Japan Air System said yesterday it has placed new firm orders for six more Douglas MD-90 aircraft and is taking an option on another. JAS earlier ordered 10 MD-90s. It plans to take delivery of the new orders in 1997 and 1998 and will inaugurate service with its first MD-90 next month.
Islena Airlines of Honduras has ordered one ATR 42, which will be delivered and placed in service in early May, AI(R) Marketing said. Founded in 1981, Islena Airlines now has a fleet of 14 aircraft, including its first airplane, a Cessna 206 that seats five passengers. The regional carrier chose the aircraft because of its "low operating cost, seat capacity versus profitability and the tremendous support offered by the AI(R) team worldwide," an Islena executive said. Currently, 186 ATRs, 43 Jetstreams and nine Avro RJs are operated in the Americas.
Lineas Aereas Allegro has asked DOT to renew its U.S.-Mexico charter exemption and amend its exemption to enable it to operate scheduled combination service between San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, and San Francisco, and between Cancun, Mexico, and Orlando, Fla. Allegro operates two Boeing 727-200s, three DC-9-10s and two MD-83s. (Docket OST-96-1187)
Carnival Air Lines has named Richard Goetz as director-ground operations. Goetz worked for the old Pan Am as system director of passenger services and field security, and most recently served as a liaison between airports and airlines for the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has named American the recipient of its Corporate Citizen Award, the first airline to receive the honor. American and the ASPCA recently teamed to produce a live animal-handling training video. ASPCA President Roger Caras said American has "set a standard in the industry" by recognizing that every creature deserves safety and comfort in transport.
Embraer will begin its EMB-145 regional-jet tour of the U.S. May 10, visiting 11 or 12 cities and including the Regional Airline Association annual meeting in Orlando May 20-22. Four test pilots have been added, and the three aircraft are on a three-shift, seven-days-a-week certification flight-test schedule. That program is running two weeks behind schedule, but the company says it will make its October target. The only problems so far have been heavy manual controls when hydraulics are lost, and a thrust- reverser design that costs the aircraft some altitude.
FAA yesterday named Robert Valone to oversee implementation of its new acquisition management system, which goes into effect Monday. George Donohue, associate administrator for research and acquisition, said Valone was appointed to the new post of acting deputy associate administrator for research and acquisition. Taking Valone's place on an acting basis as director of air traffic systems development is Edward Seymour, deputy director.
Vision Air has not leased a Lockheed L-1011 aircraft from IAL Aircraft Holding as reported March 27 in The DAILY. Instead, IAL is one of several companies the potential new entrant is talking to about leasing or buying an aircraft to operate on its proposed New York-London Stansted service, said Vision President Vincent Civitello. The carrier tentatively plans to base its operations at Kennedy's international arrivals building but is considering using facilities in other terminals at the airport.
Colorado Springs Airport is proposing to build a new terminal in three to five years to handle the capacity of its largest tenant - Western Pacific Airlines. The airline, which has added two gates and will add a temporary concourse of five to six more gates, wants a new terminal that would give it 15 gates, said Ed Talbow, WestPac director of properties and facilities. The carrier originally estimated it would need less space for a cost of about $4 million.
Paraguayan carrier LAPSA seeks renewal of its rights to operate five-times- weekly roundtrip service between Asuncion, Paraguay, and Miami with stops in Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador. It also wants to continue to carry blind- sector traffic between Asuncion and Guayaquil/Quito. (Docket OST-96-1173)
Top 100 Domestic Airports Served By U.S. Major and National Carriers The Year 1995 Enplaned Rank Mkt Pax ASL ---- --- --------- ----- 1 Chicago Ohare ORD 27,446,986 732 2 Dallas/Fort Worth DFW 23,920,230 716 3 Atlanta ATL 23,794,739 529
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Revenues and Expenses Third Quarter 1995 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues American 1,340,598,000 13.19 1,166,192,000 Atlantic 609,249,000 15.08 519,710,000
RAA is pulling out all the stops to convince FAA to withdraw proposed ADs on all regional turboprops that would prohibit their operation in freezing rain and freezing drizzle conditions - the same restriction that has severely impaired the operation of the ATR 42/72 series this winter. The association insists the icing matter is an operational rather than an airworthiness issue and suggests that its participation in the upcoming international conference on icing certification requirements in May may be limited if the AD proposals are not lifted.
In a preview of a bitter House floor fight set for next month, the chairmen of the House Transportation and Budget committees argued at length yesterday over whether transportation users were receiving full benefit for their taxes and whether transportation should be exempt from competing with other programs for federal funds.
The union representing flight attendants at Mesa Air Group subsidiary Mountain West Airlines says the regional fired two of its local officers because of their union activity, and the union has organized an informational picketing session today at Denver Airport. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) scheduled the picketing after two attendants, both union officers, were dismissed for reasons Mountain West parent Mesa Air Group says are not related to their union activities.
InVision Technologies said yesterday it has received a $4 million FAA grant for research to determine if it can double to 600 per hour the number of bags its explosives detection system can scan. The company said it builds the only explosives detection system (EDS) certified by FAA. The latest grant is in addition to $8.6 million FAA has dedicated to InVision's computer tomography development efforts. Since the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, FAA has allotted more than $90 million in funds to aid in development of counter-terrorism technologies.
Southwest, the first major airline to go ticketless, has asked DOT not to impose rigid notice requirements that could stunt the development of electronic ticketing. Southwest's comments are similar to those of many other carriers answering a DOT call for comments on whether and how it should regulate the consumer notices, which appear on the jackets of traditional paper tickets. Southwest also said DOT should specifically state that local authorities are pre-empted from imposing their own passenger notice requirements.
Federal Express is seeking authority to operate all-cargo service between Miami and Panama City, Panama, and Bogota, Colombia, in conjunction with its existing all-cargo service between the U.S. and South and Central America. With the new authority, the carrier plans to operate Boeing 727- 200 freighter aircraft over a Memphis-Miami-Caracas-Bogota routing southbound and a Bogota-Panama City-Memphis routing northbound. FedEx proposes five weekly flights in both directions. (Docket OST-96-1186)
America West has appointed Edward Methot VP-flight operations, responsible for pilot hiring, training, flight standards and flight safety, as well as crew scheduling and FAA liaison. Methot has spent the last 30 years in various management positions at United, most recently as director-flight operations.
The major members of the Airbus Industrie consortium now have endorsed changing the structure of Airbus Industrie, perhaps into a public limited company. Following a lead first announced by British Aerospace, a German government report last week said that the "long-term success of Airbus can only be guaranteed if the partners soon agree on an efficient company structure, competitive at an international level." This was followed by an Aerospatiale announcement that it welcomed a move to convert Airbus this summer.
The Alliance Airport Authority in Fort Worth approved last week a bond sale "not to exceed" $250 million for the purchase and construction of a regional sorting facility for Federal Express, scheduled to be operational in October 1997 at the airport, north of Fort Worth. Assistant Fort Worth City Manager Ramon Guajardo said concerns by FedEx that Alliance has only one runway were answered when the city committed to widening Taxiway Bravo to meet minimum standards for use as a backup runway.
UPS said yesterday it has signed a pact with Taiwan to establish its main Asia/Pacific hub there and plans to invest more than $400 million in the facility over the next several years (DAILY, March 26). In an unrelated move, UPS also said it is installing head-up guidance systems (HGS) on 59 727s and retrofitting 12 747-100s and 26 DC-8-73s with new fuel quantity indicators. The pact on the new hub was signed with the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration, said Charles Adams, VP-Asia Pacific.
