Aviation Daily

Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, said yesterday he will co-sponsor the FAA reform bill (H.R.1392) introduced last month by Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa). Oberstar, a past sponsor of FAA independence legislation, said he strongly supports Lightfoot's bid to make FAA an independent agency. He noted that 10 of the 11 living former FAA administrators supported FAA independence this year, and all 11 opposed a government corporation to run air traffic control (DAILY, Feb. 24).

United's flight attendants will picket the carrier's annual shareholders meeting tomorrow in Los Angeles to protest the airline's plans to open a flight attendant domicile in Hong Kong July 1. The flight attendants also have scheduled a rally tomorrow at San Francisco Airport to protest the domicile. "United is taking the highest-paying jobs away from U.S. flight attendants," said Kevin Lum, president of the Association of Flight Attendants Master Executive Council at United.

United said yesterday political pressure from Congress on behalf of incumbents resisting any change in the U.S.-U.K. bilateral (DAILY, May 16) is costing it $7 million to $10 million a month in lost revenue. Most of that is also a loss for the U.S., he added, as British Airways already has authority to fly a daily double to Philadelphia until at least August.

Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Shrontz says negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the prospective Saudia aircraft deal are in their final stages, and the company hopes its new 777 will be part of the buy. The Saudis visited engine manufacturers last week, and Boeing is sending yet another team to Saudi Arabia to try to nail down the deal.

Air France Chairman Christian Blanc has been appointed to succeed Michel Bernard as chairman of French domestic carrier Air Inter on what was described as a temporary basis until a new government is named, possibly as early as today, by French President-elect Jacques Chirac (DAILY, May 15). Blanc, whose Groupe Air France owns 75% of Air Inter, may be replaced after the Chirac government appoints a new transportation minister and formulates its own airline policy.

Reno Air's April passenger traffic rose 13.7% from the same month a year ago to 151.8 million revenue passenger miles but failed to keep pace with capacity, which increased 19.8%. The result was a load factor decline of 3.4 percentage points to 61.8%. The number of passengers boarded increased 5.2% to 298,741.

McDonnell Douglas Aircraft said it is leasing a DC-10-30 to Aeroflot, which has taken an option on a second aircraft. The first, to be delivered in July, will be used on long-haul freight routes. Douglas will provide crew training on the DC-10, which along with the DC-9 received Russian certification in 1993.

U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger America West $ 7,466,743 $ 2.00 American 152,443,000 7.41 Continental 28,348,000 2.77 Delta 103,233,000 4.61 Northwest 58,457,000 5.15

Carnival Air Lines is asking DOT to allot it three new U.S.-Peru frequencies and reject United's request for 2.5 additional frequencies between Miami and Lima (DAILY, May 10). Noting that the new U.S.-Peru agreement provides for 3.5 additional Miami/Fort Lauderdale-Lima frequencies, Carnival maintains that they would be used "most efficiently and advantageously to enable a third U.S. competitor - Carnival - to enter the South Florida-Peru market." Currently, American and United operate the only scheduled U.S. passenger service between the U.S. and Peru.

Precision Standard's Pemco World Air Services subsidiary in Copenhagen has contracted with Air Espana of Palma de Mallorca for line maintenance of 737 and 757 aircraft operating out of Gardermoen Airport in Oslo.

U.S. and Polish negotiators made some progress in the three days of talks in Warsaw last week, a DOT spokesman said, but there was no new agreement (DAILY, May 15). In the negotiations, which ended Friday, the U.S. proposed open skies to Poland, although there was "no conclusion" on the issue, the spokesman said. The Polish officials did agree to allow the third-country, code-share service in a year, said industry officials, if the U.S. approved immediately the American-LOT code-share agreement.

Taiwan and Costa Rica have agreed to establish direct air links. The agreement, signed in Taipei by Taiwan's minister of transportation and communications, Liu Chao-shiuan, and Costa Rican Transportation Minister Arce Gutierrez, permits each side to name a single carrier to conduct flights between Taipei and San Jose. The selected carriers will receive fifth-freedom rights and the authority to conduct a maximum of seven weekly flights on the new route.

