Swissair's pilots have completed an agreement with the airline that will give it more flexible work rules and save it up to 60 million Swiss francs (US$48 million) per year. The carrier said it signed a new collective agreement with the Aeropers Staff Association representing its cockpit personnel. Out of 1,232 pilots eligible to vote, 1,077 did so, and 86% of them voted to accept the new work rules, which were tentatively agreed upon May 16 and finalized yesterday. Swissair's board unanimously accepted the accord, which will be retroactive to July 1, 1996.
Southwest's $25 fare for one-way, nonstop routes, launched last week, reduces the cost of some trips to less than two cents a mile, said Tom Parsons, editor of Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine. The $50 Baltimore- Los Angeles flight, for instance, costs 1.8 cents per mile for the 2,685- mile trip. Parsons has written a 416-page book - Insider Travel Secrets - that will be published July 19. The book is being billed as a compendium of tips and techniques the travel industry does not want the public to know.
Northwest's consulting chefs have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation for their innovative menus. The foundation, which advances the culinary arts by providing scholarships, is a resource for chefs nationwide. Northwest's chefs hosted a dinner to benefit the foundation.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expense First Quarter 1996 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger Alaska $ 9,997,000 $ 3.88 America West 5,726,100 1.33 American 144,059,000 7.66 Continental 27,795,000 3.29
United is passing envelopes around the cabin on its Chicago-London flights to collect donations for UNICEF. Passengers can donate their foreign currency under the "change for good" program. Eileen Sweeney, United's manager-civic affairs, said many passengers find changing foreign currency a nuisance.
U.S. airlines are expected to report stellar second quarter financial results that are likely to propel the industry to record profits this year. Results for the quarter, starting Wednesday with a report from American, "are going to be pretty damned spectacular," said PaineWebber's Samuel Buttrick.
Great Lakes Aviation's revenue passenger miles increased 21.5% in June, to 27.2 million, but available seat miles were up even more, 31.2% to 59.6 million. The load factor fell 3.7 percentage points to 45.7%. For the first six months of the year, RPMs rose 31.8% to 144.9 million, ASMs were up 28.8% to 326.8 million and the load factor gained one point to 44.3%. Great Lakes operates under three regional marketing identities - United Express, Midway Connection and Great Lakes Airlines.
South African Airways and the private Indian carrier Jet Airways are formalizing a marketing agreement that is expected to take effect in November, Jet Airways sources said. The agreement will seek to consolidate an existing informal arrangement, under which Jet Airways flies SAA passengers from Mumbai to and from points in India. Currently, SAA operates only to and from Mumbai, but it plans to set up hubs at New Delhi and Madras.
Airbus Industrie said yesterday it received 40 firm orders and 40 options from General Electric Capital Aviation Services for A319/A320/A321 aircraft, plus five firm orders and five options for the A340-300. Deliveries of the single-aisle aircraft are to begin in mid-1997 and continue at a rate of 10 to 15 a year through 2001. The A340s on firm order will be delivered between 1999 and 2000. All the aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International, the 50-50 partnership of General Electric and Snecma of France.
Cheong Choong Kong has been named deputy chairman and chief executive of Singapore Airlines as of Aug. 1. He replaces the previous deputy chairman, Lim Chin Beng, who retired from the carrier's board as of July 13. Cheong has been managing director of SIA since August 1984.
DOT has set the procedural schedule for the application by United and Air Canada for antitrust immunity for their alliance. In the order, dated July 12, the department directed interested parties to file answers to the joint application not later than 21 days from the date of the order. Replies are due not later than seven business days after the last day for filing answers. The carriers filed their application June 4. (Docket OST- 96-1434)
Continental Chairman Gordon Bethune is scheduled to spend the week in Brazil, meeting with Embraer officials to consider purchasing EMB-145s. The carrier also has been considering the Canadair Regional Jet. Bethune also will meet with Brazilian government officials to press his case for new service from Newark. Continental Express President Dave Siegel said he had hoped for a deal last month, but "we are getting close here." He said this will be the biggest corporate decision to affect the regional operator for the next 10 years.
