Hawaiian Airlines had reached agreements in principle Friday with four labor unions that represent five of its employee groups and was working out the final details, a source close to the negotiations said. Hawaiian declined to comment on the status of the talks by presstime Friday, the deadline for tentative union concession agreements needed to secure a $20 million bridge loan and possible further investments, and it still needs to make them final by its next board meeting, at the end of January.
Kaman Corp. named Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Kaman to resume the title of president and appointed Robert Garneau executive VP of the corporation, C. William Kaman II executive VP, Ronald Galla senior VP and chief information officer, Michael Morneau controller and Robert Saunders senior VP-finance.
With U.S.-U.K. talks at a standstill, U.S. officials are stepping up charges of U.K. intransigence. "We've noted Sir Colin Marshall's recent call for 'a bigger, bolder, braver approach' to U.S.-U.K. aviation relationships, and we would certainly welcome evidence of that approach at the negotiating table," DOT Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Mark Gerchick said last week in a London speech.
Delta, Swissair and Austrian Airlines asked DOT to renew their authority to operate Washington-Geneva-Vienna code-share service. Under their code- share arrangement, Swissair and Delta provide the Washington-Geneva service via code-share/blocked-space arrangements with Austrian, which provides the aircraft, an Airbus A310. The same aircraft provides Washington-Vienna service via Geneva.
Comair's November traffic rose 23% to 108.1 million revenue passenger miles on 10% more capacity, compared with November 1994. The Delta Connection carrier transported 21.3% more passengers during the month, for a total of 349,472. The load factor improved 11.9 points to 56.4%. RPMs for the first 11 months were up 23.8% to 1.1 billion. Nov 95 Nov 94 11 Mths 95 11 Months 1994 RPMs 108,121,000 87,899,000 1,086,243,000 877,185,000
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Friday introduced a bill to allow the transfer of a pilot's relevant employment and training records to prospective employers. The bill offers complete immunity from lawsuits related to transferred information for both the employer transferring records and the prospective employers.
International Lease Finance Corp. sold $150 million of four-year, 5.75% senior, unsecured, non-callable notes maturing Dec. 15, 1999. The notes are underwritten by Merrill Lynch; BA Securities; Donaldson, Lufkin&Jenrett; Prudential Securities and First Union Brokerage Services.
Operating regional airliners in the 10- to 19-seat category will be more expensive but not much safer under the "single level of safety" rule FAA plans to issue Thursday, Regional Airline Association officials said Friday. The rule, requiring the small aircraft to operate under the same procedures as large turbofan jetliners, will increase regional airlines' equipment and crew training costs and require them for the first time to have full-time dispatchers, even for very short-haul flights.
America West asked DOT for renewal of its exemption to operate scheduled combination service between Phoenix, Ariz., and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. The carrier currently operates 17 weekly nonstop flights on the route, using Boeing 737-300 aircraft. (Docket 49804&OST-95-736)
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 Systemwide Aircraft Utlization Per Day Second Quarter 1995 DC-9-30 Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 31 84 34 Total Fleet Operations Departures 177 425 185 Block Hours 250 686 290
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%.
