DOT lifted its Part 213 schedule filing sanction on Air-India, now that the Indian government has agreed to grant United and Northwest the authority they need to operate third-country code shares into the country. United will put its code on Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt to Mumbai and Madras, and Northwest will put its code on KLM flights between Amsterdam and Mumbai. Such code shares were permitted under a Memorandum of Consultations signed in December 1995. (Docket OST-97-2296)
U.S. airlines hired 914 pilots in April and 3,776 in the first four months of the year, according to AIR Inc. From January through April, Delta hired the most, 338, followed by United, 304; Northwest, 165; TWA, 148, and Continental, 131. US Airways, DHL and American did not hire.
Arrow Air said it has become the largest all-cargo carrier at San Juan, Puerto Rico. It carried 31.5 million pounds of domestic cargo between San Juan and the U.S. in the fourth quarter, a 20% market share. Arrow introduced L-1011 freighter service last year from Miami and Atlanta.
American Chairman Robert Crandall received a base salary of $750,000 in 1996 but a "target bonus" of 100% of that salary has yet to be voted on by the board of directors. Crandall also received $86,588 in "other compensation" last year, including $38,016 in supplemental life and $16,869 in long-term disability insurance policies.
China is expected to respond this summer to an FAA-Defense Department proposal to resume cooperation in air traffic control. John Hancock of FAA and Frank Colson of the Pentagon met recently with Bao Pei De, China's ATC, airports and safety chief. The U.S. hopes for technical cooperation, perhaps similar to current arrangements with Russia. Last August, DOD shut down the Defense Cooperation Commission, which had been working with China on ATC, and FAA took the U.S. government lead.
AirNet Systems has added a weekend small-package delivery service for its express and banking customers. AirNet flies canceled checks for banks and other express documents with a fleet of 28 Learjets and 71 light twin- engine aircraft (DAILY, May 6). The company also has begun flying canceled checks for the Salt Lake City branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Eric Roy, executive VP and chief financial officer, cited increases in the company's banking business and predicted further revenue and earnings growth.
Time constraints frustrated U.S. efforts to bring open skies to the Caribbean last week in connection with President Clinton's Caribbean summit visit to Barbados following trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. The U.S. had offered to negotiate open skies with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) plus Haiti, but the number of countries involved complicated the effort. A government official said the U.S. still would welcome expressions of interest from individual Caribbean nations.
LanChile has become one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world. Traffic increased 37% in 1996 and more than 50% year-over-year during each of the past six months. The increase was 68% in January. The airline is on a pace to carry 3 million passengers this year, up from 1.9 million in 1996.
ILFC has emerged as the world's largest customer for new aircraft this year. The leasing firm, which has spent $10 billion in three years on new aircraft, will be at the peak of its buying cycle this year, taking delivery of 64 aircraft, or one every 5.7 days. In 1996, it acquired 63 aircraft.
America West says it is offering lower fares than discounted domestic tariffs recently marketed by other airlines. Tickets must be purchased by May 20 and travel completed by Oct. 8. One-way fares based on a roundtrip purchase include $59 in the Colorado Springs-Las Vegas and Phoenix-Denver markets, $119 in the Dallas-Las Vegas and Atlanta-Phoenix markets, and $169 for Washington-San Francisco and Miami-Oakland.
New Aircraft Orders And Options February 1997 Firm Orders Options Carrier # Type # Type Engines Del. Dates Air Asia* 1 737-300 - CFM56-3C1 Feb 97 Air Portugal# 3 A319 - CFM56-5B Jan 98-Mar 99 Air Portugal# 1 A320-200 - CFM56-5B Apr 99 Austrian# 1 A330-200 - PW4168 Jan 99
Rio Sul Servicos Aereos Regionais, a Varig subsidiary, signed a contract to purchase 10 Embraer 145 regional jets and take five more on option. The airline also agreed to acquire seven EMB-120 Brasilias. The contract, valued at $282 million, was financed by the Brazilian National Bank for Social Development. Some of the turboprops already have been built. Embraer will deliver the first four Brasilias on May 31 and the first EMB- 145 in July.
TAP Air Portugal posted a 16.6% gain in March revenue passenger kilometers and a 15.8% rise in freight ton kilometers. Traffic was up 13.2% during the first three months of the year. TAP carried 14.3% more passengers in March.
America West Holdings elected William Franke, chairman of America West Airlines, chairman and chief executive officer and Richard Goodmanson, president and chief executive officer of America West Airlines, president of the board.
Unique provision in the new American pilots' scope clause links the 70- passenger cap for airplanes operated by American Eagle to certificated capacity. For example, if the Canadair Regional Jet series 700 is certificated by any aviation authority to carry more than 70 passengers, American Eagle would not be permitted to operate the airplane. Bombardier Regional Aircraft Division plans an optional 74-passenger configuration for the CRJ-700 and may even go to 78 seats. In that case, the airplane would have to be flown by American.
American Airlines and Aero California have filed for a code-share agreement for operations between the U.S. and Mexico. The carriers hope to start the service by Aug. 1. Mexico's Aero California would place its code on American flights between Dallas/Forth Worth and Acapulco, Cancun, Guadalajara, Leon, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo; on flights linking Chicago to Acapulco and Mexico City; Los Angeles to Guadalajara, and Miami to Cancun and Mexico City.
US Airways named John Selvaggio, former chief executive and chief operating officer of Midway Airlines, to be VP of US Airways Express, effective May 12. He replaces Keith Houk, who has become VP-special projects. Selvaggio's new duties include overseeing the 10 regional carriers flying under the US Airways Express name. US Airways said the Express division accounts for more than 2,600 daily departures.
DOT approved Delta's expanded code-share operations with Sabena, Swissair and Austrian, triggering new services starting June 1. The three European carriers will purchase seats on Delta flights to 30 U.S. cities beyond Delta's New York, Cincinnati and Atlanta gateways. Delta will buy seats on Sabena flights from Brussels to Oslo, Glasgow, London City, Leeds, Geneva and Basel; on Swissair flights from Zurich to Geneva, and on Austrian flights from Vienna to Warsaw. The four carriers together now offer 245 weekly transatlantic departures to 26 cities.
Air Canada joined with Sony of Canada Ltd. to offer new entertainment and technology features at its International Maple Leaf Lounge at Pearson Airport, Toronto. The Sony Entertainment Centre contains four large-screen televisions, three audio listening stations with a library of 200 compact disks, and three Sony Playstations.
