B&T Flyer Holdings, the only real potential buyer for bankrupt MarkAir, told the carrier's unsecured creditors committee it no longer is interested in making a bid. The committee asked an Anchorage bankruptcy court judge last Tuesday for a few days to try to sell the airline before allowing a conversion to Chapter 7 liquidation. An attorney for MarkAir said yesterday a potential buyer is "in the wings, but I'm skeptical what can be done now" because the carrier has not operated for the past week and has returned its aircraft.
National Transportation Safety Board wants airlines to check more closely the main landing gear (MLG) of their 767 aircraft, saying an airworthiness directive from FAA does not go far enough. FAA issued the AD on Sept. 25 following the collapse Sept. 16 of the right main landing gear on a Delta 767-300ER during taxi to Runway 23 for takeoff at Hamburg Airport. An examination showed multiple fractures on the outer cylinder aft trunnion, which had broken into three sections. The aircraft was five years, three months old and had flown 3,807 cycles and 25,196 hours.
Reno Air will give away free first-class upgrades to passengers flying between Albuquerque and Los Angeles in November and December for travel between Nov. 1 and June 15. The certificates are good one way, provided space is available.
DOT has invited U.S. carriers to apply for new opportunities to operate combination services in the U.S.-Hong Kong market. Under the U.S.-Hong Kong memorandum of understanding signed Sept. 29, U.S. carriers may provide scheduled service in the Hong Kong market from Alaska, Guam/Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Hawaii and six other points to be selected. Formerly, U.S. carriers could serve the market from seven U.S. gateways.
Continental launched a new television commercial last week highlighting its performance turnaround this year. The commercials, which began airing in Cleveland during the World Series, will run through Nov. 19.
Haiti Trans Air has asked for renewal of its existing U.S. authority. The carrier is authorized to operate between Haiti and the terminal points Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also, the carrier is permitted to operate to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, and Fort de France, Martinique, as intermediate points on its Haiti-U.S. service, and serve Curaao, Netherlands Antilles, and Caracas, Venezuela, as continuation points.
British Airways and Qantas began joint operations Sunday on the so-called Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe, implementing a major component of their alliance. Australia's Trade Practices Commission tentatively rejected the coordinated service at first but later reversed its position and allowed the operation to go forward, subject to certain conditions (DAILY, May 15).
Delta will add flights to Orange County this winter from its Cincinnati hub and new service to Ontario from Atlanta. The new daily flights to Southern California will start Dec. 1.
Supporters of the prospective non-developmental airlifter program - U.S. Air Force acquisition of already-developed transport aircraft to supplement or substitute for the newly developed McDonnell Douglas C-17 military airplane - worry that the Defense Department might put off decisions this week on the best airlift mix because of Air Force concerns about potential effects on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.
Along with the aircraft manufacturers, Honeywell Inc. also will profit from Saudi Arabian Airlines' order for $6 billion worth of U.S. aircraft. A number of Honeywell advanced avionics systems are standard equipment on the Boeing 777 and 747 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and MD-90 aircraft ordered by Saudia.
AirTran Airways has promoted Alison Mainhart to manager-inflight service, overseeing a group of 75 flight attendants. Mainhart has worked as senior flight attendant, check flight attendant and instructor. She also is responsible for creating a new senior program for AirTran.
EVA Airways and Making Airlines have signed an agreement with McDonnell Douglas for the purchase of six MD-90s. The agreement was signed Oct. 28 at EVA's training headquarters in Taipei. Delivery of the six 155-seat aircraft, equipped with low-noise engines, will begin in October 1996 and continue through early 1997. EVA will accept delivery of one of the aircraft, with five being added to Makung's fleet. All six will be used to serve domestic routes.
IATA member carriers achieved a combined net profit of $1.8 billion on scheduled international services last year and are likely to earn $5.7 billion in 1995, IATA Director General Pierre Jeanniot said yesterday. Speaking at the opening of the 51st Annual IATA Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Jeanniot said he was "pleased and somewhat relieved" at the members' net profit. From 1990 through 1993, IATA carriers lost $15.6 billion on international scheduled services.
