Air Canada named Ronald Waters general manager-passenger sales, U.S., Caribbean and Latin America. Aeromexpress appointed Gerardo Rivero president, effective immediately. Japan Air Lines appointed Yukio Ohtani managing director and senior VP-the Americas, replacing Mitsuo Ando, who has returned to Tokyo as president and chief executive, DHL Japan.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic May, 5 Months 1995 Revenue Ton-Miles (000) May May % 1995 1994 Change Domestic Freight 690,209 663,350 4.0 Mail 139,971 132,247 5.8 Total 830,180 795,597 4.3 International
UNC yesterday reported a second quarter net profit of $959,000 on sales of $131.3 million, compared with a net loss of $54.6 million on revenues of $122.3 million during the same quarter last year. For the first six months, net earnings were $1 million on revenues of $257 million, compared with a net loss of $52.2 million on revenues of $260.7 million in the 1994 period. Chairman Dan Colussy said the benefits of a 1994 restructuring are "now showing significant results," and UNC expects "continuing favorable comparisons with last year's results."
Departure of Bob Martens from the helm of AMR Eagle is seen by insiders as the imprimatur of new AMR Airline Group President Donald Carty. Martens, like his mentor AMR Chairman Robert Crandall, was demanding and somewhat confrontational, they say. Dan Garton, who returns to AMR to head Eagle after a two-year stint as VP and treasurer at Continental reflects the more laid-back management approach of Carty.
FAA yesterday announced, as expected, that Wilcox Electric has won the $475 million Wide Area Augmentation System contract. The contract calls for Wilcox and its partners Hughes, and TRW, to build an initial 24 WAAS reference stations at FAA air route traffic control centers and other FAA sites in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and eventually build a total of 36. FAA plans to have all the equipment in place by late 1997 for operational evaluations beginning early in 1998 followed in less than a year by full operational capability.
Delta's route realignment, which would enable regional feeder Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) to operate more short-haul flying with larger aircraft, is the main reason its Air Line Pilots Association filed for an injunction against the airline Wednesday, seeking to stop the shift. The pilots object because ASA would fly 88-seat BAe 146s on some routes from Atlanta.
American has asked DOT for authority to begin scheduled combination service between Tampa, Fla., and Toronto Nov. 1. If approved, it plans to operate one daily nonstop roundtrip, using MD-80s. American had applied for the service in March, but the route has been dormant since DOT split the Tampa- Toronto/Montreal service from Miami-Toronto/Montreal routes, formerly held by Delta, after the new U.S.-Canada agreement was signed this year. American bought the Miami routes from Delta for $1 million but did not apply for Tampa (DAILY, Jan. 26).
Mexicana is seeking authority to begin Aug. 4 operating scheduled combination service between Tijuana, Mexico, and Los Angeles. If approved, the carrier plans to operate two weekly roundtrips, using 727-200 aircraft. Apologizing for the short notice, the carrier said that "the government of Mexico only advised...[it] on July 31, 1995, of its authorization to serve the route." (Docket OST-95-364)
MarkAir Express told DOT it intends to suspend service to Atka and Umnak Island (Nikolski), Alaska. The carrier has provided essential air service at Umnak Island using Beech 1900s for the past two years with an annual subsidy of $55,461. Noting that the EAS subsidy is nearing conclusion, DOT already has solicited bids for EAS at the location (DAILY, July 14). (Docket 43755&OST-95-363) (More regional aviation news follows Page 194 of the hard copy of this issue.)
Crossair of Switzerland, at the behest of parent Swissair, has asked Saab Aircraft to study the feasibility of a Saab 2000 freighter. It seems that it is becoming "damn hard" to truck cargo into Eastern Europe, especially Russia and especially at night, because bandits hijack the trucks and make off with cargo and drivers, said Fritz Grotz, VP-technical and operations. Swissair wants an aircraft that can operate on thinner routes and into smaller airports than jets. Grotz said there also is a need for faster aircraft to replace F27s in FedEx operations.
Delta Connection carriers Atlantic Southeast, Comair and SkyWest pulled regional stocks into the minus column in July. Nine regional stocks lost an average 81 cents during the month, closing at $13.49. Leading the losers was Comair, down $4.63 to $33.25 per share, followed by ASA, down $2.63 to $27.50, and SkyWest, down $2.38 to $20.25. Analysts still believe Delta is going to lower pro-rates, raise fees, or both. Other decliners were United Express Atlantic Coast and USAir Express CCAIR, down 31 cents to $8.44 and $2.88, respectively.
