Northwest said yesterday it will offer spring fare savings in the U.S. and Canada of an average of 40% off the 21-day advance-purchase price in the U.S. and the 14-day advance price in Canada. A few destinations are reduced by as much as 50%. Fares, which must be purchased by Friday, are good for travel between March 20 and April 30. The Boston-Calgary sale fare, for example, is $275, compared with the regular $549 fare, and Colorado Springs-Detroit is $238, down from $498. TWA said it will match the fares in competing markets.
World Airways yesterday gave President Charles Pollard the added title of chief executive officer. Pollard takes the title from T. Coleman Andrews III, who will continue as chairman of World's board. Pollard joined World in 1987 as general counsel and was named president in 1992.
Influx of low-cost carriers in domestic aviation continues to force established airlines to evolve to meet the challenges of this new, permanent market, according to Delta Chairman Ron Allen. Low-cost airlines are growing aggressively and now hold about 15% of the U.S. domestic market share, he said, and "it is only a matter of time before low-cost carriers begin to influence European markets to a much greater extent as well." Allen, speaking yesterday at FAA's Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference, predicted that some new entrants in the U.S.
BWIA International Airways extended its winter promotion for travel from New York and Miami to the Eastern Caribbean and Guyana. The discounts, which had been scheduled to expire Feb. 29, are available through March 14. Fares start at $199 each way from New York and $174 each way from Miami to Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
KLM named Jan Meurer senior VP and area manager-North America and Mexico. He has been VP-operations for KLM's cargo division, and succeeds Toon Woltman, who resigned.
Travel Distribution Report is sponsoring a conference April 25 on airline reservations systems at the Washington National Airport Hilton in Arlington, Va. The conference is for airlines that are looking for a new reservations system, and Jim Foster of The Park Group and Richard Eastman of The Eastman Group will give presentations on factors that carriers should consider when deciding on one. Vendors of 17 systems will attend. For more information, call 800-320-3568.
Royal Brunei Airlines has agreed to participate in Infini Travel Information's Direct Sell product, which provides instantaneous communications with a carrier's host system each time a flight segment is booked. Royal Brunei also will implement the computer reservations system's Advance Seat Reservation with Seat Map Display facility.
Mercury Air Group has acquired Floracool Inc., noting its status as "one of only seven companies with permits to conduct air cargo handling operations at Miami International Airport." Floracool will be a subsidiary of Mercury.
Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Denise Hedges and VP Judy Ladislaw have been re-elected for a new term, beginning April 1, in a runoff election held after no national officer received a majority. The union, which represents American's flight attendants, has launched APFA 2000, a program to build up its treasury and finance negotiation-related activities. It plans to sock away 25% of a dues increase, amounting to $500,000 per year, into a separate negotiating fund.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is offering a one-way fare of $99 from Orlando to Manchester, England, good for travel through May 31. The tariff applies to eastbound flights only. The service is slated to begin May 17. Roundtrip fares start at $399.
Northwest Airlink carrier Express Airlines I has reached an agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association on a new contract that has been in negotiation for the past 26 months. The contract will pay pilots by the "trip value" method, modeled on the procedure used by Southwest, which Express Airlines I said enables it to project expenses on a specific route more precisely by paying a predetermined, fixed amount. Pilots' wages will increase on average at twice the percentage rate awarded to ALPA- represented pilots over the past five years, the company said.
SAS and United said yesterday they have started selling tickets on their code-share service, which begins April 10. The SAS code will be placed on United domestic flights serving major U.S. cities, such as Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. SAS flights between its U.S. gateways and Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and from Amsterdam and London to Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, will carry the United code. In all, the program encompasses 66 flight segments per day.
Guyana Airlines applied for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service to the U.S. The carrier is seeking to continue three weekly nonstops between Georgetown, Guyana, and New York; two weekly Georgetown-New York flights via Curaao, Netherlands Antilles, and one weekly Georgetown-Miami service, all using Boeing 757 aircraft.
The government of Armenia is looking for an investor to take state-owned Armenian Airlines private. The carrier, formed in March 1993 from the breakup of Aeroflot, operates 55 flights per week to the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and Western Europe. In addition to 11 destinations in the CIS, the carrier flies to Bulgaria, France, The Netherlands, Greece, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon and the UAE. During 1996, Armenian plans to start flying to four additional destinations in the CIS and to Frankfurt, Warsaw, Delhi, Cairo, Larnaca and Tel Aviv.
Carnival Air Lines said yesterday it plans to make an underwritten public offering of its common stock, including about $40 million common stock owned by the company and between $25 million and $40 million of additional shares offered by existing shareholders. The company expects to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April and start the offering in May, Carnival said. The offer will be made only by prospectus.
Reduced losses on regional aircraft and steady defense sales helped boost British Aerospace's pre-tax profits 95% to 330 million pounds ($505.6 million) on 5.7 billion pounds ($8.78 billion) revenue for 1995 before accounting for one- time items, according to preliminary full-year results posted last week. BAe finished 1995 with 203 million pounds ($310 million) in net cash.
Pan Am World Airways will launch widebody service on long-haul domestic routes in July, serving New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, founders say. The carrier estimates that it needs $30 million for its first year of operations and will be "cash positive" in the first year. An affiliate, Pan Am Air Bridge, began seaplane operations with 17-seat Grumman Mallard flying boats during the weekend from Watson Island to Key West (DAILY, March 4).
Code sharing cost U.S. carriers market share on the North Atlantic to their European partner airlines, an FAA official said yesterday on the eve of the agency's annual commercial aviation market forecast. Robert Bowles, manager of FAA's statistics and forecast branch and chairman of today's 21st annual forecast, said North Atlantic traffic for U.S. carriers grew only 0.3% in 1995, compared with FAA's prediction of 5.5%. Overall, U.S. carriers' international traffic grew by 4%.
Delta has inaugurated two daily nonstop flights to Vancouver from Atlanta and Cincinnati with 180-seat 757 aircraft. Delta already offers one-stop service in the markets. It is offering double miles to SkyMiles members through May 2, and half-price fares on tickets purchased by March 7.
FAA Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs Sandra Allen will leave her post March 31 to rejoin her family in Chicago. Drucella Anderson, deputy assistant administrator, will fill the position until a replacement is named.
Air Canada plans to operate three weekly nonstop flights between Montreal and Brussels starting May 14, using a 177-passenger Boeing 767-200ER. To launch the new service, it is offering an introductory fare of $599 roundtrip through March 31.
International Civil Aviation Organization Council will meet tomorrow in Montreal on the Feb. 24 shootdown of two U.S.-registered civil aircraft by Cuban military aircraft. The U.S. and the United Nations Security Council asked ICAO to consider the incident, and Cuba asked for an investigation of what it termed repeated violations of Cuban airspace by U.S. aircraft.
Air Canada Chief Executive Hollis Harris still would like to start a no- frills U.S. carrier when his contract with Air Canada expires in March 1997, he said recently, but he is not interested in working for an established U.S. airline. Air Canada's board made it harder for Harris to launch a startup when it decided to offer the DC-9s he hoped to use for sale on the open market.
Kiwi International Air Lines has started a "beer of the month" program, offering premium bottled beers inflight for the regular price of $3. Other beers include Corona, Red Stripe, Augsberger, Pete's Wicked Ale, Red Wolf and microbrews.
