U.S. antitrust officials told General Electric this week it may complete its acquisition of Greenwich Air Services Inc. without any special conditions or requirements to divest businesses or product lines, and GE said it plans to close Sept. 2 on the GASI portion of its planned acquisition of GASI and UNC Inc. Earlier, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division completed its review of the proposed acquisition of UNC by either GE or GASI, and UNC shareholders are expected to vote their approval next month.
US Airways Express will start service Oct. 1 between Sacramento and Santa Barbara. The four daily 19-seat Jetstream 32 flights will be operated by Trans States Airlines under a marketing agreement with US Airways. With the schedule addition, US Airways and its regional partners will operate 108 weekday flights in California.
US Airways will save $19 million annually by exercising its right to redeem all outstanding Series B preferred stock. Following the repurchase and conversion of Series F and T preferred shares earlier this year, the company will benefit from annual dividend payments that are $46 million lower than in previous years. The redemption price will be $51.75 per depositary share, plus dividends, and the shares will be redeemed Sept. 15.
Two industry groups have asked New York legislators to drop a proposal that would require state approval for runway expansions beyond 5,000 feet. The proposal passed the state assembly this month and now is before the senate. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Air Transportation Association separately wrote to Joseph Bruno, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, expressing their concern that the proposal will hamper aviation development in New York.
About 3 million Americans will travel by air during the Labor Day holiday, part of a record 34 million people expected to take a trip of 100 miles or more during the period, according to AAA. Using data from a Travel Industry Association survey of 1,500 adults, the association estimated that overall travel volume will be 3% greater during this year's holiday than in 1996. About 30.7 million people will travel by auto, light truck or recreational vehicle, up 3% over 1996, and 3.3 million will use aircraft, buses, rail or ships, up 6%.
Star Alliance partners Air Canada and Lufthansa said yesterday they will introduce code-share service to Ukraine Aug. 25. Air Canada will code share from Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver via Frankfurt to Kiev and Odessa, as well as Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich and Stuttgart. The two carriers offer daily Toronto-Frankfurt, Calgary-Frankfurt and Vancouver-Frankfurt nonstops, and they will expand Montreal/Halifax- Frankfurt next year. Lufthansa will continue to operate the Germany- Ukraine service with its aircraft.
The merger of ValuJet and AirTran, with AirTran Chief Executive Robert Swenson as chairman, could be the first of a series of consolidations the carriers seek among low-fare airlines, as envisioned by ValuJet management. Swenson, chairman of AirTran parent Airways Corp., will become chairman of the combined company, according to ValuJet's S-4 registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ValuJet President and Chief Executive Joseph Corr will retain his title after the merger.
Horizon Air reduced its lowest fares as much as 40% for travel from California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta. Sale fares also are available from many points to the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas and Alaska in conjunction with jointly owned affiliate Alaska Airlines. The non-refundable tickets are available through Friday for travel between Aug. 28 and Dec. 16. Tickets must be purchased within one day of making a reservation and a Saturday-night stay is required. Blackouts apply.
AirTran Airways posted an 0.8% traffic drop in July on 16.2% less capacity, which improved the load factor 11 percentage points to 70.8% from 59.8%. Despite the lower capacity, AirTran carried roughly the same number of passengers during the month, 96,477. Year-to-date traffic declined 3.4% on 4.7% less capacity, boosting the load factor 0.9 points to 68%.
United, aiming to reach rural points that cannot sustain air service, said yesterday it will launch "luxury" bus service connecting two points in Oregon to Portland Airport. Portland is the fourth city to receive the bus service. United Ground Link will provide Salem and Corvalis residents transport to Portland, beginning Sept. 9. Tickets, available to all passengers, can be purchased through United or a travel agent. The airline is offering 500 frequent flyer miles for each roundtrip journey, and the buses will have newspapers and outlets for laptop computers.
TACA group carriers applied to DOT to permit wet-leasing and other cooperative arrangements under the open skies aviation agreements that Central American countries signed this year with the U.S. The carriers - TACA International Airlines, based in El Salvador; Guatemala's Aviateca, Panama's COPA, Costa Rica's LACSA, NICA of Nicaragua and TACA De Honduras - asked individually for authority to conduct code-share operations for any of the others on routes for which the operator and code-share partners have DOT authority to fly scheduled combination service.
