Western Pacific has entered an agreement to sell and lease back its owned Boeing 737-300 to Sterling European Airlines. The $20.5 million transaction of the 1989-vintage aircraft will net Westpac $5.4 million profit. The sale is a "better use of our assets" in Westpac's Chapter 11 restructuring, said Chief Executive Robert Peiser.
Civil Aviation Corp., the Japanese consortium formed by the Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji heavy industry companies, will participate in the 767- 400ER program under a newly signed memorandum of understanding with Boeing Co. The companies produce fuselage sections, fuselage-wing fairings, wing in-spar ribs and cargo doors for 767-200s and -300s. The -400ER agreement is retroactive to April 1, and 10 Japanese engineers already are working in the program at Seattle.
Central Mountain Air will begin transborder service between Calgary, Alberta, and Spokane, Wash., on Dec. 1 with three nonstops each business day. The carrier will operate the service with Beech 1900Ds, which will carry Air Canada's designator code.
Boeing's engineering team working on certification of the 777 in the Commonwealth of Independent States returned from Moscow yesterday, saying last week's meetings went well and certification is on track. The team is working with the Aviation Register, part of the Interstate Aviation Committee, to resolve technical issues. A Boeing source said AR representatives are due to visit Boeing in January to continue the effort.
Delta has added TAP Air Portugal to its SkyMiles program, enabling travelers on each airline to receive and redeem mileage credit on the other. TAP business-class passengers will receive credit for 125% of mileage flown, and economy-class passengers will be credited with actual mileage.
Northern Airlines Corporation, a startup carrier, has applied at DOT for a certificate to provide scheduled, low-fare service between medium-sized communities and major metropolitan airports. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based operation wants to fly Fokker F28-4000s serving Syracuse, New York City, Cleveland, Columbus, Boston, Buffalo and Hartford, Conn./Springfield, Mass., starting in January 1998. The carrier asked for confidential treatment of its forecast income and balance sheet.
Continental has agreed to a consent order fining it $18,000 for violating rules against unfair and deceptive practices following an e-mail fare promotion on Sept. 11. The e-mail advertisement, first of its kind for Continental and sent to subscribers interested in such offerings, promoted air fares including a roundtrip from Newark/New York to Toronto for $99. In a separate section, the ad stated that international taxes and fees could add as much as $52 to advertised fares.
Transport workers from throughout the 15-nation European Union plan to march in Brussels Dec. 1 to protest the European Commission's plan to abolish duty-free sales after June 30, 1999, for air travel within the EU. "We have been warning the Commission for some time that workers would not sit back and witness the decimation of their livelihoods without a struggle," said Hugues de Villele, general secretary of the Federation of Transport Workers Unions in the European Unions (FST).
A decision to discontinue the Visa Waiver Pilot Program could come Friday, but sources in the State Department and on Capitol Hill are optimistic the program will be either renewed for two to three years or extended by means of the federal budget process. The program was attached to the budget continuing resolution, which kept it alive beyond its Sept. 26 expiration date. The program enables citizens of 25 countries to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa. Some countries, like Japan, enjoy a 98% U.S.
America West has launched nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and Columbus, Ohio. Service to the airline's Port Columbus Airport hub will be operated with a Boeing 737-300 featuring eight first-class and 124 coach- class seats. Flights depart Fort Lauderdale at 6:12 p.m. and arrive in Columbus at 8:41 p.m., and leave Columbus as 3:05 p.m., arriving in Fort Lauderdale at 5:32 p.m. A special "Go-First" tariff will be available to first-class passengers at 50% less. Tickets must be purchased within 24 hours of making reservations, and some restrictions apply.
All Nippon Airways third quarter profits fell 29% to 5.9 billion yen (US$49.5 million), as the slow Japanese economy and the rising cost of competition took its toll on Asia's largest passenger carrier. Revenues increased 3.6% to 467 billion yen ($3.86 billion). Administrative costs rose as a percentage of total sales to 21.2% from 19.5%. International capacity gained 26.4% and international revenues 22.4% as ANA seeks to increase international operations to half its total volume.
Boeing received an extension through Nov. 10 of its deadline to respond to European Commission questions on its newly confirmed Delta sale (DAILY, Oct. 31). The company told the EC its detailed questions "require an articulate response from people who are currently absent," an EC source said yesterday.
Air Tahiti, a French Polynesian regional, has ordered one AIR ATR-72-210A. The aircraft, the carrier's fourth of the type, will be delivered in May. The delivery completes a fleet renewal program that enables Air Tahiti to operate one of the most modern fleets in the Pacific, with three ATR 42- 500s and four ATR-72-210As. Since December 1996, Air Tahiti has achieved a dispatch reliability record of 99.8%. AIR has sold 50 ATRs since January, doubling its 1996 orderbook.
