Pratt&Whitney Canada Friday delivered the first PW530A production engine to Cessna Aircraft for its new Citation Bravo executive jet. The engine is the first in the PW500 family developed in collaboration with MTU of Germany.
Airlines Industry Stock Trends Closed Closed Exchange 6/28/96 5/31/96 Majors Alaska Air Group NYSE $ 27.370 $ 26.000 AMR NYSE 91.000 94.370 America West (Class B) NYSE 22.000 20.370 Continental (Class B) NYSE 61.750 56.870 Delta NYSE 83.000 82.870
FAA confirmed yesterday that all three vendors for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) program submitted their final cost proposals during the day. Teams headed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are trying to win the $1.5 billion contract. A selection is expected in late September.
Whether the U.S. and Japan will meet again on aviation issues is uncertain following their failure to make headway in two days of negotiations that ended Friday in Washington. "We failed to make progress on any of the [outstanding] issues," said a U.S. official. In a statement issued yesterday, the head of the Japanese delegation acknowledged that "the consultation failed to achieve any constructive results." The two sides set no future dates for talks.
Civil pilots now can find out whether the Air Force is conducting jamming tests of GPS signals, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Martin Shuey, VP-air traffic control for AOPA, said the electronic countermeasure tests are conducted almost daily in the Southwest and can make GPS navigation signals "unreliable" for several hours within 300 miles of the test site. It was difficult for pilots to find out the area of signal disruptions because FAA was classifying the GPS-ECM test warnings as local notices to airmen, Shuey said.
Pratt&Whitney said it has received FAA type and production certificates for the PW4090, its most powerful engine with 90,000 pounds of thrust. The certification clears the way for flight testing aboard the Boeing 777 this summer and entry into service on increased-gross-weight versions of the 777 next March. Customers have selected the PW4090 for both the increased-growth-weight version of the 777-200 and for the stretched 777- 300. The PW4084 now is used on 777s.
China Airlines asked DOT to withdraw its order approving Federal Express's complaint against Taiwan. CAL said the department "violated its own regulations and procedural order, as well as the requirement of due process by approving FedEx's complaint without giving CAL a hearing on the central issues that were addressed in its answer" to the complaints. Deferring on the question of imposing sanctions, DOT approved last month FedEx's complaint against the government of Taiwan (DAILY, June 25).
AirWays Corp. warned Wall Street yesterday that its Florida AirTran unit probably will not meet profit expectations set by analysts for its first quarter 1997, which ends June 30. "During the past few weeks, we have encountered an unusually difficult operating period with flight delays and cancellations not normally experienced by AirTran," John Horn, the carrier's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The European Union is likely to announce tomorrow it will investigate all the antitrust-immunized alliances involving U.S. and European airlines, not just the proposed American-British Airways partnership, to ensure that they comply with EU treaty competition rules.
Federal Express posted a net profit of $115.4 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended May 31, the company said yesterday. Earnings per share rose to $2.01 for the quarter from $1.54 a year earlier.
David Golden, a managing director of Hambrecht&Quist LLC, has resigned from Vanguard Airlines' board of directors. The carrier said Golden is leaving the board because of a decision by the investment firm to limit board participation by its officers in public companies in which it holds large stakes.
Reports carried by two of Taipei's leading dailies say that Wheelock NatWest, a Hong Kong subsidiary of Britain's National Westminster Bank, is negotiating to buy a 16% stake in China Airlines for about US$300 million. CAL officials, contacted about the reports, said they were not in a position to comment. A spokeswoman for National Westminster Bank's Taipei representative office likewise declined comment, saying the office only learned of the reported negotiations through the newspaper stories.
CIT Leasing said it bought two 737-300s and two spare engines from GECC. The aircraft and engines, purchased with an existing lease to Continental, represent the fifth 737 transaction this year by CIT.
A class action lawsuit against Florida West Airlines and some of its ex- officers has been dismissed without prejudice by a Florida district court. The suit was brought against the airline for making false and misleading statements regarding its financial position and future business prospects before it filed for bankruptcy protection. The court said that because Florida West filed for bankruptcy, the reorganized Florida West has no assets or liabilities of the old entity, and it is discharged of all preconfirmation indebtedness.
KLM and Northwest may be on the verge of settling the acrimonious feud that has threatened to undermine the world's most profitable airline alliance. Pieter Bouw, KLM's president and chief executive officer, said that in the next few months the companies will sign new long-term cooperative agreements guaranteeing KLM that other Northwest shareholders will, like KLM, have what he described as a long-term perspective.
Delta is expanding its electronic ticketing program, the carrier said yesterday, adding 15 city-pairs to the list of points at which it is testing the program. Delta, following a trend set by other carriers in the U.S., launched a ticketless program in May in five test markets. The new points involve Salt Lake City, Boston, Orlando, Chicago and Cincinnati. Currently, travelers have to purchase a ticket with a credit card through a Delta agent, who then sends the passenger a receipt. Customers check in at the airport with identification.
Delta and Swissair will expand their code-share pact to include flights from Newark, Boston and Washington to Zurich. Delta already is buying seats on Swissair's daily service from Newark to Zurich, five times a week service from Philadelphia to Boston and on to Zurich, and twice-weekly service on a Washington-Boston-Zurich routing.
Beleaguered air traffic officials from FAA's New York area were criticized for management shortcomings yesterday by 24 members of Congress from both parties and by controllers' union officials. The congressmen wrote President Clinton complaining about poor staff management at high-traffic- volume towers and radar facilities in the area and an increase in near- collisions between aircraft.
KLM's May traffic rose 7% in May for a total of 689.6 million revenue ton kilometers, compared with 641.7 million in May last year. Capacity was up 8% to 987 million available ton kilometers, depressing the load factor to 69.9% from 70.2%. For passenger service, traffic was up 13% to 3.9 billion revenue passenger kilometers, and capacity up 10% to 5.5 billion available seat kilometers. The load factor improved 1.5 points to 72%. KLM said its greatest passenger traffic increase was on service to the Middle East/South Asia, where RPMs grew 26%.
David White, president of the American Sleep Disorders Association, told FAA last week that the association has strongly believed for many years that the effects of sleep deprivation and basic circadian physiology on job performance - including that of flight crewmembers - have been "substantially underestimated." White endorsed a review of FAA's proposed rules on flight and duty time funded by the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots.
Reno Air will offer a free space-available upgrade to first class for passengers traveling on their birthdays until July 1, 1997. The offer is part of Reno's celebration of its fourth anniversary.
Rich International, charged by FAA with installing parts on six L- 1011s that it had removed from another L-1011, is contesting the agency's call for $2.6 million in civil penalties, saying the charges are "groundless." About 75 of the parts could not traced to an FAA-approved source (DAILY, June 28).
