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.
Sabena Technics, Sabena's maintenance and repair division, has signed three contracts valued at a total of 156 million Belgian francs (US$4.3 million) covering both Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The Belgian airline's maintenance and repair division will maintain Dutch regional carrier Transavia's 737 aircraft for a year under a BEF 30 million contract.
British Airways last week began five-month trials of its own television program, BATV. After 18 months of testing, the airline is producing a twice-a-week, 10-minute program that includes news, features and comment. BATV is an attempt to improve the speed, effectiveness and credibility of communications. "Right now, our communications are not working as well as we all would like," Director of Communications Kevin Murray said in BA's internal newspaper.
Seeking to secure its place at New York LaGuardia, Colgan Air has applied for an exemption for 16 slots there. The carrier operates there now with slots under short-term leases for service to Hyannis and Nantucket, Mass., and Charlottesville, Va. Colgan told DOT it is being forced to apply for the exemptions because it has been unable to obtain permanent slots under existing rules.
Continental's October traffic surged 17.3% on 11.2% more capacity, which boosted the load factor 3.6 percentage points to 69.6%, the airline's highest October level. The domestic load factor was 71.2%, up 4.9 points, as domestic traffic gained 9.5% on 2% more capacity. International traffic kept pace, rising 38.2% on 35.7% more capacity and increasing the load factor 1.2 points to 66.6%. Oct 97 Oct 96 10 Mths 97 10 Mths 96 RPMs 4,102,811,000 3,498,281,000 39,953,638,000 35,078,776,000
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer last week delivered to Continental Express its 14th EMB-145 50- passenger regional jet (now called the RJ145 by Embraer and by COEx the ExpressJet), the 26th aircraft delivered. The aircraft is S/N 145029, making it the 29th production aircraft delivered. The manufacturer also delivered last week the 25th airplane to Rio-Sul Linhas Aereas, the subsidiary of Brazilian flag carrier Varig. Rio-Sul operates the aircraft from Rio de Janeiro to four Brazilian cities with a 70% load factor.
...Rollout of the new Fairchild Dornier 328JET will take place Dec. 6 at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, with first flight scheduled for Jan. 20. Shipment of the first two Pratt&Whitney Canada PW306B turbofans is set for mid-month with installation planned before the end of the month on S/N3002, the second 328 turboprop built. Four test aircraft will participate in the flight-test program, which is expected to culminate with certification and first delivery in March 1999.
US Airways Express affiliate CCAIR has named 20-year industry veteran Mickey Bowman its new VP-marketing, the company announced. Bowman, who will oversee sales, marketing and customer relations, held similar positions at three other US Airways affiliates. CCAIR President Kenneth Gann called Bowman's "expertise...a welcome addition to CCAIR as we move forward with our fleet rationalization and growth plan."
Lufthansa Cargo said it will operate 34 weekly 747 freighter flights this winter on new maindeck nonstop services between its Chicago and San Francisco gateways and Shannon. During the winter, Oct. 26-March 28, Lufthansa Cargo will operate all-747 freighter service from nine U.S. cities - Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fairbanks, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. With belly capacity on 120 passenger flights a week, the carrier said it offers "the most scheduled freight capacity of any airline on the North Atlantic."
America West posted a 3.5% drop in October traffic, even as it expanded capacity 5.7%. The combination caused the load factor to plummet 6.3 percentage points to 65.8%. The airline noted that last year's October load factor was inflated when it matched Southwest's broad $25 anniversary fare sale. Despite the lower load factor, October's revenue performance was "strong and passenger yields were up significantly from October 1996 and this year's third quarter," said Chairman W.A. Franke.
Amerijet International said it will begin scheduled cargo service Nov. 10 between Miami and Belize, establishing its presence in Central America. About 75% of Belize's citrus crops, plus sugar, bananas, melons and seafood, are exported to the U.S., the carrier said. It will offer flights on Mondays and Wednesdays, using 727s.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) denounced United's test from Des Moines limiting lowest-fare customers to one carry-on bag. United is "punishing" those least likely to find air travel affordable, he said, and the program is "another example of airlines limiting supply - in this case space - to obtain higher ticket prices."
