Pieter Bouw, president of KLM for six years and with the airline for 30, resigned yesterday, saying the time was right for new leadership. The KLM Supervisory Board said it intends to support KLM Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Leo van Wijk to succeed Bouw and will name Peter Hartman a managing director. Bouw will leave Aug. 5, the date of KLM's annual meeting, and partner Northwest yesterday issued a four-line statement wishing Bouw well.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and Irish airport company Aer Rianta have proposed jointly to cooperate with Belgian airports Brussels Zaventem and Brussels South Charleroi. "Schiphol's managers sent a letter to the Belgian government in which they express interest for Brussels and Charleroi airport," a Schiphol spokesman confirmed last week in Amsterdam. He said "no concrete proposals" were made.
Air France has renamed one of its Concorde supersonic jets "Charles A. Lindbergh," honoring the aviation pioneer 70 years after his record solo flight across the Atlantic. Lindbergh's New York-Paris flight May 20-21, 1927, took 33.5 hours, nearly 10 times as long as a Concorde flight.
Dedication of a Voice Switching and Control System at the Jacksonville air route traffic control center completes the $1.6 billion program to improve communications between pilots and controllers at 21 such centers nationwide, FAA said yesterday. The digital software system can accommodate a peak traffic flow of more than 1,400 calls per minute. Its flexible design enables air traffic facilities to configure it to meet specific needs and respond to changes in traffic volume, weather conditions and controller workload.
KLM said yesterday net income for the fiscal year that ended March 31 plunged to less than half its 1995-96 level due to rising expenses and one- time charges to cover restructuring costs. The carrier's operating revenues rose nearly 9% for the period, but expenses increased faster. Management called the results "disappointing," but noted that growth in KLM's passenger traffic "clearly exceeded expectations." KLM's net income, including a tax rebate, was NLG236 million (US$123 million), down 57%.
British Airways is offering a 10% discount on all duty- and tax-free goods sold onboard its flights, except the Concorde. BA boasts its prices already are 30% lower than those in the shops, and the latest discount, valid until June 15, will take prices even lower. The airline recently published a new Shopping the World catalogue, offering goods priced from #3 to #349.
Precision Standard reported a loss of $2.5 million for the March quarter on sales of $35 million. During the same period in 1996, the company lost $2 million on sales of $26.5 million. Backlog increased to $431 million from $322 million.
President Clinton's willingness to appoint another Presidential Emergency Board weighs heavily on UPS's negotiations with its pilots union, the Independent Pilots Association. Both sides are lobbying their cases in Washington in case a strike develops. UPS is offering an 11.8% raise over six years, but the IPA wants 22%, which it says would cost about as much as a single 767 - $85 million.
Rohr said it completed a Super 27 re-engining modification for a Middle East government, the first since the former Valsan program was relaunched in August 1996. The aircraft is the 24th in the Super 27 fleet. FLS Aerospace, of the U.K., performed the installation in conjunction with Aircraft Products Management. The next modification is to begin in July. Five re-enginings of 727s to meet Stage 3 noise rules are expected this year and 12 more in 1998, the company said.
U.S.-Korea aviation talks concluded as scheduled after two days in Seoul, "advancing the process of movement toward open skies," Mark Gerchick, DOT deputy assistant secretary for aviation, said yesterday. Although no specific date was set for the next round of talks, both sides agreed to meet again, probably within the next two months, he said. U.S. officials say the pace of talks is much as expected, but other observers had hoped for more. One informed source said he would "not rule out a connection between overflight fees and the Korea talks.
Representatives of airlines, airports, private airport operators and general aviation voiced fundamental support yesterday for FAA's proposed guidelines for implementing the airport privatization pilot program, although more detailed analysis will be submitted by interested parties early next month. FAA proposes to begin accepting applications Dec. 1 for participation in the program, which is available for up to five airports under criteria set out by Congress last year (DAILY, April 22).
Many prospective employees who would fall under FAA's proposed requirement for fuller security background checks have a history of frequent job changes, worked for companies that did not keep good employment histories or are recent legal immigrants, according to the National Air Transportation Association.
US Airways' pilots union outlined yesterday the low-fare, short-haul US2 operation it is willing to create within the carrier, but Chairman Stephen Wolf said it would be too small to be an effective counter to low-fare competition. The US2 concept, using Southwest pay rates and Southwest- style efficiencies to beat back low-cost carriers and protect US Airways' core markets, is part of the "Plan for the Future" prepared by the airline's Air Line Pilots Association unit (DAILY, May 21).
British Airways yesterday sold its remaining stake in US Airways stock, severing all ties between the two, and taking in $625 million from two days of stock selling. After US Airways bought back some of BA's US Airways holdings Tuesday for $126 million, BA yesterday converted its remaining preferred stock to common stock and sold the 14.46 million shares for $499 million, or $34.50 per share. BA has not determined what it will do with the cash, a spokeswoman said.
Aeroflot, responding to growing numbers of Russian tourists, is launching services to Mediterranean destinations. Starting June 13, the Russian carrier will serve Faro, in southern Portugal, once a week with A310 aircraft. In the first week of May, Aeroflot started Ilyushin Il-86 flights to Monastir, a seaside resort in Tunisia.
Beauvais Tille Airport, 60 kilometers north of Paris, is attracting low- cost airlines away from the French capital's airport system. Following the launch May 1 of Ryanair's daily Beauvais-Dublin service, the chairman of French tour operator Nouvelles Frontires, Jacques Maillot, announced his company will begin serving Mediterranean destinations next year. Beauvais Airport Manager Jack Millet said the facility is in talks with Italy's Air One, Brussels-based Virgin Express and U.K. carrier EasyJet.
Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and Val Eggers, president, European Civil Aviation Conference, will speak next week in London at the Royal Aeronautical Society conference receiving progress reports on the Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) prototypes (DAILY, May 21).
KLM has reached a 15-month wage agreement with ground and flying personnel, the Dutch airline said last week. The accord, which will last until July 1998, gives all staff a 0.75% pay raise in July and a 1% raise at the beginning of 1998. The company also will make a one-time payment equal to 0.75% of all salaries in October 1997.
The European Commission is about to ask American and British Airways to modify the terms of their proposed strategic alliance. European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock told his 19 colleagues yesterday at a commission meeting in Brussels that "the airlines' position has not moved since last November," when the EC sent its "statement of objections" to American and BA, a source close to Kinnock said. "We will communicate our position once again and this time, we will set priorities," pointing out terms of the agreement that must be modified, the source added.
Boeing said yesterday that by the second quarter of 1998 the production rate of most of its aircraft series except the 777 will increase to a total of 43 a month from a record 40 a month expected in the fourth quarter this year. The previous record was 39.5 airplanes a month in 1992.
Raytheon E-Systems received a $7.2 million contract from Hughes Information Systems Co. to provide a voice communications subsystem to support the Portuguese Air Command and Control System. Hughes is integrating the major components for Thomson CSF Airsys of France, the prime contractor.
Startup carrier Access Air Holdings filed additional information on its planned safety director in response to DOT queries, but it added a motion to withhold his identity from public disclosure. Access Air said the person in question is employed in a "sensitive aviation-related position," adding that DOT policy permits such confidentiality to avoid jeopardizing candidates' current employment.
