United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) will begin service between Rochester and New York Kennedy Oct. 31, operating five roundtrips a day on business days, plus weekend service, with British Aerospace J41s. United Express and United will coordinate the Rochester schedule to offer passengers easy connections via New York Kennedy to international destinations such as London Heathrow, Tokyo Narita, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Caracas.
Singapore-based SilkAir will launch nonstop twice-a-week service between Singapore and Vientiane, Laos, on Nov. 3 using Fokker 70 jets. According to SilkAir, the Laotian government plans to encourage foreign investment and attract advanced technology, especially in agriculture, forestry, processing industries, hydroelectric power, communications and tourism. Trade between Laos and Singapore was valued at $46.7 million last year, double the level of 1993.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic March 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) America West 1,469 5.51 790 1,160,019 American 5,731 (2.37) 1,065 6,105,373 Continental 2,924 (8.38) 907 2,652,165
The Air Transport Association is raising questions about a DOT proposal to simplify and speed up the rulemaking process by using new, "direct final" rulemaking for processing non-controversial changes to its regulations. "The airline industry supports initiatives that improve the regulatory process," said ATA.
The State of Hawaii weighed in at DOT on the side of Japan Airlines's bid for a one-year renewal of its service between Sendai and Honolulu. Saying that promoting Japanese tourism to Hawaii "is of critical importance to the state's and nation's economy," the state pointed out that "according to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, Japan was the single largest contributor to the U.S. travel surplus in 1994," accounting for $12.5 billion of the $21.6 billion surplus in travel-related goods and services. "Hawaii continues to be the largest U.S.
Northrop Grumman said it received long-term production contracts for nacelle systems and components for Fokker (Rolls Royce Tay engines), Gulfstream (Tays) and Lockheed Martin (General Electric CF6-80C2), valued at more than $600 million through 2005.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic March 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 777 13.82 853 662,995 Aloha 427 (9.42) 136 58,232
Continental is awarding 25,000 OnePass bonus miles to roundtrip BusinessFirst passengers leaving the U.S. through Newark for London or Manchester. The one-time-only bonus is good until Dec. 31.
Commercial Service Helsinki is inviting American companies to participate in the largest travel show in Scandinavia, MATKA '96, to be held Jan. 18-21 in Helsinki. The USA Pavilion was the most popular foreign pavilion at the show this year, with 15,000 visitors. Exhibitors this year totaled 821. U.S. Foreign Service officers say the U.S. continues to be the most popular long-haul destination for Finns. The USA Pavilion is open to any organization promoting travel to the U.S.
FAA has completed the upgrade of the International Flight Service Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to an Automated International Flight Service Station and has closed the station in Rocky Mount, S.C. The new station was commissioned last week. Southern Regional Administrator Carolyn Blum said the San Juan facility provided more than 270,000 flight services during the last 12 months.
Eastwind Airlines has appointed Teddi Groff director-customer service, Anne McKeown regional sales manager and Herman Gillis chief pilot/director of training. Groff previously was a flight attendant for Northeast Airlines and a supervisor for America West. McKeown, responsible for sales support in the greater New Jersey/Pennsylvania region, has worked as a flight attendant, corporate sales manager and district sales manager for national airlines. Gillis has worked for the past 20 years at various airlines in positions such as chief pilot and senior VP-operations.
British Airways and USAir today bring Chattanooga, Tenn.; Flint, Mich., and Florence, S.C., into their code-sharing network, which provides the cities with connecting service to London Gatwick. Passengers from Chattanooga and Florence will connect through Charlotte and Flint passengers through Pittsburgh. The three cities bring the number of code-share points for the carriers to 71.
SAS has received DOT approval of its application for broad new authority to expand its operations to the U.S. Awarded under terms of open skies agreements completed June 16 by the U.S. and Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the authority will enable SAS to operate services between points in the three Scandinavian countries, via intermediate points, to points in the U.S. and beyond.
