Continental is offering as much as 40% off fares for travel from Oct. 1 through mid-December to four European cities - London, Manchester, Madrid and Paris - from all U.S. gateways. Tickets must be purchased by Sept. 24. Examples of the sale fares are $149 one way between Newark and Manchester, $229 for Houston-Paris and Cleveland-London and $209 for Chicago-Madrid.
British Aerospace's before-tax profit for the six months ended June 30 increased 38% over those of the same period in 1995, to 215 million pounds from 156 million pounds, Chairman Bob Bauman said in reporting interim results for the first half of the year. Sales rose 2% to 2.9 billion pounds, and Bauman said BAe's order book totals 13 billion pounds. "The further improvement in the company's performance, both in terms of financial strength and market position, is confirmation that our strategy is working to good effect," he said.
DOT has granted limited approval to Mexicana to operate a code- sharing/blocked-space agreement with Aeroperu once a day on a Newark- Cancun-Lima-Buenos Aires routing. Mexicana will operate the aircraft on all segments, carry its own traffic between Newark and Cancun under one flight number and beyond Cancun under different flight numbers. It will use Aeroperu's code for traffic between Newark and Lima and Newark and Buenos Aires. DOT granted approval only until Nov. 1.
xAmerican Society of Travel Agents is offering membership to travel, tourism or hospitality students enrolled at non-member travel schools. The students can join ASTA's Future Travel Professionals Club for $80. Students attending an ASTA-affiliated travel school are eligible for a $25 discount.
House hearing on aviation security, the Gore Commission recommendations on security and the House debate on FAA/AIP reauthorization will be the focus of this week's Aviation News Today, on Washington's NewsChannel 8, Sunday from 12 :30 a.m.-1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m. For further information, call 703-824-0500, ext. 166.
The White House plans to request the $1.1 billion it proposes for counter- terrorism programs as an emergency appropriation in the continuing resolution Congress is expected to adopt before adjourning this year. The emergency designation could free Congress from having to find budget offsets for the proposal, which includes money for initial Gore Commission recommendations. The administration wants the Senate to include legislation in the FAA authorization bill giving DOT and FAA authority to carry out some of the Gore proposals.
Significant growth on routes within Europe and to the Asia/Pacific region increased KLM's traffic 9% in August to 776.9 million revenue ton kilometers. Capacity, measured in available ton kilometers, rose 8%, improving the overall load factor 0.5 percentage points to 74.1% and the passenger load factor 0.1 points to 81.5%. KLM attributed the increase in passenger traffic to an 18% gain on Asia/Pacific routes and 13% growth in Europe. KLM's cargo traffic also rose 9% in August, to 333 million RTKs, and the cargo load factor gained 1.3 points to 65.8%.
Great Lakes Aviation flew 27.7 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 3.5% increase from 26.8 million in August 1995. Capacity, however, grew more than twice as fast - 9.8% to 61.1 million available seat miles from 55.7 million. The load factor dropped 2.7 percentage points to 45.4% from 48.1%. Passenger boardings climbed 11.8% to 96,659 from 86,501. Aug. 1996 Aug. 1995 8 Mths 1996 8 Mths 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------
Fresno, Calif.-based Air 21 earned $36,000 on $1.6 million in sales in July, its first profit ever, the carrier said. Air 21 operates F-28s to Durango, Fresno, Grand Junction, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Monterey, Palm Springs, Reno/Tahoe and San Francisco. The carrier has an interline and marketing agreement with Reno Air, providing connecting service through Reno/Tahoe to Anchorage, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fairbanks and Vancouver, B.C.
Emery Worldwide observed its 50th anniversary this week with the opening of a 100,000-square-foot logistics facility at Dayton Airport. The structure will serve as a major link to other complexes Emery is building or managing in Europe, Asia and Latin America, according to David Beatson, president.
Correction: A chart summarizing major carriers' domestic revenues and expenses for the first quarter 1996 (DAILY, Sept. 11) contained incorrectly aligned columns. A revised, corrected version of the table appears on Page 436 of the hard copy of this issue.
Appleton, Wis.-based United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin flew 51.7 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 3.1% increase from August 1995's 50.1 million. Capacity dropped 8.1% to 77.1 million available seat miles from 83.9 million. Load factor consequently jumped 7.3 percentage points to 67.1% from 59.8%. Enplanements were virtually the same - 160,841 for August 1996, 160,083 for August 1995, a 0.5% increase. Air Wisconsin operates 14 BAe 146 quadjets, feeding United's Chicago and Denver hubs.
