America West Express, a division of Mesa Air Group, is adding nonstop service between Phoenix and Aspen, beginning Dec. 17. The airline will fly three daily trips from Phoenix to Aspen and two from Aspen to Phoenix. Passengers flying to or from Aspen and connecting through Phoenix will receive boarding passes and seat assignments to their final destination. Members of America West's Flight Fund frequent flyer program can earn 500 miles on each America West Express flight.
Delta and Finnair applied to DOT for authority to expand their code-share, blocked-space operations for two years, beginning Oct. 26, to include Delta flights between New York and Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, and Finnair flights linking Helsinki with Zurich and Frankfurt. Finnair applied separately for an exemption to provide scheduled and charter combination service behind and from Finland to the U.S. and beyond via intermediate points, authorized under the U.S.-Finland open-skies pact.
British Midland will add Dresden to its European destinations, starting Oct. 27, serving the German city daily from London Heathrow via Cologne/Bonn. The service supplements code-share partner Lufthansa's flight from London via Munich to Dresden and is British Midland's sixth new European destination this year. British Midland said it is continuing discussions with Lufthansa about how to develop the relationship.
Frontier Airlines has joined with Visitors Services International to handle overflow calls to the carrier's toll-free number, book domestic and international hotel reservations and provide travel and tour packages. VSI, a subsidiary of TeleServices International Group, Inc., also will offer hotel and tour package discounts.
The Indian government has appointed a committee, mainly comprising government technicians and aviation industry experts, to seek suggestions for the financial restructuring of national carrier Air-India. Headed by economist and former petroleum secretary Vijay Kelkar, the committee is scheduled to report in February with what is expected to be a comprehensive package of reforms to enable the airline to fund its expansion plans and incorporate a productivity-oriented work culture in its daily operations.
FAA will sponsor a forum Nov. 20 to discuss aviation-related environmental issues. FAA's Office of Environment and Energy is developing a research agenda, Environmental Research Beyond 2000, to identify and address environmental issues related to the industry, including but not limited to noise and emissions. The office will present its preliminary research agenda at the meeting - from 9:30 a.m. until noon in Room 3246B at DOT - where it also hopes to obtain information from the public.
Kaman Corp. reported third quarter net earnings of $7.1 million, up 22%, and revenues of $270 million, up 18%. Year-to-date, net earnings declined to $9.4 million from $16.4 million, while revenues climbed 8% to $772.4 million.
Four opponents of the American-Iberia code share proposal are asking DOT for a variety of actions, including dismissal, an oral evidentiary hearing and consolidation with the American-TACA code-share proceeding. Continental, TWA, United and Delta said American already dominates Latin America and further consolidation of marketing arrangements would create monopolistic conditions.
AAR Corp. said it was contracted by Boeing Commercial as its Amsterdam service provider. AAR will warehouse Boeing-owned airframe parts for 737- 700s, provide limited inspection and repair service and a spares exchange.
Kiwi International Air Lines yesterday began serving the lucrative New York-Boston market with a fare structure it believes positions it o compete with higher-cost and more established shuttle service. "Right now, the shuttle carriers [Delta and US Airways] have as many as 10 fare levels whose availability varies according to their subjective whim and whose pricing philosophy forces travelers to pay more," said Kiwi Chief Executive Jerry Murphy.
U.S.-Japan talks started in Washington yesterday morning in a closed-door executive session, with a plenary scheduled for the afternoon. Negotiators have blocked out an entire week for the talks as they attempt to sign a new agreement, although a U.S. official speaking to The DAILY declined to predict how long this round would continue. Referring to the talks, Japan Airlines last week answered Northwest's suggestion that three JAL exemptions under the 1985 and 1989 MOUs be terminated as a response to continued denial of new Northwest service beyond Japan.
Eastwind Airlines said yesterday it ordered two 737-700s for delivery next April and June. Herman Gillis, president, said, "Acquiring new aircraft became more and more attractive as we looked at older 737s which could not meet our future plans."
Proposed airworthiness directives affecting hundreds of general aviation aircraft are the wrong way to address icing problems, according to the National Air Transportation Association (DAILY, Oct. 17). FAA proposed more than 20 ADs last month on single- and multi-engine aircraft equipped with unpowered aileron controls and de-icing boots. The agency took similar action earlier on most regional turboprop aircraft.
TWA signed a code-share agreement with Air Europa, the U.S. carrier told DOT in its comments on the American-Iberia code share proposal (see related story to follow). Signed last Thursday, the pact will be submitted to DOT "in due course," TWA said. Like the American/Iberia code share, TWA/Air Europa's proposes to serve numerous U.S. points, some covered by the U.S.- Spain bilateral, some not.
DOT approved Gemini Air Cargo's bid for an initial exemption to conduct scheduled foreign combination service between Honolulu and Sydney, via Nadi, Fiji, and to integrate the authority with its existing exemption and certificate authority. The authority does not include intermediate or beyond rights "to serve markets where U.S. carrier entry is limited." (Docket OST-97-2977)
Italy is pushing Alitalia to team with Air France instead of KLM after meetings between Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and France's Lionel Jospin, an airline source said yesterday. According to reports in Europe, Italian Transport Minister Claudio Burlando is coercing a decision from Alitalia, which currently code shares with Air France on seven routes.
Emery Worldwide Airlines awarded a five-year contract to GE Engine Services to overhaul and repair 97 CMF56-2 engines that power its DC-8-70 aircraft. All work will be performed at Stroher Field, Arkansas City, Kan.
KLM is adjusting its departure and arrival times from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for the winter season to improve connections and cut waiting time for transfer passengers. Instead of three daily "blocks" or banks of departing and arriving flights, the airline will offer four, redistributing its intra-European and intercontinental flights. The three-block system has been in place since 1992. The new program is known as "SCORE," for Schiphol Connections Redesign, and it takes effect with KLM's winter season Oct. 26.
Air France traffic increased 4.6% in September to 6.4 billion revenue passenger kilometers. Capacity rose 2.7% to 8.1 billion available seat kilometers, and the load factor was up 1.4 percentage points to 79.1%. Air France cargo volume dropped 1.7% to 428 million freight ton kilometers.
Continental will start daily nonstop service between Newark and Dublin and Shannon, Ireland, next June. It will operate separate flights to the two destinations with 172-seat, two-class 757s during the peak season and a single flight to both airports during off-peak periods. The new destinations will bring to 13 the number of European cities Continental serves from Newark.
British defense ministry has signed a long-term lease agreement with TAG Group of Luxembourg to operate Farnborough Airport as a business aviation facility.
Top executives of Boeing, Boeing Business Jets and Executive Jet are expected to announce today in New York a program that will provide customers with fractional interests in the Boeing Business Jet. Executive Jet invented the concept in 1986, and its NetJets shared-ownership program currently serves more than 700 customers who own partial interest in the 100-plus airplanes the company manages.
American Airlines Cargo said it flew 505.6 million cargo ton miles in the third quarter, surpassing the previous record of 504.2 million CTMs in the third quarter 1994. Despite increased passenger loads and a slight drop in capacity, cargo revenue was up 2.6% year over year, said AA Cargo President Dave Brooks. He credited strong traffic in Pacific, Caribbean and Latin American markets.
