The U.S. airline battle for as-yet-unsecured U.S.-Japan services continues to heat up despite continuing difficulties in U.S.-Japan all-cargo negotiations. Following last week's application by American for U.S.-Japan services, United tendered a bid to operate Chicago-Osaka, Seattle- Tokyo/Osaka and Washington-Tokyo/Osaka flights. It also asked that DOT lift the limits on the frequencies it may operate between Chicago and Tokyo, or add eight weekly frequencies to its present allocation of six.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is beginning compliance checks this month to ensure corporations with large underfunded pension plans are informing workers and retirees of funding levels and PBGC guarantees. PBGC is surveying a cross section of the affected companies to ascertain compliance with the Retirement Protection Act of 1994. The law requires that companies notify employees and retirees if their plans are less than 90% funded. Companies must verify by September that they have sent the notices.
Regional jets will dominate the regional aircraft market over the next 20 years, according to Aviation Systems Research's Michael Boyd. He says that of 22.000 airplanes of 30 passengers or more, 6,300 will be jets in the 50- to 90-seat category. More than half of those will be 50-seaters, he says, with the remainder 70-seaters. Turboprops will account for 3,100 units over 20 years with large turboprops of 60 seats or more being at the weakest end of that market, he said; he added, however, that projecting out 20 years is "dicey" at best.
United, in reports to FAA, complains of electrical and other problems that interrupt its 777 service. Although the carrier yesterday refused to give out the dispatch reliability of the aircraft to date, reliability was less than 95% three months after entry into service (DAILY, Sept. 25). In contrast, the Airbus A340 and the A330 competitors were at 98.3% and 98.6% dispatch reliability after three months in service. The 777A and the A330 are competitors, as are the 777B and the A340.
Dutch aircraft maker Fokker, still hoping for a chance to survive, presented a new business plan to Dutch banks and pension funds this week, but continuing talks with potential investors have not yet produced any public support for the company. A decision on the stricken company's future is not expected before next week.
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast's load factor rose 1.1 percentage points last month to 40.5%, as traffic increased 6.4% to 22.6 million revenue passenger miles and capacity rose 3.5% to 55.7 million available seat miles. Feb. 1996 Feb. 1995 2 Mths 1996 2 Mths 1995 RPMs 22,552,000 21,195,000 43,208,000 42,372,000 ASMs 55,662,000 53,802,000 109,252,000 113,885,000
Air Canada affiliate AirBC will begin Spokane, Wash.-Calgary, Alberta, nonstop service April 22, Air BC announced. The carrier will fly two daily frequencies using 37-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-100 aircraft.
Singapore wants to talk about open skies when it begins negotiations with the U.S. April 23 in Washington. U.S. officials will listen but are not sure they want to go that far. In the absence of open skies, both look to expand scheduled service and charter opportunities, and liberalize routes, while addressing "doing business" issues.
CCAIR made 22.5 million seat miles available in February, a 3% decline from February 1995. But the USAir Express affiliate's traffic rose 7.8% from the same month in the prior year to slightly more than 10 million revenue passenger miles. Feb. 1996 Feb. 1995 2 Mths 1996 2 Mths 1995 RPMs 10,039,376 9,311,946 19,682,779 19,180,625 ASMs 22,452,075 23,157,471 45,975,074 48,934,412
Top 25 Domestic City-Pair Markets Under 750 Miles O&D Passengers Third Quarter 1995 Short Total Average Haul Markets Non-Stop Passengers Rank Rank City-Pair Mileage Per Day 1 1 Honolulu - Kahului 100 8,543 2 2 Chicago - New York 723 8,506
America West's traffic grew 23.7% last month, compared with February 1995, on 11.1% more capacity. The load factor was up 7.2 percentage points to 70.3% as passenger boardings rose 18%. For two months, traffic was ahead 20.8% on 7.1% more capacity, pushing up the load factor 7.6 points to 67.2%. Feb 96 Feb 95 2 Mths 96 2 Mths 95 RPMs 1,120,361,000 905,46,000 2,687,956,000 2,340,760,000 ASMs 1,593,667,000 1,434,515,000 3,218,189,000 3,005,636,000
Airbus Industrie said Aeroflot will lease four more A310-300s, bringing to 10 the number of A310s it will operate in the near future, and Iberia took delivery of the first of eight A340-300s. Aeroflot also is to receive an A310 simulator to train its own pilots and to offer training to other airlines. Iberia will receive three more A340s before yearend and all eight by 2001.
