A class action lawsuit was filed yesterday charging ValuJet with making "materially false and misleading statements" about the safety of its operations. It was filed by Berger&Montague of Philadelphia and Appel Chitwood&Harley of Atlanta in U.S. District Court in Georgia on behalf of three shareholders. The law firms said the suit represents purchasers of the carrier's common stock between June 9, 1995, and May 13, 1996. The defendants are ValuJet, Chairman Robert Priddy, Chief Executive Lewis Jordan and President Maurice Gallagher.
Boeing 767 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Fourth Quarter 1996 B767-200 American Delta TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 30 15 11 Total Fleet Operations Departures 53 52 25 Block Hours 326 136 147
DOT issued a show cause order tentatively reselecting USAir Express carrier CCAIR to operate subsidized essential air service at Staunton, Va., for two years, beginning June 1. (Docket 49184)
TechniFlite of America, Inc., the Denver, Colo. flight training company, is hoping to "revolutionize" the way airline and corporate operators are trained with its Mobil Training Facilities (MTF) - a semi- tractor-trailer equipped with a full-motion, six-axis flight simulator and a classroom that will drive to a customer's home base.
Mesaba Holdings logged a net income of $7 million, or 60 cents per share, for the fiscal year ended March 31, compared with $2.6 million, or 29 cents per share, in the previous period. Revenues totaled $170.5 million, up from $145.9 million in the prior period. Mesaba said that its fiscal year results do not include a one-time, non-cash gain of $49.3 million from the spinoff of Airtran Airways to company shareholders in September 1995, but that fiscal year results include figures for Mesaba's former jet subsidiary through August 1995.
DOT has issued an order permitting American Eagle carrier Flagship Airlines to suspend its subsidy-free service at Muskegon, Mich., July 29. (DAILY, May 17). (Dockets OST-96-1289, OST-96-1290&EAS-668)
Alaska Airlines said it made "aviation technology history" on May 28 by operating the "first revenue passenger flight by a major carrier from takeoff to landing" using the Global Positioning System. The carrier flew from Seattle to Juneau using equipment that enables it to receive signals from GPS satellites. The equipment is being installed on Alaska's 747-400 fleet.
The captain of the ValuJet DC-9 that crashed May 11 in the Florida Everglades heard a sound that prompted her to attempt to return to the airport in Miami soon after takeoff, according to information from the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder issued yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB said the CVR shows that the captain questioned a "brief, unidentified sound that was recorded approximately five minutes and 47 seconds after takeoff." About 17 seconds after the sound, "the captain stated the need to go back to Miami," the board said.
Lufthansa has severed its ties to Indian carrier Modiluft, the German airline said. Links between the two carriers were established three years ago, when the private Indian carrier was founded. Since then, Lufthansa has provided a wide range of services to the carrier, training its pilots and flight attendants in Germany, providing maintenance, technical support and leasing it seven 737s, a Lufthansa spokesman said. The two carriers also participated in a joint marketing pact, under which they coordinated schedules.
Piedmont Aviation Services has formed an Airline Sales Division headed by Corwin Lindstrom, formerly international sales manager-airlines for Raytheon Aircraft Co. Lindstrom will be responsible for buying, refurbishing, selling and brokering used airline equipment. Piedmont also will be buyer's and seller's agent on an exclusive basis and is soliciting listings. The FBO has bought a Beech 1900C, which is being refurbished.
Dornier 328 is under a 45-day FAA emergency airworthiness directive for cracked or shattered windscreens. The company has installed a lighter - by 6.5 pounds - windscreen as part of an overall weight-reduction program. FOD damage, however, has caused the screens to crack or shatter in flight, which "could result in a restriction of the flight crew's ability to...control the airplane safely." The 328 is restricted to 10,000 feet MSL, although Dornier has proposed an alternative method of compliance that would raise that limitation to 20,000 feet.
Trimble and Honeywell together will offer Global Positioning System navigation systems to the regional airline market, the companies announced this month at the Regional Airline Association meeting in Orlando. Trimble will manufacture and Honeywell will market, sell and support two navigation products, the HT9000 and HT9100 Navigation Management Systems. Trimble Avionics VP Bruce Alspach said, "The immediate and future benefits of GPS should be available to all aircraft operators.
