SAS has established a home page on the Internet. The carrier's SAS Travel Navigator program offers news, timetable, ticket and other information. Sound and video eventually will be added, the carrier said. The site can be accessed at http.//www/sas.se.
Appleton, Wis.-based Air Wisconsin's traffic rose 35.6% in December compared with the same 1994 month to 41.9 million revenue passenger miles. The United Express carrier's capacity grew 43.4%, however, to 82.4 million available seat miles. Dec. 1995 Dec. 1994 12 Mths 1995 12 Mths 1994 RPMs 41,882,594 30,883,702 477,527,090 332,651,843 ASMs 82,387,444 57,463,322 893,108,472 627,076,130 LF 50.8 53.7 53.4 53.0
Air Travel Card has kicked off a partnership with GE Capital Services to develop a new corporate charge card program with MasterCard, and American is the first airline partner to use the co-branded card. The carrier announced a new American Airlines Corporate Travel Program under which it will offer its existing Air Travel Card product for customers wanting to focus solely on managing flight expenses, and the AASSet Card, which is the MasterCard corporate charge card.
Infini Travel Information Inc., a Japanese computer reservations system, has implemented Locator Back with USAir. The system enables the airlines' record locators to be registered in the Infini Passenger Name Record. USAir is using it in combination with Direct Access. Infini is owned by All Nippon Airways and Abacus Distribution Systems.
Saying there has been "enough deception and delay," World Airways is urging DOT to deny the joint application of USAfrica Airways and Tower Air for renewal of USAfrica's allocation of six weekly frequencies for U.S.-South Africa service (DAILY, Jan. 10). "USAfrica's protracted demise - and its repeated promises of imminent resuscitation - have created an unacceptable void in a rapidly expanding market," said World.
GP Express filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday but continues to operate in Nebraska and the Southeast as the Continental Connection. Founder and Chairman George Poullos said the filing was strictly a matter of reduced revenues from Continental pulling down its Denver hub, Congress cutting subsidies and DOT ordering a pullout at Scottsbluff, Neb., on seven days' notice last fall, together with the introduction of service by Southwest at Omaha. The effect was cumulative, he said. The carrier operates 19 Beech 1900s and began service 10 years ago.
British Aerospace's 146 sales and leasing arm, Asset Management Organization, called 1995 a record year with transactions valued at nearly $250 million, a 40% increase from 1994. AMO customers signed leases for 54 aircraft during 1995, with 29 new leases and 25 lease extensions. In addition, AMO sold an aircraft to United Kingdom carrier Manx Airlines. The average lease term negotiated during the year was for five years.
...American's former Nashville hub is becoming the San Jose of the Midwest. Comair already has jumped into two former American routes with its Canadair Regional Jets - Toronto and Orlando - and is said to be doing well. AMR Eagle revealed this week that it will follow its parent and leave the market. Southwest, meanwhile, capitalizes. Boyd believes it will be difficult for Midway to succeed at Raleigh/Durham where American failed, which leaves in question the potential success of Great Lakes Aviation, operating at RDU as the Midway Connection.
Robotic Vision Systems Inc. (RVSI) said its Aircraft Safety Division has received its first airline order for ID-1 wide area aircraft ice detection systems, from Delta. The order is for four units and includes spares and technical support. They will be installed this winter at East Coast airports to inspect aircraft in adverse weather conditions. "This is the first deployment of wide area ice detection systems in the world," said RVSI.
Travel Guard, which provides travel insurance, said the blizzard that hit the Eastern U.S. has produced a record volume of calls from customers purchasing policies. Travel Guard has established a toll-free number (800- 826-4117) to help coordinate canceled flights and travel plans with consumers, travel agents and tour operators, and to provide insurance information. "Thousands of people have missed flights due to this storm. Unfortunately, if you don't have travel insurance, nobody is going to give you a refund," said spokesperson Tom Zavadsky.
Air Canada yesterday started scheduled service between Toronto and Philadelphia. The carrier is operating four daily nonstop flights in the market using 50-passenger Canadair jets.
Hertz Corp. says it is increasing safety features in its fleet of 1996 automobiles by offering driver-side airbags in all cars, passenger-side airbags in 99% of the cars and anti-lock brakes in 75%.
