Shying away from suggestions that FAA overreacted in shutting down Great Lakes Aviation, most members of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee focused last week on questions of process and communications that led to the carrier's decision May 16 to surrender its certificate rather than have it revoked. "This hearing is not about chastising FAA for grounding Great Lakes Aviation," said subcommittee ranking Democrat William Lipinski (D-Ill.), but there is "great concern" about the process.
America West is offering Effortless Ticketing Online, an Internet booking service. The site is found at http://www.americawest.com. Customers can obtain advance seat assignments when booking on the Internet.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Balance Sheet As of January 31, 1997 Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 479.00 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 35,958,467.65 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness
Delta's advertising folks have found a way to compete with the flashy, expensive billboards in Times Square - a "living" billboard. This week, Delta employees, members of the media and others will sit in a new business-class seat in the fuselage/billboard and be served during two-hour stints.
After months of debate, speculation and posturing, the legislative battle over aviation taxes formally begins today with House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer's (R-Texas) announcement of budget reconciliation revenue proposals. While the current taxes could be extended, Archer has favored changes and some observers expect him to propose a package that includes a lower ticket tax, a new head tax and increased taxes for international travel.
France's newly appointed left-wing government may jeopardize the future of state-owned Air France as mapped out by Chairman Christian Blanc. The airline now falls under the authority of a Communist transport minister, Jean-Claude Gayssot, whose ideology seems ill-suited to a liberalized European air transport environment.
Swissair no longer will sell chocolate imitations of gold ingots on its flights, the Swiss flag carrier said. Some passengers complained, relating the product to the current dispute about Swiss banks' handling of gold stolen from Jews by the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II, an airline spokesman said.
British Airways posted an 8.3% increase in May revenue passenger kilometers on 7.7% more capacity. The load factor was up 0.5 percentage points overall to 70% but dropped 3 points to 66.7% on U.K./Europe routes. Intercontinental routes led the improvement, with traffic rising 9.8%, while domestic and European routes grew 2.5%. European traffic was affected by disruptions from security concerns at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Dutch carrier Transavia reported an operating profit of 4.6 million Netherlands guilders (US$2.3 million) in fiscal 1997 - its 19th year of profits - on turnover of NLG560 million ($285.6 million). Peter Legro, president and chief executive, said the result, which was the same as in fiscal 1996, was "a very close thing" but forecast better performance for the current season. Costs rose 2% to NLG545.8 million ($278.3 million).
FAA disputes Great Lakes Aviation's claim that the agency is not providing enough inspectors for the airline to resume operations as fast as planned. The agency says it is providing all the inspectors needed to help the carrier comply with the consent order, but it continues to find "a significant number of discrepancies" in maintenance of aircraft presented for a return to service. Great Lakes has yet to submit an acceptable plan on how to expand beyond the 10 aircraft now in service, an FAA spokeswoman said.
Lockheed L1011 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1996 L1011-1-250 Delta TWA Total Number of Aircraft Operated 33 11 44 Total Fleet Operations Departures 112 26 138 Block Hours 336 82 418
More and more airlines sponsoring sports arenas have benefited from publicity during the past year, and two of them are cashing in big in the National Basketball Association championships. As the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz go at it, two equally huge rivals bask in name recognition - the Bulls play at the United Center in Chicago and the Jazz at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
EuroAirport of Mulhouse, France, launched construction last week of a "silencer chamber" to insulate its engine test hangar for noise. The project is part of the airport's "environmental pact" with the surrounding community to improve environmental conditions at the airport. Crossair and Jet Aviation, the two main carriers using the test hangar, are partners with EuroAirport in the project, and construction will be completed in two months.
Internet service provider TheTrip.com says it is offering special services to the business traveler in the form of online bookings of flights, hotels and car rentals. Because the business traveler often pays the highest fare to subsidize the low fares paid by the leisure traveler, "TheTrip.com seeks to make business travelers' life easier by putting the power of the travel agent in their hands." The service enables users to search for the lowest available fare and peruse travel guides for advice on weekend activities and locations for business lunches.
European Commission staffers reviewing four U.S.-European alliances do not rule out the possibility that they will find concerns about the three that already are approved and operating as well as the current proposal, American-British Airways, according to Alexander Schaub, director-general for competition. AA-BA is far greater in scope and poses the most obvious competition questions, Schaub notes.
American has added Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Grand Rapids and Memphis to its dining for miles program, which now includes nearly 3,000 cities. The carrier also will offer 500 bonus miles to members dining for the first time at selected restaurants and spending at least $50 before tips.
Miami-based Fine Air Services filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday for an initial public offering of common stock. Number of shares to be offered and range of the IPO per- share price have not been determined. The managing underwriters for the offering are Alex. Brown&Sons Inc., Bear Stearns&Co. Inc. and Dillon, Read&Co. Inc. Fine provides air cargo service between Miami and points in South and Central America and the Caribbean.
TWA's Air Line Pilots Association unit, two days after regular contract talks opened, filed a lawsuit Friday against the airline in the St. Louis Federal District Court over pay and work rules. ALPA charges that TWA disregarded an arbitrator's award and wants to impose its own pay and work rules July 1. "TWA pilots have sacrificed over $650 million in pay cuts and work rule changes during the past 12 years," said TWA ALPA Chairman Don Jacobs.
