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
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR suffered a 7.5-percentage-point drop in its passenger load factor last month to 42.4% from 49.9% in September 1994. Traffic was off 11.7% to 10.9 million revenue passenger miles from 12.4 million, but capacity rose 3.9% to 25.8 million available seat miles. Sept. 1995 Sept. 1994 9 Mths 1995 9 Mths 1994 RPMs 10,945,377 12,393,788 102,070,214 110,504,889 ASMs 25,806,376 24,840,238 234,995,640 214,638,202
Ethiopian Airlines has placed an order for five Fokker 50 turboprops, selecting the aircraft to replace its ATR 42 and DHC-6 Twin Otter Aircraft, Fokker announced. Delivery of the five aircraft is scheduled between May and December 1996.
DOT is inviting carriers to comment on a complaint Fine Airlines has filed against the government of Peru. In a filing late last month, Fine maintained that Peru is prohibiting it from operating to, from or over the territory of Peru in violation of the U.S.-Peru bilateral (DAILY, Sept. 29). Originally, Peru barred Fine's operations in March because of reports that the cargo carrier had transported arms from Argentina to Ecuador during the hostilities between Ecuador and Peru.
With 86% of its flights arriving on time in August, Southwest captured the top on-time spot among major carriers for the third consecutive month. Overall, flights of the 10 largest U.S. carriers arrived within 15 minutes of schedule 79.9% of the time August, down slightly from July's 80.1%, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, issued yesterday. Continental was runner-up to Southwest with 84.9%, followed by USAir with 82.4%. For the second month in a row, Alaska Airlines placed last with a 69.7% record.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic First Quarter 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) America West 3,792 1.73 774 2,933,788 American 16,019 2.23 1,061 17,002,328
Bombardier Aerospace Group-North America named Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan to develop and produce the fuselage and tail sections for the 350-knot, 70-seat de Havilland Dash 8-400 high-speed turboprop, the Montreal-based manufacturer announced. Bombardier Aerospace President Robert Brown said, "This further reinforces Bombardier's business associations in the Asia/Pacific region and, in particular, with Mitsubishi, which already participates in our Global Express business jet program with responsibility for the wing and centre fuselage sections."
Southwest's passenger traffic rose 9.5% last month, but its load factor dropped 1.2 percentage points to 61.1% as the airline's capacity growth outstripped the increase in revenue passenger miles. The number of passengers carried rose 4.4%. Through the first nine months of this year, Southwest's traffic was up 7.6% on 12.8% more available seat miles, causing the airline's load factor to decline 3.2 points to 65.4%. Sept 95 Sept 94 9 Mths 95 9 Mths 94
Cargolux Airlines International, Luxembourg, reported that freight tonne kilometers through August increased 15% from the same period last year to 1.2 billion. FTKs in August rose 9% to 154.9 million.
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin flew 40.8 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 48% increase from September 1994's 27.6 million. Capacity rose 54.4% to 79.6 million available seat miles from 51.5 million, driving the load factor down 2.2 percentage points to 51.3% Sept. 1995 Sept. 1994 9 Mths 1995 9 Mths 1994 RPMs 40,843,314 27,591,274 355,353,736 246,865,314 ASMs 79,591,654 51,544,346 651,858,306 465,062,386
Delta's systemwide passenger traffic fell 2.7% last month from September a year ago on 0.1% less capacity, causing its load factor to slip 1.8 percentage points to just under 64.9%. The number of passengers boarded fell 5.7%. Delta's domestic traffic fell 2.9% on 1% more capacity, and its international traffic was down 2.4% on 3.3% less capacity. Sept 95 Sept 94 9 Mths 95 9 Mths 94 RPMs 7,002,339,000 7,198,594,000 64,353,907,000 65,183,071,000
DOT has assessed Executive Airlines, based in Canada, $8,000 in penalties for conducting fifth-freedom flights in the U.S. without authorization. "Between December 22, 1994, and January 20, 1995, Executive operated 12 flights on six different dates between the U.S. and Honduras without the proper authority from DOT," according to a consent order describing a DOT- Executive settlement of the issue.
Passengers on Air Canada flights from eight Canadian cities between Oct. 16 and Dec. 15 will have a chance to win a pair of tickets to anywhere the carrier flies, once a year for life. During the two-month period, 56 passengers on Air Canada flights out of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton will win the prize. Flights and seat numbers drawn at random will be delivered to the captain of each flight before takeoff. Then, on the airplane, the captain will present the prize to the passenger in the winning seat.
