Northwest and Joseph Del Balzo Associates are seeking a grant from FAA to test technology that promises to provide a positive match between passengers and their baggage, security controls recommended by the Gore Commission. The technology was not available at the time the commission called for the controls.
Swisscargo and Cargolux are in talks on a marketing cooperation agreement and the possibility that the Swissair subsidiary will take an equity position in the Luxembourg-based freight carrier. A Swisscargo investment could entail buying Lufthansa Cargo's 24.5% stake in Cargolux. Swissair is negotiating this with Lufthansa but has refused to say whether or when such a deal would be concluded.
DOT's Office of Airline Information chastised United again for inadequate documentation in its application for combination service to Chile. Last month, the department said United had submitted substandard filings for the past three years, drawing a line on the Chile case and directing the airline to provide much more detailed information.
Alaska Airlines plans to inaugurate flights this fall from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Palm Springs. Effective Oct. 5, it will offer two daily nonstops to San Francisco and one to Phoenix. On Nov. 5, it will start one daily nonstop to Phoenix and one daily flight to Palm Springs via San Francisco. Alaska also plans to increase service to Los Angeles from three daily departures to four. It currently serves Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego from Vancouver.
Angered by what it considers foot-dragging by aviation authorities in Palau, Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications ordered that charter flights from Taiwan to Palau be suspended until Palau agrees to sign a bilateral aviation agreement. Negotiators initialed a preliminary agreement in April, but Taipei officials say Palau has been unwilling since then to sign a final agreement. Taiwan-based Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. and Uni Air each operate two charter flights per week to Palau.
President Clinton played down Europe's objections to the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger yesterday but officials in Europe held their ground, envisioning legal problems for airlines that buy products from a merged company that lacks the European Commission's approval. Clinton told reporters he is "concerned about what appear to be the reasons" for the European Union's objection to the acquisition, and he cautioned against the trade war seen by some observers as the consequence of an impasse. "It would be unfortunate if we had a trade standoff with them," he said.
Snecma seeks a 2 billion franc (US$340 million) capital injection by the end of 1998, according to French newspaper reports. "Snecma expects a lot from the state - financial backing, as its own equity has sunk FRF450 million [$76.5 million] into the red" and "support to maintain the level of its research and technology capital," said Chairman Jean-Paul Bechat.
Cincinnati-based Delta Connection Comair said it would add a fifth daily roundtrip jet flight to Des Moines from Cincinnati, effective Sept. 8. At the same time, the carrier announced that June boardings at the Iowa capital reached a record 4,618, up 21% from June 1996. Separately, the carrier said it also achieved record boardings at Cincinnati with 194,672, an 18.3% increase from 164,627.
Sabena's maintenance and servicing unit, Sabena Technics, has signed contracts with Air France for production of test equipment for CFM56-5C engines, with HASL, the HAECO-Rolls Royce consortium, for V2500 engine testing and with Iberia for maintenance of CFM56-5C engines.
China Southern Airlines, the largest domestic airline in China, is listing on Worldspan, including complete flight information, schedules, availability, fares and fare rules. The airline will upgrade to Direct Sell connectivity on Worldspan later this year, enabling travel agents to perform interactive booking and establish record locator links with the carrier.
Fortis Aircraft Management Services has delivered the second of two Airlease-owned 727-200s to Express One. The aircraft, operated recently by Northwest, is owned by Airlease Finance, a company managed by Fortis.
Saab is planning a marketing blitz in the U.S. for its new CAREfree maintenance program for the Saab 2000 high-speed turboprop. CAREfree covers all maintenance costs except labor and consumables for customer aircraft for the first two years and at reduced rates for the next four years, which equates to nearly 90% of total direct maintenance costs. Averaged over the full duration of the CAREfree program, seat cost for the Saab 2000 are 8% lower than for turboprop competitors and 15% lower than the cheapest regional jet, Saab says.
