Whether a commercial variant of McDonnell Douglas's C-17 airlifter for the U.S. Air Force has a real future carrying time-sensitive, outsize cargoes could become clear as soon as the end of this year, but more likely the question will be settled by the end of 1997, McDonnell Douglas President and Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher said last week.
Granted orally to Tarom renewal of its exemption to serve New York and Chicago as co-terminal points on currently authorized U.S.-Romania scheduled services, and to operate a total of three Bucharest-Chicago roundtrip flights per week April 1-May 15, 1996, and Sept.
Fight between Federal Express and its Air Line Pilots Association unit over a new contract is not over yet. The union's Master Executive Council has ratified the tentative agreement but with a resolution advising the membership not to ratify the contract unless a matter involving the grievance process is cleared up and the duration of the contract - proposed at five years - is modified. The MEC said it hopes the ratification process will begin in mid-month.
A Taiwanese mission composed of government officials, researchers and executives of 10 local aerospace companies is visiting New Martinsburg, W.Va., for the groundbreaking on a joint-venture plant to build the SJ-30 small regional passenger jet. The project, a joint venture between U.S.- based Swearingen Aircraft Inc., Texas, and Taiwan's Hua Yang Aerospace Investment Corp., is the first Taiwanese-U.S. joint venture in commercial aircraft manufacturing.
DOT extended Friday Japan Airlines' authority to operate three weekly frequencies between Sendai and Honolulu through Sept. 20. Continental Micronesia also filed Friday for new and expanded service to a number of Japanese points, including Tokyo and Sendai.
American says that despite its efforts to fly longer routes and minimize competition with lower-cost rivals, approximately 40% of its bookings are affected by lower-cost carriers, according to its latest 10-K filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Airlines will have some voice in two of the top recommendations of the national tourism strategy being implemented by the industry and coordinated by the Travel Industry Association. One, a public/private organization, tentatively named the President's Council on Tourism Trade Policy, would have a 36-member board, including two seats for airline-sector executives. The other is a National Tourism Organization with a board of 45 members, three of whom would be named by the Air Transport Association.
Fastest Growing Domestic Airports Served By U.S. Major and National Carriers Ranked By Percent Growth 1990 to 1995 1995 Enplaned Rank Market State Passengers 1 Traverse City Michigan 122,969 2 Springfield Missouri 239,146 3 Wenatchee Washington 49,136
Manchester Airport, U.K., earned top scores for overall passenger convenience in an IATA survey rating airports. Singapore Changi, the preferred airport of business travelers, was second overall, followed by Amsterdam Schiphol, Orlando and Sydney. Manchester is the favorite of leisure passengers. The ratings are part of the 1995 IATA Airport Monitor, which compares ratings given by long-haul international passengers for 43 airports in Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Asia/Pacific region.
FAA's unionized employees finally won protection of their collective bargaining rights as part of a bill passed by Congress Friday to continue funding of the federal government through April 24. A new FAA personnel system takes effect today. The language, which requires the new system to conform to Chapter 71 of Title 5, also was included in the House and Senate versions of the long-term continuing resolution now in conference.
American Airlines Cargo named Laurie Cleary manager-human resources and gave Yutaka Saito, managing director-Asia/Oceania sales, additional responsibilities for cargo services in Asia/Oceania. Lufthansa appointed Joseph Lopano manager-relationship marketing USA. Northwest said VP-Sales John Temple was named to the board of trustees of the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA).
Canadair said Transport Canada and FAA awarded Level C certification for a Challenger 604 simulator developed by CAE Electronics. The Montreal-based simulator began operating in February, well before Challenger 604 aircraft begin service in April.
Million Air, Long Beach, Calif., announced an agreement to manage the fuel and fixed-based operations of Aeroplex Aviation at Daugherty Field, also in Long Beach.
