National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an accident involving an emergency landing of an American MD-80 early Sunday at the Hartford, Conn., airport, during stormy weather. The aircraft clipped a row of trees and an airport antenna during the landing at Bradley Airport about an hour after midnight. The board said it was unclear whether the aircraft, which may have encountered windshear, experienced engine problems before or after it struck the trees.
Alaska has increased its Seattle-Palm Springs flights from one roundtrip a day to two, and its Portland-Palm Springs flights to one a day from one a week. Through Feb. 1, the carrier is reducing fares in both markets to $89 one way with a seven-day advance purchase.
Canadian authorities are looking into allegations that bribes may have been paid into Swiss bank accounts in connection with an Air Canada order for 34 Airbus A320 aircraft in 1988. Swiss police have agreed to cooperate with the Canadian Royal Mounted Police in the investigation, according to press reports in Europe and Canada.
FAA was facing the prospect yesterday of having to furlough 14,147 employees today in the increasingly likely event that neither the DOT Appropriations Act nor a new continuing resolution would be enacted by midnight last night. Congress has approved a DOT appropriations bill for fiscal 1996, but as of late yesterday afternoon it had not been sent to the White House for President Clinton's signature. Some 34,468 FAA employees involved in safety and security were to remain on the job today in any event.
Delta has reduced requirements for frequent flyer members to reach the program's elite level, Platinum Medallion, to 100 qualifying segments a year, down from 120. Delta said it made the change in response to customer requests.
SAS Group's third quarter pre-tax earnings soared 77.7% from a year ago to 1.11 billion Swedish krona (US$166.6 million) on operating revenue of 9.01 billion krona (US$1.35 billion). Through the first nine months of this year, SAS Group's pre-tax earnings rose about 73% to nearly 2.15 billion krona (US$322.2 million) despite strikes that had a 300 million krona negative effect on earnings.
Block hours flown by World Airways rose about 77% last month over October year ago levels, to 3,194. Average daily aircraft utilization was 10.3 hours per day, versus 9.7 hours. Block hours flown through the first 10 months increased 41% to 31,317 and year-to-date aircraft utilization was up 16% to 10 hours per day. "Our October flying hours continue to confirm the success of our strategy to establish a year-round base of contract business with greater revenue predictability and higher utilization of our fleet," said Chuck Pollard, president of World.
Frontier Airlines' load factor increased 22.5 percentage points last month from October a year ago, to 58.4%. The carrier's passenger traffic gained 72.5% on 6.1% more capacity, and passenger enplanements increased 46.3% to 42,368. October 1994 was Frontier's fourth month of flight operations. The airline currently operates five 108-seat Boeing 737-200s, and one recently added 136-seat 737-300, on routes linking its Denver hub with Albuquerque, Chicago Midway, El Paso, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Omaha, Phoenix, Bismarck and Fargo.
The 10 largest U.S. scheduled passenger airline companies achieved a combined operating profit of $2.32 billion and net earnings of $1.09 billion during the third quarter. All 10 companies posted operating profits and all but TWA managed net earnings for the quarter, which will go down as one of the most profitable in U.S. airline history. The quarterly net is more than the industry made in any year in recent memory except 1988's $1.69 billion. The $2.32 billion operating profit compares favorably with last year's full-year profit of $2.77 billion.
Northwest will increase its Detroit-London Gatwick service to twice-daily frequency June 1, the airline said last week. The carrier, which began daily service in the market April 20, will boost its offering to nine flights a week for the Dec. 15-April 6 period. It will operate the double- daily schedule from June 1 through Sept. 14, using DC-10s. "Our Detroit- London service has been successful from its first week of operation," said David Wookey, VP-Atlantic region. "This route has been consistently strong and has led to the expanded schedule.
USAir will beef up service to Washington Dulles over the next few months with additional frequencies to Boston and Orlando and new service to Tampa, Columbus, Ohio, and West Palm Beach, increasing daily Dulles departures by about 33%. The new service to Columbus begins Nov. 16. In January, USAir will add service to Tampa and increase flights to Boston, and in February, it will add flights to West Palm Beach and increase service to Orlando. The carrier said that on Jan.
Airbus Industrie officials expect board approval before yearend to launch a stretched version of the A340 airliner and a shorter version of the A330. Airbus officials decided recently to seek approval for a 350-seat A340-400 and to shrink the A330 to 250 seats. While the range of the A340 would remain about the same at 7,000 nautical miles, the range of the A330 would increase from 4,850 to 6,000 nm. Airbus still is studying the 8,000-nm A340-8000.
