First Boeing 777, WA001, leaves Seattle today for an eight-day tour of Europe. Boeing said that "despite a downturn in the airline industry, the 777 has captured more than 70% of all orders in its market category since its launch in October 1990." Sixteen customers have placed orders for 167 of the new aircraft, the company said. During the tour, the 777 will establish speed records on its departure, Seattle to Geneva, and return, Frankfurt to Seattle on Sept. 13. Other European cities it will visit are Warsaw, Vienna and London.
America West's FlightFund frequent flyer club members can now book award travel on Continental, gaining 48 domestic destinations and additional opportunities in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Mexico and Canada. Members were previously allowed to accrue frequent flyer points when flying Continental but could not redeem mileage on the airline.
With an 87% on-time performance in July, Southwest scored the best record among the majors for the second month in a row. Overall, flights of the nation's 10 largest carriers arrived within 15 minutes of schedule 80.1% of the time last month , up from 75.9% in June and 79.5% in July 1994, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, issued yesterday. USAir was first runner-up with 81%, while TWA and Continental tied for third at 80.4%. Alaska Airlines, the on-time leader for May, placed last with a 69.4% record.
British Airways flew 8% more systemwide revenue passenger kilometers last month than in August 1994 on 5.5% more capacity, and the airline's load factor topped 80% (80.5%) in August for the first time since 1987. The number of passengers boarded rose 3.7%. The increases in passenger traffic and volume were largely driven by strong intercontinental service demand. BA's intercontinental traffic rose 9.4%, while its U.K./European traffic increased 2.1% last month.
Indianapolis Airport Authority Board Friday approved a contract, effective Oct. 1, with BAA USA Inc., a subsidiary of U.K. airport operator BAA plc, for management of the city's six airports over the next 10 years. The agreement, which covers Indianapolis Airport, the downtown heliport and four suburban airports, will be signed next week at the Airports Council International-North America annual conference in Washington D.C.
Iberia and Carnival Air Lines are seeking renewal of their authority to conduct blocked-space, code-sharing operations. Under the arrangement, the Spanish carrier operates service between New York and Miami, on the one hand, and Madrid, on the other. Carnival operates service between Miami and New York and other domestic points, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans. Iberia's code is used on Carnival flights for all international through service, while Carnival provides solely domestic service, using its code between Miami and other domestic U.S.
European Commission approval of the British Aerospace-ATR regional aircraft joint venture will be announced within days. The commission subjected the proposal to more scrutiny than the applicants had hoped for, but Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert, given authority to approve the deal, did so.
ValuJet, contemplating its first-ever purchase of new aircraft, has been wooed in the past couple of weeks by Boeing, Airbus Industrie, McDonnell Douglas and Fokker. The carrier, which has bought nothing but used DC-9s so far, is considering new 737, A319, MD-80 and Fokker 100 aircraft. It says it will need at least three weeks to complete cost/benefit analyses and decide whether to go for new airplanes or stick with 113-seat DC-9s, which break even on only 50 ticket sales.
Hurricane Luis wreaked havoc on airline service to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico yesterday, causing cancellations at least through today. The Category 4 hurricane, with 140 mph winds, caused USAir to cancel flights through today to St. Thomas from Baltimore and San Juan from Baltimore, Charlotte and Philadelphia. Delta operated flights out of St. Thomas and St. Croix yesterday but canceled everything at San Juan after 2 p.m. American, with 57 daily jet flights and 70 American Eagle flights to San Juan, suspended service after 7 p.m.
British Airways this week is launching its first pilot recruitment drive in five years, targeting women and ethnic minorities. BA, which last ran a Cadet Entry Pilot recruitment campaign in 1990, said it needs to ensure a sufficient supply of new pilots to replace the "hundreds" of current pilots who will reach the airline's mandatory retirement age of 55 during the next five years. The airline is targeting women and minorities because it has only 42 women and a "handful" of ethnic minorities among its 3,200 pilots.