Delta surpassed all airlines in a consumer survey on quality, value and trust, conducted by the Atlanta Consulting Group in the last quarter of 1995. The survey, which queried 1,000 consumers, asked participants to rank 12 industries including airlines and hotel chains, in terms of four categories - quality, value, trustworthiness and financial standing. Although the survey found a direct correlation between the most trusted products and perceptions of a company's financial strength in nearly all the industries evaluated, that was not the case with the airlines.
Top 10 Fastest Growing Large* Airports 1995 Enplaned Rank Market State Passengers % Growth 1 St. Louis Missouri 12,496,297 36.3 2 Las Vegas Nevada 11,106,224 45.7 3 Seattle/Tacoma Washington 10,176,187 48.4 4 Charlotte North Carolina 9,434,001 35.2
U.S. travel industry groups are beginning to implement the top 10 priorities resulting from the 44 recommendations to promote tourism generated by the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism in October. The Implementation Team, made up of 39 travel executives, issued a timeline for the initiatives (DAILY, March 28).
IATA has signed SITA to provide it with international long-distance telephone services from Montreal and Geneva. The service also may be used at additional IATA offices later. IATA will become the first full-service customer to use SITA's new Global Voice Services, the international telecommunications organization said. In October 1994, IATA contracted with SITA to establish IATAnet, based on SITA's Managed Data Network Services.
John Bachmann joins TWA's board today, filling the management-nominated position made vacant by the death of Chairman John Cahill last November. Bachmann is managing principal of brokerage firm Edward Jones. TWA Chief Executive Jeffrey Erickson said Bachmann also chairs a panel on airport expansion in St. Louis.
Royal Wings, the new regional carrier formed by Royal Jordanian, will begin flying between Amman, Jordan, and Tel Aviv, Israel, April 7. The service will be flown with a 50-seat de Havilland Dash 8-300.
A U.S. district judge ruled last week that five years of back charges totaling $3.5 million the city of Los Angeles attempted to assess airlines in 1992 were invalid because they exceeded California's four-year statute of limitations. Judge William Keller of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted a partial summary judgment for the airlines on charges dated from 1983 to 1988 but allowed a trial on the remaining $5.2 million assessed for the 1989-1992 period.
Russian aviation companies Tupolev and Yakovlev are negotiating a takeover of Fokker under a guarantee of $225 million issued by the Russian central bank, a Tupolev official told Dutch press agency ANP Friday A spokesman for Fokker confirmed that the receivers of the bankrupt Dutch aircraft maker are in talks with the Russian companies (DAILY, March 28) . Reliable sources in The Hague said Friday that a Russian delegation will arrive today. Leading the delegation will be G.P. Voronin, of the Ministry of Defense Industries of the Russian Federation.
Atlantic Coast Airlines will redeem $3.825 million of Series A cumulative preferred stock, the carrier said. The stock was issued to JSX Capital, a subsidiary of British Aerospace, in Deember 1994 as part of $20 million investment. The preferred stock was convertible to common stock after Sept. 14, 1997. Atlantic Coast said the redemption will reduce the average number of fully diluted shares outstanding at the end of 1995 by about 546,000 shares.
DOT granted Northwest authority Friday to operate Detroit-Hong Kong nonstop service and reaffirmed its Feb. 14 oral selection of United to operate to Hong Kong from Chicago. Northwest plans to operate service on the route beginning Nov. 1, 1997, using Boeing 747-400 aircraft. United plans to begin its nonstop service, also using 747-400s, June 6, 1996. DOT dismissed American's bid to operate Dallas/Fort Worth-Vancouver-Hong Kong service with its code-share partner Canadian Airlines International.
Air France and Delta, sources say, are the latest two carriers to be courting in the ongoing international airline dating game.Air France had no comment on the report, while Delta said it is always talking to foreign carriers about cooperation.
AAR Oklahoma named Don Ward president and general manager. Arrow Air named John Savage cargo services manager of its new Cargo Services department. American International Freight promoted Dennis Schmidt to director- marketing and sales, and named Steven Mulloy director-operations. Associated Global Systems named Debbie Biggs corporate training manager, a new position.
