Innovative Solutions&Support will supply retrofit altimeters and altitude alerters for 10 DC-9s under a contract from Northwest. The new altimeters will replace both the DC-9 pilot's electromechanical and the co-pilot's pneumatic units with a single part number. The altimeter is a derivate of IS&S's solid state barometric altimeter, which was chosen as standard by the Navy and Air Force.
Greenwich Caledonian said it will maintain General Electric CF6-80C2 and CFM International CFM56 engines for LOT Polish Airlines under a 10-year contract valued at $70 million. Eugene Conese, Greenwich president, said the contract gives the company a "key foothold in Eastern and Central Europe, one of the fastest-growing airline markets." LOT currently operates four 767s and 11 737s using the two engine series.
AirTran Airways will begin offering service to Orlando from Toledo with 737s Nov. 14. The nonstop flights will operate six days a week, with introductory fares as low as $69 one way available for travel until Dec 18. Tickets must be purchased by Oct. 31.
LOT Polish Airlines and American begin today their transatlantic code share after waiting two years for both governments to give final approval to the deal. The agreement calls for six flights a week from Miami, via New York Kennedy, and daily service from Los Angeles through Chicago O'Hare, to Warsaw. American will fly the domestic segments, and LOT will operate all transatlantic flights, using 767 twinjets. "We're confident that this agreement will prove to be one of our most successful moves ever," said Jan Litwinski, president of LOT.
Kiwi International Air Lines believes it will carry its five millionth passenger today. The lucky passenger will win a free Kiwi Vacation package and a commuter book of 10 tickets. The travel agent who booked the passenger also will receive a free Kiwi Vacation package.
The Air Transport Association and several of its members met Friday with staff of the Gore Commission to discuss one of the industry's biggest concerns from the commission's initial report: a 100% match of passengers and baggage on domestic flights implemented within 60 days. Airlines will test options over the next two months for a full baggage match, which was ordered Sept. 9 by President Clinton, and plan to retain independent observers to monitor all aspects of the test.
Air-India has gained access to a second destination in the U.S., in addition to New York service that began in 1963, Air-India officials said Friday. The airline has arranged to start operations to Chicago Oct. 31, they said. The twice-weekly service, on a Mumbai-Frankfurt-Chicago routing, would run Thursdays and Saturdays from Mumbai with 747-400 aircraft. Air-India, through India's civil aviation ministry, has long demanded access to Chicago on the grounds that the city, like New York, has a large Indian immigrant population.
Express Airlines I, a Northwest Airlink carrier, posted double-digit traffic increases in August from August 1995. Revenue passenger miles rose 23.9% to 41.5 million from 33.5 million, while available seat miles were nearly flat at 72.3 million, down 0.3%. The airline carried 165,030 passengers during the month, a 14.3% increase, and the load factor was up 11.3 points to 57.5%.
Air France Europe, victimized by a wildcat strike that disrupted regional service for two days last week, has decided to sue its pilots unions and seek reparations, alleging the strike was illegal. The suit is the first legal action the airline has taken against the unions in several years. Four pilots unions struck the carrier Sept. 11, canceling about 40% of its flights that day and 25% of systemwide service Sept. 12. Long-haul Air France service was not disrupted.
TWA has reduced its schedule by 16 flights a day to help it "focus on our operational problems," said President Jeffrey Erickson, while still enabling it to grow with existing resources. Erickson said he is encouraged by the "far fewer" cancellations experienced for mechanicals. The carrier also is beginning an employee awareness campaign aimed at improving its on-time performance.
AAR Aircraft Sales&Leasing appointed Wain Barber VP-operations. Airline Tariff Publishing Co. named Rolf Purzer VP-planning. Associated Global Systems appointed Trixie Sanderson customer service supervisor at its new station in Oklahoma City. Atlantic Aviation promoted Ken Poplos to project manager-Aircraft Services Division. Commute-A-Walk's Louis Ferolito, co-founder and VP-sales and marketing, left the company. FlightMasters/SeaMasters appointed Richard McCrady chief executive.
TWA said it will offer three weekly flights to Riyadh from New York via Cairo in October. A Delta filing at DOT this week opposing a United-Saudia code share incorrectly stated TWA would be operating fewer weekly flights, as stated incorrectly in the Official Airline Guides (DAILY, Sept. 13).