Days after a Senate Commerce Committee hearing examined legislation from Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others proposing solutions to airport access problems (DAILY, Oct. 29), the Washington Airports Task Force Board passed a motion opposing McCain's bill. McCain's Aviation Competition Enhancement Act would create exemptions to the perimeter rule and withdraw some slots from incumbent carriers at National and the other high-density airports. The bill "has powerful support" in the Senate, the task force said, but is being "strongly opposed" by Sens.
Cathay Pacific Airways is debuting another marketing initiative through its CyberTraveler program, this time offering a virtually unlimited air-pass to 18 cities in Asia. The carrier's "All Asia Pass" is available through the Internet at $999 per person from Los Angeles or New York. For this price, a passenger can book from the U.S. and visit Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore and a dozen other cities under one umbrella fare. The pass includes taxes and is only available through Cathay's U.S. web site http:// www.cathay-usa.com.
US Airways has begun recalling its furloughed pilots under the terms of its recent contract agreement with its Air Line Pilots Association unit. The carrier recalled 38 pilots Nov. 1 and will recall 64 on Dec. 2. After the December recall, 282 pilots still will be on furlough.
The Northwest Europe Loran-C System (NELS) Steering Committee has given its go-ahead to implementing the Loran-based "Eurofix" navigation system on all NELS transmitters. The action, taken Oct. 30, follows successful trials of transmitting Global Positioning System differential corrections using the Loran-C transmitter at Sylt, Germany. Modification of the transmitters, expected to take a year, would enable NELS to provide GPS and Glonass differential corrections throughout Europe.
British Airways has launched a three-month project to track passenger movements in Heathrow Airport's terminals in an effort to eliminate flight delays caused by lost or late-arriving customers. The project, part of a five-year, #35 million (US$56 million) effort to increase punctuality as passenger volumes rise, uses computer chips embedded in boarding passes. Signals from them are detected and relayed by radio stations throughout the terminals to a central tracking station.
Barry Valentine is leaving his job as acting deputy administrator at FAA shortly before Christmas. He was assistant administrator for policy, planning and international aviation until February, when he was named acting administrator, and he became acting deputy when current Administrator Jane Garvey was confirmed. Valentine, who has no immediate plans, also was acting head of regulation and certification after Anthony Broderick left the agency.
Airport company Frankfurt Main Flughafen AG is negotiating to purchase Hahn Airport, a former U.S. military base, from the German Land of Rheinland Pfalz. The company hinted that its move is motivated partly by fears that Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, already attracting German freight business, could invest in Hahn Airport, located about 100 kilometers east of Frankfurt Airport. Hahn has been used since 1995 for freight and some passenger vacation flights in the summer, and it was authorized recently to operate night flights.
Japan Airlines, which reported booming profits last week, is experiencing a steep drop in travel and load factor for service within Southeast Asia, its second largest market. For the six months ending Sept. 30, Asia passenger volume plummeted 11% to 1.5 million passengers. The load factor was 66%, and the region's passengers made up 26.5% of JAL's total, compared with a fiscal 1996 load factor of 74.1% and a passenger count that made up 30% of the total. The airline reported a systemwide average load factor of 72.8%, down slightly from 73.2% last year.
America West flight attendants reached a tentative contract agreement with management Friday. The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents the carrier's more than 2,000 cabin crew, began talks in December 1994 and entered federal mediation in May 1997. The five-year tentative pact resolves all pay rate, benefit and working condition issues. Details of the deal were not released pending ratification by the membership.
Aviation Industry Stock Performance October 1997 Closed Closed Majors Symbol 10/30/97 09/29/97 Alaska Air Group ALK 33.375 32.875 America West (Class B) AWA 14.813 14.563 AMR AMR 116.438 110.688 Continental (Class B) CAI.B 43.250 39.375
JAL Express (JEX), the lower-cost version of Japan Airlines, will start operations next July using 150-seat 737s. JEX initially will operate its own routes, those where low demand or lack of profitability is evident, though it also will perform wet-leases for JAL.
US Airways said yesterday it has "affirmed" its order for up to 400 Airbus aircraft, with deliveries to begin in the fourth quarter of 1998. Airbus said that because of the US Airways contract and a "high level of net order intake during the last few months," it plans to increase deliveries next year to 234 aircraft from this year's 185, itself a 50% increase over 1996. US Airways has a firm order for 124 A320-family aircraft.