KLM Cargo opened a new sub-hub operation and cargo service center at Zaragoza, in northern Spain. Zaragoza will be a central hub for markets on the Iberian Peninsula and in southern France, connected by daily weekday trucking services from Amsterdam Schiphol. The opening of the new facility will achieve shorter transit times, KLM said. Zaragoza is KLM Cargo's fourth European sub-hub, after Malmo, Linz and Manchester.
Lapa Rios, a resort in Costa Rica that protects 1,000 acres of rain forest, has been named the Americas regional winner in the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, given annually to encourage environmentally friendly tourism. Five regional winners are selected, one each from the Americas, Europe, Pacific, Southern and U.K., and one global winner is named.
Senate late Friday passed 52 to 47 the budget reconciliation bill (S.1357), which includes a 17-month extension of the airline industry's exemption from the 4.3 cents-per-gallon fuel tax. House and Senate negotiators now head to a conference to reconcile S.1357 and the House bill (H.R.2491), which includes a two-year extension of the exemption. Legislation stemming from the conference may face a presidential veto over its impact on social programs.
Emery Worldwide plans to build a 100,000-square-foot warehouse facility at Dayton Airport on land adjacent to Emery's North American Sortation Center in the foreign trade zone area of the airport. Logistics Worldwide, Emery's subsidiary, will have operational responsibilities for the facility when it opens next April.
United said yesterday it has reached a cooperation agreement with Air India, paving the way for the scheduled start Dec. 14 of United's round- the-world service. The agreement provides for Air India to code share on the sectors between New Delhi and Newark via London, and between New Delhi and Los Angeles via Hong Kong. The latter operations are subject to government approvals.
U.S. National Carriers Advertising Expenses Second Quarter 1995 % of Total Passenger Systemwide Revenues Alaska $ 3,374,000 1.37 Aloha 1,867,512 4.28 American Trans Air 1,979,083 2.22 Carnival 1,879,996 4.15 Hawaiian 2,069,971 2.81
Citing a need to limit beyond-Japan service by U.S. carriers, Japan's Ministry of Transport has put on hold applications for new service by United and Federal Express. The action affects United's planned service beyond Osaka Kansai Airport to Seoul, scheduled to have begun Oct. 29, and FedEx's proposed service to Beijing and Shanghai beyond Tokyo. The latter service has been put in the "pending category," said a FedEx spokeswoman. The Japanese MOT said the services would increase the imbalance in the Japan-U.S.
Gulf Air has launched service from Houston to the Middle East via New York, using an Airbus A340-300. Initially, Gulf Air is offering four flights a week, with two routed Houston-New York-Bahrain and two Houston-New York- Larnaca-Doha or Abu Dhabi.
After three days of talks last week, Japan and Hong Kong decided to maintain the status quo in their aviation relations. Under the agreement, reached Oct. 27, Japan approved continuation of the current level of Cathay Pacific Airways service into Japan, while Hong Kong accepted continuation of current service by Japan's carriers, including Japan Asia Airways' Tokyo-Hong Kong service via Taiwan. Officials from Hong Kong and Great Britain will have to meet before deciding to declare the agreement official.
Westinghouse Electric Corp. said yesterday it has received FAA certification for its MR-3000 predictive windshear radar. The company said it received a supplemental type certificate following flight demonstrations in Orlando aboard its BAC-111 testbed aircraft. The aircraft was fitted with a degraded Class D Category 2 radome. "We have demonstrated that this advancement in predictive windshear weather radars allows windshear to be detected in spite of a severely degraded radome," said Jim Pitts, general manger of the avionics division.
World Airways posted yesterday a third quarter net profit of $3.4 million, or 33 cents per share, on revenues of $79.2 million. In the September quarter last year, the airline lost $7.5 million, or 74 cents per share, on revenues of $51.5 million. The WorldCorp subsidiary's business volume, as measured in block hours, jumped 63% year-over-year to 10,797 block hours from 6,622 hours in the comparable quarter last year. "We are very pleased at the strength of our third quarter results," said World Airways President Chuck Pollard.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expenses Second Quarter 1995 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger America West $ 8,985,378 $ 2.06 American 156,371,000 7.72 Continental 28,930,000 3.14 Delta 88,674,000 4.01 Northwest 62,020,000 4.93