Philippine-based Grand Air inaugurated service on its Manila-Taipei route July 13. Initially, it will operate four weekly roundtrip flights, increasing to seven a week by yearend. Grand Air, which also flies between Manila and Hong Kong in addition to operating several domestic routes, also is seeking permission to fly to Seoul and Singapore.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Landing Expense First Quarter 1996 Average Amount Systemwide Spent Per Landing Alaska $ 5,368,000 $ 146.85 America West 8,004,394 159.78 American 57,857,000 299.11 Continental 23,536,000 218.76
Carnival Air Lines' traffic increased 12% in June, to 162 million revenue passenger miles from 144.7 million a year earlier. Available seat miles rose 8% to 249 million and the load factor gained 2.3 percentage points, reaching 65.1%. Carnival carried 130,205 passengers during the month. For the first six months of 1996, traffic increased 29.7% to 1.158 billion RPMs, ASMs rose 25.6% to 1.790 billion and the load factor was up two points to 64.7%.
U.S. airline officials warned yesterday that the proposed British Airways-American alliance could spark higher fares and poorer service as the U.K. House of Commons Transport Committee held a second day of hearings in London. Officials from United, TWA, Continental and Delta were slated to testify. "Unless a fully open and competitive market is already in place, the alliance, as proposed, will increase market barriers and can only be expected to result in increased fares," said TWA President Jeffrey Erickson.
Greyhound Air, Canada's newest no-frills startup airline, is up and running with 727 flights, operated by Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Ltd., that started last week. Greyhound of Canada is marketing the flights, which are scheduled to link up with its bus service across the country, although it holds no share in Kelowna. The flights operate, up to twice a day, from Vancouver, Calgary, Kelowna and Edmonton in western Canada through the airline's Winnipeg hub to Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton in the East.
SkyWest Airlines reported a 17.6% increase in revenue passenger miles in June, to 62.6 million from 53.3 million, while available seat miles rose 7.3%, to 115 million from 107.2 million. The load factor for the month gained 4.8 percentage points to 54.5%. SkyWest carried 228,005 passengers in June and 1,282,367 in the first six months of 1996. Its traffic rose 39.3% to 342.9 million RPMs from January through June. ASMs increased 24.5% to 660.6 million, and the load factor grew 5.5 points to 51.9%.
Ecuadorian carrier Aerocomercial de Transporte y Rutas (ATR) is seeking authority to operate charter all-cargo service between Ecuador and the U.S. "As a new carrier from an FAA-determined Category 2 country," ATR said it "is aware that it is required to wet-lease [aircraft] from a qualified U.S. or a U.S.-approved foreign carrier."
AirTran Airways said its June traffic rose 167% to 79.3 million revenue passenger miles from 29.8 million in June 1995. Its capacity jumped 151%, and the load factor moved up 4.1 percentage points to 69.2%. For the first six months of the year, RPMs rose 261% to 498 million, while available seat miles increased 198% to 728 million, for a load factor gain of 11.9 points to 68.5%. Gus Carbonnel, VP-planning and scheduling, said Greensboro, N.C., continues to be a strong new point for the carrier, which is achieving load factors at or above the system average.
Airlines in India, including state-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines and nearly a dozen privately owned carriers, have demanded an immediate 10% hike in their fares following the Indian government's decision last week to raise the price of petroleum 10%-30%. The hike, the first since February 1994, would not affect foreign airlines and Air-India, civil aviation ministry officials said.
DOT renewed for two years American's exemption to operate combination service between Honolulu and Vancouver under a code-sharing arrangement with Canadian Airlines International. American's code will be displayed on Honolulu-Vancouver service operated by Canadian, beginning this fall. (Docket OST-96-1354)
- Granted orally to TAP Air Portugal an exemption permitting it to carry individually waybilled cargo on passenger charter flights between Lisbon and Miami July 24-Oct.
Alaska Airlines asked DOT for an exemption to operate scheduled Los Angeles-Vancouver service in order to make Los Angeles an intermediate point on its recently inaugurated service between San Diego and Vancouver.
