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.
Hillsborough County Aviation Authority elected Stella Thayer chairman, succeeding Arthenia Joyner, who will continue on the board as secretary. W. Crosby Few was elected vice chairman.
UPS has rolled out its Worldwide Express Plus Service, which guarantees overnight delivery to most major U.S. cities by 8 a.m. from business centers in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Shippers receive notification of in-transit delays and automatic delivery confirmation at no extra charge. Additional locations in the U.S. will receive 8:30 a.m. service. Express Plus packages will be given the same attention as packages now marked Next Day Air Early A.M.
- In Federal Register dated Aug. 25...Published corrections, prepared by FR staff, of editorial errors in a proposed rule on revision of emergency evacuation demonstration procedures to improve participant safety, which appeared in FR dated July 18.
U.S. Major Carriers Share of Pacific Service First Quarter 1995 Total Revenue Departures American 825 Delta 1,078 Northwest 5,867 United 5,530 Total 13,300 U.S. Major Carriers Share of Pacific Service First Quarter 1995 Average Number of
Canadian Airlines International and its Machinists union resumed concession talks late last week. Negotiations were suspended in mid-July after the two sides reached an impasse on how to put a financial value on proposed contract changes. CAI also resumed talks last week with its Canadian Auto Workers union, with which it is nearing an agreement.
Three hundred one employees took advantage of the Port Authority of New York&New Jersey's Early Retirement Incentive Program by last Wednesday's deadline. The program is expected to save the Port Authority about $20 million per year. Staffing will drop from about 9,100 to 8,800.
Delta set daily and monthly boarding records at Salt Lake City in August. It boarded 591,052 passengers during the month, beating the record set in August 1994 by 20,308 passengers. Delta boarded 22,387 passengers at Salt Lake City Aug. 13, surpassing the record of 21,769 set six days earlier, which broke the record from Aug. 7, 1994.
Varig flew 2.2 billion revenue passenger kilometers in July, 5.3% less than in July 1994, and the number of passengers boarded fell 1.5% to 861,251. Cargo traffic rose 11.2% to 107.4 million freight tonne kilometers. Through the first seven months of this year, passenger traffic grew 4.8% to 13.5 billion RPKs and passenger boardings grew 7% to nearly 5.5 million. Cargo traffic rose 20.1% from the first seven months last year, to 780.1 million FTKs.
In-Flight Phone Corp.'s three major airline customers - Continental, America West and USAir - have threatened to terminate their contracts because of problems with the company's digital FlightLink air-to-ground communications system.
Miami-based Gulfstream International will open a secondary hub at Birmingham, effective Nov. 1. The carrier, operating 19-passenger Beech 1900s, plans four daily nonstop roundtrips to Columbus, Ga., and Mobile, Ala.; three daily one-stops to New Orleans, and one weekend one-stop roundtrip to Tallahassee. Also planned are three daily one-stop roundtrips between Mobile and New Orleans and one weekend nonstop roundtrip between Mobile and Tallahassee.
New Regional Aircraft Orders And Options June 1995 Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines AMR Eagle 25 Saab 340B Plus - - CT7B-9A Bangkok Airways 3 AA ATR 72 - - PW127B Brasil Cent 15 Cessna 208B - - PT6A-114A Croatia Airways 1 AA ATR 42-300 - - PW120
Eric Speck, VP-product development for Sabre Travel Information Network (STIN), has been named VP for Sabre Europe. He will take over operational responsibilities for marketing and supporting the Sabre computer reservations system in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Speck succeeds David Collier, who is leaving Sabre for a new position with a U.K.-based corporation, STIN said. Speck is also a director of Fantasia Travel Information Network, which markets Sabre in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Rim.
Saab Aircraft of America has sharply increased its market assertiveness with the recent hiring of three top regional airline specialists. From ATR Marketing, Saab has tapped Sales Director John Sterne as a director-regional airline sales. Al Smolinski, marketing director for Jetstream Aircraft, Is the new VP-marketing support. In addition, Saab in the spring hired Mike Miller away from Rolls-Royce to serve as director of fleet planning. "We are being aggressive in the marketplace," a spokesman confirmed.
