Ecuador will invite expressions of interest July 23 in planning, building and operating replacement airports for Quito and Guayaquil. Selected companies will participate in two common stock corporations, one for each airport, to be formed through the national civil aviation authority. The corporations will operate the existing airports while the new ones are brought on line.
Urging the U.S. and Japan to continue negotiations, Japan Airlines has asked DOT to dismiss Northwest's complaint against the government of Japan. Agreeing with Northwest's argument, United is pressing the U.S. to continue to talk with Japan, as well as Indonesia, before acting on the complaint. Northwest's complaint, filed July 5, accuses Japan of failing to live up to its bilateral commitments by not allowing the U.S. carrier to operate Seattle-Osaka-Jakarta service (DAILY, July 8).
Delta will sponsor a new kind of interactive kiosk during the Olympics, offering vidoeconferences that link consumers directly with reservations agents who speak English, French, German or Spanish. The kiosks will be located in the AT&T Consumer Pavilion at the Global Olympic Village in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. Special kiosks for athletes will be placed in the Global Olympic Village in areas restricted to athletes and their families. "The kiosks are specifically designed so there's no need to use a keyboard or a mouse.
Air Aruba has amended its application for exemption authority to provide scheduled combination service between Aruba and Houston, requesting to co- terminalize its proposed services at Houston with its authorized services at Tampa. (Docket OST-96-1146)
Northwest, Alaska Airlines and United have filed objections to the proposed American-Transaero code-share service. The applicants seek an exemption to operate scheduled code-share service between Chicago and Moscow, beginning in April 1997 (DAILY, June 28). Under the agreement, American would place its designator code on flights operated by the Russian carrier. In a joint answer, Alaska and Northwest asked DOT to defer action on the application until the Russian government rescinds its disapproval of the Alaska-Northwest code-share agreement.
FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday the agency will ban oxidizers and oxidizing materials in specific compartments on passenger and cargo aircraft. It also will ask Congress to make changes in the agency's fiscal year 1997 budget to free up $14 million, of which $10.6 million will be used to expand its hazardous materials inspector and legal work force by 130 positions, he said. There also will be stepped-up cargo security programs to address terrorist and criminal concerns.
India's Directorate-General of Civil Aviation has issued notices to three foreign carriers for allegedly offering huge discounts on officially announced fares, DGCA officials said yesterday. The airlines - Aeroflot, Uzbek Air and Thai Airways - have been asked to explain their positions, failing which the show-cause notice threatens further action. Following massive price-undercutting by Tower Air and other foreign carriers, the DGCA instructed all domestic and foreign carriers to file fares at its office every season.
Swissair's pilots have completed an agreement with the airline that will give it more flexible work rules and save it up to 60 million Swiss francs (US$48 million) per year. The carrier said it signed a new collective agreement with the Aeropers Staff Association representing its cockpit personnel. Out of 1,232 pilots eligible to vote, 1,077 did so, and 86% of them voted to accept the new work rules, which were tentatively agreed upon May 16 and finalized yesterday. Swissair's board unanimously accepted the accord, which will be retroactive to July 1, 1996.
Southwest's $25 fare for one-way, nonstop routes, launched last week, reduces the cost of some trips to less than two cents a mile, said Tom Parsons, editor of Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine. The $50 Baltimore- Los Angeles flight, for instance, costs 1.8 cents per mile for the 2,685- mile trip. Parsons has written a 416-page book - Insider Travel Secrets - that will be published July 19. The book is being billed as a compendium of tips and techniques the travel industry does not want the public to know.
Northwest's consulting chefs have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation for their innovative menus. The foundation, which advances the culinary arts by providing scholarships, is a resource for chefs nationwide. Northwest's chefs hosted a dinner to benefit the foundation.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expense First Quarter 1996 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger Alaska $ 9,997,000 $ 3.88 America West 5,726,100 1.33 American 144,059,000 7.66 Continental 27,795,000 3.29
United is passing envelopes around the cabin on its Chicago-London flights to collect donations for UNICEF. Passengers can donate their foreign currency under the "change for good" program. Eileen Sweeney, United's manager-civic affairs, said many passengers find changing foreign currency a nuisance.