Atlant-SV Airlines is seeking renewal of its authority to operate charter combination service between any point or points in Ukraine and any point or points in the U.S. Applying for a two-year renewal, the carrier admitted that it has not yet begun the services but believes it will do so "within the next year as it formalizes marketing arrangements in the United States and Ukraine to support such services." Privately owned Atlant-SV is Ukraine's second-largest carrier (DAILY, Jan. 5, 1995). (Docket OST-95- 977)
Rolls-Royce's Trent 800 engine has taken about 60% of Boeing 777 engine business in the fast-growing Asia/Pacific region. The Trent, delivering an overall 777 market share of 35% to Rolls in its competition with General Electric and Pratt&Whitney, has been ordered by Thai International, Cathay Pacific and Singapore.
Tower Air will again operate charter flights this spring, carrying pilgrims to Mecca for the 1996 Hadj. The carrier said yesterday it has signed a wet-lease agreement to provide eight 747s for the event which runs from the middle of March through the end of May. Tower has operated Hadj flights under contract since 1992. Last year it provided seven aircraft for pilgrimages.
Lineas Aereas Privadas Argentinas has requested renewal of its authority to conduct combination charter service between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Miami, via Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Based in Buenos Aires, LAPA operates a fleet of Boeing 737-200 and Saab SF340A aircraft. (Docket OST- 96-986)
National Transportation Safety Board Member John Goglia is moderating a briefing today on the hazards of bird ingestion into aircraft turbine engines. The safety board said it is coordinating the briefing because of its "longstanding interest in the issue of the hazards birds present to aircraft." A notice to industry from NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said that despite progress during the past 20 years, "there does not appear to be a viable solution that will adequately protect an aircraft from all bird ingestion scenarios."
Time Warner's Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. has signed a lease/purchase agreement to manage Fiesta Texas for 10 years, and possibly acquire it. Fiesta Texas, owned by La Cantera Development company, is a park set in a limestone quarry with 100-foot cliffs near San Antonio. Time Warner plans to add new thrill rides and other themed attractions. Six Flags theme park properties host 24 million visitors a year.
Travel Industry Association of America's 1996 Outlook for Travel and Tourism luncheon, scheduled Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C., was postponed because of the blizzard. Because of the shutdown of the federal government due to the weather which also closed TIA's offices through yesterday, there is no word yet on when it will be rescheduled. Copies of the Outlook cost $100 for members and $150 for non-members and can be ordered from TIA, Publications Ordering, 1100 New York Ave. N.W., Suite 450, Washington, D.C. 20005-3934, 202-408-8422.
Delta has applied for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between Atlanta and Montreal. Seeking a two-year exemption, the carrier proposes to continue twice-daily roundtrip service on the route, using Boeing 727-200s or other suitable aircraft, depending on market conditions. (Docket OST-95-978)
Ergomedics, a Vermont medical high-tech firm, said its BackCycler lumbar support system is being installed in the seats of a new-production Boeing airplane being customized for a major domestic U.S. airline for delivery in March. The company says the seats allow passengers to sit for long periods of time with greater overall comfort. Ergomedics has a development agreement with seat manufacturer BE Aerospace. The company said the Food and Drug Administration cleared a medical version recently, and portable BackCyclers are used in rehabilitation centers and clinics.
USAir flew 5.9% fewer revenue passenger miles last month on 13.2% less capacity. The double-digit falloff in capacity pushed its load factor up five points to a record 63.6%. For 1995, USAir's traffic was down 0.8% on 4.6% less capacity. That moved USAir's load factor up 2.5 points to 64.7%; its best annual load factor on record. Dec 95 Dec 94 12 Mths 95 12 Mths 94 RPMs 2,923,552,000 3,107,547,000 38,078,641,000 38,394,884,000
British Aerospace Systems and Equipment said it has received FAA clearance to operate as an approved repair station for radomes and composite panels. The FAA approval complements existing European JAR 145 approval and enables the company to repair radomes and airframe composite structures from U.S.- registered aircraft. The company also said its family of digital cockpit voice and combined voice/data recorders SCR500 have received FAA approval. The recorders meet FAA's proposed new standards and ICAO specifications, the company said.
Worldspan appointed Samuel Horgan chief financial officer, replacing Mark Mulvany, who is retiring. Horgan previously worked as CFO at Computer Task Group, Buffalo, N.Y., an information technology services company.
A sobered Airbus Industrie will work this year toward filling gaps in its product line quickly - particularly in the large, long-range segment in which it has not been able to challenge Boeing - in the wake of an embarrassing yearend tally of new aircraft orders in 1995. The European consortium will revise and speed up study plans unveiled last summer for a 530- to 570-passenger transport, the so-called Super Jumbo, a spokesman said, and it hopes to launch more talks with airline customers on the project.
