Lisbon, Portugal-based Portugalia Airlines has placed a firm order for four EMB-145 aircraft and two options in a deal worth an estimated US$90 million, Embraer announced. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in May, June, October and November, with options in 1998. Embraer said Portugalia is the second European company to acquire the aircraft, which has won 67 firm orders and 219 options worldwide. U.S.
KLM Cargo said yesterday it will alter several European routes and increase cargo tariffs in selected service areas. The cargo division will add three weekly nonstop freighter flights serving Manchester and three serving Dublin from Amsterdam, replacing three one-stops that currently serve both cities. One-stop service to KLM's Linz cargo mini-hub and to Vienna also will be split into separate nonstop service, enabling KLM to offer 42-ton capacity on each route.
Frontier Airlines is offering ticketless travel to anyone who calls its Denver reservations office. As with most ticketless carriers, passengers will be given a confirmation number and receive boarding passes with seat assignments when they check in. They can get advance seat assignments when they book. Travel agents will continue to use the standard ticketing system.
Regional Airline Association plans in February to hold a seminar to help members form plans on assisting families of victims of aircraft accidents. Under the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act, passed last fall, Congress mandated scheduled airlines to develop formal plans by April 9 on assisting families of accident victims. RAA VP Deborah McElroy noted that many airlines already had such plans in place, but the congressional action formalizes the process.
Air Europa Express, a regional partly owned by Palma, Mallorca-based Air Europa, placed in service three British Aerospace ATPs of eight the carrier will lease, British Aerospace Asset Management-Turboprops (BAe- AMT) reported. The carrier is placing the 64-seat aircraft in service on routes that include Palma to Ibiza and Mahon; Palma to Barcelona, and Barcelona to Valladolid and Salamanca. Those three aircraft - plus another unit being used for training - are based at Palma.
The Orange County, Calif., Board of Supervisors approved this week air carrier and commuter capacity allocations that allow for an increase in passenger traffic between April 1, 1997, and March 31, 1998, over the level expected for the year ending March 31. The board allocated about 13.6 million air carrier seats and 235,865 authorized passengers for commuters for 1997-98. For 1996-97, the board had allocated 13.06 million air carrier seats and 233,788 commuter passengers.
Industry associations are grappling with a new law requiring air carriers to collect records for applicants seeking pilot jobs after Feb. 6. Congress last fall required that both non-scheduled and scheduled air carriers obtain records from FAA, previous employers and the National Driver Register before hiring a new pilot. The new regulations apply to all applications received after Feb. 6, but the FAA has not established a clear method for such record collection.
British Aerospace Asset Management-Turboprops completed 139 aircraft transactions in 1996, including 63 placements of aircraft on sale and lease and 76 retentions or renewals with existing lessees, the company announced. The turboprop leasing and trading unit, formerly called JSX Capital Corp., had 323 aircraft in service worldwide at yearend.
TWA had no comment "on the validity or accuracy" of a report in USA Today that said New Jersey-based Strategic Capital is seeking control of the airline. "When this type of speculation ends up in the press, people tend to believe it as fact," said TWA spokesman John McDonald. Wall Street analysts contacted by The DAILY were either unfamiliar with Strategic Capital or had no knowledge of a TWA acquisition plans.
UPS reported that daily express volume for 1996 increased 9.5% over previous-year levels, to an average of 1.7 million express packages and documents per day. For the final quarter, daily volume rose 5.1% to 1.9 million per day. Domestic volume was up 4.7% and international volume 10.3%. Beginning Feb. 3, UPS will introduce a noon guarantee on two-day express shipments and a 3 p.m. guarantee on next-day deliveries, and full visibility tracking will be available at no extra charge, the company said.
Northwest has named former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale to its board, effective immediately. Mondale sat on Northwest's board from 1989 until 1993, when he left to become U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
United and Northwest are urging different strategies to deal with Japanese bilateral issues. Concerning Japan Airlines' request to switch gateway designations so it can increase service to Kona while maintaining levels at Atlanta, United recommends DOT approval if the U.S. concludes "comparable approval" will be granted to changes in U.S. third and fourth freedoms.
