Lufthansa and British Midland are negotiating to expand their code- sharing operations between the U.K. and Germany, and a British Midland spokeswoman said the talks are "at an advanced stage." The German airline and British Midland, which is 40% owned by SAS, launched joint service at the end of April from London Heathrow Airport to Cologne/Bonn and Rome, operating British Midland 737 aircraft.
British Airways will hold 65% of its German subsidiary Deutsche BA after it buys Bayerische Vereinsbank's 16% stake. The German bank announced the sale last week.
Indian Airlines has been awarded compensation worth 400 million rupees ($11.4 million) from International Aero Engines for the heavy consumption of fuel by the V2500 engines that power its A320 aircraft, airline officials said Monday. The compensation amount will be applied against future purchases of spares from the Pratt&Whitney/Rolls-Royce joint venture. The carrier bought the engines in 1985 and concluded last year that fuel consumption was at least 2% higher than IAE claimed at the time.
KLM's passenger traffic in June grew 16% over the same month in 1996 on 10% more capacity, boosting the passenger load factor 4.2 percentage points to 81.3%. During the April-June period, the airline's traffic increased 17% on 8% more capacity, producing a 78.9% load factor, 5.5 points higher than in 1996. Business travel growth outpaced leisure traffic by several percentage points, KLM said. Traffic in the Central and South America, North America and Africa regions grew 28%, 24% and 23%, respectively.
Startup airline Global Air Cargo applied for a certificate to operate primarily on a wet-lease basis for other carriers, but also in what it sees as a market for charter cargo operations out of North Carolina. Global's principal shareholder is Gene Sharp, chairman, president and chief executive, who owns 43.6% of the outstanding shares, followed by David Vander Lugt, 20.5%; John Paschal, 20.5%, and William Carico, 11.4%.
Several Asia-Pacific airlines have abandoned service to Cambodia after a civil war erupted in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, Dragonair, Vietnam Airlines and Singapore-based SilkAir all suspended service to the Cambodian capital since the weekend fighting began. Cambodia's own Royal Air Cambodge, with two 737s, stopped service as well, according to press reports. Pochentong Airport in Phnom Penh was closed on Monday and airline officials did not know when it would be re-opened.
The 10 largest U.S. carriers improved their on-time and mishandled baggage performance in May, but consumer complaints increased over both May 1996 and April 1997. Denied boardings, reported on a quarterly basis, were higher in the January-March period than in the first quarter of 1996 but lower than in the fourth quarter of 1996.
World Airways reported block hours flown in June for continuing operations - excluding June 1996 data for scheduled service it has ended - totaled 3,446, up 33% from 2,592 last June. For the first six months of the year, block hours rose 10% to 24,150 from 22,007.
If the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants (IFFA) has its way, it will become the third union to overthrow another at a U.S. airline in the past year. This time, the target is Continental and the union is the Machinists (IAM). Virtually defunct since its own president sided with the Machinists union last October and helped the IAM oust it as the representative of TWA's flight attendants, IFFA is campaigning at Continental to generate enough interest to seek an election with the National Mediation Board and supplant the IAM there.
Sabre has been granted U.S. patents for five systems and one enabling technology it developed to gather real-time text, video, audio and combined data, and to distribute them through existing transmission circuits. The five systems are Availability Processor, CRSSim, the Shell Communication Interface Program, SQLMapper and Datawise, an interactive analysis system. Sabre described Availability Processor as a reservations inventory control that enables transportation companies and hotels to maximize revenue through revenue or yield management.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Revenues and Expenses The Year 1996 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Carrier Revenues Change American Trans Air 716,123,044 4.97 Carnival 263,517,370 7.67 Hawaiian 384,472,778 10.83 Midwest Express 270,598,697 18.14
Industry veteran Lee Steele has been named president of Carnival Air Lines, managing Carnival's business and the pending merger with Pan Am. Steele has held executive positions with MGM Grand Air, Arrow Air and Eastern Airlines. He replaces Ray Vecci, who is leaving to accept a senior position with Northwest Airlines.
United is objecting to the American-Philippine Airlines code-share proposal unless the Philippine government agrees to permit all designated airlines from both countries to operate cooperative marketing agreements with any non-designated airline holding appropriate authority. One example : United should be permitted to code share to points beyond Manila with any Philippine carrier authorized to serve those points, regardless of whether the Philippine carrier is designated under the U.S.-Philippine bilateral.