U.S. airlines are expected to report stellar second quarter financial results that are likely to propel the industry to record profits this year. Results for the quarter, starting Wednesday with a report from American, "are going to be pretty damned spectacular," said PaineWebber's Samuel Buttrick.
Great Lakes Aviation's revenue passenger miles increased 21.5% in June, to 27.2 million, but available seat miles were up even more, 31.2% to 59.6 million. The load factor fell 3.7 percentage points to 45.7%. For the first six months of the year, RPMs rose 31.8% to 144.9 million, ASMs were up 28.8% to 326.8 million and the load factor gained one point to 44.3%. Great Lakes operates under three regional marketing identities - United Express, Midway Connection and Great Lakes Airlines.
South African Airways and the private Indian carrier Jet Airways are formalizing a marketing agreement that is expected to take effect in November, Jet Airways sources said. The agreement will seek to consolidate an existing informal arrangement, under which Jet Airways flies SAA passengers from Mumbai to and from points in India. Currently, SAA operates only to and from Mumbai, but it plans to set up hubs at New Delhi and Madras.
Airbus Industrie said yesterday it received 40 firm orders and 40 options from General Electric Capital Aviation Services for A319/A320/A321 aircraft, plus five firm orders and five options for the A340-300. Deliveries of the single-aisle aircraft are to begin in mid-1997 and continue at a rate of 10 to 15 a year through 2001. The A340s on firm order will be delivered between 1999 and 2000. All the aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International, the 50-50 partnership of General Electric and Snecma of France.
Cheong Choong Kong has been named deputy chairman and chief executive of Singapore Airlines as of Aug. 1. He replaces the previous deputy chairman, Lim Chin Beng, who retired from the carrier's board as of July 13. Cheong has been managing director of SIA since August 1984.
DOT has set the procedural schedule for the application by United and Air Canada for antitrust immunity for their alliance. In the order, dated July 12, the department directed interested parties to file answers to the joint application not later than 21 days from the date of the order. Replies are due not later than seven business days after the last day for filing answers. The carriers filed their application June 4. (Docket OST- 96-1434)
Continental Chairman Gordon Bethune is scheduled to spend the week in Brazil, meeting with Embraer officials to consider purchasing EMB-145s. The carrier also has been considering the Canadair Regional Jet. Bethune also will meet with Brazilian government officials to press his case for new service from Newark. Continental Express President Dave Siegel said he had hoped for a deal last month, but "we are getting close here." He said this will be the biggest corporate decision to affect the regional operator for the next 10 years.
Philippine-based Grand Air inaugurated service on its Manila-Taipei route July 13. Initially, it will operate four weekly roundtrip flights, increasing to seven a week by yearend. Grand Air, which also flies between Manila and Hong Kong in addition to operating several domestic routes, also is seeking permission to fly to Seoul and Singapore.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Landing Expense First Quarter 1996 Average Amount Systemwide Spent Per Landing Alaska $ 5,368,000 $ 146.85 America West 8,004,394 159.78 American 57,857,000 299.11 Continental 23,536,000 218.76
Carnival Air Lines' traffic increased 12% in June, to 162 million revenue passenger miles from 144.7 million a year earlier. Available seat miles rose 8% to 249 million and the load factor gained 2.3 percentage points, reaching 65.1%. Carnival carried 130,205 passengers during the month. For the first six months of 1996, traffic increased 29.7% to 1.158 billion RPMs, ASMs rose 25.6% to 1.790 billion and the load factor was up two points to 64.7%.
U.S. airline officials warned yesterday that the proposed British Airways-American alliance could spark higher fares and poorer service as the U.K. House of Commons Transport Committee held a second day of hearings in London. Officials from United, TWA, Continental and Delta were slated to testify. "Unless a fully open and competitive market is already in place, the alliance, as proposed, will increase market barriers and can only be expected to result in increased fares," said TWA President Jeffrey Erickson.
Greyhound Air, Canada's newest no-frills startup airline, is up and running with 727 flights, operated by Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Ltd., that started last week. Greyhound of Canada is marketing the flights, which are scheduled to link up with its bus service across the country, although it holds no share in Kelowna. The flights operate, up to twice a day, from Vancouver, Calgary, Kelowna and Edmonton in western Canada through the airline's Winnipeg hub to Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton in the East.
