Former America West president and chief operating officer, Maurice Myers, has switched modes -- he is the new president and chief executive of trucking industry holding company Yellow Corporation. Based in Overland Park, Kan., Yellow recorded 1995 revenues of $3.1 billion. Prior to joining America West in 1994, Myers was president and chief executive of Aloha Air Group.
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, based in Colorado Springs, are the latest organizations to sign an agreement with Western Pacific to have their logos appear on the fuselage of a 737-300, one on the left side and the other on the right. The logos, and pictures of rodeo legends Ty Murray and the late Casey Tibbs, will be on the aircraft for four years.
In its first public statement since FAA sent it a "cure" letter, the team handling the $475 million Wide Area Augmentation System contract said yesterday it "remains confident of its ability to deliver a WAAS system that meets all of the FAA's requirements" (DAILY, March 20). The team, composed of Wilcox Electric, Hughes Aircraft and TRW, was told by FAA that it had until April 2 to correct "performance deficiencies." The cure letter listed 10 areas that are "endangering performance of the WAAS contract."
Responding to a joint letter from Northwest and United, ACCESS-U.S.-Japan Chairman Gerald Baliles wrote United Chairman Gerald Greenwald that the coalition "is in favor of increasing - not decreasing - service in the U.S.-Japan market, and beyond. Anyone who claims differently misrepresents our agenda" (DAILY, March 19).
Lufthansa will start nonstop service to San Francisco from Munich in June as part of its summer schedule. It will add frequencies from Frankfurt to Boston and Los Angeles and switch to 747s from smaller aircraft in the Atlanta and Newark markets. It will operate 103 flights per week to 10 U.S. cities this summer and will add a code-share flight with United between Dusseldorf and Chicago on June 1.
Comair Holdings Inc. has acquired Eastpointe, Mich.-based Spirit Airlines, a DC-9 operator with a fleet of 10 jets. A spokeswoman said Friday that Comair will operate the company as a separate subsidiary from its regional operation, which feeds Delta. But the transaction could raise protests from Delta's pilots union, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, whose leadership recently agreed to a new contract with the jet carrier. The situation is further complicated by the fact that ALPA also represents pilots at Comair.
Domestic pleasure travelers who use the Internet accounted for an estimated travel value of $40.8 billion in the past 12 months, according to CIC Research's Net Traveler Survey. Calculating value according to how many people traveled, how frequently they flew and how much they spent, CIC found that domestic business travelers were worth $30.9 billion, international pleasure travelers $29 billion and international business travelers $14.25 billion.
Reports have resurfaced in Europe about a KLM-British Airways alliance that could include American and Iberia. The Dutch press said last week that KLM and BA were holding discussions, but KLM dismissed the reports as "pure speculation." BA and American stuck with their policy of not commenting on alliance negotiations.
U.S. and South Africa begin talks today in Washington amid expectations that they will be able to wrap up an agreement in one or two rounds. The key issue is third-country code sharing.
Western Pacific and American Eagle celebrated milestones last week, WestPac boarding its millionth passenger and Eagle its 80 millionth. WestPac described its customer as "a vivacious, blonde, 30-year-old woman born in The Netherlands" and showered her with free airline tickets each month for a year and free stays at two resort hotels in Colorado and Opryland. Eagle's winners, a retiree and his nine-year-old grandson, got two free tickets, a travel bag and Eagle trinkets.
- In Federal Register dated March 15...Proposed to supersede an airworthiness directive on JanAero B series combustion heaters concerning retention of pressure decay tests. - In FR dated March 19...Superseded an AD on Enstrom F-28/280 series helicopters concerning inspections of a certain main rotor transmission clutch assembly. - In FR dated March 20...Proposed to supersede an AD on certain McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and DC-10 aircraft requiring testing of electrical connectors to the engine generator and fire bell shutoff switches.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena notified air travelers to Greece Friday that Athens Hellenikon Airport does not meet the security standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The Greek government disputed the statement. Pena based his action on an FAA assessment of security measures, but a spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Washington said, "We are surprised by this statement.
DOT's study of the impact of new entrants in the U.S. market is likely to be released in about two weeks. It is expected to document the effect of startups on fares and identify points where competitive conditions may favor new entry.
France told U.S. carriers Friday to scale back planned summer service to France in the wake of DOT's rejection of Air France's request for additional U.S. summer service. TWA, Tower, American, Delta, Continental and United all were informed that they would have to curtail some of their summer service, which was approved in February and set to begin April 1, according to industry sources. The affected markets are New York, Washington and Houston.
British Airways on Friday awarded General Electric Aircraft Engine Services of Nantgarw, Wales, a 10-year repair and overhaul contract valued at $2.3 billion. BA's first such contract to GE came in 1991, "but this new agreement provides significant benefits" for the airline, said Brian Philpott, BA engineering acting managing director. George Duncanson, GE managing director, said the 10-year contract "besides securing long-term employment in Wales, will also serve as a springboard for GE engine services global growth strategy."
Established carriers and startups alike are rallying around the industry position, stated by Air Transport Association, that DOT should avoid over- regulation of electronic ticketing procedures. In comments on potential regulations, ATA said carriers need flexibility in deciding when, where and how to provide customers with required consumer notices (DAILY, March 21).