Lineas Aereas Costarricenses, S.A. (LACSA) has asked DOT for renewal of its authority to operate combination service between San Jose, Costa Rica, and Tampa, Fla. The carrier also wants continued authority to co-terminalize this service with its authority to serve Orlando. LACSA is not operating on the route but "is currently evaluating its service options and wishes to have all necessary authority in place so that service can be commenced without delay." (Docket 49221&OST-95-655)
USAir will resume daily service to St. Thomas from Baltimore tomorrow after suspending the flights in mid-September because of damage caused by Hurricane Marilyn. Robert Fornaro, USAir senior VP-planning, said there is a need to transport emergency and relief workers and supplies to the island. "The tourism market will be depressed for much of the fall because of the damage, but everyday air transportation is a necessity in the region, which is why we've decided to resume service as soon as possible." The return flight stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Frontier Airlines has signed a letter of intent to lease two 737-300s from GE Capital Aviation Services to expand service from its Denver hub to the West Coast. The 136-seat aircraft will go into service in November. Frontier recently closed a public offering giving it enough financing to lease up to four 737s. It currently operates a fleet of five leased 108- seat 737-200s.
Aviation-Related Bills Introduced In Congress, September 1995 - H.R.2274 - introduced Sept. 7 by Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) - a bill to amend Title 23, U.S. Code, to designate the National Highway System, and for other purposes. Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
American asked DOT for authority to integrate its Germany and Kuwait service. The carrier said it will use the authority to carry out a blocked-space/code-sharing agreement with Kuwait Airways with respect to property and mail, operating via Frankfurt. (OST-95-698)
The successful testing of a new digital satellite data link will increase the safety, capacity and efficiency of international routes over the Russian Far East and eventually could make it possible to double international flights and save as much as an hour and a half of flight time to Asia, according to FAA Administrator David Hinson. FAA, under an agreement with Russian civil aviation authorities, led a team that installed prototype controller workstations at control centers in Anchorage, and Anadyr and Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky in the Russian Far East.
Canadian Airlines International's August traffic rose 8.4% from the same month a year ago on 13% more capacity, causing its load factor to fall 3.2 percentage points to 76.7%. Through the first eight months of this year, its traffic was up 2.5% with a 10.9% increase in capacity, depressing its load factor 5.4 percentage points to 65.7%. "Canadian's traffic figures continue to improve through the third quarter," said Don Casey, VP-capacity planning for Canadian. "August represents the strongest growth we have experienced this year," he said.
Air Macau's first commercial flights will be to Shanghai and Taipei, according to the startup, which previously announced plans to launch service on Nov. 9. Both Shanghai and Taipei will be served with daily A321 flights. Air Macau's first leased aircraft is scheduled for delivery the first week of November. The carrier also leased a second A321 and two A320s. Air Macau plans to add Beijing and Bangkok to its route network as soon as possible, likely upon delivery of the second A321, scheduled the first week of December.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Balance Sheet As of July 31, 1995 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 561.51 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 65,328,417.30 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments: U.S. Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness
The Provisional Airport Authority of Hong Kong has chosen a unit of Regal Hotels (Holdings) Ltd. to develop and operate the first hotel at the new Chek Lap Kok Airport and a consortium led by Sun Hung Kai Properties to develop and operate the air freight forwarding center at the new facility. Investment costs for the hotel, including an adjacent parking garage, are estimated at about HK$2 billion - US$256.4 million. The freight forwarding center is expected to require about HK$1.9 billion - US$243 million - in investment.
America West plans to expand service to Mexico City from its Phoenix and Las Vegas hubs, with two daily nonstops to Phoenix and one to Las Vegas, beginning Jan. 19. On Feb. 15, starting its new service to Detroit Metro Airport, the carrier will operate three daily flights - two from Phoenix and one from Las Vegas. The new flights are the result of the carrier's recently announced decision to initiate a two-year growth plan, building on the two hubs (DAILY, Sept. 22).
Robert Crandall, chairman of American, will be guest speaker at the International Aviation Club monthly luncheon Oct. 12. Lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Monet Ballroom of the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, 480 L'Enfant Plaza, Washington.
