Seattle-based Product Development Systems has a new product for the information age - 3-D Virtual Tour Guide. The system, which takes users on an interactive cyberjourney through hotels, resorts, cruise ships, charter boats, yachts, condos and other facilities, aims to help sales agents produce effective visual presentations. Virtual Tours is based on Apple's new QuickTime VR software technology for Windows and Macintosh computers. Users can view settings from any angle of the 360 degree panoramic image, and zoom in for a closer look.
American Society of Travel Agents will lead an effort to improve foreign travelers' first impressions of the U.S. by making port-of-entry staff "better ambassadors."ASTA wants to work with the Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to improve language training for border inspectors and extend the customer service representative program to all U.S. international airports within two years. The initiative grew out of last October's White House Conference on Travel and Tourism.
Delta and TransQuest have been nominated for a 1996 Computerworld Smithsonian Award. TransQuest is an AT&T/Delta joint venture that provides systems integration and information services for airline business processes. Delta and TransQuest were nominated for developing a technology architecture and suite of applications for Delta's Operations Control Center. The program includes applications for flight planning, aircraft routing and crew rerouting.
FAA's strategy to implement free flight gradually "will take too long and may be doomed from the outset," according to a study by RMB Associates&Aviation Systems Research Corp. "We are gratified that the FAA has finally signed on" to pursuing the free flight concept, said Michael Baiada, author of the study. "But their timetable is not acceptable. We must move far more aggressively to replace today's disintegrating ATC system.
AlliedSignal Aerospace Corp. is forecasting significant growth in its commercial avionics new product line this year on the heels of a strong 1995.Last year, the company introduced 19 new products, and this year, it will put 28 new products in the marketplace, mainly focusing on safety, said President Daniel Burnham at the Aviation Week Group's Aerospace Finance '96 Conference in Arlington, Va.
Qantas has wet-leased a 747-300 aircraft to Garuda Indonesia for three months for annual pilgrimage flights to Mecca. The aircraft will be based in Jakarta and operate daily to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Weber Aircraft said it will supply seats to International Lease Finance Corp. for its 737-600/700/800 aircraft, with deliveries starting in 1997, and business class seats to TWA for 10 757s leased from ILFC.
SkyWest has taken delivery of its 35th Embraer EMB-120ER. It had 50 on order, with the first delivered in 1986. SkyWest gets one more airplane this year and another 12 next year.
Continental has closed its $230 million offering of 6 3/4% convertible subordinated notes due April 15, 2006. The notes, which were listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, are convertible into Class B common stock of Continental at an initial conversion price of $60.39 per share. The proceeds are being used to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes, the airline said.
The threat of mad cow disease has led British Airways to stop serving English beef on its flights. BA travelers can still order a filet, however, since the carrier has switched to Argentine and Scottish beef.
Emery Worldwide said it will offer new services and pricing April 1, including a guaranteed overnight service with delivery by 9:30 a.m., "0930 Service." It also is launching a new "Time-Definite Deferred Service" and a zone-based pricing format for its time-definite services.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses Third Quarter 1995 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues America West 407,104,725 14.21 376,867,966 American 2,755,160,000 1.81 2,344,860,000 Continental 1,070,269,000 2.34 943,715,000
Microsoft said Boeing selected its Exchange Server for the Windows NT operating system as the primary messaging and workgroup server for 65,000 employees around the world. Boeing will use the Microsoft exchange server to replace more than seven current electronic mail systems when the project is completed in 1997.
DOT has granted American's application for seven additional U.S.-Brazil frequencies, while dismissing Continental's bid for services in the market. American plans to use the frequencies to operate daily nonstop service between New York and Rio de Janeiro, using 162-seat Boeing 767-200ER aircraft, beginning June 16 (DAILY, Feb. 12). The frequencies became available in January when United informed DOT it was deferring indefinitely plans to operate daily Miami-Sao Paulo service.
Spirit Airlines will inaugurate flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C., from Detroit June 1 with fares beginning at $69 each way. No roundtrip purchase is required. Myrtle Beach, in the past decade, has "evolved into a tourist mecca," the carrier said, with a 60-mile stretch of beaches, 91 championship golf courses, 11 live-performance theaters and two amusement parks. Spirit, which was acquired by Delta Connection Comair parent Comair Holdings last week, operates DC-9 aircraft (DAILY, March 25).
Northwest will begin operating daily flights from its Minneapolis hub to Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, Mich., June 1. The new flights will complement its existing Detroit-Saginaw service.
Boeing Wichita will convert six more 747-200s into freighters for Atlas Air, bringing to 13 the number of 747s Atlas has contracted with Boeing to convert. The six are to undergo conversion beginning next month with the last to be redelivered to Atlas in September 1997. "In a relatively short time Atlas Air has become a major player in the air cargo industry and we are proud to have played a part in that success," said Vic McMullen, director of the modification center in Wichita. He said that Boeing has modified 67 of its 747s into freighters.
Innotech Aviation opened a customer service facility at its Montreal aircraft completion and refurbishment center. It also announced that the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China awarded it a maintenance organization certification for work on Cessna Citation aircraft.
AlliedSignal Aerospace has completed an agreement for a joint venture with Chinese Research Institute of Aero Accessories, the environmental control systems supplier for the state-owned Aviation Industries of China, to produce equipment for the Chinese and international markets.
FAA has issued a record of decision (ROD) approving the final environmental impact statement for land acquisition and a replacement passenger terminal at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, ending almost six years of environmental review required by California and federal law. The ROD clears the acquisition of 140 acres of land to the east of the airport's north-south runway, as well as a new terminal to be built at a site farther away from the runways then the current terminal.
Banner Aerospace, Washington, D.C., said it has acquired Harco, a $30 million distributor of precision fasteners to the aerospace industry. Harco, El Segundo, Calif., will operate as a subsidiary of Banner, and its president, Tucker Nason, will continue in that position. He also was named president and chief executive of Burbank Aircraft Supply, Banner's largest subsidiary, said John Wertz, chief executive of Banner.
Vision Air has applied for a certificate to operate scheduled combination service between various points in the U.S. and U.K. The potential new entrant plans to begin service June 1 between New York Kennedy and London Stansted Airport. The carrier plans to use Lockheed L-1011 aircraft, leased from IAL Aircraft Holding, and base its operations at JFK's International Arrivals Building. Vision's president is Vincent Civitello, former manager of international planning at United. (Docket OST-96-1185)
FAA in the past week or so has hired 26 former Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) controllers. Fourteen are going to the Chicago center, seven to the Indianapolis center and five to the Chicago Tracon. This is in addition to the 16 who recently received notices to go to the New York Tracon. The New York Tracon is having difficulty attracting workers. Six of the 16 FAA wanted to hire turned down the agency, and FAA is working on an alternate list.
Members of Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit have until April 13 to return ballots on their tentative agreement with the company. Ballots will be counted April 23.
