American and American Eagle are cutting fares for the Independence Day holiday. One-day advance purchase fares range from $128 to $298 roundtrip in most markets, depending on distance. Outbound travel must occur July 4, after noon, or July 5 and the return flight July 5, 7 or 8. Flights may not begin and end on the same day. Continental was the first to match the fares.
The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) has conducted a reality check and determined it is more likely to reach a contract agreement by Oct. 1 than by July 1, the target set by the company and believed possible by the union when talks began 45 days ago. The IACP said the company's latest offers for Continental and Continental Express pilots were woefully short of expectations.
A cockpit system designed to give pilots real-time information on weather conditions around the country and potentially the world will undergo flight tests on a United DC-10 under a contract with NASA's Langley Research Center, McDonnell Douglas said. The Cockpit Weather Information System (CWIN), developed by a consortium led by McDonnell Douglas Advanced Transport Aircraft Systems, Long Beach, Calif., will be evaluated for six months.
Federal Express announced the end of fuel surcharges it imposed last winter and said it will introduce three service enhancements this month and in July. The company dropped surcharges April 15 on International Express Freight and Airport-to-Airport services originating in Europe and Latin America, and on June 1 it eliminated surcharges on the same services originating in the U.S., Canada and Asia. It will do away with surcharges Aug. 1 on U.S. domestic service and International Priority shipments originating in the U.S. The upcoming service improvements are:
Air Wisconsin, a United Express affiliate, posted a 13.7% traffic gain in May to 48.8 million revenue passenger miles, compared with May 1996. Capacity dropped 3.4% to 74.8 million available seat miles, driving the load factor up 9.7 percentage points to 65.2%, while enplanements grew 10.7% to 151,228. May 1997 May 1996 5 Months 1997 5 Months 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------ RPMs 48,786,000 42,923,000 240,779 200,383
Shuttle By United, aiming to pare costs further and boost efficiency, plans to "de-peak" its West Coast schedule. "One of our main areas of focus is to de-peak the operation to improve [aircraft] utilization and to reduce costs," said Amos Kazzaz, VP-Shuttle. In this lower-cost and lower-yield operation, delays brought on by rush-hour congestion can determine whether a flight is profitable or not, and by taking some flights out of peak periods at San Francisco and Los Angeles, Kazzaz expects the Shuttle and United's mainline operation to become more efficient.
DOT Wednesday made final its initial order to deny the renewal of El Al exemptions to operate combination service from Israel to Baltimore/Washington, Dallas/Fort Worth and Orlando in retaliation for Israel's failure to grant New York-Athens-Tel Aviv service by Tower Air (DAILY, May 23). The El Al service is operated via a wet-lease by North American Airlines, which like El Al and a number of civic authorities objected to the show-cause order proposing termination (DAILY, May 30).
Federal Trade Commission and European Commission competition officials will meet today in Washington to review their assessments of Boeing Co.'s proposed acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp., Alexander Schaub, EC director-general for competition, said yesterday. Speaking in Washington at a European Institute breakfast for news media and business people, Schaub said national security will be a factor when the EC reviews European aerospace consolidation - an approach Boeing has advocated for the McDonnell Douglas deal.
Great Lakes, which earlier this spring said it would cease its Midway Connection service Nov. 1, has accelerated that schedule by opting not to resume the Midway Connection flights after voluntarily suspending all flight operations under pressure from FAA May 16 (DAILY, May 20). Great Lakes began Midway Connection services Oct. 1, 1995, and the operation had grown to 12 aircraft used and 15 communities served. It said it would help affected employees find other employment.
Top 25 City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers Fourth Quarter 1996 Short 1996 Average Haul Markets Non-Stop Passenger Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day 1 2 Chicago - New York 723 7,269 2 3 Honolulu - Kahului 100 7,107 3 4 Boston - New York 183 7,054
Det Norske Veritas, Oslo, Norway, has decided to remain the owner of U.S. aviation consulting company Avitas "after exploring the possibility of a management buyout," Avitas said yesterday. John Vitale, who has been VP- asset valuation and chief appraiser, will be president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Lawrence Crawford, "who has resigned to pursue other business interests," Avitas reported.
