United today begins its round-the-world service from Los Angeles, with stops in Hong Kong, New Delhi, London and New York and a return to Los Angeles. United said it is the first carrier to offer such a routing in more than 14 years. During inaugural ceremonies today, United will announce an educational pen-pal program designed as a cultural exchange among residents of cities on the route.
KLM plans to relocate its Canadian headquarters from Montreal to Toronto next spring to reduce its costs and give it a higher profile in Central and Western Canada, regions of the country where traffic is growing fastest. The airline said the move will not impact the frequency or quality of service between Montreal and Amsterdam - in fact, KLM may increase its five weekly flights between the two cities.
California is becoming increasingly popular as a winter vacation spot, ranking second above third-place Hawaii in a telephone survey conducted by the Travel Industry Association of America. Florida continues to be the destination of choice. Forty percent of survey respondents chose Florida, down five percentage points from last year, while 39% chose California, up nine points, and 19% picked Hawaii, down six points. Other states in the top 10 whose popularity increased marginally were Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Texas.
Delta Connection carriers are faced with a new equipment limitation under a domestic scope clause approved by the Delta ALPA unit - 70 passenger seats. The previous scope clause had no such limitation, which allowed Atlanta-based Atlantic Southeast to begin BAe 146 service Dec. 1. Up to 20 ASA 146s and Avro RJ85s are exempted under the clause, but Business Express, Comair and SkyWest will be limited to either the stretched Canadair Regional Jet or the RJ70, the only 70-passenger jets. BizEx already flies RJ70s; Comair and SkyWest operate 50-passenger CRJs.
DOT has issued a final order issuing Eagle Jet Charter Inc., operating as Eagle Jet, a certificate to engage in interstate scheduled combination service. The Las Vegas-based air taxi operator, currently holding authority to provide charter service using small airplanes, plans to convert its charter operations to scheduled, providing one daily scheduled round-trip between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, using 44-passenger F27 aircraft (DAILY, Aug. 25). Eagle Jet also plans to introduce one daily scheduled round-trip between Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif.
American Trans Air said yesterday it has signed a tentative four-year contract with the Teamsters, representing its pilots and flight engineers. The contract is subject to ratification by the employees, and the carrier said it expects a vote by the end of the year. American Trans Air operates a fleet of 46 757s, 727s and L-1011s.
A China Airlines 747, involved in its second ground incident in two days, virtually shut down Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila on Tuesday when it swerved off the runway during a takeoff attempt and became bogged down in mud.
Following a two-week criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, a jury found Domenick Leonardi guilty of conspiracy for failing to service and test aircraft emergency equipment properly, potentially endangering the lives of passengers, DOT Inspector General A. Mary Schiavo said. A former production coordinator at Tec-Air Services Inc., East Northport, N.Y., Leonardi faces a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced Feb. 23.
Surfing the Internet has become a favorite sideline for regional airline pilots who use their on-line computers to complain about all manner of things from their employers to the validity of certain flight-time experience. Individual regional carrier forums are found on the 'net's aviation forum under "commercial airlines." The Mesa Air Group forum is an especially busy one with pilots from its various airline units comparing notes, generally bashing the employer and even accusing forum members who support the employer as secretly part of management.
DOT is requesting proposals to replace MarkAir Express's essential air service to 12 water points in Kodiak Island, Alaska. Although the $82,728 annual rate for MarkAir Express is not set to expire on June 30, 1996, a series of events has made it necessary to replace the carrier providing the service. First, the carrier's sole float plane crashed Oct. 27, 1995, and it has since been determined that the aircraft is not salvageable. Then on Nov. 17, MarkAir Express entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and its parent, MarkAir, is being liquidated.
Unisys said its Cargo Users Group has adopted a common way to exchange information on cargo shipments - coordination vital for air carriers and freight forwarders to compete effectively with door-to-door, integrated carriers that "do not have to contend with the challenge posed by passing goods to other modes of transport to compete a shipment." The group said it is the first association of air freight carriers to adopt Cargo Multinational EDI Association (Cargo MEDIA) standards. Northwest and Qantas hailed the move.
FAA strongly hinted Thursday - in announcing its final "Commuter Rule" - that it will apply all or most Part 139 airport certification standards to all airports handling scheduled aircraft operations of 10 or more passenger seats. So far, Congress has failed to pass the legislation that would provide that authority, but Administrator David Hinson believes the new rule would be an impetus for it to do so. Additional costs for on-site crash/fire/rescue, additional signage and security could end such service at many small airports, some industry sources fear.
