The American Bar Association will conduct its 1996 Forum on Air&Space Law, titled "Charting the Next Course," on Jan. 25 in Washington. Featured speakers will be Anne Bingaman of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill), the new ranking member of the House Aviation subcommittee.
Boeing, in the second month of its Machinists strike, began wing and fuselage assembly Friday for the first of its three next-generation 737 models. The 55-foot-long left front wing spar for the 737-700, manufactured at the Boeing Fabrication Division, Auburn, Wash., was loaded into assembly position at the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group plant in Renton, Wash. The first parts for the fuselage were loaded for assembly at the company's plant in Wichita, Kan. The first 737-700 is scheduled for delivery in October 1997, to launch customer Southwest.
Many Air France ground workers joined other transportation employees Friday on Paris Orly Airport runways in strikes against French austerity measures, according to news reports from Paris. Strikes by other industries are planned later this month. The strikers blocked two runways at Orly for more than 90 minutes and damaged them by setting fires.
Honduras's four international airports were closed for a few hours Friday when air traffic controllers went on a short strike to demand 100% pay raises, according to an Associated Press report from Tegucigalpa. The government responded by agreeing to negotiate, and the strike was halted. The report said controllers average US$500 a month. Continental and American serve Honduras. The airports affected are in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba and the island of Roatan.
Granted orally an exemption to SAETA to co-terminalize operations at Los Angeles with those at Miami...Granted orally an exemption to American to integrate its authority to serve London on Routes 4887 and 602 with its rights to serve Zurich on Route 137.
Boeing delivered 11 airliners during November, the second month of the walkout by its roughly 32,500 machinists. This is three fewer than in October, but the company still is four airplanes ahead of its pace during the last strike, six years ago, when it managed to ship only 21 aircraft in October and November.
The recent slowdown in cargo traffic growth dipped below zero in October. Total air cargo was down 1% last month from October 1994, the first decrease since November 1992, according to the Air Transport Association. Both freight and express package traffic fell off.
A new leasing company, called debis AirFinance, has been established to lease Fokker aircraft. With a 35% share, debis, a service division of Daimler-Benz, is the main shareholder in the Amsterdam-based venture, with Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) holding 10%. The German Commerzbank, Dresdner Bank and BLB Beteiligungs-gesellschaft Beta, a subsidiary of Bayerische Landesbank, have an interest of 15% each, with the remaining 10% held by the Dutch Rabo Merchant Bank.
British Midland will implement its CyberSeat system - a booking service with payment capability on the Internet - starting Dec. 11. The system was developed by Novus. The carrier said credit card transactions will be secure because information will go through the system in an encrypted format. Customers receive a booking reference from the computer at check- in or by mail, or collect tickets from a travel agent. Internet users can see a demonstration of CyberSeat over the World Wide Web at http://www.iflybritishmidland.com.
Southwest extended again the purchase deadline for its Gotta Go fares and increased the number of markets in which they are available. The fares, as low as $19 one way, now can be purchased until Dec. 31 for travel through April 5. About 31 markets have been added, all at the $19 fare.
Northwest is replacing electromechanical indicators on its 31 older 747- 100s and 747-200s with new-technology engine instrument display systems supplied by B&D Instruments and Avionics. Engine parameters now will be displayed on two liquid crystal display screens.
ValuJet says its suit against Delta and TWA, alleging antitrust violations in a dispute over slot agreements at New York LaGuardia, has drawn interest from the New York State Attorney General's office, not just DOT and the Justice Department.
American International Airways is under contract to the U.S. Postal Service to carry mail and provide ground-handling services for second-day mail to 31 cities during the holiday season. The carrier will operate from Blytheville, Ark., with 34 aircraft for 13 days, beginning Dec. 9. More than 600 temporary workers will assist with ground-handling, and 159 AIA employees will be dispatched to Blytheville. This is the third year AIA has provided the service.
Tri Star Airlines has urged DOT to deny Jet Aspen's request for permission to begin advertising and accept reservations for its proposed operations before receiving an operating certificate. Jet Aspen asked for the exemption to be able to operate the services in the upcoming winter ski season (DAILY, Nov. 28). It plans to begin offering Jan. 24 nonstop service to the ski communities of Aspen and Telluride, Colo., from Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Phoenix and Houston.
Delta will stop using the term temporary employee as a personnel classification and instead will refer to those employees as associates. Employees with the word temp on their identification cards will be issued new cards.
Lufthansa has contracted with Pemco World Air Services to design and build a cargo handling system for 737-300 aircraft. Pemco World Air Services will design the equipment, and Pemco Engineers will manufacture it. The system will accommodate eight 88-by-125-inch pallets and one LD3 container.
An interagency review of the security implications of very precise Global Positioning System signals, and testing of techniques to prevent hostile use of more accurate signals, should be completed "within a fairly short period of time," a senior Defense Department official told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee yesterday.
Norwood, Mass.-based Altair Avionics won its supplemental type certificate last week for an affordable, retrofittable bolt-on engine monitoring system aimed at Pratt&Whitney Canada's PT6A turboprop engine, DAILY affiliate Aerospace Propulsion reported. The PT6A is a main-stay of the regional fleet, powering the Beech 1900D, among other aircraft.
Paradise Island Airlines Thursday returned to service one of six de Havilland Dash 7s voluntarily grounded Tuesday following an FAA inspection. The agency cited "deficiencies in aircraft maintenance and record keeping." Two of the aircraft have been used for casino charters out of Atlantic City, and the others operate under the USAir Express flag to Paradise Island, Bahamas, from Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. The carrier is reportedly shutting down the Atlantic City operation, were the maintenance discrepancies were found.
Aeromexico has signed a 10-year contract with Electronic Data Systems for technology management services. EDS will manage and operate the carrier's information systems, including reservations, tariffs, inventory control, airport check-in data, ticket printing and reports, and it will supervise Aeromexico personnel as they implement its new AZTECA 2000 reservation system.
SimuFlite Training International said its Canadair Challenger 601-3A/3R full-flight simulator has earned Level D initial qualification from FAA and Transport Canada. It said the Challenger 601 is "the first business jet simulator qualified as Level II under the International Qualification Test Guide standards." The simulator is SimuFlite's 15th FAA-approved business jet simulator and its first Level D qualification. The company has two more simulators scheduled for 1966.
