Continental has awarded Dobbs International Services a multi-year contract for food service in Atlanta, Boston, Kansas City, Orlando, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Fort Myers and Tampa. The contract also extends food service Dobbs is providing for Continental in Chicago, Miami, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
America West will launch service to San Antonio and Anchorage June 6. The carrier will operate three flights per day to San Antonio from Phoenix and one from Las Vegas, and two flights a day to Anchorage from Seattle. It will begin new service to Miami Nov. 15, offering one daily flight from Phoenix and another from Las Vegas. On April 7, America West will add a third nonstop in the Phoenix-Atlanta market, and on May 15 a third nonstop in the Las Vegas-New York Kennedy market. On June 6, it will add a fifth Phoenix-Colorado Springs flight.
The White House has instructed the Justice Department to take whatever action is appropriate to overturn a D.C. Circuit Court decision that overturned President Clinton's executive order blocking federal contracts for companies that hire permanent replacement workers for strikers.
United's tentative agreement with the Association of Flight Attendants, reached after 18 days of negotiations, bars more non-U.S. domiciles and caps the growth of those now in place. The flight attendants picketed last year at various United events in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the opening of new foreign domiciles. The new four-year contract, with an amendable date of April 2000, includes arbitration to determine wage increases in 1998, improved scheduling and changes in language qualification requirements.
Passenger boardings during 1995 increased 5.4%, if the basis for calculation is 10 carriers - not 11, The DAILY's usual sampling. Not included is Miami-based Gulfstream International, which boasted a 114.1% increase during the year, although the United affiliate posted the lowest total number for the 11 carriers. Gulfstream went from carrying 194,331 passengers in 1994 to 416,019 for the year just ended. At the other end of the spectrum, USAir Express CCAIR saw an 11.2% dip in passenger boardings for the year, to 777,502.
Revenue passenger miles for Mesa Air Group totaled 105.4 million in January, a 28.5% increase from the 82 million recorded in January 1995. Capacity was up 13.2% to 209.6 million available seat miles. January 1996 January 1995 Rev. Passenger Miles 105,364,000 82,014,000 Available Seat Miles 209,607,000 185,084,000 Load Factor (%) 50.3 44.3 Passengers 481,795 437,920
Cincinnati-based Delta Connection affiliate Comair will begin nonstop Canadair Jet service between Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., and Newark Airport April 1, offering three roundtrip flights per day. Separately, the carrier also said it would be increasing service to both Appleton, Wis., and Charlotte, N.C., on March 1, by upgrading to jet equipment a second roundtrip flight to each city. The carrier also will add a new turboprop flight between Cincinnati and Appleton, Wis., Lansing, Mich., and Pittsburgh, Pa. The carrier operates 29 Canadair Jets.
America West will ladle out $17.7 million in profit sharing bonuses to workers, 10.25% of eligible earnings, reflecting its record 1995 financial performance. Full and part-time employees will receive compensation, except for pilots, who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and flight attendants, who are negotiating an initial contract with the airline. The flight attendants have complained that they would not receive bonuses. but the airline noted that, unlike other employees, flight attendants still receive longevity pay.
USAir's traffic last month fell 9.3%, compared with January 1995, on 15.8% less capacity. USAir said 6% of the decline in revenue passenger miles and available seat miles came from severe weather. The load factor, which was up 4.2 percentage points to 58.9%, set a record for the fifth month in a row. The carrier's average stage length rose 2.9% in January to 679.6 miles. January 1996 January 1995 Rev. Passenger Miles 2,606,195,000 2,874,270,000
Northrop Grumman and France's Hispano-Suiza, already teamed in a variety of aero-engine nacelle programs, won the competition to supply the nacelle for Pratt&Whitney's newest small engine, the Mid-Thrust Family Engine, designed to replace the venerable JT8D, P&W said. Now formally known as the PW6000 engine series, the engine covers a range of 15,000-24,000 pounds' thrust and is being offered for the new generation of 100-passenger jetliners being developed around the world.
John Hancock Funds has taken a 5.5% stake, or 300,000 shares, in Frontier Airlines, the carrier said yesterday. John Hancock Emerging Growth Fund acquired the shares through Cohig&Associates Inc., one of the airline's principal underwriters. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, John Hancock said the purchase is for investment purposes only.
