Onur Air has ordered an Airbus A321 powered by IAE V2500 engines for delivery in mid-1996. The Istanbul-based charter carrier operates five leased A320s and will lease two more A321s for delivery next year.
United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines' boardings rose in November for the first time this year. ACA carried 121,008 passengers during the month, 3.2% more than in November 1994. Its revenue passenger miles declined 3% to 29 million and available seat miles fell 8.8% to 62 million, resulting in a 2.8-point load factor increase to 46.8%. As a result of increased demand and strong yields, Chief Executive Kerry Skeen said he believes ACA will exceed analysts' projections for fourth quarter earnings.
Air France expects to operate all of its long-haul and most medium-haul flights Thursday in spite of its flight attendants' planned 24-hour strike. The carrier will cancel some medium-haul flying to cities in Europe, such as Copenhagen and Berlin. Cancellations will be in markets it serves more than once per day, a spokesman said, so travelers still will be able to reach the points on the state-owned carrier's flights.
Enginemaker Pratt&Whitney will give its 6,100-strong unionized work force a 9% pay raise over the next three years, along with a first-year bonus and relatively small increases in health-care premiums, in a package ratified during the weekend by P&W's Machinists. General wage increases through 1998 total 9.3%, with 3.5% and a $1,500 bonus paid immediately. The wage hike will be 3% in 1996 and 2.5% in 1997. P&W workers also will pay the current amounts for health care until 1998, when the basic charge will rise from $6 a week to $8.
Kiwi International Air Lines has appointed Keith Mackey VP-flight operations. He has 16 years' experience with National Airlines and Pan Am as captain of 747, A300, DC-10 and 727 aircraft.
Delta is offering some of its Marketing Division staff voluntary early-out and leave-of-absence programs to reduce its marketing employees further and cut costs under the Leadership 7.5 initiative. The incentives will be offered during the next two and one-half months to all U.S.-based and expatriate non-contract personnel. Employees can opt for the flexible voluntary severance program and the three/five-year leave of absence program until Dec. 29. Between Jan. 1 and Feb.
Air Transport Association predicts that 32 million passengers will travel between Dec. 15, 1995, and Jan. 4, 1996, for the Christmas-New Year's holidays. It expects the Friday before Christmas, Dec. 22, to be the busiest travel day of the year, with nearly 1.8 million passengers and an average load factor of 87%.
Thirty-four carriers, 19 of them Chinese and 15 foreign, have entered the Shanghai transport market, opening up nearly 300 air routes to 88 cities inside and outside China.
Portugal, which controls Macau, and China, which will control it beginning in 1999, have approved the five-year aviation agreement signed recently by Macau and Taiwan, opening the way for what amounts to direct flights between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. Air Macau will launch service Dec. 8 between Taipei and Beijing, via Macau. On Jan. 12 it will begin daily flights between Kaohsiung and Xiamen, also via Macau. In each case, the carrier will have to change flight numbers while the aircraft is on the ground at Macau.
U.S. airlines hired 442 airline maintenance technicians in October and 7,744 during the past 12 months. National airlines hired most during the year, 845, with American International Airways highest among them at 134. AIA is one of a few cargo and passenger charter airlines owned by the Kalitta Companies. Of the majors, United hired 201 and Airborne 154.
Conference on the fiscal 1996 Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill (H.R.2076) agreed to $2 million for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, a spending level that could require an immediate shutdown of the agency. The House bill called for $2 million for the agency, while the Senate bill provided $12 million. The Clinton administration requested $16 million.
USAfrica expects to announce today that Delaware bankruptcy court will approve its plans to secure commitment letters with Smith Management and Tower for $15 million, USAfrica President Gregory Lewis told The DAILY. Combined with assets remaining in USAfrica's estate, the fund will enable the carrier to resume service early next year. The agreement will preserve USAfrica's alliance with Continental for Boeing 747 service between Newark and Johannesburg.
Western Pacific Airlines will offer vacation packages with its air logo partner, the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. Packages are available for as low as $179 per person for a two-night trip from Phoenix, Las Vegas, Wichita and Oklahoma City. Packages include air fare and hotel accommodations, with options for a hot air balloon ride, spa use and golf outings.
U.S. District Court in Atlanta has denied an emergency request for a preliminary injunction brought by the Air Line Pilots Association and dismissed ALPA's lawsuit against Atlantic Southeast Airlines that sought to prohibit the carrier from operating the BAe 146. ASA put the jets in service Friday in operations to Chattanooga, Columbus, Ga., Asheville, N.C., Fort Walton Beach and Panama City. In February, it will use the aircraft at Myrtle Beach. ASA operates four of the aircraft.
Pratt&Whitney is folding together its engine aftermarket operations to offer airline customers a fleet management program. P&W acted nearly half a year after rival General Electric made the same move, creating a business approaching $2 billion in sales.
In Federal Register dated Nov. 22...Superseded an airworthiness directive on Bell 206 helicopters concerning the engine power-out warning sensor...Superseded an AD on Robinson R22 helicopters concerning inspection for slippage of the tail rotor drive...Proposed to supersede an AD on Boeing 737-200 aircraft concerning fail-safe straps on the engine inlet attach ring.
Federal Express Friday continued to say operations were proceeding normally after the sixth day of self-help measures pilots. The Air Line Pilots Association said, however, that measures implemented by the union - refusing overtime and alerting the public that package service could be disrupted - are having an increasing impact on operations. ALPA said that unofficially, IBM and Motorola have dropped their FedEx contracts, but FedEx said the report was false. ALPA said loads are down, apparently because of the pilot actions.
Alitalia's latest cost-cutting program may end the discounts the carrier offers to politicians (20% to 50%), priests (25%) and journalists (30%), according to Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
