The House Transportation aviation subcommittee has scheduled five days of hearings this month and next on issues surrounding the Airport Improvement Program and a one-day hearing with another Transportation subcommittee on reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board. The AIP hearings are in preparation for the reauthorization of the program, which otherwise will lapse on Oct. 1. Hearings on AIP will cover airport privatization, Feb.
Woodside Travel Trust, Bethesda, Md., has asked six major U.S. airlines that capped travel agent commissions last year to increase commissions by 2.5%, corresponding with an increase in the Consumer Price Index. President Ivan Schaeffer also is calling for guaranteed minimum commission floors on low-cost tickets. Woodside has about 130 partner agencies in 60 countries. Schaeffer made the request in letters to American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and USAir.
Aeromexpress has applied for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled all-cargo service between Mexico City and Atlanta, Dallas and Dayton. (Dockets OST-95-135&OST-95-219)
Officials of FAA and the Federal Labor Relations Authority plan to meet this week to discuss how to handle FAA cases after the agency's new personnel system takes effect April 1. FAA unions insist that legislative changes are needed to fully protect employees' rights, regardless of any arrangement between the two agencies.
Transport Workers Union members representing dispatchers at Alaska Airlines have ratified a six-year contract giving them pay raises and bonuses. Alaska Chairman John Kelly said, "The negotiations and the ratification of the agreement occurred months in advance of the amendable date of the contract and were conducted in a professional manner and with a spirit of cooperation that recognized the interest of both parties."
Why did only seven airlines show up at Air Transport Association headquarters for a Jan. 22 meeting on exchanging safety-related data? Because the other carriers believed data were to be exchanged at that first meeting, according to a participant (DAILY, Jan. 24). "Nobody has any data to exchange right now except United," the participant said. Confusion surrounding the data exchange issue has been turned over to the Flight Safety Foundation, which will try to sort it out.
DOT Inspector General Mary Schiavo said Friday that an audit of 20 former employees who accepted buyouts in 1994 showed that FAA allowed 17 to return to work in violation of their agreements to stay out of the government for at least five years. Schiavo said incentive payments totaling $425,000 "should be recouped" from the 17 former employees. An audit of other DOT departments did not find "similar conditions," Schiavo said. FAA "also increased the government's cost for all 20 former employees who took buyouts.
Airline Automation Inc. has introduced Global Distribution System (GDS) audit service software it says can reduce overall GDS expenses by up to 15%. The service can audit all major GDSs, including Abacus, Amadeus, Apollo, Axess, Gabriel, Galileo, Infini, Sabre, System One and Worldspan. The company, based in The Plains, Va., is offering a one-month free trial through April.
World Airways flew 3,406 block hours in January, a 40% increase from 1995 levels. The carrier used its fleet an average of 9.9 block hours per day last month, up from 9.8 block hours per day in January 1995.
Dutch government said it will not provide any more state aid to Fokker following the $220 million bridge loan it extended the company late last month. That loan ends later this month. In the meantime, Bombardier, which had repeatedly denied interest in Fokker, revealed that it has sent a 20-member team to Amsterdam to discuss the possibility of acquiring the Dutch manufacturer.
Customers booking entertainment events through Ticketmaster can purchase airline tickets on Reno Air by calling a toll-free line beginning Feb. 14. Fred Rosen, president and chief executive of Ticketmaster Corporation, said the agreement will give it an opportunity to create package deals to include airfare with entertainment.
Delta will close its pilot bases in Boston and Seattle Sept. 1 and Oct. 1, respectively. The airline says shutting down Seattle, where 55 pilots are based, will save $1 million annually. For Boston, with 230 pilots, the estimate is $2 million a year. Delta already has closed bases in Houston, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago and Fort Lauderdale.
National Aviation Club will host the 11th annual Women in Aviation luncheon Feb. 15 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. Guest speaker is Carol Hallett, president of the Air Transport Association. Lunch begins at noon. Reservations must be made before noon Feb. 13 by faxing a request to 703-379-1507.
Mesa Air Group will sell approximately 71% of its 5.1% stake in America West and use the proceeds to buy back its own stock. The company acquired 2.1 million shares of America West stock - then valued at $18.7 million - when that carrier came out of bankruptcy in 1994. Although the value declined to $17.5 million at the end of that year, it was back up to nearly $45 million at the end of 1995. Mesa already has bought back nearly two million of its own shares since early December in a total $30 million buyback program.
Sterling, Va.-based Atlantic Coast Airlines logged 20.5 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 3.3% decline from January 1995. January 1996 January 1995 Rev. Passenger Miles 20,486,000 21,177,000 Available Seat Miles 53,590,000 60,083,000 Load Factor (%) 38.2 35.2 Passengers 85,629 87,065
Alaska Airlines will increase service to Reno, Fairbanks and Russia in April. It will boost from four to six per day the number of nonstops between Reno and Seattle on April 7. These new flights will improve service from Reno to points in Alaska, the carrier said - it operates 15 daily roundtrips from Seattle to Anchorage and will increase the service to 16 per day this month. Alaska also will resume its seasonal nonstop service from Seattle to Fairbanks on April 7, one month earlier than last year.
Horizon's traffic last month increased 8.1% to 66 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 5.6% to 117 million available seat miles, pushing load factor up 1.3 percentage points to 56.4% from 55.1%.
SkyWest's board of directors yesterday authorized the purchase of up to 500,000 shares of its common stock in the open market. The shares are in addition to the 500,000 shares that were authorized in February 1995, of which 100,000 have been subsequently repurchased.
Virgin Europe is expected to make a fast start out of the gate with an expanding fleet of Boeing 737s, of which EBA already has several. The carrier now serves Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona and Vienna and will add Nice in April, but 80% of its passenger traffic has been charter. Ornstein, now based in London, has taken two of his key Continental Express executives with him - VP/Chief Financial Officer Jim Swigart and VP- Marketing Geoff Moss. The company will not be linked to Virgin Atlantic other than by Branson's stake and the Virgin name.
Alaska Airlines traffic grew 7.5% last month, compared with January 1995, to 632 million revenue passenger miles, on a 7.4% increase in available seat miles. The carrier flew 1.1 billion ASMs in January. The load factor for the month was 65%, unchanged from January 1995. Passengers carried by the airline grew 11.9% to 764,200.
