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.
United's April traffic increased 4.8% on 4.5% more capacity, which raised the load factor slightly to 70.5%. Domestic traffic grew 4.5% and the domestic load factor gained 1 percentage point to 71.1%, but Pacific fell 2.9 points to 66.6% and Latin America 0.4 points to 58.6%. Atlantic traffic rose 18.7% on 16.4% more capacity. Cargo ton miles jumped 20.7%, reflecting the recent start of United's dedicated cargo operation. April 97 April 96 4 Mths 97 4 Mths 96
Midwest Express Airlines reported an 11.1% increase in April traffic to 111.8 million revenue passenger miles, up from 100.6 million in April 1996. Available seat miles jumped 13.8% to 175.9 million from 154.5 million. The load factor was down 1.6 percentage points to 63.5%. The airline carried 133,003 passengers during the month, a 9.9% increase. For the first four months of the year, traffic rose 8.2% to 425.2 million RPMs, ASMs rose 13% to 696.3 million and the load factor dropped 2.7 points to 61.1%.
Tower Air reported an 11.9% increase in block hours flown in April to 4,902 from 4,382 in April 1996. For the first four months of the year, Tower's block hours decreased 5.4% to 12,678 from 13,398. Scheduled passenger service, held down because Tower ended service to Brazil, decreased 14% to 203 million revenue passenger miles. But capacity fell more, by 15.5% to 272 million available seat miles, and the load factor was up 1.3 percentage points to 74.6%.
San Diego-based PS Group Holdings reported a first quarter net income of $1 million, or 17 cents per share, up from $871,000 in the first quarter of 1996. Results were held down by $71,000 in charges from San Francisco Airport for pipeline removal costs and expenses related to the holding company's reorganization. The company said those expenses were partially offset by income from settlement of the former Pan Am's bankruptcy and sale of Pan Am 747 engine parts.
Swissair, Delta, Sabena and Austrian Airlines are merging their alliance product offerings to provide a seamless operation for passengers, but the group has no major changes in store, despite closer links to be announced next week by rivals Lufthansa, United, SAS, Air Canada and Thai International. "We have been doing the global alliance business since 1989, longer than others, and we have no immediate plans to enlarge that," said Jean-Pierre Allemann, Swissair's general manager North America.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries February 1997 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Canada 1 A319 CFM56-5A5 1 Air Inter Europe 1 A319 CFM56-5A4 7 Air Jamaica 1 A320-200 CFM56-5B4 1
United has saved more than 5 million gallons of fuel and $4 million during the past six months by trimming use of aircraft auxiliary power units. The carrier still is short of its 60-minutes-per-departure goal, recording 68 minutes so far this year, down from 82 minutes last year.
Lufthansa is starting the first of three Internet auctions June 5 for nonstop roundtrip tickets from Germany to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. It is the first time Lufthansa has offered a ticket auction on line. The exact destinations will be disclosed shortly and the flight details announced June 1. Bids will start at a minimum of 10 Deutschmarks ($5.80). The Internet auctioning of tickets "is a further milestone" in the development of Lufthansa's InfoFlyway online service, said Stefan Pichler, executive VP-sales.
Orally approved an exemption for Polar Air Cargo to conduct cargo service between Anchorage and Oslo, and to integrate the authority with its existing certificate, through May 1, 1999...Approved a separate Polar exemption to carry cargo between Miami and Caracas and beyond to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo through May 2, 1999, integrating the authority...Approved an exemption for Iberia to carry general cargo on a 747 on a Madrid-Orlando-Miami routing May 9 through May 16...Received notification of an Air Foyle Ltd./Antonov Design Bureau charter flight, subject to FAA approv
Amerijet asked DOT for a 90-day extension of dormancy provisions for its planned scheduled all-cargo service from Los Angeles to Mexico City, Guadalajara and Merida. DOT granted authority for the routes, but "unforeseen circumstances" in the carrier's aircraft maintenance and conversion program prevented it from starting service by May 8, the original deadline. The carrier said preparations continue, and it already has established facilities at Los Angeles and the three points in Mexico.
