Lufthansa has added country music videos to its in-flight programming. On April 1, the carrier started offering a 30-minute block of country music programming for passengers in business and first class. The videos are supplied by Country Music Television.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR has withdrawn its proposal to serve the Charlotte-Anniston, Ala., market. "USAir requirements to offer more service than the DOT is able to subsidize prohibits us from making Anniston, Alabama a viable market," said Mike Holcomb, the carrier's director of marketing, in a letter to DOT. (Docket OST-95-389)
Alaska will begin seasonal nonstop flights between Fairbanks and Seattle Sunday, beginning with one daily roundtrip and increasing to three on June 9. Alaska is offering introductory fares of $139 each way for travel before May 31.
Islena Airlines is seeking renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between points in Honduras and Miami, New Orleans and Houston. The Honduran carrier also requested permission to operate combination charter operations to the U.S. Islena recently ordered one ATR 42, which will be delivered and placed in service in early May (DAILY, March 29). Islena currently has a fleet of 14 aircraft. (Docket OST-96-1217)
Thai Airways International has taken delivery of the first Boeing 777 powered by Rolls-Royce engines. Seven airlines have ordered 137 777s powered by Trent 800 engines, and Rolls said every 777 customer in Southeast Asia has selected its engine. Competing with Pratt&Whitney and General Electric, Rolls claims a Trent 800 market share of about 60% across Asia and 35% worldwide. The Thai aircraft will enter service in April on regional routes.
American has contracted with television network ABC to produce all of its inflight programming on domestic and international video-equipped flights, beginning May 1.
Vanguard Airlines said yesterday its passenger revenues totaled $6.2 million last month, a 51.2% increase over February. Earlier in the week, the carrier announced a $12.2 million loss for 1995 and said it expected to do well in March but still would lose money in the first quarter (DAILY, April 3). Vanguard flew 60.12 million revenue passenger miles for the month, compared with 39.51 million in February. Capacity for the month was 82.45 million available seat miles, compared with 71.9 million.
Swissair placed orders for two more MD-11s, adding to the 13 it now operates and one undelivered aircraft, Douglas Aircraft said yesterday. Purchase of one was approved in March and the second was announced yesterday. This is the third time Swissair has re-ordered MD-11s, Douglas said. The newly ordered aircraft will be delivered in 1997 and 1998.
The European Commission approved the third of four tranches of state aid to Portuguese carrier TAP - 40 billion escudos of 180 billion approved in 1994 - after finding that the carrier's restructuring is "on course." The company has reported operating profits since last summer, and the commission noted that this is "a full year earlier than forecast in the original restructuring plan." TAP posted an operating profit of 1.2 billion escudos last year.
Multi-affiliated Mesa Air Group flew 123 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 21.1% hike from its March 1995 figure of 101.6 million. Capacity failed to keep pace, rising 4.1% to 207.8 million available seat miles from 199.5 million, allowing the load factor to increase 8.3 percentage points to 59.2% from 50.9%. Enplanements increased just 6.2% to 565,428 from 532,168.
Western Pacific Airlines boarded a monthly record of 163,919 passengers in March, up from 123,548 the month before. Its revenue passenger miles totaled 131.8 million, up from 102 million in February, and it flew 195.8 million available seat miles, versus 189.1 million. The load factor was 67.3%. WestPac began scheduled service less than 11 months ago.
Interest in a 35-passenger regional jet appears to be heating up, not only among airframers, but engine manufacturers as well. Although there are no known formal programs under way, GE Aircraft Engines has had conversations about such a program and Raytheon Aircraft is looking at a smaller regional jet, building on the high-tech production system being used for its new entry-level business jet. Saab views a 35-seat jet as an "interesting concept," but first must bolster Saab 2000 sales. And Embraer already has the airframe on which to hang smaller turbofans.
America West Vacations is offering a Fly&Ride package to customers traveling to Phoenix to attract the leisure traveler. The package includes roundtrip airfare and SuperShuttle transportation from Sky Harbor Airport to most locations in the county.
Delta Connection Comair began nonstop jet service Monday between Newark and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. The carrier is operating three daily nonstops and offering double Delta Sky-Miles on each flight through May 31. Comair uses the 50-seat Canadair Jet - of which it operates more than any other airline - on the route.
Average price per share for nine regional airline stocks rose an even $1 during March to $12.98. Market value for the nine issues increased $125.7 million to $2.65 billion. On an individual basis, United Express Atlantic Coast had the biggest increase. Its stock soared $4 per share to $15.50 at the market close March 29 after hitting $16.13 the previous day. Delta Connection Comair was up $3.63 on the month, closing at $34.75 per share, the highest of all the issues.
ValuJet Airlines' traffic increased 66% in March to 322 million revenue passenger miles from 194 million RPMs in March 1995. ValuJet's capacity rose 87%, however, from 264 million available seat miles to 493 million ASMs. The load factor fell 8.1 percentage points to 65.3%. Passenger enplanements were up 61%. Quarterly results were similar - passenger enplanements rose 63%, RPMs 70% and capacity 86%, and the load factor fell 5.5 points.
TPI International Airways filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Ga., Thursday to force the DOT inspector general to turn over a management review of FAA's actions in shutting down the small cargo carrier in August 1989. Special Agent Dennis Dutch testified before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals that he made the review in June 1993, but his "pervasive lack of memory" prevented disclosure of any details. TPI is seeking $20 million in damages from FAA and $28 million from the Air Force, claiming it was wrongfully shut down.
Delta's fuel conservation efforts are paying off - literally.The carrier said its fuel costs in February were $6.3 million less than those of February 1995, and this February was the tenth consecutive month fuel consumption per ton mile has decreased.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR's capacity declined 0.8% in March to 26.4 million available seat miles from 26.7 million in March 1995 as traffic increased 5.6% to 12.6 million revenue passenger miles - a record - from 11.9 million. As a result, the load factor climbed nearly three percentage points to 47.5% from 44.6% in the prior March. Enplanements dropped 2.7% to 67,070 from 68,924.
Iberia ended 1995 in the red for the fifth consecutive year, as its deficit grew slightly, to 45 billion pesetas on sales of 676 billion pesetas. But Javier Salas, chairman of Teneo, the state holding company that owns the Spanish carrier, said Iberia is cutting costs and jobs and "will be back in the black this year." If the carrier had not had to make substantial provisions last year for restructuring, it would have lost only 15 billion pesetas, Salas said.
Benet Wilson, senior editor of Commuter/Regional Airline News since 1993, was named to the newly created position of director of public relations for RAA, effective Monday. Wilson, who has more than 10 years of media relations and communications experience, will act as a liaison between RAA and the media as well as with members and associate members.
Northwest will offer electronic ticketing capabilities on service from Minneapolis to 11 airports in 10 more cities on April 15. In its second month of using a limited ticketless system, Northwest said customer use exceeded projections by nearly 20% in the first month. The carrier will add ticketless travel for flights to Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington National. It currently offers the ticketing option to Chicago, Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis.
Northwest Airlink Mesaba Aviation has completed its management reorganization, appointing two ex-Business Express executives to key positions in the company. Mesaba named Wayne Heller director of system operations control, Sandy Sturm director of purchasing and contracts and Warren Wilkinson director of marketing and corporate communications. Mesaba President and Chief Executive Bryan Bedford is a former president and chief executive with Business Express.
