Conquest Airlines is offering lower fares and an expanded schedule from St. Paul Downtown Holman Field to Chicago Midway. Flights have been increased from four to six Monday through Friday, with an additional flight on Sunday. One-way fares are as low as $59 on week-ends and from 6:30 p.m. to 8 :30 p.m. Monday-Friday from Chicago to St. Paul. The fare and time restriction also will apply to flights departing St. Paul, beginning Sept. 11.
Alaska Airlines passenger traffic rose 12.4% last month from August 1994 on 14.4% more capacity, causing the airline's load factor to slip 1.2 percentage points to 70.9%. The number of passengers boarded increased 11.8%. For eight months, passenger traffic was up 15.7% on 20% more capacity, depressing the load factor 2.3 points to 61.6%. The number of boardings rose 14.6%. August 1995 August 1994 8 Months 1995 8 Months 1994 RRPMs 949,000,000 844,000,000 5,767,000,000 4,985,000,000
Planned startup carrier Air Macau has been assigned the NS designator code by the International Air Transport Association. The airline is scheduled to launch flight operations on Nov. 9 from the $1 billion Macau Airport to destinations in Asia. The airport, which has been designated MFM by IATA, will be dedicated formally on Dec. 8, with Mario Soares, president of Portugal, officiating at the ceremonies. The Portuguese colony of Macau is slated to return to Chinese control in 1999.
Fresno, Calif.-based new entrant air 21, which hopes to provide low- fare jet service throughout California, Nevada and Oregon, will use Fokker 28 Series 4000 aircraft to operate the flights, the company announced. The first two aircraft are scheduled for delivery in September, and another 12 in following months.
Delta has signed an agreement with Finnair to code share beginning Oct. 30 between New York and Helsinki, a market in which it will discontinue its own flights the day before. Delta will purchase seats on Finnair's MD-11 aircraft if DOT approves the deal. The carriers plan to discuss further cooperation, such as scheduling, frequent flyer programs and joint passenger handling.
Lone Star's plan to tap the Dallas/Fort Worth-Hermosillo, Mexico, market with a Dornier 328 may just be a pin-prick compared to the market's overall potential, according to Aviation System Research's Michael Boyd. He calls Hermosillo the Gary, Ind., of Mexico with Ford and other automakers entrenched there, joining Chihuahua and Monterrey as "underserved." The DFW-Hermosillo route is 861 miles long, and a 329-knot TAS means a block time of at least 2.6 hours. Boyd says all three routes might support Fokker 100 service by American, feeding through DFW.
Reps. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) and 19 co-sponsors yesterday introduced the Federal Aviation Administration Revitalization Act of 1995, to make FAA an independent agency, establish a Federal Aviation Board to oversee it, provide for personnel, procurement and regulatory reform and take the aviation trust fund off-budget (DAILY, June 30). Hearings are planned this month but have not yet been scheduled.
FAA inspectors soon will be checking their assigned airlines' operations and maintenance against other airlines, looking for trends that point to safety problems, Administrator David Hinson said yesterday in Washington. The inspectors will be using the agency's new Safety Performance Analysis System (SPAS) to compare the performance and records among carriers, creating the "early warning system" the agency needs in its drive toward zero accidents.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic July, 7 Months 1995 Revenue Ton-Miles (000) July July % 1995 1994 Change Domestic Freight 646,475 654,801 -1.3 Mail 130,667 127,494 2.5 Total 777,142 782,295 -0.7 International Freight 595,685 580,929 2.5
British Midland this fall plans to add service to Zurich and Prague from London Heathrow as part of its strategy to expand deeper into Europe and offset some of its shorter-haul traffic losses to competition from rail service through the Channel Tunnel between England and France. The addition on Oct. 29 of service to Zurich, the major European business center outside the European Union, will make British Midland the only airline to serve all six of the busiest cross-border routes in Europe, the airline said.
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said a mechanic at Astraea Aviation Services in Dallas has sued the company and the Teamsters Union for forcing workers to join the union and pay full union dues. The mechanic told the union in April 1994 he was resigning and would not pay for non-bargaining activities. He claims that a year later, after he continually refused to comply with a forced-dues demand, the union "had him fired." He has been able to get his job back but still complains of compulsory union dues.
