Canadian Transport Agency will issue a report Thursday containing 25 recommendations on how carriers and airport operators can improve air travel for passengers with "sensory or cognitive disabilities." Issues include travel information in braille, clearer public announcements in terminals and talking monitors for visually disabled travelers.
Star Alliance pilots intend to organize for continuing communications on labor, operational and other issues. Leaders representing more than 20,000 pilots from the six alliance carriers met last week in Miami and agreed to get together semiannually.
Expectations that Russia's hard line was merely an opening position proved wrong. Sources said Russian negotiators wanted to reduce current U.S. rights and expand options for Russian airlines. The key topic in Friday's session, the last this round, was overflight rights. Russian negotiators are interpreting the technical agreement covering overflights to mean the U.S. can fly only two of the routes; U.S. negotiators say the pact does not impose a limit on the amount to be used. Russia refuses to allow the U.S.
All Nippon Airways has accelerated connections from the U.S. East Coast to Singapore. The airline's service from New York Kennedy and Washington Dulles connects in Tokyo with only about an hour's transit before a nonstop flight to Singapore. The new timing enables a traveler to leave New York and arrive in Singapore the evening of the same day.
Vivid Technologies's $1.7 million explosives detection systems order for New York Kennedy Airport's Terminal One was placed by Terminal One Group Association, not United (DAILY, Nov. 6). TOGA member airlines are Air France, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Lufthansa.
DOT tentatively selected Continental over Delta and United to provide seven new weekly flights between the U.S. and Chile. Announcing the decision Friday, DOT noted that Continental's proposal for Newark-Santiago offers nonstop service rather than its competitors' one-stops, and that Miami, United's gateway in the competition, already provides substantial service to Chile, including two daily flights by United. American currently operates 21 weekly flights and United seven in the U.S.-Chile market.
Japan Airlines has signed an agreement to provide operational, technical and airport handling support for Hokkaido International Airlines, a new Japanese carrier. The startup, which will operate under the name "Air Do," will begin operations in April. The first service will be on the Tokyo- Sapporo route, the busiest in the world with 7,630,000 passengers in 1996. Air Do, which will use 767-300s, is run by Akira Nakamura, a former JAL marketing manager and most recently VP-Japan for Virgin Atlantic.
Southwest told DOT it cannot develop by Jan. 1, 1998, systems to report passenger origin-destination statistics in a standard format, as required by the Office of Airline Information (OAI) of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). On Oct.
Study by DAK Corporate Investors finds that aerospace industry consolidation is "moving downstream" from prime contractors to subcontractors, driven by the desire to "outsource responsibility to more efficient, lower-fixed-cost supply sources." DAK says independent defense and aerospace companies "will continue to be the targets of merchant bankers who see great opportunities in this market."
DOT issued an order tentatively finding Winair fit to provide interstate and foreign charter combination service. Organized last August in Utah, the company is wholly owned by Richard Winwood, whose business interests include helicopter system design and manufacture, Piper aircraft distribution and a Salt Lake City fixed-base operation. Winair plans to begin operations in December in mid-size domestic markets in the western U.S.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic October, 10 Months 1997 (000) October October % 1997 1996 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 769,000 766,000 0.4 Available Seat Miles 1,253,000 1,196,000 4.8 Load Factor (%) 61.4 64.0 America West
A two-day U.S.-Japan formal bilateral session opened in San Francisco Friday as scheduled, but informed sources detected little movement before the talks and a lack of new solutions to the impasse that has developed. One idea was floated and apparently has sunk - permitting U.S.-Japan code- share partners to pool their slots and use them as they wish. The idea was one response to the intractable problem of Tokyo Narita slot availability, likely to remain fixed until a new runway is added early next decade.
Cathay Pacific Airways will unveil today rock-bottom global promotions to drum up interest in Hong Kong, a market that has suffered from traffic falloff since the handover to China July 1. In the U.S. version, Cathay is offering two roundtrips to Hong Kong from Los Angeles or New York, including hotel, for $999.
American is offering skiers low-cost "ski break" roundtrip fares to the slopes, starting at $198. Fares are for nonstop travel from certain cities between Jan. 4 and Feb. 26, require a seven-day advance purchase and are non-refundable. The minimum stay is two days and the maximum is three days. Typical fares include Dallas/Fort Worth-Vail/Eagle County, $198; DFW-Durango, $198, and Chicago-Jackson Hole, $238.
Introducing mobile satellite services in the 1559-1610 MHz radio frequency band, currently allocated to global navigation satellite systems, would "impact the safety, regularity and efficiency of civil aviation and jeopardize full utilization of investments in aeronautical satellite navigation," ICAO Council President Assad Kotaite told the World Radiocommunications Conference Wednesday.
TWA's October load factor, 67.3%, was its highest for the month in more than 20 years. Advance bookings for the fourth quarter are better than forecast.
Delta has asked DOT for authority to conduct foreign combination service from Atlanta to Lima, Peru, and beyond and to deny American's emergency- exemption request to increase frequencies beyond bilateral limits. Delta, saying Peru is "willing to make available to U.S. carriers at least 14 additional frequencies," wants DOT to consolidate its application with American's in the selection proceeding. The bilateral does not limit the number of U.S. carriers and U.S. city designations.
Eight nations whose airlines FAA forbids to fly to the U.S. have not experienced an accident in over 10 years, according to Morten Beyer&Agnew consultants. The remaining three have experienced one accident each. "In the same period, the U.S. has recorded 32 accidents, while stalwarts like Indonesia have 15, Colombia 9, Brazil 8 and Russia 29," MBA says. Eighty- eight other ICAO countries reported "zero accidents in 10 years."
FAA's reluctance to set an industry-wide policy on carry-on baggage reflects the absence of consensus on what to do, not the denial of a problem, FAA Acting Deputy Administrator Barry Valentine said at last week's Association of Flight Attendants conference in Washington. Despite a request by American that FAA set rules, the agency does not intend to make policy in the near future and will focus instead on educating the public about hazards (DAILY, Nov. 13, 14). FAA agreed that the problem is extensive and needs to be addressed, Valentine said.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association executive director Bruce Landesberg told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee Thursday in prepared remarks that though 68% of runway incursions involve general aviation aircraft, 75% of all departures by civil aircraft are made in GA planes, "so the proportion...is not out of the ordinary." He said most GA operations are conducted during daylight hours, in good weather, and he noted the small number of incursions that resulted in fatal accidents (DAILY, Nov. 14).
