KLM Cargo has launched service from Amsterdam to Vienna and Stockholm. The flights to Vienna will be operated with a Lockheed Electra owned by an outside operator. Freighter service to Stockholm will operate five times weekly with Shorts Belfast aircraft owned by Heavylift. The latter service will connect with flights to the Baltic states and St. Petersburg.
FAA's Flight Standards District Office in Atlanta, which oversees ValuJet, was overstaffed at the time the carrier experienced its fatal DC-9 accident in May, according to an FAA staffing model. Thus, despite pleas from local officials for help in overseeing ValuJet's rapid growth, FAA refused to assign more inspectors permanently.
Air Canada, adding to an already tense labor situation, has placed employment ads in major Canadian newspapers and has contracted with a temporary personnel service to hire replacements for most of its 3,500 customer service workers. The Canadian Auto Workers union, representing the group, said the move was intended to force workers to grant concessions to the airline. Even before Air Canada expressed its intention to hire replacements, CAW Local 2213 set a Dec. 5 strike deadline. Negotiations were suspended Sept. 28 and attempts to revive them have failed.
Canadian Airlines International was chosen by Transport Canada to serve Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, and Air Canada will fly to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. None of the Central American countries has a bilateral aviation agreement with Canada. Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala have expressed interest in negotiating agreements, which the transport ministry says will be needed before Canadian can launch service.
Martinair Cargo will begin freight service from Atlanta to Ecuador and Costa Rica this month. The twice-weekly service will use MD-11 freighters. Martinair Cargo offers three weekly all-cargo flights from Atlanta to Amsterdam.
FAA has published an advisory circular (AC No. 120-65) providing guidance to airlines, law enforcement officers and the public on how to manage and reduce passenger interference with crewmembers (DAILY, Nov. 8). "We will not tolerate any interference with the vital safety functions performed by crewmembers," FAA Acting Administrator Linda Daschle said.
Starting Jan. 24, American Trans Air will fly three times a week between Orlando and Kent County Airport, which serves Grand Rapids, Mich. The airline will use a 727-200 on the route on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, providing the only nonstop service between those points. The lowest introductory fare will be $109 one way. The carrier will continue to operate ATA Connection flights linking Grand Rapids to Chicago Midway via a code share with Chicago Express, providing connections to American Trans Air's Midway flights.
An Air South Thanksgiving promotion awards free roundtrip tickets to anyone whose legal surname is Turkey, Pilgrim, Stuffing or Holiday. The roundtrips, good for any point served by Air South, are for travel completed by Wednesday. The carrier flies to Columbia, Greenville/Spartanburg, Charleston and Myrtle Beach, S.C., as well as Atlanta, Savannah, Jacksonville, Miami, Norfolk, Chicago Midway and New York Kennedy.
Bilateral discussions with Vietnam proceed "off and on" and open skies is not on the horizon there, DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Mark Gerchick said last week. "We have a fundamentally different view" than the Vietnamese, he said. Vietnam is focused on supporting and developing its own airlines and is "not as competition oriented" as the U.S.
Emery Worldwide appointed Rod Hamby director-Latin America Development, Tamera Pulkrabek director-Fashion and Textile Industry Group and Bob Fogarty director-Automotive Sales, Latin America.
McDonnell Douglas, losing competitions on both the commercial and military fronts last week, sold seven MD-11 freighters in the last two weeks, a company official said. Despite the setbacks, it has a $9 billion backlog amounting to three years of deliveries. But the bad news may not be over. After losing contests for massive orders at USAir and American, sources said last week Douglas also is out of the running for Delta's expected $3 billion widebody order.
House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R- Va.) has asked President Clinton to nominate an FAA administrator quickly, "before the Christmas holiday if possible." In a letter to Clinton, Wolf outlined a host of issues that will require the administrator's full and early involvement, including aviation safety, FAA reform and aviation system financing.
KVERT, the volcano response team for the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, said its $10,000 IATA loan will run out next month and it will require $25,000 more to maintain its current level of operations in 1997. The Russian- American Coordinating Group for Air Traffic, which heard the volcano team's request at a recent meeting in Seattle, said KVERT's work is of utmost importance to Russian Far East and Northern Pacific aviation operations, and a permanent funding solution should be established.
Representatives of Canada's Department of International Trade renewed negotiations with Brazil last week regarding Brazil's PROEX export finance program (DAILY, Nov. 15). Canada has complained to the World Trade Organization that the program's interest rate buy-down, about 3.8%, violates WTO rules. The debate focuses on the recent order by Continental Express for 25 Embraer EMB-145 regional jets, plus 175 options. Competitor Bombardier Regional Aircraft Division complained to the CDIT, which in turn went to the WTO.
- In Federal Register dated Nov. 18...Proposed special conditions for Embraer EMB-145 aircraft to establish safety standards for certification of the aircraft with thrust reversers as optional equipment...Proposed an airworthiness directive on certain Boeing 747 aircraft requiring an inspection for corrosion and cracking of the upper deck floor beam...Proposed an AD on certain Boeing 747-200, -300 and -400 aircraft requiring inspections for cracking of the front spar web of the center section of the wing.
For the second consecutive year, United has won a food contest sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which ranks airline menus for availability of low-fat foods and vegetarian dishes. United serves a cholesterol-free vegetarian steak with pasta and curry sauce that is 6% fat and a cholesterol-free mushroom ravioli with 14% fat. American and TWA received honorable mentions for their cholesterol-free vegetarian dishes, and Northwest for a cholesterol-free veggie sandwich. Delta ranked last--its vegetarian option is 48% fat.
TWA has withheld disclosure of its scaled-back January schedule and winter aircraft downsizing at the request of the Machinists union, which wanted more time to refine the plan. President Jeffrey Erickson told employees last week that both domestic and international routes will be cut, including some out of New York Kennedy. TWA plans to ground some 747s, replacing them with 767s, and ground L-1011s, replacing them with MD-80s or new 757s. Erickson said the changes will start adding "millions of dollars" to the carrier's bottom line immediately.
Revised U.S. Major Carriers Traffic October, 10 Months 1996 (000) October October % 1996 1995 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 766,000 683,000 12.2 Available Seat Miles 1,196,000 1,120,000 6.8 Load Factor (%) 64.0 61.0 America West
Eastwind Airlines, a niche 737 operator based at Trenton-Mercer Airport outside Trenton and Philadelphia, plans a threefold service expansion: it will add a third daily Boston flight to accommodate business travelers, inaugurate flights on Tuesdays, when it previously had no passenger operations, and expand existing Saturday service throughout its system. Eastwind serves Orlando; Atlanta Hartsfield; Boston Logan; Richmond, Va., and Piedmont Triad in Greensboro, N.C.
The National Transportation Safety Board ended a week of hearings into the May 11 ValuJet crash with testimony suggesting that FAA flight standards officials in Washington withheld from the agency's Flight Standards District Office in Atlanta a report critical of FAA's surveillance of ValuJet.
