Continental inaugurated daily nonstop service yesterday between Houston and Vancouver, British Columbia. It is offering a roundtrip fare of $238 on the route for the July 4 weekend only.
About 200 companies, nearly half non-Russian, have booked all available exhibit and flight line space at this year's Moscow Air Show, scheduled Aug. 18-24 at Zhukovsky, near the Russian capital, Itar-Tass reported. U.S. participants include Boeing Co., which collaborated with Tupolev on tests using the Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft as a testbed, and Pratt&Whitney and Collins, principal U.S. associates of Ilyushin in the Il-96M/T project.
Chicago Express and Maverick Airways have withdrawn their participation in the Airlines Reporting Corporation, and Zuliana de Aviacion lost its membership by default. Chicago Express entered into a code-sharing agreement with American Trans Air in April and will withdraw from ARC with sales completed June 29. Also on June 29, ARC will discontinue processing the transactions of Maverick, which is terminating scheduled service to focus on charter flights.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic October 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American Trans Air 242 (22.11) 1,554 375,606 Carnival 131 (6.08) 1,259 164,318
Citicorp, one of several financial institutions that own a combined 53% of US Airways-run Shuttle Inc., believes American is more likely than US Airways to acquire the operation. American as the winning bidder for the Boston-New York-Washington shuttle is "the most likely outcome," according to a report prepared by Reno Bianchi of Citicorp Securities Inc. US Airways, which owns the remaining 47%, "is a more likely seller than buyer of the shuttle," said Bianchi, VP investment grade research. Shuttle Inc.
Cathay Pacific is launching the fourth in its series of online auctions of seats from the U.S. to Hong Kong. The latest auction begins July 1, the day Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule, and covers 365 economy-class seats on roundtrips from New York or Los Angeles during September, October and November. Minimum bids begin at $400 and the maximum is $900. Bidders must register with Cathay Pacific CyberTravelers.
Boeing, with a third 20-year airline deal in its pocket, will appear today in Brussels before the European Commission, competition experts from the 15 European Union countries, European aerospace companies and other interested parties to defend the company's proposal to acquire McDonnell Douglas, a Boeing spokesman confirmed yesterday. One of the commission's main concerns is Boeing's long-term agreement with major U.S. airlines - Continental this week (DAILY, June 11) and American and Delta earlier. Airbus Industrie will appear before the commission Friday.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic October 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 894 12.60 791 707,473 America West 1,556 10.31 863 1,343,541 American 5,418 (0.07) 1,113 6,028,038
Great Lakes Aviation resumed United Express service yesterday between Chicago O'Hare Airport and Sioux Falls, S.D.; is scheduled to resume today between O'Hare and Sault Ste. Marie and Pellston, Mich., and Mattoon, Ill., and intends to resume no later than the weekend between O'Hare and Terre Haute, Ind. The carrier, which suspended all service May 16 under pressure from FAA, has been resuming flights gradually as FAA completes fleet inspections.
Duty-free sales will be abolished as planned on international flights within the European Union beginning June 30, 1999, a European Commission spokesman confirmed. Airport operators and ferry companies re-launched their anti-abolition campaign recently, arguing that employment will suffer - a report tabled by ferry operators claims 50,000 jobs are in jeopardy. The commission replied that duty-free sales are completely inconsistent with the single market, and it emphasized that the decision to scrap them was made unanimously by the EU governments in 1991.
Italian startup Air One launched its first international scheduled service on Italy's main international route, Milan-London, in cooperation with Air UK. Air One operates two daily frequencies and Air UK three between Milan Linate Airport and London Stansted. Air One, which launched operations in 1995, carried 700,000 passengers within Italy last year and is competing successfully with Alitalia in such major markets as Milan-Rome.
Aviation Information Resources Inc. (AIR) will hold the Airline Pilot Career Seminar Forum and Job Fair June 28 in Atlanta. AIR Inc. predicts 12,000 cockpit crew positions will open this year.
