The U.K. will increase inspections of foreign-registered aircraft and clarify safety responsibilities in wet-lease deals as part of a program to improve its oversight of safety standards applied to foreign aircraft operating in the U.K.
SkyWest posted a 29.5% increase in revenue passenger miles in December from the same month in 1994. The carrier flew 49.8 million RPMs on 27.8% more capacity, for a total of 101.5 million available seat miles. The load factor increased 0.7 percentage point to 49.1%. It was "our highest December load factor ever" with RPM growth outpacing ASM increases for the first time in 11 months, said Ron Reber, SkyWest's chief operating officer and executive VP. Dec 95 Dec 94 12 Mths 95 12 Mths 94
SAS will add a new weekly nonstop flight between Stockholm and Edinburgh in April. The carrier also detailed plans for new flights to Bologna and Newcastle. Service from Copenhagen to Bologna will start March 11 and will be operated daily with a 75-passenger DC-9-20. Bologna is the carrier's fifth destination in Italy. Service to Newcastle starts March 31, consisting of twice-daily flights from Copenhagen with 46-passenger Fokker 50s. The new service is part of a plan announced earlier by the airline to boost flying 9% this year (DAILY, Jan. 3).
Air Travel Card named Sandra Reynolds director-marketing/ industry relations. DeCrane Aircraft Holdings appointed Roger Keller president of its member company, Hollingsead International. Diamond Aircraft promoted Gary Gaudreau to VP-North American sales and customer support and appointed Jeff Owen North American sales manager and Michael Payne regional sales manager for Canada. FFV/Aerotech named John Sweet manager-business development. SimuFlite promoted Thomas Stelter to senior manager-engineering and technical operations.
Air Midwest is being required by DOT to continue providing essential air service at Topeka, Kan., through Jan. 16 while it negotiates a new subsidy rate for the service with the carrier. Under congressionally mandated EAS program cuts, Air Midwest's revised subsidy rate for two nonstop roundtrips between Topeka and Kansas City is $25,487 per year. The carrier, operating as USAir Express, originally filed its intent to suspend its Beech 1900 service at Topeka on July 11, 1995, but DOT has required it repeatedly to continue the service.
- Granted orally an exemption to Western Express to conduct charter all-cargo service between any point or points in Canada and any point or points in the U.S....Granted orally an exemption to Aeromexico to engage in scheduled combination service between Hermosillo, Mexico, and Los Angeles...Granted orally an exemption to Pacific International Airlines to continue to wet-lease Boeing 727 equipment to Air Caribbean for all-cargo operations between Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, and Miami.
Orlando-based AirTran Airways carried more passengers in December than in any other month in its history. It transported 69,844 passengers, a 421% increase from December 1994. Traffic for the month jumped 398% to 60.4 million revenue passenger miles from 12.1 million in December 1994 on a 176% increase in capacity to 95.8 million available seat miles. The load factor was 63.1%, up 28.2 percentage points from December 1994's 34.9%. AirTran operates seven 737s and will take delivery of three more this month.
Icelandair is boosting Air Belgium International's application for authority to operate charter combination service between Belgium and the U.S. and beyond the U.S. to a point or point in neither Belgium nor the U.S. Air Belgium's application was prompted in part by its desire to perform short-term wet-lease operation for Icelandair. Air Belgium has been contracted to operate scheduled service between Reykjavik, Iceland, and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, between Jan. 11 and Feb. 29.
Atlanta tour operator World Technology Systems plans to introduce public charter service March 1 from Mobile, Ala., to New York, Chicago and Atlanta, fashioned after its successful startup of Myrtle Beach Jet Express. The new carrier will be called Mobile Jet Express, and its flights will be operated under a contract with Nations Air Express using 122-seat 737-200s. Fares start at $49 one way to Atlanta and $79 to Chicago Midway and Newark. All flights are daily except on Tuesdays. The city of Mobile is paying for eight weeks of Jet Express advertising.
- In Federal Register dated Jan. 8...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain Saab 340A/B series aircraft requiring verification that the auto- ignition system is operational.
Danger of ingesting birds in aircraft engines is growing due to exploding populations of wild fowl, NTSB member John Goglia said following a meeting in Washington on the subject (DAILY, Jan. 11). Authorities plan a campaign to make aviators more aware of the bird strike problem, he said. Canada geese are being blamed for last year's crash of a $170 million E-3 AWACS aircraft that killed all 24 people aboard.
Canadian Airlines will refurbish its fleet of 737s, adding a forward business-class cabin with new, larger business-class seats. The upgrade is Canadian's latest effort to improve its domestic service and draw passengers away from rival Air Canada, particularly in the eastern part of the country, where Air Canada has provided better service. "This is traditionally a market where our friends at Air Canada have been dominant," a spokesman for Canadian told The DAILY. "Now we're more actively going after it."
