Granted orally an exemption to Northwest to operate scheduled combination service between U.S. points and Doha, Qatar and Muscat, Oman, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Accra, Ghana; Bahrain, Bahrain; Sanaa, Yemen. The services will be operated via Amsterdam under Northwest's code-share agreement with KLM...
U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration employees should receive 60-day notices today that the agency is closing April 12. USTTA officials still are trying to find positions in other parts of the Commerce Department for as many employees as possible. Greg Farmer, undersecretary of commerce for travel and tourism, told reporters Friday that the agency would have closed a long time ago if it had not been for support from the administration. Congress "wanted a trophy," he said, by being able to say it closed an agency to eliminate fat in government.
A group of aerospace public relations employees and members of the media are forming The Society of Aerospace Communicators in Washington, D.C. The group, which announced its plans last week will fill a void created by the death several years ago of the bankrupt Columbus, Ohio-based Aviation/Space Writers Association. Aviation publishing veteran Joseph Murphy will be the founding president.
Southwest has cut in half seven-day advance purchase fares from Baltimore/Washington to Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Nonstops to Tampa are $69 one way, and nonstops to Orlando will be the same price when the service starts in April. One-stops to Fort Lauderdale through Tampa or Orlando are $79. The originally announced seven-day advance fare for service to Tampa and Orlando was $139.
DOT has renewed DHL Airways' exemption authority to operate scheduled all- cargo service between Cincinnati and Houston, on the one hand, and Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico, on the other. The carrier also received permission to integrate this service with its existing flights in the Cincinnati/Houston- Mexico City market. DHL operates Cincinnati/Houston-Guadalajara service five times a week, using 727 aircraft, and uses small aircraft in the Monterrey market (DAILY, Jan. 23). (Docket OST-95-145)
In Federal Register dated Feb. 2...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain de Havilland Dash 8 series aircraft requiring modification of a certain battery temperature monitor...Issued an AD on certain Boeing 747- 400 aircraft requiring inspection for damage of the fuel tube located in the forward engine strut...Proposed an AD on Robinson R44 helicopters to require adjusting the low-RPM warning unit threshold.
This year's Olympic Games in Atlanta may be a boon to airline business, but they may be having an unintended impact on labor negotiations. The Association of Flight Attendants, trying for awhile to get its first contract with Atlanta-based ValuJet, believes the Games should create pressure for a deal. Flight attendants at Delta are organizing for AFA representation. Delta's pilots, who also feel the Games give them some leverage, continue mediated contract talks.
DOT has renewed for two years Tower Air's authority to operate scheduled combination service between New York and Amsterdam, New Delhi and Bombay. The carrier also received approval to integrate this authority with its rights to serve New York-Paris and New York/Miami-Frankfurt/Hamburg/Cologne/Munich/Berlin. Tower plans to resume scheduled flights to New Delhi April 4 as part of its twice-weekly New York-Bombay service, via Amsterdam (DAILY, Jan. 24).
David Hinson, FAA administrator; Gerald Greenwald, chief executive of United, and at least 12 chief executives from Latin American and Caribbean airlines are slated to speak at the Fourth Annual International CEO Conference, hosted by The DAILY's affiliate Aviation-Latin America&Caribbean newsletter. The conference will be held March 10-12 in Santiago, Chile, in conjunction with the FIDAE '96 Airshow. For more information, contact Claudia Aria Schreiber at 305-876-9339.
American Trans Air parent Amtran, Inc. reported net income of $8.5 million for 1995, or 74 cents per share, compared with net income of $3.5 million, or 30 cents per share, for 1994. Operating income increased 96.3% for the year to $16.5 million. Operating revenues increased 23.2% to $715.0 million from $580.5 million, while operating expenses rose 22.1% to $698.5 million. For the fourth quarter, the airline reported a net loss of $3.8 million, or 32 cents per share, 36% less than its 1994 fourth quarter loss of $5.9 million, or 52 cents per share.
United Airlines Worldwide Cargo has signed a contract with Transport Data Network International for domestic distribution of shipment data. The TDNI system will provide United customers with real-time access to shipment data for all domestic and international shipments, the carrier said.
Chase Manhattan said it completed a $103.6 million financing of a 747-400 aircraft for Philippine Airlines. Chase said it acted as an adviser and arranger for the 12-year financing, which was priced at 6.03% fixed interest. The financing, guaranteed by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, was placed with WestLB, which had earlier taken out bridge financing from Chase. Chase, which also advised on and arranged the financing of two 747- 400s the carrier acquired in 1993, said it is working now with PAL on the financing of a fourth, for delivery this quarter.
U.S. officials are not of one mind about last week's comments on the U.S.- U.K. stalemate by British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Malcolm Rifkind. One assessment is that Rifkind offered little that is new, beyond saying that the U.K.'s October 1995 offer still is on the table. An alternative view is that Rifkind's timing - just after the U.S.-Germany open skies breakthrough - indicates that the message may be getting through.
U.S. and Canadian carriers want DOT to defer action on the application of American, Canadian Airlines International and their regional associates for antitrust immunity to expand their commercial alliance. Like most respondents, Delta said the department should not consider the application "until the 'open skies' provisions of the U.S.-Canada bilateral are fully effective." All respondents cited restrictions on U.S. carrier entry to Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto that continue through 1997.
Air Transport Association plans to commission a study of airport capital needs to evaluate airport groups' declarations of those needs. The association wants to analyze needs specifically in terms of the safety and capacity of the aviation system, discounting other reasons for airport expansion, such as economic development.
