Nine Civil Reserve Air Fleet carriers flew 33 military airlift missions to Bosnia, 2% of the U.S. total, as of midweek last week. Operating under U.S. Air Force contracts, they carried about 1,000 tons of cargo, 4% of the total, and 2,931 passengers, nearly 23%. The participants were Tower, American International, Air Transport International, American Trans Air, Evergreen, Rich, Sun Country, World and Polar Air.
Western Pacific Airlines began service last week from its Colorado Springs hub to San Jose, Nashville and San Antonio. Introductory fares are as low as $59 one way to each city. Regular off-peak fares with a 21-day advance purchase are $74 to San Antonio, $79 to San Jose and $89 to Nashville. On March 1, Western Pacific will add a daily flight to Phoenix and Las Vegas from Colorado Springs.
Major airlines matched a fare increase by Delta - $5 one way and $10 roundtrip - in competitive markets. The increase, the second in less than a year, is to domestic points, the Caribbean and Canada.
Major airlines' fleet plans fall some 375 aircraft short of the number needed to satisfy a 5% annual traffic gain, according to Morten Beyer and Associates. "This is quite a window of opportunity for eager upstarts," MBA says. "If potential traffic increases 5% a year, there is more than an 11.3% shortfall in capacity" by 1998, MBA says, using figures from Ed Greenslet's Airline Monitor.
Reno Air will inaugurate Anchorage-Fairbanks service April 4 with two daily MD-80 roundtrips. One of the Fairbanks-Anchorage return flights will continue to Seattle and Reno. Reno Air began serving Anchorage last spring, and the Fairbanks launch will coincide with an increase from one to three daily flights in the Anchorage-Seattle market. Reno will occupy nearly all the Fairbanks Airport ticket counter space, offices and arrival/departure lounges that previously were leased to MarkAir.
Delta has added Aer Lingus to its expanding list of code-share partners. The carriers said Friday Delta will purchase seats from Aer Lingus on the Irish carrier's daily A330 flights between New York and Shannon and Dublin, beginning May 1. Delta operates to Shannon and Dublin from Atlanta twice a week in the winter and daily during summer months. The airlines said they will look for additional areas of cooperation, including schedule coordination, joint use of facilities, joint passenger and cargo handling, and joint marketing programs.
"Devastation prevention" meetings have been scheduled in 10 cities by National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne to "educate the industry on the disastrous consequences in store for all aviation businesses if they fail to join against the flight and duty time notice of proposed rulemaking." Coyne said "as much as 25% of the aviation industry could be regulated out of business by this proposal."
Express Airlines I has asked the National Mediation Board to declare an impasse in its 26-months-old negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association. Talks have been in mediation for five months, but the airline said it made the request because the union's negotiating team has completely changed over the past few months, including the ALPA chairman. "It was like starting this long, arduous process all over again," said David Taylor, VP-system control and a negotiator for Express. "Everything, from issues previously agreed upon to people, simply evaporated."
AirTran Airways has launched nonstops from its Orlando base to Rochester, N.Y., Allentown, Pa., and Akron-Canton, Ohio, serving each point six days a week with 737s. One-way fares start at $89 to Rochester, $79 to Allentown and $79 to Akron-Canton.
Israel Aircraft Industries' Bedek Aviation Group and Fuselage Engineering Services said it has developed an automatic upper galley system that will enable carriers to increase seat capacity by as much as 10% on widebody aircraft. Bedek said it and Lufthansa have agreed to establish a consortium to complete final development, certification, marketing and production of the system. It said as many as 56 standard galley carts can be stored in the system, freeing up space in the passenger cabin for seats.
Saab Aircraft, after forcing Business Express into involuntary bankruptcy last week, turned around two days later and granted the carrier a $2 million line of credit in exchange for making the Chapter 11 action voluntary. The cash will allow BizEx to continue operating for 120 days while a satisfactory plan of reorganization is drawn up.
DOT has extended the obligation of SkyWest Airlines to provide essential air service at Ely, Nev., through Feb. 28, 1996, or until Alpine Air begins service at the point. SkyWest filed a 90-day notice of intent to suspend the service Aug. 1, 1995, but was held in at Ely as the department sought replacement service.
