Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the aviation subcommittee, said U.S. all-cargo carriers that serve foreign airports face unfair obstacles that increase their costs. Commenting on a General Account Office study they had requested (DAILY, Oct. 21), Pressler said he is "alarmed that U.S. all-cargo carriers reported they experience significant problems at 81 of the foreign airports they serve. This is completely unacceptable. U.S.
Delta-DirecTV demonstration of inflight television series enables Delta to boast that it is the only airline offering passengers live broadcasts of the World Series. DirecTV provides FOX television network coverage on a single Delta 767 aircraft.
Reading congressional tea leaves, American hopes the 10% ticket tax, which again will expire at the end of calendar 1996, will return as a user fee. "There is some good momentum to effect this," Chief Financial Officer Gerard Arpey said recently.
Delta and Finnair have received DOT approval to operate code-sharing service in the Boston-New York-Helsinki market. Finnair will code share on Delta flights between Boston and New York, and Delta will code share on Finnair's flights between New York and Helsinki (DAILY, Oct. 4). (Docket OST-96-1835)
Reno Air continues to prove that a low-cost airline with newer aircraft can make consistent profits despite paying higher fuel costs than its competitors and being burned by Southwest's $25 fare sale, which temporarily stole traffic last month. Despite the recent troublesome period cost-wise, Reno yesterday posted a record net profit of $4.75 million for the third quarter, up $4.46 million from third quarter 1995.
United will begin operating a daily 727-200 flight Feb. 11 between Atlanta and Miami, where it will connect with seven South America routes. United serves Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago and Lima from Miami.
Lambert-St. Louis Airport selected a joint venture team led by a unit of Sverdrup Corp. to be the program manager for a proposed 15-year, $2 billion airport expansion. The prospective development includes a third parallel runway, a 2,000-foot runway extension, addition of 20 to 25 gates, a new 1.3 million-square-foot terminal, improvements to an existing terminal, additional auto parking and a people mover. Team members are Sverdrup Facilities, Parsons Infrastructure&Technology Group and Kwame Building Group.
The U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, the National Association of Attorneys General and the American Society of Travel Agents will conduct a symposium on travel fraud Friday as part of National Consumers Week. The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place N.W., Third Floor, Truman Room, Washington, D.C. The symposium will cover deceptive sales practices, recourse for victims and government safeguards against travel scams. For more information, call Dinah Bembofrom at 202-395-7917.
GRA Aviation Specialists Inc., Herndon, Va., introduced The Guide, an aircraft value reference book published twice a year. The book profiles 70 jetliners from Airbus Industrie, Boeing, British Aerospace, Canadair, Fokker, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas, detailing current and projected values, specifications, demographics, payload/range capabilities and current lease costs.
Western Pacific Airlines said it will begin service Dec. 4 between Colorado Springs and Miami, which will become its 22nd destination and, after Orlando, its second Florida point.
France's civil aviation authority, DGAC, has ordered five CTX 500 SP explosives detection systems for use at French airports, the manufacturer, InVision Technologies, said yesterday. The $4.6 million contract includes options for seven more units. The order follows an evaluation of the system at a military test center in Bordeaux, which enabled DGAC to "measure the effective detection capability of the technology using real explosive materials," the company said.
System One Amadeus will delay Summit 1997, next year's presentation in its annual series of customer exchange and new product forums, until 1998, to enable nearly 8,000 travel agents to make the transition to the new Amadeus Central System. System One offers town-hall-type meetings throughout the year to help agencies convert to the same Amadeus system used by other agencies worldwide. The date for the 1998 summit has not been announced.
Emission reductions from more efficient oceanic routings will "dwarf" the reduction that could be achieved through expensive modifications of aircraft engines, FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday at the Airports Council International-North America Annual Conference in San Diego.He suggested that this benefit of the agency's oceanic initiatives may be as important as the airline fuel savings that can be achieved, estimated at $2 billion-$4 billion.
DOT has decided not to draft a list of communicable diseases that could be used by airlines as a means for denying boarding to some passengers, nor will it require carriers to compensate passengers who are denied boarding because of illness.
Midway Airlines has increased the price of tickets to all its destinations, adding a fuel surcharge of $3 one way and $6 roundtrip to offset a 30% increase in its fuel prices, the carrier said. "The surcharge will partially defray some of the added costs until we have some relief in fuel prices," said Steven Westberg, chief financial officer. The carrier promised to review the surcharge as it monitors fuel prices.
Nearly 1,400 administrative personnel of state-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines began wearing black badges to work last week as a protest against management's rejection of their demands for a pay increase, an executive allowance and productivity-linked incentives on a par with those available to engineers and pilots. In a letter to IA Managing Director P.C.
DOT's newly issued rules on carrier requirements for boarding disabled passengers on aircraft of 19-30 seats do not require passengers to notify airlines in advance that they will need assistance. Although some airlines had suggested requiring a 48-hour notice, DOT said carriers will be permitted only to require a passenger needing lift service to check in at least one hour before scheduled departure.
During the next year, Munich-based Deutsche BA will restructure its operations under a new senior management team and simplify its fleet to a Southwest-style all-737 operation. As of Nov. 1, Wolfgang Grund will replace Richard Heideker as managing director. Heideker will step down voluntarily after seven years, staying at the request of shareholders to finalize the sale of the carrier's turboprop operations to France's Regional Airlines. That sale should be completed by the end of January.
TWA has suggested that DOT could bring an enforcement action against the owners of Apollo and take other measures as an alternative to instituting new computer reservations system rules that require changes in the displays of all CRSs. In a filing at DOT, TWA said the department's notice of proposed rulemaking would require vendors to create integrated displays that are less useful to travel agents than the current ones, all because one vendor, Apollo, does not offer integrated displays.
Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Lanka is entering the final marketing phase of its privatization, with road show presentations to potential investors that will take top officials to Asia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Air Lanka's executives are supported by New York-based consulting firm SH&E and Chase Manhattan Bank. The Sri Lankan Public Enterprise Reform Commission said it expects considerable interest from strategic industry investors, due to Sri Lanka's central Asian location and the government's flexibility on expansion.
Airlines in their first five years of operating experience "on average" have higher accident, incident and enforcement action rates than established carriers, according to an analysis by the General Accounting Office. "This does not mean, however, that new airlines do not provide safe transportation to the traveling public," GAO said in a report to the House aviation subcommittee.
Hong Kong regional Dragonair's decision to expand will cost it a near-term chance to take itself public. The airline admitted last week that it was forced to delay its public offering until the end of 1997 because expansion to Taiwan and mainland China weakened its current earnings ability.
Strikes paralyzed several European nations last week, costing hundreds of flights. French air traffic controller actions forced Belgium's Sabena to cancel flights to France. A one-day Italian airport strike nearly shut down Alitalia, forcing it to cancel 150 flights.
