Aviation Daily

Staff
Russia will repay part of its debt to Slovakia in September with the delivery of three Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft to the new Slovakian flag carrier. Slovak Airlines is expected to start operations at the end of 1997 with Tu-154, Tu-334 and Ilyushin Il-86, Il-96 and Il-114 aircraft.

Staff
TWA will eliminate 268 jobs at its Kansas City maintenance base, as the airline's backlog of heavy maintenance there has subsided. "Last year we terminated our contract with the military in Kansas City because we needed those mechanics to handle a priority backlog on our aircraft," said TWA spokesman Donn Walker.

Staff
U.S. Major Carriers Atlantic Share of Service Fourth Quarter 1997 Total Revenue Departures American 5,854 Continental 1,532 Delta 7,166 Northwest 1,542 TWA 2,159 United 3,786 USAir 1,144 Total 23,183 Average Number of Seats Per Departure American 196

Staff
Northwest flew two DC-10 roundtrips Saturday between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Grand Forks, N.D., providing free transportation to flood relief volunteers who spent the day helping the United Way and The Salvation Army with cleanup operations. The flights were staffed by volunteer flight crews.

Staff
The European Commission will unveil its "statement of objections" to the proposed merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas "around the end of May," a spokesman for European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert said yesterday in Brussels. This timetable represents about two weeks' slippage in letting the U.S. companies know whether and how their proposal faces problems - last month in Washington, Van Miert said the commission would advise them by mid-May (DAILY, April 21).

Staff
Airport and Airway Trust Fund-Balance Sheet As of October 31, 1996 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 1,446.88 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 159,079,140.57 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness 6-7/8% matures 06/30/96 $ 7,570,870,000.00

Staff
Air Canada is launching nonstop service between Montreal and San Francisco June 28, using its newly delivered A319s. "This is part of Air Canada's initiative to develop more services out of Montreal," said Senior Executive VP Jean-Jacques Bourgeault. The San Francisco service is Air Canada's 38th new route since U.S.-Canada open skies was signed in 1995. Air Canada also will add service from Montreal to Halifax and Frankfurt this summer.

Staff
Washington National Airport's new 201-foot air traffic control tower and terminal approach control were dedicated yesterday in ceremonies featuring DOT Secretary Rodney Slater and Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.). Air traffic controllers began using the facility in April, and the new passenger terminal at National is scheduled to open July 27.

Staff
Delta traffic for April increased 10.1% on 4.4% more capacity, which forced the load factor up 3.8 percentage points to 72.65%. Domestic operations led the surge, with domestic traffic rising 10.9% and international traffic 7.3% Year-to-date, traffic grew 10.5% and capacity 6%. Delta boarded 750,000 more passengers in April than last year and is on a pace to fly 9 million more in 1997 than 1996. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96

Staff
Greenwich Air Services, which is acquiring UNC and in turn being acquired by General Electric Engine Services, reported record sales and earnings for the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended March 31, and for the first half. Spurred largely by Greenwich's acquisition last June of Aviall's commercial engine service operations in Texas and Prestwick, Scotland, Greenwich's sales for the quarter increased 253% over the year- earlier period, to $201 million, and its net income grew 141% to $5.6 million.

Staff
TWA will announce this week the first of several domestic and international schedule additions. The carrier will add a second daily St. Louis-London flight and new service between New York and Barcelona, St. Louis and Colorado Springs, and New York and Las Vegas. It will announce more additions between May 15 and July 1.

Staff
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) is concerned about the latest standards of training proposed for cabin crew and the practice of subcontracting in Europe. ITF submitted a report to what is expected to be the final consultation of the Joint Aviation Authorities on the first sections of operational rules contained in JAR OPS 1. In the report, the ITF warned that proposed standards for cabin crew training do not reach levels recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Staff
The Lithuanian government fired the management of flag carrier Lithuanian Airlines (LAL) last week following publication of the company's poorest financial results since its creation in 1992. Stasys Jarmalavicius, 39, was appointed chairman, replacing LAL Director General Stasys Dailydka. Jarmalavicius previously was deputy director-flight operations. LAL posted a small profit last year, but the Lithuanian government was expecting "greater vitality" and said LAL is unable to operate without state support.

Staff
Revised* Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement, October 1, 1996 - October 31, 1996, - Balance Sheet, As of October 31, 1996 Revised* Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Income Statement October 1, 1996 - October 31, 1996 Current Month RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 5,420,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 226,006,000.00

Staff
Karl Krapek, president of Pratt&Whitney, has taken over management of P&W's Large Commercial Engine business and the unit's president, Robert Wolfe, will leave the company within months to pursue "new endeavors," Krapek said in a message to employees. Krapek shuffled management of the unit, and its eight top executives have been reporting directly to him since May 5. They are:

Staff
NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Francis said yesterday he still is uncomfortable with the board's new statutory role as liaison with families of aircraft accident victims, because it is hard to handle that job while investigating accidents. Unfortunately, "the airlines and the ATA did not pick up the responsibility," Francis said in a speech at the AAAE conference in Minneapolis.

Staff
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport had a net profit of 174 million Dutch guilders (US$88.74 million) in 1996, according to the Schiphol press office. An incorrect figure appeared in April 15 in The DAILY.

Staff
Delta Chairman, President and Chief Executive Ron Allen, taking the industry by surprise, announced yesterday that he will retire from the airline and resign his board position July 31, the day his contract expires. He revealed no details on his plans. Allen, who joined Delta in 1963 while in college, was elected to the board in 1975, became president and chief operating officer in 1983, and chairman and chief executive in 1987, relinquishing the presidency.

Staff
The Environmental Protection Agency is adopting as a regulation the common voluntary practice of accepting the International Civil Aviation Organization's current two-stage standard for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide for all engines rated at 6,000 pounds' thrust or more. The rule and proposed rule, published in the May 8 Federal Register, apply not only to conventional turbofans and turbojets, but to new concepts - like propfans - designed to replace them. U.S.

Staff
Comair's April traffic rose 18% to 148 million revenue passenger miles from 126 million in April 1996. Capacity was up 11.4% to 249.4 million available seat miles from 223.8 million, and the load factor gained 5.9% to 59.7%. Enplaned passengers rose 14.2% to 448,282, a record for the Delta Connection carrier. For the first four months, traffic rose 12.6% to 526.1 million RPMs and capacity 14.6% to 966.4 million ASMs. The load factor fell 1 point to 54.4%.

Staff
Singapore Airlines, which took delivery May 6 of the first of up to 77 Boeing 777s, will use the new fleet on regional routes until longer-range versions of the aircraft are available. "In the outset, the longest routes... will be to Melbourne and Seoul," said Joel Ciulei, SIA's manager of public affairs. Overall, the 777s will be used on additional routes to Australia and North Asia, mostly to Indonesia, Malaysia and India, replacing some of the airline's A310s and 747s, which are being phased out of the fleet.

Staff
Airborne Express has begun Saturday service to Anchorage, where it has experienced 38% growth over the past two years. It now offers DC-9 service Tuesday through Saturday.

Staff
Aviation Management Services promoted Guy Booth to program director- LatinPass frequent flyer program.

Staff
Army Aviation Association of America named John Robinson president.

Staff
Representatives of the Air Line Pilots Association unit at US Airways met Thursday and Friday at ALPA headquarters in Washington to set a strategy for ongoing contract talks in light of the company's decision to furlough some employees and park aircraft to become more efficient.