Canadian Regional Airlines will begin Toronto-Raleigh/Durham service June 22 with two daily roundtrips using Fokker F28 aircraft. Air Canada already has two daily DC-9 frequencies in the market and may upgrade those to Airbus A319s. There are no U.S. carriers with nonstop service in the market. The Canadian Regional product will feature a new two-class configuration with 10 business-class and 45 economy seats. It is the carrier's first transborder foray with a jet, although Air Canada has gobbled up innumerable markets with its fleet of 27 Canadair Regional Jets.
Delta reported yesterday that net profits soared 250% to $221 million from $63 million in the March quarter, the airline's fourth consecutive quarter of record net profits. Operating income jumped 136% to $398 million, the eighth straight quarterly record. Delta, picked by Wall Street to be the top performer this quarter (DAILY, April 15), proved analysts correct. The airline's earnings per share surged 260% to $2.88.
Japan is willing to offer a "very flexible" liberalized bilateral if the U.S. abandons its version of open skies, a Japanese government official told The DAILY. The official was responding to questions about published reports in Tokyo that during recent talks in Honolulu, Japan offered greatly expanded beyond rights from that country - rights that many in the U.S. believe already are available to the so-called incumbent carriers under the current bilateral. Because of the unequal aviation relationship between the two countries, it is "unrealistic" for the U.S.
Vail/Beaver Creek Jet Center, which operates a passenger terminal at Eagle County, Colo., Airport last week reiterated its objections to the airport's plan to use passenger facility charges to help finance an already-built second terminal. In a letter to FAA, the fixed-base operation argued that American has, and will have, exclusive use of the terminal, so using PFCs to pay for the facility is inconsistent with FAA statutes and regulations.
Bombardier board of directors has approved an increase of the dividend on the common shares of the corporation to $0.075 per share from $0.05. Also, as promised, Bombardier this week issued detailed, audited financial results for the year and three months ended that Jan. 31, as follows (DAILY, March 28): Year ended Jan. 31 3 Months ended Jan. 31 1997 1996 1997 1996 Revenues (bil) $ 8.0 $ 7.1 $ 2.5 $ 2.7
Delta Connection carrier Comair will inaugurate three more daily roundtrip flights between Tallahassee and Miami, effective May 1, giving it a total of seven daily roundtrips in the market, the regional said. Four of the seven will be operated with Canadair Regional Jets and three will be operated by the Embraer Brasilia turboprop. Comair Florida Sales Manager Michelle Edwards said Comair offers the only jet flights between Tallahassee, the state capital, and Miami, as well as between Tallahassee and Orlando.
Atlas Air reported that March quarter revenues increased 40% to $82 million, while net earnings, impacted by a non-recurring pretax charge, slid to $5 million from $6.2 million in the same 1996 period. Operating income, excluding the charge, rose 19% to $81.3 million. The company also announced it has acquired two more 747-200s, which will be delivered in 1998. Mickey Foret, president, said Atlas will add five aircraft this year for a year-over-year growth of 30%.
Airborne Express reported first quarter net earnings of $14.4 million, up from unusually low results of $1.2 million in the first quarter of 1996 due to severe winter weather. Revenues for the latest quarter were $655.5 million, an increase of 9.5% from $597.9 million reported in the same quarter a year ago. Domestic revenues were up 11% to $562.1 million, while international revenues rose 2% to $93.4 million. Total shipments grew 8.5% to 69 million, with domestic shipments up 8.5% to 67.7 million and international shipments up 8% to 1.3 million.
Washington Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines has named Eric Nordling VP- market planning, effective May 5. His responsibilities will include route planning, scheduling, pricing and revenue management. Nordling has served as manager of pricing and revenue management at Delta Air Lines for the past two years. Before that, he was director of pricing and revenue management for Anchorage, Alaska-based MarkAir. Nordling also has held posts in maintenance, route planning, fleet management and revenue management at United.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is looking into whether the federal tax code could be adjusted to provide incentives for airlines to operate regional jets into small- and mid-size markets. Frist has led an effort in the industry to study the issue of how to bring more low-fare service to more communities. A staff person for Frist said there is no specific proposal yet on the RJ incentive, but he is looking into whether legislation should be introduced. Frist is a member of the Budget Committee, but not the Finance Committee, which has responsibility for tax changes.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expenses Fourth Quarter 1996 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger Alaska $ 10,580,000 $ 3.77 America West 6,122,586 1.33 American 155,984,000 7.98 Continental 33,013,000 3.69 Delta 81,591,000 3.31
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee believes the $460 billion cut in the Airport Improvement Program proposed by the Clinton administration is "irresponsible." In an interview to be broadcast this weekend on the American Association of Airport Executives' Aviation News Today, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) was asked about the administration's $1 billion AIP budget request for fiscal 1998. "I think it would be very, very foolish to go with the numbers the administration has come up with.
