Tower Air filed extensive data this week to make its case for winning permanent authority as a U.S. flag carrier to Brazil. Joining Tower in the filings was sponsoring witness Edward Smick, VP of SH&E, a consulting firm that does work for the airline. Smick emphasized that as a successful provider of low-cost travel, Tower is "by no means an insignificant carrier," even if it is "less prominent" than larger ones.
Air China has ordered two 747-400 Combis valued at $383 million, Boeing said yesterday. Last year, the mainland China flag carrier ordered three 747-400s valued at $510 million. It plans to use the combis on routes to Europe and the U.S.
Atlantic Southeast's announced intention this week to acquire up to 90 Canadair Regional Jets (30 plus 60 options) puts the onus on American to decide whether its Eagle subsidiaries will fly small jets. ASA plans to use the aircraft at the Dallas/Fort Worth hub in support of senior partner Delta. The best Eagle has to offer from the hub is the 64-passenger ATR 72 turboprop. The assumed ASA order states that among the 60 options would be 70-seat CRJ-X aircraft, although manufacturer Bombardier has yet to announce an official go-ahead for the airplane.
United's mechanics and related workers, represented by the Machinists union, rejected a midterm wage adjustment yesterday with a 63%-37% vote. At the same time, the ramp, food service, dispatch and security workers represented by the same union voted 67%-33% to approve their wage adjustment. The agreements were the same, and United's pilots recently agreed to a similar wage adjustment. The Machinists tentative deal, reached in mid-December, would have given the employees a raise of 3% in July, 3% in July 1998, 2% in July 1999 and 2% in March 2000.
Atlantic Coast last month made 66.2 million seat miles available for sale, a 10.3% increase from the December 1995 figure. Revenue passenger miles also showed a healthy, but slightly slower, increase, rising 9.8% to 28.3 million from 25.8 million. Load factor as a result dropped 0.2 percentage points to 42.8% from 43%. Passenger enplanements increased 8% to 115,195 from 106,673.
Air Wisconsin enjoyed an 8.7-percentage point increase in load factor in December compared with December 1995 - 59.5% versus 50.8% - as traffic rose 10% to nearly 46.1 million revenue passenger miles but capacity fell 6% to 77.4 million available seat miles. Passenger enplanements were up 14.5% to 155,730 from 135,979.
Boeing said it is "confident" the estimated $6.3 billion aircraft order placed by American in November will go forward once the carrier and its pilots union finally reach an agreement. Allied Pilots Association (APA) members' rejection of the contract Wednesday put the Boeing order, which was contingent on a signed contract, in limbo. Promising the airline its full support, Boeing said, "We believe that the contract vote is a near- term issue that ultimately will be resolved between American and its pilots."
Recent British government recommendations on the American Airlines-British Airways alliance amount to "an attempt by the U.K. to recapture the colonies," Continental Airlines chief Gordon Bethune said yesterday. The pact would not benefit travelers on either side of the Atlantic, Bethune told reporters in a teleconference. "It's amazing to me that the Office of Fair Trading would allow the British consumer to get screwed in this fashion."
The merger of state-owned Aerospatiale and privately held Dassault Aviation should occur in the first half of 1997, according to reports from France. After the merger, the new company will be privatized as a holding company with a supervisory board and a board of directors, according to a statement from Dassault and the French government. The government ordered - and Dassault resisted - the merger last year.
Delta carried 10 million more passengers in 1996 than the year earlier and posted a 16.4% rise in December traffic on 7.5% more capacity. The load factor was 68.8%, up 5.3 percentage points. For 1996, traffic increased 10.3% on 2.7% more capacity, pushing the load factor up 4.8 points to 70.2%. The carrier flew an average of 275,000 people each day during December and more than 97 million people in 1996, the most among all world airlines. Dec 96 Dec 95 12 Mths 96 12 Mths 95
Continental Express will initiate "ExpressJet" service from Cleveland on March 1 with its new 50-passenger Embraer 145 regional jet to Hartford, Conn.; St. Louis; Milwaukee; Greensboro, N.C., and Minneapolis. By May, service will be added from Cleveland to Buffalo, Providence and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.
Business Express management and Saab Aircraft, along with its financial subsidiaries, have filed opposing reorganization plans in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings of the financially troubled Delta Connection/Northwest Airlink carrier. Management has selected DSP, a Pennsylvania limited partnership that specializes in taking companies out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to acquire the company and reorganize it as the "New BEX," an ongoing regional airline. Saab, the largest creditor, would sell off most of the assets to Champlain Enterprises Inc.
