The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last week upheld an earlier district court decision by dismissing a State of Illinois plea to keep Chicago's Meigs Field open.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Monday approved an agreement between San Francisco Airport and Bay Area Rapid Transit committing up to $200 million in airport funds toward a BART station at the airport. BART and San Mateo County Transit plan soon to award the first contract for the airport extension, which is slated to open in 2000.
World Airways applied at DOT to amend its long-term wet-lease authority on behalf of Philippine Airlines to expand the service. World currently has authority to perform wet-lease operations for PAL between Manila and Honolulu. Now the carriers want to use World MD-11s to fly between Manila and Los Angeles via Seoul, up to four times a week, configured for two classes seating as many as 322 passengers.
FAA's plan to reduce vertical separation minimums next March for aircraft crossing the North Atlantic drew criticism yesterday from National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne as a "total capitulation" to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Coyne said FAA will "completely shut out corporate and charter air traffic in the most heavily used altitudes crossing the Atlantic Ocean" when the minimums are reduced, beginning March 27.
Former FAA Administrator David Hinson will discuss FAA's progress during his tenure, the challenges facing his successor and other issues this week on Aviation News Today, to air on Washington's NewsChannel8 Sunday from 12 :30 a.m. to 1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp. and Pratt&Whitney both claimed to be on the winning side yesterday in an antitrust suit brought by Chromalloy, which said a Texas jury found that Pratt&Whitney "illegally attempted to monopolize the replacement business" for Pratt jet engine parts. Pratt parent United Technologies said the jury "rejected all of Chromalloy's claims for monetary damages and other relief.
Thanksgiving travel is expected to top all-time highs at most carriers. The American Automobile Association estimates 31.8 million people will travel during the holiday, 5.4 million of them by airplane, train or bus. The total is 3% more than last year's. Delta said it expects to shatter former booking records. It has 404,000 passengers booked for Sunday, typically the busiest travel day of the year, including a "stunning" 95,000 through Atlanta Hartsfield.
Kiwi International, flying charters and hoping a bankruptcy court judge today will return it to scheduled operations, has benefited financially from an unlikely source - Air South. The South Carolina carrier last week had mechanical problems and had Kiwi fly its entire schedule for one day.
New airlines in Japan and Malaysia emerged this week as potential challengers to their respective country flag carriers. Just weeks after two groups announced plans to launch Skymark Airlines in Tokyo and Hokkaido International Airlines from Hokkaido Island, a group led by a banker in Okinawa intends to start a third independent Japanese low-fare carrier, this one from Okinawa.
In the short term, aviation market forces in the region support redevelopment of March Air Force Base as an intermodal all-cargo airport, according to a study issued last week by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).
Delta has signed a new five-year agreement with struggling Business Express for continued operations as a Delta Connection carrier, serving Boston and New York LaGuardia and Kennedy airports.
DOT approved expansion of the Delta-Aeromexico code share for 60 days, permitting Delta to code share on Aeromexico flights from Mexico City to Acapulco and Monterrey, and Aeromexico to use its code on Delta's Dallas- Austin and Atlanta-Washington National flights. DOT also granted their code shares for Los Angeles-Mexico City, Los Angeles-Guadalajara and New York Kennedy-Mexico City.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) will once again serve as chairman of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee when the 105th Congress convenes next year. Wolf became chairman of the panel in 1995, but some observers believed he preferred chairmanship of the treasury-postal subcommittee - a post vacated when Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) left to run, unsucessfully, for the Senate. Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.) on Friday named Wolf one of the 13 subcommittee chairmen.
Fort Worth, Texas-based regional carrier Lone Star Airlines has appointed Allen McGinness, the carrier's chief operating officer, interim president and chief executive. McGinness is taking over for Philip Trenary, who resigned as chairman and chief executive Nov. 20. The carrier is engaged in talks with Peak International of Aspen, Colo., to take over the company (DAILY, Nov. 22). Peak announced that scheduled flights by Lone Star, operating under the name Aspen Mountain Air, began Nov. 21 as planned. Aspen operates to Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver.
World Airways has signed an $18 million wet-lease agreement to operate MD- 11s for a European carrier, which it declined to name. The agreement calls for World to supply the aircraft, crews, maintenance and insurance from June 1997 through February 1998. World earlier this year said it is refocusing its business on its more successful charter operations and military contracts.
Five plaintiff airlines - Air Canada, Delta, TWA, United and USAir - late Friday filed a Part 13 rates and charges complaint with FAA over the Super A expansion at Miami Airport. The carriers seek FAA determination that fees resulting from building a $974 million concourse for American's exclusive use are unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory and unlawful. Dade County last week filed for a determination of the fees with DOT, and airlines have until Dec. 3 to respond in that case (DAILY, Nov. 20).
A Texas District Court jury late last week found American 66% liable for an automobile accident blamed on one of eight 40-foot gate-information signs built along the roadway at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in 1993. The jury assessed $14.4 million in actual damages - for which American shares liability with two drivers involved - and $10 million in punitive damages assessed only to American.
Canadian Airlines International reached a tentative agreement over the weekend with the union representing its 2,700 flight attendants in a deal, the airline said, that is similar to the five other airline union agreements. The 38-month collective agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE, still is subject to ratification by the flight attendants, and the airline would not disclose details of the agreement until the union has voted. The pact "puts CUPE at par with Canadian's five other unions in achieving improved productivity," the airline said.
Air Malta has created two registered subsidiaries, an in-house finance company called Malta Falcon Finance plc and the airline's own leasing company, Peregrine Aviation Leasing, registered in Ireland. Both companies start with business from AzzurraAir, an Italian regional. Malta Falcon will finance three Avro RJ85s for Azzurra, while Peregrine will manage the aircraft on lease. The finance unit also will work with Air Malta. Irish firms Parc Aviation Ltd.
Russian American Coordinating Group for Air Traffic (RACGAT) has urged Russia to accelerate modernization of the air traffic control system in the Russian Far East (RFE).
Lufthansa Technik and Bombardier Aviation Services will set up a European service center in Berlin for Canadian corporate jets. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding to open the center at Berlin Schonefeld Airport in mid-1997. The center will service Learjets, Canadair Challengers and the new Global Express.
A number of Central American countries, in a recent letter to U.S. authorities, have signaled their interest in open skies discussions, Patrick Murphy, deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs, told The DAILY in an interview. Murphy, who characterized current bilaterals in that region as "fairly good," added that informal contacts on open skies have proceeded between the U.S. and representatives of the TACA group of Central American carriers.
Atlantic Southeast pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association are planning to conduct informational picketing Nov. 24-27 at Atlanta Hartsfield and Dallas/Fort Worth airports to protest the slow pace of contract negotiations. The Delta Connection carrier has been negotiating with ALPA for more than 14 months. ASA claims it is the most profitable regional airline in the world - it reported $51 million in earnings in 1995 - but entry-level pilots earn about $14,000 a year.
