Continental is considering ways to expand at Houston Airport late in 1996 or early in 1997 to meet growth in departures projected at 8% per year. So far, plans call for more gates but no new construction. "We are still talking with Houston to find out what our options are and see what will be ready when we need the space," Continental spokeswoman Peggy Mahoney said.
Bilateral relationships, passenger facility charges and the isolation of regional carriers without code-share agreements topped concerns raised during Friday's Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearings for Charles Hunnicutt as DOT assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs and Nancy McFadden as DOT general counsel. Hunnicutt sidestepped questions on the aviation impasse between the U.S. and the U.K., but he acknowledged that a U.S.-Germany open skies accord would pressure the U.K.
AFL-CIO has passed a resolution calling on the Clinton administration to "quickly implement the necessary hiring of experienced former controllers for placement at hard-to-staff FAA facilities." The resolution says FAA has hired only 37 controllers and says Clinton should "order the FAA to move beyond the symbolic hiring of former controllers."
Continental has paid out nearly $14 million this year in employee bonuses for its much-improved ontime performance. In September, when it ranked second to Southwest, it would have finished first if eight flights a day had arrived one minute sooner and two flights a day had arrived two minutes sooner. At Newark, where Continental mishandled baggage 22.05 times per 1,000 passengers a year ago, the rate is down to 6.16.
Air Macau has taken delivery of an A321, the first of four aircraft - two A321s and two A320s - it will operate under a lease from International Lease Finance Corp. The aircraft is powered by IAE V2500 engines.
Women with Wings, a 17-minute videofilm produced by the Paul Harvey Audio- Center of the EAA Aviation Foundation. Celebrates the achievements of eight women throughout the history of aviation, from ballooning and space to business and education. EAA; $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling. To order, call 800-843-3612.
General Electric's GE90 high-bypass turbofan engine for Boeing's 777 widebody twin won certification Friday from Europe's Joint Airworthiness Authorities and the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority. It won FAA certification in February.
American has appointed Peter Bowler, managing director of sales and reservations for Europe, based in London, to be managing director of reservations at its headquarters in Fort Worth. He replaces James Verges, who is retiring. Michael Smith, managing director of Western Division sales in Fort Worth, will succeed Bowler in London.
Open skies may be on the agenda when the U.S. and the Czech Republic meet next month in Prague, says Paul Gretch, director of DOT's Office of International Aviation. Short of open skies, the U.S. will seek third- country code-share rights and the Czechs appear to be receptive, he says. The U.S. has suggested dates in December for another round of talks with China, but the Chinese have not yet responded. U.S. and India officials, taking a pause after a week of contentious negotiation, will resume Nov. 13 in Washington.
Northwest will extend its smoke-free policy Feb. 1 to nonstop routes between Detroit and Seoul; Tokyo and Guam; Tokyo and Saipan, and Nagoya and Guam, the airline said. The move "continues our efforts to be responsive to customers," said Malcolm Bromham, VP-Pacific division.
Alaska Airlines' October traffic increased 10.2% from the same month a year ago on 5.4% more capacity, causing the airline's load factor to rise 2.7 percentage points to 61%. The number of passengers boarded rose 13.3%. Through the first 10 months, Alaska's traffic was up 14.2% on 17.2% more capacity, producing a load factor decrease of 1.7 points to 61.4%. The number of passengers boarded increased 13.7%. Oct 95 Oct 94 10 Mths 95 10 Mths 94 RPMs 682,000,000 619,000,000 7,147,000,000 6,259,000,000
Achieving improvements in aviation safety, capacity and efficiency is "far more difficult than simply implementing technology now available to us," and the greatest challenges come from "institutional issues," an Air Transport Association official told the McGraw-Hill Chicago '95 aviation conference last week.
Delta's board has approved a jet fuel risk management, or "hedging" program to reduce the impact of price fluctuations caused by events such as the Persian Gulf crisis and the Arab fuel embargo. Delta says the program will be strictly non-speculative and involve a significant portion of its fuel requirements, which run to 2.5 billion gallons per year. The program will be fully implemented in December.
Superseded an airworthiness directive on de Havilland Dash 6 aircraft concerning inspection of the horizontal stabilizer attachment fittings. Superseded an AD on certain Jetstream ATP airplanes concerning inspections for damaged main landing gear wheel bearings. Proposed issuing special conditions on Israel Aircraft Industries Galaxy aircraft.
Washington State and Michigan officials are pressing DOT to select Northwest to operate new service between the U.S. and Italy beginning April 1, 1996. The carrier has proposed six weekly roundtrips between Detroit and Rome, originating in Seattle, using DC-10-30 aircraft.
American, Canadian Airlines International and their respective regional associates have applied for antitrust immunity to expand their commercial alliance. While retaining separate corporate and national identities, the carriers plan to use the immunity "to create a truly seamless air transportation system." In practice, they ntend "to establish the same kind of multi-hub network that American and other U.S. carriers have successfully created in the domestic U.S. marketplace, and that has proven to be beneficial to U.S.