BAe's Asset Management-Jets (AMJ) unit, the BAe 146 sales and leasing arm, transacted sales and lease business worth about US$320 million in 1996, AMJ reported yesterday. Its 36 lease transactions during the year comprised 12 new leases and 24 lease extensions.
Business Express management has accused Saab Aircraft of "acting more like owners than arm's-length creditors." In its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, management said Saab induced BizEx to order 48 Saab 340s with $9.6 million in integration funding "against the advice of their own financial analysts," who questioned the carrier's "precarious financial condition" and ability to absorb the increased capacity.
Northwest traffic increased 8.3% in December as capacity rose 4.8%, and the load factor was up 2.3 percentage points to 70.5%. For the year, the carrier's traffic grew 9.8% on 7.4% more capacity, pushing the 1996 load factor to 73.1%, up 1.6 points. Cargo ton miles were down 3.6% to 187 million. Dec 96 Dec 95 12 Mths 96 12 Mths 95 RPMs 5,502,450,000 5,083,003,000 68,639,063,000 62,513,414,000 ASMs 7,806,552,000 7,452,007,000 93,913,724,000 87,469,583,000
Delta Connection affiliate Atlantic Southeast posted a 3.1% increase in traffic last month to 65.6 million revenue passenger miles from 63.7 million, as capacity declined 1% to 139.5 million available seat miles from 140.8 million. Load factor climbed 1.8 percentage points to 47%. The number of passenger enplanements increased 1.9% to 271,350 from 266,380. For the full 12 months, RPMs were up 14.6% to 874.2 million; ASMs rose 5.5% to nearly 1.8 billion, the load factor increased 3.9 points to 49.1%, and enplanements were up 18.4% to 3.6 million.
The U.S. will consider a phased open skies agreement with Japan, State Department assistant secretary Alan Larson said yesterday in Tokyo, but "even if we have to make an intermediate stop on our trip, let's agree now that our final destination will be open skies." Speaking at the Japan National Press Club before scheduled informal government talks begin, Larson noted that other Asian countries close to signing an agreement with the U.S. "will have much more liberal access to the U.S. market than Japanese airlines do now.
Toronto City Council may be nearing a change of policy on the operation of jets at Toronto Island Airport. The council has long barred jets at the downtown airport because of objections about noise from affluent condominium owners along the Lake Ontario waterfront and residents of the island itself. Lobbying by business leaders appears to be having an effect - aircraft such as the Canadair Regional Jet and Embraer 145 are quieter than turboprops already serving the airport. One knowledgeable observer says jets could be serving The Island by yearend.
American Eagle's December system traffic dropped 0.4% in December to 214.1 million from nearly 215 million in December 1995. The results include a 17.4% decrease for Flagship, whose Nashville hub was dismantled over the 12 months. System capacity dropped 7% to just below 360 million available seat miles, and the load factor rose four percentage points to 59.5% from 55.5%. Passenger boardings dropped 1.7% to 1,008,509.
Union controllers at Chicago O'Hare Airport's new tower are worried about weak and garbled communications that the president of the local said create a "dangerous" situation. FAA officials denied any danger and said they are working to find the source of interference to both air and ground frequencies. Mark Kapeghian, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) local, said the problems began right after controllers moved into the new tower, which opened Oct. 22.
Civil Aviation Administration of China Computer Information Center agents will sell tickets for Singapore Airlines flights directly under a contract signed by the airline and CAAC.
David Schaffer, majority counsel for the House aviation subcommittee, will discuss the panel's legislative priorities for the 105th Congress on this week's Aviation News Today. The program will be presented on Washington's NewsChannel 8 on Sunday from 12:30 p.m.-1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m.
Aeroflot carried 3.9 million passengers in 1996, 9% more than in 1995. General Director Yevgeny Shaposhnikov said the Russian carrier's cargo and mail volume grew to 89,500 tons last year, up from 70,400 tons in 1995.
Northwest Airlink Mesaba Airliines posted a 29.7% increase in traffic in December to 37.4 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 23.7% to 75.7 million available seat miles; load factor rose 2.3 percentage points to 49.5%, and passenger boardings were up 22.9% to 161,000. For the full year 1996, RPMs jumped 31% to 425.6 million; capacity increased 15.4% to 823.9 million ASMs, the load factor climbed 6.2 points to 51.7%, and boardings were up 27.4% to 1,893,000.
Continental has asked DOT to consolidate the American Airlines/Canadian Airlines International code-share application and the department's investigation of the American/TACA alliance. Among the American/Canadian points where the carriers want to code share are numerous destinations that coincide with the proposed American/TACA alliance, including Miami-Belize, San Jose, San Salvador, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, Guatemala City, Managua, and Panama City, plus Dallas/Forth Worth-San Jose.
