United has established 68% as its goal for flight departures within five minutes of schedule, a standard that might help its on-time arrival statistics. During the past 10 years, United has been last among the majors.
Mesaba Airlines, fresh from signing a 10-year contract to continue its Airlink operations with Northwest, will get additional revenue based on the number of revenue passengers enplaned for the larger carrier (DAILY, Oct. 10). The carriers said in June they intended to extend the agreement, under which Northwest will buy all of Mesaba's capacity at a predetermined rate. Mesaba plans to keep growing with the purchase of six Saab 340s due for delivery next May. "We will continue to transition to an all-Saab 340 fleet," said spokesman Warren Wilkinson.
Shanghai Airlines will become the first Chinese carrier to operate the next-generation Boeing 737. Under a lease agreement with ILFC, the carrier will receive its first 737-700 next spring for use on burgeoning routes in eastern China. The -700s will be configured for eight seats in first class and 124 in economy. The carrier's current fleet includes six Boeing aircraft - two 737-300s, two 757-200s and two 767-300s.
Venezuela is blocking Continental and Delta from flying to that country, as permitted by the bilateral, in an effort to change FAA's Category 2 safety rating. American already is flying its approved Dallas/Fort Worth-Caracas route, an expansion of its existing service to Venezuela. Last week, U.S. officials were trying to resolve the issue before Sunday, when President Clinton was to arrive in Venezuela as part of his first state visit to South America.
ERA Director General Mike Ambrose said at Baveno Thursday that most of the problems faced by the organization's 70 airline members are related to policies of the various European governments. "Safety has become more unfocused and we fear now that the regulations formulated by the regulatory section of the European Union are diluted or distorted by arbitrary social conditions [labor unions and governments]. I don't want to see safety become a political football in Europe as it has in the U.S."
A majority of Continental's pilots union board voted Wednesday to tap members' salaries to create a $1 million "hostage fund" for pilots who may be laid off or fired as a result of strike activities.
Air France and Jersey European Airways have increased the size of their franchise partnership, adding Paris-Birmingham, Paris-Glasgow and Birmingham-Glasgow to their shared routes. The two carriers currently share Toulouse-London Heathrow and Lyon-Heathrow. The new agreement takes effect Oct. 26, with Jersey's BAe 146s painted in Air France's colors and equipped with the French carrier's "Club" business-class features.
Morlaix, France-based Brit Air has converted two options for Canadair Regional Jet Series 100 aircraft to firm orders, the 12th and 13th CRJ aircraft for the carrier. Brit Air has nine of the 50-passenger -100s in service. Deliveries of the carrier's 10th and 11th aircraft, purchased in July, are set for next month and January 1998. Brit Air said it will use its latest acquisitions on routes under its recently signed franchising agreem,ent with Air France. Brit Air earlier this year became the launch customer for the 70-seat CRJ 700.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), a member of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee, will discuss congressional action on the fiscal 1998 DOT spending bill, including the agreement to increase service at Dallas Love Field, in an interview on this week's Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1 :30 p.m.
...Embraer also announced a major sale of EMB-145s to Wexford Management LLC. The Greenwich, Conn., financial house ordered 20 of the 45-passenger regional jets with options for an additional 20. The deal, signed yesterday, represents the first major regional jet order by a leasing company. Wexford, which is a combination of several investment partnerships formed from 1994 through early 1996, owns real estate, aircraft, cable systems and certain operating businesses...
Midway Airlines, ordering 10 CRJs this week, is shopping its only A320 to any airline willing to assume the last two years of its lease.Lack of fleet commonality is the reason. Midway's core aircraft is the 98-seat Fokker 100.
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.
