Southwest has launched The Children's Wing program, under which it gives air tickets to families with children fighting cancer. The carrier will donate 25 roundtrip tickets to a pediatric cancer treatment center in each of the 48 cities it serves, giving the facility the latitude to choose the recipients.
The Canadian government expects to close by July 1 a $1 billion deal for the sale of its air navigation system to Nav Canada, an Ottawa-based not- for-profit corporation. Glen McDougall, a Transport Canada spokesman, said a binding agreement is expected to be signed by early April. Nav Canada, comprising domestic airlines, air traffic controllers and corporate jet owners, said it plans a bond issue to finance up to $2 billion in debt to meet the price and cover operating capital.
Continental Express President David Siegel announced yesterday orders and options for 20 ATR-42-500 aircraft valued at $260 million. Eight aircraft are to be delivered this year, beginning in May.
The U.S. and Poland initialed amendments to their air services agreement last Friday, expanding route rights and clearing the way for limited code sharing between Polish and U.S. carriers, such as the proposed code-share arrangement between LOT and American.
Abacus Distribution Systems is on the verge of launching its computer reservations system in Cambodia. The CRS is working out details with Royal Air Cambodge to install the system in the second half of the year.
DOT made final its tentative decision granting a certificate to Piedmont Aviation Service to operate domestic and charter service after the carrier decided to use the trade name Pace Airlines, rather than Premier Airlines.
Taiwan's transport ministry is set to sign an agreement with United Parcel Service that will permit UPS to set up a transshipment center in the country, according to Taiwan's minister of transportation and communications, Mao Chih-kuo, as quoted by Taipei's Economic Daily News. Under the terms of the agreement, which is expected to be signed within the next two weeks, UPS's investment in the project eventually will reach US$400 million, including the cost of the center and acquisition of new aircraft to serve the Taiwan facility, the report said.
Membership of ACCESS U.S.-Japan passed the 500 mark last Friday and now includes members from each of the 50 states. The breadth of the coalition's membership "demonstrates the importance of U.S.-Japan air service to businesses and communities all over the U.S.," said Chairman Gerald Baliles. A growing number of Americans want aviation at the top of the agenda when President Clinton visits Japan next month, he added.
Lone Star Airlines will launch the only nonstop service to Knoxville, Tenn., from Dallas/Fort Worth on May 1, filling the void created in December when Delta dropped the service. Lone Star, which will operate two daily roundtrips with Dornier 328s, said its flights will average only 25 minutes longer than Delta's did, and passengers will save two hours, compared with current one-stop flights by other carriers. Philip Trenary, chief executive and chairman, said, ``In our industry, it is rare to have an opportunity to enter a market with a proven track record.''
While FAA's fiscal 1997 user fee proposal is $150 million, an FAA task group on user fees identified $345.1 million a year in possible certification, regulation and licensing fees. The bulk of the fees would come from $250 million in aircraft registration fees, according to the user group's report, which was introduced into the March 25 Congressional Record by Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa).
AEI has signed an exclusive agreement with Dialog Freight International, a Moscow-based multimodal company, that will increase its coverage of Russia and 12 countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States. DFI has close business connections with Central Dialog, a Russian-American joint stock company that comprises several business enterprises, including the Dialog Banking Group.
Emirates has opened a site on the World Wide Web at http://ekgroup.com/ offering background information on the carrier. It plans to add other data, including schedules, later.
Mercury Air Group increased its regular quarterly dividend to $.0125 per share from $.01 per share and announced a 10% dividend on its common stock. Both the increased dividend and the new dividend are payable May 1 to shareholders of record April 17. Mercury is an aviation services and cargo company.
Virgin Atlantic will subscribe to Worldspan Airline Source, the computer reservations system's highest level of participation. Availability requests will be routed instantly through Worldspan to the carrier's database, and travel agents receive immediate acknowledgment when flights are booked.
Free Flight can be in place by 2000, 10 years ahead of the FAA timetable, saving U.S. airlines as much as $50 billion, according to a new study by RMB Associates&Aviation Systems Research Corp."Blueprint to Free Flight" also says development of new technologies or new and expensive on- board equipment is not required.
El Al Israel Airlines is seeking permission to operate two additional weekly roundtrip cargo flights between Tel Aviv, via intermediate point Montreal, and terminal point Chicago from March 31 to Oct. 20, 1996, using Boeing 747 aircraft. The carrier said it is applying at DOT for an exemption to give it the necessary slots at O'Hare to operate the service.
TWA generated $169.31 million from its offering of 3.5 million shares of 8% cumulative preferred stock, the airline said yesterday (DAILY, March 22). The figure probably will increase slightly after TWA completes an over- allotment sale, still under way. Proceeds from the offering will be used in part to redeem the carrier's outstanding 12% cumulative preferred stock. TWA said last week that it had called for redemption of its outstanding 12% preferred stock.
Saudi Arabian Airlines has asked DOT to renew its authority to operate scheduled combination and all-cargo service between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Saudia currently is permitted to operate scheduled combination service between a point or points in Saudi Arabia and Orlando, Fla., and to co-terminalize services at Orlando with its authority to serve New York and Washington. The authority also permits Saudia to stop over at the U.S.
DOT Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International affairs Charles Hunnicutt and his French counterpart are scheduled to meet today in Paris in an attempt to resolve the current dispute over summer service between the two countries. Following DOT rejection of Air France's request for additional U.S. summer service last week, France ordered six U.S. carriers to cut back their planned summer flights to France (DAILY, March 25). Hunnicutt will ask France to retract its order so the U.S.
New Aircraft Orders And Options December 1995 Last 12 Months Firm Orders Options Orders Options Carrier # Type # Type Engines Del. Dates # Type # Type Air Berlin 2 737-400 - CFM56-3C1 96 1 737-400 - 6 737-800 -
Finnair will prohibit smoking on flights to the U.S., Canada, China, Thailand and Singapore on March 31, when its summer schedule begins. With the change, 90% of Finnair flights worldwide will be smoke-free. Most of its service within Europe already is smoke-free, but smoking still is permitted on flights to Japan. In 1970, Finnair became the first airline in the world to introduce a non-smoking policy for some seats aboard aircraft, the airline said.
Officials from FAA and industry addressing the annual FAA General Aviation Forecast Conference today and tomorrow in Tampa will deliver a general message of renewed optimism for the industry, Barry Valentine, FAA assistant administrator for policy, planning and international aviation, told The DAILY. Valentine and Darlene Freeman, deputy associate administrator for air traffic services, and Carolyn Blum, Southern Region administrator, are among the FAA officials speaking at the session.
ValuJet said it will ``rescue'' passengers traveling to Atlanta during the Olympic Games from high air fares by not increasing its rates during the summer when the games draw thousands to the city. All fares will continue to be sold on a one-way basis, without a Saturday-night stay requirement. ValuJet's fares begin at $39 from Atlanta.
