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.
Air France and TAAG Angolan Airlines signed a cooperative agreement covering service between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Luanda, Angola. The deal covers Air France's weekly A340-300 service from Paris on Wednesdays and TAAG's 747-300 combi service from Luanda on Tuesdays. Air France currently handles TAAG's aircraft at Paris, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg.
TWA and Park Place Airport Parking are partnering to offer TWA passengers who park at Lambert-St. Louis Airport frequent flyer miles for each day of parking. TWA passengers also will receive two hours' free parking. FFB Platinum and Red Card holders will receive access to guaranteed parking and discounts on car washes and valet parking.
US Airways said yesterday it will begin regional jet service Jan. 19 under a code-share agreement with Mesa Airlines, Farmington, N.M., which will operate the 12 Canadair aircraft specified in the pact. US Airways Express is a network of nine regional airlines, but none of the regional carriers in the Northeast has regional jets in service. A US Airways spokesman said there are no plans at present to increase the number of regional jets. US Airways Express will use the 50-seat aircraft first on flights between Philadelphia and Birmingham, Ala., St.
Southwest has entered into a multi-year agreement to become the airline sponsor of the National Football League and the official airline of the Super Bowl. The carrier will support special NFL televised events. It also has the right to use the NFL shield, the Super Bowl logo, the Pro Bowl Logo, the NFL Experience theme park trademark, and logos and trademarks associated with selected NFL-produced television programs.
French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot confirmed that he would support cross-ownership agreements between Air France and foreign airlines. "If cross-ownership is necessary to favor alliances with foreign companies, be they European or American, we'll be in favor of it. We need alliances," Gayssot said last weekend on French television. The French government's mission statement to the airline's new chief executive, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, lays out plans to float "a limited fraction" of Air France's capital by mid-1998.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic May 1997 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 950 1.86 820 779,586 America West 1,511 0.36 878 1,325,656
Mesa Air Group yesterday reported a net profit of $42,000 for the quarter ending Sept. 30, its fiscal fourth quarter. The amount is 99.5% less than its profit of $8.1 million a year earlier. For its fiscal 1997, the company lost $4.3 million, compared with a profit of $30.4 million in fiscal 1996. Mesa, the world's largest independent regional, experienced a surge in expenses, up 15.2% in the quarter and 9.1% for the year, while revenue rose 2.1% for the year to $511 million from $500 million.
Sterling European Airlines of Denmark contracted for pilot training with FlightSafety Boeing Training International. Its pilots are training at the FlightSafety Boeing facility at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport using the center's CAA-sanctioned company check for the Boeing 727-200.
Lauda Air has been appointed general sales agency for Austrian Airlines in Hong Kong. Austrian has three flights weekly from China to Vienna. All serve Beijing and two serve Shanghai as well, and the carrier hopes to expand the third into Shanghai also. Lauda, which operates twice weekly from Hong Kong with a stop in Bangkok, also hopes to expand service in 1998 with a third frequency, possibly nonstop, using its new 777 aircraft.
Midwest Express reported a 14.9% jump in October traffic from 113.3 million revenue passenger miles to 130.2 million and a 10% rise in capacity from 180.1 million available seat miles to 198.1 million, which lifted the load factor 2.8 percentage points.
Korean Air is offering economy passengers seat assignments, previously given only to first- and business-class passengers. Any passenger flying on any international route can book a seat when making reservations.
KLM passenger traffic in October jumped 14% on 9% more capacity, which raised load factor 3.8 percentage points to 80.5%. North Atlantic traffic rose 26%, Mid/South Atlantic 20% and Africa 11%. Traffic to Asia was up 8%. In the April-to-October period, KLM's traffic gained 15% on 9% more capacity.
America West Association of Flight Attendants Master Executive Council approved unanimously the collective bargaining agreement completed Oct. 31 by its negotiating committee. The MEC recommended ratification, and the committee will conduct informational meetings for members during the coming month. Ballots will be mailed Nov. 21 to qualified flight attendants, and results will be tabulated Dec. 10 in Washington.