Canadian Airlines International will launch next month Club Empress, an enhanced international business- class product centered on a custom- designed, fully electronic seat with 50-inch pitch, and individual video screens. The new business class also will provide improved airport services and inflight features, including six video and eight audio channels of entertainment. Passengers will be able to decide when they want to eat. The upgrade cost CAI C$20 million, and the carrier expects to recover the investment in 11 months. With a launch date of Oct.
DOT issued yesterday "The Regulatory Reinvention Initiative Report," which details FAA efforts to reduce regulatory costs while maintaining safety. FAA Aministrator David Hinson said the report "describes these efforts and outlines future ways to make the agency more responsive to the public."
Air New Zealand's management yesterday posted a record after-tax profit of NZ$260.2 million (US$174.5 million) for the year ended June 30 and said the company's shares are undervalued on the stock market.
U.S. Major Carriers Share of Latin Service First Quarter 1995 Total Revenue Departures America West 374 American 23,398 Continental 7,503 Delta 3,352 United 4,098 USAir 1,775 Total 40,500 U.S. Major Carriers Share of Latin Service First Quarter 1995
Asiana Airlines and Northwest have asked DOT for renewal of their authority to provide U.S.-Korea service under a blocked-space, code-sharing arrangement. The deal authorizes Northwest to buy blocked space and place its code on Asiana's flights between Seoul and New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Saipan. Also, Asiana has acquired seats and placed its code on Northwest's Detroit-Seoul service. For winter 1995, Northwest will operate three-times-weekly Detroit-Seoul service, using Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
Airline political action committees (PACs) were quick to switch their allegiance this year to the new Republican majority in Congress, and even a few labor unions doled out substantial portions of their funds to Republicans. Most aviation industry unions are continuing to support Democrats almost exclusively, however. Before last year's congressional elections, airlines and unions both gave most of their money to the Democrats, who had controlled one or both houses of Congress for 40 years.
Reps. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) and other legislators Thursday will introduce FAA reform legislation. A news conference is scheduled at 9 a.m. in Room 2253 Rayburn.
Air cargo's 0.7% growth in July followed the same trend as passenger traffic, "increasing by smaller and smaller amounts as we have gotten further into the year, and now registering a decline on the domestic side," according to the Air Transport Association. Domestic freight was down 1.3%, its first decrease this year.
Air France will launch its new long-haul service product, L'Espace, on Sept. 11. The centerpiece of the $100 million inflight and ground service upgrade is L'Espace, French for space or seat. First class will be marketed as L'Espace 180, with seats that can recline to a "virtually horizontal position," or about 180 degrees. The first-class cabin on 747- 400s will have 13 seats with 92-inch pitch, up from the current 62 inches.
Continental's pilots union has ratified a two-year contract providing wage and work rule improvements for its 3,800 members. The contract, tentatively agreed to at the end of June, is the pilots' first collective bargaining agreement since 1983. The contract is a step forward in bringing Continental pilot pay and work rules up to industry standards, and the signing was announced by the Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP) and Continental on Friday, which coincidentally was dubbed Go Forward Day.
American assailed United's petition for reconsideration of the DOT order granting American authority to provide scheduled combination service between Los Angeles and Guadalajara. In the petition, filed last month with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DAILY, Aug.
China Airlines' Dynasty Flyer members will receive 1,000 bonus miles each time they rent a car from Hertz through Nov. 30. After Nov. 30, the bonus will drop to 500 miles. CAL and Hertz have cooperated in promotions since 1989, when Hertz began offering car rental discounts to CAL's frequent flyers.
U.S. airlines have been assured that immigration, customs and agricultural inspection will not be eliminated or cut back if a federal budget impasse causes the government to shut down Oct. 1, according to the Air Transport Association. But ATA has not yet received a response to questions it asked the administration about how a shutdown would affect air traffic control and weather service personnel.
