Virgin Atlantic Airways is offering 50% discounts to anyone 60 years old and a companion traveler regardless of age. The discount applies to specific economy fares for U.S.-originating travel from Virgin's Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York Kennedy and San Francisco gateways. Travel must be completed by March 31. Holiday blackouts and other restrictions apply.
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a first-time preferred stock rating of "caa" to Continental's proposed $255 million convertible trust originated preferred securities, offered by Continental Airlines Finance Trust. The trust exists to issue the preferred securities, from which proceeds will be invested in an equivalent amount of Continental convertible subordinated deferrable interest debentures due 2020. Each preferred security will be convertible at any time at the option of the holder into shares of Continental's Class B common stock.
U-Land Airlines, based in Taiwan, took delivery of its first MD-82 yesterday and will receive a second in December. It has firm orders for two more MD-82s and options on two.
Rudder action and wake turbulence still are being investigated as possible causes of the September 1994 crash of a USAir 737-300 near Pittsburgh, the National Transportation Safety Board's unusual second public hearing into the crash was told yesterday in Springfield, Va. Board investigator Thomas Haueter said the 737 experienced a yawing or change of direction just before it went into a roll and crashed, killing all 132 aboard. Possible causes of the yaw are malfunctioning of the rudder cable, wake turbulence, an electrical problem or pilot action, he said.
Atlas Air said it has a five-year agreement to operate a China Airlines 747-200 freighter by Atlas personnel. Atlas Air said this makes four 747- 200 freighters it operates full time with CAL.
British Airways Chairman Colin Marshall yesterday urged that the mini-deal format used in the U.S.-U.K. bilateral be dropped, and he called for a "bigger, bolder, braver" approach. Speaking to the Wings Club in New York, Marshall lamented the collapse of bilateral talks last month and criticized mini-deals for taking so much time and causing so much rancor. "My proposal is that we should regard the mini-deal as a fashionable form of art whose time has changed.
Frontier Airlines posted a September quarter net loss of $986,301, or 26 cents per share, a marked improvement over the same quarter last year, when it suffered a net loss of $3.4 million. Operating revenue for the September 1995 quarter was $14.25 million, compared with nearly $3.1 million a year ago, in what was the carrier's first quarter of flight operations.
ValuJet's new focus city markets, Boston and Orlando, should develop well, but the carrier's margins will be lower where it competes with USAir than where it competes with Delta, according to PaineWebber analyst Sam Buttrick. He expects USAir to take a more aggressive competitive posture than Delta.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Balance Sheet As of August 31, 1995 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 37.69 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 127,477,582.40 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness
American Automobile Association predicts 30.6 million people will travel by car or airplane during the Thanksgiving holiday, a 2% increase from 1994. AAA estimates that 25.5 million of those travelers will drive, based on a national survey of 1,500 adults conducted by the U.S. Travel Data Center. AAA said 5.1 million people intend to travel by air, train or bus, but the Air Transport Association is expecting 11.6 million airline passengers.
Special report issued by the Rebuild Dubrovnik Fund says travel agents in the U.S. have gone a long way toward restoring the war-torn city. The fund was established in March 1992 by the American Society of Travel Agents and Atlas Travel of Dubrovnik. A major fund-raising campaign will continue throughout next year. It is encouraging donations to its buy-a-tile campaign, which initially paid to replace the terra-cotta roofs of the Old City. Donations can be made in the name of friends or relatives, who will receive a certificate.
TransQuest, the Delta-AT&T joint venture company, announced the availability of the TransNet Maintenance Information Network, an on-line service providing aircraft parts information designed for airlines of any size. The network contains equivalent part numbers, valid alternates, current prices from inventory, required tooling and packaging variations. It can be integrated into a subscriber's inventory and repair manuals. Delta said it saved more than $1 million since it began using TransNet in February.
Mesaba Holdings, the parent company of Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba Airlines, has decided to stop paying quarterly dividends. Instead, the company will "concentrate our working capital on acquiring new aircraft and growing our regional airline system," said Bryan Bedford, chief executive. He stressed that Mesaba still has a strong balance sheet and earnings remain in line with analysts' expectations. Mesaba said recently it expects to replace its fleet of 26 Fairchild Metro IIIs with new, more cost-effective airplanes.
