FAA said yesterday it will not penalize airlines for failing to reach the 80% minimum-use requirement at slot-controlled airports during the January East Coast blizzard. In bi-monthly use-or-lose reports, operators may designate slots at high-density airports as having been operated between Jan. 7 and Jan. 12.
Citing Russia's refusal to renew its code-share service to Moscow, United urged DOT to reject or limit Transaero's bid for renewal of its U.S.-Russia authority. Transaero applied for continued permission to operate scheduled combination service between points in Russia and Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and Seattle, via intermediate points (DAILY, Feb. 9). United plans to inaugurate service to Orlando in June and Chicago in November.
Bombardier, thought by many to be the most serious candidate to take over Fokker, has ended its pursuit of the struggling Dutch aircraft manufacturer. Netherlands Economic Affairs Minister Hans Wijers said yesterday that Laurent Beaudoin, Bombardier chairman and chief executive, told him that his company will not make an offer for the assets of Fokker, which has been under court protection from creditors and looking for a takeover since January.
DOT has renewed the authority of Krasnoyarsk Airlines, doing business as KrasAir, to operate combination service between Russia and New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. A former division of Aeroflot, KrasAir is 51% owned by the Russian state and 44% by employees, with the balance held by an investment fund (DAILY, Jan. 16). It operates a fleet of 50 Russian-made aircraft and two DC-10-30s leased from Douglas Aircraft. (Docket OST-95-523)
Delta will begin weekend service between New York LaGuardia Airport and Fort Myers March 2, operating one daily roundtrip flight in the market on Saturdays and Sundays at a one-way fare of $89. The carrier will use one of the 139-seat 727s generally allocated to the Delta Shuttle.
National Transportation Safety Board has begun rudder system tests on a retired, static 737 at Boeing. No airborne tests are planned. The aircraft was donated to the Museum of Flight by USAir. The tests are part of the board's investigation of the crash of a USAir 737 in September 1994 outside Pittsburgh.
GD Express Worldwide, which trades as TNT Express Worldwide, said yesterday it will build a $66.6 million European air hub in Lige, Belgium. The new hub will open in early 1998, said John Fellows, chief executive. "Our business in Europe is growing incredibly quickly.
British Airways said its application for a new World Cargocenter at London Heathrow Airport has been approved by the planning committee of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The building, scheduled to open late in 1998, will double BA's freight, courier and mail capacity to 800,000 metric tons a year. The building will use the latest proven cargo-handling systems for its 38 landside docks and 57 dual-function pallet/container build-and-break stations, BA said.
Finnair's traffic increased 6.7% last month, compared with January 1994, to 839 million revenue passenger kilometers. Revenue ton kilometers rose 7% while cargo and mail increased 1.8%. The load factor for the month was 63.2%, down 1.8 percentage points. For the period April through January, traffic grew 12% over the same period of 1994-95, to 8.87 billion RPKs. Revenue ton kilometers were up 11.3% and cargo and mail up 5.4%. Load factor for the period gained 0.9 points to 68.4%.
Air Aruba is seeking renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between Aruba and Tampa and to co-terminalize its Tampa services with flights to Miami and Baltimore. The carrier operates five weekly flights between Aruba and Tampa, two of them on a co-terminal basis with Baltimore. Also, some of the carrier's services between Tampa and Aruba operate beyond Aruba to Bonaire and Curaao, Netherlands Antilles. (Docket OST-95-110)
Oral arguments on a class-action suit filed by controllers fired by the Reagan administration in 1981 are scheduled March 8 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. The former controllers want the suit to be remanded to U.S. District Court for a full hearing. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Platt ruled in favor of the government's argument to dismiss the case.
Herbert Lanese was named president of McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, effective immediately. Lanese, who had been deputy president, succeeds John Capellupo, who will retire at the end of March from MDC's largest operating unit.
Continental is challenging American over unused U.S.-Brazil authority, requesting 14 weekly frequencies to operate scheduled Newark-Sao Paulo and Newark-Rio de Janeiro combination service. It proposes daily DC-10-30 service on both routes, beginning June 6. American applied earlier for seven frequencies to operate daily New York-Rio de Janeiro nonstops with 162-seat 767-200ERs (DAILY, Feb. 12).
Emery Worldwide said yesterday it has begun daily DC-8 direct air freight flights from its Brussels hub to its Dayton sortation center, "providing the only Next-Business-Day delivery service for heavyweight express cargo shipments from Europe to all major markets throughout the U.S." David Beatson, president, said the new service supplements the "substantial heavyweight cargo capacity Emery provides to customers on scheduled airline carriers between North America and Europe. Emery is currently Europe's ninth largest purchaser of scheduled airline capacity."
New Aircraft Orders And Options November 1995 Last 12 Months Firm Orders Options Orders Options Carrier # Type # Type Engines Del Dates # Type # Type BWIA Intl 2 A321-100 - V2500 Jun96-Oct96 2 A340-300 - 5 EMB145 5 EMB145 Cathay
New Jet Aircraft Deliveries November 1995 Last 12 Months Carrier # Type Engines Delivery Air Canada 1 767-300ER PW4060 1 Air Littoral 1 Fokker 70 Tay620-15 4 Air Macau 1 A321-100 V2500-A1 0
Delta's success in reducing its unit costs to 8.6 cents in the December quarter from 9.6 cents in March 1994 has drawn a lot of attention, but little has been said about the larger success of Alaska Airlines.In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Alaska said it cut its unit costs 20% between 1992 and 1994 and a further 7% between 1994 and 1995.
USAir this week established a site on the Internet's World Wide Web. Its home page offers flight schedules, fare information, company facts, history, news releases and destination route maps at http://www.usair.com.
The nation's airlines yesterday joined much of the rest of the aviation industry in opposing new work rules proposed by FAA for commercial pilots.The Air Transport Association, supported by two widely known human factors experts whose work was cited by FAA when it proposed the rules, went a step further than other industry groups and asked for dismissal of the entire proceeding.
Sky Trek International Airlines has applied for a certificate authorizing it to operate charter service. The proposed carrier plans to begin operating passenger charters in the near future using 165-seat 727-200s.
Horizon Air said it will switch to larger aircraft in some markets this spring and add frequencies in others. Starting April 7, the carrier will add a fourth daily flight from Seattle to Calgary, using a 37-passenger de Havilland Dash 8. It will add a ninth daily flight between Seattle and Bellingham, also using a Dash 8. Some service between Seattle and Port Angeles will be upgraded to a 31-seat Dornier 328 from an 18-seat Metroliner.
Sabena's board of directors yesterday replaced resigning Chairman, President and Chief Executive Pierre Godfroid with a three-person team (DAILY, Feb. 27). Jan Juyghebaert was named chairman and Phillipe Suinen vice chairman, on an interim basis, and Paul Reutlinger, Swissair's executive VP-marketing and ground services, became chief executive. Swissair owns a controlling interest in Sabena. Two other top Sabena officials - Gery Daeninck, chief operating officer, and Raymond Aelvoet, executive VP-flight operations - also resigned.
