DOT Secretary Federico Pena said yesterday he "called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to immediately and fully investigate the brutal shootdown by the government of Cuba of two unarmed American civil aircraft on February 24." Meeting with ICAO officials in Montreal, Pena said he "documented how the Cuban action was a total disregard for the ICAO principle not to use weapons against civil aircraft in flight." Urging ICAO "to adopt a resolution deeply deploring these actions," Pena added that he "expressed, in the strongest possible terms, the moral out
Value Airlines, a New Zealand startup that hopes to provide no-frills, low- fare service among Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland this fall, wants to lease two hushkitted 737-200s from the U.S. It also is looking for equipment and services for baggage handling, ground services, ticketing and reservations, and computer systems.
Japan Airlines and Vietnam Airlines will code share in the Osaka-Ho Chi Minh market on some flights starting April 2. The two carriers, which currently operate three weekly roundtrips in the market each, will each be able to offer service to their customers five times per week under the agreement. On two other days of the week, the airlines will operate their flights independently. JAL operates a 266-seat DC-10 on the route, while Vietnam Airlines flies a 245-seat 767. Both carriers offer two-class service on the route.
Western Pacific Airlines carried 123,548 passengers and achieved a 53.9% load factor in February, its 10th month of operation. Revenue passenger miles totaled 102 million and available seat miles 189.1 million. Tom DeNardin, VP-sales and marketing, said, "Given the fact that this time of year is traditionally slow industrywide, we are equally pleased with our February numbers since our yield per passenger mile is well above our expectations and WestPac expanded its service by 10% in February with new service to Nashville, San Antonio and San Jose."
British Airways' traffic rose 13.4% last month, compared with February 1995, on 12.3% more capacity. The carrier flew 4.1 million revenue passenger miles in February 1996 on capacity of 6.2 million available seat miles. Load factor was 66.6%, up 0.6 points. The number of passengers rose 7.6% to 2.3 million. For the period April through February, the carrier's traffic was up 9.5% on 6.7% more capacity. BA flew 54.5 million RPMs for the period, on 74.2 million ASMs. Load factor was 73.4%, up 1.9 points.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena and FAA Administrator David Hinson went to Montreal yesterday to testify before the International Civil Aviation Organization on the Feb. 24 shootdown of U.S.-registered aircraft by Cuban military aircraft.
Worldwide airport passenger traffic rose 4.7% and cargo volume increased 6.1% during 1995, compared with the same period in 1994, according to the Airports Council International, Geneva. Aircraft movements grew 1.8%. The preliminary 1995 ACI traffic report includes data from 411 airports worldwide. Chicago O'Hare remained the busiest airport worldwide in passengers and operations with 67.25 million passengers and 900,278 movements. Memphis Airport led the world in cargo volume with 1.71 million metric tons.
Domenico Cempella has set the tone for his tenure as chief executive of Alitalia by reducing the carrier's executive committee from 14 members to five. Cempella, the former chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma who took control of the loss-plagued carrier on Monday, should have a free hand at reform since Chairman Renato Riverso has come under increasing pressure to resign. Cempella's predessor, Roberto Schisano, agreed to leave the board late last week after Alitalia said it would drop a lawsuit against him claiming he failed to stem the carrier's losses.
DOT is finishing up a report on new entry that will "document its impact on fares" and "identify those cities in which competitive conditions may favor new entry, but where it has not yet occurred," according to Mark Gerchick, DOT deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs. "Despite their small size, these carriers are having a profound competitive impact," he told the International Aviation Club yesterday, and DOT "now estimates that the direct savings in lower fares to travelers resulting from low-cost, low-fare carriers in the U.S.
USAir has reduced fares to Denver from almost 70 cities in the Southeast, Florida and western Pennsylvania by more than 30% for travel April 16 through June 6. Tickets require a 21-day advance purchase and a Saturday night stay. Fares are as low as $408 roundtrip to Pittsburgh, Orlando, Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham and Charlotte.
Edmonton Airports, operator of the Edmonton, Alberta, airports, last week proposed a flat C$10 (about US$7.30) improvement fee on users to finance construction for a change of air traffic venue. Effective June 1, the municipal airport will be used exclusively for cargo, charter and military flights, and flying schools. All scheduled airline flights will use Edmonton International Airport; they had been using both airports. The fee would become effective this fall, if the authority decides to proceed with it.
Hawaiian Airlines was the recipient of four international and one domestic award in 1995 for its inflight service. Its Mea Ho'okipa Service on interisland flights most recently won the Diamond Inflight Service Award for innovative and excellent onboard service from Onboard Services magazine. The service consists of educating passengers about the islands, serving Island juice and Kona coffee inflight and giving out postcards featuring the work of local artists.
Neither Galileo International nor Worldspan Travel Services is commenting on whether the two computer reservations system companies could be merged, a possibility raised yesterday in a Wall Street Journal report that United, which owns 38% of Galileo, is in the early stages of merger talks with Worldspan, which is owned by Delta, TWA, Northwest and Abacus. A Galileo spokeswoman said, "From our point of view, it is speculation, and we just don't respond to speculation." United declined to comment.