British Aerospace was the creditor that prompted Saab to file a petition for involuntary bankruptcy against Business Express last week. BAe, being forced to take back BizEx's three RJ70s, had nothing to lose by threatening to tie up legally the regional's slots at New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia and Washington's National airports, which effectively would have shut the carrier down. But Saab acted first. Other creditors, including the NY/NJ Port Authority and MassPort, were concerned about their due. The BizEx fleet will continue to shrink, sources say.
A USAir DC-9 landing at Charlotte maneuvered to avoid a Cessna 182 taking off at the wrong end of the runway Wednesday. The USAir jet dropped beneath the small aircraft, FAA said. The tower alerted the incoming USAir flight after another USAir pilot, preparing to take off, saw the single- engine aircraft make a wrong turn and contacted the tower. Radar equipment that would have alerted controllers is to be installed this spring.
Lufthansa Cargo restructured its world sales organization, splitting it into Intercontinental and European sales units. Intercontinental, which covers the world except for Europe, is being managed by Erwin Obladen, formerly area manager for the Asia/Pacific region. European sales is headed by Joachim Hass, previously in charge of the carrier's area management for Europe.
The trade agreement concluded this week by Vice President Gore and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin of the Russian Federation provides for steady aircraft tariff reductions and will enable U.S. aircraft manufacturers to "participate in the Russian aircraft market, which is currently small but has strong growth potential," according to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor.
Used Regional Aircraft Transactions November 1995 Carrier No. Type Engines Previous Operator Air Atlantic 1 Merlin IV TPE331- Co Aero Euro 10UA-511G AF&T 2 Fokker 50 PW125B Lufthansa Cityline African Eagle 1 AA ATR 42-300 PW120 Trans-Jam Air Affaires 1 DHC-8-100 PW120A Air Alliance Afrique Air Cargo 1 Shorts 360 PT6A-654R Mesa Airlines Carriers
Nine regional airline stocks closed down an average of 84 cents per share in January - a decline of 8% to $9.64. It was a roller-coaster month for some stocks, however. Delta Connection Comair, for example, closed December at $26.88 per share, fell to $19.75 on the 17th, climbed back up to $27.63 on the 24th and ended the month down $2.25 at $24.63. United Express Atlantic Coast ended December at $10.25 per share, fell to $8.63 on the 11th, went back up to $10.38 on the 22nd and 23rd, dropped to $6.25 on the 29th and closed at $9 Wednesday, off $1.25 on the month.
Asia's largest "hidden" travel market - international trips by non-Japanese residents of Japan - passed 800,000 in 1995, according to Hong Kong-based Travel Business Analyst. Statistics compiled for Japan track travel by Japanese citizens only. Non-Japanese resident travel is the largest non- local total in the region. Next is the equivalent from Hong Kong, believed to be about 500,000, but these travelers are included in the overall outbound total attributed to Hong Kong.
Air Canada will increase in July the frequency on its new Vancouver-Hong Kong route, currently three times weekly using 747-400 Combi aircraft, to the limit of the bilateral agreement, four per week. The carrier believes the route will break even by June but has no plans to serve it with a full 747-400. Air Canada may add Jakarta and Singapore this year but has not decided whether to apply to Shanghai, dropped by rival Canadian Airlines. Canada allows both carriers to operate into countries that generate sales of at least 300,000 seats per year.
Mesaba Holdings is said to be very close to a decision on a new 30- passenger-class turboprop to replace its fleet of de Havilland Dash 8s. The Dornier 328 high-speed turboprop and the Saab 340BPlus are the leading contenders, but incumbent de Havilland has not been completely counted out. At presstime, Dornier was believed to have edged out Saab, although rock- bottom bids still were under evaluation. The carrier had hoped to make a decision by the end of January. A Dornier order certainly would boost that company's attraction to a potential buyer.
DOT has granted authority for Gemini Air Cargo, a U.S. indirect cargo carrier, to resell access to cargo air transportation capacity acquired from Sun Country Airlines to Swissair.
Control tower at Pittsburgh lost power Wednesday for six minutes. Dale Gourley, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association local at the airport, said he had to use a pay telephone to ask controllers in Ohio to keep aircraft on hold. The trouble began when a tree fell on a power wire. A backup generator was available, but it also experienced power supply problems.