DOT's first Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report, for the third quarter 1996, contains "a lot of good news" for travelers, DOT officials said yesterday. The report comprises 20 pages of raw data that will be hard for consumers to interpret, but it provides lists of airlines and markets offering the lowest fares and tables detailing the relationship between low fares and rising traffic. This will fortify the cases of new- entrant airlines seeking government help to compete. DOT plans to issue the report quarterly.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is issuing identification numbers to electronic reservations service providers (ERSPs) because of the growing number of entities distributing airline products over the Internet or other online systems. IATA said it recognizes the new participants in the distribution system and wants airlines to be able to identify the origin of sales made by the ERSPs.
Cargo startup Arriva Air filed an apology and pleading for continued work on its application with DOT, following questions about its status as a U.S.-controlled carrier and the scope of its startup plans. Last week, the carrier submitted sworn statements attempting to clarify its relationship with foreign agent New Quick Co., Ltd., which has supplied two-thirds of Arriva's financing and has leased Arriva its sole 727 freighter. Arriva said it believes DOT's concerns resulted "from misunderstandings regarding the recent activities of Arriva Air's President, Mr.
Midwest-Asia Aviation Coalition said retired House Minority Leader Robert Michel joined the group as co-chair. Michel, a Republican, represented the 18th congressional district in Illinois. He joins Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as co-chairs for the coalition, which seeks to expand service to Asia from Chicago.
United Chairman and Chief Executive Gerald Greenwald will be the guest speaker at the Wings Club monthly luncheon June 25 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. For more information, call 212-867-1770.
Twenty pages deep into FAA's 51-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on cargo compartment fire detection and suppression retrofits for some 3,000 aircraft (DAILY, June 11) is a requirement that carriers report quarterly on their progress, by aircraft serial number, so the public can monitor how well operators are doing. If the rulemaking stays on schedule, the carriers' first reports would be due July 1, 1998.
British Airways denies reports it was threatening to withdraw from its proposed alliance with American if authorities do not approve it by November. Financial Times and Reuters quoted BA chief Bob Ayling as saying that after the Heathrow slot allocation conference in November, it "becomes more difficult....There comes a point in any transaction where not having approval is tantamount to being told 'No.'" A BA spokesman conceded that the delays have been frustrating and the partners cannot wait indefinitely.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic October 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 56 13.49 1,051 58,689 Latin 56 13.49 1,051 58,689 American 1,151 (4.43) 2,330 2,681,955
Airlines Reporting Corp. said it has terminated its agreement with Prestige Airways and Faucett Peruvian Airlines for failure to meet financial obligations. ARC will cease processing transactions for the carriers at the close of the sales period ending June 22. Prestige, based in Manassas, Va., stopped operating April 24, according to DOT.
Indian private domestic carrier Jet Airways has signed a $50.4 million lease-purchase agreement with ANZ Grindlays Bank for two Boeing 737-400s, airline officials said yesterday, and a floating-rate loan syndication for the $50.4 million has been launched in international capital markets through the London-based ANZ Investment Bank. The loan facility, which carries a coupon rate 1.5% higher than the London Inter Bank Offered Rate, will finance part of the aircraft acquisition, from Malaysian Airlines. Jet Air has the option to buy the aircraft.
Tower Air's May traffic fell 14.3% from May 1996 to 4,294 block hours from 5,011. The carrier said the decrease is due mostly to its withdrawal from the Brazil market, fewer military charters and the earlier conclusion of Haj operations this year. For the first five months of the year, block hours were down 7.8% to 16,972 from 18,409. Revenue passenger miles in May fell 5.5% to 208 million, while capacity decreased 7.2% to 284 million. The load factor rose to 73.2% from 71.9% last May.
President Clinton said yesterday he intends to nominate Jane Garvey FAA administrator and George Donohue deputy administrator, nominations that have been assumed by the aviation community for more than two months (DAILY, April 7). The announcement of Garvey and Donohue is almost a month later into Clinton's second term than the May 13, 1993, announcement of David Hinson was into his first. The wait is not over - after Garvey's and Donohue's nominations are official, they are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
A recently completed House Appropriations Committee surveys and investigations report questions FAA's management of the agency's Potomac Tracon project and suggests the agency misrepresented to Congress the status of the program. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the Appropriations transportation subcommittee, will hold a news conference today to discuss the report's findings. "I am concerned that the FAA has lied and attempted to deceive Congress at hearings and briefings on this subject," Wolf said in a June 10 statement.
