House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a markup Wednesday of legislation to reinstate the aviation taxes temporarily, and to restore permanently the Treasury Department's authority to transfer aviation tax receipts to the aviation trust fund. The committee will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 1100, Longworth Building.
Florida West International Airways asked DOT for an exemption to avoid the expiration of its authority to operate cargo service to new points in South America. The carrier was supposed to begin operations by Wednesday, within 60 days of receiving its certificate, but it said paperwork has delayed its approval in Peru. It asked for a 45-day extension. The authority is for service from Houston and Miami to Santiago via Lima and Iquitos, Peru. (Docket OST-97-2119)
TAP-Air Portugal has leased three new A319s and a new A320 from International Lease Finance Corp. It will take delivery of the A319s in January and March 1998, and the A320 in March 1999. Air Cargo
Embry-Riddle researchers have given FAA disturbing but not unexpected results of a three-year study of security screening at airports. "America's frontline defender against aviation terrorism earns $5.25 an hour and is likely to be quitting in a few months," researchers found. "He is also not very likely to recognize a gun or knife on his X-ray screen, or a radio-size bomb."
White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security has pushed back release of its final report by one day, to Wednesday. The commission still will meet tomorrow in closed session to discuss draft recommendations, and in open session to receive a task force report on civil liberties implications of sophisticated security profiling techniques.
The City of Chicago is reopening Meigs Field today, and Great Lakes Aviation is reinstating scheduled service today between Meigs and Capital Airport in Springfield, Ill. Great Lakes discontinued service in the market Feb. 7. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced earlier this month that Meigs, which closed Sept. 30, would be reopened and operated as an airport for five years before being converted into a park as previously planned (DAILY, Jan. 7). The City Council approved Friday a license agreement with Great Lakes, landing fees and automobile parking charges.
Fiscal 1998 budget calls for a new user fee to offset part of the National Transportation Safety Board's commercial aviation accident investigation costs. The fee, estimated to raise $6 million in 1998, would be paid by commercial air carriers based on revenue flight hours of operation. NTSB has faced some expensive investigations recently, particularly that of TWA Flight 800.
Dobbs International Services received a six-year contract from Delta to provide food service in 39 cities, including its largest markets - Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas and Orlando.
McDonnell Douglas said Friday more than 45,000 non-executive employees from its commercial, military and transport aircraft businesses received bonuses totaling $54 million for contributions to the company's record 1996 performance. The Employees Performance Incentive Plan paid out the bonuses for nearly three quarters of the work force. In addition, nearly 8,000 members of the United Aerospace Workers in California received payments. The corporation reported revenues of $13.8 billion in 1996.
U.S. airlines recorded worse on-time performance, more mishandled baggage and a higher rate of consumer complaints in 1996 than the year before, according to data published by DOT. The yearend wrapup, which accompanied December performance statistics, showed an 18% increase in consumer complaints in 1996, to 7,105. The top 10 airlines' mishandled baggage rate was 5.3 complaints per 1,000 passengers, worse than 1995's 5.18. The on- time arrival rate was 74.5%, down from 78.6%.
Alitalia's low-cost subsidiary, Alitalia Team, applied for an exemption to operate selected flights for its parent from Rome to New York, Boston and Chicago. Alitalia Team already flies for Alitalia from Italy to points in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central America. The unit uses former Alitalia employees with B-scale wages and more flexible work rules under a labor agreement signed last November.
Mercury Air Group reported record revenue and net income for the first six months of its fiscal 1997. Revenue jumped 33.6% to $143.3 million while net income rose 4.2% to $2.7 million. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, revenue was up 33.4% to a record $73.9 million, but net income tumbled 5.1% to $1.3 million. Net income for the previous comparable quarter and six months included a $274,000 gain from the sale of options.
Lufthansa has become Air Canada's general sales agent in Belgium and Luxembourg for passenger flights, part of the strategic alliance the carriers signed last June. Air Canada currently operates 28 weekly flights via Frankfurt between Brussels/Luxembourg and Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.
United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines reported a 13.6% increase in revenue passenger miles in January, to 23.5 million. Capacity rose 18.4% to 63.4 million and the load factor dipped 1.5 percentage points to 37%. ACA carried 96,601 passengers during the month, up 12.7% from January 1996.
The final stage of liberalizing the European Union's aviation market, which takes effect April 1, will drain traffic from the continent's major hubs, easing their capacity problems, and increase business at regional airports, according to Airports Council International-Europe. The Brussels-based association's director general, Philippe Hamon, said healthy passenger traffic growth last year at regional airports in France, Ireland, Austria and the U.K.
America West posted a January traffic increase of 19.3%, but capacity grew at a faster rate, 21.6%. The load factor dropped 1.2 percentage points to 62.9%. January 1997 January 1996 RPMs 1,241,698,000 1,041,130,000 ASMs 1,974,766,000 1,624,523,000 LoadFtr% 62.9 64.1 Psgrs 1,446,688 1,300,692
National Transportation Safety Board is "very close to a decision" on whether to recall "some of the witnesses" in its November hearing on the May 1996 ValuJet DC-9 accident, according to Member John Goglia.
British Airways plans to invest 150 million pounds in its cargo operation with the aim of turning the airline into a "world-class freight carrier." The investment is at the heart of a two-year business plan that includes the use of new technology and increased automation at the new World Cargocentre, under construction at London Heathrow. The planned changes will lead to a reduction of almost 400 jobs in the work force over two years, to be achieved through voluntary severance, redeploymnent and early retirement.
Calgary-based WestJet Airlines, the only low-fare, short-haul carrier to take to the skies in Canada last year, reported that it earned a profit during its first year of operation as its larger Canadian competitors struggled to break even. The privately held startup did not disclose how much it earned. WestJet also is debt-free, a rarity for any startup, and it acquired additional capital recently via a second private placement to its current shareholders.
If the American-British Airways alliance sells slots at Heathrow Airport to win approval for the alliance, it will do so regardless of European Union objections, Hans Mirka, American's senior VP-international affairs, said in Brussels last week. European and U.K. authorities continue to dispute whether slot sales are permissible under EU law.