Lufthansa will install two new Avro RJ 85 flight simulators at its pilot training center at Berlin-Schoenefeld Airport. The simulators, which will cost 50 million Deutschmarks (US$34.5 million), will be in place by May 1996, increasing training capacity at the center by 50%. A joint venture between Lufthansa CityLine and British Aerospace, which will operate the simulators, plans to hire 10 technicians to operate and maintain them. Until now the center offered simulator training only for the A310 and the Canadair Regional Jet.
While essentially agreeing with the intent of National Transportation Safety Board recommendations for airlines to share pilot records, RAA President Walt Coleman warned Wednesday that such an exchange of information might lead to employers sanitizing those records. Coleman, testifying before the House Transportation aviation subcommittee (DAILY, Dec. 14), said a requirement to share pilot training records must not "produce the unwanted result of reducing the content of training records to only indications of pass or failure of a training event.
Miami-based United Airlines code-share carrier Gulfstream International flew 8.3 million revenue passenger miles in November, a 154.5% increase for the rapidly expanding airline. Capacity rose 124.4% to 15.5 million available seat miles, allowing load factor to rise 6.3 percentage points to 53.4% from 47.1%. Passenger boardings were up 134.1% to 42,420. For the year to date, RPMs have risen 105.7% to 59.9 million; ASMs have climbed 79.5% to 114.7 million; load factor is up 6.7 points to to 52.2%. Enplanements gained 75.8% to 220,883.
The absolute numbers are small by comparison, but little Gulfstream International is growing by leaps and bounds. The Miami-based regional, which operates in Florida and the Bahamas serving as a marketing partner with United, recorded a 134.1% increase in passenger boardings last month. Revenue passenger miles, which grew by no less than 154.5% since the prior November, have more than doubled since the first of the year (see related story below). And the carrier continued its expansionist ways Nov.
U.S. airline employees reportedly have been inundating the White House switchboard with complaints about the Clinton administration's stance that a proposed extension of the airline fuel tax exemption amounts to corporate welfare. Administration officials cited the exemption as one of a plethora of reasons for the veto of the budget reconciliation bill (H.R.2491).
Airbus and Fokker Aircraft Operating Costs Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Second Quarter 1995 A320-100/200 America West Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 18 50 Total Fleet Operations Departures 91 201 Block Hours 205 544 Flight Hours 178 466
BFGoodrich said it has acquired several de-icing product lines and associated technology from Lucas Aerospace. The products, most of which are standard equipment on regional and business aircraft, include regulator/reliever valves, check valves, water separators, timers and air ejector and distributor valves. They will become part of the products and services of the BFGoodrich Aerospace Ice Protection Systems Division.
Galileo International has signed an agreement that will enable travel agents in China to book through its system. The pact, with the Management Information System of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), also enables travel agents who use Galileo to make and confirm bookings on China's international and domestic carriers. It covers 25 airlines and 10,000 computer terminals at 3,000 travel agencies in China.
Federal Express yesterday reported that operating income for the quarter ended Nov. 30, the second of its fiscal year, slipped to $170.9 million from $176.4 million a year earlier. Revenues increased 8% to $2.5 billion and net income was up 4% to $89.9 million. For the six months, operating income increased to $320.1 million from $319.4 million on revenues of $5 billion, up from $4.6 billion. Net income was $165.2 million, compared with $147.3 million.
American Chairman Robert Crandall yesterday urged aviation industry trade organizations to establish a task force on FAA funding "to define a financing approach at least minimally acceptable to all." In a speech to the Wings Club in New York, Crandall also called for a strategy for making the air traffic control system more efficient built around four steps: replacement of hardware, investment in better software, acceleration of the national route program and development of satellite navigation.
Illinois DOT says the nine-county Chicago area has experienced a 19% decline since 1989 in the share of long-distance trips by air. The results were part of a study aimed at reflecting passenger willingness to use a potential third Chicago-area airport near Peotone, Ill. The decline, IDOT said, is one that echoes a national trend "caused by the Gulf War and its higher petroleum prices and flyer uncertainties." The survey noted, however, that the U.S.
Government of Barbados wants to strengthen its tourism ministry and the Barbados Tourism Investment Corporation to meet the short-, medium- and long-term needs of the tourism industry. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and International Transport in St. Michael is inviting firms to bid by Dec. 22 on a contract to conduct a technical and cost study on the subject.
