DOT issued last night an order disapproving French requests for more flights this summer between Paris and Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington following unsuccessful talks with France to obtain additional U.S.-France service in return. France requested an additional 500 flights to the U.S., a senior U.S. official told The DAILY (DAILY, March 13).
Vacation Break U.S.A. Inc. reported vacation ownership interest (VOI) sales at premier resort properties rose to $11.5 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $7.7 million in the fourth quarter of 1994. Vacation Break markets, operates, develops and finances VOIs at resorts. Its fourth quarter results show a net loss of $972,000, which includes a one-time, non-recurring charge of $3.1 million in tax conversion charges to a C corporation status.
Although Germans are tightening their belts, they still love to travel, and the U.S. is one of their top destinations. An analyst at tourism research institute B.A.T. Freizeit Forschungsinstitut said 55% of Germans traveled for at least five consecutive days last year. Tourism is the country's fastest-growing industry, and its citizens spend one of every four Deutschmarks on travel. He estimated that 75% of German tourists plan to visit a foreign country this year. The tourism market to Germany is on the decline, however.
Senate this week approved a bill (S.3019) to fund the federal government through fiscal 1996, including an amendment sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) to guarantee collective bargaining protections for FAA's unionized employees. The House-passed version also includes the language (DAILY, March 7).
Continental has asked DOT to consolidate applications from itself and American for seven U.S.-Ecuador frequencies into a single proceeding. "The two applications involve the same issues - and are mutually exclusive, since only eight New York-Ecuador frequencies are now available," said Continental. The Houston carrier wants to operate daily service between Newark and Guayaquil, while American is looking to begin New York Kennedy- Bogota-Quito service. (Dockets OST-96-1160&OST-96-1124)
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic February, 2 Months 1996 (000) February February % 1996 1995 Change America West Revenue Passenger Miles 1,120,361 905,746 23.7 Available Seat Miles 1,593,667 1,434,515 11.1 Load Factor (%) 70.3 63.1 American
TWA has refiled its lawsuit against Omega World Travel and added former TWA Chairman Carl Icahn as a defendant after reaching an impasse over the proper sale of discounted TWA tickets. The suit was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court yesterday. (DAILY, March 7).
Southern Air Transport is seeking renewal of its authority to operate all- cargo service between the U.S. and four co-terminal points in Colombia, Barranquilla, Bogota, Cali and Cartegena, via intermediate points. The carrier has operated 747-200F scheduled cargo service between Miami and Bogota since the first quarter of 1995. (Docket OST-96-1153)
FAA expects to be operating a National Satellite Test Bed in mid-1997 to evaluate technology more advanced than that of the Wide Area Augmentation System, the subject of a "cure letter" the agency sent this week to a development team led by Wilcox (DAILY, March 20). Some see NSTB as a more promising way than WAAS of enhancing the navigation capabilities of the satellite-based Global Positioning System.
Air Aruba applied for authority to operate scheduled combination service between Aruba and Houston. The carrier plans twice-weekly flights on the route using MD-80 aircraft, beginning June 15. One of the flights will originate in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, and provide one-stop service between Houston and Bonaire via Aruba. (Docket OST-96-1146)
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts celebrates its 25th anniversary this year by opening five new hotels - three in China, one in Sabah, Malaysia, and one in Yangon, Myanmar. The first will open this month in Beihai, China, on the southern coast, 50 minutes by air from Hong Kong, and will be linked eventually by a four-hour cruise across the Beibu Gulf to Halong, Vietnam. Special opening rates start at $90. General Manager Gilbert Jung said Beihai, famous for its pearls, is "rapidly becoming a vibrant tourism, trading and business hub."
Swissair will eliminate 1,200 more jobs from its payrolls, a cut of 3%, the carrier said yesterday. The latest layoffs are part of a plan to pare costs and further boost productivity. The airline, which currently employs 40,000 workers, said it is shooting to boost earnings by 500 million Swiss francs ($415 million) by 1998. The cuts will come by yearend, mostly through early retirement and from the elimination of administrative positions. They are in addition to 1,600 positions the carrier announced it would do away with in September.
