ValuJet accused National Transportation Safety Board Member John Goglia of "political grandstanding" for concluding that the carrier shared blame with maintenance contractor SabreTech and FAA for the fatal crash of a ValuJet DC-9 in the Florida Everglades on May 11, 1996. The board routinely draws criticism for its findings, but it is unusual to single out an individual member. The board had found that ValuJet employee acceptance of oxygen bottles, which it said triggered a fire causing the crash, was "not unreasonable," a ValuJet spokesman said yesterday.
Responding to changing patterns in vacation travel, Northwest yesterday announced "Everyday Deals," a domestic fare restructuring designed to give leisure travelers savings of up to 40% off the carrier's normal excursion fares, which a top executive acknowledged have "increased to an unsellable level." The new program, to be available under slightly different terms in Alaska and Canada, will offer pricing "just a little bit above" recent fare sales, Michael Levine, executive VP-marketing and international, said during a telephone news conference.
Pratt&Whitney Canada said yesterday it has established a wholly owned Russian company, Pratt&Whitney-Rus, to design, develop and support a "full range of turboprop, turboshaft and turbofan engines for the general civil aviation industry in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States." Based in St. Petersburg and employing 80 people, including 78 Russian nationals, the company will work closely with Russian manufacturers that supply modules, parts and services for Rus engines and engines destined for P&WC markets.
Federal Express and Qantas applied jointly to DOT to renew for one year their authority to operate code-share, blocked-space, all-cargo service, and to sell air cargo services on each other's scheduled combination and all-cargo flights between Sydney and Honolulu, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Qantas has a separate wet-lease agreement with Southern Air Transport, a U.S. carrier with cargo and charter authority, for which Southern will submit a separate renewal application.
Birmingham Airport recorded a 13.5% passenger traffic gain in July and London Luton Airport logged a 36% increase in the first four months of its fiscal year, both compared with the year-earlier periods. At Birmingham, growth was shared equally between scheduled and charter traffic, and the fastest-growing scheduled routes were Amsterdam and Munich, 33%, and Brussels, 14%. Transatlantic traffic jumped 36%, even though Birmingham's third U.S. scheduled service - Continental, daily to New York/Newark - did not begin operating until mid-July.
American will launch nonstop service Nov. 1 between San Antonio and Mexico City, a route it served before hub-and-spoke networks were developed. The carrier will operate the daily service with 139-seat MD-80s. On Dec. 15, American will start daily nonstops between Miami and Monterrey, using 150- seat 727s, and add nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Guadalajara and Los Cabos, using MD-80s. With the addition, American will offer three roundtrips to Guadalajara and two to Los Cabos.
Northwest said yesterday it is about to sign contracts with seven National Basketball Association teams and one National Hockey League team to carry professional athletes to their away games, starting in October. The contracts are all seven years in duration. The airline will transform five of its 149-seat 727s into luxury charter jets with 56 first-class-style seats. Each airplane will have leather seats, card tables with swivel chairs, a couch and a dual video system for movies and game films.
Mesa Air Group lost $2.5 million in the three months ended June 30, compared with a net profit of $6.5 million a year earlier, as yield dropped, costs rose and revenue fell slightly. Group revenues declined to $129.4 million from $130.3 million, and expenses were up 10% to $127.7 million from $116 million. Flight operations costs jumped 18.2% to $48.4 million from $41 million, with $3 million of that increase from a new pilot contract inked in December, and maintenance gained 14.1% to $23.6 million.
Great Lakes Aviation, which lost substantial passenger revenues during a one-week shutdown in May, posted a $6.8 million loss for the quarter ended June 30. The airline lost $1.2 million in the prior-year period. Great Lakes suspended operations voluntarily May 16 and resumed limited operations May 23, serving five cities initially and 26 as of June 30. The shutdown cost the airline $4.8 million, so even without the suspension its profit would have been worse than in the 1996 quarter.
The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) intends to offset inflationary increases 6.6% in 1998-1999 and 5% in 1999-2003 in setting unit charges at Manchester Airport, and it said it will remedy inadequacies in rate-setting procedures reported by the U.K. Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC). The proposals, subject to approval following a one-month comment period, would set changes in income per passenger from airport charges to the change in the Retail Price Index minus 6.6% in the year that begins April 1, 1998, and the RPI minus 5% in the four succeeding years.
