Fire And Air: A Life On The Edge by Patty Wagstaff. Tells the life story of the three-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion and top-ranked female pilot. Chicago Review Press; $24.95 hardcover. For more information, call Kathy Mirkin, 312-337-0747.
White House has sent to the Senate the nomination of George Donohue as deputy FAA administrator, but the Senate will not be able to act on it until after the Independence Day recess. Some at FAA fear the recent controversies surrounding the Wide Area Augmentation System and Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System could have a negative impact on Donahue's confirmation.
Swissair has taken results from a frequent flyer survey and revamped the way it feeds passengers. After passengers expressed a desire for fresher inflight meals, the airline became the first to introduce organically grown food in all classes of service. By 2000, Swissair wants 90% of its inflight food to be organically grown.
Allied Pilots Association members at American have elected Rich LaVoy president in a runoff election. The New York-based pilot received 59% of the vote to replace Jim Sovich, who lost his re-election. Robert Morgan was elected secretary/treasurer, garnering 51% of the vote. Morgan, LaVoy and Brian Mayhew, who was elected VP earlier, will assume their positions officially July 1.
Delta has promoted Bill Crumbley, director of international reservations, sales and service, to managing director of The Delta Shuttle, effective tomorrow. He takes Hiram Cox's position, who recently became corporate controller. Crumbley will be responsible for the Shuttle's business unit, its vision and strategies.
Hainan Airlines completed a public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the first Chinese company with foreign shareholders to list on China's domestic markets. The company offered 71 million shares at $0.47 per share, representing 15% of Hainan's outstanding shares and raising $32 million. The airline's listing was expected to be well- received because of its foreign ownership. American Aviation, an investment fund created specifically to buy an interest in Hainan Airlines, is partially owned by financier George Soros.
China Southern Airlines has filed for an initial public offering that is expected to draw investors from several countries. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, China Southern said it intends to offer more than one billion Class H common shares, including 353.5 million shares that will be offered to the U.S. market. Goldman Sachs is leading the global offering, with underwriting assistance from Credit Suisse, First Boston, Paine-Webber and Smith Barney.
ValuJet may decide to suspend its bus service bringing passengers from outlying areas to Atlanta Hartsfield (DAILY, June 6), a DOT official said. Deputy Assistant Secretary Patrick Murphy told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday that for security reasons, FAA was insisting that baggage be screened through Hartsfield's existing system, preventing ValuJet from offering passengers the convenience of checking bags straight to the airplane, screening them at the bus stop.
United Chairman Gerald Greenwald said Wednesday the "single ugliest tax" being considered by Congress is the Senate version, not the House version. The statement was incorrectly expressed in United's employee communications, which The DAILY obtained.
Vanguard Airlines is lowering its seven-day advance purchase fares on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tickets must be purchased by July 11 for travel completed by Nov. 19. Sample one-way fares are $110 between Denver and Atlanta, and $49 between Kansas City and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Swiss watch maker Fortis is pushing its line of pilot and cosmonaut watches through Chelsia Marketing and Sales of San Diego, Calif. The company offers a line of automatic chronographs aimed at com-mercial, military and recreational pilots in the U.S. One watch features a Valjoux 7750 movement with stop second, central second counter, 12-hour-counter, day-and-date indication, fine timing device and a shock absorber. The movement runs at 28,800 semi-vibrations per hour. The watch also is available in a GMT model with a 24-hour sub-dial.
FAA plans to order airlines to replace the internal rate gyroscopes in the yaw damper couplers of all older series Boeing 737s. Airlines also will have to verify the integrity of the yaw damper coupler. FAA said the actions are "intended to prevent sudden uncommanded yawing of the airplane due to potential failures within the yaw damper system and consequent injury to passengers and crewmembers. The actions expand a proposed AD issued last August to require tests to verify the integrity of the yaw damper coupler and replacement of the solenoid valve, if necessary.
Continental's BusinessFirst class was named best transatlantic business- class product by Entrepreneur magazine. The publication cited the carrier's sleeper seat with 55 inches of legroom, plus its inflight food and entertainment.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association said yesterday it has withdrawn a threat to picket at Hailey Airport, Idaho, after reaching an agreement on working conditions with Midwest Services, which employs the controllers at the resort airport.
Aircraft Braking System Systems Corp. said it was elected by Messier-Dowty to design and produce the braking system for Raytheon's new Hawker Horizon midsize business jet. The aircraft, featuring a composite fuselage and metal supercritical wing, will carry eight to 12 passengers up to 3,400 nautical miles at Mach 0.84.
Air Jamaica, British Airways, Hyatt Hotels and Hertz Car Rental have been nominated for the World's Leading Travel Innovation Award at the Fourth Annual World Travel Awards Ceremony in New York.
Nippon Cargo Airlines will open an offline office in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. NCA will operate a road feeder service from DFW Airport to connect to its six weekly frequencies from Los Angeles to Japan and beyond.
DOT orally approved a United/Mexicana request for code-share authority for 179 days in 18 of the 21 markets requested. DOT deferred action on Chicago-Puerto Vallarta, Miami-Cancun and Newark-Cancun.
Siemens, U.K., has handed over the first of 14 specially built express trains for use on the Heathrow Express service to BAA Chief Executive John Egan. The light rail service, scheduled for launch in June 1998, will provide a 15-minute connection between London Paddington rail station and London Heathrow Airport every 15 minutes. A full check-in facility is under construction at Paddington and will open at the same time.
Virgin Atlantic has relaunched its Gatwick to New York (Newark) service, first operated in 1984. The airline moved a number of flights to London Heathrow in 1991 but is now expanding again at Gatwick. A spokeswoman for the airline said Virgin decided to expand its services at Gatwick because the airport now has become a "successful international hub." Included in the plans for Gatwick is building an arrivals lounge, planned late this year.
Finnair has acquired the Unisys airline revenue enhancement system, which is "expected to increase the Helsinki-based carrier's profitability by tens of millions of dollars a year," Unisys said. The airline also will use Unisys reservations and departure control applications.
U.S. airlines are forecast to post lower year-over-year earnings in the second quarter, analysts say, because of lower yields and the lingering effects of industry-wide ticket taxes that were dormant a year ago but are back in force this quarter. "The factors affecting 1997 earnings will come from two areas: ticket tax effects and fuel price effects," said PaineWebber analyst Sam Buttrick. Last year at this time, fuel prices were higher than they are currently.
