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.
An expected antitrust immunity bid by Delta for arrangements with its European code-share partners is likely to push Belgium to sign the open skies agreement it negotiated with the U.S. Belgian flag carrier Sabena is among the partners, and an open skies regime is a prerequisite for antitrust immunity. Belgium is the lone holdout among the nine European countries that worked out open skies deals during the spring. The others signed the pacts more than two months ago.
BWIA International Airways is co-sponsoring an international conference, "Harmony in Diversity," at which the Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak. The conference will take place Sept. 15-17 in Trinidad and Tobago. The Dalai Lama will travel on BWIA to Port of Spain to address the conference.
Airborne Express is scheduled to open a $60 million second runway system tomorrow at its main hub and sort center at Airborne Airpark in Wilmington, Ohio. On hand for the opening will be Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, Airborne Express Chairman and CEO Robert Cline and ABX Air, Inc., President Carl Donaway. The 9,000-foot runway is part of a near-complete $120 million expansion project at the airport, and Airborne said it is believed to be the largest privately funded airport runway in the country.
Japan Airlines' passenger traffic grew 12.8% in July over the year-ago month, to 5.64 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded increased 12.9% to 2.2 million, and the airline's cargo traffic rose 5.6% to 319.6 million cargo ton kilometers. Through the first seven months of this year, JAL's passenger traffic increased 9.6%, and its passenger enplanements rose 13.1%% to 13.4 million. Cargo traffic increased 9.7% to 1.77 billion CTKs.
has applied for renewal for two years of its authority to provide service between New York and Paris. Operating nonstop in the market since May 1987, the carrier flies one daily 767 roundtrip. (Docket OST-95-531)
Penn State researchers trying to find more efficient methods of processing jet fuel are focusing their efforts on the use of aluminum compounds. "These mesoporous zeolites are innovative and will continue to be important as we are forced to use the heavy, bottom-of-the-barrel crude oils and the liquid fuels derived from coal," said Dr. Chunshan Song, assistant professor of fuel science and associate director of Penn State's Laboratory for Hydrocarbon Processing Chemistry.
Lufthansa is introducing a package of value-added services for American Express Cardmembers traveling from the U.S. to destinations in 18 Eastern European countries.
U.S. Major Carriers Share of Atlantic Service First Quarter 1995 Total Revenue Departures American 5,226 Continental 1,075 Delta 7,859 Northwest 1,235 TWA 2,212 United 3,527 USAir 520 Total 21,654 U.S. Major Carriers Share of Atlantic Service
Alaska and Horizon Air say they have streamlined their baggage check-in service for passengers using the Seattle-Tacoma Airport parking garage. Through a contract with a new company, Express Baggage Service, travelers can drop their bags in the garage at a price of $2 for one bag, $4 for two or three bags and $5 for four or five. Passengers proceed to their gate and avoid congestion in the main terminal. Tips are not accepted. The first of four baggage check-in sites opened Monday at the garage.
National Mediation Board appears to be turning full attention to bitter contract talks between FedEx and its pilots, which led to a proffer of arbitration by the Air Line Pilots Association. A meeting to resume mediation, set for Sept. 18, will be attended by NMB Chairwoman Maggie Jacobsen, two board members, the chief of staff and two mediators. Off to the side, a FedEx Pilots Association has formed in an attempt to replace ALPA as the collective bargaining agent.
Hong Kong government officials minimize press reports that cargo carrier Air Hong Kong may apply to operate passenger service to Taipei. Such an application would complicate Hong Kong-Taiwan aviation negotiations, which seemed to be near agreement recently but have hit snags. Air Hong Kong is unlikely to win passenger service authority anytime soon, the government officials say. The carrier declines comment.
Canadian Airlines International's passenger traffic increased 5.9% in July from the same month in 1994, but capacity jumped 14%, causing its load factor to fall 5.4 percentage points to 70.8%. "We've seen a dramatic increase in July traffic to some of our most important markets," said Don Casey, the airline's VP-capacity planning. "Not only have passenger numbers risen to Asia, but last month's results on transborder routes have exceeded our expectations." July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94
Granted orally an exemption to Carnival Air Lines to operate scheduled combination service between Miami and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, using aircraft dry-leased from Ladeco. Carnival also received authority to carry Ladeco's Miami-Chile cargo traffic on the route under Ladeco's code...Granted orally an exemption to Northwest renewing its authority to operate scheduled combination service between points in the U.S. and Almaty, Kazakhstan, via Amsterdam, under its code-share arrangement with KLM.
General Electric still hopes to qualify the GE90-powered Boeing 777 for Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations this month despite a second grounding of the ETOPS aircraft, this time for about two weeks to repair what the company termed minor damage to a blade in the second-stage compressor. The engine was flown a few times after the Aug. 11 test in which it was damaged, but the condition of the blade worsened and GE decided to replace it.
Greater Toronto Airports Authority last week appointed San Francisco Airport Director Louis Turpen president and chief executive, effective Oct. 1. Turpen joins the authority as it negotiates with Transport Canada on the transfer of Lester B. Pearson Airport, expected to be completed next summer. Turpen has long been an opponent of a BART rail link at San Francisco's international terminal, a position supported by the airlines.
FAA published proposals last week intended to reduce aircraft manufacturers' costs by harmonizing U.S. and European structural loads requirements for transport certification. The proposals were developed by an Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee working group formed in 1992, four years after FAA and Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities began harmonization efforts.
Geoffrey Elliot, formerly Canada's chief bilateral negotiator and the man who, with former U.S. DOT General Counsel Steven Kaplan, worked out the framework for U.S.-Canada open skies, has been named senior VP-corporate affairs and government relations at Air Canada.
After some two years of trying unsuccessfully to launch a BMW/Rolls-Royce- powered MD-95 twinjet, McDonnell Douglas hopes to set up Pratt&Whitney to compete for the engine order from whoever emerges as a launch customer, according to DAILY affiliate Aerospace Propulsion. The arrangement is not final, but executives said the contest would pit the MD-95's existing 18,500-lbst. BR715 against P&W's Mid-Thrust Family Engine (MTFE) in a winner-take-all arrangement, in which the chosen company would become the program's sole engine supplier.
DOT officials have approached Nations Air with concerns about a possible investment in the East Coast airline by former Eastern and Continental executive - and airline labor nemesis - Frank Lorenzo. The DAILY learned that Lorenzo has made the company some type of offer (DAILY, Aug. 23). A Nations Air spokesman said it is company policy not to discuss private matters. A DOT official said the department let Nations Air know that it finds the matter "troublesome," depending on the extent of involvement being discussed.
USAfrica still is putting together the financing it needs to resume operations, Gregory Lewis told The DAILY Friday, but it is "still on target for a Dec. 1 restart" and hopes to finish fundraising this month. DOT plans to award unused South Africa frequencies expeditiously are spurring the carrier's effort to emerge from bankruptcy. "Regardless of whether the department elects to have a selection proceeding or a show cause directed at us, we will be forced to put up or shut up," said Lewis.
