Airlines Reporting Corp. has suspended its agreement with Las Vegas-based Grand Airways, which has ceased scheduled operations. ARC will no longer process transactions for the carrier after Feb. 25. Grand Airways, which was operating DC-9s, could not be reached because its telephone has been disconnected.
Test pilots have made more than 60 landings at airports in Albuquerque, N.M., and Richmond, Va., using the Autonomous Precision Approach&Landing System (APALS), developed by Lockheed Martin and supported by Spectrum Signal Processing. Lockheed Martin said the system represents a "major evolution from existing ground-aided technologies, such as the Instrument Landing System." In the advanced development system being tested, Spectrum designed the electronics chassis and provided expertise in digital signal processing.
Minneapolis/St. Paul hub apparently has become a contentious point between Mesaba Holdings and Express Airlines I in their negotiations with senior partner Northwest over new marketing pacts. Mesaba has Northwest's Detroit hub to itself and Express has Memphis. Minneapolis was split evenly between the two when Republic merged with Northwest; Express was the Republic Express carrier.
Concentra, a Burlington, Mass.-based firm that for years has manufactured design software for the aviation industry, has launched new sales configuration software called Selling Point. The product enables a salesperson in the field to work with a customer to sell customized or complex goods. With the Windows based-software, which can be run on a laptop, the user can configure a product, engineer it and provide manufacturing information at the point of sale.
FAA has put out a worldwide alert against buying thousands of parts it suspects were taken from the American 757 crash site in Colombia, and a Colombia-U.S. team investigating the crash said yesterday it has shifted its focus after finding no evidence of engine or airframe failures.
FAA's Office of Airports has created the FAA Airports (ARP) Home Page, which can be accessed directly or from the FAA Home Page on the World Wide Web. The Home Page was created by an ARP Internet committee composed of representatives of the offices of Airport Safety and Standards, Airport Planning and Programming, and the ARP management staff. The site includes organizational data, advisory circulars, airport software programs and other information. The Internet address is http://www.faa.gov/arp/arphome.htm.
American Trans Air's January traffic increased 16.7% over January 1995, to 750.3 million revenue passenger miles from 643 million. Available seat miles rose 7.1% to 1.1 billion, and the load factor increased 5.5 percentage points to 68.1%. American Trans Air carried 23.8% more passengers during the month, for a total of 492,883.
America West said yesterday its secondary public offering, which was increased to 6.63 million shares of the company's Class B common stock, will be sold at $19.50 per share. The selling shareholders will provide the underwriters with an option to purchase up to 610,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments, the carrier said. The sellers said they would unload 6.1 million shares when the sale was announced last month, but yesterday the carrier said the offering was increased "in response to strong market demand." (DAILY, Jan. 30).
Delta and Hughes Flight Training in the U.K. have agreed to trade simulators. Delta will ship its 737-300 simulator to Hughes in exchange for an MD-11 device, the airline's second. Bob Rossi, Delta's aircraft and flight equipment marketing representative, said the airline is "becoming increasingly innovative, both in meeting our flight and simulator equipment requirements and in disposition of equipment that is not used to its profitable capacity."
TravelNet Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., appointed Randall Malin president and chief executive. Malin is a former executive VP and vice chairman of the board of USAir, and former VP-sales and advertising at American. He has been working most recently as an independent consultant to the Business Travel Contractors Corp. and other clients. TravelNet advises clients on managing and reducing corporate travel expenses.
British Airways has ordered traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) and Mode S datalink transponders from Honeywell for its European fleet of 120 aircraft. The decision stems, in part, from proposed government rules in Europe and Asia for mandatory TCAS in transport aircraft seating 30 or more. Honeywell said the contract also applies to BA affiliates, which will have an opportunity to order for their aircraft.
Midwest Express's deferral of plans to acquire a 30-passenger-class aircraft for its Skyway Airlines subsidiary pares down the number of regional carriers poised to make equipment decisions in the near future. Mesaba Holdings this week confirmed it will select either the Dornier 328 or the Saab 340 (related story below) and Continental Express has said it will settle on a regional jet shortly.