South African Airways applied to DOT for an exemption to fly from Johannesburg/Cape Town to Tampa, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, New Orleans, Cleveland, San Diego, Columbus, Jacksonville, San Juan and Buffalo. SAA plans to operate code-share service to the points with American Airlines. SAA currently flies seven weekly roundtrips between Johannesburg and New York and five between Johannesburg/Cape Town and Miami, using 747s. Under terms of the bilateral, the South African government notified the U.S. Oct.
New Zealand and Malaysia initialed an open skies agreement they plan to sign later this year and will apply provisionally until then. The agreement removes restrictions on routes, capacity and fares and has liberal airline investment provisions, according to the office of the New Zealand Transport Minister. Carriers will not have to file for fare approval, but each country can require airlines to notify it of the fares they are charging.
Delta is offering web surfers a chance to travel to selected East Coast markets at discounts of up to 50%, through Nov. 14. Special tariffs are available to and from Boston, New York Kennedy, Norfolk and Richmond, Va., Greensboro and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. Customers can find the discounts on Delta's SkyLinks home page at http ://www.delta-air.com.
International Air Transport Association yesterday urged the International Telecommunications Union World Aeronautical Radio Conference not to reallocate radio frequencies between 1559 MHz and 1610 MHz from satellite radio navigation services, their current application, to Mobile Satellite Services. A United Airlines official, in Geneva for the WARC sessions, said United, Lufthansa and other Future Air Navigation System carriers are worried that the ITU may go along with the reallocation on behalf of fast- growing Mobile Satellite Service applications.
American, which powers the more than 100 widebody aircraft in its current fleet with General Electric CF6 engines, switched to Roll-Royce powerplants in an order announced yesterday for four Boeing 777-200s and four 767-300ER aircraft. American's current 767s are powered by CF6 engines, as are its Airbus A300s. Robert Crandall, American chairman, said the carrier has been pleased "with the performance and reliability of the other Rolls-Royce engines we use" - on 757 and Fokker 100 aircraft - and with "the sound business relationship we have with Rolls-Royce."
Alaska Airlines became the launch customer for Boeing's 737-900 yesterday as it placed firm orders for 15 737-model aircraft and took options for 10 more. The firm orders, which include the conversion of five previous options, comprise two 737-400s to be delivered in 1998, three 737-700s to be delivered in 1999 and 10 737-900s to be delivered in 2001 and 2002. The 737-900s will be configured for 174 passengers, the 737-400s for 140 and the 737-700s for 122, all with coach and first-class seats.
DOT is inviting formal comment on an America West petition for a rulemaking to bar what the carrier said are abusive travel agency practices that run up costs for participating airlines that do not own computer reservations systems or have corporate affiliations with them (DAILY, Oct. 16). America West wants a rule that permits airlines to be charged for bookings only when they result in actual travel, and a requirement that CRS systems give airlines the option of barring travel agents from entering "passive" bookings.
Last week's U.S.-Peru open skies talks, regarded by Peru as exploratory, ended Friday in Lima without an agreement.Peru's negotiators still are interested in "moving forward in some way," a DOT spokeswoman said, and further talks are expected in March.
Air Wisconsin, operating as United Express, experienced a 7.1% gain in traffic, to 49.1 million revenue passenger miles, and a 4.2% rise in capacity, to 79.1 million available seat miles, in October 1997 over October 1996, increasing the load factor 3 percentage points to 62.2%. Year-to-date traffic rose 17% on 1.8% more capacity, increasing the load factor 8.5 points.
Tower agreed to pay $90,000 in settlement of a consent order in which DOT says the carrier violated regulations covering false advertising, deceptive practices, denied boarding and reporting requirements. Tower attributed some of the problems to high demand for its growing domestic service and the failure of a Tower official, no longer working with the airline, to refer all advertising to legal counsel.
