Frontier Airlines' traffic increased 194% in July to 79.5 million revenue passenger miles, compared with 27 million RPMs a year earlier. Capacity was up 128.3% to 124.4 million available seat miles, and the load factor rose to 63.9% from 49.7%. After two years of service, the carrier is operating to 15 cities in 12 states with nine 737s. For the first seven months of the year, Frontier's traffic rose 171.4% to 453.4 million RPMs from 167 million, while ASMs increased 98% to 734.6 million from 371 million. The load factor improved to 61.6% from 45%.
United has donated $20,000 to Habitat for Humanity to renovate and build homes in the San Diego area. More than 200 United employees, retirees, family and friends will participate in the project.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1996 DC-9-30 -------------------------- Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 31 103 36 Total Fleet Operations Departures 168 494 198
American Trans Air's board has elected Stanley Pace as its new president and chief executive. Pace, a partner of Bain&Co., will assume his responsibilities immediately, and George Mikelsons, chairman, chief executive and the airline's largest shareholder, will continue as chairman. Pace has led a team of consultants that has been working with the airline since May. While at Bain, Pace worked to develop and implement a strategic plan for Continental, "which led to one of the most successful turnarounds in the history of the industry," American Trans Air said.
Singapore travel agency Global Travel has cut over 29 terminals to Abacus Distribution Systems' AbacusWhiz, a new workstation that runs on Windows '95 and Windows NT. The change places Global among Singapore agencies with the largest number of personal computers running the workstation.
Canadian Airline International is bolstering service from Toronto in its 1996-97 winter schedule, offering business travelers what Don Casey, VP- capacity planning, said will be "more flights and greater convenience than ever before on the routes they travel most often." The carrier will add service from Toronto to Vancouver and Calgary, double flights to London Heathrow and add frequencies to Miami and Honolulu. It will offer daily Toronto-Rome service, up from five flights per week last winter, with partner Alitalia.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines posted a 10.9% increase in revenue passenger miles from the same 1995 month, while passenger enplanements grew 16.7%. For the first seven months, traffic was up 17.2% and passengers 21.5%. Capacity rose 5.4% for the month and 6.2% for the year-to-date. July 96 July 95 7 Mths 96 7 Mths 95 RPMs 73,440,958 66,209,681 513,441,877 438,032,201 ASMs 152,344,018 144,496,581 1,038,807,152 978,160,149
Tower Air's July block hours increased 1.8% from July 1995 to 5,182. For the first seven months of the year, the carrier operated 26,847 block hours, a 0.9% increase from the same period last year. The July gain was fueled by growth in scheduled passenger service capacity and charter operations but offset by a decline in military business, said Tower, adding that the increase came despite the grounding of a cargo aircraft to comply with newly restrictive FAA airworthiness directive requirements.
Air Pacific of Fiji launched twice-weekly nonstop service between Nadi and Los Angeles using a 747-200 with the interior configuration of a 747-400. The carrier plans to begin weekly nonstop service Nov. 1 between Fiji and Vancouver. Improvements to overhead storage compartments will provide about twice the capacity of the original 747-200 design, the company said.
Japan asked to resume aviation negotiations with the U.S. this week because it is concerned about getting into a battle of sanctions. Once again, the U.S. will press for solutions of existing problems and disputes, while Japan will look for action on overall passenger talks.
Air France's traffic increased 8.7% in July compared with the same period last year, to 5.3 billion revenue passenger kilometers. Capacity increased 6.5% to 6.9 billion available seat kilometers. The passenger load factor for the month was 76.2%, up 1.5 percentage points. The number of freight ton kilometers increased 5.7% to 410 million.
Alaska Air Group's board adopted an amended and restated stockholder rights agreement the company said protects its stockholders from "coercive takeover tactics." The board said it is not aware of any imminent takeover action, and the amended agreement replaces the current rights plan, which was to expire in December. An individual or group now can exercise the rights only by acquiring 20% or more of Alaska Air Group's common stock, or by announcing a tender offer that would result in ownership by a person or group of 20% or more of the common stock.