Delta said it signed an engine repair and maintenance contract with Volvo Aero Engine Services of Sweden covering Pratt&Whitney PW4060 turbofans. The Volvo subsidiary operates one of the largest Pratt jet engine repair stations in Europe. Russ Heil, senior VP-technical operations, said the contract runs through June 1996 and has the potential to generate up to $15 million for work on up to 15 engines at Delta's Technical Operations Center in Atlanta. The engines, which power 767ER aircraft, weigh 12,000 pounds each.
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers Fourth Quarter 1994 Short Total Average Haul Markets Non-Stop Passengers Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day 1 1 Chicago - New 723 8,226 2 2 Honolulu - Kahului 100 7,267
Pilots for Air Ontario and Air Alliance staged an unsanctioned sick- out Monday, and a group of Air Canada pilots are seeking to pull out of CALPA and form a parallel union - all over an arbitrator's decision to merge the seniority lists of all wholly owned Air Canada Connector subsidiaries with the lowest 249 pilots on the Air Canada roster. Air Canada pilots, who have been seeing jobs go away as the regionals grow, do not want Dash 8 pilots outbidding them for jet-flying jobs. A three-day conference has been set for early September to find a solution.
Mesa Air Group reported net income of $3.6 million, or 11 cents per share, in its third fiscal quarter, ended June 30, slightly less than half the $7.2 million, or 20 cents per share, for the comparable period one year earlier. Operating revenues totaled $117.9 million, compared with $101.8 million in the prior period. Yield - revenue per revenue passenger mile - dropped to 38.1 cents for the quarter from 39.7 cents. Revenue per available seat mile fell to 20.4 cents from 21.5 cents. Unit costs, meanwhile, rose to 19.2 cents per ASM from 18.8 cents.
AirTran Corp. reported record earnings of $1.4 million in the first quarter and record operating revenues of $44.6 million. The earnings were reversed in The DAILY, Aug. 3. (See related story on Page RA3 of the hard copy of this issue).
AirTran Corp., parent of Mesaba Aviation and AirTran Airways, experienced record first quarter revenues and earnings for the period ended June 30. The company achieved operating revenues of $44.6 million, a 32% increase over the same 1994 quarter, and a net income of $1.4 million, or 14 cents per share. Chairman Robert Swenson said Mesaba Aviation had a strong quarter with increased passengers and load factors. Mesaba's load factor rose to 46.1% from 44%, and it carried about 4,000 more passengers during the quarter, for a total of 367,681.
Regional Airline Association has named the initial 12 members of the new Associate Member Council (AMC), approved by the board of directors at the annual spring meeting in San Antonio. Four will serve terms of one, two and three years each, to be decided by the council itself.
When it decides on the proposed Lufthansa/SAS cooperation agreement, the European Commission will have three options, said an European Union spokeswoman - throw it out altogether, which she said will not happen; approve it unconditionally, or approve it with conditions. If it chooses the last option, the alliance will not be worked out before yearend, she said. The Commission soon will publish a summary of the cooperation agreement in the Commission's official journal, she said.
Sabre Travel Information Network has concluded a joint-venture agreement with Japan Airlines and its wholly owned computer reservations system subsidiary, Axess, to market a combined system to Japanese travel agencies. Sabre will acquire 25% of Axess shares and provide JAL with an exclusive license to market all Sabre CRS host functions. The terms were not disclosed. Users of Axess will be able to start using Sabre CRS functions in the second quarter of 1996.
Startup Colorado Springs carrier Western Pacific Airlines achieved load factors of 72.4% in July, its third full month of service, and carried more passengers than projected - 84,093. It said it is achieving a 91% on-time performance. It was serving nine markets but expanded this week to Wichita, Indianapolis, San Diego and Houston. WestPAC is offering introductory one-way fares of $49 to Wichita and $69 to the other three cities until Aug. 14.
Good example of why airlines believe code sharing with foreign airlines is better than going it alone: Delta's July load factors on code-share flights with Virgin Atlantic were 96% in the London Heathrow-Los Angeles market, 94% for Heathrow-San Francisco and 93% for Gatwick-Boston.
A "predictable and sufficient flow of funds will be needed to meet aviation's needs" regardless of whether Congress establishes an air traffic control corporation or an independent FAA, the General Accounting Office's director of transportation issues, Kenneth Mead, said Wednesday as the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee examined FAA reforms, including air traffic control modernization and the administration's proposed ATC corporation.
Bombardier, in promotional materials developed for its in-development CRJ-X jet, is stressing the many areas of commonality the 70- to 76- passenger CRJ-X jet has with the 50-seat CRJ from which it is derived - a characteristic that translates to big cost savings for operators, the company said. The new jet is expected to enter service in 1999.
