Airlines Reporting Corp. has completed a successful 90-day test of Interactive Agent Reporting, its new electronic reporting system, using 30 volunteer travel agencies representing all four major computer reservations systems. ARC will add about 25 agency locations a week. The process for electronic refund and exchange still is being developed and will be added this year.
Vanguard is offering discounts to seniors and children and reducing advance purchase requirements to all customers for tickets purchased by Feb. 16. Persons 65 or older will receive a 25% discount and children 12 or under 50% off on travel that must be completed by July 11. If tickets are purchased after Feb. 16, seniors and children will receive a 10% discount. The advance purchase requirements have been reduced to three days.
KLM posted a fiscal third quarter operating loss of 19 million guilders (US$10 million) as fuel costs increases wiped out any hope of a profit. In the three months ended Dec. 31, fuel expenses rose NLG83 million (US$45 million) and operating income fell NLG75 million (US$41 million). The carrier had a net loss of NLG7 million (US$4 million), compared with a NLG102 million (US$55 million) profit during the same period in 1995.
A Norwegian church is proposing to ban flight activity several times a week, during any local funeral, at Oslo's new international airport, Gardermoen, due to open in late 1998. Norway has yet to figure out how to respond to the request.
American Airlines' traffic increased 6% systemwide, boosted by a 13.2% gain in Latin America and a 6% rise in domestic operations. Capacity was up 2.3%, although Pacific and Atlantic traffic both declined. The load factor reached 66% in January, up 2.4 percentage points. Domestic loads were up 1.8 points to 64.8%, but the largest jump was in Latin America, up 6.3 points to 71.4%. January 1997 January 1996 RPMs 8,465,502,000 7,983,488,000 ASMs 12,829,769,000 12,544,380,000
Spirit Airlines will begin new daily direct service from Atlantic City to Cleveland, Ohio, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., April 10. Fares will be as low as $89 one way to Cleveland, and $79 to Myrtle Beach. Spirit, which serves Myrtle Beach from Detroit and Boston, said it plans to announce more service to the city in the future. Ned Homfeld, president of Spirit, said the airline also wants to add more service to Atlantic City in the future.
USAir posted 19.6% higher revenue passenger mile figures for January, as capacity increased 12.7% and load factor rose 3.6 percentage points to 62.5%. Domestic traffic, the majority of USAir's system, jumped 15.3%, while international RPMs rose 105.2%. International capacity, 7.6% of USAir's system, was up 81.8%. The average passenger journey on USAir in January lengthened 5.9% to 719.6 miles.
Reno Air has launched a Fly 4 Fly Free promotion in which four roundtrip or eight one-way flights between Detroit and Reno/Tahoe will earn a free coach roundtrip to one of 20 Reno Air destinations. Travelers may pool their credits, and anyone may take the free trip. The flights can be accrued until Dec. 1, and the free trip is available until July 1, 1998. Fares for the daily nonstop flights, which began this week, start at $99.
Airlines from Taiwan and Cambodia will operate six roundtrip flights per week between Taipei and Phnom Penh- three apiece - under an aviation agreement signed Dec. 18 but confirmed only recently by Tsai Tuei, director-general of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration. Tsai said the two sides agreed not to publicize the signing in order not to antagonize China. The agreement limits the number of passengers each side can carry to 500 per week. Taiwan has selected EVA Airways to serve the new route.
GE90 operators British Airways and China Southern last week removed from service a total of five engines powering Boeing 777 widebody twins after discovering early fatigue problems with bleed air manifolds in the high- pressure compressor. China Southern removed only one engine and resumed flying Tuesday. BA took out four engines and grounded several 777s for three days awaiting spares from GE. BA expects its fourth grounded aircraft to return to flight by the weekend.
TWA will increase service from its St. Louis hub to 19 cities in North America this spring, beginning with scheduled changes Feb. 15, as part of a normal buildup after the slow winter months. All of the cities receive service from TWA. The carrier also plans to restore daily nonstops to Tampa from New York Kennedy, which it suspended for the winter. As of Feb. 15, TWA will operate 346 daily departures from St. Louis and 38 from JFK.
