FAA granted certification to Airbus Industrie's A321 Dec. 20, clearing the way for its use by such U.S. customers as International Lease Finance Corp. and GATX/CL Air, the European consortium reported. IAE V2530 and CFM International CFM56-B engines are offered as powerplants. A stretched version of the A320, the A321 seats 185 passengers in two classes. Lufthansa was the first to put the A321 into service, in March 1994 with the V2500 engines, followed by Alitalia with CFMI power.
FAA now believes its $475 million Wide Area Augmentation System will make Category 1 approaches possible at nearly "every airport in the U.S.," according to Administrator David Hinson. This means that more than 18,000 airports "can have instrument approaches."
America West will outsource sales and marketing functions for its Canada and Mexico service to Discover The World Marketing, based in Scottsdale, Ariz. America West flies to Vancouver and five Mexican cities - Mexico City, Los Cabos, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. Early this month, America West said it will contract out heavy maintenance of aircraft to Tramco, cutting 500 jobs (DAILY, Dec. 5).
Approved an IATA agreement readopting the current intra-Caribbean fare structure, approved by DOT in March and due to expire Dec. 31, for an additional one-year period.
Departing from the recommended decision of its administrative law judge, DOT found Friday that 81.5% of disputed landing fees at Los Angeles Airport are reasonable and ordered the $2.06-per-thousand-pounds charge scaled back to $1.68. The decision contradicts last month's recommended decision by Administrative Law Judge Burton Kolko in that it allows the city to continue to collect fees to cover most of its police expenses, excluding charges for police work outside the airport's boundaries (DAILY, Nov. 27).
Pending reform of FAA has led the agency to create several committees to oversee the transition. One of them is the DOD Negotiation Work Group, set up to deal with the touchy issue of military payments to FAA for its air traffic services. Other committees cover productivity, reauthorization, regulations, financing, acquisition reform and personnel.
Alaska Airlines has applied for certificate authority to operate combination service between Seattle, on the one hand, and Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on the other. Already holding an exemption to serve the route, the carrier said it is making the current request to gain "the greater security of certificate authority" and end "the burden of periodic exemption requests." Alaska is operating daily one-stop service between Seattle and Puerto Vallarta, using Boeing 737 and MD-80 aircraft, and Sunday service between Seattle and Mazatlan, using MD-80s.
Bahamasair requested authority to operate scheduled combination service between New York and Nassau, proposing to operate six days per week nonstop on the route with Boeing 737-200 aircraft, beginning Jan. 25. Bahamasair said it "believes that the U.S. traveling public will be well served by the additional competition in the important New York-Nassau tourist market, which is currently served only by Delta and Carnival, although several other U.S.
Unions vow to seek changes in Senate FAA reform version of the Management Advisory Council that would influence agency decisions on management, policy, spending, user fees and regulation. The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department said giving airlines six of 13 seats on the council is "special interest grab in its purest form."
Swissair plans to reorganize itself, breaking the airline and its other businesses into separate operating units. Under the move, which is scheduled March 1, the company will create four operating divisions - Airline, Cargo/Logistics, Services and Catering. Services will be responsible for technical services and ground-handling. The parent company will reorganize to include several group functions: Finance and Development, Partnerships/External Relations/PR, Human Resources and General Secretariat, the airline said.
BWIA International is offering 20% off its lowest roundtrip excursion fares for travel to the Caribbean from New York and Miami. Tickets are available through Jan. 15 for travel to Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Tobago or Trinidad from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7, and to Port of Spain through Feb. 5. Travelers must return by Feb. 15.
Approved an IATA agreement deleting all fares and conditions from Libya to points in the Western Hemisphere due to lack of international air service. In addition, this agreement decreases fares from Malawi, Eritrea and Ethiopia to points in North America by 5% as a result of government disapprovals and to reflect fares currently on file and approved.
Fortis Aviation said it was selected by Air Europe of Italy to arrange the wet-lease of a 767-300ER. The aircraft is available from April to November. Air Europe operates long-range charter services with five 767- 300ERs, one of which is surplus to its requirements next year.
Air Canada is close to a deal with the governments of Canada and Quebec that would enable the three to upgrade the carrier's maintenance facility at Montreal Dorval Airport. Under the proposed pact, the three parties would spend C$112.5 million (US$82.5 million) to make unspecified modifications to the facility. The federal government and the government of Quebec each would contribute C$9.5 million (US$7 million) to the project, while the airline would pay the remainder, an Air Canada spokeswoman said.
Delta has asked DOT for another limited waiver of the 180-day statutory limit for action on its complaint against the German government and Frankfurt/Main Airport. Action has been postponed repeatedly since Delta filed the complaint Dec. 29, 1993, with the latest waiver deferring action until Jan. 5, 1996. Delta contends the German government and the airport have denied it the right to perform its own ground-handling and imposed unreasonable and burdensome rates and charges in violation of the U.S.- Germany agreement.
Reversing itself, FAA has told Oracle Telecomputing and Boeing that Oracle may restructure its team and make Boeing the prime contractor in the competition for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) program. Until now, FAA insisted that Boeing would have to be a subcontractor to Oracle, because Oracle was one of seven companies originally qualified for the program.
Delta will add Finnair to its SkyMiles frequent flyer program as of Jan. 1. The carriers began code sharing earlier this year between New York and Helsinki. The arrangement enables Delta frequent flyers to earn mileage on all scheduled Finnair international flights, regardless of travel residency or travel origination.
DOT's effort to stop airlines from spraying insecticide on aircraft routinely with passengers on board "has achieved dramatic success," said DOT Secretary Federico Pena. "When we first turned the spotlight on this issue, 25 countries required routine on-board spraying. Now, only six do," he said. Barbados is the latest country to halt the practice, leaving Argentina, Grenada, India, Kiribati, Madagascar and Trinidad&Tobago still spraying.
Approved an IATA agreement increasing passenger fares, most cargo rates and related charges (except add-ons) from Pakistan to points throughout the world, including U.S. points, by 12% to help offset the continued depreciation of the Pakistani rupee.
In Federal Register dated Dec. 15...Issued an airworthiness directive on certain Beech 400A aircraft requiring an inspection to verify that the securing rivet is installed on the rod end of the control push rods of the spoiler flight control system...Issued an AD on certain Beech 400A/T aircraft requiring modification of the standby instrument lighting system...Superseded an AD on Boeing 757 aircraft concerning modifications to the passenger door.
