Delta is urging DOT to investigate the citizenship of Laker Airways and ensure that it will be free of foreign control or influence. Saying it "does not generally participate in garden variety certification/fitness proceedings," Delta maintained that Laker's application "is anything but garden variety," involving a bid for a U.S. carrier certificate "by a company that may well be controlled by a U.K. citizen."
A surprised Boeing executive said he was led to believe that striking workers represented by the Machinists union would approve a new contract. Instead, the workers rejected the contract, with more than 60% opposed. Larry McKean, senior VP-human resources, said Boeing "continues to believe the contract proposal is realistic, reasonable and necessary in order for us to compete successfully in the global market." He said, "We are extremely disappointed the company's proposal for a new contract was rejected.
Marriott is offering getaway gift certificates to its 1,000 hotels worldwide. The certificates are available in denominations of $25, $50 and $100. In addition, weekend getaway certificates are available for $99- $149.
Delta's economy class was ranked best in the world in Business Traveler International's seventh annual survey. The 2,000 international frequent flyers polled by the magazine ranked Delta as the second-best airline for international business travel, behind Singapore Airlines.
The convention, exposition, meeting and incentive travel industry in the U.S. generated an estimated $82.8 billion in direct spending in 1994 that supported 1.6 million jobs, according to a Convention Liaison Council study. The tax revenues for the government amounted to $12.3 billion.
Granted orally an exemption to Eurowings to conduct code- sharing operations with Northwest and KLM on the Amsterdam-Germany segments of Northwest's and KLM's U.S.-Amsterdam-Germany scheduled flights.
Northwest's Machinists union members have begun meeting to consider contract proposals and bargaining issues for the five Machinists groups whose contracts are up for negotiation next fall. The union represents 24,000 employees who expect wages to snap back to 1993 levels on Oct. 1, 1996, and want other benefits for the concessions they made last year to help the company return to profitability. All five contracts become amendable at the end of September.
Precision Standard reported a loss of $1.4 million on sales of $29.1 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. In the same quarter last year, the company made a profit of $700,000 on sales of $36.6 million. For the year to date, Precision Standard has lost $1.5 million on sales of $112.4 million, compared with a profit of $1.4 million on sales of $107.4 million last year.
United says its new disk-based version of United Connection, developed with Microsoft and scheduled for availability in 1996, will turn personal computers into "desktop travel stations." United already has available a United Connection/CompuServe product, which enables users to reserve and purchase airline tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms. United said the disk system will enable consumers to purchase travel from more than 500 airlines and make reservations at more than 30,000 hotels and 50 car rental companies.
Ten communities, seven of which are in Nebraska or Kansas, no longer will be eligible for subsidized service to a second hub under a DOT order implementing a $10.8 million congressional reduction in the EAS subsidy program. The program of EAS cost-saving measures, which takes effect today, calls for no subsidization of service to a second hub airport, along with two other steps: limiting subsidy eligibility to five days a week for all
Daimler-Benz has approved plans of its subsidiary, Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA), to proceed with a restructuring centered on eliminating 8,800 jobs by the end of 1998. The cutback follows a $1.1 billion loss in the first half of this year and the continuing weakness of the dollar - DASA's big problem is its sales are in dollars but it must pay most of its costs in Deutschmarks.
The Caribbean Commonwealth of Dominica this week became the 19th Caribbean destination to receive service by American Eagle, which launched a schedule of four weekly round-trips between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the island nation. Eagle VP-Marketing Joel Chusid said, "We recognize that there is enormous interest in Dominica as an eco-tourism destination." Dominica lies southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Chusid pointed out that tourists formerly reached the nation by flying
Laker Airways has asked DOT to waive certain economic regulations connected with its certificate application for scheduled and charter combination service. The waiver would enable it to start selling seats to tour operators for charter flights directly after the issuance of the certificate show cause order. If approved, the carrier plans to start operating service between New Orleans and Fort Lauderdale Dec. 15, using Boeing 727-200 aircraft, and transatlantic charter passenger service with three DC-10-30s (DAILY, Oct. 30).
BFGoodrich Aerospace Avionics Systems promoted Shelly Buckley sales representative to original equipment manufacturers for the business and general aviation markets.
Excalibur Airways, a U.K. holiday charter airline, may be acquired by Edinburgh-based Globespan, according to reports from London. Excalibur said its joint owners - 3i Group, Air Malta and Excalibur's directors - have reached an agreement for an undisclosed amount. Excalibur operates five 180-seat A320 aircraft and carried 700,000 passengers last year and through the summer. It is planning to lease two DC-10s next spring, and Globespan, a long-haul tour operator, said it has decided the DC-10 fits in with its expansion plans.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels&Resorts is providing information and pictures of its 29 hotels and resorts in Asia, China and Canada on the Internet. The World Wide Web site is http://www.Shangri-La.com. To encourage Web users to access its pages, Shangri-La is giving away a trip for two on Cathay Pacific to a hotel in Hong Kong and Bangkok in a drawing among consumers who fill out an interactive questionnaire. Contest deadline is Dec. 31.
American Society of Travel Agents' non-profit subsidiary, the ASTA Disaster Recovery Fund, has collected nearly $8,000 to aid the Caribbean in recovering from recent hurricanes. The fund helps to rebuild travel and tourism in areas hit by natural disasters through donations to relief organizations.
DOT Administrative Law Judge Burton Kolko found last week that certain 1995-96 costs contained in disputed Los Angeles Airport landing fees are unreasonable and ordered a roughly $7.2 million refund to tenant airlines. The charges within the $2.06-per-thousand-pounds landing fee that Kolko found unreasonable were used for fire and police services, airport debt service and accounting errors.
Coincidence? Saab Aircraft says it ain't so, but it is interesting that Bob Martens, former president of AMR Eagle, has taken over as chairman of Business Express, where the Swedish manufacturer has a huge investment in Model 340 aircraft, the same aircraft Martens oversaw at Eagle. He follows Bryan Bedford as CEO. Bedford, a reputed financial 'Mr. Fix-It,' is credited with turning around 340-operator Phoenix Airline Services, dba Express
Ramp, Operations and Provisioning Association (ROPA) members at Southwest have voted by a margin of three-to-one in favor of a new collective bargaining agreement. The five-year contract covers 3,400 fleet service workers at the carrier. Jim Wimberly, Southwest VP of ground operations, said the contract, which became amendable about 11 months ago, is mutually beneficial to the airline and union.
Sabreliner named Stephen Townes president of subsidiary DynAir Tech; appointed Patrick Kasate program manager and Kenneth Smillie deputy program manager for the C-20 contractor logistics support program. Kendall Aschenbrenner was promoted to project scheduler for the same program.
President Clinton is expected to settle the issue of Global Positioning System signal accuracy this week. The National Security Council and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are co-chairing an interagency working group, which includes Defense Department and DOT representatives, to develop a presidential directive. The House aviation subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on the issue Thursday, at which DOT- DOD differences could flare up.
American Airlines Cargo traffic totaled 179.9 million ton miles in October, down 3.3% from October 1994. Freight ton miles were down 3.8% to 145.4 million and mail ton miles fell 1% to 34.5 million. Dallas Sherman, VP- marketing and customer support, said lingering effects of hurricanes in the Caribbean and Mexican Gulf affected traffic, as did a soft domestic economy. International traffic remains strong, he said.
