Polynesian Limited has asked DOT for authority to operate scheduled service between Apia, Western Samoa, and Los Angeles, effective Oct. 5, under a code-sharing agreement with Air New Zealand, which would fly the aircraft. Air New Zealand currently operates one weekly Auckland-Apia-Honolulu flight, which will be extended to Los Angeles Oct. 5. All flights will continue to be operated with 767-300ERs.
Continental Airlines received DOT approval yesterday to implement its code- share agreement with Business Air of the U.K. The pact, covering Newark- Manchester flights connecting to Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, takes effect Monday.
...Potential for transborder Mexican service is huge, but the machinery is not there to deliver it, says Aviation Systems Research's Michael Boyd. There is no infrastructure for retailing; ground-handling is very expensive, and under-the-table demands can be a problem. Major markets are Monterrey (currently served by COEx), Hermosillo, Chihuahua (currently served by Lone Star), Saltillo and Torreon, he added, citing a potential for up to 150,000 passengers per year. "It is a gigantic market and no one is there. Mexico is Japan with oil," Boyd said.
Midwest Express Connection Skyway Airlines flew 6.6 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 1.5% decline from August 1995's 6.7 million. Capacity dropped faster - 5.6% to 14.4 million available seat miles from 15.2 million in the prior August. The load factor consequently increased 1.9 percentage points to 46.1% from 44.2%. The number of passengers boarded in August dipped 1.2% to 30,363 from 30,744. Aug. 1996 Aug. 1995 8 Mths 1996 8 Mths 1995
Shuttle by United, celebrating the successful completion of its second year with a report card, has given itself high marks for continuing to compete aggressively and increasing revenues by 17% in the second quarter from the same 1995 period on 17% higher yield. The Shuttle will expand to six new cities at the end of October, with the expectation of operating 410 daily departures by November.
Business Express's slots at New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia and Washington National airports continue to draw the attention of major carriers, including American, Delta, Northwest and USAir. Delta and Northwest are code-sharing partners with the Chapter 11 carrier, and there has been talk of Northwest acquiring the airline and moving its assets to its Memphis hub, now occupied by Express Airlines I. Sources tell The DAILY that as things stand, former Continental Express President Jonathan Ornstein is no longer interested in the carrier.
Some 13 vendors from Europe and the U.S. will provide on-site support for Chinese operators of Airbus Industrie aircraft at the European consortium's new Customer Services Support and Training Center in Beijing. The $50 million center, a joint venture with China Aviation Supply Corporation, is nearing completion and will be the "first and most modern of its kind anywhere in the world," Airbus said.
The Transportation Department is proposing to require U.S. and foreign airlines to collect "basic information from specified passengers traveling on flight segments to or from the United States." DOT set Nov. 12 as the deadline for comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking, under which U.S. carriers would collect the information from all passengers and foreign carriers would collect it from U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. Data would include the full name of the passenger, and the passport number and issuing country code.
Geneva-based PetrolAir has signed a letter of intent with IFT for installation of $1.6 million worth of inflight entertainment systems with gambling functions in its aircraft. IFT will begin next year to equip one Gulfstream IV and one 757 with the systems. The systems include 20 digitized movies, video games and interactive shopping. IFT first sold its system to Alitalia last November, and has since signed contracts with Swissair and Debonair Airways.
FAA announced availability of its draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) for the ASR-11 radar. The draft assesses the potential environmental impacts of the program. FAA and the Defense Department are planning to upgrade up to 120 air traffic control facilities, replacing older, analog systems with the digital technology. FAA plans to develop a final PEA after a 45-day comment period.
Mexican transborder markets are beginning to catch the eye of large regional airlines like AMR Eagle and Continental Express, The DAILY is told. COEx, which last week ordered up to 200 Embraer EMB-145 regional jets, says it is looking at Canadian and Mexican markets, but would not venture south before 1998. Eagle, which is expected to make a major purchase of regional jets as well as Saab 2000s, says only that it is always looking at new market possibilities. Business traffic is increasing from the U.S. to industrial cities in Northern Mexico...
FAA plans to announce today the winner of its $1.5 billion Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) program contract. Teams headed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are competing.
The U.S. Air Force has picked AlliedSignal Avionics to supply 1,685 interim Global Positioning System receiver-display sets in a program to upgrade transport aircraft, ordered by Defense Secretary William Perry after the April crash in Croatia of a CT-43 that killed all aboard, including Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., awarded the $1.9 million contract this week. All kits must be delivered by Oct. 10. The Air Force wanted to install the systems by Sept.
