The lawsuit between Scheduled Airlines Traffic Offices and Boulder-based Objective Inc. over highly specialized software Objective developed for SATO is scheduled to go to trial today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. Airline-owned SATO is suing Objective for breach of contract and $4.1 million (DAILY, June 20). Objective counter-sued for fraud, defamation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of trade secrets and misrepresenting Objective's system as SATO's.
DOT should follow the example of the Federal Maritime Commission and terminate existing authority to get the attention of Japanese negotiators, Northwest said in a filing on JAL exemptions for Kona and Atlanta service. Pressing longstanding U.S. objections that Japanese port practices discriminate against U.S. shipping, the FMC said two weeks ago it would impose heavy fines on Japanese shipping in retaliation, and it notified the Coast Guard it should prepare to intercept Japanese ships leaving and entering U.S. ports.
The House Appropriations aviation subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday on the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) program to address complaints by air traffic controllers. Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf said he decided to hold the hearings after "very open" discussions with FAA officials Friday. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said its main issue with STARS centers on human factors issues and the fact that controllers have not had enough participation in developing the system.
Continental intends to begin nonstop service in July 1998 between Newark/New York and Glasgow, its 14th European destination, subject to government approval. Flights will depart Newark at 6:45 p.m. and arrive in Glasgow at 6:15 a.m. Return flights will leave Glasgow at 12:25 p.m. and arrive in Newark at 3 p.m. The carrier will use a 757 offering business class.
Dortmund- and Nuremberg-based Eurowings took delivery of its first ATR-42-500 of five on order, the Aero International (Regional) consortium announced. The carrier also placed five options for the aircraft. Deliveries of the firm-ordered units will occur in the next three months.
Production reductions and completed extra internal and external work will result in approximately 450 lost jobs at the Toronto-based de Havilland division of Bombardier between October and January. "De Havilland has required a higher-than-normal work force to accomplish a changeover to an entirely new interior for a new supplier for the Dash 8Q regional airliner and to incorporate all changes for a new noise- and vibration-suppression system. This work is nearing completion.
Northwest and KLM are offering savings up to 55% off excursion fares on transcontinental coach travel Nov. 24 to Dec. 4. Tickets must be purchased within 24 hours of a reservation and by Oct. 31, and travel must be completed by Dec. 11. Sample one-way fares include $149 from Detroit or Minneapolis/St. Paul to London, $174 from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Paris, and $149 from Memphis to Paris.
Alaska Air Group, including Alaska Airlines, yesterday posted record third quarter profits of $42.2 million, up 28.7% from the year-earlier period. "This marks a significant milestone for our company and by far the strongest quarter in our corporate history," said John Kelly, chairman, president and chief executive. The results were due to improved yields and a strong general demand for air travel. Revenue grew 7.8% to $501 million, while expenses rose 5.7% to $425 million.
Midwest Express Holdings, parent of Midwest Express Airlines and Skyway Airlines, yesterday reported record revenue, capacity and traffic - but a lower net profit - for the third quarter. Revenue increased 7.6% to $89.4 million from $83.1 million a year earlier, but consolidated net income was down 10% to $7.6 million. Chairman and Chief Executive Timothy Hoeksema noted that this year's third quarter result is the company's second-best ever, and that last year's record-setter was buoyed by the interruption of the federal ticket tax.
TWA and Air Europa signed a marketing agreement that will lead to code- share service as early as the first quarter of 1998 on Air Europa flights from Madrid and Barcelona to Palma and Malaga and TWA's Madrid-New York Kennedy and Barcelona-New York flights, plus TWA service beyond JFK to several U.S. cities. Air Europa will relocate its JFK operations to TWA's Terminal 5, and TWA will provide ground-handling.
House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday approved H.R.2476, requiring foreign carriers operating to the U.S. to file family assistance plans for aviation disasters, and H.R.2626, revising last year's Pilot Records Improvement Act. The bills are expected to go to the full panel for markup next week.
Mesa Air Group is putting its money where its mouth is. The United Express carrier has warned for some time that its services at Denver were unprofitable due to high airport costs, low pro-rates from United and new FAA regulations. Little surprise that the carrier will drop Denver-Fort Collins service Oct. 31 - it will be replaced by a bus. Eight other markets could, by yearend, be suspended, including North Platte and Scottsbluff, Neb.; Cody, Laramie, Rock Springs and Worland, Wyo., Pueblo and Alamosa, Colo. (DAILY, Oct.
