UPS will begin construction of a new package sorting and distribution facility in East Los Angeles this year, the carrier said. The 400,000- square-foot building, which is expected to be ready by late 1998, will operate 24 hours a day, five days a week. It will be located on 26 acres at 716 Lamar St. UPS sold its Soto St. facility to the firm building the new plant.
SimuFlite Training International said its maintenance training program for inspection authorization renewal has been approved by FAA. Renewal requires 16 hours of additional training every two years, and all of SimuFlite's maintenance courses "will cover those hours," the company said.
Northwest and local officials in Michigan have agreed to build an $800 million midfield terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, subject to a definitive agreement. The arrangement also calls for the construction of a fourth parallel runway, giving the airport a total of six. The new terminal will give Northwest 74 gates at its largest hub, 10 of which will be for international departures. It will be funded by a proposed $150 million federal grant, existing passenger facility charges and proceeds of Wayne County airport bonds.
Traffic flown by major U.S. carriers rose 5% last month, compared with April 1995, while capacity was up 2%, according to statistics compiled by the Air Transport Association. ATA's member carriers logged 43.9 billion revenue passenger miles for the month on capacity of 63.5 billion available seat miles. "April figures show that passenger growth continues to be strong, which we hope foreshadows a strong summer performance for the industry," said ATA President Carol Hallett.
Cathay Pacific Airways and China Airlines said they will reduce the cost of a one-day roundtrip ticket between Taipei and Hong Kong to NT$5,500 (US$201), effective June 1. The current cost of a single-day return flight ticket is NT$7,500 (US$275). Analysts in Taipei say that the reduction in ticket price will have a significant effect on the earnings of both companies, which between them carry nearly 90% of the 1.6 million passengers who fly between Taipei and Hong Kong every year.
Airlines Reporting Corp. said travel agent commissions were up 2% in the first four months of 1996 to $2.164 billion, resulting from a 1% increase in domestic commissions and a 7% increase in international commissions. Domestic fares for the year to date were up 11% and international fares 10%.
Rebutting continued criticism, ACCESS U.S.-Japan Chairman Gerald Baliles is taking pains to distinguish his coalition's views from those of one of its key members, American. "I know that some keep attempting to mischaracterize ACCESS U.S.-Japan's agenda, but as chairman of the group, I can only repeat what has been and will continue to be ACCESS U.S.-Japan's agenda: 'more service by more airlines from more cities between the U.S. and Japan and beyond,'" he said, responding to a query from Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce.
American International Airways is seeking authority to operate scheduled all-cargo service between Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia, via Melbourne, Australia. The carrier has proposed operating once-weekly 747 service on a Honolulu-Melbourne-Jakarta-Honolulu routing, beginning June 2. (Docket OST-96-1376)
FAA analyses of ValuJet operations that led the agency to launch a 120-day special emphasis program in February, described at the time by ValuJet President Lewis Jordan as "routine" (DAILY, March 7), show concerns about decreases in the experience level of new-hire pilots, mechanics and other personnel; "continuous changes of key management personnel," and "an increase in unfavorable geographic [outside Atlanta] reports concerning discrepancies found by FAA inspectors during revenue operations." Other sources of concern were some of ValuJet's low-cost innovations, includi
Aero International (Regional) said yesterday it received FAA certification last week for its newest ATR 42 model, the ATR 42-500, and made its first delivery to a U.S. customer, Continental Express. The Continental subsidiary has seven more on order, all scheduled for delivery this year, and holds options for 12. AI(R) said the carrier will use the aircraft initially for service between Houston and Monterrey, Mexico, and to other points in southern Texas. A later application will be on Continental Express's planned Houston-Memphis service.
Financial analysts in Taipei are nearly united in their disapproval of China Airlines US$1.4 billion agreement to purchase four Boeing 747-400s with an option to take an addition four. The deal, coming only five months after CAL's US$750 million purchase of six Boeing 737-800s with an option for a further nine, is in line with the company's announced goal of increasing its fleet from 41 aircraft to 67 by 2003.
