AMR Eagle has sold four Shorts 360 aircraft to Aerolineas Pacifico Atlantico, the operator of Aeroperlas, a Panamanian regional carrier. As part of the deal, Eagle will acquire a 20% shareholder position in the Panama City, Panama-based carrier. Eagle President Daniel Garton said, "This transaction fits into our overall strategic plan to streamline operations, simplify the fleet and improve profitability."
Mesa Air Group received another labor setback with pilots of its Mountain West Airlines unit rejecting by a 55%-45% margin a new contract. Ratification had been recommended by the negotiating committee, the master executive council and ALPA national. Issues nagging the more militant pilots - some of whom are talking strike - are pay, pay for training, and a merging of the seniority lists of all the Mesa carriers. The pilots demanded, and got, an agreement identical to the Air Midwest contract. Negotiations also are under way with four other Mesa union groups.
Continental says it is capturing more of the lucrative business traveler market, which made up 18.4% of its total revenue passenger miles in the first quarter, up from 16.6% in the same quarter last year. Each 1% gain, the carrier says, adds $75 million to its bottom line.
Ryukyu Air Commuter will take delivery of and operate three Dash 8 Series 100 aircraft under a purchase agreement confirmed this week. RAC, a subsidiary of Japan TransOcean Air and a member of the Japan Airlines group of companies, announced its selection of the -100, pending approval by the Japanese government, which has now been granted. Deliveries of the aircraft will begin early next year. In addition to its three firm orders, the airline holds two options for Dash 8 Series 100 aircraft.
Air France logged 4.7 billion revenue passenger kilometers in May, a 19.4% increase from May 1995 levels. Capacity increased 10% to 6.4 billion available seat kilometers, lifting the load factor 5.8 percentage points to 73.8%. The number of freight ton kilometers increased 3.7% to 359 million.
China Airlines has agreed to purchase 33% of the outstanding shares of Taiwanese domestic carrier Formosa Airlines for NT$20 (US$0.73) a share. The stock, worth a total of NT$660 million (US$24 million), currently is owned by Formosa's largest investor, James C.C. Liao, chairman of the ADI Group. Under the agreement, Liao will be appointed chairman of Formosa Airlines and CAL will name the carrier's president. A CAL spokesman said the purchase will be completed as soon as it is approved by the government.
Multi-affiliated Great Lakes Aviation flew 26.2 million revenue passenger miles in May, 31.8% more than in May 1995. Capacity failed to keep pace, rising 29.8% to 59.1 million available seat miles from 45.5 million. The resulting load factor was 0.7 percentage points higher last month than in May 1995 - 44.4% versus 43.7%. Passenger boardings were up 36.2% to 88,711 from 65,132.
Western Pacific is focusing on the ATR 42-500 for its new regional feeder operation at its Colorado Springs hub, scheduled to begin service in November. The carrier expects to establish a separate company to operate the carrier - Mountain Air Express (MAX) - with an initial fleet of four aircraft. It is planned that the regional will offer "low fares" similar to those of WestPac (DAILY, June 7). Colorado's hot-and-high operating conditions limit the aircraft selection process to the ATR, Dash 8-200 and the Saab 340BPlus in the more-than-30-seat class.
Canadian Airlines International's (CAI) traffic climbed 10.7% in June, compared with the same month last year, on a 2.2% increase in capacity. The carrier flew 1.36 billion revenue passenger miles on capacity of 1.94 billion available seat miles, producing a load factor gain of 5.4 percentage points to 70.1%. "These results tell us we're making excellent use of our resources at a time when our competitive pricing initiatives are increasing demand for our services," said Don Casey, VP-capacity planning.
There is no evidence indicating that safety will be enhanced by FAA's proposed flight and duty time rule, and the Air Freight Association will file against it by Wednesday's deadline, according to AFA President Steve Alterman. Alterman said the FAA proposal, if adopted, would go into effect in 60 days. "This would require industry to have thousands of pilots and train them during that period. Where would those pilots come from?
Apart from Continental, which said DOT should attach many restrictions to this week's strategic agreement between American and British Airways, and TWA, which put itself at the head of the line for whatever London Heathrow slots might open up as a result of it, early industry reaction was measured.
Fairchild Aircraft plans to transfer some product development work from its San Antonio headquarters to its new Dornier Luftfahrt joint venture in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, including that of its proposed stand-up-cabin Metro and a wing modification for the 19-passenger aircraft. The company also plans to reduce the 2,200-person work force to 1,200 while seeking to reduce costs and keep Do 328 production at the facility beyond 1999. Meanwhile, Daimler-Benz will pay some $460 million to Fairchild to cover current and future losses and restructuring costs.
