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.
Kiwi is offering Mother's Day companion roundtrip fares of $298 and $248 good until May 14. One of the travelers must be at least 18 years old. The higher fare is for longer-haul markets. Tickets must be purchased 24 hours in advance.
Hawaiian Airlines posted a first quarter net loss of $2.4 million, compared with a net loss in first quarter 1996 of $582,000. Its operating loss during the quarter was $4.5 million, compared with an operating profit of $396,000 a year earlier. Operating revenues were up 6.1% to $99.7 million, but operating expenses rose 11.3% to $104.2 million during the quarter. Hawaiian said the loss resulted from an 11% increase in charter and scheduled flight operations and a 20% increase in the price of jet fuel, which increased costs about $2.9 million.
TWA's April traffic dropped 6.9% and capacity declined 6.8% as a planned downsizing of the airline's fleet and its international routes took effect. Despite the drop, the total number of passengers boarded increased 0.1%. The load factor was flat at 66.7%. TWA's international traffic plunged 32.5% on 31.4 % less capacity, which lowered the international load factor 1.2 percentage points to 72.3%. On-time performance improved 8 points to 83.8%. April 97 April 96 4 Months 97 4 Months 96
Islena Airlines, La Ceiba, Honduras, has taken delivery of its second ATR 42 from Aero International (Regional), AI(R) announced. The aircraft will be placed in service in mid-month on new routes to Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Managua, Nicaragua, from Honduras. Islena began service with its initial ATR 42 one year ago. It started up in 1981 with one Cessna 206.
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin posted a 9.5-percentage-point increase in load factor last month to 61.4% from 51.9% as revenue passenger miles jumped 13.1% to 46 million and capacity dropped 4.4% to nearly 75 million available seat miles. Enplanements rose 4.7%. April 1997 April 1996 4 Mths 1997 4 Mths 1996 RPMs 46,031,000 40,708,000 191,993,000 157,460,000 ASMs 74,956,000 78,389,000 318,332,000 324,275,000
United and Northwest fought back this week against efforts by niche carriers to enlist government aid against what the smaller airlines label predatory practices. Frontier Airlines has been the leader in this fight in recent months, publicizing its complaints against United at Denver, communicating with government officials about predatory patterns and using "exceptional circumstances" guidelines in an attempt to gain slots at high- density New York LaGuardia Airport.
Mercury Air Group posted record revenue and net income for the March quarter. Revenue was up 26.6% to $72.5 million and net income rose 29.3% to $1.1 million. Mercury said its FBOs boosted overall performance. "Gross margin for the FBOs jumped 171.4% this quarter," said Seymour Kahn, chairman.
U.S Major Carriers Domestic Share of Service Fourth Quarter 1996 Total Revenue Departures Alaska 34,630 America West 51,556 American 167,622 Continental 103,673 Delta 229,788 Northwest 138,535 Southwest 189,768 TWA 67,500 United 182,819 USAir 186,647
AlliedSignal Aerospace said FAA has certificated its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System for use on the Gulfstream V, Dassault Falcon 900, Bombardier Challenger 601-3R and 601-3A business jets and the Beechcraft King Air C-90 turboprop. The system already has been certified for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 757, 767 and 737-400 jetliners. AlliedSignal said it expects additional business jet certifications soon.
A new European safety organization is being pursued rigorously by several countries and should be functioning by the end of 1998, said Jan Willem Weck, director general of civil aviation for The Netherlands. Speaking this week at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Global Air&Space '97 forum, he noted that the Joint Aviation Authorities has made progress on safety, air traffic control, maintenance and other areas where responsibility has been fragmented among several countries.
Horizon Air has been granted FAA authority to operate its de Havilland Dash 8-100s, equipped with the Flight Dynamics Head-Up Guidance System for Category 2 approach minimums, at four Cat 1 airports in the Northwest. The authority -the first granted by the agency - will enable approaches to a runway visual range (RVR) of 1,600 feet and a decision height (DH) of 100 feet, while all other operators will be restricted to RVR 2,400 feet and DH 200 feet. The airports are Eugene and Klamath Falls, Ore.; Spokane, Wash., and Eureka/Arcata, Calif.
PRS International Inc., Houston, is offering its accounts payable audit service to the aviation industry. The company said the system has recovered large amounts of money for corporations by finding errors in accounting, and it does not charge for the service if no money is recovered.
DOT's air carrier fitness division wants new-entrant carrier Pro Air to provide additional information on its financing, startup date and destination plans, according to a filing this week. The department issued an order last August finding the carrier fit, pending FAA certification and other requirements, but Pro Air has yet to start operations. The carrier is aiming for startup by May 20, but problems in securing an environmental impact statement for operations at Detroit City Airport likely will cause a delay.
Atlantic Coast, the Washington Dulles-based United Express affiliate, suffered a 0.3-percentage point decline in load factor last month to 47.3% as capacity rose 2.1% to 67.1 million available seat miles and traffic increased 1.6% to 31.7 million revenue passenger miles. Boardings were up 0.5%. April 1997 April 1996 4 Mths 1997 4 Mths 1996 RPMs 31,744,000 31,244,000 104,985,000 103,996,000 ASMs 67,065,000 65,669,000 253,958,000 239,434,000
Air France and German regional Eurowings started joint service this week between Frankfurt and Berlin Tempelhof, a route previously operated only by Lufthansa. Earlier this year, the German airline was denounced by the Bundeskartellamt, the German antitrust authority, for charging excessive fares on Frankfurt-Berlin.
A proposal by Trans States Airlines to operate nonstop, turboprop United Express service to Chicago O'Hare from Asheville, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Roanoke, Va., has won substantial community support. Trans States, proposing nonstop service from the points using Jetstream 41 aircraft, is seeking an exemption from DOT's high-density rule that would permit the service to O'Hare, one of the four airports covered by the rule.
