Aviation Capital Group said a subsidiary, ACG FS Partners, has purchased three 727-200s and three spare engines from PNC Leasing Corp. The equipment remains on lease to American, which took delivery new in 1980.
America West plans to add flights to new cities - Acapulco and Cleveland. Acapulco-Phoenix daily flights begin Nov. 22, and two flights a day from Phoenix to Cleveland and one from Las Vegas to Cleveland will start Jan. 9. In addition, the carrier will begin operating one daily flight between Columbus and Los Angeles Sept. 5, and two flights a day between Seattle and Santa Ana Oct. 4. "We continue to move forward with our strategic growth plan," said John Garel, senior VP-marketing and sales.
All Nippon Airways and Air Canada have applied at the Japanese Ministry of Transport to operate code-share service between Osaka Kansai Airport and Vancouver, beginning Aug. 1. The carriers plan to offer daily flights on the route, using Air Canada-operated 284-seat Airbus A340s.
FAA Administrator David Hinson yesterday denied allegations of political motivation in the grounding of ValuJet, saying the decision to bring its operations to a halt preceded a June 17 White House meeting at which DOT and FAA officials briefed Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and others on the decision.
A TWA 747-100 that was delivered in May 1970 and has served continuously since then has surpassed 100,000 flight hours, according to Avmark. "This is the first transport aircraft to have exceeded 100,000 hours and is probably the first aircraft of any kind to have achieved such a record," Avmark says. A Northwest DC-9-10 has completed well over 100,000 flights, Avmark notes.
Jet Vacations Inc., Air France's tour partner, has named Graham Hotchkiss chief executive, succeeding Allen Stolz. Hotchkiss will retain his position of director of advertising and communications for Air France in the U.S. He is based in New York. Jet Vacations promotes air and land packages to Europe in conjunction with Air France and other carriers, and is planning to redesign the product this winter to put more emphasis on its core business - Air/Plus France and Flexi-Plan France.
Infini Travel Information, the computer reservations system owned by All Nippon Airways and Abacus, has implemented its Locator Back function at Lufthansa. The system gives travel agents an added assurance that the airline has processed the passenger name record.
World Airways has been accepted into the International Air Transport Association. IATA's board of governors will vote on ratification of World's membership at its Nov. 3 meeting.
Sabena has introduced a "Summer Breeze" fare offer for service between New York Kennedy Airport and Brussels until Sept. 15. Travelers who book on Flight 542 from New York and return on Flight 547 from Brussels will get $699 roundtrip economy fare and one week's Avis car rental.
With U.S. and Japanese negotiators set to meet Thursday, United Chairman and Chief Executive Gerald Greenwald is keeping the pressure on the two sides to clear up existing disputes before proceeding with negotiations on a new agreement. "It's time that we release the hostages," he said, referring to current services being held up or limited by the Japanese government, including United's beyond-Osaka services to Seoul and Jakarta.
Summary of U.S. Carriers Domestic Traffic The Year 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) America West 16,685 6.92 789 13,166,512 American 64,961 (4.08) 1,096 71,195,927
American has launched AAccess, an interactive travel network it says "leapfrogs current ticketless travel, automated boarding and interactive software systems." Arguing that travelers have experienced "frustrations" in other airlines' ticketless travel and online distribution systems, President Donald Carty said American's ticketless system will allow consumers to make or change their domestic travel plans over the telephone or by using AAccess software, bypassing ticket counters.
TWA is seeking authority to institute code-share service with Brazilian carrier Transbrasil between New York and Miami, on the one hand, and Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Porto Alegre, Brazil, on the other. Under the arrangement, TWA would place its code on flights operated by Transbrasil between the U.S. and Brazilian points. TWA would provide single-plane service between New York and Washington, on the one hand, and Brasilia, on the other, and between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.
World Airways, which recently said it would put more attention toward its profitable core business of wet-leasing aircraft and operating military charters, said yesterday it is withdrawing from its unprofitable European scheduled charter business. At the same time, President Charles Pollard predicted second quarter earnings will reach $4.5 million, and the third quarter will show a net loss of $3.8 million as it sheds the European business.
Abacus Distribution Systems has opened its first office in Cambodia, in downtown Phnom Penh. The office will handle travel agent inquiries, provide training and work with the travel industry on using Abacus. The computer reservations system announced in March it was working with Royal Air Cambodge to introduce the CRS in Cambodia, and is completing talks with the carrier on creating a joint-venture national marketing company in the country. Abacus said it will cut over five Cambodian travel agencies on a trial basis at the end of this month.
Federal Express pilots narrowly rejected the tentative agreement reached in March after two years of talks, sending both sides back to the negotiating table for another attempt at the Air Line Pilots Association's first contract at the carrier. Fifty-eight percent of FedEx pilots voted against the contract, which won the negotiators' agreement, although the ALPA leadership at FedEx later recommended against it. A majority of those leaders were in favor of ratification, however (DAILY, March 20).
In a move to develop Taiwan into a major air transportation hub, Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) is drawing up plans to develop the region surrounding the Chiang Kai-shek Airport (CKS) into an "Aviation City." The plan calls for developing the area within a 10- kilometer radius of the airport into a new city dedicated to aviation- related industries. The area would include a zone for airport operations, passenger and cargo transport, industry and peripheral and support activities.
Taiwan's domestic carriers, stung by low load factors on the heavily traveled Taipei-Kaohsiung route, are offering sharply discounted tickets in an effort to win market share. One-way tickets, which are officially priced at NT$1,409 (US$51.25), are readily available at prices as low as NT$950 (US$34.50), and many travelers have reported paying as little as NT$650 (US$23.65).
TWA, which each month finds itself a poor performer in DOT's Consumer Report rankings, is embarking on an employee incentive program similar to but a little tougher than the one employed by Continental more than a year ago to move itself up from the bottom rung. TWA's initiative, called "Follow the DOT," will award TWA domestic and international employees $65 a month when TWA ranks in the top five in lowest complaints, least mishandled bags and best on-time performance.
House Appropriations Committee budgeted $5.65 million for upgrades to the Loran-C navigation system, but it appears that DOT still intends to abandon the system despite strong objections from aviation groups such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and from larger groups of marine and terrestrial users.
FAA's proposed rules on flight and duty time contain a few provisions that are pleasing to pilots but, in an apparent effort to appease airlines, many that are not, according to the Air Line Pilots Association. In comments filed at FAA on the agency's notice of proposed rulemaking, ALPA said the rules are a modern form of "pilot pushing" - forcing pilots to fly long hours to maintain schedules.
Air Canada has applied for a two-year renewal of its authority to use United's UA designator code on some of the flights it operates in the U.S.- Canada market, plus an amendment extending this authority to all of its transborder flights. DOT granted a similar amendment to American and Canadian Airlines International, the carrier noted. Air Canada applied for the authority for itself and for its commuter carrier subsidiaries - Air Alliance, AirBC, Air Nova, Air Ontario and Northwest Territorial Airways.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic Fourth Quarter 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 2,592 11.77 818 2,119,184 American Trans Air 1,004 6.92 1,904 1,912,064
Air Transport Association's annual report on scheduled airlines is available to the public. It contains yearend 1995 data on the industry and ATA members, including balance sheets, fleet size, markets, travel trends and employment statistics. Cost of the report is $20. To obtain a copy, call 301-490-7951, ext. 950 in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and outside the U.S. All others call 1-800-497-3326. Request code A826.