AirNet Systems, small-package carrier based in Columbus, Ohio, has signed an agreement to acquire Data Air Courier for $4 million. Data Air transports canceled checks for banks and provides small-package service. Eric Roy, AirNet executive VP and chief financial officer, said the acquisitions should add $15 million to the carrier's revenue base, "increasing our annual run rate above $100 million." AirNet, founded as an express carrier mainly for banks, plans to target business that now goes to scheduled airlines.
Sabre Business Travel Solutions (BTS) has enhanced its Travel Planner system to speed the booking process for business travelers using personal computers to plan their trips. The feature was one of many announced by major airline computer reservations system vendors at the 29th annual National Business Travel Association Convention&Exposition this week in St. Louis. Sabre said 20 large corporations, including McDonnell Douglas Travel Co. and travel management firm BTI Americas, are using the initial version of Sabre BTS.
Three carriers object to Northwest's bid to switch gateway designations so it can operate new service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Hong Kong. Northwest is shutting down nonstop service between Hong Kong and Seattle, the latter a multiple-designation gateway. Under the bilateral, the U.S. could convert Seattle to a single-designation gateway and open another. No other carriers currently fly Seattle-Hong Kong nonstop.
UPS could see strike action from ground personnel represented by the Teamsters (IBT) union at midnight July 31, the same day it is scheduled to receive a contract proposal on wages and pension from its pilots. The Independent Pilots Association (IPA) at UPS said it would support the IBT strike. The IBT itself recently gave its leaders the authority to call a strike. Referring to the UPS colors, IPA President Bob Miller said "things are tense at Big Brown." The Teamsters represent 6,000 workers in the Louisville area, 5,000 of whom handle air packages.
Continental yesterday selected GE Aircraft Engines powerplants for 35 new widebody aircraft, including 30 767-400ERs. The GE90 engine will power five 777-200s and the CF6-80C2 will be underwing on the 767s in a contract GE valued at $600 million. The deal means GE has won both 767-400 engine contracts, after Delta launched the derivative earlier this year with an order for 21 (DAILY, March 21). Continental accelerated the delivery of five previously ordered 777s yesterday as well, with the first of 10 777s due in September 1998 and the last in May 1999.
Lufthansa has selected Dublin for its first pan-European call center, scheduled to open Oct. 1. The airline will hire 45 local German-speaking employees in Dublin and invest 4.9 million Deutschmarks (US$2.8 million) in both Dublin and its central reservations center in Kassel, Germany. The new system will enable Kassel to transfer overflow calls instantly to Dublin, improving customer response. Kassel receives 330,000 calls per month. Lufthansa estimates that if 20% of its callers receive a busy signal or hang up, it could lose up to DM50 million annually.
Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to approve next week a draft report that includes the full $152.8 million requested for the over-budget Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) program in Fiscal 1998, but only under strict guidelines. The draft report, made available to The DAILY, directs FAA not to obligate more than 70% of the funds until certain milestones are met. And none of the funds would be obligated until the DOT secretary reports to the Senate and House Appropriations transportation subcommittees on the status and management of the program.
DOT re-extended for 45 days Air Jamaica's exemption permitting scheduled combination service linking New York and Atlanta to Barbados. It withheld more lasting authority in response to difficulties faced by Amerijet International in arranging U.S.-Jamaica service. The U.S. carrier has been frustrated in attempts to secure adequate ground facilities and to self- handle its cargo as authorized by the bilateral. The department granted Air Jamaica's last extension because of progress that suggested Amerijet would be able to start operations by July 15.
Air Canada traffic increased 12.4% in June on 12.7% more capacity, leaving the load factor virtually unchanged at 75%. Domestic traffic increased 7% on 4.2% more capacity, raising the domestic load factor 2 percentage points to 77.3%. International revenue passenger miles grew 15.3% on 17.3% more capacity, pushing the load factor down 1.2 points to 73.9%.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, which faced the prospect of financial ruin just three years ago, posted its ninth consecutive profitable quarter yesterday, with second quarter pre-tax income of $9.6 million, up 8.3%. But with the company's higher tax rate compared with 1996, net profits fell to $5.9 million from $8.5 million in the prior-year period. ACA's net income is based on a 39% tax rate, compared with a 5% rate in the second quarter of 1996.
