United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines last month posted a 3.2-percentage-point increase in load factor to 53.4% as traffic rose 18.8% to 41.3 million revenue passenger miles and capacity gained 11.7% to 77.3 million available seat miles. Passenger boardings jumped 18.5% to 166,110. ACA's current fleet consists of 60 aircraft - 31 29-passenger Jetstream 41s and 29 19-passenger Jetstream 32s. It is acquiring 12 50- seat Canadair Regional Jets, with which it hopes to begin service later this year.
Fairchild Dornier continues to strengthen its sales and marketing team, tapping former Embraer executive Salo Roth for its South American operations. The company also has hired Bob Hawk to be VP-corporate communications. Hawk previously was director-public relations and advertising at Fokker Aircraft USA and until Friday a public affairs specialist at FAA. Rich Spaulding will leave AI(R) to join Fairchild Dornier in its new asset management organization handling used aircraft and VP-Marketing Mike Cardellichio moves from Sterling, Va., to San Antonio...
O'Connor Airlines, based in Mt. Gambier, South Australia, will be the first customer in the Australasia region for the Jetstream 32EP Enhanced Performance program. The program, created by British Aerospace Asset Management, is designed to increase the pay-load and range of the Jetstream 32 aircraft in extreme climatic conditions. O'Connor introduced two leased J32s last year to handle rapid growth in the Mt. Gambier-Melbourne and Mt. Gambier-Adelaide markets. The first J32EP upgrade was expected to be completed early this month.
Defunct Eastern Airlines yesterday made its fourth distribution to unsecured creditors who are owed more than $100,000. More than half of the $5.6 million total was sent to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal entity in charge of pensions for former Eastern employees. The latest distribution represents 50 cents per dollar, versus earlier claims that were paid 8 cents per dollar. Total distributions to date to large creditors amount to 8.5 cents per dollar. Claims under $100,000 were paid 11 cents per dollar in February 1995.
Singapore Airlines has launched Timerider, a cargo product offering guaranteed uplift and expedited handling. An airport-to-airport express service targeted mostly at heavier freight, Timerider provides for cargo log-in four hours before departure, or later at some airports. The cargo will be available as early as four hours after arrival. Timerider offers a 50% refund of charges if a shipment is not carried as booked after it has been confirmed and accepted for a flight, SIA said.
DOT issued a final rule on CRS system parity clauses, adopting its proposal of Aug. 14 following an Alaska Airlines petition to limit their use. Effective Dec. 5, an airline not affiliated with one of the major CRS systems will not have to purchase at least as high a level of participation in one CRS as it has in another. The ruling will affect practices by Sabre, Abacus/Worldspan and System One/Amadeus. Galileo/Apollo does not enforce a parity clause. Other CRS issues remain under examination by DOT.
Continental's new pilot contract will increase pilot salaries at least 20% and cost the company more than $100 million in the first year, a source close to the negotiations said yesterday. The cost could increase depending on how negotiations on scope and other significant contract issues are worked out. The airline and the union will resume talks Monday.
A $42 million tax break helped lure AirTran Airlines, formerly ValuJet, to the home town of its partner, AirTran Airways. AirTran Airlines said yesterday it will move its headquarters to Orlando from Atlanta in mid- January. About 100 employees affected by the move will be offered a severance package or the chance to move to Orlando, a spokeswoman said.
Longtime regional-airline executive Don Martin is on the move again. Martin resigned unexpectedly last Friday as president of Aspen Mountain Air/Lone Star Airlines. Pat Imeson and Ron Stone, who founded AMA three and one-half years ago while at Peak International, will serve as co- presidents. Martin will continue to consult for AMA on some ongoing projects but is "looking for other options in the industry," Imeson said. Martin, a veteran at Eastern and Continental, subsequently headed Continental Express at Denver, Aspen Airways and TriStar Airlines.
Internet booking, not yet a bread-and-butter element of airline distribution, is a marketing tool of growing value and content. Deep fare discounts, maps and travel-planning functions, and hotel and rental car services that increase frequent flyer miles are becoming regular features on airline web sites.
United has flipped the switch to start its newest yield management and seat inventory control system, Orion, which it believes will add between $50 million and $100 million to its annual revenue and is "the most sophisticated yield management application in the airline industry." The carrier is using the speed of IBM's "Deep Blue," the parallel processing system that recently became the first machine to defeat world chess champion Gary Kasparov.
B/E Aerospace said it has received about $50 million in aircraft seating and galley product orders from United, Cathay Pacific, America West, American Eagle and KLM.