United kicked off another round of fare savings with a fall domestic fare sale offering reductions of as much as 35% off the standard 21-day advance purchase price. Tickets must be purchased by Aug. 19 for travel Sept. 4- Dec. 15. The cheapest tariffs apply to off-peak days, except for Florida fares, which are lowest Sunday through Wednesday southbound and Tuesday through Friday northbound. All discount fares require a Saturday night stay and roundtrip purchase. In Hawaiian markets, the minimum stay is three days.
Northwest is looking again for bilingual or multilingual flight attendants, saying it intends to hire an additional 150 in the near future. With extensive services in the Pacific, the carrier wants flight attendants who speak English and Japanese, as well as other Asian and European languages. Northwest employs 9,500 flight attendants, 850 of whom were hired last year.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1996 DC-10-10 ----------------------------------- American United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 15 28 44 Total Fleet Operations Departures 33 77 110
Raytheon won a $620 million contract to provide 213 digital airport surveillance radar systems to the U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon said Friday. Raytheon beat three competitors to replace radars at civilian and military airfields.
AlliedSignal Aerospace named Jerry Rockstroh director-international procurement; Michael Chan director-manufacturing training; Jeff Augustin director-financial planning and analysis; Tim McClung space station hybrid manager, and David Yaney general manager-Microelectronics and Technology Center.
IATA is aiming for 100 international airline signatures by Nov. 1 on the umbrella agreement on passenger liability. The current total is 59, including all the major U.S. carriers. Varig is the most recent to sign, and Lufthansa's signature is "imminent," according to IATA.
Boeing will supply up to four leased VIP-configured 757-200 jetliners for the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews AFB, Md., under a $365.5 million contract for the VC-X program to replace VC-137B aircraft. To be designated the C- 32A, the 757s "will provide executive and congressional airlift support," the Air Force said. The aircraft will be equipped for secure communications and configured for three service classes, first-class sleeper seats in a distinguished visitor area and business-class sleeper seats in the crew rest and staff area.
Granted orally to Corporacion Aeroangeles an exemption to conduct passenger charter operations between Mexico and the U.S., and other passenger charters, using small equipment...Granted orally to Transportacion Aerea del Norte an exemption to conduct passenger charter operations between Mexico and the U.S., and other passenger charters...Granted orally to Polar Air Cargo an extension from Aug. 4 to Sept. 18 of its startup condition for U.S.-Brazil all-cargo service...Granted orally to American International Airways an extension from Aug. 4 to Sept.
United's electronic ticketing service, E-Ticket, is the choice of at least 30% of customers eligible to select the option, the carrier said. United and United Express carriers began offering electronic ticketing 11 months ago. Recently, the question has been raised whether electronic ticketing still can be used with increased security at airports. United said the E- Ticket system is actually more secure because travelers must present identification before boarding. Currently, passengers with and without paper tickets must show some form of ID.
Carnival Air Lines has been assessed $10,000 in compromise civil penalties as part of a consent order, issued Friday, on violations of advertising regulations.
Arrow Air said Friday it has been reinstated by the Defense Department as an authorized air cargo carrier. DOD suspended the airline from its Air Transport Program in March 1995 after Arrow said it "voluntarily halted its operations to cooperate with the FAA in a complete inspection and revalidation of its operating certificate." Arrow resumed flight operations in June 1995 and earlier this year sought reinstatement by DOD.
Colombian officials were scrambling late Friday to put together a plan to save the country's aviation system from being placed in Category 3 by FAA, barring service by its carriers to the U.S. DOT Secretary Federico Pena and his Venezuelan counterpart Moises Orozco met for a second day of talks Friday. "We continue to have serious concerns and [are] skeptical" about Venezuela's ability to put together a plan that will be acceptable, said a U.S. official, adding that officials from the two countries likely would continue talks into the weekend.