Despite some industry opposition, Simmons is urging DOT to promptly grant its request for six international slots at Chicago O'Hare Airport. Simmons, an American Eagle carrier, applied for exemption from the High Density Rule in early August for the slots at the slot-controlled airport to inaugurate Chicago-London, Ontario Service (DAILY, Aug. 7). "The standards for securing the requested relief are unambiguously stated in the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 and have been duly met by Simmons," said Simmons.
DOT last week officially adopted regulations for "upgraded" basic essential air service and dropped rules setting out procedures for retroactive establishment of final subsidy rates and establishing a three- member panel and special procedures for handling appeals of EAS determinations. The rule changes were adopted in the Aug. 22 Federal Register as part of a package of amendments to aviation economic rules aimed at eliminating obsolete provisions and correcting outdated organizational and statutory references.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) took delivery this week of its fourth 747-400 freighter and plans to use it Sunday to launch cargo service to New York Kennedy via Dubai and Brussels. The new service is part of SIA Cargo's network expansion plan. "New York, the largest and most important gateway to the U.S. eastern seaboard, will serve as SIA Cargo's third bridge to USA after Los Angeles and San Francisco," said Huang Cheng Eng, director of cargo. With the addition of New York, SIA's 747-400 freighters will serve 22 destinations.
The U.S. government should move quickly to ratify Montreal Protocol 4, which would facilitate the use of electronic documentation for international air cargo shipments, in order to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of air cargo movements, the International Chamber of Commerce said.
Delta plans to reconfigure its MD-11s to add Business Class seats that could increase revenue $29 million per year, and it will consolidate its 14 reservations sales offices in Western Europe into offices in London and Frankfurt by June 1996. The MD-11s, used in transatlantic service, will get eight more Business Class seats, for a total of 40. The net gain per aircraft will be two seats, to 267, because six coach seats will be removed. The pitch in Business Class will increase to 44 or 45 inches from 42 inches.
Swissair is looking at placing some of its pilots with other carriers as a way of alleviating a pilot surplus. For a number of reasons, including its decision to phase out its Fokker 100s and switch operations involving aircraft with 100 or fewer seats to its Crossair subsidiary, Swissair may find itself with as many as 200 unneeded pilots.
Delta expects to save money and mechanics' time by purchasing two towbar- less tractors like those used in Europe and Japan for its Atlanta maintenance facility.After a two-month study of aircraft movements at the facility, it found that its current process for positioning aircraft costs $2.4 million a year in fuel.Delta is negotiating the purchase of two AES Krauss-Maffei tractors that provide single-operator, high-speed towing and will free up 80 mechanic hours per day for maintenance duties.
David Stempler, the International Airline Passengers Association (IAPA) executive director who urged passengers last fall not to travel on airplanes with 30 passenger seats or fewer, has left the organization. IAPA has been acquired by an English firm and all Washington, D.C., activities are being moved to Europe. Stempler drew the ire of the regional airlines because of his public statements and the validity of his safety statistics.
Las Vegas-based TriStar Airlines has signed a letter of intent with Aspen-based and community-owned air services company Peak International to provide nonstop jet service to Aspen this winter from Los Angeles and Dallas. TriStar would operate five weekly flights in both markets with its BAe 146s, beginning Dec. 14. Schedules have not been finalized. Peak separately is planning to serve Aspen from Denver as Aspen Mountain Airways, pending government approval.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, College Park, Ga., long the industry leader in operating and net profit margins, has seen those margins trend downward during the last four quarters, despite the fact those margins are significantly higher than those of most other regionals. From the June 1993 through the June 1994 quarters, the carrier's operating profits averaged 29.5% of operating revenues. In the September 1994 through June 1995 quarters, that average fell to 23.6%.