Alaska Airlines reported a 2% traffic gain in May on 0.7% less capacity, which pushed the load factor up 1.8 percentage points to 66.7%. For the first five months of 1997, its traffic has risen 7.4% on 1.5% more capacity. May 97 May 96 5 Mths 97 5 Mths 96 RPMs 842,000,000 825,000,000 4,007,000,000 3,729,000,000 ASMs 1,262,000,000 1,270,000,000 6,059,000,000 5,967,000,000 LoadFtr% 66.7 64.9 66.1 62.5
Despite reassurances last month by a key White House adviser that the U.S. was not altering its goal of signing an open skies agreement with Japan (DAILY, May 2), Northwest and at least one key U.S. senator are trying to stiffen the U.S. spine. Northwest Chief Executive John Dasburg, speaking yesterday before the U.S./ASEAN Business Council in Detroit, praised Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) for writing Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that "Japan's record of compliance with market-opening agreements is abysmal." Helms warned the U.S.
Opponents of congressionally mandated FAA overflight fee implementation can count three more senators in their corner - Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), member of the Senate Commerce Committee. The three wrote Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and DOT Secretary Rodney Slater that they shared the concern of Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) that the U.S.
Continental Express revenue passenger miles rose 22.2% in May to 95.7 million, while capacity increased just 16% to 171.4 million available seat miles. The resulting load factor was 55.9%, up 2.8 percentage points from May 1996. The carrier said it would resume summer service from its Newark hub to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket on June 12 and Hyannis on June 20. Service to the Cape and Islands markets will increase July 1, the carrier said. May 1997 May 1996 5 Months 1997 5 Months 1996
Independent U.K. carrier, British World Airlines, has added two ATPs to its fleet which now comprises five BAC-111s, two ATR 72s, three Viscounts and seven BAe 146s. Sales director of British World Airlines, Mike Sessions, confirmed that the airline would add more ATPs to the fleet if it becomes a success. He welcomed the fact that the ATP can operate out of most airports without any restrictions and as a pure freighter its capacity is 7,000 to 7,500 kilograms.
Eagle Canyon Airlines flew 22,950 passengers on routes from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon and Laughlin, Nev., in this year's first quarter, a 39% increase from first quarter 1996 and a record, airline President Grant Murray said.
American said yesterday that slots for 23 daily roundtrips - suggested by GAO to spur competition at London Heathrow with approval of the American-BA alliance - could be found through new slot creation, transfer from partners or purchase from other carriers. No slots need come from American or BA, American's analysis finds.
Apollo Travel Services has acquired the exclusive rights to TravelWare software, a Windows-based accounting and management system that eventually will replace Apollo's TS2000 XL system. TravelWare was acquired from Systems Development Corp., Englewood, Colo. Apollo said the system will meet the accounting, reporting and data management needs of agencies of any size.
Delta has restructured its corporate control and treasury functions into three departments - controller, treasurer and financial planning and analysis. Ed West has been promoted to VP-financial planning and analysis and Hiram Cox, former head of the Delta Shuttle, to corporate controller. Delta expects to name a new treasurer soon.
ValuJet confirmed it has signed a deal with Greyhound for bus service to Atlanta from Dalton and Macon, Ga., and Chattanooga, Tenn., beginning June 19 (DAILY, June 4). The FlightLink service will be free until Aug. 21, after which it will cost $14 one way for Atlanta-Macon and $20 for Dalton- and Chattanooga-Atlanta.
Mesaba Airlines could see its annual operating revenues jump by $45 million-$50 million and operating profit by $4 million-$5 million by fiscal 1999 as a result of its taking over the Minneapolis/St. Paul routes of fellow Northwest Airlink Express Airlines I under a new agreement with senior partner Northwest. Operating revenues in the most recent fiscal year totaled $185 million, compared with $151 million in the prior fiscal year.
FAA officials overseeing implementation of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) have told contractor Raytheon Electronic Systems they propose to elevate STARS software development to "high risk status" because of delays in meeting milestones. FAA and Raytheon have been discussing possible schedule problems since last year (DAILY, Dec. 13), but both sides reported in January that they had resolved differences on requirements for the program (DAILY, Jan. 10).
Farmington, N.M.-based Mesa Air Group posted a 5.6% increase in May traffic to 120.8 million revenue passenger miles from 114.3 million in May 1996. Capacity climbed 9.2% to 221.8 million available seat miles, causing the load factor to decline 1.9 percentage points to 54.4% from 56.3%. Enplanements rose 6.1% to 585,984 from 552,412. May 1997 May 1996 5 Months 1997 5 Months 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------
British Midland reported pre-tax profits of $11.6 million in 1996, up 43% from $8.1 million in 1995. Revenue rose 7.8% to $782.1 million. The airline posted a 63.2% load factor last year, up 1.7 percentage points, and it carried 5.8 million passengers in scheduled service, up from 5 million. The carrier attributed the improvements to the introduction of its Diamond EuroClass business-class service on U.K. domestic routes and the traffic flow at London Heathrow from 17 code-share partners.