ValuJet boarded 428,586 passengers in September and its load factor grew to 62.8%, 3.9 percentage points higher than September 1994's fare-sale- inflated 58.9%. "The September results are even more impressive when you consider that we increased our load factor by nearly four points over the same month last year without the month-long, two-for-one promotion we ran in September 1994," said ValuJet Chairman Robert Priddy. Through the first nine months of 1995, its load factor was 70.8%, a 6.6-point increase over the first three quarters of last year.
British Airways' systemwide passenger traffic rose 8.9% on 4.9% more capacity, boosting its load factor 2.9 percentage points to 79.4%. The number of passengers was up 3.2% to 2.94 million. Its intercontinental passenger traffic grew 10.3% on 5.8% more capacity, and U.K.\Europe traffic rose 3.4% on 1.4% more capacity. BA described its September traffic performance as "buoyant" and said seat factor gains were particularly good on long-haul routes. It said demand for its premium brands remains strong.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), the new ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, this week named David Heymsfeld Democratic chief of staff for the committee, replacing Paul Shoellhamer. Heymsfeld is Democratic staff director of the aviation subcommittee and has worked for the subcommittee since 1975. He will be replaced in that post by David Traynham, who served on the subcommittee staff for 16 years until moving this year to the Coast Guard subcommittee. Like Rep. Norman Mineta (D- Calif.), the previous ranking Democrat on the committee (DAILY, Sept.
TWA's systemwide traffic declined 1.6% last month on 2.3% less capacity, pushing its load factor up 0.5 percentage points to 63.2%. The number of passengers rose 3.4%. Domestic passenger traffic dropped 0.3% on 0.6% more capacity, and international traffic fell 3.9% on 8.5% less capacity. Through the first nine months of this year, TWA's systemwide traffic slipped 0.3% on 3.6% less capacity, boosting its load factor 2.1 points to 66.5%. Sept 95 Sept 94 9 Mths 95 9 Mths 94
The 1994 Survey of Business Travelers, sponsored by the Official Airline Guides, will be issued at the Travel Industry Association of America's national conference Oct. 17 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel at Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. It is the first one to be released since 1991. The association will give out the results in a session covering female business travelers, frequent travelers and the demographics of business travelers.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel is purchasing Tokyo-based travel agency Dodwell Travel, its second acquisition this year in the Asia-Pacific market. In January, it acquired Dodwell Travel of Hong Kong. Dodwell's main business is corporate travel management, and it will focus on serving its current clients as well as U.S. and European multinational companies from Carlson's client base. Dodwell's 1994 sales totaled $12 million.
Hotel companies are expected to seek out strategic alliances worldwide as serving customers on a local level is complicated by expanding global travel opportunities, Arthur Andersen predicts. In its just-issued Hospitality Executive Report, published quarterly, the company said, "Foreign hotel groups, for example, have long found it difficult to establish a U.S. presence and distribution system, and now see the need to enter into alliances rather than establish a new product from the group up."
Air service to Pensacola, Fla., and several other airports in the South was disrupted yesterday and is expected to be erratic today due to Hurricane Opal. Before reaching the Florida Gulf Coast, the Category 4 hurricane was tracked with 150 mile per hour winds, and officials at Pensacola, Panama City, Fla., and Mobile, Ala., closed their airports. Delta said yesterday that, based on Opal's strength and expected course, the storm might impact Atlanta operations severely today.
National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday it has completed five days of wake vortex flight tests at FAA's Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J. The board is expected to present the test results Nov. 15 at a second public hearing on the September 1994 crash of a USAir 737 near Pittsburgh. A Delta 727 was 4.2 miles and 70 seconds ahead of the 737 as the USAir crew lost control of the aircraft, and the safety board's tests in New Jersey were aimed at determining whether a 727 wake vortex is strong enough under those conditions to cause the crash.
Moody's Investors Service said yesterday it has placed the Aa3 senior debt rating of Airbus Industrie under review for possible downgrade. The ratings service expressed "concerns about possible changes in Airbus's legal structure and in the way benefits of Airbus are allocated to its members, and about the weakening credit quality of certain key partners of Airbus." An Airbus Industrie spokesman said Moody's announcement "results from a number of fiscal issues that have developed independently but in a fairly common time frame.