Air Line Pilots Association members flying for the American Eagle carriers approved a revised contract, voting 62% in favor. An earlier contract negotiated by union leadership was rejected last month in a 642-505 vote (DAILY, July 29). The contract covers Simmons Airlines, Flagship Airlines, Executive Airlines and Wings West, whose pilots won the right to bargain as a single entity in August 1995.
Lauda Air will receive the first of four 777s Sept. 24, expanding its fleet to 20 aircraft. The new twinjet will enter service Oct. 1 on the Vienna- Singapore-Sydney-Melbourne-Singapore-Vienna route. Lauda will host inflight gambling on the 777s, with roulette, blackjack and slot machine poker.
Delta and Continental asked DOT for authority to be the third U.S. carrier, after Northwest and United, to provide third-country code-share service between the U.S. and Egypt (DAILY, July 31). Delta would connect its existing transatlantic service to Zurich with six weekly A310 Zurich-Cairo roundtrips operated by alliance partner Swissair, beginning Oct. 26. Delta holds underlying authority for U.S.-Cairo service and said it is fully consistent with the U.S.-Switzerland open-skies bilateral and the U.S.- Egypt accord.
Air New Zealand will launch twice-weekly Auckland-Vancouver service via Honolulu on Oct. 26. ANZ will charter aircraft from partner Air Canada for the Honolulu-Vancouver leg.
Bell Helicopter Textron has negotiated a spare parts and support deal in Taiwan and the sale of two helicopters in India. Taiwan's Committee for Aviation and Space Industry Development is set to sign an agreement committing Bell to parts orders, training and technology transfer worth at least US$143.7 million. The deal is a condition attached to Taiwan's US$479 million order for 21 AH-1W Super Cobra military helicopters, an official of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic July, 7 Months 1997 (000) July July % 1997 1996 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 1,032,000 996,000 3.6 Available Seat Miles 1,449,000 1,433,000 1.1 Load Factor (%) 71.2 69.5
America West has engaged marketing management firm Achenbaum Bogda Associates as a consultant in the review of its advertising account. In late July, America West said it would conduct the review in conjunction with a re-examination of its overall marketing communications plan. Team One, America West's current advertising agency, has been invited to participate along with "other agencies yet to be identified." The carrier expects the review to be completed within 90 to 120 days.
British Airways has enlisted The Body Shop to produce inflight amenity kits for its Club World passengers. The pouch will contain a water facial spray, lip balm, hand and body lotion, a moisturizer, and hand and foot massage rollers. The kits are part of BA's new Well-Being program, designed to ease the rigors of long-haul flying.
Arrow Air went on the record against Millon Air's application to renew its Peru frequencies and receive three more in a market in which Arrow also wants to increase service. Millon remains grounded as it seeks recertification as a fit carrier, and Arrow reminded DOT the department barred Arrow from trying to renew frequencies or apply for new ones when its economic authority was temporarily suspended in 1995. DOT already has denied Millon's attempt to retain frequencies to Ecuador, citing its current lack of authority.
A company that offers same-day, satellite-based distribution of blueprints for architects and engineers said it has begun operations just in time to benefit from the UPS strike. The company, A/E/C Express, also aims to take hundreds of millions of dollars of business away from other next-day service companies, such as Federal Express. A/E/C Express, which launched service last week in 25 cities, said it expects to capture at least 30% of the estimated $500 million now spent annually for shipping more than 15 million blueprints via the next-day services.
Boeing Wichita has joined the major assemblies of the 737-600 fuselage. The aircraft, smallest of the new-generation 737 family, seats as many as 132 passengers. It will go into service with SAS in about a year.
ValuJet lowered fares last week for travel to and from three cities it plans to drop Sept. 2 - Louisville, Ky., Charlotte, N.C., and Columbus, Ohio. For its "Fare-Well Sale," the carrier offers "affordable fares to thank our loyal supporters throughout these regions before air fares return to previously high levels" after ValuJet suspends service, said Ponder Harrison, VP-sales and marketing. One-way fares are $39 from Atlanta to Louisville or Charlotte and $49 to Columbus.
Emirates ordered two more 777s powered by Rolls-Royce engines. The increased growth weight 777-200s are two of seven options taken by Emirates during an original order for seven aircraft, six of which are now operating. The seventh is scheduled to enter service next month.
