International Air Cargo Association chose the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to host the 20th International Air Cargo Forum and Exposition in 2000. Tentative dates are Sept. 26-29. The other finalists were Los Angeles World Airports and the Metro Dade County Aviation Department in Miami.
William Jara, vice minister for transportation of Peru's ministry of transportation, communications, housing and construction, and Francisco Garcia Calderon, president of Peru's airport privatization committee, will take part in a Trade and Development Agency business briefing tomorrow at the Doubletree Park Terrace, 1515 Rhode Island Ave., Washington, D.C. Contact McKinney Larkins 202-785-3500.
Although last week's DOT slot awards generally favored niche carriers, non- niche airlines still are pressing for exceptional-circumstances exemptions. Two examples are America West, which replied this week to objections to its bid for slots at Chicago O'Hare and New York LaGuardia, and American Eagle/Simmons, which remains "cautiously optimistic" about winning 60 slots at O'Hare.
Business Travel Contractors Corp., asking Congress and DOT to intensify efforts to increase competition among airlines, praised DOT for last week's slot awards at New York LaGuardia and Chicago O'Hare (DAILY, Oct. 27) but said communities and businesses still suffer from inadequate competition.
General aviation aircraft billings of $3.2 billion for the first three quarters surpassed the full-year 1996 total of $3.1 billion, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported. Deliveries increased 30.7% to 954 units in the first nine months. Ed Bolen, GAMA president, said 1997 is "turning out to be a great year for general aviation," and the "outlook for the future is encouraging." Piston-engine deliveries rose 47% to 561 units, and jet shipments were up 56.3% to 236 units, but turboprop deliveries declined 20.3% to 157 aircraft.
Airborne Express reported net earnings of $46.6 million, up from $4.6 million during the year-earlier period, and revenues of $788.6 million, up 29%, partly as a result of the August strike against UPS. For the first nine months, net earnings were $89.3 million, up from $16.5 million, and revenues rose 18% to $2.2 billion. Domestic revenues for the latest quarter increased 32% to $687.5 million and international revenues 12% to $101 million. For the first nine months, domestic revenues rose 20% to $1.7 billion and international revenues 5% to $295.2 million.
International Lease Finance Corp. said pre-tax profits for the third quarter increased 33.3% to $139.7 million while revenues grew 19.5% to $506 million. For the first nine months, pre-tax profits rose to $343.8 million from $298 million a year earlier, and revenues increased 15.8% to $1.4 billion.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Second Quarter 1997 DC-9-30 Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 30 110 34 Total Fleet Operations Departures 157 549 185 Block Hours 253 900 298
China will sign its much-anticipated aircraft acquisition contract with Boeing tomorrow in Washington during the visit of President Jiang Zemin. Boeing declines comment on reports that the deal will total $1.9 billion in firm orders and a letter of intent for $1.1 billion more.
Triumph Group reported that third quarter sales gained 18% to $75.1 million. Operating income was $5.7 million, up from $2.6 million, and net income was $6.3 million, up from $1.2 million. Aviation Group operating income was $9.2 million, up from $6.7 million, as sales increased 31% to $53.9 million.
Revised* - U.S. Major Carriers Unit Revenues and Expenses, By Region Second Quarter 1997 Operating Operating Operating Revenues Expenses Profit/Loss Yield per ASM per ASM per ASM per RPM Carrier (cents) (cents) (cents) (cents) Alaska 9.61 8.51 1.10 12.05 Domestic 9.71 8.60 1.11 12.21
Western Pacific has been ordered by a Denver bankruptcy court judge to pay Denver Airport $250,000 in passenger facilities charges as part of its pre- petition debt. Westpac owes the airport $7 million in landing fees and gate leases from June 29 through Oct. 26, when it filed for bankruptcy protection. Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said Westpac's debt to the airport is $50,000 per day, more than $1 million post-petition. "We have asked the court to force them to pay because we don't think it's fair to the other airlines," he said.
