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.
Canadian Airlines International says its Eastern shuttle, started in November, is beginning to take hold, while CAI maintains its dominant market position in the Western part of the country. The carrier, which boosted flying 23% between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, says February revenue was up 9% from last year, and its market share climbed two points.
Atlas Air said it filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission to make a public offering of three million shares of common stock. The offering will be made up of two million shares to be sold by the company and one million shares to be sold by Chairman Michael Chowdry, representing 6.7% of his holdings. After the offering, Chowdry will continue to hold a 63.5% stake in the company. Atlas will have 21.9 million common shares outstanding after the offering, which will be managed by Morgan Stanley&Co., Goldman, Sachs&Co., and Smith Barney.
Southwest is asking shareholders to let it raise its authorized common stock from the current level of 500 million shares to 650 million shares. About 144.5 million of the carrier's shares are outstanding, while another 216 million are reserved for special groups.
The Clinton administration, after months of interagency wrangling, has decided to switch off the military-quality "Selective Availability" mode on the Global Positioning System and make a uniform signal available free of charge to support the burgeoning market for civilian GPS applications, Vice President Gore announced Friday.
U.S. and Japanese airlines are pressing their respective nations to begin talks on passenger issues in the wake of the U.S.-Japan cargo agreement. "The air cargo talks have resulted in expanded opportunities for carriers on both sides of the Pacific," said All Nippon Airways President Seiji Fukatsu. "This is in the interests of our countries and will create tangible benefits to consumers," he said, adding, "I ask the governments of the U.S.
Eighty-two Canadair Regional Jets, delivered as of November, were averaging 8.2 block hours and six trips per day, according to the manufacturer. Delta Connection Comair, with the largest fleet at 26 airplanes, also posted the highest daily utilization of 8.8 block hours on 6.5 trips per day. The lowest for the fleet was French regional Brit Air with 7.2 block hours and a like 6.5 daily trips. Average scheduled sector distance for the fleet was 473 statute miles with an average block time of one hour and 23 minutes.
Southwest Chairman Herb Kelleher's current base salary of $395,000 per yearstays at that level until the year 2000, when it rises to $450,000, the fifth year of his new five-year contract. His possible annual cash bonus goes from the current level of $172,000 per year to $196,000 in the year 2000. The figures, which were included in the carrier's most recent proxy filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission, do not include stock and option benefits.
Aviation consultant Morten Beyer sees a grim future for operators of 19-seat regional aircraft. In a speech prepared for a conference on regional airlines last week in McLean, Va., Beyer blamed the bleak prospects in part on what he called costly and "nonsensical over- regulation" propelled by the administration's "zero accidents" policy, which Beyer said sends a "bogus message" to the American public. He said corners of the industry that could be damaged severely by the new rules have not objected strongly enough to the proposed changes.
After reaching an agreement with France, DOT quickly moved to rescind officially its action disapproving Air France's request for additional summer flights and begin the process of selecting a new U.S. carrier for daily Boston-Paris service. Beginning April 1, Air France will be able to increase its service to the U.S. by 12%, or 500 flights. "Because of the imminence of the 1996 summer season, and so that the selected carrier will be able to start service quickly," the department invited U.S. carriers interested in flying the route to file applications immediately.
TravelScan Corporation, Bethesda, Md., has a new line of airline information products that are based on marketing information data tapes (MIDTs) from every major computer reservations system. The latest offering is a code-share analyzer that evaluates the profitability of carrier alliances. MIDTs capture itinerary, travel agent and service details for all airlines, and TravelScan extracts segment data, reconstructs passenger itineraries and customizes results.
Independent Travel Technology Association (ITTA) recently changed its name to the Travel Technology Association (TTA) to "reflect the new synergy between third-party developers and the industry's [computer reservations systems]." It reclassified CRSs as regular members instead of associate members. Pittsburgh-based TTA President Tim Moore said, "At the time ITTA was formed, the dominating CRSs were largely unresponsive to customers and members alike when asked to deliver a full compliment of technology solutions to meet their demands.
AMR Eagle is making a concerted effort to see that its passengers remain under cover between terminal and airplane. In addition to the jet bridge "adapter" developed in-house to mate existing jet bridges with the ATR 42/72 aircraft and the effort to develop a similar device for the Saab 340, the company is looking at covered gate areas, where aircraft simply taxi in under a roof (DAILY, March 22). Also being considered is a bus that marries with the aircraft door, like a jet bridge.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has voiced support for America West's mechanics, who are voting on representation by the Teamsters Union, while hurling insults at airline management. In a letter to workers, excerpted by the Teamsters, Sweeney said the airline has tried everything to keep the workers from voting, and a string of "broken promises" resulted in the firing of 500 workers. Sweeney was referring to the carrier's decision to outsource heavy maintenance to Tramco that resulted in the loss of 500 jobs (DAILY, Dec. 5).
United Express Air Wisconsin wants long-haul customers to be as comfortable on its BAe 146s as they are on the 757s flown by senior partner United - and is modifying some of its 146-200s with wider seats, inflight telephones and improved seat selection. The carrier, whose five 100-seat BAe 146-300s already are equipped with five-abreast seating, as are two 88- seat BAe 146-200s acquired last year, will reconfigure the remaining five aircraft of its -200 fleet similarly by mid-June. It also operates two -100s, which will remain at 86 seats and six-abreast seating.
Domestic City-Pairs -------------------------------------------- Carriers Added Dropped New Shared ---------------------------------------------------------------------- America West Mesa -- Las Vegas-Des Moines -- Phoenix-Spokane -- Phoenix-Santa Barbara --
Galileo International's automation conference May 9-11 in Madrid will focus on the role of partnership in the travel community during a time of unprecedented technological change. President and Chief Executive James Barlett said, "Our partnership role for the conference is to deliver solutions for the future through customer education and dialogue." The conference will be held at the Palacio Municipal de Congresos.
Amadeus Global Travel Distribution will take over the shareholding of German travel distributor START's foreign subsidiaries in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Turkey in a strategic alliance agreed to by the two companies last year. Amadeus also will directly serve subscribers in Egypt, Pakistan and Russia. The alliance deals mainly with market coverage, joint operations and product development. Amadeus will become the 100% shareholder of the marketing subsidiaries, except in Poland, where LOT and Orbis Travel jointly hold 49% of the local company.
Pratt&Whitney Canada is expected to accept the government's new matching-loan fund program offer to help fund development of the PW150 - the powerplant that will power the new 70-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-400 high- speed turboprop. The company had threatened to move the program out of Canada after the government last year eliminated a more defense-oriented development aid program. The new fund will start off at C$150 million and will grow to as much as C$250 million, although it is still watered down from the program it replaces.
Reno Air will put a new MD-90 in service between Orange County and San Jose April 4. The aircraft, dubbed the Orange County Flyer, will fly primarily in that market, doubling the number of daily flights by Reno. The paint scheme includes an orange inside the "o" in Reno. The airline is the second domestic carrier to take delivery of the MD-90 series aircraft.
