Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has approved the application of China Airlines to purchase a 42% stake in Taiwanese domestic carrier Formosa Airlines. Under Taiwanese law, any purchase of more than 33% of the outstanding stock of a company requires FTC approval. An FTC official said that a study of the proposed purchase indicates that it would not have a negative impact on Taiwan's domestic airline industry or on the rights of air passengers. The acquisition is expected to increase CAL's share of domestic air market to 13.2% from the current 4.6%.
Southwest's revenue passenger miles jumped 14.7% in August on 13.6% greater capacity, increasing the load factor 0.6 percentage points to 71.2%. The results helped the carrier counter the trend of a declining load factor through much of the year. The load factor for the first eight months was 65.4%, however, still 0.6 points below January-August 1995. Southwest flew 65,482 trips in August, an average of 2,100 per day.
System One Amadeus has hired Karen Slater as staff VP-marketing. Slater most recently held the position of senior VP-marketing with a subsidiary of ECI Telecom in Tel Aviv. She also worked for 12 years for British Telecom, North America. At System One, she will be responsible for all strategic and tactical marketing, including product marketing for Travel Agency Solutions, Corporate Travel Solutions and Electronic Commerce Strategy.
North American Mortgage Company is offering frequent flyer miles on United to customers who purchase or refinance a home. The program, called HouseMiles, is available throughout the U.S. from 105 branch offices.
American Society of Travel Agents Marketing Services has announced that West Coast Business Systems and Supplies has joined its list of preferred vendors. The company provides products such as ticket jackets, document envelopes, invoices, baggage tags and tour vouchers, and conducts searches for hard-to-find business supplies.
Alamo Rent A Car is giving customers free upgrades if they belong to the frequent flyer programs of TWA, United or Northwest and rent a car for three consecutive days. A qualifying flight is not necessary. The upgrades are available through Dec. 15 for customers who are members of the plans of TWA and Northwest, and through March 31 for United.
DOT's $25,000 assessment against United for violation of advertising rules (DAILY, Sept. 9) grew out of a two-for-one sale last fall and an "up to 40% off" promotion in January.
TransAsia Airways has introduced Taiwan's first shuttle service on the company's Taipei-Kaohsiung route. Passengers need only purchase their ticket a minimum of 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the flight they intend to take. The service is not currently available on weekends or holidays. If seating is unavailable on the flight for which the ticket is purchased, a customer will be offered the choice of a seat on the next available flight by another carrier or a free ticket on a TransAsia flight the following day.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic, First Quarter 1996 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 2,388 23.66 807 1,927,347 America West 4,203 10.83 810 3,405,582 American 15,267 (4.70) 1,124 17,154,397
Allied Pilots Association's board of directors meets Thursday, Friday and Saturday to decide whether the company's final proposal, tentatively accepted by the union last week, should be put into formal contract language. At least one more special board meeting will be needed before the union's leaders accept or reject the offer, subject to member ratification. No votes on the agreement will be taken this weekend.
America West has been cleared of charges brought by the Teamsters union that it violated federal labor laws when it outsourced heavy maintenance in December. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Strand dismissed those charges when he endorsed the election of the Teamsters over America West's challenge on grounds that the vote included 400 mechanics who had been fired (DAILY, Sept. 9). Strand said the claims of the individual and class plaintiffs should be dismissed because each had entered into a severance arrangement with the airline.
Mountain Vacations ski packages in several states in the West are available through Worldspan Tour Source. The packages include air transportation by Air Canada, American, Continental, Frontier, Northwest and TWA.
Delta will bring 29 markets into its electronic ticketing program, beginning today. Some of the markets will be flown by Delta Express when it begins service Oct. 1. All Delta Express flights will offer electronic ticketing. Delta, which has been testing the ticketless travel in 20 city- pairs, said more than half of the itineraries eligible for the service are being booked electronically.
Technology developed by Honeywell for the Boeing 777 is finding application in other areas, leading to a number of new products from Honeywell's Space and Aviation Control division. "The 777 technology has had a very, very big effect on us, first with the aircraft itself, which has been just outstanding, and now we've taken that technology into other areas," said Don Schwanz, VP and general manager of Honeywell's Air Transport Systems.
American launches AAccess Ticketless Travel and AAccess Boarding today, both products for electronic ticketing found on the American Airlines Interactive Travel Network. AAccess Boarding units have been placed near passenger boarding bridges at 21 of American's busiest domestic airports. Passengers may board after inserting their AAdvantage card into the unit and the machine prints a seat confirmation.
Scenic Airlines intends to install the Calquest Satellite Communications System on its Twin Otter aircraft. Calquest is a satellite-based aeronautical operational control voice and data communications system that works from gate to gate at any altitude in any phase of flight. It also aids in required communications, such as position reporting and aircraft maintenance data.
United believes it can cut costs $400,000 annually by reducing use of auxiliary power units by one minute per flight. APUs ran 76 minutes per flight on average last year, costing $28 million and burning 50 million gallons of fuel. APU use is down to 75 minutes per flight so far in 1996, and the carrier continues to streamline ground-handling to reduce the time further.
Boeing's new 757-300, launched last week with Condor Flugdienst's order for 12, is being marketed mainly to the existing 757 customer base as a companion aircraft with lower seat mile cost and with ETOPS (extended-range twin-engine operations) over-water capability, a Boeing marketing official said. Roughly 50 airlines and leasing firms have ordered 800 757s to date. Although some airlines have opted not to fly narrowbody aircraft on long over-water flights, Boeing Regional Director of Product Marketing Bruce Nicoletti said this is not a trend Boeing has seen.
Despite the fanfare surrounding last week's Aviation Safety and Security Commission meeting to discuss potential security measures, the report on recommendations scheduled for presentation today to President Clinton is essentially a staff-driven document that was completed well before the Commission meeting, said an industry source. The meeting was the first time all commission members were in the same place at the same time.
Boeing's plan to upgrade the 747 into "clearly superior" derivatives represents a "very tolerable risk" for investors, according to Bankers Trust's Wolfgang Demisch. Boeing will incorporate so many advances into the aircraft that it likely will need a new type certificate and a new designation, the 787, Demisch believes.
Correction: A chart showing industry stock trends (DAILY, Sept. 5) inaccurately stated Continental's stock performance. After adjusting historical data to reflect its recent stock split, Continental stock rose 53% in the 12 months since its Aug. 31, 1995, re-adjusted price of $14.81 per share.
China Airlines said revenues for the first half of 1996 reached NT$24.89 billion (US$905.9 million) for a year-over-year increase of 8.44%. Pre-tax profit for the period totaled NT$384.8 million (US$13.99 million) or NT$0.30 (US$0.01) per share. CAL's average load factor for the period was 78.76%, with the average passenger load factor climbing to 73.94% from 69.58% during the first half of 1995. The company's highest passenger load factors were recorded by its Northeast Asian and North American routes, both of which reached 80%.
Airport groups are asking the Republican congressional leadership to include FAA reauthorization and extension of the aviation excise taxes beyond Dec. 31 among "must pass" bills in the waning 104th Congress. Without an authorization, FAA cannot issue airport grants for "critical" security and safety projects after Sept. 30, said ACI-North America's David Plavin and AAAE's Charles Barclay.