Laker Airways will become an Airlines Reporting Corp. participant, effective June 17. ARC said Laker, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, should not be confused with Laker Airways Bahamas, which already is an ARC participant. Laker intends to start service Aug. 2 from Orlando to Prestwick, Scotland; Aug. 3 from Orlando to Manchester, England; July 5 from Fort Lauderdale to London Gatwick, and Sept. 26 from Miami to Gatwick.
J.D. Power and Associates and Frequent Flyer magazine will issue the findings of the fourth annual Airline Customer Satisfaction Study, U.S. flights, June 18 in Washington. Awards will be handed out for the top two categories - best long-flight and best short-flight service.
Southwest has extended the ticketing date for its Take Along Fares, which expired April 12, until June 26 for travel through Sept. 5. The fares allow one adult, full-fare customer traveling roundtrip to take up to three other people for $25 per person each way.
Early returns of May traffic results among regional airlines show that the point spreads between revenue passenger miles and available seat miles - traffic versus capacity - are increasing. Northwest Airlink Mesaba Holdings reported a 29.7% increase in traffic, compared with an increase in capacity of only 11.6%, a spread of 18.1 percentage points. Two carriers topped a 15-point spread.
St. George, Utah-based Delta Connection affiliate SkyWest made 119.6 million seat miles available for sale last month, a 25.1% increase from May 1995. Revenue passenger miles, meanwhile, swelled 40.4% to 61.8 million from nearly 44 million, boosting load factor for the month 5.7 percentage points to 51.7% from 46%. May 1996 May 1995 5 months 1996 5 Months 1995 RPMs 61,771,624 43,985,040 280,236,050 192,815,102 ASMs 119,595,087 95,599,919 545,576,240 423,543,426
What remains of regional manufacturer Fokker will continue to support the 1,200 Fokker aircraft "well into the next century," Fokker Services told operators in Amsterdam this week. Fokker Services is a unit of the new Fokker Aviation holding, formed by bringing together the businesses of Fokker not affected by the company's bankruptcy filing early this year.
Air Transport Association said legislation that proposes new regulations on cabin air quality is not based on any research that links the quality of cabin air with health problems reported by the Association of Flight Attendants. The bill, introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), "puts the cart before the horse," ATA said. The airline association said newer aircraft exchange 100% of the air inside the cabin every two to three minutes and circulates the air through filters similar to those used in hospitals.
USAir Wednesday lowered fares by as much as 55% in more than 1,200 domestic markets, Canada and San Juan on tickets purchased by today. Travel must be completed by Sept. 30, and all travel must be round-trip and include a Saturday night stay. Some examples of the fares are $358 between Los Angeles and San Juan, $298 for Houston-Pittsburgh and $298 for San Diego- Washington National or Dulles.
Saab says it will not produce a new, larger aircraft without a partner, although recent talks with potential partners in Asia and the U.S. have not borne fruit. Internal discussions include everything from a new 30- passenger configuration to 89 passengers and both turboprop and turbofan powerplants. The company's history has been that of introducing new products every 10 years - the Saab 340 in 1984 and the Saab 2000 in 1994. That timetable would dictate a development launch decision within a year or so, but officials say there is nothing now on the plate.
Traxon, the logistics provider for Air France, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Lufthansa Cargo, has signed an agreement with Sita for cargo distribution in North America via the US Cargo Community System. The deal will make possible the exchange of cargo EDI messages with the major airlines represented by Traxon and bring the number of carriers connected with US-CCS to more than 60. Traxon has major distribution systems in Frankfurt, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
The Amadeus computer reservations system and Resinter, the automated reservations service for the Accor Group of hotels, have renewed their agreement to work as marketing partners. Amadeus said the goal of this year's pact is to increase significantly the number of Resinter bookings made through Amadeus, specifically in France, Germany, Spain and Thailand. The two companies will set up a Resinter-Amadeus help desk in Spain and will jointly train travel agents to make hotel bookings and provide training for Resinter sales and other staff.
With the comment deadline closing next Wednesday on FAA's flight and duty time proposal, many in industry say life-style affects pilot fatigue more than the work schedule. The following comment was filed anonymously at FAA: "The fatigue factor I see, and am concerned about, is one generated by USAir pilots living in 47 of the 48 contiguous states. For some reason, they have shunned North Dakota. We have crew bases in BOS-PIT-BWI-DCA-CLT and LAX, but no one lives there. They all commute to work and will travel anywhere to best exercise their seniority.
