Federal Express told DOT it will pursue Colombia authority being applied for by Atlas Air if its own, separate application to buy authority from Florida West International Airways is not approved. The Atlas application asks DOT to transfer authority from Millon Air, which held the rights before being shut down after a 707 crash in Ecuador. Millon continues to work for recertification by DOT. FedEx received an exemption for U.S.-Colombia cargo service in 1996, but Colombia blocked approval of additional U.S. carriers on the route.
DOT is asking for comment on a petition for rulemaking that would establish a "Truth in Airfares" regulation requiring commercial passenger airlines to disclose directly to consumers the most recently available average fare and lowest fare for the route and class of service quoted to an inquiring party. The rulemaking, called for by the Consumers Union, appears in today's Federal Register.
Several Southern Asian nations met in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last month to explore new air links among Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The seven-country South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has little direct air service between members, even though combined SAARC accounts for 1.2 billion people and $300 billion in gross domestic product.
DOT blames high costs at Denver International for the 52% jump in subsidy required for Mesa's western Kansas essential air service compared with three years ago. It will cost $2.5 million a year to operate EAS from five points, up from $1.2 million paid in 1994 for Denver Stapleton service from seven.
National Civil Aviation Review Commission, in its preliminary report submitted to DOT Secretary Rodney Slater last week, repeated many of the themes raised by past commissions but said that while the problems facing the aviation community are "not new, there is now a realization and a consensus as to their seriousness and implications." It warned that "traffic data and trends indicate that adding just a few minutes of delay to each airline flight in the United States will bring the aviation system to gridlock with dramatic negative impacts on the economy." The commiss
WestAir's pilots voted by a 96% margin this week to reject a tentative agreement offer from the company. Sarah Pitcher, VP-communication for WestAir's parent company, Mesa Air Group, said the contract was a "mirror image" of one agreed to by the rest of the pilots in the Mesa group. "At this point, we will enter back into negotiations," she said. The pilots rejected the contract because they viewed it as a step backwards, said Bob Flocke, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents WestAir's 30 pilots.
Association of European Airlines Traffic July, 7 Months 1997 July 1997 Passenger Data % RPKs Change ASKs Region (Mil) 97/96 (Mil) EUROPE 10,822.9 10.4 15,704.8 NORTH AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST 1,725.7 5.7 2,449.1 LONGHAUL
Air Canada, which recently redesigned its web site, has developed an Internet booking product enabling travelers and travel agents to make simple bookings with the click of a mouse. Details of the Cyber Ticket Office, currently in field tests, will be publicized in October, the carrier said. The product, available 24 hours a day through Air Canada's home page (http://www.aircanada.ca) offers reservations for all flights, including those of regional airline and code-share partners.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.1 billion revenue passenger miles in August, up 0.07% from August 1996, on 1.5 billion available seat miles, up 2.1%, dropping the load factor 1.0 percentage points to 74.7%. Year-to-date traffic gained 5.6% on 1.4% more capacity, forcing the load factor up 2.7 points to 68.7%. The airline boarded 1,279,700 passengers in August and 8,362,000 for the first eight months.
Shuttle by United has launched an aggressive multimedia campaign targeted primarily at the business traveler. A study of nationwide short-haul frequent flyers on Shuttle, Southwest, Delta Express, Alaska Airlines, US Airways and other services showed that business travelers want different features from leisure travelers, such as assigned seating and an extensive frequent flyer program, said spokesman Tony Molinaro. The campaign attempts to define Shuttle as the best choice for short-haul commuters over major competitors Southwest and Alaska.
Southwest will tack on $1 to $2 per ticket in certain markets to reflect the federal excise tax that takes effect Oct. 1. Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said the "passenger tax" is a long-awaited response to the excise tax/segment fee that replaces the 10% excise tax on tickets sold. Passengers traveling on Southwest from Los Angeles to Oakland, Calif., will see a $2 segment fee added to the ticket price, Rutherford said.
- In Federal Register dated Sept. 9...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain Bombardier CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100) aircraft requiring inspection of the direct current power distribution system...Issued an AD on certain Embraer EMB-145 aircraft requiring inspections for cracks in the firewall of the auxiliary power unit...Issued an AD on British Aerospace Jetstream 4101 aircraft requiring testing of the main entrance door...Superseded an AD on Boeing 737 aircraft concerning inspections of the tracklock bracket assemblies bearings.
WorldCorp, parent of World Airways, lost much of its leadership to an internal restructuring last week. Chief Executive Walter Fiederowicz resigned and will be replaced temporarily by Chairman Coleman Andrews. Two board members also stepped down, and the company will retain a smaller five-person board in the future. Mark Lynch, chief financial officer of both WorldCorp and World Airways, resigned as well. The airline plans to hire its own CFO in the future.
Continental continued its opposition to the American-TACA code-share proposal, complaining of what it calls American's increasing Latin American hegemony and asking for massive amounts of documentation in response to its concerns. The filing addressed American's response to DOT's order for additional documentation on the TACA proposal. Continental said American is trying to build an "impregnable fortress" protecting its Latin American position.
Passengers traveling to Hawaii may not necessarily see lower ticket prices even though airlines serving the islands are getting a two-year break in landing fees (DAILY, Sept. 11). Airlines say it is too soon to decide how they will use the savings from the two-year moratorium announced last week by Gov. Ben Cayetano Wednesday, but chances are they will not discount air fares.
