Midway Airlines is offering a special one-day-only introductory fare of $3 for one-way travel between Raleigh/Durham and Atlanta Hartsfield Airport next Monday. The fare is in celebration of the airline's new Atlanta service.
Kiwi International Air Lines intends to add a Boston-Tampa route and offer walkup fares 30% lower than competitors in the first of several planned expansions, the carrier said yesterday. Trying to appeal to small to mid- size businesses and enterpreneurs, Kiwi will fly four times daily on its Newark-Boston route for one-way introductory fares of $79 advance-purchase and $139 walkup. Kiwi also will fly Boston-West Palm Beach, Newark-Tampa, Chicago-Tampa, and Atlanta-Tampa. It will increase Newark-Orlando and Newark-West Palm Beach flights from one per day to two Oct.
U.S. negotiators in Tokyo circulated papers yesterday that outline their proposed agreement with Japan, suggesting to some observers that the two sides are closer to writing a final agreement. But others regard the drafts, distributed to commercial and other observers in Tokyo in conjunction with their delivery to the Japanese, as mere concept papers that do not, by themselves, indicate meaningful progress. The papers show negotiators are "moving from concepts to concrete proposals, which have a life of their own," one source familiar with the talks said.
United, the latest airline to contract with Sabre Group, is purchasing the company's Airflight flight scheduling software. It is the first time United has contracted with Sabre for information technology, and implementation is planned for summer 1998. Airflight, unveiled in 1991, will be the core of United's flight scheduling system. Sabre is customizing the software, including a "typical-day handling" component, so the airline can make changes in its fixed flight schedules.
ValuJet today will drop the ValuJet name and become AirTran Airlines. It will reveal its corporate business strategy, including a new business-class service featuring four rows of two-by-two seats, assigned seating and reservations via a computer reservations system.
ValuJet has launched a Plane and Simple fare sale through Nov. 15. Sample tariffs include $49 each way for Orlando-Memphis and $79 for Dallas- Washington.
Horizon Air has reduced its lowest fares up to 40% for travel through Feb. 28, 1998. Tickets must be purchased by Friday. The sale applies to travel on flights from California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta. In conjunction with Alaska Airlines, sale fares are available to the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas and Alaska. Tickets are non-refundable and require a Saturday night stay.
The Geneva-based Swiss World Airways will launch B767-300 ER services to New York and Miami in December. Swiss World was set up by local authorities after Swissair decided to concentrate its international services at Zurich's Kloten Airport. The new company has a startup capital of $60 million. Its two leased 210-seat Boeings will be maintained by British Airways, while American Airlines will market its services in the U.S. After Miami and New York, the company is considering serving Washington, Boston, Chicago and Montreal.
FAA will begin demonstrations today of its Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) at the Tijuana Airport, Mexico, using a Nav Canada corporate jet to fly Category 1 flight paths guided by signals from the National Satellite Test Bed. Mexico faces big decisions on navaid modernization in the near future, and the FAA/Canada effort could result in a single, seamless system across North America.
Former Zambia Airways employees are experiencing a legal nightmare after the airline's bankruptcy. Liquidators are asking the Lusaka High Court to allow repossession of the homes of 146 employees to pay creditors. So far, the courts have sided with home owners.
EVA Air ordered two Boeing MD-11 freighters for delivery in 1998. The Taiwan airline, which currently operates three passenger MD-11s and three MD-11Fs, already has two MD-11Fs on order for delivery this year.
KLM claims the European Commission "made a wrong interpretation of the figures relating to [its] London operations," at a hearing yesterday in Brussels on the charge of predatory pricing lodged by low-cost U.K. carrier EasyJet. In October 1996, EasyJet complained to the EC that KLM was taking advantage of its dominant Amsterdam-London position to undercut the U.K. airline's fares, with the intention of driving it out of that market.
