Airports Consultants Council has selected Southwest Chairman Herbert Kelleher to receive its Aviation Award of Excellence for revolutionizing the airline industry with the development of a low-cost airline. ACC will present the award Nov. 11 at its annual conference on Amelia Island, Fla.
United will pay compromise civil penalties of $25,000 under terms of a consent order hammered out with DOT concerning violations by the carrier of DOT advertising requirements.
Rolls-Royce has launched development of a Trent 900, an 80,000-pounds- thrust engine designed for Boeing's and Airbus Industrie's prospective 450- to 650-seat widebody long-haul aircraft, and will try to make it available for flight tests on candidate aircraft in 2000. Boeing and Rolls signed a memorandum of understanding in July for development of a new engine for the 747-500X and -600X aircraft, Rolls said. Design has begun, core tests are scheduled to begin early in 1998, and a full engine run is planned by the third quarter of 1998.
Comsat Mobile Communications named Alan Labbe manager-government maritime accounts, Robert Roe manager-Navy account, Michael Smith manager- Department of Defense land mobile government sales and Craig Poyner national manager-aeronautical sales. Magnetek appointed James Schuster senior VP-operations and Marc Turner manager-federal government business.
Australia and Argentina have signed a new bilateral agreement, expanding service opportunities between the two countries. "Under the arrangements, Australian and Argentine carriers will be able to operate an additional four B747-equivalent weekly services on a code-shared basis, enabling daily services between Argentina and Australia," said Australia's Minister for Transport and Regional Development John Sharp. "In addition, provision has been made for carriers of both sides to operate one dedicated freighter service each a week," said Sharp.
Mesa Air Group experienced a decline in both capacity and revenue passenger miles in August as a result of the return of six Dash 8-300 aircraft used in Denver markets and a delay in delivery of new Dash 8-200s. Mesa and Bombardier still are working out a new delivery schedule. Revenue passenger miles fell 5.7% to 119.1 million, while capacity declined 9.4% to 202.3 million available seat miles. The load factor rose 2.4 percentage points to 58.9%. Mesa carried 578,179 passengers during the month, down 3.3% from August 1995.
A new inflight catering facility and a ground-handling company opened Friday at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA). The Beijing Airport Inflight Kitchen and the Beijing Aviation Ground Services firms both are jointly owned by BCIA and Singapore Airport Terminal Services, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. SIA holds a 40% share in both. BCIA Deputy General Manager Li Peiying called the joint ventures the "single largest investment by Singapore" in China's aviation industry.
Rohr said it will build a $14 million repair and service facility in Prestwick, Scotland, that will employ up to 200 people over the next five years. Operations will begin in December at a temporary plant and at a permanent facility in April, the company said. Rohr supplies nacelles and pylon systems.
World Airways flew 3,158 block hours in August in its continuing operations - contracts with air carriers, the U.S. government and international tour operators. The company excluded from its traffic results the portions of its business it has recently terminated, such as European scheduled charters and other scheduled services. Its August block hours flown were 7% fewer than the 3,413 of August 1995. Average daily utilization was 9.3 block hours versus 10.1 block hours for the same month last year.
Kuwait Airways has ordered Hughes-Avicom International cabin management and entertainment systems for two Boeing 777s. The APAX 150 system already is installed on one 747-400 and four A340s.
Ceaseless foraging for things to sponsor has taken airlines beyond major national and international events. United, which paid to put its name on Chicago's new indoor sports arena, stepped forward last month as the official sponsor of the Iowa State Fair. A United booth at the Des Moines event attracted nearly 20,000 people, and the Fair drew about 920,000.
Granted orally to Voyageur Airways an exemption to conduct combination service between a point or points in Canada and a point or points in the U.S...Granted orally to Emery Worldwide an exemption to operate scheduled all-cargo service between Dayton and Guadalajara, Mexico...Granted orally to Northwest renewal for two years of its allocation of 14 weekly roundtrip U.S.-Philippine frequencies to continue its existing daily services between Chicago and Manila via Tokyo and between Los Angeles and Manila via Osaka...Granted orally to Aeromexico an exemption to conduct s
Aeronautical Telecommunications Network System, a group of 11 airlines funded by FAA, selected an AlliedSignal-led team for the Router Reference Implementation (RRI) program. The six-company team will develop data communications for the program, which involves routing technology for use in the air traffic control system of the future. RRI involves developing software that will determine the routing for messages on the system. Other team members include Honeywell and Vertel of the U.S. and Sextant, Sofrevia and Thomson-CSF of France.
Southwest held onto the top on-time spot for the seventh month in a row with an 87% record for July. Overall, the nation's 10 largest carriers posted a 75.3% on-time rate in July, down from 74.7% in June and substantially lower than the 80.1% level achieved in July 1995, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, published last week. Northwest placed second at 79%, followed by USAir at 77%. American and Alaska trailed the field with 63% records.
Aero International (Regional) plans to decide in mid-1997 whether to develop its AI(R) 70 regional jet, aimed at a worldwide market and compatibility with scope clauses in U.S. airlines' pilot union contracts. Targeting a first flight of the 70-passenger twinjet in mid-2000 and entry into service a year later, AI(R) plans early development of a 60-seat version and sees potential for a stretch.
Associated Global Systems promoted Dave Ferretti to district service manager for the Boston district, expanded the territory of Metro Region Service Manager Robert Sweet to include the Northeast, promoted Sam Lackey to regional service manager-Southwest and appointed Mark Feltner sales manager-Grand Rapids district.
Eurocopter and Asia-Pacific Airlines have signed an agreement authorizing the carrier as Eurocopter's general sales agent for Taiwan. A Eurocopter official said the company expects the Taiwan market to show strong growth following the government's decision to license private helicopter operations.
A coalition of African-American employees has charged FAA with workplace discrimination. The agency had no immediate response to allegations by the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees of "discriminatory employment practices and workplace hostility." Evelyn Washington, president of the coalition for the past 10 years, said she has had limited success in meeting with FAA senior managers concerning agency employment practices.
