Jim Wilding, general manager and chief executive of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, will discuss the newly opened terminal at Washington National and the construction history of the building, as well as the challenges facing airports nationwide, in an interview on this week's Aviation News Today to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and at 1:30 p.m.
Hughes Information Technology Systems reported the early integration and verification of software and equipment for the China United Airlines (CUA) air traffic control system at Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. Hughes trained CUA controllers and technical personnel on its Guardian system, and they in turn will train other Chinese personnel. Transferring technology from Hughes, CUA will establish four more sites - Beijing, Shenyang, Changchun and Fuzhou, which are scheduled to be completed this September.
Mesa Air Group received something of a give-back from United July 29, when the senior partner awarded its WestAir unit five new intra-California United Express markets, effective Oct. 1. The move came after United took eight United Express Los Angeles routes away from WestAir and awarded them to new Express partner SkyWest, prompting a threat of legal action from Mesa over breach of contract. Even with the new routes - Sacramento to Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, Fresno-Burbank and Monterey-Orange County - Mesa has not ruled out legal action.
A Texas company and a Canadian firm have introduced "Skywalker," a "state-of-the-art commuter passenger boarding bridge." Designed and manufactured by Access Air, a division of Inox-Tech., Inc. of Montreal, the bridge will be marketed worldwide by Skywalk Technologies of Arlington, Texas.
Polar Air Cargo reported gains in tonnage, traffic and load factor during the first half of 1997, setting up what Chief Executive Ned Wallace predicted will be a "banner year and a better-than-expected position for planned expansion next year. The company, which serves more than 100 cities with a 747 fleet and road feeder operations, said tonnage was 80.6% higher in the first six months of this year than in the same period in 1996, and traffic increased 61.4%, from 586.2 million freight ton kilometers to 946.2 million.
Saying it has new evidence that SabreTech "deliberately and deceptively" mislabeled and illegally shipped oxygen generators, ValuJet asked the National Transportation Safety Board yesterday to delay its final report on last year's Flight 592 crash until the new information can be explored. NTSB plans to release its final report Tuesday, and the agency said yesterday that date is still valid.
Delta Connection Comair registered a 14.3% increase in passenger enplanements to 471,677 in July, while revenue passenger miles improved at a faster rate than available seat miles - 18.1% versus 10.3% - setting a record for the month. "Much of the increase in passengers continues to be due to an increase in leisure passengers traveling at discounted fares," the Cincinnati-based carrier said. July 1997 July 1996 7 Mths 1997 7 Mths 1996 RPMs 159,368.000 134,944,000 618,362,000 527,237,000
Northwest will hold its third "DreamPerks Auction," at which bidders use WorldPerks miles as currency to bid on "once-in-a-lifetime 'experience' lots." The event is scheduled Sept. 21 at the Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul, and bidders may purchase WorldPerks miles for use in the auction for five cents per mile. The carrier will auction more than 30 lots, featuring sports, entertainment and travel themes, including a shopping trip to the Mall of America and a six-day tour of Japan. Cash and mileage proceeds will benefit area charities.
Airbus Industrie's A330-200 flew for the first time Wednesday. The GE- powered, 253-seat, longer-range A330 was airborne for four hours, 10 minutes, and a second development aircraft, powered by Pratt&Whitney engines, is scheduled to fly in December. The first aircraft will be refitted with Rolls-Royce engines and will fly next March.
PATS Inc., Columbia, Md., won a contract to install long-range fuel tanks in the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), in development as a 737 derivative. PATS said yesterday the 10-year contract, combined with a previous contract to develop, certify and manufacture the tanks, will be worth more than $200 million. Boeing planned originally to install tanks itself at its Renton, Wash. facility. Instead, the jets will be flown to Georgetown, Del., where PATS will install and test the tanks. They will return to Boeing for installation of interior furnishings and systems.
DOT's Office of the Inspector General and FAA will review the agency's progress on implementing recommendations from the government task force formed last year after the ValuJet DC-9 crash in the Everglades. Recommendations from the group, led by Linda Daschle when she was FAA deputy administrator, include creation of a national certification team to help field offices process audits and air carrier certifications, and an increase in the number of safety inspectors in key areas (DAILY, Sept. 19).
Pan Am Corp. yesterday reported a net loss of $17.1 million on revenues of $29.5 million for the second quarter and a deficit of $31.6 million for the first half. President and Chief Executive Martin Shugrue said the load factor for the quarter, 59%, was "encouraging" despite capacity increases and a soft market. The load factor has continued to rise in the third quarter, he said. Comparisons with the 1996 quarter are meaningless since Pan Am did not start service until September last year.
