Italian startup Air One launched its first international scheduled service on Italy's main international route, Milan-London, in cooperation with Air UK. Air One operates two daily frequencies and Air UK three between Milan Linate Airport and London Stansted. Air One, which launched operations in 1995, carried 700,000 passengers within Italy last year and is competing successfully with Alitalia in such major markets as Milan-Rome.
Aviation Information Resources Inc. (AIR) will hold the Airline Pilot Career Seminar Forum and Job Fair June 28 in Atlanta. AIR Inc. predicts 12,000 cockpit crew positions will open this year.
DOT's first Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report, for the third quarter 1996, contains "a lot of good news" for travelers, DOT officials said yesterday. The report comprises 20 pages of raw data that will be hard for consumers to interpret, but it provides lists of airlines and markets offering the lowest fares and tables detailing the relationship between low fares and rising traffic. This will fortify the cases of new- entrant airlines seeking government help to compete. DOT plans to issue the report quarterly.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is issuing identification numbers to electronic reservations service providers (ERSPs) because of the growing number of entities distributing airline products over the Internet or other online systems. IATA said it recognizes the new participants in the distribution system and wants airlines to be able to identify the origin of sales made by the ERSPs.
Cargo startup Arriva Air filed an apology and pleading for continued work on its application with DOT, following questions about its status as a U.S.-controlled carrier and the scope of its startup plans. Last week, the carrier submitted sworn statements attempting to clarify its relationship with foreign agent New Quick Co., Ltd., which has supplied two-thirds of Arriva's financing and has leased Arriva its sole 727 freighter. Arriva said it believes DOT's concerns resulted "from misunderstandings regarding the recent activities of Arriva Air's President, Mr.
Midwest-Asia Aviation Coalition said retired House Minority Leader Robert Michel joined the group as co-chair. Michel, a Republican, represented the 18th congressional district in Illinois. He joins Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as co-chairs for the coalition, which seeks to expand service to Asia from Chicago.
United Chairman and Chief Executive Gerald Greenwald will be the guest speaker at the Wings Club monthly luncheon June 25 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. For more information, call 212-867-1770.
Twenty pages deep into FAA's 51-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on cargo compartment fire detection and suppression retrofits for some 3,000 aircraft (DAILY, June 11) is a requirement that carriers report quarterly on their progress, by aircraft serial number, so the public can monitor how well operators are doing. If the rulemaking stays on schedule, the carriers' first reports would be due July 1, 1998.
British Airways denies reports it was threatening to withdraw from its proposed alliance with American if authorities do not approve it by November. Financial Times and Reuters quoted BA chief Bob Ayling as saying that after the Heathrow slot allocation conference in November, it "becomes more difficult....There comes a point in any transaction where not having approval is tantamount to being told 'No.'" A BA spokesman conceded that the delays have been frustrating and the partners cannot wait indefinitely.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic October 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 56 13.49 1,051 58,689 Latin 56 13.49 1,051 58,689 American 1,151 (4.43) 2,330 2,681,955
Airlines Reporting Corp. said it has terminated its agreement with Prestige Airways and Faucett Peruvian Airlines for failure to meet financial obligations. ARC will cease processing transactions for the carriers at the close of the sales period ending June 22. Prestige, based in Manassas, Va., stopped operating April 24, according to DOT.
Indian private domestic carrier Jet Airways has signed a $50.4 million lease-purchase agreement with ANZ Grindlays Bank for two Boeing 737-400s, airline officials said yesterday, and a floating-rate loan syndication for the $50.4 million has been launched in international capital markets through the London-based ANZ Investment Bank. The loan facility, which carries a coupon rate 1.5% higher than the London Inter Bank Offered Rate, will finance part of the aircraft acquisition, from Malaysian Airlines. Jet Air has the option to buy the aircraft.
Tower Air's May traffic fell 14.3% from May 1996 to 4,294 block hours from 5,011. The carrier said the decrease is due mostly to its withdrawal from the Brazil market, fewer military charters and the earlier conclusion of Haj operations this year. For the first five months of the year, block hours were down 7.8% to 16,972 from 18,409. Revenue passenger miles in May fell 5.5% to 208 million, while capacity decreased 7.2% to 284 million. The load factor rose to 73.2% from 71.9% last May.
