Executive Jet announced yesterday the launch of NetJets Europe, a fractional aircraft ownership program offered jointly by Executive Jet, Zimex Aviation and Air Luxor. Zimex will be responsible for marketing NetJets to customers in Europe and Air Luxor for flight management, scheduling and customer service. The initial aircraft offering will be the Citation S/II. As operated in the U.S., a NetJets participant purchases a portion of an aircraft based on the number of flight hours needed annually. The program provides aircraft management and operational services.
Embraer is revising upward the performance numbers for its new EMB-145 regional jet following the aircraft's one-month sales tour of the U.S. - both in terms of speed and fuel consumption. The airplane started out with a published maximum cruising speed of Mach 0.74. The manufacturer is now pushing that to Mach 0.78, although several regional-airline VPs for flight operations who flew the 145 said it is really a Mach 0.80 airplane, and they had to work to keep the speed down. In addition, fuel consumption is 7%-plus better than advertised.
Sabre Computer Services has signed a contract with global network services supplier SITA to enter into a seven-year, $400 million data network outsourcing relationship. Under the agreement, which becomes effective July 1, SITA will manage SABREnet, which connects the computer reservations system to 22,500 locations in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, including travel agencies, American, American Eagle, AA Cargo and airline customers.
Flight delays in Europe increased nearly 50% in April after almost doubling in March, prompting IATA Director General Pierre Jeanniot to warn that "we must act now to ensure that the summer peaks do not impose major inconvenience to our customers." Jeanniot's remarks came on the eve of a meeting June 26-27 in Paris of European directors general of civil aviation. "We are pleased with the way that the Central Flow Management Unit is working," Jeanniot said.
Gulfstream said it received certification for its GIII, GIV and GIV-SP aircraft from the Aviation Register of the Interstate Aviation Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, a "first for a U.S.- designed and -manufactured business jet aircraft." It said the aircraft are the first approved under the new joint CIS certification rules for transport category aircraft (AP25). These rules have been harmonized with the U.S. FAA.
Northwest and NATCO, its pilot training facility, will conduct a three-day fearful flyers seminar July 19-21 in Minneapolis. The course fee is $450, which includes the graduation flight. Northwest offers special corporate seminars for groups of at least 10 participants. For more information, call 612-726-7733.
Air France posted an operating profit of 413 million French francs for 1995/96 - its first such profit since 1989 - but ended the year with a FF2.873 billion net loss due to restructuring charges. The deficit compares with a FF467 million net loss the year before. Because the 1994/95 financial year was 15 months long, figures are compared with those for April 1, 1994-March 31, 1995.
FAA will take over from the Defense Department the management of U.S. assistance for air traffic control modernization in China following several years in which ATC modernization was a key agenda item of the U.S./China Joint [Defense] Conversion Commission (JCC). DOD has been working closely with the Chinese military and the Commission of Science, Technology&Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). Now, according to DAILY affiliate ATC Market Report, the JCC is giving up its focus on ATC modernization. A U.S.
Fine Airlines applied for an exemption to conduct scheduled all-cargo service between points in the U.S. and points in Spain. The carrier proposes to begin once-weekly service from Miami to Vitoria, Spain, on July 22, making technical stops in Gander, Newfoundland, and Shannon, Ireland. It said it expects to offer direct service soon afterward to other points in Spain, including Madrid and Valencia.
Senate Commerce Committee has postponed the today's hearing on issues surrounding the grounding of ValuJet because it wants DOT Secretary Federico Pena to testify and he was unavailable. Panel Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) is working with Pena to reschedule the hearing.
American Society of Travel Agents has launched a summer getaway contest for consumers accessing its World Wide Web site. The grand prize is a 14-day cruise to the Orient on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and business-class tickets on British Airways; first prize is a Caribbean cruise, second price a Mexico/Baja cruise and third prize a set of Travelpro luggage. One contest sponsor, NETCOM also will give three months of free Internet access to 18 entrants. The contest, which runs until July 22, can be found at http ://www.astanet.com.
