London City Airport saw a strong upsurge in its business passenger traffic last week, apparently benefiting by labor strife at British Airways, and the close-in facility lost no time in reiterating plans for expansion to accommodate its rapid passenger growth. The airport, barely a 30-minute taxi ride from central London, is the U.K.'s fastest growing airport and has ambitious expansion plans for the near future.
Willis Lease Finance Corp. said it bought six jet engines during the second quarter of 1997 and placed five of them on lease immediately. Engines included two JT9D-7AHs, one CF6-80C2B6F and a PW4060. As of June 30, Willis had 37 engines on hand or on lease to 28 airlines in 14 countries.
Jamaica Vacations Limited filed in support of Sunworld International Airlines' authority renewal, telling DOT the carrier met its obligations as a charter operator. The company contracted with Sunworld to fly Cincinnati-Montego Bay service once a week during the 1996-97 winter season. The carrier operated "on time and without any problems," so Jamaica Vacations is negotiating a contract for 1997-98.
Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corp. will provide Great Lakes Aviation a $4 million short-term loan under an agreement announced by the airline yesterday. The loan, along with "existing Raytheon indebtedness, is secured by all of [Great Lakes'] Beech aircraft spare parts and equipment," the regional said. In addition, Raytheon receives 10-year warrants, exercisable after 12 months, to buy Great Lakes shares at 75 cents per share. Great Lakes voluntarily suspended service in May under FAA pressure, and has gradually reinstated the flights.
Membership of the National Business Aircraft Association voted to change its name to the National Business Aviation Association, which President Jack Olcott says "more fully reflects its vision to be the effective force for enhancing safety, efficiency and acceptance of business aviation."
Manx Airlines is increasing capacity on its Liverpool-to-Isle of Man services beginning July 29, with an additional afternoon flight each weekday, its fourth roundtrip on the route operated with British Aerospace ATP aircraft. To highlight and boost the expanded service, the airline is offering a special Farecracker Extra fare of 25 pounds one way or 50 pounds roundtrip.
U.S. Regional Airline Industry Passenger Traffic Activity - First Quarter 1997 First First Percent Quarter 1996 Quarter 1997 Change 48 STATES/HAWAII/ PUERTO RICO/VIRGIN ISLANDS Revenue Passenger Miles 3,287,077,064 3,336,571,487 1.5 Available Seat Miles 6,433,608,240 6,551,958,728 1.8 Passengers Carried 14,265,893 14,197,931 -0.5
Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications has drafted a proposal to ease restrictions on foreign pilots employed by Taiwan- registered airlines. A MOTC spokesman said the revised regulations will enable airlines to re-engage foreign pilots now on short-term contracts and increase the quota of pilots on long-term employment. The ratio of foreign to local pilots, currently two-to-one, is expected to become at least three-to-one once the new rules take effect.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic, June, 6 Months 1997, (000) U.S. Major Carriers Traffic June, 6 Months 1997 (000) June June % 1997 1996 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 956,000 901,000 6.1 Available Seat Miles 1,351,000 1,343,000 0.6
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) leaders told a news conference yesterday in Washington that ADC has monitored "hundreds" of complaints arising from passenger profiling since the TWA 800 crash and that "we have been able to determine when someone has been selected because of destination or another criteria." Houeida Saad, director of legal service for ADC, said El Al, Northwest and US Airways have been particularly aggressive in discriminating against passengers with Middle East backgrounds.
Air Line Pilots Association filed suit yesterday against US Airways for violating the Railway Labor Act, charging management with undermining ALPA as a bargaining agent and failing to search diligently for an agreement. Having laid off pilots, US Airways has threatened more dismissals, base closings, downsizings and aircraft contract cancellations if pilots do not accept management positions on a new contract, ALPA said.
Legislation introduced in the Senate this week to provide federal loan guarantees to carriers buying regional jets to serve small-hub and non-hub airports for one year is "just the kind of moronic stuff they dream up in Washington," said airline analyst Michael Boyd (see story below). Regional jets are not going to draw passengers to those airports when turboprops will not, and after one year those carriers will be out of there, he said. Boyd questioned whether the interest benefits from the guaranteed loans could compensate for the losses.
KLM and Transavia will code share between Amsterdam and Casablanca, beginning with the winter schedule Oct. 26. Transavia will operate the route using KLM's takeoff and landing slots.
Millon Air plans to relaunch operations with a single 707 that majority owner Juan Millon will provide rent-free for one year, the carrier told DOT. Disengaging itself from family connections that raised ownership and control issues, the airline has appointed outsiders to key management positions, including chief operating officer, director of safety and director of operations. Mercury Air Group will be its general sales agent, replacing Millon Air Cargo, which is owned by Juan Millon's father, Ernesto Millon.
McDonnell Douglas yesterday reported net earnings of $195 million for the second quarter, up from $188 million in the same quarter last year. For the first half of 1997, net earnings declined to $376 million from $386 million. Operating earnings were $320 million for the quarter, down from $328 million, and $641 million for the half, down from $675 million.
Mesa and SkyWest are both mum on which eight markets - of 16 currently served by Mesa and subsidiary WestAir under their United marketing agreements - the senior partner wants to take away and award to SkyWest. Markets such as Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Orange County, Oxnard, Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo come to mind. Mesa/WestAir do not serve San Diego, where SkyWest operates flights every 30 minutes under the Delta code. Sources close to the situation say they expect the issue to be settled shortly.
Decision Focus Inc., a privately held consulting and software-engineering company, and Aeronomics Inc. have signed an agreement to merge. The new company, operating initially as DFI/Aeronomics Inc., will serve more than 300 clients from six offices worldwide. Officials said it will be one of the world's largest revenue management specialists.
Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG's business unit, Daimler-Benz Airport Systems, has won a contract to install an advanced individual lamp-control system at the Cologne-Bonn Airport. It will be the first German airport to receive the equipment and is expected to speed up the handling of taxiing aircraft and thus boost Cologne-Bonn's capacity without investment in major new infrastructure.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation (S.1013) this week authorizing federal loan guarantees for airlines to purchase regional jet aircraft, provided the airlines commit to serving at least one underserved market for at least one year after buying the aircraft. DOT would administer the program, which would sunset in five years. The bill is co- sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.)
Armando Chapelli, chief executive officer of aviation technology company Washington Consulting Group, will be the guest this week on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Moving to complete its withdrawal from Lufthansa, the German government requested proposals from international banks to manage the sale of its remaining shares in the carrier. In an initial sale in 1994, the government reduced its stake from 52% to today's 36.7%. German officials said this year's sale probably will take place in late autumn. Germany asked seven Dutch, German and American international trade banks, including ABN Amro Rothschild of The Netherlands and Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley of the U.S., to make proposals.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, which posted pre-tax second quarter profits of $9.6 million this week, kept unit costs under control, improved the load factor and distributed record profit-sharing dividends to employees (DAILY, July 17). Unit costs did not rise at all, remaining at 25.2 cents, while operating cost per available seat mile fell 1.4% to 20.7%. ACA carried 424,740 passengers in the period, up 7.2%, and realized a 9% rise in traffic. Capacity increased 6%, improving the load factor 1.4 percentage points to 50.5%.
Flush with the addition of Embraer regional jets, Continental Express saw a 31.4% jump in traffic during June, as measured by revenue passenger miles. Available seat miles were up only 24.3% compared with the same month a year ago. Overall, however, The DAILY's sampling of 13 of the nation's top regional airlines showed an average increase in traffic of only 0.9% while average capacity dropped by 2.8%.