DOT's monthly consumer report for September showed improvement for the ten largest airlines as a group in on-time performance, mishandled baggage and passenger complaints. The majors' on-time arrival rate was 85% for the month, up from 78.7% in September 1996 and 78.6% in August 1997. TWA had the best individual record at all reported airports in September with 89.8%, followed by Southwest, 88.6%, and American, 88.4%. Alaska came in last with 74.3%, Northwest was ninth, 81.4%, and Delta eighth, 82.7%.
U.S. Carrier Systemwide Market Share At Leading U.S. Airports U.S. Major, National and Commuter* Carriers Six Months 1997 (Part 1 of 2) Atlanta Enplaned Percent Passengers Marketshare Delta 12,822,231 80.37 Atlantic Southeast Airlines 713,173 4.47 ValuJet 657,673 4.12
The U.K. risks losing its position as Europe's international air gateway because consecutive U.K. governments have neglected Britain's aviation industry, according to British Midland Chairman Michael Bishop. Summarizing a report published this week, "Completing the Transport Jigsaw - The Place of Aviation in an Integrated Transport System," Bishop said the Blair government's current review of transport policy should lead central and local governments to give aviation the same attention and importance as trains and buses for public transport. The U.K.
Increasing harmonization of Europe's air traffic flight management infrastructure appears to have reduced flight delays caused by ATFM problems, according to Eurocontrol. Although there were more ATFM-delayed flights per day during the June-September period than in the same months of 1996, the daily average has declined steadily since June. Eurocontrol's Central Flow Management Unit, which handles upper airspace traffic on behalf of 32 nations, said the daily average peaked at 4,500 in June and then dropped steadily, reaching 3,800 in September.
Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, will discuss his aviation competition bill, U.S.-Japan negotiations and other transportation issues on this week's Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Northern Airlines, the new Syracuse, N.Y., startup that filed with DOT for its 401 certificate last Friday, initially will emulate the former Syracuse-based Empire Airlines. The carrier plans to use three Fokker F28- 4000 regional jets - the same equipment as Empire's - and operate from Syracuse to Boston, Hartford/Springfield, Columbus and Buffalo with three roundtrips daily, starting Jan. 15. It also plans New York/Newark service.
United and TWA are linking their in-house computer systems to the Cargo Community System (CCS) and Internet tracking service created by Syntegra, the systems integration business of British Telecom. The carriers said their cargo customers now can access tracking and status information on products in transit via a simple Internet connection. The CCS service connects with more than 25 major airlines.
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer has renamed its EMB-145 and -135 jets the Embraer RJ145 and Embraer RJ135, the company said. "The establishment of the Embraer 'jet family' concept determined the use of the proper terminology in referring to these Regional Jet aircraft," it said in a written statement. The manufacturer said that it would "convert all promotional materials to this new terminology - Embraer RJ145 and Embraer RJ135 - from November on, after the new advertising agency selection process is completed."
Kenneth Gazzola, publisher of Aviation Week&Space Technology magazine and executive VP of McGraw-Hill's Aviation Week Group, was awarded the Frank Knox Media Medal Wednesday at the 93rd anniversary dinner of the New York chapter of the Navy League.
US Airways reported a 0.6% decrease in October traffic on 2.5% less capacity, which caused the load factor to rise 1.4 percentage points to 71.3%. Domestic traffic declined 1.5% on 3.4% less capacity, and international traffic improved 7.8% on 6.4% more capacity. Oct 97 Oct 96 10 Mths 97 10 Mths 96 RPMs 3,437,859,000 3,456,926,000 35,230,912,000 32,411,820,000 ASMs 4,818,417,000 4,944,268,000 49,072,049,000 47,169,705,000
Saab Aircraft of America has named Martin Schultz acting VP-customer services. He replaces Steve Wallace, who has held the position for 14 years. Wallace will leave the company at the end of November. Schultz is a 10-year veteran of the company and most recently was director-technical services and flight operations. He is an ATP with 14,000 hours in various aircraft and has type ratings for the Saab 340 and Saab 2000. Schultz will head a 50-person organization that includes spares and product support as well as technical and customer services.
American Eagle commuter Simmons Airlines told DOT its application for 60 slots at Chicago O'Hare fully meets DOT's new exemptions guidelines, rebutting United arguments against the filing.
The Dutch government's recently announced plans for cutting back aircraft- related noise levels at the country's airports. particularly at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, does not strike the right balance between the environment and Schiphol's present and future economic needs, Schiphol Airport authorities said yesterday. The transport ministry's nationwide airport utilization plan for 1998 sets a ceiling of 360,000 aircraft movements during the year at Schiphol. Dutch aviation authorities already have imposed restrictions at the airport for the remainder of this year.
