Continental agreed to buy 3,842,542 shares of its class B common stock from David Bonderman-led Air Partners L.P. for $94.2 million cash. The purchase will reduce Air Partners' stake in Continental to 9.5%.
Lufthansa CityLine reported a pre-tax profit of 6.5 million Deutschmarks ($3.8 million) in 1996, slightly lower than the previous year's DM7 million ($4.1 million) but higher than expected. CityLine is completing its costly conversion to an all-jet fleet, and operated 29 Canadair RJs and 17 Avro RJ85s as of March 31. The carrier retired its last four Fokker 50s in the first quarter and now operates only regional jets. CityLine carried three million passengers for the first time, rising 17.5%. Total revenues jumped 38% to DM1.4 billion ($826.3 million).
FAA has purchased 35 acres near Falcon Field Airport, Ga., and will build a new terminal radar approach control facility there, Southern Region Administrator Carolyn Blum said yesterday. The new Tracon will be relocated from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. The $56.3 million project includes $14.2 million for land and construction and $41.6 million for equipment and telecommunications. Construction begins next March and commissioning is scheduled in July 2000.
Citing substantial losses on its Jetstream 41 program, British Aerospace yesterday announced plans to halt production of the 30-passenger regional turboprop once it fulfills remaining commitments. The company, which reduced production on the J41 from 22 to 12 a year after garnering only 13 orders for the aircraft last year, has contracts for six more J41s and expects to cease production by yearend.
Raytheon Aircraft received FAA certification to manufacture the Hawker mid- size jet. The U.S. company purchased the program from British Aerospace in 1993.
McDonnell Douglas said yesterday it has instructed all operators of its MD Explorer helicopters not to fly them until further notice because a faulty part must be redesigned. The company also notified FAA of its action, which follows the discovery of a broken adjustable collective drive link during a post-flight inspection on May 8. The assembly is a component of the rotor head system.
All Nippon Airways yesterday abandoned a plan to install Kenzo Yoshikawa as president and chief executive and instead selected Kichisaburo Nomura to lead the airline. The shakeup followed by two weeks President Seiji Fukatsu's announcement of his resignation after an internal struggle with the board of directors (DAILY, May 14). Two other ANA leaders, Honorary Chairman Tokuji Wakasa and Chairman Takaya Sugiura, also resigned at yesterday's board meeting, said Masashi Izumi, ANA director of international and government affairs.
BAA plc Chief Executive John Egan said his company will not oppose freezing night flights at London Heathrow Airport at the current level and limiting parking facilities there as a condition for approval of a fifth terminal. In a circular distributed to half a million homes near Heathrow, Egan acknowledged that an airport "will never be the ideal neighbor" but said BAA will step up current measures to enforce noise limits at Heathrow - fines for aircraft that exceed the limits and landing fee discounts for quiet aircraft.
Rohr reported net income of $10.8 million for its third fiscal quarter, which ended May 4, up from $4.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier, in which the company took a $500,000 charge for the exchange of convertible notes for common stock. Sales were up 22% to $249.3 million, primarily from increased commercial deliveries. Operating income was $27.8 million, up from $18.6 million, and the operating margin was 11.2%.
Maverick Airways, the Denver-based startup that suspended scheduled operations this week, was undone by having no beyond-Denver connecting passengers and no frequent-flyer program. The carrier served Grand Junction and Steamboat Springs with DHC-7s and code shared with Frontier, but a source close to the situation said it was unable to wrest connecting United passengers from United Express Mesa, and the local traffic was insufficient to sustain the operation. Load factors were said to be in the 30% to 40% range. Maverick started service in January.
TWA is promising frequent flyer customers 1,000 extra miles if their domestic flights do not arrive on time during June. Rod Brandt, senior VP- marketing and planning, said at TWA, "we are putting our miles where our mouth is." The carrier will give the miles to any member of the Frequent Flight Bonus program whose flight arrives more than 15 minutes late - the DOT standard for a late flight - or who is booked on a flight that is canceled after passengers have boarded. TWA's on-time performance has increased over the past six months.