- In Federal Register dated Sept. 6...Superseded an airworthiness directive on Bell 222 and 230 series helicopters concerning tail rotor blade cracks...Issued an AD on Bell 204B helicopters requiring inspection of the tail rotor blade...Issued an AD on Bell AH, HH, TH and HH series helicopters requiring inspection of the tail rotor blade...Superseded an AD on Pilatus BN2 series aircraft concerning the aileron mass balance clamp.
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries June 1996 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Berlin 2 737-400 CFM56-3C1 1 Air Europa 1 767-300ER PW4060 - Air Inter Europe 1 A319 CFM56-5 - America West 1 A320-200 V2527-A5 -
Recovery in demand for passenger aircraft may be enough to reverse a three- year slide in the U.S. aerospace trade surplus if third- and fourth-quarter performance matches the results from the first half of the year, newly available U.S. aerospace trade balance data show. Halfway through 1996, the U.S. trade surplus in aerospace widened modestly to $11.67 billion, outpacing results through the same period last year by some $374 million.
Granted orally an exemption to Abaco Air for charter service between Abaco, Bahamas, and Florida until Sept. 6, 1997...Granted orally an exemption to I.M.P. Group Limited c/o/b Air Atlantic to conduct scheduled, combination service between any point in Canada and the U.S. It currently holds authority for St. John-Boston...Granted orally an exemption to Transnet d/b/a South African Airways for scheduled service between Johannesburg/Cape Town and Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Houston, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Orlando via New York and Miami.
Sun Country Airlines, based in Minneapolis, has requested a DOT exemption to operate scheduled all-cargo flights to Seoul, South Korea, from New York Kennedy and Los Angeles with DC-10-30 freighters. (Docket OST-96-1691)
Emil Pfeiffer and Margarita Castillo, president and VP respectively of Tactical Inc., an FAA-certified repair station in Miami, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and to falsify material facts in matters within the jurisdiction of the FAA, according to the DOT Inspector General. Tactical was authorized to repair and overhaul avionics for large passenger and cargo aircraft but surrendered its license following an FAA investigation in 1992, the IG said. Pfeiffer and Castillo then started up Station One in Orlando and concealed their ownership, the IG said.
Language in the House and Senate FAA reauthorization bills intended as a technical correction related to state taxing authority could be viewed as imposing new federal pre-emptions against state taxes on aviation and lead to litigation, the Congressional Budget Office said. Moreover, the loss of revenue to states might exceed $50 million, causing problems for the legislation in Congress.
Superjumbo transports introduced before 2003 will not have many places to land, according to Airbus Industrie. Quoting an Airports Council International study and its own research, Airbus says airports will need five to eight years to prepare for megajets, and some 35 key airports will not be ready until 2003. Boeing is moving faster than Airbus, offering growth 747 derivatives for delivery by 2001.
Rising demand for jetliners will enable Northrop Grumman to recall or hire about 900 workers for five plants in its Commercial Aircraft unit, the company said. Facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas; Hawthorne, Calif.; Stuart, Fla., and Perry and Midgeville, Ga., will increase employment to a combined total of 8,140 by yearend. The Texas operation, acquired when Northrop Grumman took over Vought Corp., will hire 500 employees this year, reversing six years of steady cutbacks that reduced the payroll by about 60%.
Used Jet Aircraft Deliveries June 1996 Carrier # Type Engines Previous Operator Air Philippine 1 737-200 JT8D-9A Pacific Trans Air Acori S.A. 1 727 JT8D-9A Imperial Air Peru Acori S.A. 1 727 JT8D-7 Imperial Air Peru Aer Lingus 1 L-1011-100 RB211-22B Caledonian Aer Turas 1 L-1011-1 RB211-22B Air Ops Europe
Senate leadership hoped last week to move the FAA authorization bill (S.1994) to the floor today, but Hill sources say Tuesday or Wednesday is more likely because of the time needed to work out all the amendments.DOT Secretary Federico Pena wrote Senate aviation leaders last week urging prompt passage, particularly to keep airport grants flowing and get FAA financial reform started. He asked that the proposal to transfer authority over aircraft engine emissions standards to FAA be dropped because of the cost of developing FAA expertise.
Carnival Air Lines has signed a code-share agreement with AeroPeru on Carnival's daily service between New York Kennedy and Miami. The agreement enables AeroPeru to offer connecting service between New York and Lima, via Miami.
