Western Pacific is expected to decide within the next two weeks on the aircraft to be operated by its new regional feeder - Mountain Air Express (MAX) - for service beginning by Dec. 15. The ATR 42-500 was thought to be leading the pack. The Dash 8-200 and Dornier 328 have bounced back, however, with Dornier reportedly very aggressive now that it is 80% owned by Fairchild Aircraft. WestPac will take an initial four aircraft and expand the fleet eventually to 12. Such an order would be a major feather in the cap of Fairchild and Dornier Chairman Carl Albert.
British Airways reached a new tentative pay agreement with its pilot's union yesterday, heading off a strike the group had set for Tuesday. The accord, still subject to a vote by BA's 3,500 pilots, would raise pay for those flying from London Gatwick by 10% but also would increase their work load by 10%, the company said. The pilots union, the British Air Line Pilots Association, insisted that the company raise the rates of Gatwick pilots, who are paid less than their counterparts at Heathrow.
National Transportation Safety Board placed emphasis on weather reporting in the numerous recommendations arising from its investigation of the crash of a Simmons ATR 72 on Oct. 31, 1994, at Roselawn, Ind. (DAILY, July 10, 11). The board called on FAA to tell principal operations inspectors (POIs) to make sure all Part 121 air carriers require their dispatchers to provide all pertinent information, including airman's meteorological information (Airmets) and center weather advisories (CWAs), to flight crews for preflight and inflight planning purposes.
AI(R) Marketing President Alain Brodin is returning to France in October after two lengthy postings to the U.S. as head of the ATR 42/72 marketing program in North America. He will become senior VP-commercial for Aero International (Regional) in Toulouse, in charge of contracts and negotiation. Brodin replaces Jo`91l Le Breton, who ran ATR Marketing from mid-1985 to late 1989. +Le Breton has left the company. Brodin will be replaced by Jean Michel Leonard, who is now president of AI(R) American Support, which is co-located with AI(R) Marketing in Herndon, Va.
Northwest will upgrade service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Kalispell, Mont., from seasonal to daily year-round flights via Billings, beginning Sept. 10.
DOT made final its show cause order tentatively granting Panagra Airways authority to operate interstate and foreign charter combination service. The Fort Lauderdale carrier applied for the certificates in January, saying it intended to provide supplemental non-scheduled charters, including ad hoc services, sub-service to scheduled carriers and charters contracted by the government (DAILY, Jan. 29). It said it plans to operate Boeing 727-200 aircraft initially within the U.S. and between the U.S. and Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean Basin.
Frontier Airlines' June traffic jumped 195% to 71.3 million revenue passenger miles in June while capacity grew 115% to 113.9 million available seat miles. The load factor soared 17 percentage points to 62.5%. For the first six months, RPMs rose 167.1%, ASMs 92.8% and the load factor 17 points, to 61.2%.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a credit line of 50 million Deutschmarks to Croatia to aid its tourism industry. Tourism is one of the largest generators of hard currency for Croatia and is responsible for significant employment. The war-torn nation has used hotels to house refugees, and most facilities are in need of significant repairs, according to the EBRD. Croatia's Minister of Finance, Bozo Prka, said Croatia is taking its first steps toward restoring its tourism product.
American Society of Travel Agents will hold its annual travel scam conference Aug. 1 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The conference aims to educate consumers and the media on recognizing travel fraud. Included this year is a presentation on online computer services and how to evaluate travel offers on the Internet. ASTA will present its annual Traveler's Advocate Award, recognizing a journalist's efforts to "champion the rights of travelers." To register, call 703-684-8319.
Air Transport Association's new electronic ticketing standard will enable carriers to ticket itineraries involving more than one airline. Individual carriers will have to work out their own agreements, and several plan to do so by fall.
Japan Airlines plans to use four aircraft on domestic routes as flying billboards to advertise its new service - free telephone calls for reservations. The aircraft will carry the phone numbers for about six months, starting in mid-August. JAL, which started the service in June, said it is the first Japanese carrier to offer it.
