TAP Air Portugal's passenger traffic rose 2.6% in August to 878.8 million revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded increased 5.1% to 418,956, and cargo traffic was up 8.2% to 15.4 million freight tonne kilometers. Through the first eight months of this year, TAP's passenger traffic rose 0.7% to 5.17 billion RPKs and the number of passengers boarded 5% to 2.48 million. Cargo traffic for the eight-month period increased 3.2% from a year ago to 1.27 billion FTKs.
...AvStat President Doug Abbey said that 20 airport-pairs, none of which had shown regional-passenger activity in 1993, each produced more than 20,000 passengers in 1994. Only one, Chicago O'Hare-Columbus, accounted for more than 100,000 passengers in the first full year of service. Most posted boardings in the 25,000-35,000 range.
Hughes Aircraft of Canada said yesterday the Treasury Board of Canada has approved an amended, $360 million contract from Transport Canada to develop and install the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS), a national air traffic control system that now is to be delivered by July 1998. The contract was held up after Hughes started work because of differences over the scope and cost of the project. Originally, CAATS was to have been completed in 1996. The Canadian project still will be completed long before its counterpart in the U.S., however.
American has withdrawn its complaint concerning self-handling at Milan Malpensa Airport against the government of Italy, Italy's Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport, Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali and Alitalia. "Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali has now agreed that American may engage in those self-handling activities of interest to American at Malpensa," said the carrier, resolving the issues raised by American in its Nov. 9, 1992, petition. (Docket 47956)
USAir Express carrier CommutAir will begin serving Worcester, Mass., from New York LaGuardia and Philadelphia Nov. 1. CommutAir will operate five daily flights in both markets. The carrier will use Beech 1900D aircraft, seating 19 passengers.
Lufthansa will begin code-sharing flights with Thai Airways International and will launch service to Lima and Quito this winter. With the introduction of Lufthansa's winter schedule on Oct. 29, Thai and Lufthansa will offer 14 flights a week from Frankfurt to Bangkok, as well as two flights a week from Munich to Bangkok, with connecting flights to Chian Mai and Phuket. Seven of the 14 Frankfurt-Bangkok flights, as well as the connecting flights in Thailand, will be operated by Thai.
Fokker has authorized Honeywell to add Global Positioning System functionality to the Honeywell Flight Management for the Fokker 100 and 70 aircraft, Honeywell said.
American has given struggling Hawaiian Airlines another 45 days to make good on $6.9 million in back lease and maintenance payments the smaller carrier owes on the handful of DC-10s it leases from American. Hawaiian, which got a similar extension in August, said the deferral is needed to give the company more time to obtain additional financing (DAILY, Aug. 24). At the same time, Hawaiian has asked its pilots, flight attendants, ground crews and clerical staff to accept contract extensions beyond their current terms.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air last month recorded a load factor decline of 3.6 percentage points to 60.1% from 63.7% in September 1994. Traffic increased 5% to 71 million revenue passenger miles from 68 million in the prior-year period, but capacity rose 11% to 118 million available seat miles from 106 million. Sept. 1995 Sept. 1994 9 Mths 1995 9 Mths 1994 RPMs 71,000,000 68,000,000 631,000,000 532,000,000 ASMs 118,000,000 106,000,000 1,070,000,000 845,000,000
Robert Crandall, chairman of American, which is in midst of several major labor negotiations, said yesterday the reason the airline has dropped or reduced service in a number of East Coast markets is high costs. If and when its unions come around and agree to cut costs, "we will re-enter those markets," he told the British/American Business Association. An arbitration panel will announce Oct. 10 its binding decision on 14 major contract issues between the carrier and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, nearly two years after their five-day strike.
United is urging DOT to defer action on its motion to deny renewal of Asiana Airlines and Northwest's code-share authority and to reverse the department's approval of the Korean Airlines-Delta code-share arrangement. United cited concerns that Korea would not approve the schedule for its new services to Seoul via Tokyo because of a lack of overnight parking space at Seoul Kimpo Airport (DAILY, Sept. 19). "It now appears that the parking space issue may be satisfactorily resolved in the next few weeks and that this schedule may be approved," said United.
Mesa Air Group subsidiary Air Midwest has provided DOT with proposals for continuation of subsidized service to Topeka, Kan. The USAir Express operator has offered two operating plans using 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft. The first calls for a service level of four roundtrips each weekday and on the weekend, requiring compensation of $253,607. Air Midwest said it would need a $189,961 subsidy to conduct three roundtrips per weekday and on the weekend. Both plans indicate an average fare of about $52.