Air France operated an Airbus A300 for the last time this week on the Paris-Tel Aviv route, saying the aircraft's operating costs are no longer competitive. The A300, the first aircraft developed by Airbus Industrie, began operating Oct. 28, 1972. Air France, Lufthansa and Korean Air were Airbus's only airline customers until 1977. By the end of 1979, the aircraft won 256 orders, when the consortium launched the A310. Air France's fleet comprised up to 20 A300s and Air Inter's up to 19. The leased A300 operated 38,000 flight hours in 17 years.
AIRPortland Inc., which wants to serve Portland, Ore., as a low-cost carrier with a "'hometown' competitive advantage," applied at DOT for a certificate to operate scheduled combination service. It hopes to develop "a small scheduled airline to provide service between Portland...and major cities on the East Coast, initially New York City." AIRPortland has completed the first of three planned common stock offerings and plans to begin operations with two leased A320 aircraft, each providing three daily departures from Portland and New York.
United yesterday posted record third quarter net profits of $499 million fully distributed, up 5%, as international and domestic passenger traffic continued strong and cargo revenue rose nearly 18%. The results did not include a $235 million net gain on the sale of part of Apollo Travel Services to Galileo International. With the Apollo sale, net income was $734 million.
Fares from Atlanta to New York LaGuardia will drop significantly once Atlanta-based AirTran Airlines, formerly ValuJet, begins its six daily roundtrip flights on a route dominated by Delta, industry analysts say. AirTran, which will be the only low-cost carrier offering nonstops in the market, has not set a launch date for the new flights, spokeswoman Lori LeRoy said yesterday. Philadelphia currently is the point closest to New York served by AirTran. "We think this will make a significant difference in fare structure," said Senior VP-Marketing Ponder Harrison.
DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary Patrick Murphy told the Senate Commerce Committee yesterday that until recently, the department rarely granted slot exemptions to comply with the meaning of "extraordinary" in the law giving it exemption power. With last Friday's decision, "we took up Congress's call for more action," granting 31 slots for operations to O'Hare and LaGuardia, with more applications pending, Murphy told Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), who held the hearing for his Aviation Competition Enhancement Act of 1997.
FAA will send DOT a notice of proposed rulemaking soon on Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) programs intended to develop safety information that "cannot be used by the FAA for punitive enforcement purposes," Administrator Jane Garvey said yesterday. A second proposal, to protect FOQA participants from discovery under the Freedom of Information Act, will follow, Garvey told a record audience at the Aero Club of Washington.
PLM International said revenues for the September quarter dropped to $12.9 million from $14.1 million and net income declined to $1.3 million from $1.4 million. For the nine months, revenues dipped to $37.3 million from $38 million, while net income rose to $3.2 million from $2.4 million. The company cited lower lease revenues following the sale of older equipment.
Kitty Hawk reported record net income of $3 million for the third quarter, up from $1.4 million a year earlier, and revenues rose 35% to $41.2 million. For the first nine months, net income increased to $7 million from $252,000 while revenues rose to $101.7 million from $82.8 million. Tom Christopher, chairman, attributed most of the results to the company's air freight business, saying, "We are getting good utilization of our fleet, and even as we add new aircraft and contracts, we have consistently been able to exceed target margins."
AEI has introduced Border Express service for "fast, trouble-free customs clearance" for shipments of high-risk or sensitive goods from Canada into the U.S. Customers fax paperwork to AEI on a toll-free line for processing before the truck arrives, sometimes saving hours of delay at the border, the company said.
Aeromexico is adding a fourth daily flight between Mexico City and New York Kennedy, effective Nov. 2. The carrier offers service to LaGuardia and Newark under a code share with Delta.
SkyWest Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. posted a third quarter net income of $7.5 million, up 50.5%. Operating revenue reached a record level of $80.3 million versus $75.8 million. The Delta Connection carrier posted a 3% rise in yield to 34.2 cents. Revenue per available seat mile was up 1.7% to 18.1 cents and cost per ASM dropped 2.5% to 15.8 cents.
Delta will begin code sharing with Swissair's daily flights connecting Zurich with Cairo, beginning Dec. 1. DOT approved the code-share agreement in September (DAILY, Sept. 18).