Travel Industry Association has created a Travel and Tourism Coalition with 26 member businesses and industry organizations. The coalition "will be kept informed on a regular basis about legislative issues that TIA is pursuing on behalf of the industry," TIA President and Chief Executive William Norman said, "and views will be solicited concerning the most appropriate responses regarding those issues." Issues include permanent extension of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program, National Tourism Organization funding and transportation reauthorization.
Final assembly of the first 100-seat MD-95-30 began Saturday at Long Beach, Calif., when workers lowered the first center fuselage barrel onto the wing, Douglas Aircraft Co. reported. Workers soon will join all three fuselage sections and attach the nose and empennage, and the aircraft is scheduled to be standing on its landing gear by the end of June. The fuselage was built by Alenia in Italy and the wing by McDonnell Douglas- Canada. Tracor mated the wing halves, which will be built by Hyundai in Seoul beginning next year.
European airworthiness authorities agreed Tuesday to a Rolls-Royce plan to adopt the Trent 800 engine's gearbox lubrication scheme on the Trent 700 after a series of inflight shutdowns blamed on the gearbox led Airbus A330 operators Cathay Pacific and Dragonair to ground the aircraft (DAILY, May 28), a Rolls spokesman said yesterday.
Hankyu International Transport is expanding operations in Los Angeles with a move to a larger terminal. The company also transferred its corporate headquarters from New York Kennedy to Los Angeles. Hankyu attributes its moves to growing cargo volume to and from Pacific Rim nations.
Emirates will add service to Asia June 1 with flights from Dubai to Singapore, Jakarta and Colombo, Sri Lanka, using new 777s. "The move is in direct response to the burgeoning demand" for passenger and cargo service, the airline said. Capacity will increase 36% to Colombo, 50% to Jakarta and 23% to Singapore. Emirates configures its five 777s with 49 seats in business class and 304 in economy. Two more 777s will join the fleet in September.
AirNet Systems, which flies time-critical shipments to 90 cities in 40 states with 99 aircraft, said its second quarter revenues increased 22.4%, to $22.2 million from $18.2 million. Net income was $3.1 million, up from $2.1 million. Both amounts represent records for the quarter, which ended March 31.
A possible replacement for the passenger ticket tax drafted by House Joint Committee on Taxation staff would reduce the 10% tax to 8% but phase in an additional $3-per-passenger tax over five years. The draft, presented late last week to the Ways and Means Committee's task force on transportation taxes, would eliminate the existing ticket tax exemption on the domestic portion of international flights or increase the international departure tax by $3 to $6, sources said.
Association of Flight Attendants unit at United says 95% of all contract issues in ongoing talks have tentative agreements, and a final wage proposal is the only remaining issue. The union's leaders, after reviewing the company's last offer, passed a resolution stating that in light of $2.5 billion in profits in the past two years the proposal is unacceptable. It then directed the negotiating team to seek a new compensation package. Negotiations are scheduled to resume next week in Honolulu.
Abacus said it is the first computer reservations system in India to issue an automated ticket. Suresh Bathija, managing director of Global Travel Agency in Mumbai, said agents and airlines are now "assured of getting their payment from the air transactions on time."
Integrated Lodging Service, Scottsdale, Ariz., is offering airlines a Layover Management System Release 1.0. The company said more than 49 million hotel rooms are occupied each year by airline crewmembers, and its product will help reduce the cost of such layovers. The LMS server network creates room reservations and provides daily change management, daily confirmation with crew details, transportation management, tax management, monthend reconciliation and customized reporting.
First Japanese-built structural parts for the 777-300 have arrived in Everett, Wash., Boeing said. The first 777-300, expected to replace early versions of the 747, will be delivered to Cathay Pacific a year from now. The wing in-spar ribs, designed and built by Japan Aircraft Manufacturing Co., are among several major components built for Boeing by a consortium of Japanese aerospace manufacturers. Airframe structures are produced by Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji. ShinMaywa builds the wing-to-body fairings.
British Airways Chief Robert Ayling is in demand these days as a witness at congressional hearings.Yesterday, Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) invited him to testify before a second hearing on competition issues raised by the American-BA alliance; DeWine and others criticized Ayling for not appearing at the first one last month. Ayling is already scheduled tentatively to appear before the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee June 4 and the House Transportation aviation subcommittee June 11.