The US Airways' Air Line Pilots Association unit this weekend presented a counterproposal to the carrier and expects a response from management today. Despite the lack of agreement, the negotiations have taken a positive turn, particularly in light of the Sept. 30 deadline for the airline's contract with Airbus Industrie. Chief Executive Stephen Wolf and President Rakesh Gangwal broke off employee road shows last week to participate in the talks.
Banner Aerospace subsidiary DAC International said last week it received a contract from Crossair to retrofit the regional carrier's Saab 340s with the UNS-1K Global Positioning System-based flight management system.
U.S. Carriers Food Expense Second Quarter 1997 Cost Food Per Passenger Alaska $ 11,554,000 3.71 America West 6,002,327 1.28 American 160,375,000 7.75 Continental 38,883,000 3.94 Delta 87,084,000 3.27
Civil aviation authorities of India, Bermuda and Jamaica comply with international safety standards and have been rated Category 1, FAA reported. The decision resolved a sometimes heated exchange between the U.S. and Jamaica over the latter's lower status. In July 1995, FAA rated Jamaica "conditional" after a November 1994 assessment. Jamaica's Category 2 rating meant that it did not meet International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards in some areas.
The Association of Retail Travel Agents will seek limited federal antitrust immunity to enable travel agents to bargain collectively with major U.S. airlines. The association is building support from a coalition of small, independent agents and intends to lobby Congress during the next six weeks, ARTA President John Hawks said yesterday. ARTA is seeking a narrow antitrust exemption to bargain on key issues, such as commission levels and ticketing policies.
Representatives of the Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations took their safety concerns to Capitol Hill last week, meeting with Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), senior member of the House Public Works aviation subcommittee, and staffers of Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), senior member of the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee. The meeting did not yield any immediate promises that will improve aviation safety, but Oberstar and Ford's staff expressed support but made no specific promises, said CAPA Chairman Mike Cronin.
Atlas Air's chairman, chief executive and founder, Michael Chowdry, will take on the added duty of president, following the departure of Mickey Foret. The cargo carrier is conducting a search for a new president.
Airlines will fight as illegal diversion a proposal to use airport revenues to build a rail link between Denver Airport and the city, the Air Transport Association said yesterday.
Continental will increase salaries to industry standards in no more than three years while the company pays off debt, Chairman Gordon Bethune said yesterday. Bethune said he could not guarantee a quick settlement to negotiations with the Independent Association of Continental Pilots, under way since April, and meeting their demands would hurt the company financially. He said the company had been paying bank rates of 12%-15% on its debt, which dates from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings, and paying too much for airplanes.
The European Commission has postponed a proposal for new rules on slot allocation at European Union airports. The original issue date was Sept. 24. The new regulation would authorize the sale of slots under certain conditions, according to a recent draft. Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert opposes the sale of slots, particularly within the framework of the proposed American/British Airways alliance, currently under review. Van Miert's officials insist American and BA give up, without compensation, 353 weekly slots at London Heathrow Airport.
Southern Air Transport, Ryan International and Air Micronesia and Continental Micronesia filed opposition to Balkan Bulgarian Airlines' (BBA) application to renew and amend its authority for cargo charters between Koror, Palau, and Guam and Saipan. BBA said it will operate 52 third- and fourth-freedom flights in the next six months, and the U.S. carriers complained that BBA relies too much on fifth-freedom operations. BBA filed to conduct as many as 175 charters between Oct.
U.S. and Japanese negotiators opened Tokyo talks yesterday with sharp disagreement over slots at Narita Airport. "Japan has taken the position that there won't be any new slots" for U.S. carriers, an informed source said. "They've said that before, but the U.S. could not really believe that was their position." Japan restated its no-new-slots position Monday. "There are plenty of frequencies available," the source said. "You just can't land with them. You can wave as you go by, and you can be refueled in midair. But you cannot land, nor can you take off."
U.S. Carriers Landing Fees Second Quarter 1997 Cost Landing Fees Per Landing Major Carriers Alaska $ 6,153,000 153.58 America West 8,710,131 163.27 American 62,319,000 310.08 Continental 28,557,000 255.49
