Aspen Mountain Air/Lone Star is negotiating with Fairchild Dornier for up to eight former Horizon Air Do 328 high-speed turboprops. The 30- passenger aircraft will be used to expand operations at Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver, including a new DFW-Santa Fe route to be initiated June 25. The carrier also is looking at several other business-oriented markets and plans to increase frequency in the DFW-Chihuahua, Mexico, market. Horizon is replacing its fleet of 12 328s with new de Havilland Dash 8-200 aircraft but still operates five.
Alaska Airlines executives told shareholders they forecast a profitable year for Alaska and improvements in the third quarter for regional airline subsidiary Horizon Air. The airline "is in its best competitive position in years," said Chairman John Kelly. "Ultimately, however, the level of our overall profitability will be affected by industry actions in the fourth quarter."
Indigo Aviation, which trades and leases commercial jet transports to airlines, opened a U.S. office in Fort Lauderdale. The company, based in Malmo, Sweden, said the Florida facility will give it better access to U.S. capital markets and commercial aviation markets in North America and Latin America. It said it currently owns 20 jet aircraft on lease to 13 airlines in 12 countries.
Professional Services Council (PSC), which represents information technology firms, yesterday criticized FAA's award last Friday of a major contract to the Agriculture Department. George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisitions, suspended work on the contract Monday until the agency can address issues raised by industry about the award, a spokesman said. The Integrated Computing Environment-Mainframe and Networking (Iceman) contract could reach a value of $250 million.
National Transportation Safety Board wants FAA to require EMB-120 Brasilia operators to ensure that their operating manuals reflect FAA- approved minimum airspeeds for all flap settings and phases of flight, including in icing conditions. The recommendation is one of four NTSB issued this week as a result of its investigation of the Jan. 9 fatal Comair EMB-120 crash near Detroit, in which icing may have been a factor (DAILY, May 14). The board has not issued a probable cause determination in the accident.
DOT took the unusual step of denying El Al a route renewal for service from Israel to Baltimore/Washington, Dallas/Fort Worth and Orlando. North American Airlines has operated the service for El Al via wet-lease. DOT imposed the sanction because Israel has refused to permit Tower Air to fly New York-Athens-Tel Aviv. TWA served the route for years, and DOT designated Tower for it after TWA withdrew. United and Northwest opposed El Al, saying its request, which requires extrabilateral approval, was not justified by comity and reciprocity because Israel denied U.S.
US Airways Chairman Stephen Wolf's pronouncement to stockholders Wednesday that he was discussing regional jets with two manufacturers for use by wholly owned subsidiaries Allegheny Commuter, Piedmont and PSA came as a surprise even to employees. The carrier - at odds with its pilots - had long shunned the RJ notion, suggesting that Wolf's pronouncement might be a negotiating ploy. Aviation Systems Research analyst Michael Boyd said placing the jets into New York LaGuardia and Washington National on long, thin routes could be a "juggernaut for growth."
British Airways got much better prices from investors than from US Airways when it sold its interest in its former U.S. partner.When US Airways exercised its option to buy back some of BA's convertible preferred stock (DAILY, May 21), it received the equivalent of more than 4.8 million common shares in blocks priced at $26.50 per share and $24.63 per share. When BA converted the rest of the preferred into nearly 14.5 million common shares and sold them on the open market, the average price was $34.50 per share (DAILY, May 22).
Helijet Airways this week launched its scheduled helicopter service linking Seattle, Wash., Boeing Field and Victoria, British Columbia, Harbour Heliport, using 12-passenger S-76 aircraft (DAILY, April 11). The carrier, which already has a service linking Vancouver, B.C., and Victoria, operates five of the aircraft. Swedish company HelikopterService AB operates similar international short-haul, over-water service between Copenhagen International Airport in Denmark and the Swedish cities of Malmo and Helsingborg.
Allegheny County, Pa., commissioners voted this week to negotiate the long- term lease of Allegheny County Airport to COMARCO, Washington, D.C. The firm had the best financial offer - up to $1 million a year in lease payments and economic development spending - and agreed to move its airport services division headquarters to the county, said Gary Bishop, county aviation director.
...US Airways has informed Mesa that the service agreement between the two carriers may be amended, decreasing Mesa's share of joint fares by approximately 3%. Mesa said in its second fiscal-quarter 10-Q filing with the SEC that it is evaluating its US Airways Express agreement and that an alternative proposal has been discussed with the senior partner that would not decrease its Express revenues. Some 34% of Mesa's total capacity is dedicated to US Airways, versus 43% to United, 17% to America West and 6% to independent service.