Midwest Express Airlines' October traffic increased 13.8% despite a 1.6% decline in capacity, causing the load factor to jump 8.6 percentage points to 63.8%. The number of passengers boarded rose 13.8%. Through the first 10 months of this year, Midwest Express' traffic increased 20.8% on 16.1% more capacity, resulting in a load factor increase of 2.5 percentage points to 64.7%. The number of passengers boarded rose 22.9%. Oct 95 Oct 94 10 Mths 95 10 Mths 94
The Machinists Union filed four unfair labor practice charges Friday against Boeing Co., charging it with "unlawfully threatening and coercing workers engaged in a legal strike and...unfair bargaining over health insurance benefits." Boeing accused the union of trying to drive a wedge between the company and its employees. The union filed the charges two days after meeting with the company - for the first time in more than a month - on health and subcontracting issues. The workers went out on strike at Boeing on Oct. 6.
Baltia Air Lines says it is talking with United about the purchase of 747- 100Bs, signaling a change in its original plan to purchase new 767s for service to St. Petersburg, Russia. The carrier intends to begin flights from New York in the spring. Baltia said its flights will be the first nonstop direct palletized/containerized cargo service in the market, which is growing at an annual rate of 200%.
Chase Manhattan Bank has received a mandate from Air India to advise the airline in the Export-Import Bank approval process and arrange the subsequent long-term financing in connection with the purchase of two Boeing 747-400s. As part of the financing, Chase will provide Air India with a $113.8 million progress payment facility that will be used to fund the airline's payments to Boeing in advance of the July and August 1996 deliveries of the aircraft. Chase will provide Air India with a total of $355.26 million in long-term financing for the purchase.
USAir's request to operate Boeing 767-200 service between Philadelphia and Rome with continuing service to Los Angeles has received the support of Italian-American organizations representing 1.4 million people in the Philadelphia tri-state region. It also has picked up the backing of the Los Angeles city council and Southern California congressmen, the governors of Pennsylvania and North Carolina, as well as the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina congressional delegations.
Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to begin daily service to Washington Dulles from London Heathrow in the late spring. Virgin will operate Airbus A340s to Washington, its eighth U.S. gateway. "We are delighted that after many years of applying, we have finally obtained takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow to operate services to Washington," said Richard Branson, chairman. Final schedules, fares and the service launch date are expected to be confirmed shortly. Virgin plans to operate Washington departures in the early evening and Heathrow departures mid-morning.
American Airlines Cargo Division will begin publishing early in December a new set of performance measurements of its operations in London and eventually over the remainder of its international and U.S. network.
Air Canada will introduce twice-weekly flights between Western Canada and Zurich next summer through a code-sharing agreement with Swissair. The service will be operated on a Vancouver-Calgary-Zurich routing with 203- seat Air Canada 767-300s. The airline will offer the service June 15-Oct. 26, continuing its expansion of routes throughout Western Canada and from Western Canada to points in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Worldwide international scheduled passenger traffic rose 9% in September on 7% more capacity and the average load factor increased to 73%, according to International Air Transport Association data. Freight traffic grew 9% in September. Through the first nine months of this year, passenger traffic gained 8% on 6% more capacity, and the average passenger load factor was 79%. Freight traffic rose 11% during the period.
FAA said yesterday it has "reassessed" the capability of Israel and Netherlands Antilles to oversee their airlines that operate to the U.S., and it finds that both nations comply with ICAO safety standards. If FAA finds that a nation's civil aviation authority cannot provide adequate oversight, it can limit or bar operation of that nation's carriers to the U.S. This month, FAA found that Israel did not comply fully with ICAO standards (DAILY, Nov. 3).
Air Canada has reduced fares by at least 45% on routes between Canada and the U.S. to thank Americans for supporting its new open skies routes. The new fares, called "Thanks," are available on all Air Canada flights from the U.S., and selected Air Canada Connector flights. They are valid for travel between Nov. 23, Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., and Saturday, Nov. 25. Since the open skies agreement was signed in February, Air Canada has started more than 30 routes linking U.S. and Canadian cities with nonstop jet service.
Japan Airlines has introduced an information system for callers to its Mileage Bank Americas frequent flyer program. The "New Customer Information System" combines the functions of JMBA and JAL's Axess reservations system in one terminal. JAL telephone reservations agents now will be able to handle basic JAL information and reservations calls, and JMBA frequent flyer inquiries.
