USAir has reduced fares by as much as 50% to Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and more than 50 U.S. destinations, beginning May 1. The fares require a 21-day advance purchase. USAir will be going up against ValuJet's new low-fare service at Fort Walton Beach, which also begins May 1. The Pittsburgh-Fort Walton Beach fare will be $178, for example, USAir said.
FAA will announce today what it terms a "major step forward in implementing free flight," a concept intended to improve air traffic flow management by allowing pilots to choose their own routes where possible and file the most efficient, economical flight plans.
...Dornier was aggressive in the 50-airplane Mesaba competition and, according to one source, did well to get as close as it did. He conceded that Saab's ability to offer the 20 used aircraft at much lower lease rates - something Dornier could not do - won the day. Loss of the order further affects Dornier because he said an order of such scope would have made the company much more attractive to a potential buyer. Risk-sharing partner Daewoo Heavy Industries of South Korea still is believed to be the most likely 51% investor in Dornier.
Dragonair has raised nearly HK$660,000 (US$85,400) for Project Orbis, the non-profit group that helps patients with sight problems and trains doctors and nurses in developing countries. In a campaign launched last September, Dragonair asks passengers to donate unwanted foreign currency or coins to the venture.
Air Inter Europe, taking over Air France's domestic and European network, plans to develop service from French airports to London. Expanding beyond Air France Group's current service from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Air Inter Europe will launch a three-times-daily route from Paris Orly to London Heathrow on April 1. The carrier plans to serve Heathrow twice a day from Lyon, Strasbourg and Toulouse, and once a day from Nice.
Air New Zealand is offering inflight telephone service on its domestic flights. The carrier has installed two Flightphone air-to-ground calling systems on each of its 737s for use by passengers with a credit card or pay telephone card. It is offering the service in conjunction with Telecom Mobile.
Air Nostrum of Valencia, Spain, has placed an order with Fokker for three additional used Fokker 50 turboprops, scheduled for delivery next month and in May. The aircraft will will be used to serve Air Nostrum's new routes in northern and central Spain.
Air Canada's traffic increased 23.4% last month, compared with February 1995, on 12.5% more capacity. The carrier flew 1.28 million revenue passenger miles on capacity of 2.09 million available seat miles. The load factor was up 5.4 percentage points to 61.1%. For two months, traffic was up 19.2%, compared with the same 1995 period, on 11.5% more capacity, boosting the load factor 3.9 points to 55.8%.
Fuel Cost and Comsumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals February 1995 - January 1996 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1995 February Domestic 957,737,967 509,780,479 International 316,777,202 176,368,644 System Total 1,274,515,169 686,149,123
UPS said yesterday it is the first package carrier to handle same-day pickups via the World Wide Web. Electronic pickup requests are available in most major metropolitan areas of the U.S., the company said. UPS called the Internet accessibility a "milestone" in its move into on-line communications, which began in 1994 when UPS was the first package carrier to accept pickup requests over CompuServe and Prodigy.
Apollo Travel Services is offering travel agents products that will enable them to work from home or another location outside the office, beginning this month. Focalpoint Dial-Up will run on a Windows-based PC, including Windows 95. With Focalpoint and a modem, agents can dial into Apollo and enjoy "virtually all the productivity features available to traditional Focalpoint customers." Ticketing functions must be performed at the host office.
Assailing the U.S. negotiating strategy, Federal Express Chairman and CEO Frederick Smith urged the administration yesterday to toughen its approach in its talks with Japan set to resume March 25 in Tokyo. Testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee aviation subcommittee, Smith said both Japan's attempt to restrict access and the U.S. proposals would hurt its competitive position in the market.
House is expected to consider during the week of April 15 legislation (H.R.842) to take all four transportation trust funds off budget.Language to take the aviation trust fund off budget was removed from the FAA reform bill (H.R.2276) before passage this week as part of an arrangement between Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and the House leadership to bring up H.R.842 later.
Fausto Cereti, president of aerospace manufacturer Alenia, will be appointed chairman of Alitalia at the Italian flag carrier's next board meeting, according to the state holding company IRI, Alitalia's parent. He will succeed Renato Riverso, who resigned a few days after the board gave executive power to the new managing director, Domenico Cempella. In an interview published by the Italian daily Il Sole 2 Ore, Riverso denounced "ambiguities and silences" and "total confusion" about the airline's restructuring plans caused in recent weeks by unions and politicians.