TNT Express Worldwide has appointed Kevin Griffin VP-operations at its North American headquarters in Garden City, N.Y. Griffin has held executive positions with Emery, Purolator Worldwide Courier and, most recently, Roadway Global Air. Amsterdam-based TNT is owned by TNT Ltd., an Australian transportation conglomerate, and a consortium of German, French, Swedish, Dutch and Canadian post offices.
Southwest's August traffic was up 10.8% over the same month last year to 2.2 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity increased 11.7% to 3.1 billion available seat miles, resulting in a 0.5 point dip in load factor. Traffic for the first eight months was up 7.4% to 15.6 billion RPMs on 13% more capacity. Year-to-date load factor is 66%, compared with 69.4% last year. August 1995 August 1994 8 Months 1995 8 Months 1994 RPMs 2,216,244,932 2,000,795,090 15,597,022,736 14,522,565,184
Board of directors of Trans World Express Inc., the wholly owned TWA subsidiary that provides passenger feed at New York Kennedy, voted this week to shut the carrier down, effective Nov. 6. Kennedy feed will be assumed the following day by St. Louis-based TWExpress affiliate Trans States Airlines.
Continental's August load factor of 73.3% was its highest in 10 years, up 3.1 points from August 1994. The carrier flew 6.6% fewer revenue passenger miles on a 10.6% reduction in capacity, as it continued eliminating unprofitable routes. Continental's performance is improving steadily under its Go Forward Plan, leading the carrier to pay employees their fourth $65 on-time bonus this year. August 1995 August 1994 8 Months 1995 8 Months 1994 RPMs 3,878,008,000 4,154,192,000 27,473,964,000 27,670,382,000
Britannia Airways said it signed a ground-handling agreement with Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Co. covering about 400 Boeing 767 transits this winter at Abu Dhabi Airport. A GAMCO engineer will travel on each Britannia flight to Goa, India. The contract includes certification for extended- range twin-engine operations when necessary.
DOT and FAA are proposing in today's Federal Register to revise airport rates and charges policy by limiting the requirement for historic-cost asset valuation to airfield assets, and by eliminating the total historic- cost valuation cost cap for aeronautical facilities. Airport groups sought this change in the event the department declined to eliminate the historic- cost requirement altogether.
SAS's application for broad new U.S. authority under new open skies agreements with Denmark, Norway and Sweden won strong endorsements from two U.S. localities. SAS asked last month for rights to operate services between any point in the three Scandinavian countries, via intermediate points, to any point in the U.S. and beyond (DAILY, Aug. 22).
Regional Airline Association will retain Ogilvy, Adams&Rinehart to develop a public relations campaign to boost perceptions about traveling on regional airlines, the association announced this week. Richard Mintz, former assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs at DOT and who now heads Ogilvy, Adams and Rinehart's transportation office in Washington, D.C., will handle the account for RAA. The association reviewed proposals from 16 firms.
British Airways plans to expand its flights from London to Moscow, Bucharest, Romania; Baku, Azerbaijan, and Sofia, Bulgaria, this fall and winter to improve connections to Northern Europe, Africa and the U.S. and meet growing demand from U.K. and U.S. business travelers, the airline said yesterday. At London Heathrow, BA will transfer its nine-times-a-week Moscow service to Terminal 4 from Terminal 1 on Oct. 29 to improve intercontinental connections.
DOT Thursday handed over the review by its inspector general's office (DOTIG) of the FAA shutdown of TPI International Airways, a small cargo carrier based in Brunswick, Ga. The controversial report, made in June 1993 by Dennis Dutch, then-DOTIG director of the office of special investigations, was heavily "redacted" (blacked out), but did contain some inconsistencies from previous testimony before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA).
USAir Express carrier CCAIR is adding two daily flights from Winston- Salem, N.C., to Charlotte Oct. 4 for a total of five. CCAIR operates 19- seat Jetstream 31s in the market.
A consortium comprising Chase Manhattan Bank, People's Merchant Bank and consultant Simat, Helliesen&Eichner (SH&E) has been selected to participate in the restructuring of state-owned Air Lanka. During the next several months, the consortium will develop a restructuring plan and conduct a global marketing campaign to sell as much as 40% of the Sri Lankan flag carrier to a strategic partner.
America West has reduced fares for night flights between several western cities and 18 destinations in the Midwest and East. Fares are $89, $99 or $149 each way based on a roundtrip purchase. Tickets must be purchased by Sept. 11 for travel through Oct. 31.
