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.
A proposed bill restricting the use of foreign repair stations is unnecessary because remaining issues will be addressed in a rulemaking, Guy Gardner, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday. The bill (H.R.145) would limit work on U.S. aircraft by foreign stations to those used in international service, require FAA to apply identical standards when certifying foreign and domestic stations, and revoke certification when a station is found to have knowingly used bogus parts.
UPS Independent Pilots Association said yesterday it sent an open letter, published in the Journal of Commerce, to UPS Chairman Jim Kelly, urging him back to the bargaining table because it does not want to wait until 1998 to resume contract negotiations. The union used the letter, which appeared Wednesday, to get the company's attention, said IPA President Bob Miller.
DOT approved registration of the trade name Pan American Airways Corp. for use by Carnival Air Lines, using its own certificate and exemption authority, under ownership by Pan Am Corp. When Pan Am acquired Carnival, it agreed not to use the Carnival name. Pan Am and Carnival asked DOT to reissue Carnival's certificate and exemption authority in the new name. DOT deferred action on the application to transfer route authorities and exemptions to Pan Am pending completion of its fitness review of both carriers.
Newly minted European regional carrier Europe Continental Airlines will operate as Crossair Europe but will conduct business separately and at "arm's length" from SAir Group subsidiary Crossair, which will hold a 40% stake in the new airline, Crossair President and Chief Executive Moritz Suter said. In an interview with The DAILY this week, Suter said the two companies will operate under separate management although Crossair will provide full operational and technical support, including aircraft maintenance, to the new airline.
Finnair ordered five A319s, three A320s and four A321s to replace its DC-9 fleet. Deliveries are to begin in the first quarter of 1999, and the carrier also placed options on 12 more aircraft. It selected CMF56-5 engines.
The Family Assistance Task Force, which ended a two-day meeting in Washington yesterday, endorsed House and Senate legislation that would require foreign carriers operating to U.S. points to file family assistance plans with DOT, as U.S. carriers are now required to do (DAILY, Sept. 19). The Task Force presented a brochure to the National Transportation Safety Board for distribution to family members in the event of an aviation disaster, including information on services available to survivors and relatives.
World Airways told DOT that "novel" arguments advanced by Asiana and Korean Air to advance their applications to modify their extrabilateral intermodal authorities have no merit, pressing its case the department should defer action until World's beyond-Seoul dispute with the Korean government is resolved. Both Korean carriers want to switch city-pair designations on intermodal cargo routes in order to alter service patterns to the U.S. (DAILY, Oct. 1), and United as well as World wants DOT to defer action.
US Airways Express affiliate CCAIR posted a capacity decline of 15% to 22.7 million available seat miles last month, while traffic was dropping just 2.4% to 11.4 million revenue passenger miles. As a result, the load factor jumped 6.5 percentage points to 50.3% from 43.8%. Boardings dipped 1.8% to 63,057. Sept. 1997 Sept. 1996 9 Mths 1997 9 Mths 1996 RPMs 11,422,190 11,703,754 108,440,328 112,640,858 ASMs 22,710,357 26,720,806 216,014,191 235,932,185
CASA of Spain soon may join the Aero International (Regional) jet program, either as a full partner in the consortium or as a partner in the regional jet program. AI(R) partner British Aerospace has disdained the jet program because it requires a large portfolio of funds to be tied up in lease finance operations. CASA's new chairman, former Airbus VP Alberto Fernandez, is interested in European rationalization of regional aircraft production, unlike his military-oriented predecessor at the company.
Planned restrictions on landings and takeoffs at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will be relaxed until the end of 1997, Dutch Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma said yesterday at the European Union transport ministers meeting in Luxembourg. Previous plans to close down two of Schiphol's four runways at peak periods will be dropped, she said, and nighttime landing restrictions "will be adjusted." Takeoff restrictions for Chapter 2 and hushkitted Chapter 2 aircraft will remain, however.
Liberalization of air transport in the European Union, which took full effect in April 1997, failed to bring down busines-class fares, according to an American Express study unveiled in Frankfurt last week. On the contrary, business-class fares will rise 4% on intra-European routes in 1998, the credit card and travel services group said. The exception could be Scandinavia, where airports have not reached capacity limits and competitors like Finnair, Transwede and Braathens are attacking SAS's dominant position.
Transportes Aereos Meridionais (TAM) has ordered 10 A330-200 aircraft including five options, becoming the first A330 customer in Latin America. TAM ordered Pratt&Whitney engines for the aircraft, and deliveries are to start in the last quarter of 1998. The carrier will use the aircraft on new routes from Sao Paulo to Miami and later to New York and Europe. Airbus also reported that Air China has taken delivery of its first Airbus aircraft, an A340-300. Air China has three A340s on firm order, and the remaining two are scheduled for delivery by yearend.
Airbus has confirmed delivery to US Airways of 10 aircraft between November 1998 and March 1999, the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit said yesterday.The airline declined to discuss "specific plans until the [pilots contract] ratification process is complete." ALPA's first road show to explain the contract to members is set for Oct. 13 in Charlotte, N.C. Ballots will be mailed this week and counted Oct. 31.