President Clinton said yesterday he intends to nominate Jane Garvey FAA administrator and George Donohue deputy administrator, nominations that have been assumed by the aviation community for more than two months (DAILY, April 7). The announcement of Garvey and Donohue is almost a month later into Clinton's second term than the May 13, 1993, announcement of David Hinson was into his first. The wait is not over - after Garvey's and Donohue's nominations are official, they are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
A recently completed House Appropriations Committee surveys and investigations report questions FAA's management of the agency's Potomac Tracon project and suggests the agency misrepresented to Congress the status of the program. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the Appropriations transportation subcommittee, will hold a news conference today to discuss the report's findings. "I am concerned that the FAA has lied and attempted to deceive Congress at hearings and briefings on this subject," Wolf said in a June 10 statement.
Virgin Atlantic would consider forming a super-alliance of several major U.S.-U.K. airlines if the American-British Airways alliance is approved, Chairman Richard Branson told reporters yesterday in Washington. American- BA would control 65% of the U.S.-U.K. market, he said, so "any combination of airlines would have less." Branson envisions a potential "grand alliance" involving United, Northwest, Virgin, Continental "and the rest of the Atlantic carriers."
Philippe Debrun, general manager of Revima, a Sogerma-Socea subsidiary, has been chosen to be chairman of Aerospatiale aircraft manufacturing subsidiary Socata, succeeding Jean-Marc de Raffin Dourny. Debrun has been with Groupe Aerospatiale since 1985. Before Revima, he was president of Barfield, a U.S. subsidiary of Sogerma-Socea, and VP of subsidiaries and shareholdings at Aerospatiale.
House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) was expected to offer late yesterday a revised tax proposal that restores the current tax exemption for the domestic portion of international flights. Archer still was working on his plan at DAILY press time, preparing for a Ways and Means markup of his proposed revenue package. Revenue lost from continuing the exemption would be offset, at least in part, by postponing until Oct. 10 ticket tax deposits that normally would be due between Aug. 15 and Sept. 30, thus postponing the revenue into Fiscal 1998.
Delta has not reversed a decision to remove L-1011s from its Atlantic operation, as reported June 10 in The DAILY. It will remove L-1011s from international service in the summer of 1998, as planned, and add the international L-1011s to the domestic fleet. Older L-1011s will be retired.
House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday postponed a hearing on U.S.-U.K. issues about forty minutes after it was scheduled to start, sending home witnesses including four chief executives - Robert Crandall of American, Bob Ayling of British Airways, Stephen Wolf of US Airways and Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic. The subcommittee gave up on assembling after the House scheduled 22 consecutive floor votes for the afternoon, which even the most optimistic House staffers estimated would take about two hours.
United plans to resume Chicago-Hong Kong nonstop service today, using 747- 400s. The nonstop service - at 7,786 miles the longest scheduled commercial airline route, according to United - takes four hours less than one-stop service. United will operate a westbound flight on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and eastbound on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, offering 36 seats in First Class, 123 in Connoisseur Class, and 142 in Economy Class.
Of the top 1,000 city-pair markets in the U.S. in the third quarter of 1996, Southwest had 100% market share in six, United in one and America West one. DOT data spotlight the Southwest-United West Coast rivalry. In Boise-Reno, Southwest controls 89% of the market but United's fares average $3 less. In both Las Vegas-Sacramento and Ontario-Reno, Southwest has 94% and United undercuts the price by $1. Southwest has 96% in Oakland-San Diego, but United charges $11 less.
Swissair reduced the level of pollutants its aircraft emit by as much as 17% during the 1992-1995 period, the company's third environmental audit showed. While the airline expanded 14% in the four-year period, total nitrogen oxide emissions rose just 8.6%. Emissions measured per unit of production declined 17% to 0.5 kilograms per revenue ton kilometer. Specific aviation fuel consumption fell 10% to 38.1 kg per 100 revenue ton kilometers. Inflight environmental management also improved.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic Fourth Quarter 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American Trans Air 910 (9.41) 1,641 1,493,073 Carnival 463 (7.13) 1,180 546,581