Members of the European Regions Airline Association have passed resolutions calling for independent Eurocontrol Performance Review Commissioners and for action on future navigation and communications requirements. Meeting in Baveno, Italy, for its 1997 General Assembly, ERA members approved a resolution urging European Union states to ensure that Eurocontrol Performance Review Commissioners are independent and have no employment or remuneration benefits from either state authorities or users of the common air traffic control system.
America West reported a net profit of $17.9 million in the third quarter, a turnaround from its $45.7 million loss a year earlier. Operating revenue increased 9.4% to $462.1 million as passenger revenue rose 9% and cargo revenue 21.8%. Last year's results included a $65 million pre-tax charge that if excluded, still would have resulted in more than a 200% gain in operating income this year. Yield gained 3.2% to 10.3 cents, and the carrier remained the lowest-cost hub-and-spoke carrier in the U.S.
Virgin Express will institute an initial stock offering next month with the goal of raising about $100 million. The Belgian 737 airline plans to list more than two million shares on Brussels markets and the Nasdaq exchange in New York. Merrill Lynch will lead the offering. The airline has ordered three 737-300s for delivery next year, and it intends to use the proceeds of the offering for new aircraft acquisitions, systems and general development.
Air France will "float a limited fraction of its capital by mid-1998," according to the mission statement assigned by the French government to the airline's new chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta. The document, leaked to the French press, fails to specify how much of the flag carrier's capital will effectively be offered to private investors. The partial privatization has two goals - living up to the 1994 labor agreement in which employees accepted a wage cut in exchange for shares, and making way for alliances with foreign airlines.
Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System, freed by deregulation, are suspending service in low-profit and money-losing domestic markets. JAL is dropping daily roundtrips between Obihiro and Fukuoka and twice-weekly roundtrips between Obihiro and Sendai, effective this month. In December, ANA will suspend daily roundtrips in five markets - Sapporo-Shonai, Kushiro-Fukuoka, Akita-Fukuoka, Sendai-Matsuyama and Shonai-Kansai.
Bombardier Regional Aircraft will deliver its 200th Canadair Regional Jet Friday to Lufthansa CityLine, launch customer for the aircraft in November 1992. It will be the German regional's 31st CRJ, with one aircraft still to be delivered. The CRJ order book stands at 486 orders, options and deliveries with a firm backlog of 100 aircraft. Firm orders stand at 298, including 29 of the new 70-passenger CRJ-700s - 103 since January alone. Bombardier plans to increase production early next year from five to six units per month, building 68 in 1998 and 72 in 1999.
Belgium's stock exchange watchdog, the Commission Bancaire, suspended trading in the newly launched subscription of CityBird S.A. shares until the company adds to its prospectus information that is "liable to influence the company's commercial prospects." CityBird President Victor Hasson said the commission's decision concerns "positive news that will reassure potential investors" in the low-cost, long-haul carrier.
Southwest's third quarter net profits jumped 52% to $92.5 million from $60.9 million as yields increased and expenses decreased. Passenger yield surged 7.5% to 12.55 cents while cost per available seat mile fell 2.1% to 7.36 cents, mainly because of lower jet fuel, engine repair and advertising costs and the results of several cost reduction programs. Revenue per available seat mile rose 2% to 8.68 cents. Revenue reached $997.2 million, up 11.9%.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has appealed to the Justice Department and the FBI on behalf of beleaguered TPI International Airways. The small Brunswick, Ga.-based cargo carrier was shut down by FAA in August 1990 following a sequence of events that included the loss of an Air Force contract and repeated acts of alleged sabotage to its aircraft while based at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
Atlantic Coast Airlines' cost per available seat mile "trended favorably despite the additional passenger-related costs associated with the higher load factors" during the third quarter, according to ACA Chief Financial Officer Paul Tate. The load factor surged 5.3 percentage points to 53.9% during the quarter, and passenger volume increased 19.9% to more than 476,000. Traffic rose 22.5% and capacity 10.4%. The carrier logged year-over-year increases of 18% in operating income and 10.3% in pre-tax profit, but net profit fell 32% (DAILY, Oct. 23).