Ryanair is buying a 737-200 aircraft currently in service with TAP Air Portugal. The self-financed purchase will increase the low-cost Irish carrier's fleet to 20 by November - it currently operates 15 737-200s, and four more aircraft are due for delivery this year. It said the TAP aircraft "will give additional capacity for growth and development of Ryanair's route network in the coming years." Ryanair currently operates 118 scheduled flights daily to the U.K., within Ireland and to continental Europe.
British Airways, counting down the hours before a potential three-day flight attendant strike, has canceled about 60% of its scheduled service tomorrow, regardless of whether a last-minute reprieve makes it unnecessary. Contingency plans announced yesterday would force the cancellation of hundreds of flights, including most of BA's international service from London Heathrow. A strike by the 9,000-member British Airlines Steward and Stewardess Association (BASSA), representing British Airways flight attendants, is due to begin tomorrow at 6 a.m.
KLM reached an agreement yesterday to acquire the portion of Air UK Holdings stock it does not hold, increasing its stake in the British carrier to 100%. The Dutch airline, which had owned 45% of Air UK, will buy the remaining 55% from British Air Transport Holdings Ltd. The deal is subject to European Commission approval, and KLM said Air UK will continue to operate as an independent airline based at London Stansted, and its board of directors will not change.
Japan Airlines and South African Airways signed an agreement to conduct twice-weekly code-share flights between Osaka Kansai Airport and Johannesburg via Bangkok starting Oct. 2. JAL said the deal makes it the first Japanese carrier to offer service between its home country and South Africa. The flights will be operated by SAA 747-200s configured for 16 seats in first class, 47 in business and 232 in coach. JAL gets two seats in first class, eight in business and 60 in coach.
American, which was the first airline to depart from Washington National Airport when the facility opened in 1941, will be the first carrier to depart from the new terminal July 27. To celebrate the event, American is seeking memorabilia from its operations in 1941 - ticket stubs, baggage tags - and will provide free travel in exchange. It is offering roundtrip tickets for two people to the first five customers who have authentic souvenirs. American and now-defunct Eastern Airlines were the two original airlines serving National.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Revenues and Expenses Fourth Quarter 1996 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Carrier Revenues Change American Trans Air 140,172,793 (10.47) Carnival 56,520,762 (7.09) Hawaiian 93,188,243 0.66
Reno Air's interim Chief Financial Officer, J.T. Fisher, has left the company to take a position with a major airline, the carrier said, and Reno expects to name a permanent replacement this week. Fisher joined Reno in 1994 as director of planning and was named interim CFO early this year.
Vanguard Airlines recorded a 4% decline in traffic in June, when its revenue passenger miles dropped from 72.8 million a year earlier to 70 million. Available seat miles rose 8% to 108.4 million from 100.2 million, resulting in a load factor decline of 8.1 percentage points to 64.6%. For the first six months of the year, traffic was up 27% to 429.9 million RPMs, ASMs rose 39% to 714.9 million, and the load factor dropped 5.4 points to 60.2%.
Spanish pilot union Sindicato Espanol de Pilotos de Lineas Aereas has called for 15 days of strikes at Spanish airline Spanair from July 14 to 21 and July 30 to Aug. 6. The union claims it is being "persecuted" by Spanair, which it says is not abiding by its current labor agreement. Spanair, 49% owned by SAS, would suffer heavily from the strikes, because the summer is a period of high activity for Spanish airlines. The pilots of Air Europa, another Spanish carrier, called off 12 days of strikes that were to have been spread out over the entire summer.
The European Civil Aviation Conference's 36 member countries will "take all necessary steps" after April 1, 1999, to exclude from their carriers' fleets aircraft that have been hushkitted only to meet the minimum requirements of Chapter 3 noise standards. The action, taken last week in Strasbourg, "sends a clear signal" to current and future operators to avoid increasing fleet noise by using hushkitted airplanes, ECAC President-elect Andre Auer said.
The Air France group is reducing its planned schedule in July, August and September in order to avoid last-minute cancellations resulting from a shortage of pilots. The changes, affecting short- and medium-haul flights, will reduce the July-August flight program by 8%. Capacity will return gradually to planned levels in September. Air France has launched a recruiting program aimed at hiring 450 new pilots over the next three years.
US Airways traffic increased 8.5% in June on 4.8% more capacity, which pushed the load factor up 2.6 percentage points to 75.2%. Domestic traffic rose 7.6% on 3.9% more capacity while international traffic grew 17.7% on a 14.4% increase in capacity. For the first half of 1997, traffic rose 11.2% on 6.3% more capacity. June 1997 June 1996 6 Months 1997 6 Months 1996 RPMs 3,708,871,000 3,417,135,000 20,852,596,000 18,753,417,000 ASMs 4,932,814,000 4,705,736,000 29,345,981,000 27,615,830,000