The House Transportation Committee approved yesterday legislation (H.R.3923) to prescribe government and airline measures to assist families of airline accident victims. The panel accepted a number of changes adopted Wednesday by the aviation subcommittee to the introduced bill, including applying the legislation to foreign airlines and prohibiting for 30 days after an accident unsolicited communications by attorneys and their representatives, insurance companies or airline litigation representatives.
Airlines are beginning to feel a bottom line squeeze from recent hikes in jet fuel prices, and carriers believe price hikes will have a negative effect on third quarter profits and eventually could lead to the return of fuel surcharges on passenger tickets, airline sources say. Jet fuel prices have paralleled the rising tensions between the U.S. and Iraq, where President Clinton has chosen to pressure Saddam Hussein militarily, and military actions usually force up oil prices, experts say.
Central Missouri State University announced the establishment of the Ollie Krick Memorial Aviation Scholarship in honor of Oliver Krick, an alumnus who was killed on TWA Flight 800 in July. Krick graduated from Central in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in aviation technology and was a TWA flight engineer trainee. Money is still being collected for the scholarship, which will help pay the tuition or buy flying time for students in the aviation program.
President Clinton made several cabinet agencies subordinate to the National Transportation Safety Board this week when he made NTSB responsible for domestic transportation disasters not determined to be criminal.
Acting on behalf of its Department of Transportation, Illinois filed suit yesterday in the state's Supreme Court to prevent the City of Chicago from demolishing Meigs Field after Sept. 30 (DAILY Sept. 12). IDOT asserts that it has the right to take over Meigs under a provision of the state's Aeronautics Act that authorizes the Division of Aeronautics to take over property from municipalities for use as a state airport. The Illinois Constitution allows certain cases to be filed directly in its Supreme Court without proceeding first in a lower court.
St. George, Utah-based Delta Connection SkyWest Airlines posted last month a 12.2% increase in revenue passenger miles to nearly 66.6 million from 59.3 million as capacity increased 6.6% to 120.8 million from 113.3 million. The load factor as a result increased 2.7 percentage points to 55.1% from 52.4%. Passenger enplanements increased 11.4% to 240,480 from 215,847. Aug. 1996 Aug. 1995 8 Mths 1996 8 Mths 1995 RPMs 66,597,562 59,332,943 473,929,637 359,238,097
FedEx said yesterday it has started operating scheduled DC-10 flights linking Beijing and Shanghai with its Subic Bay hub. Five-times-weekly A310 direct service between Hong Kong and Subic Bay began Sept. 9. Mike Ducker, senior VP-Asia Pacific, compared the development of the intra-Asian system to the early days of FedEx in the U.S.
Mesaba Airlines flew 42.7 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 38.7% increase from August 1995's 30.8 million. Capacity grew 17.8% to 74 million available seat miles from 62.8 million, allowing the load factor to rise 8.7 percentage points to 57.6% from 48.9%. Boardings rose 32.9% to 187,600 from 141,154.
Washington Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines posted small declines in both traffic and passenger boardings for August - revenue passenger miles dropped 1.2% to just under 35 million compared with 35.4 million in the prior August, while enplanements dropped 1.3% to 142,292 from 144,113. Capacity rose 3.9% to 68.9 million available seat miles from 66.3 million, driving load factor down 2.7 percentage points to 50.7% from 53.4%.
The newly formed Federal Aviation Service (FAS) of Russia will change its name to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of Russia, following a decision that the word "Service" does not have the proper connotation. The director of the Russian FAA is G. Zaitsev. Directly below him is a collegium, the Secretariat of the Russian Commission to the International Civil Aviation Organization and an advisory board. The only members of both groups are the two advisers, V. Salsuk and V. Ufkim.
Regional airline stocks - along with much of the nation - took a vacation during August. The average price per share for the nine issues rose only one penny to $11.62 during the month. Total market value dipped by $2.7 million, however, to $2.55 billion. None of the individual stocks moved up or down by more than $1. Gainers were led by Mesa Air Group, up 88 cents to $9.88 per share after spending much of the month above the $10 level.
Fuel Cost and Consumption, U.S. Majors Nationals and Large Regionals, August 1995 - July 1995 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1995 August Domestic 1,118,352,075 602,996,367 International 418,106,944 247,833,713 System Total 1,536,459,019 850,830,080 September Domestic 1,036,896,325 578,050,320