A decision not to build Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport could cost Britain more than #2 billion per year in increased air fares and lost tourism business, T5 proponent and British Airways Chairman Colin Marshall said recently. A public inquiry on the proposal is scheduled to begin today. According to a study commissioned by BA and conducted by Coopers&Lybrand in anticipation of the inquiry, British tourism could lose up to #1.2 billion a year and the cost of air travel for British businesses could increase by #1 billion a year.

U.S. Major and National Carriers Commission Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Passenger Systemwide Revenues America West $ 26,667,278 8.41 American 306,066,000 9.69 Continental 79,907,000 7.68 Delta 297,557,000 11.07

The voice switching and control system (VSCS), the next step in FAA's modernization of the nation's air traffic control system, reached initial operational capability yesterday in Seattle with scarcely a hitch, Peter Challan, program manager for contractor Harris Corp., said yesterday (DAILY, May 15). Challan said that with IOC, controllers at the Seattle ARTCC (air route traffic control center) are using VSCS at selected times for coordination and clearance to pilots, and for their communications with other controllers.

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association wants Signature Flight Support, one of the largest fixed-based operators in the U.S., to "modify or scrap" its new handling fees for general aviation aircraft transiting its facilities at 43 airports. AOPA President Phil Boyer said Signature has a service monopoly at 19 airports, imposes "some of the highest fuel prices in the nation" and "assesses a handling charge against pilots who do not purchase fuel."

Sabena's first quarter passenger traffic jumped 22.4% from the same period last year to 1.76 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers carried rose 1.54% to more than one million, and the Belgian airline's cargo traffic was up 7.5% to 107 million freight ton kilometers. In March, Sabena's passenger traffic rose 22.8% to 660.9 million RPKs, and the number of passengers enplaned increased 15.8% to 386,172. Cargo traffic rose 3.5% to 38.9 million FTKs.

U.S. Major and National Carriers Interest Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 16,278,550 5.19 American 146,009,000 3.93 Continental 43,412,000 3.52

Compania Panamena de Aviacion, S.A., has applied for a one-year renewal, beginning June 14, of its authority to operate combination service between Panama City, Panama, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, via Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The carrier provides daily service on the route, using Boeing 737-200 aircraft. (Docket 43853)

Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications is reported to be ready to relax restrictions on foreign ownership in air cargo companies. Under new regulations proposed by the ministry's Civil Aeronautics Administration, the limit on foreign ownership in air cargo companies will be increased from the present one-third to one-half. Among foreign air cargo operators believed to be interested in increasing their presence in Taiwan are Federal Express, DHL, UPS and TNT.

LOT Polish Airlines took delivery of a new 767-300 from Boeing, its fourth, and said the aircraft "will enable us to realize our ambitious plans to fly 20 flights a week between the U.S. and Poland." The flights will be between Warsaw and New York, Newark and Chicago. LOT also uses a leased DC-10 on transatlantic routes, and it has 10 737s for intra-European service and seven ATRs for domestic travel.

Emirates has launched weekly 747 freighter service between Dubai and Singapore using an aircraft leased from U.S.-based Atlas Air. The new service is in response to growing demand for cargo space in the market and is being operated in addition to the airline's six weekly passenger flights to Singapore.

Hawaiian Airlines reported a net loss of $8.3 million and an operating loss of $7.4 million for the first quarter of 1995. Both deficits are deeper than in the first quarter last year, when the net loss was $7.4 million and the operating loss $6.5 million. Hawaiian said its 1995 results included a one-time, non-cash charge of $2 million for the projected effects of an early retirement program. The airline's operating revenues was up 6.4%. Passenger traffic rose 4.9% in the quarter, but passenger yield slipped 4%.

DOT has given interested parties until tomorrow to supplement their answers to the joint application of Federal Express and Evergreen International Airlines for U.S.-China all-cargo authority. (Docket 50173)

France is expected to open up a fourth domestic market to competition by allowing Air Liberte and TAT to challenge state-owned Air Inter on the Paris Orly-Bordeaux route. The action was recommended early this month, at the conclusion of France's national elections, by the Conseil Superieur de l'Aviation Marchande, and the new government is considered likely to approve it. CSAM, which represents air transport operators, also recommended that TAT be allowed to serve Orly-Nice in competition with AOM and Air Inter.