Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals September 1996 - August 1997 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1996 September Domestic 1,068,178,267 729,839,815 International 389,850,411 291,529,745 System Total 1,458,028,678 1,021,369,560
Granting applications by Pan Am and Carnival for exemptions and route transfers under their shareholder-approved merger may ease Carnival into bankruptcy and deny creditors access to attachable assets, Pan Am stockholder Richard Bartel said this week in filings with DOT. In effect, the department would facilitate "the stripping of assets from Carnival Air Lines, Inc., which is explicitly anticipating a bankruptcy filing...leaving creditors...without a viable estate from which to recover," Bartel said.
Sabena opened a training site at Brussels Airport International. The facility comprises 31 classrooms, a mock aircraft cabin and flight simulators for DC-10, Avro RJ85, 737-200 and 737-300/400/500 aircraft.
New Regional Aircraft Orders And Options July 1997 Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines Brit Air 2 Canadair RJ100 - - CF34-3B1 SAS 2 Saab 2000 - - AE2100A Orders - Last 12 Months - Options Carrier Delivery Dates No. Type No. Type
The European Commission failed again yesterday to win approval of its longstanding proposal to conduct multilateral talks on air traffic rights with the U.S. European Union transport ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, turned down the latest bid from EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock, who said he will come back in December with further proposals.
China Eastern Airlines received its first two Boeing MD-90 aircraft yesterday. The carrier has seven more on order as part of China's Trunkline program, which includes a total of 40 MD-90s. Twenty of these are being built at the Douglas Products Division in Long Beach and 20 at Shanghai Aircraft Industrial Corp. They are powered by IAE V2500 engines.
Pratt&Whitney, Xian Aero-Engine and Blades Technology International yesterday announced the launch of a joint venture in Xian, China, to manufacture compressor airfoils and precision components for commercial aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. Blades Technology, itself a joint venture between the Wertheimer Group of Israel and P&W, produces compressor and turbine airfoils. The new venture, Xian Airfoil Technology Co., will have about $30 million in capital.
Mesa Air Group reported a 14.9% increase in traffic to 120.1 million revenue passenger miles for September 1997 compared with September 1996. Capacity went up 10.2% to 212.1 million available seat miles, and the load factor rose 1.3 points to 56.6% from 54.3%. Enplanements gained 13.4% to 579,027. Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996 RPMs 120,085,000 104,548,000 1,070,157,000 1,021,781,000 ASMs 212,143,000 192,507,000 1,895,349,000 1,808,245,000
The successful 30-passenger-class jet programs at Embraer and Fairchild Dornier prompt at least one source, not associated with either program, to suggest airframers take a hard look at a 19-passenger regional jet. The source reasons that just as passengers would not like to step down from a 50-passenger jet to a 30-passenger turboprop, they would not like to downgrade from a 30-passenger jet to a 19-passenger turboprop.
Other EMB-145 sales announced Thursday at the European Regions Airline Association 1997 General Assembly in Baveno, Italy, include City Airline, a Gothenburg, Sweden, startup that placed one firm order and four options, and British Regional Airlines, which placed orders for an additional 10 EMB-145s and five options, which the company said would be confirmed very soon. Before those sales were announced, the orderbook stood at 135 firm and 200 options to eight customers in the U.S., Europe and Brazil.
Japan Airlines is adding a new competitive factor in travel to the U.S. and Europe with a fully reclining "JAL Sky Sleeper" first-class seat that opens 180 degrees into a flat bed and has partitions for privacy. JAL also will offer premium passengers down-filled duvet-style bed covers. Seventeen 747-400 aircraft will be equipped with the new seats, installed in pairs. To accommodate them, JAL will reduce first-class seats from 19 to 14 on these 747s, segmenting its 747 fleet to enhance first-class service on routes where there is demand for it.
TWA's winter schedule provides increased nonstop service between New York and Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach; resumption of seasonal service between St. Louis and Steamboat Springs, Colo., Puerto Vallarta and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and restoration of service to Palm Springs. The airline will discontinue service to Jackson, Miss., on Dec. 18.
