Emirates is co-sponsoring the Dubai World Cup horse race, contributing part of the $4 million in prize money and providing transportation to Dubai for jockeys, trainers and owners from around the world. Fourteen thoroughbred horses will participate in the March 27 race, billed as the world's richest.
Paul Reutlinger, Sabena's new president and chief executive, has trimmed its management committee to eight officers from 12, a Sabena spokeswoman said yesterday. Among new appointees is Peter Ramel, executive VP-finance, who replaces Gery Daeninck, formerly chief operating officer. Daeninck stepped down late last month with four other top officers, including Pierre Godfroid, chairman, president and chief executive (DAILY, Feb. 28). Sabena promoted Paul Swysen to executive VP-operations, replacing Raymond Aelvoet, who also resigned.
Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa), a principal sponsor of the House-passed FAA reform bill (H.R.2276), said this week he is drafting legislation to implement "linked financing," a concept for funding FAA proposed by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Lightfoot said he hopes a select panel on innovative funding mechanisms that would be established by H.R.2276 will consider linked financing in its review.
Fairchild Aircraft this week announced a "new commitment" to selling and leasing used Metro aircraft in addition to new Metro 23s and their government counterpart C-26s. The manufacturer said that in some areas of the world, "the economy, rate structure, and consumer demand... simply cannot financially support the operation of a new Metro 23. In such cases, a previously owned Metro can be the solution.
American will upgrade the aircraft on its Miami-Vancouver service to a 767-200 from a 757 June 16. The carrier announced earlier that it will launch flights from Miami and New York to Vancouver May 1.
Air and road transport talks between the European Union and non-member Switzerland, key to gaining full access to the EU aviation market for Swissair, have made little progress during the year since they were launched officially, a diplomat told DAILY affiliate Aviation Europe last week during an EU transport minister's meeting in Brussels. So far, Bern has made very few concessions on the EU's objective - extended truck transit rights through Switzerland - but is asking nevertheless for liberalization in the air, including cabotage on EU domestic routes.
LatinPass has signed a multi-year contract with GoldenWare Travel Technologies to become the first distribution partner for electronic travel desk (ETD), an electronic periodical providing airline flight timetables and hotel and car rental listings. GoldenWare will mail ETD to its members free every two months, beginning in May.
Paul Karos, managing director of equity research at CS First Boston, is leaving the firm and his role as an airline analyst to become equity product manager and head of institutional sales at Piper Jaffray Inc.
Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) is advising travel agents in Dallas to take extra security precautions in light of three burglaries in a week in the area. The theft of ticket stock in Dallas follows similar attacks on several agencies in Chicago a few weeks ago. In an effort to warn agencies, ARC has begun offering a new service - a list of all recently reported burglaries by location on computer reservations system screens. ARC suggests that agents remove ticket stock from printers while their offices are unattended and place excess stock in a safe deposit box.
USAir has reduced fares by as much as 50% to Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and more than 50 U.S. destinations, beginning May 1. The fares require a 21-day advance purchase. USAir will be going up against ValuJet's new low-fare service at Fort Walton Beach, which also begins May 1. The Pittsburgh-Fort Walton Beach fare will be $178, for example, USAir said.
FAA will announce today what it terms a "major step forward in implementing free flight," a concept intended to improve air traffic flow management by allowing pilots to choose their own routes where possible and file the most efficient, economical flight plans.
...Dornier was aggressive in the 50-airplane Mesaba competition and, according to one source, did well to get as close as it did. He conceded that Saab's ability to offer the 20 used aircraft at much lower lease rates - something Dornier could not do - won the day. Loss of the order further affects Dornier because he said an order of such scope would have made the company much more attractive to a potential buyer. Risk-sharing partner Daewoo Heavy Industries of South Korea still is believed to be the most likely 51% investor in Dornier.
Dragonair has raised nearly HK$660,000 (US$85,400) for Project Orbis, the non-profit group that helps patients with sight problems and trains doctors and nurses in developing countries. In a campaign launched last September, Dragonair asks passengers to donate unwanted foreign currency or coins to the venture.