Nearly four in 10 adults living in the U.S. have visited Las Vegas at least once, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Data Center for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. More than 29 million travelers visited the city last year, breaking the 1994 record of 28.2 million. The visitors authority estimates 30.3 million people will visit Las Vegas this year.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic The Year 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska* 10,139 13.20 847 8,591,347 American Trans Air 4,594 15.34 1,973 9,064,239
Barrow House Inn, a small hotel in St. Francisville, La., will celebrate its 10th birthday July 4 by helping other small businesses. The Barrow House Inn will open a library of books, newsletters, cassettes and CD-ROM disks on how small businesses can improve their marketing. The inn, which has five rooms and three suites in two houses, is set in a neighborhood of antebellum residences 30 minutes from Baton Rouge.
Teamsters union says that more than 75% of the mechanics at America West have signed petitions forwarded to Chief Executive William Franke urging the company to "stop stalling and start negotiating" a new contract. The mechanics voted 587 to 135 - 82% - in favor of representation by the Teamsters April 17, but the company filed suit the same week in Phoenix, arguing the election should be ruled invalid because 400 fired employees were allowed to vote (DAILY, April 19).
Worldwide airport passenger traffic rose 7.7% in the first quarter from the same 1995 period, while cargo tonnage rose 3.5%, the Airports Council International said this week in Geneva. ACI said 460 airports worldwide reported 556.87 million passengers during the first three months and 11.42 million metric tons of cargo. Aircraft movements rose 1% to 11.45 million.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ordered a permanent injunction against attempts by Barry and Holly Michaels to control an airline. The court imposed a disgorgement of $363,306 and civil penalties for a fraudulent offering of $5 million of unregistered stock on the Michaelses, who tried to start up Family Airlines in 1992. The Michaelses were found to have lied to FAA and DOT about past civil lawsuits and judgments against them, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Officials in Taiwan say Chiang Kai-shek Airport faces a serious threat of power outages during this year's typhoon season because of procurement delays in acquiring an uninterrupted power supply system. An official of the Civil Aeronautics Administration said a sixth round of bidding failed to generate an acceptable proposal, and a seventh round will be held in July. A series of strong typhoons last September left the airport without electricity several times.
The information technology joint-venture company between Delta and NCR Corp., TransQuest, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta on July 1. TransQuest will continue to operate as a separate company with its own management team and directors. Rex McClelland, senior VP-corporate services, said, "TransQuest had a successful first year of operation, with a direct and positive impact on Delta's Leadership 7.5 initiative and business results.
Egyptair ordered four A321s for delivery beginning in mid-1997, Airbus Industrie said. The carrier did not choose an engine immediately. Egyptair already operates seven A320s, 14 A300s and one A340, and it has three more A340s on order with the next delivery in November. The A321s will seat 200 in a single class, with the option of convertible seats at the front of the cabin.
Seven of the top 14 sources of visitors to the U.S. gained market share since 1994, according to the Travel Industry Association's (TIA) report, Market Share Indicators. The U.S. lost travelers from Canada, Mexico, Italy, the U.K., Australia, Korea and Taiwan, but gained in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Japan and Brazil. The new index, produced in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization, measures the number of citizens leaving a country for a long-haul trip and calculates the percentage of trips that are bound for the U.S.
Alaska Airlines is seeking an exemption to perform scheduled combination service between Los Angeles and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Alaska's said it plans to operate nonstop roundtrip service beginning Nov. 4, offering four weekly flights through late April 1997. It will use MD-80 aircraft configured for 140 passengers, and flights will be scheduled for connections at Los Angeles with Alaska and Horizon Air service to and from other points.
FAA has approved the $750 million master plan for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, including plans for a third 8,000-foot runway and existing runway extension. The plan also calls for replacing two existing terminals with a single building. Rental car and air cargo facilities would be expanded and relocated under the plan.
Delta Air Lines' subsidiary DeltaTel and Worldwide Cellular, which provides short-term cellular telephone rentals, are offering cellular phones to travelers around the world for the cost of the air time. Travelers can reserve cellular phones through their DeltaTel Communications Card or by using a direct toll-free number.
