American is improving inflight meals on domestic flights in premium and coach classes by redesigning lunch and dinner entrees and upgrading its Bistro service, in which customers pick up bags of food on their way onto the airplane.
FAA defended Northwest safety and maintenance practices and warned against dissuading pilots from diverting to Narita Airport in an April 24 letter to the Japanese Transport Ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau. FAA's Great Lakes Region flight standards division manager, David Hanley, sent the letter to Chikayoshi Hirasawa, director of the airworthiness division in the Civil Aviation Bureau, responding to Hirasawa's March 11 letter expressing concern over 27 incidents involving Northwest aircraft, the subject of public comments by the transport ministry officials.
Revised* Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement October 1, 1995 - September 30, 1996 Current Month RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 1,193,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 35,561,000.00 Use of International Travel Facilities 1,744,000.00
Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Balance Sheet As of September 30, 1996 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 561.72 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 120,536,737.12 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness 6-7/8% matures 06/30/96 $ 7,493,489,000.00
KLM's April passenger traffic increased 19% on 8% more capacity, which pushed the load factor up 6 percentage points to 78.2%. Overall revenue ton kilometers rose 11%. Passenger traffic jumped 23% in North America markets, 28% in Central and South America and 21% in Asia. Cargo traffic remained stable as capacity decreased 6%, attributed by KLM to cutbacks in rental capacity. The cargo load factor was 71.4%, up from 69.9% last year. Effective April 1, KLM changed its standards for calculating the average weight of passenger baggage and cargo.
Canadian Airlines yesterday posted a net loss of C$69.7 million (US$50.2 million) for the quarter that ended March 31, an improvement from a deficit of C$110.9 million ($80 million) in the comparable quarter last year. Although the carrier had an operating loss of C$45.4 million ($32.7 million), the figure represents a 50% improvement, reflecting strong traffic and a positive impact from January-March strikes at Air Canada's regional carriers. Revenues declined C$56.5 million to C$680.5 million ($490 million). The airline began a massive restructuring Nov.
Three consortia will pay A$3.34 billion (US$2.6 billion) total for 50-year leases on Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth airports, the Australian government announced this week. The concessions represent the first phase of an airport privatization program that is expected to cover 20 more airports, including Sydney Airport and a new airport to serve the city. Brisbane Airport Corporation will pay A$1.387 billion ($1.08 billion) for Brisbane Airport. The consortium includes Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Commonwealth Bank, Commonwealth Financial Services, Port of Brisbane Corp.
Delta launched New York-Istanbul service this week with 767-300ER aircraft featuring its new, enhanced business class. Delta is the only U.S. airline to offer daily nonstop service to Istanbul.
DOT expressed concern yesterday over the provision in the Senate disaster assistance supplemental funding bill (S.672) that exempts general aviation from the foreign aircraft overflight fees that take effect May 19. "We look forward to working with Congress on this issue," Deputy Secretary Mortimer Downey told the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee. Asked by reporters whether that means DOT opposes the measure, Downey said DOT sees it as "inappropriate."
A US Airways crew management bulletin announcing a base domicile bid for July, August and September positions has led the Air Line Pilots Association to tell its members the company intends to furlough 103 pilots, beginning July 1. The bulletin also says the company will eliminate a crew base in Los Angeles and reduce the size of its 737-200 crew at Baltimore. US Airways refused comment on ALPA's statements.
Delta VP-Safety John Lauber, a former National Transportation Safety Board member, has resigned to take a position with Airbus Industrie.Airbus said he will come aboard early in the summer as VP-human factors and training.
Lufthansa Group pre-tax profits for 1996 fell 9.3% to 686 million Deutschmarks (US$398 million), down from DM756 million in 1995, as the airline said it faced "difficult operating conditions" last year. The company's costs skyrocketed by DM680 million ($394 million) because of higher fuel prices, sharply higher airport and air traffic control fees and state-mandated one-time charges for pension provisions. Shareholders "will not suffer," however, as Lufthansa said it will distribute the same DM191 million ($111 million) profit as in the prior year.