U.S. Trade and Development Agency signed a $350,000 grant that will pay for a feasibility study on transitioning Chile from ground-based air traffic management to a satellite-based system. The grant could lead to U.S. exports of $61 million to Chile as it becomes the first Latin American country to adopt a Wide Area Augmentation System for use of Global Positioning System satellite data.
Great Lakes Aviation, which shut down last Saturday under FAA pressure but hoped to resume operations yesterday (DAILY, May 20, 21), has suspended flights indefinitely, a spokesman George Rasmusson said. "We still have not finalized a startup plan with FAA," Rasmusson said. "We are working on that at the same time we are performing inspections with FAA of our aircraft at our Spencer, Iowa, maintenance base." Rasmusson said inspections of four aircraft have been completed and "we are working on another four or five." The carrier has 53 aircraft.
Mesa Air Group has canceled the remaining 13 of a 25-airplane de Havilland Dash 8-200 order. The carrier was to have received the aircraft from early 1996 through March 1998. The delivery schedule was not met due to production delays, however, and Mesa was granted an option to cancel five of the aircraft. It exercised the option in late April, as well as canceling its order for the remaining eight undelivered units.
Siemens signed a four-year, $30 million agreement with Emery Worldwide for air freight services to its more than 600 office, research, manufacturing and assembly locations in the U.S.
Air New Zealand selected General Electric CF6-80C2 engines to power future Boeing 747-400 and 767-300 aircraft. The first ANZ 747-400 with CF6 power is to be delivered in September.
ValuJet President and Chief Executive Joseph Corr said this week his carrier will participate in mainstream computer reservations systems for the first time, and he challenged Delta to sell the LaGuardia slots he needs for service to the New York airport. The CRS announcement came at Wednesday's shareholders meeting in Atlanta. Listing access will come by midsummer, followed by online booking, Corr said. ValuJet will retain its own booking system, accounting for about 75% of sales.
Regional-airline revenue passenger miles slightly out-gained available seat miles during April, according to a sampling of 14 of the nation's leading regional carriers by The DAILY. Traffic for the 14 airlines increased an average of 5.75%, while capacity rose 5.05%. Mesaba Airlines, continuing expansion with its growing fleet of Saab 340s, saw its ASMs increase 29.3% during the month, while its traffic growth of 31.9% led the group of 14.
Bombardier reported revenues of C$1.7 billion for the April quarter, up from C$1.6 billion during the same period a year earlier. Net income was C$83.5 million, up from C$76.8 million.
The chairman and ranking Democrat on the House aviation subcommittee asked acting FAA Administrator Barry Valentine to give Part 135 operators some latitude as the agency implements congressionally mandated rules requiring employers to check work records of pilots before hiring them.
United Chairman Gerald Greenwald hopes his carrier's new customer service push will arrest the trend by which travelers book on United just for the bonus miles, not because it provides good service. "I don't want people to choose us because we're rich, I want people to choose us because we're pretty," he said.
Aviation authorities in Macau have begun talks on an air agreement with their counterparts in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. They also hope soon to complete an accord with Japan. Macau's pact with South Africa, made final in 1994, still awaits approval from the Chinese government body in Macau, which is responsible for agreements until December 1999, when Macau reverts to Chinese rule. The South African agreement was held up initially because the country had diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
FAA issued an airworthiness directive on McDonnell Douglas's newest transport, the MD-90, that sets compliance times for inspecting the 15 aircraft in service for fatigue cracking of principal structural elements.
TWA will increase by 60% the number of first-class seats in its narrowbody fleet in an attempt to attract more business travelers and upgrade more full-fare business passengers. Terming the first-class expansion the "centerpiece" of new perquisites it is offering business passengers, the airline intends to announce other enhancements during the summer. "When our fleet conversion is completed, many more business-fare travelers seeking upgrades will have two choices," said Rod Brandt, senior VP- marketing and planning.
Dismantling Boeing's "exclusive" contracts to supply Delta and American with aircraft for 20 years "would be a step in the right direction, but not sufficient" to win the European Commission's authorization for the company's merger with McDonnell Douglas, a European Union official said yesterday in Brussels. The long-term contracts are included in the EC's "statement of objections" sent to Boeing Wednesday as guidance on how the merger proposal can be made acceptable in Europe.