American is seeking certificate authority to operate Chicago-Birmingham, England. Offering nonstop service under exemption authority since May 1995, the carrier currently operates one daily roundtrip on the route, using 215-seat 767-200ER aircraft. Noting that under the U.S.-U.K. agreement signed June 5, 1995, U.K. regional airports, such as Birmingham, became open-entry markets, the carrier maintained that its application should be granted for an indefinite duration. (Docket OST-96-989)
U.S. and Thailand are expected to reach an agreement in aviation talks scheduled to begin today in Bangkok. The accord is likely to include a "decent route description" and permit third-country code-share service to Thailand, according to an industry official. Some restrictions on local Thai traffic are expected to remain, however.
Helicopter Association International promoted Elizabeth Meade to executive VP, Edward DiCampli to VP-information systems and Melanie Beames to director-sales.
The Raptors, Toronto's new professional basketball team, have cut short an agreement to fly to games on Air Canada charters for the rest of the season and will travel with another charter carrier instead. Air Canada said the decision was mutual and that the team had special needs that it could not meet. Air Canada continues to fly an aircraft painted in Raptors colors, and to sponsor the Air Canada Center, which, when built, will be the team's home.
Flagship Airlines, operating as American Eagle, received DOT approval to suspend its service at Tupelo, Miss., but it will have to keep serving Tuscaloosa, Ala., until Feb. 2 or replacement service begins. On Oct. 10, 1995, the carrier filed a 90-day notice of its intent to suspend its three daily roundtrips between Tupelo and Nashville Jan. 31. DOT noted that there were no community objections to the suspension and said service provided at Tupelo by Northwest Airlink operator Express Airlines I will be enough to meet the community's needs.
American Trans Air opened a Chicago reservations center last week, transferring 150 employees there from its Oakbrook center. The carrier said it expects to add 90 jobs at the center by yearend. It announced that it would open the center last May, when it signed a 10-year lease establishing a new aircraft maintenance facility at Midway Airport. The maintenance center will employ 100 people when it opens later this year.
Delta plans to respond rapidly and aggressively to Southwest's expansion into Florida.Executive VP Harry Alger said Delta will not concede Florida markets to any competitor, but "we must mount a competitive response, and do it quickly."The preferred approach is to get the low-cost operation being negotiated with its Air Line Pilots Association up and running, but this requires an agreement with the union in the next few weeks, Alger said. It is time "to post bids, grow our airline and compete, compete, compete."
Exec Express II, operating as Lone Star Airlines, was selected tentatively by DOT to provide subsidized essential air service at Harrison, Hot Springs, El Dorado/Camden and Jonesboro, Ark. The carrier will receive subsidies totaling $1,774,766 annually to provide the service for two years, retroactive to Nov. 27, 1995. The carrier will provide two Harrison-Hot Springs-Dallas/Fort Worth roundtrips a day, five days a week, and two Jonesboro-El Dorado/Camden-DFW roundtrips a day, five days a week, using 19-seat Fairchild Metro III or Metro 23 aircraft.
American Trans Air's traffic rose 17% in December to 695.4 million revenue passenger miles on 8.7% more capacity, or 1.1 billion available seat miles. Load factor was up 4.7 percentage points to 66.1%. The carrier's load factor for the year was up 2.5 points to 71.1% and RPMs rose 24.4% to 8.9 billion. ASMs increased 19.9%. Scheduled service represented 52.7% of the carrier's business last year. Chairman and Chief Executive George Mikelsons said two transactions completed in December with the city of Indianapolis will positively impact fourth quarter results.
Major carriers are about 80% complete in shifting jet routes to their regional affiliates, says analyst Michael Boyd of Aviation Systems Research. In his Airports: USA Quarterly outlook for 1996, Boyd said the majors will continue to reduce low-fare capacity in 1996, "which just adds to the double whammy of high debt levels and declining economic growth." Concerning regional affiliates, "The trend in the next decade will be to gradually replace turboprops with new-technology small jets. But don't look for major increases in per-segment capacity...."
International Lease Finance Corp. sold $150 million of three-year, 5 l/2% senior, unsecured, non-callable notes maturing Jan. 15, 1999. Notes are underwritten by Lehman Brothers. Proceeds will be used to repay maturing commercial paper.
The air traffic controllers union said yesterday that the Voice Switching and Control System is not as failure-proof as FAA has advertised, and it called on the agency not to remove a backup system just to save money. "Tearing WECO [Western Electric Co.] equipment out now is not about costs, it is about safety," said James Ferguson, regional VP of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He cited the Jan.