..AI(R) no longer has any involvement in the Franco/Italian/Chinese program to develop and produce a 100-passenger jet transport, Gavin said. The aircraft is now considered to be the entry-level jet in the Airbus Industrie product line, and AI(R)'s participation has been shifted to Airbus. AI(R) partner Alenia of Italy remains involved in the program, however. The 100-seater originally was envisioned as a regional jet to be built in China and marketed and supported under the AI(R) flag, which includes British Aerospace.
British Airways and NatWest Bank are launching a co-branded credit card for BA's 600,000 Executive Club members in the U.K. Executive Club NatWest Visa cardholders will receive one Air Miles award for each 15 pounds spent, building toward free flight awards. New cardholders will receive a bonus of 100 Air Miles awards if they apply before April 15.
National Air Transportation Association wants FAA to "take quick action in explaining the new pilot record-sharing law, which takes effect in less than two weeks." Andrew Cebula, VP, wrote FAA Chief Counsel Nicholas Garaufis that there is widespread industry confusion over who will have to comply with the new law. He said NATA "is receiving numerous questions from [the aviation industry] on the new requirement" and has taken up the issue with congressional staffers, who have said FAA is supposed to clarify the requirements for industry.
Greenwich Air Services said net sales increased 220% to $187.5 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31. Operating income was up 199% to $16 million and net income was up 161% to $5.5 million. The company attributed the increase in net sales to inclusion of the full quarter of operations of Aviall's Commercial Engine Service operations in Texas and Scotland, which Greenwich purchased June 10. Eugene Conese, chairman, said the quarter was the 13th in a row in which Greenwich logged record results.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) at American has not responded to American's request Tuesday that the pilots reconsider arbitration to reach a fair contract agreement. American spokesman Chris Chiames said, "We have to interpret their silence as declining arbitration," but he added American is hopeful the impression can be reversed.
Dutch Transport and Public Works Minister Annemarie Jorritsma will take advantage of The Netherlands' six-month term as chairman of the European Union to press for the introduction of an aircraft fuel tax in the EU. The Dutch minister told members of the European Parliament last week in Brussels that she would commission a study on the consequences of applying excise duties on kerosene, which now is exempt from EU-wide taxes on mineral oils as defined by a 1992 directive.
Mesa Air Group lost $875,000 in the three-month period ended Dec. 31 on 1% higher revenue of $121.4 million. The net loss compares with a $3.9 million profit in the year-earlier period. During the quarter, the first in Mesa's fiscal year, flight operating expenses declined to $42 million from $44.6 million in the 1996 period, mainly because of Mesa's purchase of 69 aircraft last year that formerly were leased. Mesa's cost for jet fuel rose 26% to 2.8 cents per available seat mile, compared with 2.2 cents in 1995.
Sun Country Vacations has joined Worldspan's Tour Source booking system. Worldspan and System One subscribers can access 19 fall and 20 winter Sun Country packages, including hotel stays, Avis rentals and flights on parent company Sun Country Airlines.
Airlines hoping that United's bid for an American-BA evidentiary hearing will kill the proposal through delay may be looking to recent history. The last international route case to go through that process - one that involved starkly different issues than the proposed alliance - concerned the award of combination routes to Brazil. It ended in August 1992, after 11 months.
Orlando-based Voyager Technologies has appointed Ray Foss senior VP-sales and marketing, focusing on airlines and reporting directly to Chief Executive Bill Daman. Voyager provides transaction processing and travel document distribution services, develops Web sites and is creating an Internet airline ticket auction that is expected to be operational before the end of the second quarter (DAILY, Jan. 27). Foss worked at United on developing Apollo Travel Services and managed the Travel Systems business unit at McDonnell Douglas.
America West is offering fares it claims are 20% less than the sale fares advertised by its major, "full-service" competitors. The one-way fares begin at $39 and at $149 for transcontinental travel. Late-night flights have the deepest discounts. Tickets must be purchased by Feb. 7 and travel completed by June 4. Late-night fares are $39 for Las Vegas-Ontario and $149 for Boston-Las Vegas and Los Angeles-Miami flights.
Midwest Express Holdings named David Reeve president and chief executive of Astral Aviation, which operates as Skyway Airlines, effective March 1. Reeve currently is director of flight operations for DHL Airways. Midwest Express Holdings is the holding company for Midwest Express Airlines, and Skyway s a wholly owned subsidiary of Midwest Express.
