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.
Western Pacific Airlines will serve its newest planned destination, Denver, with 45 average daily flights, and affiliate Mountain Air Express (MAX) will operate 24 average daily flights beginning June 29. The Colorado Springs carrier and MAX will have 23 daily departures from Colorado Springs, including 12 that transit Denver. Examples of fares are Denver- Portland for $218 roundtrip, and $278 for Denver-Newark.
- In Federal Register dated May 2...Adopted an airworthiness directive on certain Aerospatiale ATR 42 and ATR 72 series airplanes requiring modification of the handle of the passenger/crew door to change the "down- to-open" configuration to "up-to-open"...Adopted an AD on certain Jetstream BAe ATP series airplanes requiring modification of parts in the elevator flight control system and the propeller switch warning system...Adopted an AD on Raytheon DH 125-1A, -3A, and -400A series airplanes requiring a one- time inspection to detect scoring of the upper fuselage skin arou
Reno Air's traffic increased 3.2% in April to 252 million revenue passenger miles on 0.5% less capacity. The load factor advanced 2.4 percentage points to 66.9% as the carrier transported 442,189 passengers. President and Chief Executive Robert Reding said the traffic growth "was achieved in conjunction with generally higher fare levels prevalent on the West Coast this year." For the first four months, traffic was up 9.6% to 974.7 million RPMs, available seat miles rose 12.6% to 1.493 billion and the load factor dipped 1.8 points to 65.3%.
Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing to accelerate by about three months its development of a 102,000-pounds-thrust version of the Trent 800 engine for Boeing's 777-200X/300X derivatives. The Trent 8102 now is scheduled for certification in April 2000 and availability to enter service in January 2001.
CCAIR posted net income of $126,145, or two cents per share, compared with $69,555, or one cent per share, in the three months ended March 31, 1996. The Charlotte, N.C., US Airways Express affiliate increased operating revenues 4.4%, to $16.5 million from $5.8 million, while operating costs rose 4.1% to $16.1 million from $15.5 million. Yield per revenue passenger mile jumped more than two cents, from 47 cents to 49.7 cents. Cost per available seat mile was up 1.4 cents to 22.8 cents from 21.4 cents.
Three of the six Central American nations that signed open-skies agreements last week do not meet Category 1 safety standards. FAA rates Guatemala as Category 2, preventing expansion of service to the U.S. Honduras and Nicaragua are Category 3, barring service by flag carriers until safety and technical practices improve.
Used Jet Aircraft Deliveries February 1997 Carrier # Type Engines Previous Operator Air Philippines 1 737-200 JT8D-7B Interlease Aircraft AAR 1 737-200 JT8D-9A US Airways Aerocancun 1 A310-300 PW4152 ILFC Aeromexico 1 MD-82 JT8D-217 Aero Lloyd Air Comet 1 A310-300 PW4152 UT Capital Airborne Express 1 DC-8-63(F) JT3D-7 ATI Inc.
China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crash-landed May 8 during a thunderstorm in the southern city of Shenzen, killing at least 30 people, wire services reported. The accident is the first major crash in China in three years, but the second for China Southern in five, after a 737 killed 141 in November 1992.
DOT lifted its Part 213 schedule filing sanction on Air-India, now that the Indian government has agreed to grant United and Northwest the authority they need to operate third-country code shares into the country. United will put its code on Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt to Mumbai and Madras, and Northwest will put its code on KLM flights between Amsterdam and Mumbai. Such code shares were permitted under a Memorandum of Consultations signed in December 1995. (Docket OST-97-2296)
U.S. airlines hired 914 pilots in April and 3,776 in the first four months of the year, according to AIR Inc. From January through April, Delta hired the most, 338, followed by United, 304; Northwest, 165; TWA, 148, and Continental, 131. US Airways, DHL and American did not hire.
Arrow Air said it has become the largest all-cargo carrier at San Juan, Puerto Rico. It carried 31.5 million pounds of domestic cargo between San Juan and the U.S. in the fourth quarter, a 20% market share. Arrow introduced L-1011 freighter service last year from Miami and Atlanta.
American Chairman Robert Crandall received a base salary of $750,000 in 1996 but a "target bonus" of 100% of that salary has yet to be voted on by the board of directors. Crandall also received $86,588 in "other compensation" last year, including $38,016 in supplemental life and $16,869 in long-term disability insurance policies.
China is expected to respond this summer to an FAA-Defense Department proposal to resume cooperation in air traffic control. John Hancock of FAA and Frank Colson of the Pentagon met recently with Bao Pei De, China's ATC, airports and safety chief. The U.S. hopes for technical cooperation, perhaps similar to current arrangements with Russia. Last August, DOD shut down the Defense Cooperation Commission, which had been working with China on ATC, and FAA took the U.S. government lead.
AirNet Systems has added a weekend small-package delivery service for its express and banking customers. AirNet flies canceled checks for banks and other express documents with a fleet of 28 Learjets and 71 light twin- engine aircraft (DAILY, May 6). The company also has begun flying canceled checks for the Salt Lake City branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Eric Roy, executive VP and chief financial officer, cited increases in the company's banking business and predicted further revenue and earnings growth.
Time constraints frustrated U.S. efforts to bring open skies to the Caribbean last week in connection with President Clinton's Caribbean summit visit to Barbados following trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. The U.S. had offered to negotiate open skies with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) plus Haiti, but the number of countries involved complicated the effort. A government official said the U.S. still would welcome expressions of interest from individual Caribbean nations.
LanChile has become one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world. Traffic increased 37% in 1996 and more than 50% year-over-year during each of the past six months. The increase was 68% in January. The airline is on a pace to carry 3 million passengers this year, up from 1.9 million in 1996.
ILFC has emerged as the world's largest customer for new aircraft this year. The leasing firm, which has spent $10 billion in three years on new aircraft, will be at the peak of its buying cycle this year, taking delivery of 64 aircraft, or one every 5.7 days. In 1996, it acquired 63 aircraft.
America West says it is offering lower fares than discounted domestic tariffs recently marketed by other airlines. Tickets must be purchased by May 20 and travel completed by Oct. 8. One-way fares based on a roundtrip purchase include $59 in the Colorado Springs-Las Vegas and Phoenix-Denver markets, $119 in the Dallas-Las Vegas and Atlanta-Phoenix markets, and $169 for Washington-San Francisco and Miami-Oakland.
