British Airways and Finnair are considering a long-term, "comprehensive" relationship to cover marketing, network planning and customer services. A key objective is increasing their ability to compete against other airline groupings such as the Star Alliance of United, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, Thai and Varig. The BA-Finnair deal would not involve an equity exchange or additional investments by either partner. A primary objective is speeding up connections between Finnair flights and BA operations out of London Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
The Raytheon Aircraft unit of Raytheon posted an 85% increase in operating income to $61 million for its fiscal third quarter, on sales that jumped 19% to $594 million. The company attributed the increases to "substantially increased" general aviation aircraft shipments. Raytheon manufactures the 19-passenger Beech 1900D turboprop.
Group V2, a consortium led by Luis Ignacio Mendoza, former Viasa president and former IATA president, has formed to pursue the acquisition of the former Venezuelan flag carrier's traffic rights. The consortium has been talking to several potential strategic partners, including KLM and Brazil's Vasp, according to DAILY affiliate Aviation-Latin America&Caribbean.
Continental, buoyed by revenue growth outpacing its own capacity growth, yesterday reported $207 million in third quarter operating income, up 169% over the year-earlier period. Net profit was $110 million and pre-tax income $186 million, the latter setting a company record for the 10th consecutive quarter. Continental also posted a highest-ever quarterly load factor of 73.7%. Operating profits rose despite the absence of the 10% ticket tax in last year's results and its return this year.
Mountain Air Express (MAX) averted a shutdown Wednesday when it took senior partner Western Pacific to court to force it to honor an earlier agreement and pay some $332,000 in salaries, fuel and aircraft insurance costs. MAX missed last Friday's payroll and the insurance is due Monday, according to MAX President Tom McClain. Westpac is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors, of which Max is one. MAX said it had only $12,000 in cash and would have to close down if the WestPac funds were not forthcoming...
Memphis, Tenn.-based Express Airlines I posted a 6.4-percentage-point increase in load factor to 59.5% last month, as capacity dropped 28% to 49.5 million available seat miles and traffic declined 19.3% to 29.5 million revenue passenger miles, compared with September 1996. Express Airlines I is transferring its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub to affiliate Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba - separate figures are provided below for the carrier's Memphis hub. (SYSTEM) Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996
AAR Corp. said it will design and build cargo loading systems for FedEx's 11 new Airbus A300-F4-605R freighter aircraft. Delivery of the systems is to begin next April and continue into 2000. AAR said it worked closely with FedEx to develop a custom system and can now provide cargo loading systems for the A300B4, A300F4-600R and A310-200.
Regional Airline Association six-month figures for enplanements, revenue passenger miles and other traffic categories are shown on the facing page. The tables were developed by AvStat Associates of Washington, D.C.
U.S.-French talks ended a day ahead of schedule Thursday but on a surprisingly positive note, given fears among some from the U.S. that France's new socialist government would clamp down on liberalization after a long summer of inactive negotiations. Instead, sources said, both sides seemed confident they are back on track toward an agreement and willing to resolve outstanding issues, but they do not seem to be headed directly to open skies. The two sides will meet again soon, probably in early December.
Delta Connection affiliate Comair posted a 31% increase in net earnings for its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 to $24.5 million, or 55 cents per share, from $18.5 million, or 42 cents per share, in second quarter 1996. Operating revenues totaled $162.9 million, an increase of 18.4% from $137.5 million posted in the second quarter 1996. For the first six months, net profit rose 22.7% to $49.7 million, or $1.12 per share from $40.5 million, or 91 cents per share.
Skyway Airlines pilots will conduct informational picketing today from 8 a.m. to noon near the airline's ticketing facilities at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport. The pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, also will conduct informational picketing on Monday. Skyway is a subsidiary of Midwest Express.
Air Canada traffic for September jumped 14.2% to 2.2 billion revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 15.3% and the load factor declined 0.7 percentage points to 73.1%. In a change from past months, the carrier's domestic traffic increased 12.4% and the load factor 4.5%, while international traffic gained 15.2% on 20.1% more capacity, causing the load factor to drop 3 points to 71.1%. The airline's year-to-date traffic rose 10.6%.
Albert Randall, FAA assistant chief counsel for legislation, who helped shape nearly all FAA-related legislation during the past two decades, has joined the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman&Caldwell, Washington, D.C.
Hawaiian Airlines reported 295.9 million revenue passenger miles in September, 2.6% less than September 1996 traffic. Capacity dropped 4.9%, from 429.6 million available seat miles to 408.5 million, increasing the load factor 1.7 percentage points. Year-to-date RPMs went up 10.7% and ASMs 8%, resulting in a load factor rise of 1.9 points. Cargo traffic rose 8.7% in September, from 3.865 million ton miles to 4.201 million.
The travel agent community was surprised and some small carriers were pleased by America West's petition to DOT this week accusing computer reservations systems and travel agents of generating bogus charges. America West is asking DOT to allow fees to be charged only for actual travel, to prevent what it terms "abusive" bookings, and to enable carriers to bar CRS vendors from condoning passive bookings (DAILY, Oct. 16).
Raytheon yesterday reported record third quarter income of $211.2 million on record sales of $3.4 billion, compared with earnings of $210 million and sales of $3.03 billion the same quarter a year ago. Operating income was $419.6 million, up from $273.1 million. Raytheon Aircraft, which builds jet, turboprop and piston-powered aircraft, reported record third quarter sales and operating income of $594 million, up 19%, and $61 million, up 85%.
As Raytheon Co. approaches its December deadline to complete software development for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), the company estimates that it is eight days behind schedule. The program is being managed in "inchstones" rather than milestones, said Michael Hoeffler, the company's manager-transportation systems. Raytheon is holding at minus eight days and trying to get the delay down to zero, he said.
Taca Group carrier Aviateca will begin daily nonstop service Nov. 1 between Guatemala City and Dallas/Fort Worth. The Guatemalan airline will operate 737-300s on the route.
Eastwind Airlines, dropping contracted reservations operations by Dakotah Reservation Services, Aurora, Colo., will open its own reservations center Nov. 19 at Orlando Airport's Airside Commerce Park.
Association of Flight Attendants recount of last week's vote ratifying the United flight attendants contract affirmed the approval by the same 51%-46% margin as the original ballot count. AFA conducted the recount yesterday at its headquarters in Washington, at the request of attendants who questioned the original results. A rank-and-file United flight attendant and an AFA attorney were present at the first count and AFA staff was present at the recount, said spokeswoman Jill Gallagher. "The result is the same. The contract passed," she said.
FAA's new appropriations bill shows that user fees are unnecessary, according to Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Congress provided $9.07 billion for FAA activities for fiscal year 1998, an increase of 9% and $666 million more than the administration requested, and Boyer said this "has put the lie to the administration claim that FAA needs user fees to meet all its funding needs.
Tunisair ordered seven A320s and three A319s, making it the first A319 customer in both Africa and the Arab world, Airbus said. The carrier has been an Airbus customer since 1980 and currently operates eight A320s and one A300. The first A319 is to be delivered next summer.
Primac Air has received Canadian government approval to operate nonstop cargo and charter flights between the U.S. and Canada. The Part 135 carrier operates two Cessna 402s configured for six seats and two Cessna 310s with four seats. Primac, one of a few woman-owned airlines, operates as Primac Air Courier Service and Primac Air Charter Service from New York area airports.