KLM flew 614.6 million revenue ton kilometers (RTKs) last month, a 10% increase from February 1995 levels. Capacity was 863.2 million available ton kilometers (ATKs), an increase of 13%. Overall load factor was 71.2%, down 2.2 percentage points. Revenue passenger kilometers flown increased 13% to 3.29 billion, while available seat kilometers rose 10% to 4.68 billion. The passenger load factor was 70.4%, a 1.9-point jump. For April through February, revenue ton kilometers rose 10% from the same period in 1995 to 7.38 billion RTKs.
The Michigan congressional delegation is urging DOT to reverse its show cause order and grant Northwest rights to operate new Detroit-Rome service. DOT has tentatively selected USAir to operate new Philadelphia-Rome service beginning April 1.
...Mesaba Holdings will look at regional jets once it absorbs its acquisition of 50 (Dornier 328 or Saab 340) turboprops, and that decision will come "very soon," The DAILY is told. Still pending is whether Northwest will lease the aircraft and then sub-lease them to Mesaba, in which it holds a 30% stake, or whether Mesaba will lease the airplanes directly from the manufacturer. The latter option would lower the bottom- line lease costs for Mesaba. Meanwhile, Mesaba's total control of the Minneapolis hub would probably justify a 50-passenger jet in the fleet mix.
TWA's traffic increased 15.2% last month, compared with February 1995, on 11.4% more capacity, resulting in a load factor gain of 2 percentage points to 61%. The number of passengers carried grew 17.3%. For two months, the carrier's traffic was up 6.3% and capacity 5.8%, while the load factor rose 0.3 points. The number of passengers carried grew 8.7%. TWA's results for the year are consistent with its plan to increase operations by 5% to 7% this year, said Robert Peiser, executive VP and chief financial officer.
Multi-affiliated Mesa Air Group flew 110.5 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 36.1% increase from February 1995's 81.2 million. Capacity rose 15% to 196 million available seat miles from 170.5 million, pushing the load factor up 8.7 percentage points to 56.3% from 47.6%. Passenger enplanements increased 16.4% to 502,642 from 431,931. For the first two months of the year, RPMs increased 32.3% to 215.8 million; capacity gained 14.1% to 405.6 million ASMs, load factor rose 7.3 points to 53.2% and passenger boardings increased 13.2% to 984,437.
American will begin daily nonstops between Dallas/Fort Worth and Santiago Chile Nov. 1. The flights are in addition to service between Miami and Santiago. American will start selling the flights March 17. They will be operated with a 767-300 in a three-class configuration.
BAe 146 operator Air Wisconsin flew 35.9 million revenue passenger miles in February, a 19.8% increase from the February 1995 figure of nearly 30 million. The United Express affiliate's capacity increased 27.5% to 79.7 million available seat miles from 62.5 million, causing the load factor to dip 2.9 percentage points to 45.1% from 48% Passenger boardings rose 17.1%. Air Wisconsin operates 14 of the four-engine 146s feeding United's Chicago and Denver hubs. Feb. 1996 Feb. 1995 2 Mths 1996 2 Mths 1995
Skyway will begin serving Nashville May 1 from Milwaukee, Dayton and Grand Rapids, Mich. It will offer two nonstop roundtrips each weekday to Milwaukee, three direct flights to Grand Rapids from Nashville and two from Grand Rapids to Nashville, plus two nonstop roundtrips to Dayton and three daily roundtrips between Dayton and Grand Rapids.
Finding success in its used retail jet leasing business, British Aerospace's recently formed Asset Management has shored up its marketing team in an effort to spread that same success to the turboprop market. British Aerospace created BAe AM in late January with the merger of its Asset Management Organization, the BAe 146 jet sales and leasing business, and JSX Capital Corporation, which leased the British manufacturer's turboprop line (DAILY, Feb. 2).
Business Express is not for sale but will seek additional investors in the near future, the company and its unsecured creditors committee said Thursday. Currently operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company's traffic, bookings and cash flow are running ahead of year-ago results and expectations on 20% less capacity, said CFO Lars-Eric Arnell. February revenues were $1 million ahead of February 1995, he added, saying, "The perception is wrong that we are going to sell the company next week; this is not a panic situation."