Northwest will spin off a majority of its recently acquired Express Airlines I at some point in the future to create an organization similar to Airlink partner Mesaba Holdings, the company has confirmed. Northwest owns 30% of publicly held Mesaba, which feeds the carrier's Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul hubs. Express, which was acquired from founder/owner Michael Brady, feeds the Memphis hub but also serves about 15 Minneapolis markets. The move to sell Express heightens speculation that the reason Northwest bought it was to sever the relationship with Brady.
Charlotte, N.C.-based US Airways affiliate CCAIR has hired Barlow Partners, L.P. as financial adviser for its fleet reorganization plan, the company announced this week. Barlow, a limited partnership that includes Virgin Express Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein and which holds 510,200 shares or a 6.6% stake in CCAIR, will help the regional "in the redeployment and future acquisition of aircraft to meet its fleet plan, as well as provide other financial advice with respect to the fleet plan," CCAIR said in a formal statement (DAILY, Jan. 3).
The chairmen and ranking Democrats of the House Transportation Committee and its aviation subcommittee have asked FAA to reconsider charging general aviation aircraft in its interim final rule on foreign aircraft overflight fees. "Imposing a fee on general aviation was certainly not our focus when we drafted the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act (PL104- 264)," the legislators said in a letter to acting FAA Administrator Barry Valentine.
Reno Air lost $5 million in the first quarter, almost solely due to flooding and poor weather in the West. In the first quarter of 1996, the airline had a profit of $275,000. This year, it was forced to cancel 257 flights - five times the number expected - due to a 100-year flood in Reno and severe weather elsewhere. At one point, flood waters submerged the Reno airport and rose to the bellies of airplanes. "Combined with high fuel prices and other factors, we lost in excess of $5 million in January alone," said President and Chief Executive Robert Reding.
..Ambrose cited the French government's intention to spend 3.7 billion European currency units ($4.2 billion) to extend the TGV high-speed rail line from Tours to Bordeaux - a rail line that will serve two, perhaps three million passengers a year. That is the same amount European carriers will spend this year to run the whole of Eurocontrol. "The entire European air traffic control system will run this year for the same amount of money it costs to extend [224 miles] of track, and we will service somewhere in the region of 500 million passengers through the system."
The chief executives of BAA plc and British Airways signed an agreement yesterday calling for BA and its alliance partners to be the primary airline tenants of London Heathrow's Terminal 5, if the terminal is built. BAA said having all BA flights in Terminal 5 will allow the maximum number of passengers to make connections without changing terminals. The deal is conditioned on BA's vacating Terminal 1. BA also agreed in principle, subject to further study, that the alliance involving United, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada and Thai should replace BA in Terminal 1.
Value-added tax on air transport in Europe is "a great threat," says Mike Ambrose, director general of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA). "But if they put a VAT on air transport, we want to see it on rail. There is a mis-conception in most governments that air transport is a cash cow, and it is not. When we pay taxes, it is not even being used to fund our own infrastructure. It is going straight downtown to fund the Exchequer to subsidize the rail system, and I am fearful that it will be air transport that will be targeted yet again," he said...
Aerostructures Corp., Nashville, and Contour Aerospace, Brea, Calif., have agreed to merge into The Aerostructures Corp., supplying large airframe structures and components to the commercial and military aerospace industry. Annual sales are expected to be about $320 million with "substantial growth expected in the next several years." Both companies are majority owned by The Carlyle Group, a private merchant bank based in Washington, D.C.
JetFleet Management Corp. has leased a 19-seat Metro III aircraft to Peninsula Airways, an Alaska Airlines commuter with a hub in Anchorage, Alaska. The lease term is 26 months.
FAA prohibited flight operations within North Korea yesterday "pending the resolution of outstanding questions related to safety of flight operations in the area." The U.S. last April 7 lifted its prohibition on the payment of overflight fees to North Korea, which effectively opened the airspace to U.S. operators. But FAA yesterday said the combination of the nation's "military capabilities, the rules of engagement and inexperience in managing international civil aircraft poses a threat to civil aircraft in certain areas" of the Pyongyang Flight Information Region.
Fleet Industries, Fort Erie, Ontario, said it received a $3.3 million repayable investment from Technology Partnerships Canada to enable it to secure a contract from Hyundai Aerospace of South Korea to design tooling and produce wing components for the MD-95. Fleet said the work is expected to create 82 full-time jobs at its facility and among its 30 Canadian subcontractors. Fleet will build aileron and wing tabs, flaps, vanes, forward and aft wing fairings and wing-to-fuselage fillets over the course of the 11-year contract.
FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive yesterday requiring visual inspections to detect distress and replace faulty ball bearings in GE90 engines on five Boeing 777 aircraft. The AD follows reported ball bearing failures on two British Airways aircraft, neither of which resulted in an engine shutdown. Of the five aircraft affected by this AD, two are operated by BA and three by China Southern.