American will begin nonstop service Nov. 1 between Los Angeles and Maui without a Honolulu stop. It flies the route with 188-seat 757s. The nonstop replaces one of two daily flights between Honolulu and Los Angeles.
Stressing growing competition from international alliances, American and British Airways pressed the case for their proposed alliance in a hearing yesterday before the British House of Commons Transport Committee. The new alliance "is a natural next step in the evolution of the worldwide airline industry, enabling American and British Airways to compete more effectively with the three major global alliances that are already operating," said American Chief Executive Donald Carty. "We don't fear competition," said BA Chief Executive Bob Ayling.
Aviation Industries of China selected Aero International Asia (AIA), the Aerospatiale-Alenia-British Aerospace joint venture company, as its Western partner in China's $2 billion program to develop a 100-seat jetliner, AIA said yesterday. Singapore Technologies also became involved in the program following a breakdown in talks between China and South Korea's Samsung Aerospace. China balked over the South Korean company's desire to split production between the two nations, and the AVIC-AIA-Singapore assembly line will be in Shanghai.
Colombia, urging further talks, said if DOT "rejects the avenue of negotiations and proceeds to unilaterally impose sanctions, the government of Colombia will not hesitate to retaliate in any of the routes being served by U.S. carriers (i.e. Miami, New York or Houston)" (DAILY, July 10).
USAir is cutting the price of a roundtrip to Paris and Madrid from 10 U.S. East Coast cities on tickets purchased by July 23. The reduced fares are good for travel Monday through Thursday from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. The off- peak fares are $578 from Philadelphia and $608 from Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Hartford, Boston, Pittsburgh, Providence and Washington National.
Argentina this week became the 24th country allowed to participate in the State Department's visa waiver pilot program. The program exempts the citizens of participating countries from having to obtain a visa if they stay in the U.S. for 90 days or less.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Labor Expenses First Quarter 1996 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses Alaska $ 88,500,000 30.77 America West 90,570,633 23.72 American 1,144,158,000 33.61 Continental 274,022,000 23.21 Delta 988,025,000 28.77
Russian officials are in Washington this week, working with U.S. counterparts on issues involving U.S. companies' access to the Russian aircraft and parts market, including Russia's 50% tariff on such imports. Officials of Russia's economics and finance ministries and a deputy trade representative met yesterday with FAA, Export-Import Bank and Commerce Department executives.
The Senate on Tuesday modified the aviation tax reinstatement in the small- business tax relief/minimum wage bill (H.R.3448) to extend the taxes through April 15, 1997 - three-and-one-half months beyond the reinstatement approved by the Senate Finance Committee (DAILY, July 10). The additional extension was approved as part of an amendment sponsored by committee and Senate leaders making various changes in the bill as approved by the committee.
Delta has joined Virgin Atlantic in arguing for the rejection of the proposed American-British Airways alliance. The alliance "would permanently destroy competition at London's Heathrow airport and must be rejected by U.S. and U.K. regulators," Delta said this week. "This transaction is poison for competition," said Delta Executive VP-Marketing Robert Coggin. "Allowing the two dominant participants to operate as a single entity would preclude any real competition on most U.S.-U.K.
America West said yesterday second quarter results are within analysts' expectations, and it cannot explain the sharp falloff in the price of its Class B common stock over the past few days.
United, taking on third party maintenance work again, started a C check recently for an unnamed A320 operator at San Francisco. United stopped outside work several years ago, citing its own fleet growth, but now it says its Indianapolis base gives it enough capacity to work for other operators.
FedEx Pilots Association, which for months has been garnering support to challenge the Air Line Pilots Association for representation of FedEx pilots, has received election authorization cards from at least 55% of the pilots. FPA has filed a request for an election at the National Mediation Board.
Air Canada yesterday tapped board member John Fraser to replace Hollis Harris as non-executive chairman of the carrier. The move takes effect Aug. 1. Fraser, a board member since 1989, also holds a board seat at America West.
