Aviation Daily

A private consortium will finance construction of a new 8 billion Deutschmark Berlin-Brandenburg Airport while the state puts up DM1.9 billion for airport infrastructure, Michael Pieper, undersecretary of the ministry for economic affairs of the state of Brandenburg, said yesterday in Washington, D.C. Pieper said discussions on financing are under way. The airport is to be built on the former Sperenberg Air Base, which Pieper said is the largest former Soviet facility outside the old USSR.

DOT has shortened the answer period for United's request for additional Miami-Lima frequencies, requiring answers to the application tomorrow rather than by May 23. The carrier asked the department to increase its Miami-Lima allocation from 4.5 to seven frequencies per week, to enable it to begin daily Boeing 757 service on June 5. The new U.S.-U.K. bilateral agreement increases Miami-Lima frequencies from 21 to 24.5. (Docket 49910) (See related story on Page 260 of the hard copy of this issue.)

Speedwing, a division of British Airways, has signed an agreement to participate in SITA's Sahara hotel booking system. The five-year agreement, which begins June 1, will enable Speedwing's hosted reservations customers to purchase directly through Speedwing access to Sahara. SITA Sahara provides airline subscribers with real-time access to more than 13,000 hotel properties in more than 1,750 cities worldwide, allowing direct bookings and real-time confirmations.

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.

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.

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

Aloha appointed Michael Cohen senior VP-operations, Alton Higa director-corporate accounting and Randal Okita director-internal audit. Mesa Air Group named Clark Stevens to the board. Southern Air Transport appointed Crystal Bergstrom VP-sales. United appointed Andrew Studdert chief information officer.

U.S. Major and National Carriers Maintenance Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 28,415,556 9.06 American 316,330,000 8.52 Continental 166,487,000 13.49

Cooper Industries promoted Bradley McWilliams to senior VP-finance and chief financial officer. Gulfstream appointed James Healey regional VP-Europe, based in Monaco. Herman Roof Henry&Gordon named Roland Moore of counsel. Lucas Aerospace appointed Thomas Schlessinger VP-operations of Lucas Aerospace Cargo Systems. McDonnell Douglas promoted Thomas Gunn to senior VP-business development and named Frederick Hill senior VP-communications and community relations.

Holders of Reno Air's $4.55 million 7.25% convertible subordinated notes have converted their notes, including accrued interest, into shares of Reno common stock. The conversion results in the issuance of 930,744 shares of Reno Air common stock and an increase in stockholders' equity of approximately $4.65 million. On April 10, the company tendered a proposal to convert their notes, plus accrued interest, into common stock at a conversion price of $5 per share. Substantially all noteholders tendered the note for conversion at this price as of May 8.

Mexicana has applied for authority to operate combination service between Morelia, Mexico, and San Jose, Calif. The carrier wants to operate five- times-weekly roundtrip service on the route using A320 aircraft, starting today.

U.S. Major and National Carriers Rental Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 57,699,980 18.40 American 287,072,000 7.73 Continental 159,016,000 12.89 Delta 282,327,000 9.59

Voice Switching and Control System is expected to achieve initial operational capability today at the Seattle air route traffic control center. The Harris-built VSCS eventually will go into all ARTCCs, starting next with Salt Lake City and Denver.

China Airlines (CAL) plans to launch service from Taipei to Zurich July 12 and between Taipei and Rome on July 17. Because of what CAL described as "political concerns," the airline will use its CI designator code for the new routes but will operate the service in the livery of subsidiary Mandarin Airlines, whose airplanes fly without the Taiwan flag. The Zurich service will be operated twice a week with MD-11s flying via Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt. The Taipei-Rome service will also be operated twice a week, but with 747SPs operate via Dubai.

Three days of U.S.-Poland talks last week failed to produce a new aviation agreement, according to an industry official. The U.S. was to offer the Poles an open skies agreement and, short of that, press for third-country code-share access. The Poles agreed to allow the code-share service within "a specific period of time," the official said.

Reversing an earlier, tentative decision, the Australian Trade Practices Commission (TPC) Friday approved a major element of the British Airways/Qantas alliance that envisions joint operations over the so-called Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe (DAILY, Nov. 21). After months of review and negotiations, the TPC approved the carriers' Joint Service Agreement, which covers fares, capacity and scheduling, for a period of five years. However, it set a ceiling on how much the two airline may increase excursion fares.

Hawaiian Airlines will increase its Honolulu-Las Vegas frequency to daily but eliminate nonstops June 15. The carrier offers four flights a week, two of them nonstops. When flights are offered daily, all will stop in Los Angeles.

- In Federal Register dated May 8...Superseded an airworthiness directive on Cessna T303, 402C, 404, 414A and 421C aircraft concerning inspection of fuel inlet float valves...Issued an AD on certain Raytheon Hawker 1000 and BAe 125-1000A aircraft requiring inspection of the fuel hose assemblies on the auxiliary power unit.