Emirates will add service to Asia June 1 with flights from Dubai to Singapore, Jakarta and Colombo, Sri Lanka, using new 777s. "The move is in direct response to the burgeoning demand" for passenger and cargo service, the airline said. Capacity will increase 36% to Colombo, 50% to Jakarta and 23% to Singapore. Emirates configures its five 777s with 49 seats in business class and 304 in economy. Two more 777s will join the fleet in September.
AirNet Systems, which flies time-critical shipments to 90 cities in 40 states with 99 aircraft, said its second quarter revenues increased 22.4%, to $22.2 million from $18.2 million. Net income was $3.1 million, up from $2.1 million. Both amounts represent records for the quarter, which ended March 31.
A possible replacement for the passenger ticket tax drafted by House Joint Committee on Taxation staff would reduce the 10% tax to 8% but phase in an additional $3-per-passenger tax over five years. The draft, presented late last week to the Ways and Means Committee's task force on transportation taxes, would eliminate the existing ticket tax exemption on the domestic portion of international flights or increase the international departure tax by $3 to $6, sources said.
Association of Flight Attendants unit at United says 95% of all contract issues in ongoing talks have tentative agreements, and a final wage proposal is the only remaining issue. The union's leaders, after reviewing the company's last offer, passed a resolution stating that in light of $2.5 billion in profits in the past two years the proposal is unacceptable. It then directed the negotiating team to seek a new compensation package. Negotiations are scheduled to resume next week in Honolulu.
Abacus said it is the first computer reservations system in India to issue an automated ticket. Suresh Bathija, managing director of Global Travel Agency in Mumbai, said agents and airlines are now "assured of getting their payment from the air transactions on time."
Integrated Lodging Service, Scottsdale, Ariz., is offering airlines a Layover Management System Release 1.0. The company said more than 49 million hotel rooms are occupied each year by airline crewmembers, and its product will help reduce the cost of such layovers. The LMS server network creates room reservations and provides daily change management, daily confirmation with crew details, transportation management, tax management, monthend reconciliation and customized reporting.
First Japanese-built structural parts for the 777-300 have arrived in Everett, Wash., Boeing said. The first 777-300, expected to replace early versions of the 747, will be delivered to Cathay Pacific a year from now. The wing in-spar ribs, designed and built by Japan Aircraft Manufacturing Co., are among several major components built for Boeing by a consortium of Japanese aerospace manufacturers. Airframe structures are produced by Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji. ShinMaywa builds the wing-to-body fairings.
British Airways Chief Robert Ayling is in demand these days as a witness at congressional hearings.Yesterday, Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) invited him to testify before a second hearing on competition issues raised by the American-BA alliance; DeWine and others criticized Ayling for not appearing at the first one last month. Ayling is already scheduled tentatively to appear before the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee June 4 and the House Transportation aviation subcommittee June 11.
The Farnborough Air Show will change its dates from the traditional week in September to July, beginning in 2000. The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) said the change responds to requests from exhibitors who want to reduce the difference in the time between the Farnborough show, conducted in even-numbered years, and the Paris Air Show, which takes place in June of odd-numbered years. The change will give these companies more time to prepare for Paris. SBAC President Michael Turner said 91 U.K.
AirTran's application for an exemption from slot controls at New York LaGuardia calls on "exceptional circumstances" rules, an argument similar to Frontier Airlines' in the latter's bid for Denver-LaGuardia service. Orlando-based AirTran, which serves 23 cities, proposes to fly two daily 737 roundtrips from Toledo and Akron/Canton, Ohio; Bloomington/Normal and Moline/Quad Cities, Ill., and Knoxville, Tenn. (DAILY, May 27).
A travel agent association setting up its own computer reservations system - independent of current airline-controlled systems - wants DOT to ensure that IATA complies with pricing regulations. IATA says, however, it is playing by the rules while the travel agents are exploiting the issue to showcase their own plans. A New York-based group called the United States Travel Agent Registry (USTAR) is launching the Genesis Project, which by fall of 1998 aims to create a new, independent CRS funded by member travel agents as a business cooperative.
American Trans Air President and Chief Executive Stanley Pace has resigned, effective immediately, and the company is being managed by an executive committee. The board of Amtran, the parent company, will appoint a search committee to find a successor to Pace. Spokeswoman Mary Cochran said Pace decided to resign and was not asked to leave by the board. Pace has been with the carrier since August 1996, when he joined after working as a consultant with Bain&Co. Amtran could not speak to Pace's future plans.
