Washington National Airport's new 201-foot air traffic control tower and terminal approach control were dedicated yesterday in ceremonies featuring DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.). Air traffic controllers began using the facility in April, and the new passenger terminal at National is scheduled to open July 27.
Delta traffic for April increased 10.1% on 4.4% more capacity, which forced the load factor up 3.8 percentage points to 72.65%. Domestic operations led the surge, with domestic traffic rising 10.9% and international traffic 7.3% Year-to-date, traffic grew 10.5% and capacity 6%. Delta boarded 750,000 more passengers in April than last year and is on a pace to fly 9 million more in 1997 than 1996. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96
Greenwich Air Services, which is acquiring UNC and in turn being acquired by General Electric Engine Services, reported record sales and earnings for the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended March 31, and for the first half. Spurred largely by Greenwich's acquisition last June of Aviall's commercial engine service operations in Texas and Prestwick, Scotland, Greenwich's sales for the quarter increased 253% over the year- earlier period, to $201 million, and its net income grew 141% to $5.6 million.
TWA will announce this week the first of several domestic and international schedule additions. The carrier will add a second daily St. Louis-London flight and new service between New York and Barcelona, St. Louis and Colorado Springs, and New York and Las Vegas. It will announce more additions between May 15 and July 1.
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) is concerned about the latest standards of training proposed for cabin crew and the practice of subcontracting in Europe. ITF submitted a report to what is expected to be the final consultation of the Joint Aviation Authorities on the first sections of operational rules contained in JAR OPS 1. In the report, the ITF warned that proposed standards for cabin crew training do not reach levels recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The Lithuanian government fired the management of flag carrier Lithuanian Airlines (LAL) last week following publication of the company's poorest financial results since its creation in 1992. Stasys Jarmalavicius, 39, was appointed chairman, replacing LAL Director General Stasys Dailydka. Jarmalavicius previously was deputy director-flight operations. LAL posted a small profit last year, but the Lithuanian government was expecting "greater vitality" and said LAL is unable to operate without state support.
Revised* Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement, October 1, 1996 - October 31, 1996, - Balance Sheet, As of October 31, 1996 Revised* Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement October 1, 1996 - October 31, 1996 Current Month RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 5,420,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 226,006,000.00
Karl Krapek, president of Pratt&Whitney, has taken over management of P&W's Large Commercial Engine business and the unit's president, Robert Wolfe, will leave the company within months to pursue "new endeavors," Krapek said in a message to employees. Krapek shuffled management of the unit, and its eight top executives have been reporting directly to him since May 5. They are:
NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Francis said yesterday he still is uncomfortable with the board's new statutory role as liaison with families of aircraft accident victims, because it is hard to handle that job while investigating accidents. Unfortunately, "the airlines and the ATA did not pick up the responsibility," Francis said in a speech at the AAAE conference in Minneapolis.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport had a net profit of 174 million Dutch guilders (US$88.74 million) in 1996, according to the Schiphol press office. An incorrect figure appeared in April 15 in The DAILY.
Delta Chairman, President and Chief Executive Ron Allen, taking the industry by surprise, announced yesterday that he will retire from the airline and resign his board position July 31, the day his contract expires. He revealed no details on his plans. Allen, who joined Delta in 1963 while in college, was elected to the board in 1975, became president and chief operating officer in 1983, and chairman and chief executive in 1987, relinquishing the presidency.
The Environmental Protection Agency is adopting as a regulation the common voluntary practice of accepting the International Civil Aviation Organization's current two-stage standard for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide for all engines rated at 6,000 pounds' thrust or more. The rule and proposed rule, published in the May 8 Federal Register, apply not only to conventional turbofans and turbojets, but to new concepts - like propfans - designed to replace them. U.S.
Comair's April traffic rose 18% to 148 million revenue passenger miles from 126 million in April 1996. Capacity was up 11.4% to 249.4 million available seat miles from 223.8 million, and the load factor gained 5.9% to 59.7%. Enplaned passengers rose 14.2% to 448,282, a record for the Delta Connection carrier. For the first four months, traffic rose 12.6% to 526.1 million RPMs and capacity 14.6% to 966.4 million ASMs. The load factor fell 1 point to 54.4%.
Singapore Airlines, which took delivery May 6 of the first of up to 77 Boeing 777s, will use the new fleet on regional routes until longer-range versions of the aircraft are available. "In the outset, the longest routes... will be to Melbourne and Seoul," said Joel Ciulei, SIA's manager of public affairs. Overall, the 777s will be used on additional routes to Australia and North Asia, mostly to Indonesia, Malaysia and India, replacing some of the airline's A310s and 747s, which are being phased out of the fleet.
Airborne Express has begun Saturday service to Anchorage, where it has experienced 38% growth over the past two years. It now offers DC-9 service Tuesday through Saturday.
Representatives of the Air Line Pilots Association unit at US Airways met Thursday and Friday at ALPA headquarters in Washington to set a strategy for ongoing contract talks in light of the company's decision to furlough some employees and park aircraft to become more efficient.
United's April traffic increased 4.8% on 4.5% more capacity, which raised the load factor slightly to 70.5%. Domestic traffic grew 4.5% and the domestic load factor gained 1 percentage point to 71.1%, but Pacific fell 2.9 points to 66.6% and Latin America 0.4 points to 58.6%. Atlantic traffic rose 18.7% on 16.4% more capacity. Cargo ton miles jumped 20.7%, reflecting the recent start of United's dedicated cargo operation. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96
Midwest Express Airlines reported an 11.1% increase in April traffic to 111.8 million revenue passenger miles, up from 100.6 million in April 1996. Available seat miles jumped 13.8% to 175.9 million from 154.5 million. The load factor was down 1.6 percentage points to 63.5%. The airline carried 133,003 passengers during the month, a 9.9% increase. For the first four months of the year, traffic rose 8.2% to 425.2 million RPMs, ASMs rose 13% to 696.3 million and the load factor dropped 2.7 points to 61.1%.
Tower Air reported an 11.9% increase in block hours flown in April to 4,902 from 4,382 in April 1996. For the first four months of the year, Tower's block hours decreased 5.4% to 12,678 from 13,398. Scheduled passenger service, held down because Tower ended service to Brazil, decreased 14% to 203 million revenue passenger miles. But capacity fell more, by 15.5% to 272 million available seat miles, and the load factor was up 1.3 percentage points to 74.6%.
San Diego-based PS Group Holdings reported a first quarter net income of $1 million, or 17 cents per share, up from $871,000 in the first quarter of 1996. Results were held down by $71,000 in charges from San Francisco Airport for pipeline removal costs and expenses related to the holding company's reorganization. The company said those expenses were partially offset by income from settlement of the former Pan Am's bankruptcy and sale of Pan Am 747 engine parts.
Swissair, Delta, Sabena and Austrian Airlines are merging their alliance product offerings to provide a seamless operation for passengers, but the group has no major changes in store, despite closer links to be announced next week by rivals Lufthansa, United, SAS, Air Canada and Thai International. "We have been doing the global alliance business since 1989, longer than others, and we have no immediate plans to enlarge that," said Jean-Pierre Allemann, Swissair's general manager North America.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries February 1997 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Canada 1 A319 CFM56-5A5 1 Air Inter Europe 1 A319 CFM56-5A4 7 Air Jamaica 1 A320-200 CFM56-5B4 1
United has saved more than 5 million gallons of fuel and $4 million during the past six months by trimming use of aircraft auxiliary power units. The carrier still is short of its 60-minutes-per-departure goal, recording 68 minutes so far this year, down from 82 minutes last year.