Air cargo carried by U.S. airlines experienced its strongest month of the year in July, jumping 6.4%, the Air Transport Association said yesterday. "Although these figures do not stand up to the double-digit growth we saw early last year and throughout 1994, it is an improvement to the growth we had been experiencing so far this year," said ATA President Carol Hallett. Domestic air cargo was up 6.8% to 832.8 million revenue ton miles and international air cargo 5.8% to 674.6 million RTMs. Total RTMs reached 1.5 billion.
Former FAA Administrator Don Engen will head an independent review of the Pentagon's executive air fleet, which supports the President. Engen, a retired vice admiral who heads the National Air and Space Museum, was appointed by the Pentagon following incidents in Florida last week in which one of the fleet's CH-46 helicopters rolled over while taxiing and burst into flames and another landed in a field after a warning light went on in the cockpit. Last month, a C-130 of the fleet crashed shortly after takeoff from Jackson Hole, Wyo., killing all aboard.
U.S. airlines must shoulder some of the financial burden of funding increased security initiatives under way at airports, Ivan Schaeffer, president of Woodside Travel Trust, said yesterday. Schaeffer, who describes Woodside as the largest travel management network, renewed his call for airlines voluntarily to funnel a per-passenger surcharge of $10 into a trust fund to cover the costs of boosted security. The Air Transport Association said, "Mr. Schaeffer well knows that the airlines already pay for the entire aviation security system.
Delta Express low-fare service in Florida markets has not yet begun, and competitor Kiwi International Air Lines already is miffed. Kiwi said Delta Express advertisements ask the rhetorical question, "Who would you fly if you want a low fare to Florida with assigned seating and frequent flyer miles?" Kiwi said it has the lowest fares from New York to Florida and offers all the amenities, such as a frequent flyer program, which earn free tickets twice as fast as Delta's plan.
AT&T said yesterday it has signed a $1.1 billion contract with Textron to upgrade, expand and manage Textron's global communications infrastructure, which serves the company's 25 divisions. AT&T solutions said that it will "engineer, design and implement a comprehensive networking platform encompassing all of the company's voice, data and video requirements worldwide, including local exchange services, wide area networking, virtual telecommunications network services, electronic mail and LAN transport management.
City Hotels of Brussels, which founded EuroBelgian Airlines as a low-cost, low-fare European carrier and then sold it to Virgin Atlantic, will start up a clone in the fall to offer low-fare service to North Africa and other points that do not compete with Virgin Express, the renamed EBA.
Air Transport Association said yesterday it will host a conference on hazardous materials for support and logistics personnel from all segments of the industry. "Hazmat Comat: A Conference for Airlines and Suppliers," will be held Nov. 13-14 at the Washington Hilton and Towers.
The airline industry told Congress yesterday that aggressive counter- terrorism measures should include new screening technologies tested in "real-world settings" and an "accelerated program to complete the software necessary to allow automated profiling." Testifying before the House aviation subcommittee, John Meenan, Air Transport Association VP-policy and planning, also called for a government and airline partnership "in identifying appropriate testing facilities and initiating testing." Meenan repeated ATA concerns about two Commission recommendations - a positive
DOT has tentatively found Denver-based Maverick Airways Corp. fit to operate interstate scheduled air service. Maverick was formed in August 1994 and still is in its "formative stage," DOT said. Maverick has proposed operating scheduled service initially between Denver and Grand Junction with three daily flights, and between Denver and Steamboat Springs with two daily flights with one 48-seat de Havilland Dash 7. It expects to acquire three more of the aircraft in the first year of operations to increase the initial frequencies and expand to other Colorado points.
The burgeoning group of new distribution system companies likely will escape computer reservations system rules proposed in August by DOT, at least for a while, according to American's general counsel. David Schwarte, speaking at Garrett Communications' annual travel distribution conference this week in Boston, said there is "a ton of new players," and after one or two become greatly successful, some in the industry likely will want to subject them to CRS rules.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Revenue and Expenses, First Quarter 1996, (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues Alaska 20,829,000 (2.27) 19,765,000 Latin 20,829,000 (2.27) 19,765,000 American 1,104,922,000 5.56 985,254,000 Atlantic 420,029,000 5.88 366,020,000
