Air Transport Association is not the only organization putting time and money into fighting FAA's proposed flight and duty time rules. The Air Line Pilots Association sent out 250 press kits, is contacting major newspapers' editorial boards to outline its position, is making pilot spokespeople available and hired a service to send messages to 10,000 editors by diskette, direct mail and Internet. By contrast, ATA hired scientists, economists and consultants as it prepared its comments.
Kenneth Hipp has been designated as the new chairman of the National Mediation Board, effective July 1, replacing Magdalena Jacobsen, who held the post for the past year. Prior to his stint in Hawaii as a partner and chairman of the labor section of Goodsill Anderson Quinn&Stifel, he worked for the National Labor Relations Board's Division of Enforcement Litigation in Washington, D.C.
Harris Corp. delivered the 23rd and final Voice Switching and Control System (VSCS) Friday, to the air route traffic control center in Jacksonville, Fla. It will become operational next February. Eleven ARTCCs are using the systems, and the remaining 10 will be fully operational early in 1997. VSCS provides communications air-to-ground and ground-to-ground.
Hawaiian Airlines will offer frequent flyer members double miles in July on its new service between Honolulu and Kapalua's West Maui Airport. Hawaiian is offering the flights under a code-sharing agreement with Mahalo Air, which will operate seven flights a day between Honolulu and Kapalua with 46-seat ATR 42 aircraft. Each segment will yield 1,000 frequent flyer miles.
Kevin Jenkins, president and chief executive of Canadian Airlines International, has resigned from the company, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Benson has replaced Jenkins. Jenkins said, "This is the most difficult career decision I have ever made. However, I believe that Canadian Airlines' best interest will be served by a change in leadership."
Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin will submit their cost proposals today in their competition to develop FAA's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). The program, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, is planned for deployment at 156 FAA Tracons, nine Metroplex Control Facilities and about 40 Defense Department facilities, with options for more. FAA is expected to award a contract in late September.
Reno Air will add a second daily nonstop flight between Denver and Reno/Tahoe Aug. 1 in response to strong passenger demand. It also will inaugurate service between Colorado Springs and Albuquerque for fares as low as $59 one way.
The Senate Commerce Committee has rescheduled an FAA safety oversight hearing for 9:30 a.m. July 17, and panel Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) told DOT Secretary Federico Pena that rescheduling the hearing had been made "unnecessarily difficult" by Pena's staff. The hearing, to focus on issues surrounding the ValuJet grounding and on FAA's safety oversight in general, had been scheduled for June 27, but Pena was in Montreal at an International Civil Aviation Organization hearing and was unable to appear at the hearing.
Kiwi Friday presented FAA a curriculum to revalidate its check airmen and, if it is approved, the carrier will have to go through the process of revalidating the check airmen before resuming a full flight schedule. Kiwi on June 20 grounded 25% of its fleet after FAA questioned the way it kept training records. The carrier on Friday was able to fly 58 out of 72 possible schedules. The agency did not like the way the records were being kept and said that two of Kiwi's check airmen had flight manuals that were not updated.
Bob Coggin, Delta's executive VP of marketing, will assume the additional duties of chairman of TransQuest Inc. July 1, when the Delta-NCR company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the airline (DAILY, June 27). Quoted in a Delta message to employees, Coggin said TransQuest must refocus its efforts on delivering technical solutions in a timely manner at competitive costs, and to do that, its organization and culture must be transformed. Changes can be expected in the next few weeks.
Amadeus Global Travel Distribution has appointed Bruno Francia acting general manager of Amadeus America, its South American subsidiary, replacing Maximo Salvi, who has resigned. Francia was general manager of the Amadeus National Market Company in Chile.
Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, Tampa, Fla., selected Louis Miller as executive director, succeeding George Bean, who has retired. Houston Airport System Department of Aviation named Richard Fernandez chief of media relations.
Air Canada has opened a rooftop Maple Leaf Lounge at Montreal Dorval Airport that boasts a state-of-the-art Xerox business center, including Xerox Canada fax machines, copiers and printers, UPS courier service , high-speed links to the Internet on iSTAR's bilingual software, and a selection of Digital Equipment personal computers running on Microsoft Windows 95, Office for Windows 95 and MS Plus!. The lounge can accommodate up to 120 people.
FAA is seeking $2.6 million in civil penalties from Rich International Airways for installing parts on six L-1011 aircraft that had been removed from another L-1011. About 75 of the parts could not be traced to an FAA- approved source. Rich said the proposed civil penalties are "unwarranted and unfounded" to promised to "vigorously contest the actions."
Pan Am has reached agreement with eight foreign carriers to form the Pan Am Alliance, a worldwide integrated marketing and customer service program intended to boost its chances of survival among global mega-carrier partnerships. The Pan Am Alliance will enable the revived carrier to code share, coordinate schedules, share airport lounges and integrate other marketing programs with smaller, international players.
American is seeking an exemption to operate scheduled combination service between Chicago and Moscow under a code-sharing agreement with Transaero Airlines. American would place its designator code on flights operated by Transaero, beginning April 1, 1997, and to do so, it needs underlying route authority for service between Chicago and Moscow. Transaero holds authority between Moscow and Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Orlando, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Continental launched a summer fare sale for up to 40% off on travel July 12-Sept. 30 on 14-day advance purchase tickets. The sale fares are available only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays except for travel to Florida, Monday through Thursday, and from Florida, Tuesday through Friday. Other carriers are offering similar savings. USAir said fares are reduced by 40% in more than 10,000 markets. Most carriers also announced significant savings for Independence Day, cutting fares by as much as 70% on travel July 3-6.
Five hundred ATR aircraft have been ordered since the launch of the ATR program in 1991, Aero International (Regional) announced yesterday. AI(R) said it logged six recent orders that achieved the 500 mark - two ATR 42-500s to Air Mauritius for delivery in April and June, 1997, two ATR 42- 500s to an undisclosed European customer for a Maritime Patrol aircraft (delivery dates also undisclosed) and two ATR 72-210s to Yangon Airways, a new company based in Myanmar. The ATR 72 deliveries to Yangon Airways are scheduled for October and November or December this year.
Boullioun Aviation Services, Seattle-based subsidiary of Sumimoto Trust and Banking Co., ordered eight 737-300 aircraft valued at $350 million, Boeing said yesterday. The company currently leases eight 737-200s, seven 737- 300s, four 737-400s and one 757 to airlines, and it manages 10 airplanes on lease for other investors.
Corporacion Aeroangeles S.A., a Mexican air taxi operator of executive aircraft, asked DOT for an exemption to provide charter combination passenger service using small aircraft between Mexico and the U.S. and, subject to prior department approval, between other countries and the U.S. Aeroangeles also requested stopover privileges and relief from the requirement to obtain advance approval for each Mexico-U.S. flight. (Docket OST-96-1487)
Allied Pilots Association asked members yesterday to call their congressmen to protest a provision - due for a vote imminently - that was included in the transportation appropriations bill report by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), directing the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct another study of the Age 60 rule. Saying that FAA decided to continue the rule after five years of review, APA said there is no need to reopen the debate.
British Aerospace Asset Management has renamed its two operating units and announced a series of new transactions. British Aerospace Asset Management Organization, the BAe 146 jet sales and leasing business, was renamed BAe Asset Management - Jets (AMJ), while JSX Capital Corporation, the turboprop remarketing arm, was dubbed BAe Asset Management, Inc. - Turboprops (AMT). The two names formally take effect July 1. The company also announced a new U.S. address: British Aerospace Asset Management, Inc., 15000 Conference Center Drive, Suite 200, Chantilly, Va.