Airbus and Fokker Aircraft Operating Costs Third Quarter 1995 Dollars Per Block Hour A320-100/200 America West Northwest United Average Crew Cost $348 $652 $602 $579 Fuel&Oil 445 423 449 435 Rentals 791 388 629 537 Insurance 21 17 12 16
USAir's traffic slipped 1.6% last month, compared with February 1995, on 8.2% less capacity, boosting the load factor 4.4 percentage points to 63.4%. The carrier's average stage length grew to 666.3 miles, a 1.7% increase. For the first two months of this year, USAir's traffic was off 5.5% on a 12.2% drop in capacity, causing the load factor to rise 4.5 points to 61.2%. The average stage length increased 2.2% to 672.7 miles. Feb 96 Feb 95 2 Mths 96 2 Mths 95
DOT Secretary Federico Pena, speaking yesterday at FAA's 21st Annual Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference, said U.S. domestic service is expected to grow 4% per year over the next 12 years. "That is very solid growth....But the growth rate for international routes will be even higher - 5.3%," with U.S.-Asia and U.S.-Latin American markets predicted to be up 6.2% and 6.3%, respectively.
American will discount spring fares in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean and most markets in Europe, Mexico and Central and South America. Domestic prices are as much as 47% off, and international fares average 20%-30% off the lowest published fares. The tariffs are on sale through March 15. U.S. and Caribbean tickets require a 14-day advance purchase, and the other international points seven days. U.S. and Canadian travel may begin 14 days after the purchase date, and international travel may begin April 9. Final travel dates are June 30 for U.S.
ValuJet's traffic grew 72% last month, compared with February 1995, on 88% more capacity. The number of passengers carried jumped 64%. The load factor was off 5.4 percentage points to 58.6%. ValuJet Chairman Robert Priddy blamed the steep decline in load factor on poor weather and the large increase in capacity. For the first two months of the year, revenue passenger miles were up 73% on 86% more available seat miles. The number of passengers carried was up 64%, while the load factor fell four points to 53.6%.
David Tait, executive VP and director of Virgin Atlantic Airways, took a few shots at U.S. policy yesterday at FAA's forecast conference, especially regarding the Fly America Act that requires U.S. government personnel to fly U.S. airlines. Calling Bermuda II the U.S.-U.K. aviation disagreement, Tait asked if Virgin can "buy American" to the tune of $1 billion worth of Boeing aircraft, "why can't we fly America?" Tait said he does not know of a more fought-over patch of land "without a declaration of war" than Heathrow Airport.
Commercial aircraft manufacturers are on the "threshold of a long, sustained period of increasing sales," and "even the long-dormant general aviation sector" is "showing signs of growth," FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday. Aircraft deliveries are expected to double by 2002 or 2003, "then double again within 20 years," Hinson told FAA's 21st Annual Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference.
Taiwan's military-run Aero Industry Development Center has been awarded a contract to manufacture tail fins for the MD-95 regional jet. An AIDC official said the contract, signed by AIDC Deputy Director Wang Shih-sheng Feb. 29, could create as many as 500 new jobs and be worth as much as US$73 million. AIDC, which is to be restructured into a state-run corporation this year, previously was selected to build parts for the F-16 fighter and for Dassault's Falcon passenger aircraft.
Airbus and Fokker Aircraft Operating Costs Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1995 A320-100/200 America West Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 18 50 Total Fleet Operations Departures 92 204 Block Hours 207 551 Flight Hours 178 471
Delta's traffic grew 10.2% last month, compared with January 1995, on a 3.3% increase in capacity. A 7.5% decline in international traffic dampened a 15.1% jump in domestic traffic. The number of passengers boarded by the airline grew 3.3%, and the load factor was 65.5%, up 4.1 percentage points. For the first two months of the year, traffic grew 5.7%, compared with the same period in 1995. The increase came on a 0.2% rise in capacity. The load factor for the period was 63.7%, up 3.4 points. The number of passengers carried by Delta rose 7%.
Sabre Interactive and Worldview Systems Corp. will launch their Internet travel site, Travelocity, March 12. The new site has 200,000 pages of travel destination information from Worldview, combined with reservation information and instant bookings on the Sabre computer reservations system. The two companies said their joint venture provides the largest collection of travel information on the Internet. The address is http://www.travelocity.com.
Alaska Airlines' traffic rose 21.2% last month, compared with February 1995, on 13% more capacity. The load factor was 59.2%, a 3.7-percentage- point gain. The number of passengers flown increased 27.1%. For the first two months of the year, traffic was up 14.1% from the same period in 1995. Capacity gained 10.4%, which lifted load factor 1.8 points to 56.5%. The number of passengers carried rose 19.4%. Feb 96 Feb 95 2 Mths 96 2 Mths 95
