SITA has developed two graphics user interfaces for its Flight Operations Services. The Windows graphical display enables users to display the optimum flight plan on a map and provides data on extended-range twin- engine operations, airports and upper-air weather. The revised version of FleetWatch provides information on improved aircraft utilization, on-time performance and increased productivity over a local area network.
United outhired all other U.S. carriers for cockpit crewmembers from April 1995 through April 1996, taking on 785 pilots. Federal Express hired 615 and Northwest 506. The Future Aviation Professionals of America said 8,286 pilots were hired by U.S. airlines during the 12-month period, while 1,758 were on furlough. Those on furlough include about 235 at Delta, which has sent a letter recalling all of them by Oct. 1.
The Business Travel Contractors Corp. (BTCC) is urging immediate reinstatement of the 10% airline ticket tax and announced yesterday its "unequivocal opposition" to proposals to replace the ticket tax with FAA user fees. BTCC, a group of corporations aimed at obtaining better airline fares for its members, is aligning itself on the ticket-tax-versus-user- fees issue with low-cost airlines, including Southwest - the only airline that has signed up for the group's mileage-based domestic airfare structure (DAILY, April 2).
Delta continues to break monthly boarding records one month ahead of the Olympics, not only in Atlanta, where it boarded more than two million passengers for three consecutive months. It set a boarding record in May at Hartsfield Airport by carrying 2,078,191 passengers, beating its March record of 2,066,777. Delta also set best-month-ever records in May at Washington Dulles, Nashville, Savanna, Huntsville, Richmond, Pensacola and Jacksonville. Following the trend, the Delta Shuttle boarded 191,139 passengers, its best month.
Aided by Northwest, KLM reported record net income of 547 million Dutch guilders (US$320 million) for fiscal 1996. A revaluation of its stake in the U.S. carrier added 258 million guilders (US$150.93 million) to the Dutch company's bottom line. The airline also announced plans to acquire additional aircraft for European service and a pact with its pilot union allowing it to contract with other carriers for some of its flying. While Northwest's financial strength bolstered KLM's bottom line, infighting between the two persists.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1995 DC-10-10 American United Total Number of Aircraft Operated 17 30 47 Total Fleet Operations Departures 37 89 126 Block Hours 163 280 444
Vanguard Airlines has named retired Vice Admiral Robert Spane to its board and re-elected Edmund Shea, VP of J.F. Shea&Co., to the group. The carrier held its first annual meeting last week in Kansas City.
Northern Telecom has hired Greg Farmer, former under secretary of commerce for travel and tourism, to head its Washington, D.C., office as VP- government relations and international trade. Farmer was heavily involved in the planning of the first White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, held last October.
Continental President and Chief Executive Gordon Bethune will speak at the International Aviation Club's monthly luncheon June 12. Lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. at The University Club, 1135 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C. Cost is $35.
Three days before 25 District of Columbia inner-city high school students were to take their first flights as winners of a "Dream to Fly" contest, the sponsor, the National Air and Space Museum, canceled the rides. The museum's lawyers raised concerns about liability issues connected with sponsoring such flights.
Sabre Decision Technologies is offering Airpath, a client/server-based flight planning and dispatching system intended to help airlines enhance flight safety, optimize flight time and conserve fuel, the computer reservations system company said. "Airlines must be able to respond quickly to a host of variables - weather, aircraft performance and payload. Airpath allows them to do so by automatically providing dispatchers with the information they need to make efficient flight planning decisions," said Sabre VP Ira Gershkoff.
Sun Country Airlines is offering $49 fares for children up to 12 years old for the month of June to Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and New York Kennedy and Newark. Tickets must be purchased by tomorrow.
Wilcox Electric has been awarded a one-year contract by General Services Administration to provide satellite technology engineering support services to federal agencies, including FAA.
Reno Air will offer $39 one-way fares on new flights to Denver from Reno/Tahoe, beginning today. Flights from Denver through Reno to other points cost $69. The fares, which are available until one hour before the flight, can be upgraded to first class for $20.
The Clinton administration proposed yesterday a college scholarship program that would be funded in part through a new $10 departure tax on international travelers. The $6 international departure tax expired at the end of 1995, but the administration is proposing that it be restored at $16, with $10 going to the general fund to offset the cost of the education proposal.
Philadelphia's Aviation Division is urging DOT to approve Deutsche BA's bid to operate code-share service with USAir. Under the arrangement, the German carrier would hold out USAir's code on its intra-Germany flights (DAILY, May 24). Initially, the two airlines plan to code share on service from Munich to Berlin and Dusseldorf.
With a public announcement on the potential American-British Airways alliance expected as early as today, American Chief Executive Robert Crandall was in Washington yesterday briefing DOT Secretary Federico Pena on details of the deal.
Air traffic control assets should be purchased from the federal government by a not-for-profit corporation, which would run the ATC system under a "user pay means user say" concept, according to a study by the Reason Foundation (DAILY, May 29, 30). The cost would be about $3.5 billion, the study estimates.
FAA, NASA, the Helicopter Association International and some Georgia agencies have formed a government/industry consortium to reduce traffic gridlock during the Olympics this summer in Atlanta. The Atlanta Short- Haul Transportation System Project will use 50 helicopters equipped with Global Positioning System navigation instruments to provide emergency services, transport cargo and ferry the media and others to the downtown area.
Federal Express plans to build a 400,000-square-foot technology complex on 70 acres in Collierville, Tenn., subject to zoning rule changes, near its headquarters in Memphis. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 1998. FedEx said it will move 1,300 current employees to the new complex, mostly programmers, software developers, project managers and technical support staff. The facility will include buildings for training, technology display, an auditorium and a visiting center.
A Northrop Grumman ASR-9 airport surveillance radar and a monopulse secondary surveillance radar were commissioned by FAA at Airborne Express's hub airport at Wilmington, Ohio. The company said the application at Wilmington is the first full operational use of the equipment by a non- government organization. Airborne also has added a $60 million parallel runway and new control tower at the airport. The radars cost about $5.4 million installed.
A draft FAA reauthorization bill prepared by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) essentially adopts concepts contained in House and Senate legislation already introduced, leaving out most of the controversial measures contained in both bills. The Pressler bill, expected to be introduced in time for committee markup Thursday, would reauthorize FAA programs for one year. About half the bill deals with commercial space transportation, which came under FAA's jurisdiction last year. Sen.
USAir launched nonstop service Sunday between Philadelphia and Rome. The carrier is serving the route six days a week with a 210-passenger, two- class 767-200ER.
