening its right to exercise its authority to serve The Netherlands and points beyond. The noise and operational limits, imposed by the Dutch government, will lead to airport-wide frequency reductions next spring. (See related story on Page 261.)
Bridgestone Corp. of Tokyo said it will purchase Thomson Aerospace's Miami- based jet aircraft tire sales and service company. Thompson, one of the first aircraft tire retreading companies, offers tire retreading, new-tire sales and brake and wheel service for jet aircraft. After the purchase, Bridgestone will have sales subsidiaries and aircraft tire retreading facilities in the U.S., Belgium, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Banner Aerospace said net income increased to $2.4 million from $1.7 million for its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30. Sales grew to $123 million from $84 million. For the first six months, net income rose to $5.6 million from $3 million, while sales increased to $240 million from $178 million.
Lufthansa and other airlines will lodge a complaint with the European Commission in the coming weeks to protest the planned redistribution of traffic at Milan's airports. Airport company SEA-Aeroporti di Milano intends to move all international traffic and some domestic traffic from Milan Linate Airport to Malpensa on Oct. 25, 1998, a reorganization confirmed recently by the Italian government. The decision will distort competition, said Lufthansa, which fears the new airport will not be fully operational by October 1998.
The Netherlands government's noise restrictions at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will require "far-reaching limitations on flights and runway usage" during 1998, the airport told the Dutch transport ministry. Submitting 1998 operational guidelines, the airport said Dutch carriers will have to reduce frequencies after April 1, when an independent coordinator approved by the transport ministry will review flight schedules for compatibility with the Schiphol noise limits.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings said revenue rose 65.4% to $26.6 million and operating profit 70% to $2.8 million in the September quarter. Net income grew 44.4% to $1.5 million. For nine months, revenues jumped 87.9% to $80.9 million, operating profit 302.4% to $8.7 million and net income 187.4% to $4.5 million.
USA Jet wrote to DOT this week restating its financial position to reflect a $10 million writeoff that the carrier said does not harm the company's prospects. The cargo carrier has applied for authority to operate interstate charter passenger flights. USA Jet invested $10,000 in equity and $9.99 million in debt in affiliate Air Transport International. Its restated balance sheet also shows a decline of about $1.1 million in accounts receivable, which corresponds to the total amount of interest owed to USA Jet by ATI on the $9.9 million loan as of Sept.
