DOT has extended TWA Express affiliate Trans States' obligation to provide its current level of service at Forney Air Field, which serves Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., through Nov. 4 or until replacement service is secured. The department will resolicit proposals to serve the point. In its original request for service subsidy or non-subsidy proposals from interested carriers, issued in June, DOT received a subsidy proposal from and held negotiations with Lone Star Airlines.
Burlington Air Freight and Qantas teamed up on a new direct service between the U.S., Australia and New Zealand using BAX's Toledo hub as the main gateway. The "BAX Downunder Direct" provides weekly 747 freighter flights to Sydney and Melbourne with connections to major cities in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Flights will originate every Saturday at Kennedy and stop in Toledo, where Australia-bound cargo will be loaded.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries July 1996 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Inter Euro 2 A319 CFM56-5A1 1 American 2 757-200 RB211-535E4B 2 Asiana Airlines 1 737-400 CFM56-3C1 1
TWA improved its ontime performance greatly in September, when it had 17 aircraft in heavy maintenance and cut back on its schedule. September's ontime rate was 78.4%, well above the two-thirds attained in June, July and August, said President Jeffrey Erickson. The carrier's new policy in St. Louis - it will not hold flights waiting for late connecting flights - dropped the number of delayed departures from 1,410 in August to 443 in September.
American believes it is a good thing that the European Commission may sanction buying and selling takeoff and landing slots in Europe. The U.S. carrier's proposed alliance with British Airways would benefit from "an increased availability of slots at Heathrow that everyone is clamoring for," said AMR spokesman Chris Chiames. Smaller carriers, regionals, charters and airlines with one flight per day into Heathrow could be candidates to sell slots. The EC expects to put forward recommendations by yearend.
Canadian startup WestJet Airlines resumed flight operations on Friday after a 17-day suspension (DAILY, Sept. 18), offering service to all seven cities in its network with three aircraft. A fourth aircraft will come on line Oct. 27. The carrier said load factors for the first day of flying were expected to be greater than 70%. Part of the load could be from WestJet executives, who were expected to be on board many flights on its first day.
ValuJet has sold its 15 surplus DC-9 and MD-80 aircraft at or above book value, plus five spare engines, and will use the proceeds to retire $46.6 million in aircraft bank debt. Seven of the aircraft were owned by ValuJet, and eight had not yet been delivered. The carrier has one remaining MD-83, which it hopes to sell by the end of this month to standardize its fleet. ValuJet took delivery of two DC-9-32 aircraft in September, and with the sale of the 15, its fleet now comprises 45 DC-9-30s and one MD-83.
Emirates will increase service Oct. 27 from Dubai to Nairobi and Jakarta, adding a third weekly flight to Nairobi and a fourth to Jakarta. The governments of Kenya and Indonesia have approved the service.
SabreTech promoted Fernando Pereya to general manager and expanded the responsibilities of Manny Castanedo, director of technical services, to include operations management, with the additional title of director- maintenance.
Northrop Grumman Senior Director-F-15 Programs Michael Lennon received the Association of Old Crows Executive Management Award, and Senior Technical Analyst Gordon Ericksen received the Intelligence Award.
Boeing is speeding up 737 production rate increases, aiming to reach 17 per month by the third quarter of next year, six months sooner than planned earlier, from today's rate of 8.5 aircraft. The 737 rate change is the fourth in nine months. Initial hikes came from unexpectedly strong launch demand for the next-generation 737-600, -700 and -800, but a company spokeswoman told The DAILY that the latest acceleration represents demand for "a mix of old- and new-generation" aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic is not running out of inventive amenities for business- and first-class passengers. After providing limousine service and inflight massages, Virgin now is offering drive-through check-in at Heathrow Airport for its Upper Class passengers. Travelers need not leave the limousine as it glides through a covered check-in counter and a porter takes the baggage. Boarding passes are pre-issued electronically by the limousine driver.
Alaska Airlines broke ground last week on an $8 million air cargo facility at Anchorage Airport that will have automated bar coding and container handling. Alaska carried 93.2 million pounds of freight at Anchorage last year and expects to handle 120 million pounds a year by 2002.
September traffic for Alaska Airlines jumped 16.1% on 7.3% greater capacity, pushing the load factor up 5 percentage points to 65.8%. For the first nine months of 1996, Alaska's revenue passenger mile count rose 16.4%. Regional sister carrier Horizon Air saw traffic climb 2.2% to 72 million revenue passenger miles. Horizon's load factor dropped to 57.5% from 60.1%. Figures below are for Alaska Airlines. Sept 96 Sept 95 9 Mths 96 9 Mths 95
Westin Hotels&Resorts and Japan Airlines have developed a travel partnership that gives JAL's frequent flyer members miles for stays at Westin properties worldwide. Westin hotels award 500 Mileage Bank miles to JAL's frequent flyer members, and members of Westin's frequent guest program earn 1,000 award points per night.
Board of trustees of more than 40 air tour operators last week voted unanimously for the ouster of DOT Secretary Federico Pena. The U.S. Air Tour Association (USATA) is unhappy with Pena because he has been "grossly and consistently negligent in his representation of the air tour industry." Chairman Jim Petty, president of Air Vegas Airlines, which provides tours of the Grand Canyon, said an "entire industry may vanish" if Pena remains DOT secretary.
Boeing said it delivered 54 jet transports in the third quarter - 15 737s, five 747s, 15 757s, 10 767s and nine 777s. For the first nine months, deliveries totaled 156 - 53 737s, 16 747s, 34 757s, 29 767s and 24 777s. Boeing projects total deliveries for 1996 of 215 aircraft.
LorAir requested an additional 90 days to launch the charter combination service for which it received authority last year. Under that approval, LorAir must begin operations by Nov. 17 or lose its certificate to dormancy. Seeking more time, the company cited a change in ownership that sparked "a rewrite of LorAir's manuals and procedures, which will insure a safer and more efficient operation." FAA has approved the carrier's rewritten manuals and procedures, but proving fights have been delayed by difficulty getting the two aircraft the carrier plans to operate.
The Air Line Pilots Association and management at Skyway Airlines have requested mediation by the National Mediation Board after nine months of trying to secure a first contract covering the pilots. ALPA was elected to represent Skyway's 120 pilots in July 1995, and contract negotiations began in January. ALPA said little progress has been made in the talks.