Galileo International plans to expand the availability of its Virtual Ticketing product outside of the U.S. market in April. Virtual Ticketing is Galileo's electronic ticketing, or ticketless, travel product. Galileo will offer airlines a Virtual Ticketing solution for both manual and electronic Billing Settlement Plan reporting environments. The computer reservations system company began offering U.S. travel agents Virtual Ticketing with United through Apollo in March.
Mercury Air Group said net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 23% to a record $1.2 million while revenue rose 46% to $51.9 million, also a record. "Mercury is benefiting from the resurgence in airline traffic," said Seymour Kahn, chairman. Net profit margins are expected to increase with the recent acquisition of Excel Cargo Inc. of Montreal, he said.
Lufthansa Technik completed a 747-400 Combi D-Check, strut modification and paint job in seven weeks, setting a speed record for the company. "I am sure that this turnaround time puts us into a leading position worldwide," said Volker Kadansky, Lufthansa Technik senior VP-aircraft overhaul. The work was done on a Lufthansa 747-400 Combi at Lufthansa Technik's Hamburg overhaul base. Performing a D-Check and strut modification usually takes about 10 weeks, Lufthansa said.
Boston and Orlando will join Washington Dulles and Atlanta as ValuJet "focus cities" in 1996 (DAILY, Oct. 23). The Boston buildup will begin Dec. 15 with nonstop service to Orlando and Tampa, the carrier said yesterday. On Jan. 11, ValuJet will add service to Raleigh/Durham, and on Jan. 18 to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Total peak daily departures will increase to 17 from eight. From Orlando, ValuJet will add flights to Raleigh/Durham Jan. 11 and to Memphis and Philadelphia Jan. 18. Its peak daily departures from Orlando will rise to 13 from seven.
Flight Dynamics said FAA has approved lower visibility minimums for takeoffs on 737-300s fitted with its head-up guidance system (HGS). The company said airlines flying HGS-equipped 737s can obtain operational approval to take off in visibility as low as 300 feet runway visual range (RVR) at Category 2 and 3 airports. Landing operations were approved for 700 feet in 1994 for 737-300s, and Flight Dynamics said certification for landing in visibility of 300 feet is expected next year.
George Umbreit, past president of Citicorp Aircraft Management and former Boeing regional manager-international sales in Europe, died of cancer Nov. 10.
Lufthansa Cargo laid the foundation last week for another extension of its Frankfurt cargo hub. The current Lufthansa Cargo Center (LCC) has been plagued with capacity problems for four years. When it began operating 13 years ago, the LCC was designed to accommodate about 425,000 tonnes of cargo a year, with step-by-step expansion up to 900,000 tonnes. Last year, Lufthansa Cargo handled 1.1 million tonnes of cargo at Frankfurt.
ING Aviation Leasing of The Netherlands has leased an ex-Continental's A300B4 to Faucett Airlines of Lima. ING, which now leases three A300s to Faucett, was advised by International Aviation Partners of Boca Raton, Fla. Faucett has subleased two of the aircraft to APA Airlines of the Dominican Republic.
Fine Airlines says that the government of Peru has no evidence that the carrier knowingly shipped arms to Ecuador to be used in actions against Peru, and that the Peruvian government is using the carrier as a scapegoat. Peru banned operations by the all-cargo carrier in March, and Fine filed a request for sanctions at DOT in September (DAILY, Nov. 8). In a response filed this week at DOT, Fine said carriage of the cargo Peru claims was physically impossible. Fine operates DC-8s with a maximum capacity of 90,000 pounds.
United accounted for 2,374 of the 3,042 flight attendants hired by global airlines between October 1994 and October 1995, and the carrier intends to hire 120 more this month, according to the Future Aviation Professionals of America. Among the nationals, ValuJet hired the most - 710 - and intends to hire at least 100 this month. American Trans Air, next at 545, also intends to hire 100 this month.
