Flight attendants at American Eagle carrier Executive Airlines have ratified their first contract since joining the Association of Flight Attendants in 1995. The contract is effective for 18 months - from Feb. 1, 1997, until Sept. 1, 1998 - so that it will correspond with the amendable dates of contracts with the other Eagle carriers. In the future, the AFA hopes to negotiate one contract for all four Eagles and merge seniority lists. The AFA represents 1,076 flight attendants at the four Eagle carriers, including the 113 at Executive.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air in January flew 67 million revenue passenger miles, an increase of 2% from the January 1996 figure. January 1997 January 1996 ------------------------------ Rev. Passenger Miles 67,000,000 66,000,000 Available Seat Miles 119,000,000 117,000,000 Load Factor (%) 56.8 56.4 Passengers 286,800 286,700
British Airways will launch electronic ticketing for British travel agents and U.K. domestic customers, including those on franchised routes, starting March 12. The e-ticket trial, which began last year on the Gatwick- Aberdeen route, will be extended to Galileo reservations system users next month.
American and British Airways accused their opponents of an "apparently orchestrated" effort to kill their alliance by delaying it using such measures as United's request for an evidentiary hearing into the matter (DAILY, Jan. 29). "Indeed, the opponents seem to have organized themselves into a Docket Branch tag team, taking turns with a constant stream of motions, answers and other pleadings, all intended to throw the American/British Airways alliance into a bottomless regulatory pit." The alliance carriers noted Delta's Jan. 14 motion, with comments due Jan.
FAA Acting Administrator Barry Valentine said seven new members have been added to the agency's Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee and 12 will leave the panel. He said the remaining 1997 meeting dates for the committee are April 8-9 and Sept. 16-17.
President Clinton's fiscal 1998 budget, sent to Congress yesterday, recommends $8.461 billion for FAA, about $100 million less than the fiscal 1997 total. An 8.7% increase in FAA operations funding, to $5.386 billion, depends on Congress agreeing to $300 million in new user fees. As suggested by the Office of Management and Budget recently, the budget proposes replacement of the aviation excise taxes with cost-based user fees, beginning in fiscal 1999 (DAILY, Dec. 13).
Max Karant, 83, aviation editor and retired first senior VP of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, died Feb. 1 in Gaithersburg, Md. He founded AOPA Pilot magazine in 1958 and was its editor for 18 years.
American, with help from outside sources, has started a campaign inviting employees and customers to ask their representatives in Congress to urge President Clinton to intervene in the dispute with its pilots and force a resolution by arbitration. Many employees have asked how to contact officials, American said, prompting it to provide telephone numbers and e- mail addresses of senators and the White House. Local governments in cities where American is a dominant carrier are using letter-writing campaigns and newspaper advertisements asking Clinton to intervene.
South African Airways ordered Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines to power two additional 747-400s it ordered from Boeing for delivery in May and October, 1998, to accommodate increased passenger traffic to the U.S.
In a blistering attack on Japan Airlines, Federal Express now wants DOT to deny the carrier's application to operate new Tokyo-Atlanta cargo service. FedEx earlier recommended that action be deferred or that DOT grant 90-day authority to pressure Japan into permitting beyond service by FedEx from Tokyo (DAILY, Jan. 30). JAL said deferral of action would be an "unlawful sanction" because the two governments agree that JAL's application falls under the bilateral, but they disagree on beyond-Tokyo issues (DAILY, Feb. 4).
Fairchild Dornier this week officially launched its 328JET program, only a few days after announcing that the aircraft would be powered by the Pratt&Whitney Canada PW306/9 turbofan engine (DAILY, Jan. 30 and 31). The manufacturer is scheduling first flight of a prototype in January 1998, with entry into service in early 1999. Fairchild Dornier projects a potential market of more than 350 328JETs - more than 50% to North America customers, The DAILY was told - in airline and corporate configurations over the next 15 years.