America West reported record April traffic of 1.35 billion revenue passenger miles, up 6.4% over April 1996, but the load factor lost 3.1 percentage points to 69.8% as capacity increased faster, at 10.9%. During the first four months, America West's load factor dropped 2.3 points to 69% as traffic jumped 11.7% but capacity rose 15.3%. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96 RPMs 1,352,032,000 1,271,121,000 5,334,279,000 4,775,004,000
Aero California filed at DOT for an exemption to operate scheduled combination service from Los Angeles to Zihuatanejo and Torreon; Dallas/Fort Worth to Chihuahua and Aguascalientes; and San Francisco to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. The Mexican DC-9 operator, headquartered at La Paz, Baja California Sur International Airport, plans three to four flights a week on the new routes, for which it already holds Mexican government approval. Service eventually would grow to once a day. (Docket OST-97-2446)
Six senators want the U.S. to halt bilateral negotiations with Japan until that country apologizes publicly for statements questioning the safety and maintenance practices of Northwest and other U.S. carriers. They also warned U.S. negotiators against altering their position on open skies. "We understand that in Hawaii, the U.S. negotiators offered to restrict the rights of U.S. carriers to serve the U.S.-Asia market via Japan for at least a three-year period and perhaps beyond in exchange for a vague promise by Japan to liberalize its market at some time in the future.
Sabena is offering its Eurostarter fares throughout the U.S. for any passenger connecting to Sabena's Brussels service from a flight with its U.S. partner, Delta. Sabena will add Cincinnati, a Delta hub, to its U.S. gateway list May 15 with nonstop service to Brussels. Sabena also offers the fares from New York, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta. Eurostarter fares begin at $630 and include roundtrip economy airfare and either a hotel package or train ticket.
World Airways flew 4,299 block hours in April, up 5% from April 1996. For the first four months of the year, the carrier flew 16% more block hours - 16,113, compared with 13,913.
The world's most heavily traveled air route remains Tokyo-Sapporo, with 7.6 million passengers, followed by Tokyo-Fukuoka, Hong Kong-Taipei and London- Paris, according to Japan Airlines. New York-Los Angeles and New York- Chicago are a distant fifth and sixth.
Southwest posted a 2% increase in April traffic on 8.6% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 3.9 percentage points to 60.8%. For the first four months, its traffic and capacity grew at roughly the same rate - traffic up 9.3% and capacity 9%. The airline's average length of haul in April rose 2.9% to 541 miles. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96 RPMs 2,185,197,932 2,142,547,068 8,718,244,410 7,979,665,201 ASMs 3,594,349,226 3,309,412,487 14,111,984,060 12,950,815,801
TAP Air Portugal has selected an array of avionics from Rockwell's Collins Air Transport Division for its 16 A319s and six A320s. TAP chose the GLU- 920 Global Positioning System landing unit and multi-mode receivers, which are compatible with an instrument landing system, a microwave landing system and a Global Navigation Satellite System. The 22 new aircraft will be equipped with Collins WXR-700 digital color weather radar systems, which can detect atmospheric turbulence. The first aircraft is slated for delivery in December.
Rolls-Royce and German airline Condor have signed a contract - announced originally at last year's Farnborough Air Show - to provide RB211-535E4B engines for the 12 757-300 aircraft the Lufthansa subsidiary ordered from Boeing. Condor's order launched the -300 version of the twinjet with Rolls-Royce engines. John Cheffins, managing director of Rolls-Royce Commercial Aero Engines Limited, said Condor was influential in developing specifications for the aircraft.
US Airways traffic increased 8.7% in April on 5.1% more capacity, which pushed the load factor up 2.5 percentage points to 73.4%. Domestic traffic climbed 3.9% on 0.7% more capacity, while international traffic grew 97.9% on 89.5% more capacity. The carrier's international traffic has risen from 5.1% of total traffic in April 1996 to 9.3% last month. The average length of a passenger journey on US Airways was up 6% during the first four months of the year, to 709.7 miles. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96
American Society of Travel Agents will conduct two conferences - its 71st World Travel Congress in November 2001, and the Feb. 11-15, 1998, International Conference - in Seville, Spain. Iberia has been named the official carrier for both meetings. ASTA chose Seville earlier but then backed out, saying the World Travel Congress would be held in the U.S. because of a disagreement about the Seville site.
Gulf Air achieved a 17 million Bahraini dinar (US$45 million) increase in operating revenue in 1996 - a 5% gain - despite operating a smaller fleet. At its annual meeting last month, Shaikh Ahmed Bin Saif Al Nehyan, president and chief executive of Gulf Air, said the general assembly granted the company a loan of $200 million.
