Officials from the U.S. and Germany are expected to meet within a month to continue informal talks, dealing with European Union-U.S. questions that often are better handled in smaller groups, according to a U.S. government official. After these issues are addressed, the two countries will schedule formal talks.
American said it will hire about 1,050 workers over the next two years at its Tulsa maintenance base (DAILY, Nov. 29). About 600 will be new jobs made possible in part by the Oklahoma Quality Jobs program and by the carrier's new labor pact with the Transport Workers Union. The total does not include 400 previously furloughed mechanics who have been recalled in the past month, said David Kruse, senior VP-engineering and maintenance.
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is raising concerns about Federal Express's difficulty in establishing "an economically viable" transshipment center at Chiang Kai-Shek Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. "It is critical to the long-term profitability of our cargo and passenger carriers that once our carriers gain access to a foreign air service market, their rights under the bilateral aviation agreement are protected," Pressler said in a letter to DOT Secretary Federico Pena dated Dec. 8.
Boeing will compensate for delayed delivery of 777s to United by freeing up two aircraft it used for flight tests. The first will go into service in February, becoming the second 777 on the Washington Dulles-London Heathrow route. The second, entering service in March, will enable United to offer two daily Miami-Sao Paulo flights.
Continued budget impasse between the White House and congressional Republicans raises the real - though perhaps remote - possibility that aviation excise taxes, such as the 10% passenger ticket tax, will lapse. The taxes expire Jan. 1, and chances for approval of a budget reconciliation bill by then are increasingly dim. Some observers expect Congress to extend expiring taxes through a stopgap measure, but the parties could let the taxes lapse to create further pressure for a quick resolution of the deadlock.
National Labor Relations Board notified Boeing that the Machinists union, in its third month on strike, has withdrawn its unfair labor practice charge against the company for lack of evidence. The union had complained that the company was not forthcoming with information on changes it was proposing to health care benefits, and that it refused to bargain in contract negotiations that eventually ended in the strike, which began Oct. 5. Under NLRB procedures, the charge would have been dismissed if the Machinists had not agreed to withdraw it.
Delta's November traffic fell 3% on 1.5% less capacity, compared with November 1994 levels. International revenue passenger miles contracted 9.5% on 5.2% fewer international available seat miles. The systemwide load factor was down 0.9 percentage points. The number of passengers carried by the airline last month fell 2.6%. For the first 11 months, Delta's traffic was off 1.4% on a 0.1% capacity gain, driving the load factor down 0.9 points. The number of passengers boarded in November was down 2.3%.
DOT granted the request of Air-India and United to shorten the answer date with respect to their application for code-share/blocked-space operations in the Los Angeles-Delhi market. Answers had to be filed by Dec. 6. To be operated on United's Boeing 767 or 747s, the service will be performed in conjunction with United's round-the-world service, slated to begin Dec. 14. (Docket OST-95-901)
Bombardier Aerospace Group-North America and CAE Electronics Ltd. officially opened their new training and research and development center near Montreal Dorval Airport. The 66,000-square-foot Bombardier Aerospace Training Center provides training support for operators of the 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jet and Canadair Challenger widebody business jet and maintenance training for the Canadair CL-415 amphibious aircraft. Total cost of the project is $108 million, "including the building, equipment, research and development and infrastructure," Bombardier said.
Bombardier Aerospace Group's Canadair Business Aircraft Division appointed Richard Beine sales director-Canadair Challenger and Matthew Hartnett VP-used aircraft sales.
United's passenger traffic grew 1.8% on 2.3% more capacity in November, compared with the same month last year. The carrier flew 2.5% more passengers, while the load factor slipped 0.3 percentage points to 68.6%. For the first 11 months of the year, United's traffic was up 3.4% on 4.4% more capacity, compared with the same 1994 period. The number of passengers carried grew 6.7%, and the load factor fell 0.6 points. Nov 95 Nov 94 11 Mths 95 11 Months 1994
Virgin Atlantic will establish service between London Heathrow and Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg next year, the carrier said. Starting in July, Virgin will operate the flights with an A340-300 aircraft, which accommodates about 260 passengers. The carrier will fly the route three times a week. Currently, British Airways and South African Airways have the only nonstop service in the market. While Virgin has had the right to fly the route for sometime, it has been holding off, waiting for aircraft and slots at Heathrow.
Flight attendants at Business Express represented by the Association of Flight Attendants have ratified their first contract. Negotiations for the 150 flight attendants were aided by the National Mediation Board in talks that began with the AFA election in April 1993. The flight attendants will receive pay increases of as much as 57.4% over the three- year term. For the first time, the flight attendants will have written work rules and a grievance procedure to enforce the contract, AFA said.
Association of Retail Travel Agents is expected to take a position this week for or against the mileage-based, net fare system proposed by the Business Travel Contractors Corporation. ARTA intends to communicate its analysis of the plan to its members. BTCC still is waiting to find out whether the American Society of Travel Agents will reconsider its opposition.
Standard&Poor's assigned its triple-'A' long-term rating to the 750 million Deutschmark multi-currency debt issuance program of DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, Germany's air traffic control organization. S&P said the rating is based on the support of Germany, DFS's sole owner, and the strategic importance of ATC to the nation's economy, public safety and defense. S&P said that although DFS debt is not guaranteed by the government, constitutionally ATC is a sovereign function that by law must be provided by a 100% government-owned monopoly.
Charlotte, N.C.-based independent USAir Express affiliate CCAIR flew 12.1 million revenue passenger miles in November, a .3% decline from the 12.2 million it logged in November 1994. Capacity rose 4.8% to 25.9 million available seat miles from 24.7 million, pushing load factor down 2.4 percentage points to 46.9% from 49.3% in the prior period. Passenger enplanements declined 10% to 65,278 from 72,447.
Continental's reduction in unprofitable flying over the past year, resulting in a 15.2% capacity decline last month, produced the highest November load factor in the carrier's history - 66%. Continental flew 3.1 billion revenue passenger miles, a decrease of 7.9%, and 4.7 billion available seat miles. The 66% load factor was a 5.2-point increase from November 1994. Nov 95 Nov 94 11 Mths 95 11 Mths 94 RPMs 3,131,157,000 3,399,551,000 36,909,343,000 38,135,394,000
British Midland is testing a new duty-free service that enables passengers to phone in an order before they land at the airport. The service is being offered to passengers on flights between the U.K. and Dublin through Jan. 26. The items can be selected from the carrier's inflight magazine or a pre-order card, and are purchased via the telephone with a credit card.