Vacation Express will begin offering a summer tour package from Atlanta to Aruba April 7 on ALM Antillean Airlines. Children will stay, eat and play for free at 14 participating hotels. Packages start as low as $649 per person and include roundtrip air, seven nights stay, airport transfers and hotel taxes.
The Clinton administration yesterday proposed $8.253 billion for FAA in fiscal 1997 - up 1.2% from the fiscal 1996 enacted level - but the total would drop 0.6% from the fiscal 1996 level to $8.103 billion without $150 million in controversial proposed user fees. The administration is requesting authority in the DOT appropriations act for FAA to raise $150 million in offsetting collections to be used in fiscal 1997 to reduce general fund contribution to FAA.
Northwest said yesterday it will expand scheduled service to Asia July 1, including the first flight by a U.S. carrier to Jakarta, Indonesia. The Jakarta route, an extension of its Seattle-Osaka service, is allowed under the existing bilateral, Northwest said. It also will increase Minneapolis/St. Paul-Tokyo service to four weekly flights, through Sept. 30. Northwest said it will file applications with the Japanese and Indonesian governments and announce schedules and inaugural fares later.
Air New Zealand has signed a blocked-space, code-sharing agreement with German carrier LTU under which LTU will purchase seats on ANZ's three weekly Los Angeles-Frankfurt flights. The flights will carry the codes of both carriers. The initial agreement runs through Oct. 31. "Air New Zealand has flown to Frankfurt for nearly 10 years," ANZ said. "In recent times, quota restrictions have impacted our ability to optimize our flights during the northern summer.
The pitot tubes of a Birgenair 757 that crashed into the Atlantic last February shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing all aboard, had been left uncovered for nearly two weeks, and indications are that one of the tubes became obstructed, a Dominican civil aviation official said. The aircraft was on the ground in a tropical climate from Jan. 23 until it took off on Feb. 6 carrying German tourists returning home. There was no indication the pitot tubes were checked for insects or other debris before the flight.
Calling FAA's policy statement on revenue diversion a "big disappointment," Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett said yesterday that airports and airlines should work together to "toughen up" the policy to protect the "closed-loop, self-financing" airport funding system. "Local politicians should not look to the airport's revenue stream as a quick fix to their problems.
AAI/Systems Management Inc. said it has added a solid-state ultrasonic wind sensor to its Next Generation Weather Observing System (Nexwos) sensor suite. The new sensor, built by Handar, replaces conventional "cup and vane" sensors. The company said the new sensors' solid-state design eliminates all moving parts, making the devices resistant to contamination and corrosion and eliminating maintenance required for older, mechanical- type sensors. "In fact, the mean time between failure of the ultrasonic sensor is calculated to be 26 years," the company said.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association will announce March 26 at FAA's annual General Aviation Forecast Conference in Tampa, Fla., details of an effort to recruit 100,000 new pilots a year by 2000. FAA Administrator David Hinson has endorsed the program, according to Phil Boyer, AOPA president, and Edward Stimpson, GAMA president. The "GA Team 2000" program will involve efforts by manufacturers, consumers, publishers and other associations and aviation businesses, they said.
United Monday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against BAE Automated Systems charging that its automated baggage system at Denver Airport is not meeting contract standards. Also Monday, in a District Court in Dallas, BAE filed suit against United citing inability to reach agreement on the final payment - about $17.5 million - for the system. United is asking the court to find the system incomplete, airline spokesman Joe Hopkins told The DAILY. "We've declared them in default and terminated our contract.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Third Quarter 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 4,143 11.44 2,217 9,185,097 Atlantic 1,138 6.57 4,080 4,643,461
AirTran Airways February traffic to 77.4 million revenue passenger miles from 17.5 million in February 1995. Capacity rose 297% to 122.1 million available seat miles, and the load factor gained 6.6 points to 63.4%. It carried 86,884 passengers, up 378%. AirTran began service in October 1994 with two aircraft serving five cities. It now operates 10 737s to 20 cities.
Continental has asked for authority to operate combination service between Newark and Dublin, Ireland; Dakar, Senegal; Johannesburg, South Africa, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, under its code-share agreement with World Airways. Under the arrangement, Continental will place its designator code on World flights on the four routes as well as World's services between Newark and Shannon, Ireland, and Tel Aviv, beginning in June. Continental already has underlying authority for the latter two points.