Revised* - Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1996 B747-100 Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 23 10 Total Fleet Operations Departures 32 14 Block Hours 250 89 Flight Hours 235 81 Miles 122,664 42,143
The governments of India and Peru have signed an agreement aimed at encouraging private participation in setting up joint ventures for hotels and tourist resorts in their countries, Indian foreign ministry officials said this week. The tourism agreement also entails promotion of joint travel packages that would be sold through agencies in India, Peru and third countries, civil aviation and tourism ministry officials said. Currently, annual Indo-Peruvian tourist traffic barely reaches 500 travelers, they added.
EgyptAir took delivery yesterday of its first 777-200, an increased gross weight version of the aircraft. The 777 is the first of three Pratt&Whitney-powered aircraft EgyptAir will receive this year, all with 12 first-class, 21 business-class and 286 economy seats.
Air France expects to recover $3.5 million in the U.S. and $1.5 million in Canada from audits conducted by Profit Recovery Systems, a division of MTB Corp. Research by the New York-based company for Air France, Alitalia and Finnair showed that as much as 7.8% of tickets issued by travel agents are underpaid. Air France has signed with the New York-based firm, which recovers payments lost through underpayment and installs safeguards to protect against fraud, errors or abuse by travel agents, tour operators and consolidators.
Going into yesterday's public hearing, the National Civil Aviation Review Commission had not dealt substantively with the issue of whether the Defense Department should pay air traffic control user fees to FAA, sources close to the commission told The DAILY. It is expected to do so soon - its target to recommend FAA financing sources to Congress is mid-June.
KLM and its pilots union VNV reached a tentative agreement last week on a 15-month contract that gives the pilots a 0.75% raise July 1, another 1% Jan. 1, 1998, and a one-time bonus of 0.75% of a year's pay this October. The pilots will vote June 3 on contract ratification. In addition, management has acknowledged that the contract places some limits on code sharing and prevents operation of F100 aircraft by non-KLM pilots, according to the Air Line Pilots Association unit at alliance partner Northwest.
Government of Pakistan has named Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chairman of Pakistan International Airlines, succeeding Hasan Raza Pasha. Abbasi, 38, a pilot with 700 hours' flying time and a five-term member of the Pakistan's National Assembly, holds a master's degree in engineering from the University of California.
Qantas, adding seats throughout its fleet and upgrading flight attendant service, is launching a three-year offensive aimed at increasing its market share over the Pacific by 2000, when the Olympic Games come to Sydney. Qantas will spend A$550 million (US$424 million) during the next three years to refurbish the interiors of its 99 aircraft, including 30 747s, as part of a "Flying Towards 2000" campaign. The reconfiguration will reach the domestic fleet in October, and international aircraft will debut new interiors next April (DAILY, May 27).
Atlant-Soyuz Airlines wants an exemption to operate cargo services for a Japanese freight forwarder, Sanko Busan Co., through Guam and Saipan. The carrier would fly fish from non-U.S. points, including Palau, Jayapura, Mando, Mauro and Biak, to Guam as a primary point and Saipan as an alternate to transfer to U.S. and foreign carriers to Japan. Sanko Busan has specifically asked Atlant-Soyuz to use an An-12 turboprop aircraft for the work, and Atlant-Soyuz said the aircraft is required because it can operate efficiently at small-island airports.
Romania-based Tarom said a request by Romania for bilateral talks eliminates the need to take punitive action against the carrier, as suggested by Delta. Tarom, seeking to renew its U.S. authority, has said its own-aircraft service is not the equivalent of extensive code-share proposals (DAILY, May 2). Delta wants to operate third-country code shares to Bucharest with Austrian and Swissair, and in a May 16 filing it said efforts to secure Romanian approval had failed.
Great Lakes Aviation expanded its service during the holiday weekend in its return from a voluntary suspension of operations May 16 at the urging of FAA, which expressed concern about the safety of the carrier's fleet. Great Lakes said it was resuming service yesterday to Traverse City, Mich., after restoring service during the weekend to Lansing, Mich., and Decatur, Ill. Last week the carrier said that, operating as United Express, it was resuming service to five cities in Iowa and Illinois.
