AirTran Airways reported a November traffic increase of 4% from last November to 58.9 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 11% to 105.5 million available seat miles, resulting in a load factor drop of 3.9 percentage points to 55.8%. For the first 11 months of the year, RPMs rose 138% to 867.5 million and ASMs were up 110% to 1.327 billion. The load factor rose 7.7 points to 65.4%. AirTran carried 69,037 passengers in November and 996,203 in the first 11 months.
DOT and U.S. airline officials will meet today to discuss opening service to Vietnam. Though diplomatic relations have been restored between the U.S. and that country, the two sides have not yet negotiated a bilateral aviation agreement. The purpose of the meeting will be to acquaint the carriers with a formal proposal recently submitted by Vietnamese officials in Washington.
Acting FAA Deputy Administrator Monte Belger took issue yesterday with claims that FAA's priorities on air traffic control are driven by internal budget considerations (DAILY, Dec. 9). Speaking at an Air Traffic Control Association meeting on the National Airspace System architecture, Belger said he heard such testimony last week at the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. "That is not true. This architecture and our capital investment priority decisions that we've made have focused on service and have focused on efficiency.
Echoing comments from other airlines, USAir Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Wolf told outgoing DOT Secretary Federico Pena that an open skies agreement with the U.K. will be a "meaningless facade" unless negotatiors find a way to permit "full competition" against the proposed American- British Airways alliance.
Korean Air Lines started Pusan-Shanghai flights yesterday. It offers service four times a week and will operate half the flights jointly with China Eastern.
Kansas City-based Vanguard Airlines' November traffic shot up 82.8% to 42.9 million revenue passenger miles from 23.5 million flown in November 1995. Capacity rose 87.9% to 86.6 million available seat miles from 46.1 million, depressing the load factor 1.37 percentage points to 49.5%. For the year- to-date, RPMs rose 137.1% to 613 million, ASMs 99.9% to 999 million and the load factor 9.64 points to 61.4%.
Macau and the Philippines signed a draft air agreement that will allow scheduled air services between the two sides. Sources with the Macau Civil Aviation Authority said the agreement was signed after two days of talks between its chairman, Jose Queiroz, and Franklin Ebdalin, assistant secretary for legal affairs of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Philippines. Air Macau and a Philippines air company will have the right to operate scheduled services between the two sides.
Informal talks on liberalizing the U.S.-Japan bilateral will take place Jan. 10 in Tokyo, according to DOT. The U.S. delegation will include DOT Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Charles Hunnicutt and representatives from the State Department and the White House. Northwest's complaint that Japan has violated the bilateral by refusing to permit new service still is pending after four 30-day extensions postponing action by DOT.
Delta is searching for an agency to handle its $100 million a year advertising account, which will include an evaluation of its agency of 51 years, BBDO. The airline has begun a two-month agency review as part of a company-wide comprehensive evaluation of every aspect of its business. Delta will announce the agency it has chosen in March. It will contact certain agencies immediately and begin formal reviews in February.
China and North Korea signed a memorandum on aviation cooperation following a visit to Beijing and Zhuhai Airport by a North Korea Civil Aviation Administration delegation.
U.S. aerospace manufacturers are more profitable this year than they have been in the past two decades, and the "prospects for 1997 look even better," Aerospace Industries Association President Don Fuqua said yesterday in Washington. The jetliner market's rebound helped manufacturers boost revenue for the first time in five years, to a projected $112.4 billion in 1996. AIA projects that U.S. aerospace industry sales will jump 11% next year to $125 billion, with jetliner growth more than offsetting declines in military aircraft, missiles and space.
Lufthansa is pressing its workers to return to the bargaining table and refrain from carrying out a threat to strike today. The company described the planned two-hour work stoppage, which will affect several German airports, as "totally incomprehensible." Heiko Lange, Lufthansa's chief of personnel and industrial relations, said yesterday, "Sensible compromise proposals have been placed on the table.
United is launching a corporate card with National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest), providing access to the American Express global merchant network. The card will be issued in the first quarter of next year. United will offer the non-revolving charge card to large and medium-sized companies as a means of controlling travel and entertainment expenses. The carrier will provide overall account management to the companies.
Sanya Phoenix Airport in South China's Hainan Province will launch air routes to Korea, Japan, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau by the end of this year.
Continental has closed its earlier-announced $250 million offering of 9 1/2% senior notes due Dec. 15, 2001. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, Continental said.
The new Pan Am will expand to eight aircraft and several new destinations in the first quarter of 1997, and is a year away from making a narrowbody fleet acquisition decision, President and Chief Executive Martin Shugrue said yesterday at an Institute for International Research conference in New York. Pan Am's future destination choices will be guided by a dozen international alliances in place. "They want to go places like Detroit, Chicago, Boston and Las Vegas," Shugrue said.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Interest Expenses Third Quarter 1996 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses Alaska $ 7,103,000 2.14 America West 10,932,729 2.28 American 76,246,000 2.21 Continental 29,890,000 2.13
Greenwich Air Services signed a contract to support 41 CF6 engines for FedEx's DC-10 fleet. Greenwich said this brings to 144 the number of FedEx CF6 engines under contract. Greenwich last September contracted to support the JT8D engines on FedEx's fleet of 163 727s.
In a tentative ruling in the Brazil all-cargo charter allocation, DOT awarded 75 charters to Southern Air Transport and 25 to Tower Air, and placed the remaining 200 into the charter pool for use on a first-come- first-served basis. The department also decided to change charter pool rules to permit new entrants to apply for up to eight flights a month.
Korea's construction and transportation ministry plans to build a large cargo terminal at Cheju Airport by the first half of 1999. The 17,000- square-meter facility will be constructed on the site of the current 4,050- square-meter cargo terminal, increasing capacity to 579,000 tons per year from 157,000 tons. The current terminal will be dismantled. Construction of the new terminal is scheduled to begin in the first half of 1977.
ValuJet Chairman Lewis Jordan delivered a sobering message to major airlines yesterday at Aviation Week Group's safety and security conference, recommending that the industry band together, share information and work to prevent accidents in an active, collaborative way rather than reactively.
Delta expanded services available on its World Wide Web site, joining other airlines in providing online reservations and ticketing in addition to instant access to its frequent flyer program. The airline's new Reservations Desk displays full flight schedules and permits reservations and ticket purchase for domestic flights on Delta, the Delta Shuttle, new low-cost unit Delta Express and regional Delta Connection. Booking for international flights is scheduled next year. The company said a secure link protects online credit-card transactions.
AlliedSignal directors voted to increase the company's common share repurchase authority by 50 million shares. Since 1985, the board has authorized repurchase of 150 million shares, and about 148 million shares had been repurchased as of Nov. 30. The board also voted to ask shareholder approval at the next annual meeting, scheduled April 28, to increase the number of authorized common shares to one billion from 500 million. If approved, the additional shares could be used for stock splits, acquisitions and other purposes.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Rental Expenses Third Quarter 1996 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses Alaska 42,887,000 12.93 America West 71,827,333 15.00 American 268,434,000 8.94 Continental 160,516,000 11.43
Aviation trust fund's uncommitted balance will reach zero by early July if the aviation taxes are not reinstated or alternate funding sources adopted, the General Accounting Office said, citing FAA estimates.The surplus would last a couple of weeks longer if Congress authorized the transfer to the trust fund of taxes imposed in late 1996 but not deposited into the U.S. treasury until 1997.