FAA employees' concerns over the future of their collective bargaining rights may prompt the House and the Senate to pass versions of their FAA reform bills (H.R.2276, S.1239) before the April 1 deadline for new FAA personnel and procurement systems. FAA unions are pushing Congress to clarify the provisions of the fiscal 1996 DOT appropriations act that require FAA to develop a new personnel system. Employees are pressing for limits on the broad exemption contained in the appropriations measure.
CCAIR's capacity dropped 8.8% last month to 23.5 million available seat miles, as revenue passenger miles fell just 2.2% to 9.6 million. As a result, load factor rose 2.7 percentage points to 41%.
The Japanese government and Japan Air Commuter, a commercial carrier, placed orders for four Saab 340 aircraft from the Swedish manufacturer. Japan Air Commuter placed an order for two Saab 340B Plus aircraft, boosting its firm commitments for the advanced technology regional airliners to 10. Deliveries of the new aircraft will be this July and July 1997. The Japan Maritime Safety Agency (JMSA), that nation's Coast Guard, ordered two Saab 340 SAR-200s to replace older SAR aircraft it has been operating. The new Saabs will be delivered in 1997.
Delta has invited its North American SkyMiles members to take part in a mileage auction to win an 11-day cruise tour for two on Renaissance Cruises. The vacation includes a five-day cruise from Athens to Barcelona, roundtrip air fare in business class and a two-night hotel stay before and after the cruise in Athens and Barcelona. Members must bid at least 200,000 miles to be considered.
A U.S. district judge has ruled that a New York couple may sue American for fraud and negligent misrepresentation because they did not receive a piece of lost baggage for eight days despite the airline's alleged assertion earlier that the bag had been found and would be delivered. The couple also argued that items were missing from the bag when it was delivered, and the $500,000 lawsuit also sought damages for emotional distress and interruption and ruination of their honeymoon.
Jonathan Ornstein, former president of Continental Express and executive VP of Mesa Air Group, will become chief executive of Virgin Europe, a new low-fare carrier based in Brussels. City Hotels S.A. of that city has agreed to sell 80% of its 51% stake in Eurobelgian Airlines (EBA), a November low-fare startup, to Virgin Atlantic principal Richard Branson and Continental Chairman David Bonderman. NEI, a Luxembourg financial holding company, has agreed to sell 80% its 49% stake in the carrier as well...
U.S. National Carriers Productivity, In Revenues and Expenses Per Employee Third Quarter 1995, In Dollars Total Total Operating Operating Revenues Expenses Total Airline (000) (000) Employees Alaska 347,695 291,855 6,477 Aloha 58,722 59,198 2,065
Federal Express on May 4 will launch customs-cleared, door-to-door delivery service by 8 a.m. to the U.S. from 18 countries. Called FedEx International First, the service will be available to nearly 5,000 U.S. zip codes.
Low-fare Northern Airlines plans to begin scheduled service out of Syracuse in the third quarter with 80-passenger Fokker 28-Mk.4000s. The carrier, being launched by a group that includes former Empire Airlines/Piedmont executives, initially will serve Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Hartford/Springfield and slot-controlled New York- LaGuardia under federal rules governing new-entrant carriers.
FAA dedicated a terminal Doppler weather radar at National Airport, the 10th operational system of 45 planned installations. DOT Secretary Federico Pena said the new radar "virtually eliminates the threat of undetected, deadly windshears" and will enable air traffic controllers to "pinpoint them in arrival and departure corridors around airports." He said windshear is the "No. 1 killer of airline passengers - over 575 deaths since 1970." Such deaths are "preventable," he said.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association are expressing concern about what they say is a draft plan by FAA to decommission primary long-range radar at many of the nation's air traffic control centers. FAA is making a "fatally flawed" mistake with its plan to deactivate the radars, according to Phil Boyer, AOPA President.
American is investing $400 million to improve its international Business Class service on Flagship Service flights to Europe, Latin America and Japan. The changes, planned to be completed in less than four months, range from more comfortable seating to flexible meal and entertainment options. Seat pitch will expand to an average of 50 inches from 40 inches, and seats will recline farther.
British Tourist Authority is using famous movie locations to attract tourists by publishing the Vauxhall Movie Map with 80 film and TV locations in Britain. The guide includes locations used to shoot movies such as "Four Weddings and A Funeral," "Braveheart" and "First Knight." The map is sponsored by Vauxhall Motors.
Rockwell International said it will lead a team to conduct a "first of its kind" satellite-based air traffic management demonstration March 17-19 in Xi'an, China, under the auspices of the Northwest Region of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
