United will offer nonstop weekend service between New York Kennedy and San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dec. 6-April 5 and add a weekend Boston-JFK flight timed to connect with it. The San Juan flight will depart New York at 8 a.m. each Saturday and Sunday and arrive at Louis Munoz Marin Airport at 12 :47 p.m. The return flight will depart San Juan at 2 p.m., arriving in New York at 4:56 p.m.
B/E Aerospace said it was selected by British Airways to supply main cabin seating for existing and new widebodies. The initial order is valued at $40 million for installing World Traveller coach seats on 777s and 747s
DOT issued Custom Air Transport a certificate for foreign combination charter service. The department made final its fitness determination and issued Custom an interstate charter certificate early this month. The carrier must notify DOT if it wants to use more than five cargo and two passenger aircraft, and demonstrate fitness before expanding. Custom plans Caribbean service under the name Tropic Aire (DAILY, Sept. 5). (Dockets OST-97-2255, 2256)
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday approved by voice vote legislation that would provide relief to carriers from certain provisions of the Pilot Records Improvement Act (PRIA). The legislation, H.R.2626, would enable carriers to hire and begin to train pilots while gathering background information required under PRIA. In addition, H.R.2626 permits non-scheduled operators to hire, train and allow pilots to fly passengers for a 90-day period while collecting the necessary records.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines' yield - revenue per revenue passenger mile - for the nine months ended Sept. 30 fell 3.3% to 41.2 cents, a sharper decline than the Delta Connection affiliate posted for the most recent quarter - down 2.9% to 40.5 cents (DAILY, Oct. 28). Revenues for the quarter rose 4.6%, which Senior VP Ronald Sapp said "was primarily due to an 8% increase in the third quarter traffic offset by a 2.9% decrease in third quarter yield.
Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlink affiliate Mesaba Airlines earned a net profit of $5.7 million, or 41 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter ending Sept. 30, a 48.9% increase from the same 1996 period's $3.86 million, or 30 cents per share. Operating revenues soared 54.1% to $71.9 million. The airline said second-quarter results include new service with 69-passenger Avro RJ85 regional jets, of which five aircraft were placed into revenue service by Sept. 30. Mesaba also is taking over fellow Airlink affiliate Express I's Minneapolis hub flying.
Exec Express II, Inc., d/b/a Lone Star Airlines d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air (Lone Star) has agreed to settle charges by DOT's enforcement office that it operated more aircraft than authorized under its certificate. Without admitting or denying the charges, the carrier agreed to settle the matter to avoid litigation. The settlement calls for the airline to cease and desist from future violations and for a fine of $18,000 in compromise of potential civil penalties. Lone Star must pay $9,000 in three $1,000 installments.
Bombardier Regional Aircraft showed off the cabin mock-up of its new 70- seat CRJ-700 series to reporters Friday and it is clear that most problems with the 50-seat CRJ have been solved. The floor is lowered by an inch and frame size is reduced, allowing an extra inch at shoulder height frame to frame. New overhead bin design means passengers can remove overcoats after entering the aircraft. Windows have been raised 6.5 inches and passengers now may see outside. It is a long tube, however, and Bombardier will not offer a rear door for speedier turnarounds.
Mahalo Air President Mike Yocum has joined Aspen Mountain Air on a consulting basis in the maintenance area while his own Honolulu-based carrier continues to seek outside investors to help pull it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was unclear whether the post would become permanent (DAILY, Oct. 24).
DOT renewed United's and Northwest's U.S.-Poland third-country code-share frequencies for one year. United has authority for seven weekly roundtrips between points in the U.S. and Warsaw, via Frankfurt and Munich, under code-share arrangements with Lufthansa. Northwest's approval is for seven weekly round-trips with KLM between points in the U.S. and Warsaw via Amsterdam. Earlier, each of the U.S. carriers was allocated seven additional U.S.-Poland third-country code-share frequencies, effective Nov. 1, 1997, through Oct.
If airlines were quick to recognize the cost savings of electronic ticketing, travel agents are scurrying to catch up. Although the travel industry reports more agents than ever are using paperless tickets, the number still is not as high as bookings directly through carriers or the Internet (DAILY, Oct. 29). Steve Cossette, VP-distribution for Continental, said the percentage of travel agents booking e-tickets is "in the low teens but rising pretty steadily." Al Lenza, VP-distribution planning for Northwest, said travel agents book about 15% e-tickets.
Negotiators wound up informal U.S.-Japan talks Wednesday, and although both sides expect to set a date for another formal round, a Japanese government official told The DAILY the Japanese delegation was "frankly kind of disappointed" after seeing "not much progress. It seems to us that the U.S. delegation is not, at this moment, willing to make a deal. Maybe they're waiting for something." The official said the "rough framework of an agreement" is getting very clear, but after months of negotiating, the Japanese feel they have "shown everything" they can do.