TWA's domestic and international load factors increased during October, indicating that the international capacity drawdown begun in January continued to bear fruit. Traffic dropped 7% on 12.4% less capacity, which forced the load factor up 3.9 percentage points to 67.3%. Despite the international capacity decline, 32% in the year to date, the international load factor was up 5.6 percentage points in October to 75.3%. Domestic traffic gained 4.3% on 2.7% less capacity, which boosted the load factor 4.4 points to 65.5%.
Lufthansa Technical Training and the China Institute of Technology and Commerce signed an agreement on technical training and qualification of Taiwanese airline maintenance personnel. LTT and the CITC are developing a program for basic and advanced training.
Magal Security Systems' AISYS 370-A bomb detection system performed well enough in recent tests at the FAA Technical Center that the agency plans to place it in a U.S. airport for operational testing, the Israeli company reported. FAA is developing a test plan and operational testing is expected to take several months, Magal said.
American Trans Air, answering TWA objections to ATA's bid for slot exemptions at New York LaGuardia, said like other carriers with pending applications that its proposal meets newly stated DOT guidelines. ATA wants the exemptions to serve LaGuardia from Chicago Midway, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It disputed TWA's argument that allocating slots will create runway congestion, partly because improved traffic control programs can handle the extra capacity.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air posted a 5.6% increase in traffic last month to 75 million revenue passenger miles from 71 million, although capacity was off 2.9% to 126 million available seat miles from 129 million in the same year-ago period. The passenger load factor as a result spurted 4.9 percentage points to 59.9%. Boardings totaled 313,400, up 2.4%. Oct 1997 Oct 1996 10 Mths 1997 10 Mths 1996 RPMs 75,000,000 71,000,000 733,000,000 727,000,000
AccessAir Holdings, a new entrant that received conditional DOT approval to launch operations, applied for exemptions to operate three daily flights from New York LaGuardia to Des Moines via two separate points, Peoria and Moline/Quad Cities. Peoria replaces Cedar Rapids in the carrier's original service plan. AccessAir wants to launch operations Jan. 15, 1998, from the Midwest, initially to LaGuardia and Los Angeles and later to Washington and San Francisco.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Over 750 Miles O&D Passengers First Quarter 1997 Long Total Average Haul Markets Non-Stop Passengers Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day 1 1 Los Angeles - New York 2,467 7,172 2 3 Miami - New York 1,097 6,820
United wants DOT to withhold approval of an Air Pacific-Qantas code share unless Fiji approves its own United/Air New Zealand code share. Fiji carrier Air Pacific and Qantas would code share on Air Pacific flights between Honolulu and Sydney via Nadi, Fiji, and United/Air New Zealand seek similar authority from the Fiji government to code share on ANZ Honolulu- Nadi. United became a designated carrier to Fiji under an Oct. 22 diplomatic note.
Air Express International said net income increased 26% to $13.4 million in the September quarter while revenues rose 16% to a record $395.4 million. Operating profit was up 27% to $19.7 million. For the first nine months, net income gained 32% to $34.9 million, revenues 18% to $1.1 billion and operating profit 24% to $51.4 million.
The American Eagle carriers - Simmons, Wings West, Executive and WestAir - posted 2.1% decline in revenue passenger miles and a 5.2% drop in capacity in October, versus the same 1996 month, which boosted the group's load factor 1.9 percentage points. American's regional affiliate flew 208.8 million RPMs during the month, down from 213.4 million, on 349.7 million available seat miles, down from 368.9 million. The group flew 2.132 billion RPMs for the year to date, down from 2.276 billion in 1996, on 3.509 billion ASMs, down from 3.713 billion.
United's experimental carry-on baggage strategy is a bad idea that is sure to anger travelers, say airline consultants. United is testing a policy that limits the lowest-paying passengers to one carry-on bag in order to make room in overhead storage bins for the bags of higher-paying business travelers. United will start the test Dec. 1 on its Des Moines service, which has a high concentration of business travelers and, with 15 departures daily, is a manageable size, said United spokesman Tony Molinaro.
Air Canada has ordered five A330-300 aircraft and three A340-300s, doubling its contract for Airbus widebodies. Air Canada will be the first scheduled-service airline in North America to operate the A330-300.
Air France has leased two Airbus A319s from International Lease Finance Corp. on five- and six-year terms, for delivery in February and April 1999. Air France operates six ILFC aircraft - three A319s, an A320 and two A340- 300s.
