FAA's program to consolidate flight service stations has caused "almost irreparable damage to FAA's relations with the general aviation community," Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, told Congress. FAA closed the last four non-automated FSSs in the contiguous U.S. last month, completing the plan it began in 1981 to consolidate 317 facilities into 61 automated FSSs. "But FAA's promise of no degradation of service quickly became a sad joke," Boyer told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee.
Mesa Air Group determined "inadequate" a $50 million offer to buy its United Express operations at Denver and on the West Coast (DAILY, Oct. 9). The offer was made by Barlow Partners, a group of investors including Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of Virgin Express, former president of Continental Express and a former Mesa executive VP. Ornstein told The DAILY he thought both operations "could be fixed" and then would be worth more than $50 million. Meanwhile, "I am just sort of sitting back and thinking....There is always another deal," he said...
Association of European Airlines Traffic August, 8 Months 1997 August 1997 Passenger Data RPKs % Change ASKs Region (Mil) 97/96 (Mil) EUROPE 11,368.4 11.6 16,202.0 NORTH AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST 1,914.4 5.1 2,595.9 LONGHAUL North Atlantic 14,587.4 8.1 17,239.2
Prestige Airways asked DOT to register Prestige Airways Inc. as its new corporate name and reissue under its new name the certificates it received under its former name, NavCom Aviation II. The company registered Prestige Airways as a trade name in 1995. (Docket OST-97-3004)
Irish discount carrier Ryanair, stepping up competition with Aer Lingus and Sabena, plans to add a third daily flight Nov. 3 from Brussels South Charleroi Airport to Dublin. Ryanair, which began the service in May with two daily flights, wants to lure business travelers away from Sabena and Aer Lingus at Brussels Airport International.
Spencer, Iowa-based United Express affiliate Great Lakes Aviation posted a 4.4-percentage-point increase in its passenger load factor to 48.6% last month, as revenue passenger miles dropped 34.7% to 16.2 million and capacity dropped 40.6% to 33.5 million available seat miles. The carrier pointed out that September traffic figures reflect the elimination of Midway Connection flying in the Southeast and termination of service in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996
Domestic air cargo grew 1% in August but international air cargo increased 8.7%, Air Transport Association reported. Overall air cargo growth was 4.3% for the month and 10.1% for the first eight months of 1997. ATA President Carol Hallett said the slowdown in August was "very likely due to industry labor disputes. The industry hopes that growth will return back to the double-digit figures it had been experiencing in previous months."
Traffic, as measured by revenue passenger miles, increased 12.5% on average for 15 of the nation's largest regional airlines during September. That compared to an increase in capacity, as measured by available seat miles, of 4.3%. Northwest Airlink Mesaba was in front with a 94.4% jump in traffic versus a 77.5% increase in capacity. It continues to take delivery of new Avro RJ85 quadjets and Saab 340B turboprops, but it also counts the Minneapolis traffic of Airlink carrier Express Airlines I, which now operates only at Northwest's Memphis hub.
U.S. Regional Airline Industry Passenger Traffic Activity - Six Months 1997 Six Months Six Months Percent 1997 1996 Change 48 STATES/HAWAII/PUERTO RICO/VIRGIN ISLANDS Revenue Passenger Miles 7,158,959,239 6,947,333,132 3.0 Available Seat Miles 13,337,682,364 12,995,998,096 2.6 Passengers Enplaned 31,006,525 30,242,248 2.5
Cargolux selected Rolls-Royce RB211-524 G/H-T turbofan engines for the five firm and two option 747-400s it ordered this month. It said the order has a potential value of $255 million. Deliveries begin in October 1998.
International corporate charter broker Air London said sales of executive charters jumped 50% to #1.5 million (US$2.39 million) in September, the highest monthly total in the company's 30-year history. Chairman Tony Mack said, "Turnover for executive flying during the last quarter, which included the traditionally quieter months of July and August, saw tremendous growth over previous years.
Following this summer's House Transportation aviation subcommittee delegation visit to Europe, 25 members of the House wrote to European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert, urging him to show "flexibility" on the proposed American-British Airways alliance. The letter, written last week and paralleled by similar letters to U.S. and U.K. authorities, said the alliance is "not anti-competitive. [It] is the tool that the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union can use to increase competition...by opening the skies. The U.S.-U.K.
Continental Airlines and its Express pilots have reached a tentative agreement on flow-through hiring practices that will move about 165 Express pilots into higher-paying mainline positions within a year, according to the Independent Association of Continental Pilots. Continental said the agreement calls for the airline to hire one Express pilot to fly the company's mainline jets for every two pilots hired from outside.
..MAX gained substantially more independence from Westpac, which owns 57% of the carrier, as a result of the bankruptcy court hearing. Westpac will pay a flat $200,000 per week for 14 daily MAX shuttle flights between Denver and Colorado Springs and MAX will collect the tickets and deal directly with the Clearing House on its other code-share routes. In addition, it is free to code-share with other carriers - initially Frontier and TWA.
SkyWest Airlines posted a 4.2% increase in traffic and a 5.5% increase in capacity during September, reducing its load factor 0.6 percentage points. Revenue passenger miles totaled 59.5 million, compared with 57.1 million a year earlier, while capacity rose to 123.5 million available seat miles from 117.1 million. For the first nine months, RPMs rose 5.8% and ASMs 8.9%, resulting in a 1.4-point drop in the load factor.
Carnival Air Lines flew 95.4 million revenue passenger miles in September, down from 110.9 million in September 1996. Capacity also dropped, from 196.2 million available seat miles in 1996 to 171.4 million.
BMW Rolls-Royce said the BR715 engine, which will power the Boeing MD-95 100-seater twinjet, successfully completed its 150-hour endurance testing. International certification is scheduled in September 1998. First flight is scheduled in the second quarter 1998 with entry into service in mid- 1999.
Code shares and alliances are producing "pleasantly surprising" benefits for Delta, but their development remains in its early stages, according to Scott Yohe, senior VP-government affairs. "We are in an embryonic stage when it comes to alliances," he told The DAILY, adding the industry still is learning why they are necessary and how best to exploit them.
Cathay Pacific Airways has selected Lucent Technologies to provide the communications infrastructure for its new headquarters at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport. The contract will be serviced by Hong Kong Telecom, Lucent's value-added reseller.
Regional-jet service between Phoenix and Aspen will become turboprop service this ski season. Mesa Air Group, operating as America West Express, had planned to launch the jet service Dec. 17 with one of its new 50-seat Canadair RJs, but determined the aircraft would not meet second- segment-climb restrictions with full payload at the mountain airport. Mesa instead will serve the 491-mile route with a 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8- 200. The carrier will offer three daily flights to Aspen and two returns to Phoenix with a block time of one hour, 45 minutes.