Air France commemorated Wednesday the 50th anniversary of the first sleeper-seat flight from New York LaGuardia to Paris. The original flight, using a Lockheed Constellation, took more than 12 hours.
Mesa has filed with DOT notices that it will drop service to Klamath Falls, Ore., and Worland, Wyo., effective Jan. 5, 1998. Mesa said one other carrier - Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air - serves Klamath Falls, in southern Oregon, but no other airline flies to Worland, in north central Wyoming. (Docket OST-97-2981)
GE's CF34-8C turbofan engine, which will power the new 70-passenger Canadair Regional Jet Series 700, is on schedule to meet its next major milestones, the testing of the first core engine and first full engine, assembly of which will be completed in December, GE said. FAA certification of the engine is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Flandre Air is the launch customer for the new 37-passenger Embraer EMB- 135, a derivative of the 50-passenger EMB-145. Flandre Air, placing firm orders for eight aircraft plus 12 options, is an affiliate of Air Liberte, the former French regional TAT, now a British Airways subsidiary. The carrier currently operates four Beech 1900Cs and seven 1900Ds and soon will have eight Embraer Brasilias as well as a number of ATR 42s and 72s. It operates to numerous domestic markets from Paris Orly, Rennes and Lille, its home base.
Atlantic Southeast flew 75.9 million revenue passenger miles last month, up 6.5% from September 1996. Capacity increased 3.4% to 151.3 million available seat miles from 146.4 million, driving the load factor up 1.4 percentage points to 50.1% from 48.7%. Enplanements were up 5.5% to 314,198 from 297,690. Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996 RPMs 75,894,352 71,245,339 686,179,899 662,281,549 ASMs 151,339,902 146,388,282 1,357,633,814 1,340,154,296
Atlantic Coast Airlines asked DOT for authority to code share with Lufthansa on flights ACA operates under its United Express code, rounding out a series of filings aimed at integrating further the alliance involving United, Lufthansa, SAS and ACA. Lufthansa applied separately for an exemption under the U.S.-Germany open-skies agreement to code share with ACA and SAS beyond U.S. and German gateways (DAILY, Oct. 6).
Cincinnati- and Orlando-based Comair's traffic shot up 23.8% last month to 151.2 million revenue passenger miles as capacity rose 12.3% to 251.7 million available seat miles. The resulting load factor was 5.6 percentage points higher at 60% than the September 1996 figure. Boardings were up 22.2% to 452,373. Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996 RPMs 151,168,000 122,060,000 1,307,365,000 1,126,295,000 ASMs 251,747,000 224,206,000 2,218,659,000 1,977,629,000
Regional airlines' average load factor crept up 0.2 percentage points in the first six months of 1997 to 53.5%, according to figures published this week by the Regional Airline Association and compiled by AvStat Associates of Washington, D.C.. Revenue passenger miles swelled 3% to 7.2 billion while capacity gained just 2.7% to 13.5 billion available seat miles.
Mesaba Airlines and senior partner Northwest have signed an agreement extending their code-sharing relationship - Mesaba operates as Northwest Airlink - for 10 years at Detroit Metro and Minneapolis/St. Paul airports. The agreement incorporates the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed in June.
Horizon Airlines' flight attendants will rally for one hour in Portland, Ore., Oct. 14 with backing from the national organization of the Association of Flight Attendants and its members. AFA spokeswoman Jane Goodman said about 25 airlines will be represented. The rally, outside the Portland Hilton, was planned because the national AFA will be meeting in Portland that day and wants to show support for Horizon's 275 flight attendants, who have been trying to negotiate a contract for 16 months.
Fairchild Dornier has all but discarded the notion of producing a 50- passenger stretch of the Do 328JET. Although the company still is studying a 42-passenger variant - as far as the aircraft will stretch with existing engines - it is considering a 70- to 90-seat, all-new regional jet with five-abreast seating, a low wing and underwing-mounted turbofans. "We are not convinced that the current (four-abreast) configuration is correct," said Jim Robinson, president of Fairchild Aerospace.