Vanguard Airlines lost $7.2 million in the second quarter, far worse than the $1.9 million it lost a year ago, and the airline vows to remake its image and its aircraft to attract more business travelers. Revenue rose slightly to $21.7 million from $20.7 million, but operating cost per available seat mile jumped 9% to 8.4 cents from 7.7 cents, while revenue per ASM fell to 6.5 cents from 7.1 cents. Yield grew to 10 cents from 9.4 cents but was down to 9.5 cents for the first half of 1997, compared with 9.8 cents in the same 1996 period.
Sabre Group will equip China Southern Airlines' systems operations center, being built at the carrier's headquarters in Guangzhou, with client/server systems for flight operations management, flight planning, load planning, crew management and aircraft movement monitoring. American Airlines will provide consulting services on operating procedures and a training plan. System development has begun, implementation will be phased and the final system cutover is scheduled for mid-1999.
Air Canada's July traffic increased 11.6% on 10.6% higher capacity, which nudged the load factor up 0.7 percentage points to 73.9%. Domestic traffic gained 3.3% on 0.6% less capacity and the load factor rose 2.8 points to 72.9%. International traffic was up 15.9% on 16.7% more capacity, reducing the load factor to 74.4%. In the January-July period, Air Canada's traffic rise, 9.9%, outpaced the capacity increase, 6.8%.
Titan Corp. will develop the first component of an air traffic services information system under a $572,000 FAA contract with options that would increase the total to $2.5 million. The component under contract will provide information on trends and daily operations, including operations counts, delays and their causes, operational errors and deviations, operational evaluations and performance measures, the company said.
Aspen Mountain Air/Lone Star Airlines (AMA) will inaugurate Dallas/Fort Worth service Sept. 15 with two daily roundtrips using Fairchild Dornier 328 high-speed turboprops. The carrier began DFW service to Santa Fe with two daily roundtrips in June. AMA was created with the acquisition of Lone Star late last year by Aspen-based Peak International, an air services company controlled by the Crown family of Chicago, which also controls Aspen Ski Company. President Don Martin said the Lone Star name will disappear eventually.
Standard&Poor's yesterday raised the corporate credit rating of Continental to double-B-minus from single-B-plus. The move affects $2.3 billion in debt.
Northwest Jet Airlink, launched by Mesaba in June with new Avro RJ85 quadjets, now shows eight Minneapolis/St. Paul and two Detroit markets with four aircraft. Average segment length is 351 miles, ranging from MSP-Aspen (seasonal only) at 802 miles to MSP-Duluth at 144 miles. Only two - MSP- Cincinnati and MSP-Des Moines have more than one flight per day, and then only two. Most markets get a mix of service with Northwest jets and Mesaba turboprops, and only Cincinnati from MSP and Detroit has major competition from Delta and Comair.
Southwest yesterday enhanced its only agreement with an international airline, adding cities to its code share with Icelandair. The new accord adds Chicago Midway, Louisville and Providence to the original single origin, Cleveland, as points from which Southwest connects with Icelandair flights in Baltimore. The carriers are offering $298 roundtrips between the four U.S. cities and Luxembourg for travel between Nov. 1 and Dec. 11. From Sept. 10 to Oct. 31, the fare is $398 and no advance purchase is required.
Dusseldorf Airport fell from its position as Europe's 10th-busiest airport to the 14th rank because of traffic disruptions following the April 1996 fire that claimed 17 lives. The number of passengers decreased below 15 million in 1996, down 4.8% from 1995, and flight movements dropped 3.3%. In the first half of 1997, growth was 2.4% - the German average was 5.2% - because the airport's operations still had not returned to normal.
Dragonair said yesterday it will replace its A320s with seven new A320s and A321s, acquiring five of the aircraft on lease from International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) and two directly from Airbus Industrie. Dragonair said the decision is part of a four-year plan that could double its fleet of 12 aircraft, and it is the largest investment the 12-year-old airline has made. The Hong Kong-based carrier, which has five A330s, also will buy another A330-300 for delivery in October 1998.
Delta's restructuring of its Atlantic operation, dropping short-haul service beyond Frankfurt in favor of more nonstops from the U.S., has been "tremendously successful" this summer, a spokesman said, especially on the New York-Istanbul route.
Austin-based Conquest Airlines, under its fifth new owner in five years, has ceased flying and will shift its base of operations to Oklahoma City, says Ben Bradley, chairman and chief financial officer of Mid- Continent Airline Inc. Mid-Continent acquired Conquest in late July from Worldwide Aircraft, which had been talking to a number of prospective buyers. Bradley said he stopped Conquest's operations because of "financial woes I was not apprised of when we acquired the company. There is a financial crisis every day," he added.