DOT is proposing to collect aircraft capacity data from foreign airlines and cut the confidentiality period for all airlines' international nonstop segment and on-flight market data from the current three years to as little as six months. In a Feb. 15 Federal Register notice, the department also proposes to rescind the requirement that large U.S. airlines specify passenger revenues, passenger enplanements, passengers transported, and seating capacity by cabin configuration. This action would reduce the reporting burden on U.S.
Qantas regional subsidiary Airlink will begin service to Paraburdoo in Western Australia March 31, Qantas announced. Airlink will offer two daily flights on weekdays and one each on Saturday and Sunday from Perth, with connections to Tom Price. Airlink General Manager Barry Mayo said the airline offers 124 flights per week within Western Australia, serving Paraburdoo, Broome, Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Port Hedland from Perth.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic, January 1996 (000) January January % 1996 1995 Change America West Revenue Passenger Miles 1,041,130 884,291 17.7 Available Seat Miles 1,624,523 1,571,121 3.4 Load Factor (%) 64.1 56.3 American Revenue Passenge 7,982,946 8,129,093 -1.8
Great Lakes Aviation flew 19.5 million revenue passenger miles in January, a 20.3% increase from the same month one year ago. Capacity rose 22.1% to 49.1 million available seat miles, causing the load factor to dip 0.6 percentage points to 39.7% from 40.3%. January 1996 January 1995 Rev. Passenger Miles 19,477,000 16,193,000 Available Seat Miles 49,051,000 40,185,000 Load Factor (%) 39.7 40.3
After a three-week acceptance test, Iceland officials took delivery of an advanced digital integrated voice and data communications system for the new North Atlantic Oceanic Air Traffic Control Center in Reykjavik. The new system was built by Intelect Inc. at its Richardson, Texas, facilities.
American Trans Air and Delta announced a program to install ATN Systems Inc. (ATNSI) communications products on Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. The program will include development of data communication applications and installation of satellite and VHF subnetworks for operation over the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network. Work on customizing avionics will support an ATNSI operational evaluation, scheduled for August 1998, to demonstrate air traffic management airspace-use-related benefits defined in a cooperative agreement between ATNSI and FAA.
Olin Aerospace has launched EmPower, an at-the-seat power source from which passengers can operate and recharge laptop computers for the duration of a flight. EmPower provides a low DC output voltage through a single interface cable connected to a stock in the seat arm.
Delta Connection affiliate Comair last month recorded sharp improvements in both traffic - up 34.3% to 100.3 million revenue passenger miles - and passenger boardings - up 29.5% to 324,778. Capacity gained 14.8% to 198.8 million, allowing the load factor to rise 7.3 percentage points to 50.4%. January 1996 January 1995 Rev. Passenger Miles 100,276,000 74,671,000 Available Seat Miles 198,783,000 173,149,000
DOT has instituted a show-cause proceeding to allocate eight available weekly, fifth-freedom, all-cargo frequencies to Hong Kong. DOT originally solicited applications for the service in October and received them from FedEx, Northwest, Polar Air Cargo, UPS, World Airways, Air Micronesia and Evergreen. The case will be limited to those carriers. The procedural deadlines are Feb. 21 for direct exhibits, March 6 for rebuttal exhibits and March 20 for briefs to the DOT decisionmaker.
Hughes Avicom International said its APAX 150 inflight entertainment (IFE) system is available for 777 aircraft, beginning in mid-1997. The interactive system features distributed in-seat movies, audio entertainment, video games and shopping. Hughes said it is in operation with several airlines.
DOT issued a handful of interim notices this week for U.S.-U.K. service, approving applications by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta/Virgin. BA received one-year approval for scheduled flights between London and Phoenix, serving Phoenix and San Diego as co-terminal points. BA's authority to operate on the London-Los Angeles-Auckland route was renewed for two years. Virgin was granted a one-year exemption to operate scheduled service between London Heathrow and Washington Dulles, and between Manchester and Orlando.
Fairmont Hotels and Loews Hotels are offering guests who pay for their rooms with a Visa card a free first-class upgrade certificate on American for travel in the U.S. and Canada. The four-company promotion lasts until July 15. AAdvantage members also will receive 500 miles per stay, to a total of 1,000 miles.
