Aircraft Technical Publishers is providing daily updates of airworthiness directives on its World Wide Web site, found at http://www.atp.com. ATP said the site contains all ADs issued within the last 30 days. The information is hyperlinked, so users can click on the AD number to read the document.
Jet fuel prices fell in April throughout North America, reaching historical norms in most areas, according to a report by Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Harris. Gulf Coast jet fuel is down 11.6% year-over-year and West Coast fuel has dropped 12%. Jet fuel prices began to rise at this time last year and only recently started to subside. "Given tougher comparisons in May and June, we continue to expect jet fuel prices to decline 3%" year-over- year in the second quarter, he said.
World Fuel International continued to press its claims against Millon Air, Inc., the cargo carrier trying to relaunch operations after the crash of a 707 in Ecuador last year. WFI is opposing Millon's efforts to be found fit again by DOT, saying the company owes joint venture Petrosur-World Fuel International (PWFI) $329,646.52 for fuel. The debt is a crucial factor in finding the carrier financially fit.
DOT once again extended an exemption for Air Jamaica to operate scheduled combination flights between New York/Atlanta and Barbados via Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia for 30 days starting April 27. More permanent grant of authority has been held up because of U.S. cargo carrier Amerijet's inability to secure acceptable ground-handling facilities in Jamaica. DOT renewed the 30-day exemption on expectations that a resolution was near. An Amerijet attorney said the carrier was now optimistic a resolution was at hand.
Southwest Airlines signed a contract with Minute Maid to provide its juices aboard Southwest flights. Minute Maid claims its airline partnerships cover about 85% of all U.S. passenger traffic.
Continental traffic for April jumped 10.8% on 9.8% more capacity, which increased the load factor 0.7 percentage points to 70.4%, the highest April load factor in the airline's history. International traffic took off, gaining 22.1% on 16.7% more capacity, and the international load factor rose 3.1 points to 69.7%. Domestic traffic grew 6.9% on 7.1% more capacity, which lowered the domestic load factor 0.2 points to 70.6%. Continental Express traffic jumped 20.4% on 10.1% more capacity and the load factor, up 0.6 points, reached 55.7%.
UPS pilots are ready to strike the airline if their union cannot reach agreement soon on a new contract, and are seeking a 24% pay increase, comparable to what American's pilots make now. UPS pilot wages are about 10% below those at competitors FedEx and Airborne Express. The Independent Pilots Association (IPA) members voted 1,815-28 to authorize their leaders to call a strike if they deem it necessary.
Leon Brittan, European Commission member responsible for trade, raised questions about aircraft industry subsidies at the Toronto Quadrilateral meeting because the 1992 agreement governing them has not been implemented adequately, especially regarding defense subsidy, Brittan told reporters yesterday in Washington.Subsidy disputes are a constant refrain on both sides of the Atlantic, and Brittan was asked why he raised the issue at this particular time. "The difference today is that we have had enough," he replied.
Two aviation consulting firms, Morten Beyer and Associates and Agnew&Associates, have merged to form Morten Beyer&Agnew (MBA), effective May 5. Beyer will be chairman and chief executive and Agnew will be president. The company will have its headquarters in McLean, Va., with offices in Miami, Tucson and Berlin. Beyer said the companies are talking further about growing their merged businesses, and an additional announcement is expected in the next several weeks.
ValuJet flew 125.2 million revenue passenger miles in April, a 59% decrease from April 1996, and 209.7 million available seat miles, down 57.6 from 494.3 million. The load factor dropped 2.1 percentage points to 59.7%. "We remain confident in our ability to continue building consumer preference for ValuJet's outstanding operational performance and affordable fares as evidenced by April's load factor closing to within two points of last year's level," said Joseph Corr, president and chief executive. During April, ValuJet resumed service to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Air Jamaica and BWIA yesterday entered into an operating partnership they say will lead to a long-term alliance. In the shorter term, the carriers expect to reduce costs by collaborating on customer service, purchasing, maintenance and marketing. The deal, to take effect by June 30, will include joint fuel and catering purchasing and ground handling at Miami and Kingston airports and joint space and ground handling at New York Kennedy. Joint aircraft use is a long term goal.
Delta will begin using the Universal Pilot Application Service as it recruits qualified pilots. Pilots who applied to Delta for a job prior to Feb. 3 are being contacted by Delta and UPAS to complete a qualifications summary. In the future, Delta will consider applicants who are subscribers to the UPAS database. Pilots can enter their qualifications in the database, and update them, using personal computers.
Telephonics Corp. has installed its AeroTrac air traffic control system at a major center in southeastern China. The facility, in Guangzhou, will be the first fully automated ATC center in the region. The system will become totally operational later this year.
After four months of saber-rattling, Germany's state-owned postal authority, Deutsche Post, is taking over TNT Netzwerk Logistik. The latter is the German subsidiary of Australian express courier TNT, which was purchased last year by KPN, the privatized Dutch postal and telecommunications organization. Following KPN's buyout of TNT, German authorities threatened late last year to terminate TNT Netzwerk's contract to deliver packages to Deutsche Post's distribution centers.
Worldspan said Mirage Resorts Vacations has joined tour operators participating in the computer reservations system's Worldspan Tour Source booking system. Scheduled air service for Mirage packages can be arranged on American, Continental, Delta, Southwest, TWA, United and US Airways.
American will announce this week how it plans to revise its exclusive Boeing order for 630 aircraft that was tied to ratification of a new pilots contract, the carrier said yesterday. The two main issues, an American spokesman said, are delivery dates and whether American will rethink which type of 777 it wants. Boeing went ahead with the newest versions of the 777 after the 20-year order was announced in November (DAILY, April 17).
Women In Aviation, International is offering a fact book on women in aviation, free to anyone who requests it by contacting Women in Aviation, International, Morningstar Airport, 3647 S.R. 503 South, West Alexandria, Ohio 45381, 937-839-4647. The book provides statistics - for example, of the 600,000 pilots in the U.S., 6% are women - and profiles of women who have made aviation history. The association has a World Wide Web site at http://www.wiai.org.
United is increasing capacity on its Miami-Caracas route. The carrier will add a second daily flight July 15 but will downsize the equipment - instead of its single daily 757, it will fly two 737s.
McDonnell Douglas has selected Montreal-based Virtual Prototypes Inc. to develop embedded cockpit displays. The company's VAPS product line is a suite of software tools that will be used to rapidly prototype and code generate a cockpit display format.
Singapore Airlines took delivery yesterday of the first of 77 Boeing 777s it ordered in November 1995. The carrier has 34 firm orders and 43 options in a deal valued at $12.7 billion. Its first 777-200, with three-class seating for 288, is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines.
Airlines are beginning to offer outlets for laptop computers in premium classes as one more way to attract business travelers - in this case, business travelers who want to use their computers but not their computer batteries. What the public may not know, however, is that using onboard power for laptops can require an adapter that costs about $99. Xtend, a vendor that markets the PowerXtender adapter, said there are more than 200 types of adapters, making it impractical for airlines to supply them.
Bull&Bear Securities has become an American AAdvantage participant. Frequent flyer program members will receive 200 miles for every trade with the brokerage firm. Bonus miles will be awarded in several ways, including 1,000 miles for opening a new account.
Nicaragua joined five other Central American countries by initialing an open skies agreement with the U.S., following Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Agreements with Belize and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean likely will be delayed, a U.S. official said. This sets the stage for a signing ceremony in San Jose, Costa Rica, tomorrow during the Central American Summit that brings together President Clinton and regional heads of state.
