FAA proposed actions yesterday to avoid damage caused by "blue ice" formed from leaking lavatory drain systems on Boeing 737 and Douglas DC-10 and MD- 11F aircraft. In the Boeing case, FAA is proposing to supersede a previous airworthiness directive to include all 737 series aircraft. FAA said since it issued the previous AD, it has continued to receive reports of engine damage caused by blue ice ingested by the engines, and of other damage.
Air 21, the Fresno-based startup carrier, has taken delivery of its first two freshly painted Fokker F28-4000s from USAir and hopes to start scheduled operations in various West Coast markets by mid-month. President Mark Morro said Air 21 fares will be about 60% below prevailing rates.
KLM and Northwest plan to upgrade their four-times-weekly joint Memphis- Amsterdam flight, begun last June, to daily service by June 23, 1996. Memphis-Amsterdam will be increased to five flights a week for the April 1- 27 period, and a sixth weekly flight will be added on April 29.
All Nippon Airways will increase nonstop service from Tokyo to Washington Dulles from three per week to four on Nov. 26. It will operate the additional flight with a Boeing 747-400, the aircraft it uses for all flights from Tokyo to New York Kennedy, Los Angeles and Washington. With the additional flight, ANA will have 18 flights per week to the U.S. from Tokyo. It flies daily to New York and Los Angeles.
PSA Airlines Inc. pilots have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the company, the airline announced. The contract, effective Nov. 1 through Feb. 29, 2000, is the second between the wholly owned subsidiary of USAir Group and the Air Line Pilots Association.
Despite strong revenue growth in the first half of its fiscal year, Japan Airlines has increased its full-year forecast only six tenths of one percent. It now expects to generate revenue of 1.092 trillion yen (US$11.28 billion) in the year ending March 31, 1996, up from 1.085 trillion yen.
American Eagle Simmons pilots passed this week's anniversary of the crash of Flight 4148 at Roselawn, Ind., with "some apprehension" about flying their ATR aircraft in icing conditions. Dispatch and ATC also are being "very cautious," but older ATR hands "are not overly concerned," one pilot said.
Fine Airlines, which says it is "the largest international cargo carrier at Miami International Airport," has opened an office at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport to "link the southeastern United States into the airline's wide network of cargo service from MIA to Latin America."
Viacao Aerea Sao Paulo (VASP) asked DOT for an exemption to serve Toronto as a beyond-Miami point on the scheduled combination service it operates between Miami and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Beginning Nov. 23, the carrier proposes to operate two roundtrips on the expanded route, using MD-11s. VASP also operates Brazil-Los Angeles-Seoul service, and service to co- terminal points Miami and New York. (Docket OST-95-785)
Bilateral aviation negotiations in New Delhi between the Indian and U.S. governments have become deadlocked over access to India for cargo carriers Polar Air Cargo and Federal Express, additional Bombay service by Tower Air and Delta, and restrictions on Air India's operations in the U.S., Indian civil aviation ministry officials said yesterday. The current round of talks is the second toward a new bilateral agreement, and the first, held in September in the U.S., foundered on many of the same issues.
Members of the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA) showed support yesterday for striking Machinists union employees at Boeing, joining picket lines in Renton and Everett, Wash., during their lunch hours. SPEEA, now in its own contract talks with the company, represents about 21,000 engineers and technical workers. The Machinist members have been on strike since Oct. 6.
Fort Worth, Texas-based Lone Star Airlines is offering a holiday fare sale throughout its system for travel beginning Nov. 19 until Jan. 14, 1996. Chief Executive Philip Trenary said, "Each year our major airline partners offer discounted fares for a limited period of time for use during the holidays. We believe our customers deserve savings on the Lone Star Airlines' portion of their journey, so we are offering a similar sale to accommodate their holiday travel plans."