United's labor problems with several employee groups are based on management's failure to "exalt," "respect" and "reward" employee owners, and a general feeling of disappointment halfway through the term of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), according to the head of the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit. ALPA recently laid out a strategy to turn around the corporate culture at United, claiming employees are fed up with the status quo (DAILY, Jan. 29).
Northwest has expanded its Dining for Miles program to include more than 2,300 restaurants in 57 cities. For every $1 spent on meals, WorldPerks members will receive three miles. Members also receive 500 bonus miles for every first visit at about 1,500 of the restaurants. The program is offered in partnership with CUC International, a provider of promotional dining programs.
Correction: Delta suffered its fourth JT8D engine failure in a year, not its fourth 727 engine failure in a year, as reported Jan. 29 in The DAILY. The fatal accident cited involved an MD-80 series aircraft, not a 727.
United will add second daily nonstops June 17 from Frankfurt to Chicago O'Hare and June 5 to Washington Dulles airports. It will operate the Chicago service with 777 aircraft configured for 292 seats in three cabins. One Washington flight will use a 777 and the other a 767 with 206 seats in three classes. The new schedule will be coordinated and code-shared with alliance partner Lufthansa.
House Transportation Committee approved unanimously yesterday legislation (H.R.4) to remove the transportation trust funds, including aviation, from the unified federal budget. The legislation, which has 132 co-sponsors, is essentially the same bill that passed the House 284 to 143 last April.
Finnair and Maersk Air of Denmark are preparing to compete with SAS on the Copenhagen-Stockholm route, which they serve jointly eight times per day beginning April 28. The collaboration, begun last October with service between Stockholm and Billund, adds another Scandinavian market in which SAS's dominance is under increased pressure. Last November, Braathens launched service between Oslo and Stockholm, one of SAS's most profitable routes, and the Norwegian carrier plans to expand further, having invested in Swedish domestic airline Transwede.
United, Delta, Continental and Emery Worldwide are fighting American's proposed code share with Colombian flag carrier Avianca, recommending everything from consolidation with the TACA case to outright denial. The passenger carriers say American is gaining unrestrained dominance in Latin America, and Emery urges rejection for lack of reciprocity - Colombia has denied its efforts to fly there.
International Aviation Services has ordered 12 new JT8D-200 engines from Pratt&Whitney to power VIP 727s and bring them to Stage 3 standards. The company specializes in custom completions for the VIP market. It was appointed by Rohr to be the launch facility for the "VIP Super 27," as well as the customer support facility for all former Valsan and future Rohr- modified 727s.
Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) will address the American Society of Travel Agents' Eastern Regional Conference, scheduled April 3-6 at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington.
British Airways will transfer several more routes to London Gatwick from Heathrow as of March 30. St. Petersburg, Pisa and South West/London (operated by BA's Brymon Airways unit) join several other routes soon to be flown from Gatwick. BA had announced the transfer of its Latin America routes, effective March 17. The carrier also intends to launch new service or add frequencies from Gatwick to Glasgow, Barcelona, Lisbon, Bilbao, Stockholm, Zagreb and Riga, capital of Latvia. BA will stop Heathrow-Turin service due to lack of demand.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1996 DC-9-30 Continental Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 30 106 Total Fleet Operations Departures 165 520 Block Hours 260 839 Flight Hours 209 665 Miles 85,913 264,090
Hawaiian Airlines is planning to install Sabre Decision Technologies' yield management system, Airmax, to be ready for use by fall. Airmax evaluates the allocation of seats and pricing and creates passenger demand forecasts by fare class. Bruce Nobles, president and chief executive, said the system gives Hawaiian "an excellent opportunity to generate stronger utilization of its assets and, thus, improve profitability." SDT will build, test, install and maintain the system and train Hawaiian personnel.
Lufthansa said yesterday it will extract its passenger services functions from the rest of the airline and put them into a separate company, so it can focus on airline marketing and operations. No new managers will be hired, and in fact, the move is part of a company goal to reduce management and administrative positions by 10%.