Canadian government officials in Washington asked the U.S. Friday to postpone for at least 90 days a plan to impose overflight fees for aircraft transiting U.S. airspace. Canada is suggesting the U.S. may be violating the bilateral agreement by failing to meet "just and reasonable" standards and implementing the fees without advance consultation. According to an outline of talking points obtained by The DAILY, Canadian officials told their U.S.
Aviation Week&Space Technology magazine promoted John Morrocco to European bureau chief in London, Pierre Sparaco to senior European editor in Paris and Ed Phillips to Southwest bureau chief in Fort Worth, and named Michael Taverna European editor in Paris and Metehan Demir contributing editor in Turkey.
OnFlight Media has secured contracts to sell advertising on the exterior of airplanes operated by Hainan Airlines of China, Orient Thai Airlines in Thailand, U-Land Airlines in Taiwan and Pacific Airlines in Vietnam. It said it expects to announce additional agreements with airlines in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. OnFlight is responsible for advertiser negotiations, logo design and painting. Its founders came from Western Pacific Airlines, which pioneered the concept.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said it is preparing to take legal action if FAA implements air traffic control user fees for general aviation aircraft overflying the U.S. The fees are slated to take effect May 19, although Canadian pilots will be exempted from the charges until October. "These overflight fees are a threat to safety and an accounting boondoggle," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Congress never intended for FAA to charge private aircraft. AOPA also is acting on behalf of Canadian and other international pilots.
PATS Inc., Columbia, Md., has been chosen by Boeing Co. to provide several systems for the 757 aircraft slated for operation by the U.S. Air Force's Special Air Mission Wing. PATS President Jack Frost said the company will build auxiliary fuel tank systems, retracting passenger AirStairs, retracting crew ladders and high-capacity potable water systems for VIP transports. Frost said the systems will be delivered to Boeing's Wichita, Kan., plant as complete kits.
DOT finally set a procedural schedule for the proposed American-TACA code share, now that the applicants have provided additional information as requested by the department. The May 8 order gave American-TACA three business days to file remaining documents that were undergoing confidentiality review, and then interested parties will have 21 days to file. Another seven business days are allotted for replies. There is no deadline requiring DOT to make its decision, however. The schedule is somewhat more compressed than Delta's suggested 45-day period.
Redmond, Wash.-based PRIMEX Aerospace Co. has been chosen by American, Delta and United to install its EmPower system in aircraft, to enable passengers to plug in their laptop computers. The contracts are worth more than $15 million, the company said. All three airlines are installing the power systems this summer (DAILY, May 7). The work will be performed at the company's Redmond facilities. PRIMEX develops and manufactures rocket engines, gas generators, aircraft fire suppression systems and airborne electronic products for military and commercial customers.
U.S. and Korean officials will discuss open skies during bilateral talks in Seoul May 20-21.U.S. officials hope Korea will join Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia in a growing open skies zone in Asia. The senior State Department official will be Dan Fantozzi, director of the office of aviation negotiations; the senior DOT representative will be Ed Oppler, assistant director of the office of international aviation.
Frontier Airlines' April traffic jumped 29.4% to 76.5 million revenue passenger miles from the 59 million reported last April. Capacity grew at a slower rate, 21.2%, to 121.4 million available seat miles from 100.2 million, pushing the load factor up four percentage points to 63%. For the first four months, traffic grew 28.5% to 311.6 million RPMs while capacity rose at the same rate to 510.1 million ASMs. The load factor gained 0.2 points to 61.1%. The number of passengers carried rose 23.5% in April and the first four months, to 105,407, and 434,778, respectively.
Condor German Airlines has expanded service between Germany and Tampa and beyond to Mexico. The new schedule calls for five weekly flights to the Florida city from Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt and Mexico. Condor will fly from Tampa to Puerta Vallarta on Thursdays and to Acapulco on Sundays.