...SkyWest received another major airport-sponsored boost last spring when it began serving Eugene, Ore. - three and one-half months of local billboard and radio ads to the tune of $82,300. Guaranteed minimum revenues by localities are not unusual when carriers threaten to pull out of markets or even replace jets with turboprops. "Quite a few airports offer marketing support; we are probably more out front than most," said Airport Manager Mike Boggs. He said airports are businesses.
Great China Airlines of Taipei, Taiwan has purchased its 12th de Havilland Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft, Bombardier Regional Aircraft announced. The 50-seat twin-turboprop, valued at approximately US$12 million (Canadian $16 million), will enter service in February 1996. Great China is the largest fleet operator of the Dash 8 Series 300 in the Asia/Pacific region, Bombardier said.
DOT has extended the current final subsidy rate of $217,727 for Great Lakes Aviation, operating as United Express, subsidized air service at Dickinson, N.D., beginning Oct. 1. The department is negotiating with the carrier for a new long-term subsidy rate, however. The key to deciding the rate, DOT noted, is a determination of flow revenue from communities upline from Dickinson. "The competitive situation at potential upline points is changing and may become more clear in the near future," according to DOT. (Docket 48559&OST-95-697)
Former Lufthansa deputy chairman Reinhardt Abraham died Wednesday at the age of 66. Abraham was on the Lufthansa Executive Board for more than 20 years. Lufthansa Chairman Jurgen Weber said yesterday he was "among the architects of our good reputation."
Salt Lake City Airport's public relations department last week put out a glowing press release extolling the performance of Delta Connection SkyWest and its fleet of eight Canadair Regional Jets as a means of promoting the airport. "Since joining the SkyWest Airlines fleet in early 1994, Canadair Regional Jet aircraft have helped the regional carrier cut costs and achieve a higher level of profitability than ever before," the release stated. It contained quotes from SkyWest President Jerry Atkin and Bombardier Regional Aircraft's John Howarth...
FAA yesterday limited El Al's operations to the U.S. to its current level after discovering lapses by Israeli civil aviation authorities on safety issues. The agency said Israel has not developed or implemented adequate surveillance, inspector guidance and training standards, and it lacks the organizational structure, expertise and resources to license and oversee civil aviation in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards. FAA also placed limits on service to the U.S.
U.S. National Carriers Operating and Net Profit 6 Months 1995 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) 6 Months 1995 Alaska $ 9,338 $ (4,372) Aloha (5,368) (3,331) American Trans Air 15,247 6,837 Carnival 4,399 3,187
American Airlines is helping the Tarrant County Hospital District in Texas reduce costs under a two-year contract for an employee suggestion program - and picking up some extra revenue at the same time. The partnership is through American's World Class IdeAAs, a division of its IdeAAs in Action employee suggestion program, which has saved American more than $350 million since it was started in 1986.
The continuing emergence of domestic new entrants and the formation of global networks may deliver the major airlines from the boom-and-bust economic cycle that historically has plagued the industry, said DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs Patrick Murphy yesterday at the McGraw-Hill Chicago '95 Conference. "The more powerful of these two phenomena...is not the well-discussed, international networking, but the smaller, quieter, re-emerging stream of small new airlines entering the market," he said.
Patrick Murphy, DOT deputy assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, will speak on international aviation Nov. 8 at the monthly news forum of the Transportation Research Forum. A social period and lunch begin at noon, followed by Murphy's speech at about 1 p.m., at the Channel Inn, 650 Water Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. For further information, call Jack Wells, 202-225-3274.
The Commerce Department's U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration issued yesterday what it termed a clarification of survey data it published in mid-October ranking Airbus aircraft ahead of U.S.-manufactured airplanes. Commerce now says, "The data as previously released are not adequate for making meaningful comparisons among aircraft types.
Midwest Express has decided to retain 10% commissions for travel agents. In May, the carrier said it would evaluate its commission structure for six months before deciding whether to lower them. American Society of Travel Agents President Jeanne Epping thanked the airline for its treatment of travel agents "in an otherwise challenging year."
