Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Ansett Australia and Ansett International have formed the largest airline alliance in the Asia/Pacific region. The carrier have agreed to code share, purchase jointly, market collectively and share information technology and cargo operations. They will share capacity planning functions, integrate scheduling and create and maintain travel products jointly. The partnership follows recently strengthened aviation ties between the governments of Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
U.S. major airlines will average a 70.9% load factor this year, according to Bankers Trust, up from 69.9% in 1996 and 67.3% in 1995. Northwest is forecast to keep its top position at 73.5%. The lowest forecast is Alaska's 66.2%.
British Airways is committed to fly the Concorde at least through 2005, and it seems the airline's supersonic passengers will keep coming back as long as BA operates it. Of those using the profitable service, 82% are repeat customers.
United Parcel Service wants to change its service pattern to points in Mexico. Filing for an exemption and for an amendment to its certificate, the carrier wants to start flying two new routes: San Antonio-Mexico City- Houston with a 727-200, and Houston-Guadalajara-San Antonio with a 727-100. No new cities would be served - UPS now flies San Antonio-Guadalajara and Houston-Mexico City. But San Antonio-Mexico City and Houston-Guadalajara would be new city-pairs for the carrier. UPS also needs to get double designation from the U.S.
FAA Associate Administrator and Deputy Administrator-designate George Donohue has transferred the director of communications, navigation and surveillance to express dissatisfaction with Wide Area Augmentation System cost overruns, according to sources.Loni Czekalski, moved to the Office of Information Technology, believes she is being scapegoated, sources say. Donohue accused her of failing to bring under-reporting of WAAS costs to his attention, sources say, but Czekalski believes Donohue knew about the overruns last October.
Failing to insist on open skies with Japan "would be akin to a poker player folding when he was holding four aces," Northwest Chief John Dasburg told the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee last week. U.S.
United is asking DOT not to renew and expand Delta-Korean Airlines code- share operations, apparently objecting to a Korean government refusal to accept the third-country code share rights that are part of the standard open skies agreement. United thus joins the battle over U.S.-Korea aviation relations, which has been driven for more than a year by two efforts - U.S. attempts to negotiate an open skies agreement and protests by World Airways that Korea's denial of beyond service from Seoul violates the existing bilateral.
American and Philippine Airlines applied for the right to place PAL's code on American flights from Los Angeles to Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York, Newark and Washington Dulles; San Francisco to Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and New York; and Vancover to New York. PAL's application takes advantage of unused destinations permitted under the bilateral; the Philippines flights will originate in Manila. (Docket OST- 97-2633)
Northwest won the Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil award for crisis communications. The award recognized the airline's response to a local television station's investigative series on safety at NWA, which aired in April and May 1996. Northwest claimed, and the Minnesota News Council agreed, that the station engaged in deceptive journalistic practices.
The Senate Finance Committee late Thursday eliminated Chairman William Roth's (R-Del.) proposed 10% passenger ticket tax on the portion of international flights occurring within U.S.-controlled airspace, adopting instead a 10% tax on the domestic segment of international journeys and international departure and arrival taxes of $8. The committee left in place the 10% domestic passenger ticket tax, preserving the victory won by low-fare carriers in the Senate version.
American will "celebrate" Foreign Object Damage Day on Wednesday with food, music and prizes at locations in the U.S. and Canada. The carrier aims to rid the tarmac of FOD, such as nuts, bolts and tools, which damaged 274 aircraft last year and cost millions of dollars in delays and cancellations.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Balance Sheet As of April 30, 1997 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) $ 805.78 Receivables: Interest Receivables TOTAL RECEIVABLES $ 117,053,549.71 Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness 6-5/8% matures 06/30/96
Servisair appointed Carol Andrewartha station manager at Bournemouth Airport, the ground-handler's newest operation. $end 505 NAMES IN AVIATION: Industry Siemens AG Siemens AG named Steve Rauch president of ADB Alnaco Inc., a U.S. operating company of Siemens.
Southwest Airlines' flight attendants, represented by the Transport Workers Union, last week voted 3,123 to 283 to reject a new contract offer, raising questions about the closeness of TWU leadership to its members.
National Association of State Aviation Officials will conduct its 66th annual meeting Sept. 5-10 at the Adams Mark Hotel, Tulsa, Okla. Topics at technical sessions will include changes at FAA, NASA's role in aviation and the use of the Global Positioning System in civil aviation.
Most carriers charge higher fares in markets they dominate, but not Southwest. In the top 1,000 city-pairs for which DOT compiled third- quarter-1996 fare data, Northwest is the dominant carrier in 88 but offers the lowest fare in only 15. United had the lowest fare in 20 of 138 markets it dominates, American in 21 of 108, Delta in 25 of 123, and Southwest in 153 of 191.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic April 1997 Revenue Ton-Miles (000) April April % 1997 1996 Change Domestic Freight 752,045 679,608 10.7 Mail 155,647 146,521 6.2 Total 907,692 826,129 9.9 International Freight 704,087 589,769 19.4
Scheduled Airlines Traffic Offices (SATO) is embroiled in a lawsuit with a small Boulder, Colo. computer company, Objective Inc., over a customized travel management software system. While SATO claims breach of contract and breach of warranty, Objective argues that SATO "duped" it into thinking it and SATO would market the software jointly to airlines for hundreds of millions of dollars, split 50-50. Instead, SATO terminated its agreement with Objective and reengineered the software, Objective claims.
Mountain Air Express, the regional subsidiary of Western Pacific, has posted new schedules from its new Denver hub, where it will move this summer from Colorado Springs. The carrier intends to compete with jet service in a number of markets. MAX will fly to Salt Lake City, a 381- statute-mile stage, against 15 daily United and Delta jet flights; Tulsa, 549 miles, against four daily jet flights; Oklahoma City, 500 miles, against five daily jet flights; Colorado Springs, 67 miles, against 10 United jet flights, and Albuquerque, 11 daily jet frequencies.