Turkish Airlines reported September traffic of 1.34 billion revenue passenger kilometers, up 6.8%. Year-to-date traffic is up 10.4%. Freight volume soared 35.2% in September and 26.4% so far this year. The carrier flew 986,000 passengers in September and is on a pace to carry 10.7 million this year, placing it above Varig, No. 30 in IATA's 1996 airline passenger rankings.
Cathay Pacific Airways this week added three weekly nonstop flights on the Hong Kong-Sydney route this winter using A340s. The carrier now has 10 weekly flights to Sydney, oin a route also served nonstop by Ansett and Qantas.
Comair's weekend traveler program passengers can add Toronto and Montreal to the list of available destinations, beginning tomorrow. The program allows passengers to choose any of Comair's nine daily roundtrip flights between Cincinnati and Toronto, two to Montreal, four between Boston and Toronto and between Boston and Montreal, and five between New York LaGuardia and Montreal. A weekend traveler booklet costs $299 and contains four one-way travel coupons.
The early winter storm that closed Denver Airport last weekend left airlines and airport tallying up lost revenues and scrambling to find better ways to manage logistics and communications as the season progresses. Frontier said it canceled its roughly 28 daily departures and lost about $300,000 in market revenue, said President and Chief Executive Sam Addoms. "It wasn't mortal, but it was disrupting." Western Pacific, which canceled all Saturday flights and 50% of its Sunday service, lost about $700,000, said spokeswoman Elise Eberwein.
Today is the European Commission's deadline for Boeing to answer what an EC source describes as a "detailed questionnaire" on the manufacturer's newly finalized Delta sale (DAILY, Oct. 23). EC competition specialists suspect - based on press reports - that the contract contains exclusivity provisions barred under the commission's approval of the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger.
Mexicana is increasing this winter the number of code-share markets it serves in North America, building its Mexico City hub and branching out with links to Air Canada and Lufthansa. The airline has struggled for several years to earn a consistent profit and this year has broken through, netting $56.9 million for the first six months of 1997. The first-half net margin was 23.3%, higher than those of the largest U.S. carriers. "We are very healthy and pleased with the progress," said Antonio Martinez Salinas, Mexicana's senior VP-sales and international.
Niche carrier Kiwi International asked DOT to investigate alleged gate- control practices of Delta, Atlanta Hartsfield, Continental and Newark International. A DOT spokesman said DOT will be contacting the targets of the complaint. Kiwi believes certain actions violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave "implied permission" to Continental to monopolize gates beyond its home base at Terminal C, shoving aside Kiwi.
Delta Connection affiliate SkyWest, which posted this week a record net income for its September quarter helped by a 2.5% drop in unit costs, recorded an even steeper unit cost decline for its most recent fiscal six months - 3.1% to 15.6 cents per available seat mile (DAILY, Oct. 29). 3 Mths Ended 3 Mths Ended 6 Mths Ended 6 Mths Ended Sept. 30, 1997 Sept. 30, 1996 Sept. 30, 1997 Sept. 30, 1996 Op. Rev. $80,302,000 $75,800,000 $152,417,000 $146,369,000
Head-to-head competition between the Canadair RJ and the Embraer EMB-145 50-seat regional jets begins for the first time Saturday when Continental Express launches three daily 145 roundtrips between Newark and Delta Connection Comair's Cincinnati hub (569 miles). Comair also offers three frequencies with block times ranging from one hour and fifty-five minutes to two hours and five minutes. COEx is posting block times of two hours and 10 minutes. COEx begins competing with Air Canada CRJs next spring between Cleveland and Toronto (story below).
America West is promoting special fares to five Mexico resort markets until Nov. 3, for travel Nov. 10 through April 5. The fares require a 14-day advance purchase, and tickets must be purchased within 24 hours of booking. Special tariffs are for Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Los Cabos and Manzanillo. Minimum stay requirements and other restrictions apply. Sample roundtrip fares are $176 Phoenix-Mazatlan, $252 Los Angeles- Acapulco, and $284 Chicago-Puerto Vallarta.
Business Express was allowed by DOT to reduce its scheduled service between Manchester, N.Y., and Boston to one daily roundtrip, effective tomorrow, and terminate all service in the market, effective Dec. 1. In addition, DOT removed Manchester's essential air service determination as "superfluous" - service and traffic has grown and the point is now served by two jet carriers and five major code-sharing commuters. (Dockets OST- 97-2867, 97-2997 and 97-3047 (EAS-504))
Pilots of Skyway Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Midwest Airlines, resumed negotiations this week at the National Mediation Board. The pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. They are negotiating their first contract and asking for improved wages, hours and working conditions. ALPA Assistant Director of Representation John Bradley said the negotiations are "going very slow, but it's going." Bradley declined to reveal details of the proposal now on the table. Skyway pilots have been negotiation for 20 months, 11 of those with the NMB.
The Indian government has decided to split the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation into three separate functional units to be administered by a board constituting the country's new civil aviation authority, aviation ministry officials said this week. The three divisions would allocate routes and capacity for private domestic carriers, investigate aviation accidents and regulate safety.