Delta Connection affiliate SkyWest Airlines reported a 53.3% increase in traffic to 53.8 million revenue passenger miles from 35.1 million in February 1995. Capacity increased 41.2% to 104.5 million available seat miles, while enplanements rose 33.9% to 203,313. The load factor moved up 4.1 percentage points to 51.5% from 47.4%.
Traffic, as measured in revenue passenger miles, grew by an average of 30.8% during February, according to a DAILY sampling of 15 of the nation's largest regional airlines. Capacity growth - available seat miles - was up only 19.6% for a spread of 11.2 percentage points. The average increase in traffic is again slightly skewed by Gulfstream International, the rapidly expanding Miami-based carrier that is affiliated with United. Its traffic was outpaced by capacity, however - 92.1% to 88.6%.
Eastern Australia Airlines, a subsidiary of Qantas, is acquiring a new Dash 8-200 aircraft, using the aircraft for additional frequencies in the Sydney-Canberra market. Services by Eastern Australia and its parent Qantas will total 227 per week once the new flights begin March 17.
The new Pan Am and Frost Hanna Mergers Group, Inc. said yesterday they have signed a definitive merger agreement that will give the new Pan Am $10 million in cash and allow it to become a traded company.
DOT has issued a show cause order tentatively granting Piedmont Aviation Service, operating as Premier Airlines, a certificate to operate domestic and charter service. The carrier plans initially to operate one leased 44-seat Boeing 737-200 to offer public charters and furnish charter service to sports teams. Headquartered in Winston-Salem and based in Charlotte, N.C., Piedmont has been involved in aircraft and engine maintenance and overhaul, and small aircraft leasing and charter operations since it began operations in 1947.
LanChile has selected GE Aircraft Engines CF6-80C2 to power three Boeing 767-300ER aircraft it will lease from International Lease Finance Corp. First aircraft will be delivered in December and two in late 1997.
Canadian Government moved this week to keep all or part of the Pratt&Whitney Canada PW150 program in Canada with a new C$150 million matching loan fund for technology development that replaces a fund eliminated last year. The fund eventually will grow to C$250 million and offer companies up to 25% in project funding. Pratt&Whitney had threatened to move all or part of the development program for the PW150 - the new turboprop that will power the 70-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-400 - out-of-country without some kind of assistance.
DOT has approved Aeroflot's request to operate scheduled combination service between Russia and Atlanta, via intermediate points, and to coterminalize Atlanta with the other U.S. points it serves. As the official Russian national carrier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, to be held in Atlanta, Aeroflot will transport the Russian Olympic teams and their families, official delegates and Russian tourists to the games. The carrier plans to operate 29 roundtrip flights to Atlanta in July and August, using Boeing 767, Il-96, Il-86 and Il-62 aircraft. (Docket OST-96-1081)
Ansett Airlines affiliate Kendell Airlines is seeking authority to operate code-share service with United. Under the arrangement, Kendell will display United's designator code on flights between Sydney and Canberra, Australia, beginning April 1. Operating Saab 340 aircraft, Kendell will replace Ansett Australia, which currently displays United's code, on the Sydney-Canberra route April 1. Kendell and Ansett are jointly owned by the Australian corporations TNT Limited and The New Corporation.
Air France plans to increase flying 8.5% in long-haul markets and 6% on medium-haul routes from Paris this summer, compared with the 1995 season. From Paris, the carrier will start service on or after March 31 to Maputo and Kampala, and it will drop service to Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Lusaka and Verona. This winter, it stopped flying from Paris to Nagoya, Sydney, Taipei, Denpasar, Pisa and Ankara.
KLM will fly to four new destinations and increase service in 12 current markets in its summer schedule, which starts March 31. Capacity for the summer season, which runs through Oct. 26, will expand 2.5% to 10.5 million seats. On June 26, the carrier will launch service to Beijing under the new Netherlands-China bilateral, and to Surabaya, Indonesia, an intermediate stop on continuing service to Denpasar, Bali. In Europe, KLM will begin flying eight times per week to Bucharest on April 9, growing to 10 flights per week July 20.