FAA and Boeing will share the cost of what the agency termed the world's first full-scale airport pavement test facility at the FAA Technical Center, Atlantic City, N.J., for research on pavement technologies that will be needed for future large aircraft weighing as much as one million pounds. The facility is scheduled to be operational in 1998. Boeing will pay $7 million and FAA $14 million in construction costs, and FAA will operate the facility at a cost of $2 million-$3 million per year, FAA said.
Flight problems account for an increasing percentage of complaints lodged at DOT against ValuJet during the past year.In the first quarter of 1995, ValuJet did not register on the complaint list, which only includes carriers receiving at least 10 complaints. For the first six months, DOT received 26, nine of which were for flight problems. For the year 1995, 83 complaints were lodged, 32 for flight problems, and for the first quarter of 1996, ValuJet received 70 complaints, 31 for flight problems.
Greyhound of Canada has gone to the country's Court of Appeals to try to overturn National Transport Agency rulings that the company must obtain an air license to offer commercial air service with partner Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter. The rulings have pushed back Greyhound's plans to offer flights at least until the middle of June.
Granted orally to American renewal of its exemption to operate scheduled combination service between Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the one hand, and Porlamar, Venezuela, on the other.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation (S.1774) Friday to strengthen the prohibition against airport revenue diversion and expand the definition of diversion (DAILY, May 14). McCain's bill would expand the prohibition to cover local taxes on aviation fuel and revenues at airports that receive any form of federal assistance or that operate under a federally issued airport operating certificate. Los Angeles has been declining airport grants for Los Angeles Airport as part of its efforts to "defederalize" the facility.
Adopted an AD on certain Boeing 737-300, -400 and -500 aircraft requiring inspection of a wire bundle and clamp in the electronic/electrical equipment bay, with replacement of the clamp and repair as necessary. Issued special conditions for the Cessna 750 aircraft. Issued special conditions for the Dassault Mystere Falcon 50 aircraft modified with a Flight Visions FV-2000 head-up display system. Revised an AD on certain McDonnell Douglas DC-9-80 and MD-88 aircraft regarding use of autothrottles during takeoff.
USAir President Rakesh Gangwal will work the line one day a month for the rest of the year to interact with employees and learn more about operations. Gangwal asked senior managers last week to pay more attention to employees' suggestions and concerns. USAir has promised workers that management will be held accountable not only for the decisions it makes, but also for what is not done.
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has filed notice of an appeal of a December decision by the U.S. District Court that prevented mechanics represented by AMFA from striking Atlantic Coast Airlines. AMFA argues that the company changed work rules after union certification in March 1994 and prior to an initial collective bargaining agreement, which has not yet been reached, and that this means the union may have a right to strike. AMFA filed the appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Granted orally to Southern Air Transport renewal of its authority to serve Miami and Bogota, Barranquilla, Cali and Cartagena, Colombia, via intermediate points.
FAA said it plans to conduct a competitive procurement for a contract to provide engineering services and program management support for satellite and satellite augmentation systems. Services will be provided to FAA's Satellite Navigation program office on a task order basis for up to seven years, including option years. The agency said it will issue an initial screening information request about May 24 to prequalify companies for participating in the procurement as prime contractors.
GTE Airfone promoted Jim Pilcher to director-sales. International Aviation Services appointed Patrick Browne manager- technical sales; Jeffrey Conrad director-business development; Charles Germany director-human resources, and Louis Werner director-sales. Raytheon Aircraft named Richard Klass VP-government arketing. Reed Travel Group named Kathy Misunas president-business development&technology solutions. Saab named Gregory Kinsella senior market analyst.
With United/Lufthansa tentatively approved and near final action, DOT is reported to be close to decisions on the two major antitrust immunity applications that are still pending, American/Canadian and Delta/Swissair/Sabena/Austrian. There is a good chance that the department will settle one of them this week, sources say.
