Hawaiian Airlines will implement Sabre Decision Technologies' automated yield management system, Airmax. The system evaluates the allocation of seat inventory and pricing on a minute-by-minute basis.
Testimony before the House aviation subcommittee on user-fee financing for the aviation system, given by Herbert Kelleher and Robert Crandall, chief executives of Southwest and American, respectively, will be broadcast Sunday by Aviation News Today on Washington's NewsChannel 8. The program will be shown from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
American Eagle's four affiliates posted a collective 55.1% load factor in January, 2.9 percentage points more than the January 1996 figure and a record, the company reported. Eagle's traffic dropped 1.4% to 193.5 million revenue passenger miles and its capacity declined 6.7% to 351 million available seat miles, reflecting the shutdown of the Nashville hub last September. Passenger enplanements dropped 3.5% to 923,364, also reflecting the Nashville hub's demise.
Vanguard reported a 135.6% jump in January traffic 6% to 67.2 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity shot up 87.6% to 129.7 million available seat miles. The load factor rose to 51.8% from 41.3%.
Lufthansa Cargo and SAS Cargo announced yesterday the implementation of a plan to promote joint commercial activities. The sales force of each company will soon begin selling both partners' cargo services and products, particularly express services. Marketing and public relations will be coordinated as well. The carriers will use one another's capacity and coordinate freighter operations and trucking systems. By 2000, the partners aim to offer joint freight-handling on a global basis.
Air Line Pilots Association, which represents American Eagle pilots, has taken umbrage with Allied Pilots Association representing American pilots, charging it with "irresponsible rhetoric concerning our qualifications." American Eagle Master Executive Council Chairman Homer Pugh said Eagle pilots' "qualifications, skill and professionalism are on a par with any group of professional airmen" and are trained "to the same exacting standards as the American Airlines pilots." American pilots simply do not want Eagle pilots flying regional jets.
Japan's Ministry of Transport told the nation's airlines to prevent passengers from operating digital cameras during takeoffs and landings. The carriers will warn passengers in public address system announcements and print the warning in timetables. The ministry action reflects an incident last August in which a Japan Air System Airbus A300-622R hydraulic system warning lamp lit when a passenger began to operate a digital camera while the aircraft was on the ground at Tokyo Haneda Airport.
Airbus and Fokker Aircraft Operating Costs Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1996 A320-100/200 America West Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 24 50 Total Fleet Operations Departures 121 209 Block Hours 298 579 Flight Hours 257 495
Second long-range, high-speed Bombardier Global Express business jet has joined the flight test program. The prototype Global Express, which made its first flight last October, has accumulated more than 127 flight hours. A third aircraft will join the test program in April.
American's negotiations with its pilots continued "slowly, with increasing difficulty" yesterday, according to National Mediation Board Chairman Kenneth Hipp. It appears that nothing short of a significant change in negotiations or a strike will satisfy the pilots, whose issues are hard to resolve because of their mistrust of management. For its part, the company appears to be underestimating the pilots' attitude about regional jets, refusing to budge on language the union wants promising that only American pilots will fly RJs.
Liverpool Airport ordered a GEC-Marconi S511 primary surveillance radar for its air traffic control radar service. The airport, majority owned by British Aerospace, will be the third of the company's airports to be equipped with the S511.
Greenwich Air Services received an overhaul and repair contract valued at $7 million from Moscow-based Transaero Airlines. Greenwich signed a 10- year, $70 million contract last September with LOT Polish Airlines. In the one-year Transaero deal, Greenwich's Prestwick subsidiary will maintain CF6-50 engines that power three DC-10-30s.
Northwest has joined United in opposing a slot exemption for Turkish Airlines to operate into Chicago O'Hare. Like United and Lufthansa, Northwest wants to serve Turkey via a third-country code share, with partner KLM. The Turkish government has not authorized either alliance. In contrast, United believes Turkey is ready to grant similar code sharing by Japan Airlines and Air France, on Tokyo-Paris-Istanbul (DAILY, Jan. 31).
The demonstration by FAA and Cardion of the cooperative area precision tracking system in a precision runway monitoring mode at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport indicates the system ultimately could be less expensive than system developers thought. In tests and demonstrations, the three sensors placed around the airport were able to provide accurate position data for approaching aircraft that surpass the parameters the designers had assumed. That result creates the possibility of developing an architecture for use of the system using fewer sensors.
Peru's Ministry of Transport and Communications ordered an $11.9 million turnkey air traffic control system from Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Division. The company also received contracts from Panama and Aruba.
A San Francisco city ordinance may force United to do what unions and an employee group at the carrier have pressed for unsuccessfully for a few years - recognize domestic partners in its benefits plan. But United is not required to act for at least two years. The new ordinance requires companies doing business in the city on a contract basis, or holding leases from the city, to offer the same benefits to employees' domestic partners as they do to married employees' spouses.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Ed Bolen called "an affront" a recommendation by the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security that users of the airspace system fund its development through user fees. "By saying it's got to be user fees, the Gore commission is ignoring the plain language of the FAA Reauthorization Act, and it is an affront to those of us who would honestly appraise all the various funding alternatives," Bolen said.
The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security called yesterday for user funding of the national airspace system (NAS) but backed off a requirement that airlines adopt 100% matching of passengers and their baggage. President Clinton accepted the commission's final report as a "clear plan of action" to raise safety, security and air traffic control system standards.
The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved legislation yesterday reinstating aviation excise taxes through Sept. 30, approving the measure adopted by the Senate Finance Committee last week (DAILY, Feb. 6). Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas) is pressing both houses of Congress to pass the legislation by March 1. A House staff member did not know when the full chamber would vote on the legislation, but noted that Congress is off next week on recess.
The coming reform of European air traffic management will be feeble because European nations refused to pool their sovereignty over their national airspace, seven international associations of airlines and operators, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA), said in a joint statement.
Lufthansa's executive board has named a group of airline leaders to the board of directors of its passenger operations division, separated last week from its maintenance, catering and other units, and from the direct oversight of parent company executives (DAILY, Feb. 6). Frederick Reid will take control of marketing and network management and be the spokesman for the management board. Stefan Pichler will be responsible for sales. Karl-Friedrich Rausch, head of Lufthansa CityLine, will be head of the product and services division.
TWA's board elected Gerald Gitner chairman and chief executive yesterday, succeeding Jeffrey Erickson. Gitner was vice chairman and has been acting CEO, and the board asked him to become chairman early in the search process. The Machinists recently gave him a "no confidence" vote (DAILY, Feb. 4).
Evergreen Helicopters, based in McMinneville, Ore., beat out two bids by Kaman Corp. for the third in a series of U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) vertical replenishment (VERTREP) demonstrations. Evergreen won a $4.5 million contract last week to use two Sikorsky SH-3s to demonstrate the feasibility of resupplying U.S. Navy ships at sea, MSC said. The helicopters will be deployed in the Mediterranean aboard the USNS Saturn. MSC is trying to determine if commercial resupply can be a permanent solution for the Navy.
Ryanair claims it will undercut competitors' prices by half in new service to Paris and Brussels, by serving the French and Belgian capitals through nearby regional airports instead of Roissy and Zaventem. The Dublin-based airline will launch three daily 737-200 services to Beauvais and Charleroi, 70 kilometers north of Paris and 60 kilometers south of Brussels, respectively. It said it has negotiated reduced taxi and bus fares to link the airports with Paris and Brussels.
Rohr said the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority has authorized its overhaul and repair facility in Prestwick, Scotland, to begin delivering certified products to European airlines.
