America West's August passenger traffic rose 11.8% from the same month a year ago on 8% more capacity, boosting the load factor 2.5 percentage points to 75.1%, an August record for the airline. The number of passengers enplaned increased 9.6%. "We more than filled the additional 8% capacity added since 1994 and continue to experience strong booking levels," said President Maurice Myers. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 1,269,519,000 1,135,981,000 8,982,017,000 8,447,700,000
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) has added inflight gambling to its staple of battles to wage in Washington this year, including continuing advocacy of child restraint seats and smoking bans on international flights.
U.S. and Thailand are moving closer to bilateral negotiations, according to a U.S. government official. The countries have had no bilateral since 1990, when Thailand renounced the old agreement.
FAA's Chicago Center experienced another major computer failure yesterday, causing air traffic controllers to operate on the DARC (direct access radar channel) backup system throughout the day. FAA said technicians conducting routine maintenance on the primary computer system were unable to reactivate it shortly after 3 a.m. local time, so they left operations on the backup system.
Tower Air's August scheduled passenger traffic rose 4.2% from the same month last year on 6.4% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 1.8 percentage points to 85.3%. The number of passengers carried was up 1.2%. Tower's total block hours flown, including scheduled and charter operations, were up 21.6% to 5,282 hours. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 498,000,000 478,000,000 2,398,000,000 1,920,000,000
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin flew 50.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 70.4% rise from the same 1994 month. Capacity rose 59.4% and load factor was up 3.9 percentage points. Enplanements were up 5.4%. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 50,139,866 29,433,431 314,510,422 219,274,040 ASMs 83,869,722 52,614,066 572,266,652 413,518,040 LoadFtr% 59.8 55.9 55.0 53.0
World Airways' August block hours flown rose about 56% from the same month last year to 3,703. Average daily utilization of aircraft was 10 hours, compared with 10.7 hours per day in August a year ago. Through the first eight months, World's block hours increased 32% to 24,983, and its average daily utilization rose to 10 hours from 8.6 hours last year.
Aer Lingus has made available its 1995-96 program of short-stay vacation packages - "Ireland Short Stay Escapes." Included in the price are transatlantic air fare on Aer Lingus, accommodations, luxury bus touring and most meals. The packages are designed for groups, including one free place (air and land) for every 20 paying participants. Prices start at $639.
BAA USA Holdings, the U.S. unit of the U.K.-based BAA plc, has signed a 10- year contract with the Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) to manage the Indianapolis airport system. BAA has managed retail operations at Pittsburgh for the past three years, but the Indianapolis contract is the first giving it management responsibility for all aspects of running an airport outside the U.K. In the U.K., BA manages seven airports, including London Heathrow and Gatwick.
Air Canada has been designated by Transport Canada to serve Poland, but actually launching the service will require renegotiation of the Canada- Poland bilateral. Air Canada wants to serve Warsaw over another European gateway.
Air France's flight attendants are scheduled to strike today to protest Chairman Christian Blanc's plans to change their job description. Yesterday, the airline said it planned to operate all of its long-haul service, but it may have to use wet-leased aircraft and crews to operate to some destinations, such as Miami and Newark. To what extent Air France brings in leased aircraft will depend on how many union flight attendants report for work. The airline declined to reveal where it plans to get the airplanes and crews.
TWA will begin operating nonstop service four days a week to Mexico City from St. Louis Oct. 29 pending government approval. The carrier said it anticipates increasing to daily flights over the Christmas holiday period. The new service is part of its strategy to build operations in markets with the greatest revenue potential. It recently added new service to Cancun, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo.
Sabena's passenger traffic rose 9.8% in July from the same month a year ago, to 837.7 million revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded rose 16.7% to 465,592, and the airline's cargo traffic fell 5.1% to 32.2 million freight ton kilometers. Through the first seven months, passenger traffic was up 18.5% to 4.87 billion RPKs, and passenger volume rose 19.8% to 2.8 million. Cargo traffic increased 3.1% to 248.1 million FTKs.
Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1995 B747-100 Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 1 23 9 Total Fleet Operations Departures 1 36 12 Block Hours 3 259 73
Aer Lingus, which has been operating twice-weekly flights to Belfast from the U.S. as part of its Vacations Ireland tour product since July, will upgrade the service to year-round, scheduled status on Oct. 1, increasing the number of weekly flights to three. "The service we operated this summer has shown sufficient potential for us to commit to operating the full Aer Lingus product through this winter," said David Bunworth, Aer Lingus sales and marketing director.
Boeing 737 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1995 B737-300 America West Continental Number of Aircraft Operated 34 62 Total Fleet Operations Departures 224 311 Block Hours 391 626
Flightstar Corp. has begun construction of a new fixed-base operation facility at the former Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Ill. Flightstar currently is operating at a hangar that will be converted into a window manu-facturing plant.
Delta is padding its schedule at Phoenix, Tucson, Cincinnati and Hawaii Dec. 1. At Phoenix and Tucson, it will increase the number of flights to hubs Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City, as well as Los Angeles and other western cities. It will introduce the 142-seat MD-88 aircraft to Phoenix operations.
Krasnoyarsk Airlines, operating as KrasAir, is seeking an amendment to its authority permitting it to conduct charter service between Russia and the U.S. In January, KrasAir received authority to operate scheduled combination service between Russia and New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco (DAILY, Jan. 17). A former division of Aeroflot, KrasAir is 51% owned by the Russian state and 44% by employees, with the balance held by an investment fund. It operates a fleet of 50 Russian-made aircraft and two DC-10-30s, leased from Douglas Aircraft.
USAir will reduce fares between Washington National and Columbus, Ohio, by as much as 50% Oct. 1 - the day ValuJet introduces $49 one-way fares from Washington Dulles. USAir is offering one-way weekend fares of $49 based on roundtrip purchase, and a $59 one-way fare any day of the week if purchased 21 days in advance, or $89 with a seven-day advance purchase. Children traveling with adults pay $49. The fare for less than a seven-day advance will be $139.
Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International, which have been paying commissions of up 12% on some domestic fares, will standardize commission rates on all domestic fares at 8.25%, effective Sept. 18. Over the past year or more, both carriers introduced 12% commissions on deeply discounted fares in selected markets where they compete with charter carriers for leisure travelers. But now, both carriers are moving back to the 8.25% standard. Canadian said yesterday the move will save it as much as C$6 million annually through a reduction in the cost of sales.
Reps. William Clinger (R-Pa.) and Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), chairmen of the House Government Reform and Transportation committees, have urged the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee to oppose FAA personnel and procurement reform measures in the Senate DOT appropriations bill. In a letter sent Friday to Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), Clinger and Shuster said the reform measures would undermine efforts in their committees to reform procurement government-wide and personnel and procurement at FAA.
SAS and United, both marketing partners of Lufthansa, have signed a cooperative agreement covering code sharing, connection scheduling, frequent flyer programs and passenger lounges. The agreement, to be implemented in phases beginning Jan. 1, subject to government approval, has been expected since last spring, when SAS and Lufthansa signed a comprehensive strategic alliance agreement (DAILY, May 12).
Union negotiators for pilots at Jetstream Airlines have reached a tentative agreement with the company on a collective bargaining contract that provides substantial improvements in wages, benefits and working conditions, according to the pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. The pact, which follows several months of informational picketing by pilots, clears the way for Jetstream to expand by operating new or modified Dornier 328s, ALPA said.