Air Inter Europe, taking over Air France's domestic and European network, plans to develop service from French airports to London. Expanding beyond Air France Group's current service from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Air Inter Europe will launch a three-times-daily route from Paris Orly to London Heathrow on April 1. The carrier plans to serve Heathrow twice a day from Lyon, Strasbourg and Toulouse, and once a day from Nice.
Air New Zealand is offering inflight telephone service on its domestic flights. The carrier has installed two Flightphone air-to-ground calling systems on each of its 737s for use by passengers with a credit card or pay telephone card. It is offering the service in conjunction with Telecom Mobile.
Air Nostrum of Valencia, Spain, has placed an order with Fokker for three additional used Fokker 50 turboprops, scheduled for delivery next month and in May. The aircraft will will be used to serve Air Nostrum's new routes in northern and central Spain.
Air Canada's traffic increased 23.4% last month, compared with February 1995, on 12.5% more capacity. The carrier flew 1.28 million revenue passenger miles on capacity of 2.09 million available seat miles. The load factor was up 5.4 percentage points to 61.1%. For two months, traffic was up 19.2%, compared with the same 1995 period, on 11.5% more capacity, boosting the load factor 3.9 points to 55.8%.
Fuel Cost and Comsumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals February 1995 - January 1996 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1995 February Domestic 957,737,967 509,780,479 International 316,777,202 176,368,644 System Total 1,274,515,169 686,149,123
UPS said yesterday it is the first package carrier to handle same-day pickups via the World Wide Web. Electronic pickup requests are available in most major metropolitan areas of the U.S., the company said. UPS called the Internet accessibility a "milestone" in its move into on-line communications, which began in 1994 when UPS was the first package carrier to accept pickup requests over CompuServe and Prodigy.
Apollo Travel Services is offering travel agents products that will enable them to work from home or another location outside the office, beginning this month. Focalpoint Dial-Up will run on a Windows-based PC, including Windows 95. With Focalpoint and a modem, agents can dial into Apollo and enjoy "virtually all the productivity features available to traditional Focalpoint customers." Ticketing functions must be performed at the host office.
Assailing the U.S. negotiating strategy, Federal Express Chairman and CEO Frederick Smith urged the administration yesterday to toughen its approach in its talks with Japan set to resume March 25 in Tokyo. Testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee aviation subcommittee, Smith said both Japan's attempt to restrict access and the U.S. proposals would hurt its competitive position in the market.
House is expected to consider during the week of April 15 legislation (H.R.842) to take all four transportation trust funds off budget.Language to take the aviation trust fund off budget was removed from the FAA reform bill (H.R.2276) before passage this week as part of an arrangement between Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and the House leadership to bring up H.R.842 later.
Fausto Cereti, president of aerospace manufacturer Alenia, will be appointed chairman of Alitalia at the Italian flag carrier's next board meeting, according to the state holding company IRI, Alitalia's parent. He will succeed Renato Riverso, who resigned a few days after the board gave executive power to the new managing director, Domenico Cempella. In an interview published by the Italian daily Il Sole 2 Ore, Riverso denounced "ambiguities and silences" and "total confusion" about the airline's restructuring plans caused in recent weeks by unions and politicians.
Delta Connection affiliate SkyWest Airlines reported a 53.3% increase in traffic to 53.8 million revenue passenger miles from 35.1 million in February 1995. Capacity increased 41.2% to 104.5 million available seat miles, while enplanements rose 33.9% to 203,313. The load factor moved up 4.1 percentage points to 51.5% from 47.4%.
Traffic, as measured in revenue passenger miles, grew by an average of 30.8% during February, according to a DAILY sampling of 15 of the nation's largest regional airlines. Capacity growth - available seat miles - was up only 19.6% for a spread of 11.2 percentage points. The average increase in traffic is again slightly skewed by Gulfstream International, the rapidly expanding Miami-based carrier that is affiliated with United. Its traffic was outpaced by capacity, however - 92.1% to 88.6%.