Lufthansa and SAS will launch 65 daily code-sharing services from Finland to other Scandinavian nations and Germany Oct. 26, SAS said yesterday in Stockholm. Early this month, Lufthansa and Finnair announced the end of a regional cooperation agreement dating from 1991 because of Lufthansa's ties to SAS and the Star Alliance (DAILY, Aug. 5). SAS and Finnair compete in Scandinavia. The Star Alliance links up Lufthansa, United, Air Canada, Thai Airways and SAS.
United States Travel Agent Registry (USTAR) plans a Presidents' Round Table Oct. 17 in Chicago to brief travel supplier chief executives and others on Project Genesis, USTAR's effort to create a not-for-profit computer reservations and settlement system (DAILY, Aug. 20). The travel suppliers include airlines, car rental companies, hotels and other businesses that move, house and handle travelers. USTAR supporters believe they can use new technology to create a more efficient CRS that is independent of the airlines from which current CRSs developed.
American, apologizing for a pilot training handbook that contained stereotypes offensive to the Latin community, said yesterday the document stemmed from "bad information" gathered as far back as 1989, when American took over Latin American routes from Eastern.
Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners reduced aircraft landing fees at Los Angeles and Ontario airports pending FAA approval, expected later this year. The new fees will be $1.83 per 1,000 pounds at LAX and $1.07 at ONT, down from $1.97 and $1.29, respectively. Under the new fees, a 747 landing at 630,000 pounds at LAX will pay $1,115 instead of $1,240.
Millon Air, which has not flown its previously held frequencies to Peru for much more than 90 days, "simply does not possess any U.S.-Peru frequencies to renew" according to normal DOT procedure, Fine Air Services told the department. Millon is trying to retain the frequencies as it works toward recertification by DOT as a fit carrier, though it has already lost such authority to Ecuador. Three additional U.S.-Peru frequencies are being held by DOT as it continues to monitor the U.S.-Peru market, a policy it set out in an order last year.
The Tupolev 204-120 jetliner powered by Rolls-Royce engines has won its first order, from Russian carrier KrasAir, Sirocco Aerospace International said yesterday in London. Sirocco, created in 1995 by Egyptian industrialist Ibrahim Kamel to launch aerospace products combining Western and Russian technology, said the 10 aircraft ordered by KrasAir are being assembled by Aviastar in Ulyanovsk and fitted with Honeywell and AlliedSignal avionics as well as RB211-535E4B engines.
The widening U.S.-Japan trade deficit underscores the need for the U.S. to insist on open skies, according to Northwest Chief Executive John Dasburg. The Commerce Department said yesterday the deficit was $25.7 billion in the first six months of 1997, up from $22.3 billion a year earlier. Dasburg said U.S. airlines are one of the few "bright spots," generating a $100 million surplus every week, and open skies likely would more than double that advantage over the next five years. Formal bilateral talks resume in Washington next week.
Lufthansa and other airlines handled by Lufthansa Ground Services have become the first carriers to relocate their check-in and ticketing facilities to the new check-in hall at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2. Averaging about 6,000 passengers on 27 flights per day, London is Lufthansa's largest airport operation outside Germany, and the airline's station manager, Dieter Stange, said the new facilities will provide larger waiting and circulation areas and make the check-in staff more visible to passengers.
American will begin Dec. 15 operating daily Miami-Denver nonstop service year-round, previously offered only during winter months, using MD Super 80 jets configured for 139 passengers. The carrier will resume three-times- weekly Miami-Eagle/Vail seasonal flights Dec. 20, using 188-seat 757 aircraft.
National Transportation Safety Board yesterday blamed SabreTech, ValuJet and FAA for the May 11, 1996 crash of a DC-9 into the Everglades, killing all aboard. Finding that the accident resulted from a fire in the aircraft's Class D cargo compartment after the actuation of one or more oxygen generators improperly carried as cargo, the board said ground support contractor SabreTech failed to properly prepare, package, identify and track unexpended chemical oxygen generators before presenting them to ValuJet for carriage.
Alaska Airlines is cutting its lowest fares 20%-50% this fall for travel between Alaska and the lower 48 states, Canada and Mexico. The offer is available until Dec. 10 to Alaska destinations except Prudhoe Bay.
Cathay Pacific will convert the Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines powering its 747-400 aircraft to the upgraded G/H-T standard engine, which was certificated in May by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority following an evolutionary development program incorporating technology from the Trent engine family. Rolls predicted a 2% improvement in fuel consumption for RB211-524G/H-T operators and said this fuel burn will be the best among engines available for the 747-400.
