Pan Am's shareholders will meet Friday, one year to the day after the airline started service, to vote on the proposed merger with Carnival Air Lines. Pan Am's loads have dropped substantially since the summer travel period ended early this month, but the carrier is marketing heavily to fill seats.
American petitioned DOT to reconsider its order for more documents on the carrier's alliance with British Airways, submitting much in response to the request but asking for many items to be withheld from competitors' scrutiny. It asks instead that DOT review materials in camera and rule on their relevance.
Boeing announced the sale of five more Boeing Business Jets yesterday, two to European charter operator PrivatAir and the rest to anonymous clients, and said it is considering a fast production start for the aircraft. The new orders bring the total to 25, and BBJ President Borge Boeskov noted that the company predicted 100 sales in 10 years when it and General Electric launched the 737-700 derivative program last year.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl agree that the European Airbus consortium must be strengthened to compete with the merged Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. They addressed the issue at last week's two-day Franco-German summit in Weimar. Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac stressed they were "in unity" on the need to find an appropriate European response to civilian aircraft industry consolidation on the other side of the Atlantic.
Japan Airlines is offering a new domestic fare of 50% or more off prices for two to five domestic flights booked by foreign travelers. The "Welcome To Japan" fare, available to any passenger traveling on any airline to Japan, does not force travelers to book the entire trip on JAL. Reservations and ticketing must be made prior to overseas departure.
Granting antitrust immunity to the United/Air Canada marketing alliance, DOT rejected arguments by American that the cross-border partners should be subjected to the same kind of evidentiary burden exacted on American and British Airways. The department dismissed Delta's objection that granting immunity would give United/Air Canada a head start in the U.S.-Toronto market, which is in the final year of capacity controls under the U.S.- Canada aviation agreement. The immunity granted United/Air Canada does not cover certain categories of U.S.
Pan Am applied to DOT for certificate authority, as part of its merger with Carnival, to conduct scheduled service between co-terminal points New York and Miami and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and between co-terminal points New York and Miami, and Fort Lauderdale and Nassau, Bahamas. The carrier holds exemption authority to serve these markets, to which it currently operates under its code-share arrangement with Carnival.
World Airways repurchased 3,227,000 shares of common stock from its largest shareholder, WorldCorp, for $7.65 per share. The $24.7 million transaction will be followed by another repurchase, this one of 773,000 shares from WorldCorp and other shareholders.
Sixty-seven percent of Horizon Air pilots voted last week for representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Pilots are seeking a contract that will give them more say in scheduling, time off, work rules and training. An earlier election was overturned by the National Mediation Board, which ruled that it had been tainted by management.
British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets has sold three 1986-87 model BAe 146-100s and leased several others. In the latest sales, valued at $22 million, two aircraft went to Jersey European Airways, which had been leasing them, and the third to a U.S. citizen for private use. AMJ also placed two aircraft with JEA on seven-year leases. Sabena's regional airline, Delta Air Transport, elected to retain its six BAe 146-200s instead of trading them in against its order for 23 AI(R) RJ85s and RJ100s placed in 1995.
Ron Allen, who resigned July 31 as Delta's chairman, president and chief executive, took home a lump sum of $4,501,000 in severance pay, plus supplemental pension and other benefits totaling $765,000 annually. The figures, in Delta's proxy statement, do not include retiree life and medical insurance, flight privileges, office space and secretarial services. The executive committee did not authorize a bonus for Allen this year, after granting him an average $547,000 in bonuses in each of the two previous years.
DOT granted United and Air Canada antitrust immunity for their code-share agreement after considering objections from American and Delta. The immunity does not cover fares and capacity for particular categories of U.S. point-of-sale local passengers in the Chicago/San Francisco-Toronto markets, operations involving all-cargo transportation, and operations involving services to or from third countries. If United and Air Canada choose to operate under a common brand name - including "Star Alliance" - they must obtain permission in advance. (Docket OST-96-1434)
Seven U.S. carriers petitioned DOT to change its procedures for ruling on the American-British Airways alliance, asking for an administrative law judge to render the decision and suggesting the procedures were tainted by statements made by Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat in favor of the alliance.
-- In Federal Register dated Sept. 12...Superseded an airworthiness directive on certain Boeing 747 aircraft concerning inspection of certain engine strut diagonal brace lugs...Issued an AD on certain Saab 2000 aircraft requiring replacement of the ignition exciter in the auxiliary power unit...Issued an AD on Dassault Falcon 2000 aircraft concerning the appropriate types of fuel...Superseded an AD on Sikorsky S-64 helicopters concerning inspections of the main gearbox assembly second-stage lower planetary plate.
ILFC, taking delivery of more than one aircraft every week this year, has virtually no delivery positions available in the next 18 months. Although conditions may change, ILFC has no 737-700s or 757s available before February 1999. The 767 has been a popular seller lately.
European Commission officials suspect British Airways of overpricing business fares on direct routes from the U.K. to the U.S., an EC source said Friday in Brussels. "We found out that BA's business fares were considerably higher on direct routes to the United States, compared with prices charged for transatlantic services departing from the European continent and stopping over in London," the official said.
DOT is asking DOT appropriations bill conferees to provide $68 million to continue deployment of airport security enhancement equipment, offsetting that amount through cuts in programs funded above President Clinton's request. Secretary Rodney Slater also asked the negotiators to agree to the administration request, not included in either bill, for $100 million in fiscal 1999 advance appropriations for security equipment.
US Airways told DOT that AirTran's application for an exceptional circumstances exemption to serve slot-controlled Washington National Airport cannot be granted because the law governing National does not give DOT the authority to waive slot rules. AirTran wants to operate jet service to National from Knoxville, Tenn., either through an exemption from slot controls or by obtaining slots from incumbent carriers at the airport.
Polar Air Cargo was ranked first by DOT among national cargo carriers in the first half of 1997, moving 946 million freight ton kilometers. Four- year-old Polar replaced Emery, which had held the top spot.
program, according to new member Varig. "The flexibility to utilize the miles of any carrier within the alliance is the most attractive element for our customers," said Varig's North American General Manager Carlos Muzzio. Varig is installing software and hardware to offer credits on all six airlines. Reno says it is the only national whose stock rose January through August
Canadian Airlines and British Airways agreed to add nine cities to their code-share operations, starting Oct. 26 with the winter schedule. Canadian will market travel on BA beyond London to Belfast, Newcastle and Jersey. BA will add six city-pairs operated by Canadian: Montreal-Quebec City, Toronto-Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto-London, Toronto-Thunder Bay, Calgary-Kelowna and Montreal-Ottawa. The alliance, expanded several times since it began in June 1996, now covers 850 departures each week between 16 cities in Canada and 10 in the U.K. and Europe.
