Low-cost airlines in Europe will face increasing pressure from leaner flag carriers, and several startups are unlikely to survive the next economic downturn, according to speakers at yesterday's Aircraft Finance Conference in New York. Although several low-fare European airlines are healthy now, "many will not survive," said Rigas Doganis, former head of Olympic Airways and former head of aviation at England's Cranfield University.
Delta began offering daily nonstop service last week between Atlanta and Grand Cayman, using a 180-passenger 757 aircraft with an international two- class configuration. Flights leave Atlanta at 10:45 a.m. and arrive at 1:15 p.m., and depart Grand Cayman at 2:35 p.m. for a 5:15 p.m. arrival in Atlanta.
As of Dec. 15, United flight attendants in Denver, Newark, Philadelphia and San Francisco who call in sick will be offered medical advice via telephone by a nurse who also will determine when a flight attendant goes back to work. The nurse will have the authority to refuse sick leave and put the flight attendant on "did not fly status," which would mean no sick pay. United is experimenting with the system, which will affect about 6,500 cabin crew.
U.S.-French bilateral talks opened yesterday in Washington with a less encouraging tone than some in the U.S. had expected, given advances in the last round. A source said French negotiators were "more theoretical" than the U.S. had hoped, "rather than talking about a deal - which was surprising, I think, to everybody." Virtually no one expected agreement this week, but some thought enough progress could be made to seal an agreement during the next round of talks, in Paris. After yesterday, "I think people are starting to question that," the source said.
Northwest will start jet service to Jackson Jan. 7 - three roundtrips per day from the Memphis hub - with sale fares. Sample roundtrip fares include $98 to Birmingham, Little Rock, Memphis and New Orleans, and $178 to Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, Omaha, Orlando, San Antonio, Tampa and Wichita. Northwest will award double WorldPerks miles Jackson-Memphis travel from Jan. 7 through Feb. 28 and 1,000 bonus miles for roundtrips connecting through Memphis to selected cities.
Ongoing tests conducted in an attempt to duplicate electrical impulses that may have caused an explosion in the center wing tank of TWA Flight 800 "may or may not" prove useful in determining the cause of the aircraft's crash in July 1996, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall said yesterday at the board's TWA 800 hearing in Baltimore.
Gatwick Airport should not become the exclusive domain of scheduled carriers, the International Air Carrier Association said of charter airlines in Brussels. The charter carrier association opposes recent statements by British Airways that non-scheduled operations should be moved from Gatwick to Stansted or Luton airports in order to free up capacity for scheduled flights shifted from Heathrow to Gatwick due to noise complaints at Heathrow.
DOT Secretary Rodney Slater will speak today as the National Civil Aviation Review Commission issues its report on safety and FAA management. The event has been rescheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Madison Hotel in Washington.
c The resignation last week of Mesa Air Group Chief Executive Larry Risley is no surprise given the carrier's turbulent history over the past two years, airline industry analysts say. While analysts declined to speculate on the effect of Risley's departure on Mesa, they contend that FAA scrutiny over maintenance problems, coupled with slow growth following the departure of VP Jonathan Ornstein, may have triggered his decision to leave.
Japan Airlines is selling flight attendants as holiday gifts. The Barbie- sized version of JAL's staff comes in uniform and has an apron and handbag, a serving cart complete with tiny coffee cups and cutlery, and a tiny book of inflight announcements. JAL expects to sell 30,000 dolls on 23 domestic routes during December.
Metropolitan Airport Authority of Rock Island County, Ill., registering "disappointment" in DOT's rejection of New York LaGuardia slots for AirTran Airways, joined other organizations criticizing the department's methodology in predicting market demand. "Even a cursory review of the traffic dynamics of the Moline/Quad Cities market proves that the department's estimate of only 7,000 annual passengers...is embarrassingly inaccurate," the airport authority said in a filing submitted by Director of Aviation Kent George and Denver-based aviation consultant Michael Boyd.
Airbus is the expected winner of a landmark 110-aircraft purchase by a group of at least three Latin American companies, sources said. Airbus confirmed yesterday that LanChile, TACA Group and TAM are involved in the mega-buy, and other names floated include VASP and Ladeco. All five carriers operate 737s, and all may switch to A320s.
The transport subcommittee of the U.K. government's Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry on regional air services in the U.K. and the importance of regional air links to London. Key questions include how the number of direct flights from regional airports to international destinations has changed over the last 15 years, and whether such service could be increased, perhaps by liberalizing international access or through cooperation between regional airports.
Carriers Aeromexico, American, Delta, Canadian, TWA and United are partnering with Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts to offer as many as 1,500 frequent flyer miles per night's stay from Dec. 15 through March 31.
Lufthansa has moved its London-area offices from Old Bond Street to the new World Business Center near Heathrow Airport. The new office houses the recently established area management for Europe North/East, the regional management for the U.K. and Ireland, and most passenger sales and service functions.
The heads of government of the U.K., France and Germany want their aerospace and defense electronics industries to develop by March 31 a "clear plan and detailed timetable" for integration of European industry in the civil transport, helicopter, space and missile sectors. U.K.
Delta announced yesterday an aggressive two-phase, three- to four-year expansion plan that aims to establish the carrier's presence in nearly all markets in Central and South America (DAILY, Dec. 9). In the first phase, Delta plans to operate to Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. This phase will begin in April 1998 and should be completed by December 1998, Chief Executive Leo Mullin said in Atlanta.
The future of Internet booking emerged as a key issue among otherwise familiar arguments this week as more than 30 parties filed to meet DOT's Dec. 9 deadline to comment on its comprehensive review of CRS regulations. Microsoft Corp. told DOT that CRS rules should not be extended to cover Internet travel services, "particularly not to independent services such as Expedia," owned by Microsoft.
Apart from its benefits for the U.S.-Romanian market, the new open-skies agreement is important because it is the second in Eastern Europe, Paul Gretch, director of DOT's Office of International Aviation, told The DAILY. The Czech Republic was first. "We're still anxious to do this with Poland and Hungary," he said. Those countries are longer-term projects. "We've been in constant contact with them," and though, both countries are open to possibilities, "they have not seemed ready yet."
Wingspan, the first 24-hour global cable TV channel devoted exclusively to air and space news and features, plans to begin broadcasting on April 2, 1998. President and Chief Executive Philip Osborne formally announced Wingspan, the Air and Space Channel, last week at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Wingspan will be carried in the Washington area and has a deal with Loral's Orion satellite division for worldwide distribution.
Midwest Express reported a 19.9% jump in traffic, a 7.1% increase in capacity and a 6.8-percentage-point rise in load factor to 63.2%, last month from November 1996. It reported 109.2 million revenue passenger miles, up from 91 million, and available seat miles grew from 161.4 million to 172.8 million.
Iberia asked DOT for exemption authority to conduct scheduled foreign cargo service between any points in "'Spain, via intermediate points, to any point or points in the United States, and beyond' as specified" in action taken in Docket OST-95-511. Iberia said additional lift is needed to meet demand due to increased commerce and trade relations between Spain and the U.S. "and beyond." Iberia wants the exemption for one year or until DOT issues it an amended permit "permanently incorporating these route rights, whichever is earlier." (Docket OST-97-3180)
