American has applied for seven U.S.-Brazil frequencies to operate daily nonstop service between New York and Rio de Janeiro, using 162-seat Boeing 767-200ER aircraft.
DOT renewed America West's exemption to operate scheduled combination service between Phoenix, Ariz., and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. The carrier offers 17 weekly nonstops on the route, using 737-300 aircraft (DAILY, Dec. 11). (Docket OST-95-736)
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AAR appointed William Bailey group VP-AAR Manufacturing Group and president of AAR Manufacturing Group Inc., the legal entity. Patrick Aherne rejoined the company as VP-European Operations for AAR Engine Group International, and Ken Mercier joined AAR Allen Group as VP-worldwide customer support.
British Airways' Concorde supersonic transport broke its own record for the fastest transatlantic time Jan. 7 by more than one and a half minutes, averaging 22 miles a minute between New York and London, the carrier said last week. The flight took two hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds for the 3,750 miles. This was 40 minutes faster than the scheduled flying time thanks to tail winds of up to 175 miles per hour at 58,000 feet altitude.
ValuJet is being courted by Pensacola, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach and Mobile for its low-fare service. The carrier, currently in seven Florida cities, will announce a service expansion in mid-March that may or may not include one or more of those cities, a spokeswoman said. Pensacola, for one, reportedly is drawing up an incentive package to lure the airline.
U.S. Major Carriers Systemwide Share of Service Third Quarter 1995 Total Revenue Departures America West 50,448 American 208,274 Continental 114,592 Delta 238,336 Northwest 145,783 Southwest 178,631 TWA 72,380 United 200,047 USAir 192,031
Midwest Express Airlines flew 85.7 million revenue passenger miles in January, up 7.1% from 79.9 million. Available seat miles were down 3.7% to 151.5 million. The load factor improved to 56.5% from 50.8%. Skyway Airlines, a Midwest Express Holdings subsidiary, recorded a 27.8% rise in RPMs to 4.9 million on capacity that was up 15.4% to 12.9 million ASMs. The load factor rose marginally to 38.2%. Severe weather during the month caused a total of 410 flight cancellations for the two carriers.
Continental will extend its smoking ban April 7 so that it covers all flights to Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as some additional European service. The new policy, announced last week, will apply to about 530 flights per week, the carrier said, to points in Central America and South America, such as Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia. In the Caribbean, smoking is no longer permitted on flights to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Yield management will become increasingly important to the world's airlines, according to a study by KPMG and the International Air Transport Association. The bulk of information technology spending by airlines during the past five years has gone toward upgrading reservations systems. But 24 chief financial officers who responded to the survey predicted that carriers will spend more on yield management than on reservations over the next five years.
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.