Two America West unions called on the airline yesterday to appoint a safety czar, noting that the carrier's top executive operations officer, Thomas Derieg, has resigned. Derieg, senior VP-operations, said he will leave the carrier July 12. A spokesman for the airline said Derieg is stepping down for personal reasons, and there is no connection between safety and his departure. The spokesman also denied any connection with Derieg's resignation and the recent appointment of Frito-Lay executive Richard Goodmanson as the carrier's new president.
Sen. Bill Cohen (R-Maine) asked Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday to investigate allegations that FAA is trying to identify the FAA inspector who testified anonymously last month at a Cohen-led hearing (DAILY, May 3). FAA Administrator David Hinson denied knowledge of such an attempt and ordered an FAA investigation.
The schedules of Kendall Airlines of Australia and Denim Air of The Netherlands are available for booking through Amadeus, the computer reservations system provider said. Two other carriers, Air Macau and China Eastern Airlines, have upgraded to Amadeus's Direct Access product, and Aero Mexico and Virgin Atlantic have upgraded to Access Sell, a higher level.
Fairchild Aircraft will get 80% of the Dornier Luftfahrt corporation, said Manfred Bischoff, chairman of Daimler-Benz Aerospace, despite a confidentiality agreement. Financial details remain elusive, although Fairchild is said to have received favorable terms from the German aerospace conglomerate. The Dornier family, which owns 47% of the company but controls only 20% of the voting stock, continues to talk of blocking the venture, charging that Fairchild is incapable of running the company while maintaining the "social concerns" of employees.
Los Angeles-New York was American's top route in 1995, accounting for 2.8% of the carrier's total revenue passenger miles. Its best international route, New York-London, accounted for 2% of the total.
The seven largest U.S. airlines formally submitted to Congress this week their proposal for a temporary user fee system to replace the expired 10% passenger ticket tax while a comprehensive study of FAA costs is conducted (DAILY, May 24). Most other airlines want the ticket tax reimposed, saying user fees as proposed in the Senate FAA reform bill (S.1239) "would fall disproportionately on any low-fare, low-cost, short-haul or high-frequency air carrier" (DAILY, April 26).
UNC Inc. said yesterday it has made final the acquisition of Garrett Aviation Services for $150 million. Garrett had 1995 revenues of $338 million, and UNC said the purchase establishes "firmly" that it has "the world's largest aviation services company," with annual revenues approaching $1 billion. Dan Colussy, UNC chairman, said the transaction was financed with the company's offering of $125 million in 11% senior subordinated notes and $25 million in convertible preferred stock.
Chicago Express has established a code-sharing relationship with American Trans Air (ATA) out of its Chicago Midway hub, effective June 3. The agreement is billed as the first in the industry between two low-fare carriers. Chicago Express, a unit of Phoenix Airline Services, which also owns Northwest Airlink Express Airlines I, operates 47 flights each business day between Midway and Cedar Rapids, Dayton, Des Moines, Evansville, Grand Rapids and Green Bay with nine 19-passenger Jetstream 31s.
Gulfstream said it will increase the price of its green Gulfstream IV-SP business jet to $24.6 million, effective July 1. The new price is a 2.9% increase, or $700,000, and reflects valued-added improvements, increased warranty coverage and a "slight degree of inflation on the aircraft," said Gulfstream President Bill Boisture.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) bettered its operating results 5.4% for fiscal 1996 with operating revenue of 846 billion yen (US$7.94 billion). Operating income jumped 69.9% to 27.3 billion yen ($256.7 million) despite a 3.7% increase in operating expenses. "We are extremely pleased with our full-year results," said ANA President Seiji Fukatsu. "We have maintained our profitability on the strength of our operations, and look forward to further improving on this in the coming year," he said.
Northwest has plans in the pipeline that could reduce annual operating costs by as much as $100 million, starting in 1997, if all are approved. None involves drastic operational changes. One example is switching from aircraft to ground power units, which will save $10 million a year.
Market conditions in city-pairs from New York Kennedy Airport make it unlikely that the threat of new entry will prevent the Delta-Swissair- Sabena-Austrian partnership from increasing fares for business travelers on the four routes they will dominate under DOT's tentative approval of antitrust immunity for the alliance, the Justice Department said.
