While industry observers bet on a U.S.-Japan bilateral that calls for regulated expansion, open skies hard-liners still are working to gather support as the clock ticks toward the next Tokyo round Sept. 22. Recent recruits include Sen. William Roth (R.-Del.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D.-N.Y.), its ranking minority member, both of whom wrote President Clinton not to back off. "I find it troubling that the U.S. appears to place more emphasis on meeting a self-imposed agreement deadline of Sept.
Boeing is seeking damages for breach of contract from longtime customer US Airways, alleging that the carrier, "claiming financial crisis," breached "firm contracts" to take delivery of eight 757s and 40 737s.
Four of the top six U.S. airlines for cargo more than doubled their international freight traffic in the past five years, but only FedEx and UPS posted significant gains in domestic cargo traffic, according to a study by Air Cargo Management Group. United, American, Delta and Northwest "have experienced essentially flat domestic freight traffic since 1991," it said.
Reno Air, unique among young airlines because of its new fleet and full passenger service, is blazing another trail with the first overseas listing by a small U.S. airline in recent memory. The carrier is making company stock available for sale on the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt and Berlin, and the airline's new chief financial officer, B.J. Rone, says the international listing will be the first of many. "Our motive is to broaden the market for Reno stock," said Rone.
Sino Swearingen said its SJ30-2 business jet made history when it became the first aircraft to fly with Williams Rolls FJ44-2A engines. The Sept. 4 flight lasted about 30 minutes before returning to San Antonio Airport.
Current market shares in the jet engine business will change drastically, according to consultant Ed Greenslet. Pratt&Whitney, now with slightly more than half the market, will fall to 18.8% by 2020, he predicts. GE, currently 14.4%, will rise to 19.6%. Rolls-Royce will hover near 10.5%, and others, including IAE and Avco, will total 11.9%. Big winner is CFM, which Greenslet predicts will grow from 15.8% to 38.9% of the civil turbofan market.
Orally approved an initial one-year exemption for Aerogisa to conduct passenger charter service between Mexico and the U.S...Orally approved a two-year exemption renewal for FedEx to conduct scheduled all-cargo between Subic Bay, Philippines, and Hong Kong...Approved two roundtrip cargo charter flights operated by Fine Airlines between the U.S. and Brazil Sept. 3-10...Approved three roundtrip passenger charter flights operated by American Trans Air between the U.S. and Brazil Oct.
The German government plans to offer special access to small investors when it sells off its remaining 35.68% stake in Lufthansa AG. The stake currently has a market value of about $2.7 billion and the shares will be offered to the public Oct. 13, but small, individual retail shareholders will be given discounts and allowed to subscribe between Sept. 29 and Oct. 10. The special conditions will be coordinated by Theo Waigel, Germany's minister of finance, in hopes of spreading stock ownership more evenly across the country.
AAR Corp.'s net income for the three months that ended Aug. 31, its first fiscal quarter, jumped 50% to $7.3 million, while net sales rose 25% to $170.3 million, according to preliminary results issued by President David Storch at a Gabelli aircraft supplier conference. AAR will publish a full report Sept. 17.
Comair, a Delta Connection affiliate, this week unveiled new livery for its 53 Canadair Jets, designed to coordinate with Delta's fleet. The company said all future deliveries of the jets will be painted with the new navy, red and white scheme.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer said George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition, promised to provide free or low-cost distribution of Global Positioning System database information by next August. Boyer said navigation database update costs are stopping many pilots from installing IFR-approved GPS receivers. While a current database is required to use GPS for instrument approaches, it is available only from private vendors at a cost of up to $700 a year, he said.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has cited three carriers, including one regional, Air Nova, for what it says were violations of regulations dealing with people who have disabilities. At the same time, the agency scheduled a hearing in Montreal Sept. 24 on the effectiveness of the carriers' employee training programs related to access for the disabled. The agency was responding to complaints filed by Lucie Lemieux-Brassard, a wheelchair user, who said she encountered obstacles on 14 of 17 flights she took over an 18-day period in August 1996.
Pratt&Whitney has completed the government review process for two recent acquisitions designed to enhance its Eagle Services aftermarket business. James Taiclet, VP-Eagle Services, said P&W is cleared to acquire Howmet Corp.'s airfoil refurbishment business and the Flight Repair Group of Interturbine.
FAA said yesterday it will replace the troublesome ASR-7 radar at Washington National with an ASR-9 by next summer. The agency also plans to install new color displays for controllers by summer. The displays are derived from Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System hardware that is undergoing testing before full STARS capability arrives. Recent tests using the new color displays and existing software "have been promising," the agency said.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement October 1, 1996 - July 31, 1997 July 1997 RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 12,137,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 457,009,000.00 Use of International Travel Facilities 23,608,000.00
Business Express management has told its ALPA pilots' union to anticipate the addition of a "high-speed aircraft" to the fleet, perhaps by 1999, and to begin considering rates of pay for the aircraft. No specific aircraft was mentioned, according to the union, and BizEx President Gary Ellmer was unavailable for comment Thursday. Best bet, however, is the Saab 2000.
SITA said it has launched FreightNet, described as the "first business-to- business intranet dedicated to tracking the movement of freight to meet industry's demand for secure, high-performance, global communications." SITA said FreightNet offers the freight industry a global community intranet with the capability of the open Internet but also the security and end-to-end management of a private network. "It will also provide a reliable and managed link to the Internet, including access to the World Wide Web, without compromising security," SITA said.
Cincinnati-based Comair's August passenger load factor reached 64.1%, a 5.5-percentage-point increase from August 1996, boosted by traffic that jumped 18% to 160.6 million revenue passenger miles while capacity rose 7.9% to 250.7 million available seat miles. Passenger boardings increased 14.8% to 473,094. Aug. 1997 Aug. 1996 8 Mths 1997 8 Mths 1996 RPMs 160,634,000 136,119,000 1,156,198,000 1,004,235,000 ASMs 250,679,000 232,358,000 1,966,912,000 1,753,423,000
DOT has extended temporarily Scenic Airlines' authority to provide subsidized essential air service at Page, Ariz., using nine-seat Cessna 208 aircraft. Scenic will be paid $1,750 per roundtrip between Page and Phoenix through Sept. 30, then $1,050 per roundtrip "until further department action."
Horizon Air flew 87.5 million revenue passenger miles last month, up 2.6% from August 1996. Capacity dropped 1.3% to 129 million available seat miles, driving the load factor up 2.5 percentage points to 67.6%.
Advanced Aerospace, San Leandro, Calif., announced this week its entry into the aerospace supplier market. The company designs, builds, markets and services products ranging from galley refrigeration and auxiliary power to environmental control systems. Operating divisions include Air Refrigeration, San Luis Obispo, Calif., Engineered Systems, San Leandro, and AeroWorks, Incline Village, Nev. The company was formed in July by an investor group led by Michael Gilson and Transition Capital Partners. It purchased the assets of bankrupt World Auxiliary Power Co.