Representatives of six aviation labor unions yesterday asked President Clinton to support a waiver of the commercial aviation fuel tax while Congress considers a two-year extension of the exemption. The House budget reconciliation bill likely will include the two-year extension, and the Senate Finance Committee is expected to consider the measure, the unions said in a letter on behalf of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has leased an Airbus A340-300 from International Lease Finance Corp. The aircraft will be delivered next April and will be used on Virgin's Manchester-Orlando route. Virgin now operates two 747- 400s leased from ILFC and will get a third next March.
LorAir has applied for a certificate to operate foreign charter service. The Torrance, Calif.-based applicant plans to transport sports teams using a Boeing 737-200 aircraft. (OST-95-702)
Five airlines say they will continue a lawsuit against Dade County, Fla., to stop American's $900 million terminal expansion at Miami Airport despite approval of plans for the project this week by the county's Board of Commissioners. "We had hoped that politically we could defeat the plan," USAir spokesman Chuck Stipancic told The DAILY.
Nine regional airline stocks slid nearly 11% during September to finish the month with an average per-share price of $11.22. Market value of the nine issues was off by $123.8 million to $2.24 billion. Leading decliner was Northwest Airlink Mesaba Holdings, down $8.50 to $5.25. That result is misleading, however, because it was due primarily to the spinoff to stockholders of AirTran Airways. Other decliners were Delta Connection SkyWest, down $3.63 to $10; Delta Connection Atlantic Southeast, off $1.63 to $23.38, and Mesa Air Group, down 44 cents to $10.19.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court that handled America West's Chapter 11 case has approved the distribution of about 2.4 million shares of the airline's Class B common stock to satisfy the claims of general unsecured creditors. The claims involved were not resolved at the time the company's plan of reorganization became effective with its emergence from Chapter 11 in August 1994.
Raytheon Aircraft delivered two Beech 1900D 19-passenger regional aircraft to Midway Connection. The new aircraft will operated on routes between Raleigh/Durham, N.C., and Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Midway Connection, a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Great Lakes, serves 15 locations on the Atlantic Coast and in the Caribbean from Raleigh/Durham.
Clarification: Information on an international aviation art contest for children conducted by the Minnesota DOT and other agencies may be obtained by calling the aeronautics agency of one's state or Gordon Hoff, Minnesota DOT, at 612-297-7652. The DOT inadvertently issued an incorrect number, which appeared in The DAILY Oct. 5.
DOT has extended the service obligation of Great Lakes Aviation at Fairmont, Mankato and Worthington, Minn., and Brookings and Mitchell, S.D., for an additional 30-day period through Oct. 23 or until further department action. (Docket 46794)
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines logged 30.6 million revenue passenger miles in September, a 17.3% decrease from September 1994's 37 million. Capacity dropped more slowly - 15.5% to 62.3 million available seat miles from 73.8 million, causing the load factor to dip 1.1 percentage points to 49.1% from 50.2% in the prior period. The carrier announced this week it is beginning United Express service between Rochester, N.Y., and New York Kennedy Airport.
Innsbruck, Austria-based Tyrolean Airways is sending its fifth class of pilot cadets to undergo ab initio training at FlightSafety International's Vero Beach Flight Academy, FlightSafety said. The newly qualified pilots are prepared for Austrian ratings and first officer duties on the carrier's Dash 8 aircraft. All of the first two classes of Tyrolean ab initio trainees, from 1992 and 1993 at Vero Beach, are now flying as captains, FlightSafety said.
Seattle/Tacoma-Spokane became the nation's top regional market during 1994. Washington, D.C.-based AvStat Associates said the market - ranked fourth in 1993 - was stimulated by the entry of Southwest Airlines, resulting in a 33.6% increase in passenger boardings for all regionals serving the route. Seattle/Tacoma-Portland, 1993's leading market, slipped to second place in 1994. Chicago O'Hare-Milwaukee jumped from No. 8 to No. 3 as American and United trimmed their jet frequencies in the market, and Denver-Aspen slipped from No. 2 to No. 4...
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic March 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 1,149 4.40 2,087 2,398,243 Atlantic 260 0.24 4,145 1,076,690 Latin 859 6.28 1,346 1,156,228