Air Line Pilots Association said a one-day conference it hosted last week identified five major areas of concern for operations in South American airspace - flight crew training, data collection, aircrew and air traffic control procedures, industry and government interface and communications. Attending the meeting were representatives from the International Civil Aviation Organization, International Air Transport Association, FAA, International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association, International Federation of Air Traffic Controller Associations and several U.S.
Senate Commerce Committee recommended yesterday by voice vote that Rodney Slater be confirmed as DOT secretary, succeeding Federico Pena, who moves to head the Energy Department.
All Nippon Airways has resumed daily service to Honolulu from Nagoya, using 747s in a 411-seat, all-economy configuration. The carrier suspended service on the route in March 1994 as part of a restructuring that targeted inefficient service.
Air France Chairman Christian Blanc has set up more than 2,000 small-group meetings in the last three years to reorganize flight schedules, marketing, inflight service, revenue management and frequent flyer programs. The objective was to repair what he termed an "obsolete" sales organization and several other divisions. The airline averaged nearly two restructuring meetings per day during the period.
Pan Am's international alliance partners are backing the airline's decision to launch Chicago-New York service with wet-leased aircraft. Pan Am, which had a 68% load factor in January, has "a number of presold bookings" from partner carriers even as it prepares to serve the new route, Chief Executive Martin Shugrue said in a message to employees.
Air Canada has acquired two more Canadair Regional Jets in a $40 million deal. The carrier operates 24 of the aircraft on transborder and domestic routes. Air Canada is getting between 10 and 11 hours of utilization a day from the 50-passenger turbofans.
The Senate Finance Committee approved legislation yesterday to reinstate the aviation excise taxes through Sept. 30, and to allow the Treasury Department to deposit tax receipts into the aviation trust fund regardless of when it receives them. The bill, drafted in cooperation with House and Clinton administration tax officials, now awaits Senate action, which would follow House action on the same or a similar bill.
Northrop Grumman said it was selected by Boeing to produce doors for the 737, 757 and 767, and more doors for the 747 in a contract valued at more than $400 million. The company now produces 11 passenger and cargo doors and a main deck door for the 747. The new work involves 28 additional doors for Boeing aircraft. Northrop Grumman said it plans to consolidate all door production in a new Aircraft Doors Center in Georgia.
McDonnell Douglas named Walter Orlowski president of Douglas Aircraft, succeeding Mike Sears, who will head McDonnell Douglas's tactical aircraft, missiles and space business. Orlowski had been VP-general manager of Douglas Aircraft. In the past, he was VP-marketing and senior VP of the MD-11, MD-90 and MD-80 programs. Most recently he was responsible for implementing the strategic collaboration agreement with Boeing.
Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1996 B747-100 Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 23 10 Total Fleet Operations Departures 37 18 Block Hours 295 134 Flight Hours 277 123 Miles 145,745 64,997
ValuJet flew 64.6 million revenue passenger miles in January, a 67.4% decrease from last January. Available seat miles fell 62% to 155.6 million and the load factor declined seven percentage points to 41.5%, which ValuJet attributed partly to predatory pricing by its large competitors. ValuJet operated 18 aircraft last month, compared with 41 a year ago. January's traffic results were below those of December, when ValuJet flew 84.3 million RPMs, 150 million ASMs and a 56% load factor.
Former Acting FAA Administrator Linda Daschle has joined the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman&Caldwell as a senior public policy adviser in the firm's Public Policy Group. Former Sen. Howard Baker said Daschle "has an impressive 20-year career in the aviation industry and has demonstrated leadership in managing transportation issues."
Banner Aerospace has purchased PB Herndon Co., a specialty fastener distributor to the aerospace industry, for an undisclosed amount of cash. PB Herndon will join Banner's hardware group.
