Aloha Airlines will offer an unlimited travel pass among the Hawaiian islands, beginning Sept. 5, that it says is similar to Eurorail or Britrail passes. During any consecutive seven-day period, passengers with the $199 Seven-Day Island Pass can book any number of reservations for travel on selected flights to all points Aloha and Island Air serve, except for the period Dec. 16-Jan. 5. Passengers cannot accrue frequent flyer miles.
As a way of cutting costs, Air Canada had dropped its practice of sending pamphlet-style quarterly financial reports to its shareholders. Instead, shareholders will get copies of the carrier's press releases announcing the results.
American Society of Travel Agents has filed a complaint at the Justice Department against the "coercive and threatening posture" taken by the Business Travel Contractors Corporation (BTCC) toward airlines choosing not to participate in its planned mileage-based fare structure program. ASTA President Jeanne Epping, in a letter to Justice, said ASTA first became concerned when BTCC requested a Business Review Letter, which Justice issued July 14.
DOT has denied Spirit Airlines' application for takeoff and landing slots at LaGuardia to start up nonstop service between Detroit and New York. The department said the carrier's proposal did not meet requirements for an exemption from the high density rule, which limits operations at LaGuardia, and could have adverse affects on the communities. Spirit sought an exemption from the FAA Authorization Act of 1994 to operate five daily roundtrip flights between LaGuardia and Detroit City Airport, using DC-9-21 aircraft.
Rolls-Royce North America named Frederick Kocher as senior VP-customer support, responsible for civil customer support and spares supply services. Kocher was senior VP-maintenance operations for USAir.
United, Resort Express and Colorado Mountain Express are offering skiers what United termed "seamless" air and ground transportation, starting Dec. 1, to Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge and Keystone via Denver. In a year-round service, travelers booking a flight to Denver on United can reserve van transportation to the ski resorts at the same time. United's Mileage Plus members will earn 250 frequent flyer miles per van segment.
FAA Administrator David Hinson appointed FAA Chief of Staff Margaret Gilligan to be deputy associate administrator for regulation and certification. Lynn Osmus, director of the Office of Civil Aviation Security Operations, will succeed Gilligan as chief of staff.
American Society of Travel Agents says there is a growing need for entry- level travel agents, and anyone interested in working in the travel industry should enroll in one of the many U.S. travel schools. Despite fears expressed earlier this year by agencies that airline commission caps would put them out of business, ASTA President Jeanne Epping said, "The news of our industry's death has been greatly exaggerated."
Guido Pessoti, Embraer's founding technical director, is said to be moving to South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries to become chief engineer on the new 100-passenger regional jet. In partnership with China, Samsung is negotiating with Aerospatiale of France and Fokker of The Netherlands to become lead partners on the new project. One of the two European manufacturers is expected to be selected this fall. Pessoti lost favor at Embraer when the EMB-123 19-passenger pusher turboprop came in significantly over budget and over-priced, and was scrapped.
KLM and Fokker have reached an agreement in principle under which KLM Cityhopper's fleet of four Fokker 28s will be replaced with a like number of Fokker 70 jets, KLM and Fokker said yesterday. According to a letter of intent signed this week, KLM will lease the aircraft on an operating basis for three years. The leases will be placed with a special purpose company (SPC), which will act as lessor, with the shares of the SPC owned by an "independent foundation." The Fokker 70s will replace the Fokker 28s in the first half of 1996.
Florida-based Gulfstream International led a sampling of 11 regional carriers in the growth rate of passenger enplanements between July 1994 and last month. Gulfstream carried 31,526 passengers in July - the lowest figure in the 11-carrier sample but 59.8% more than in the same month a year ago. Minneapolis-based Great Lakes was second at 22.7%; Cincinnati- and Orlando-based Comair was third at 18%, followed by Mesa Air Group, 15%; Horizon, 6.8%; SkyWest, 4.2%, and Air Wisconsin, 0.4%.
Standard&Poor's yesterday affirmed its CCC rating on TWA's $51 million Kansas City special facility airport revenue bonds and removed the company from CreditWatch, where it was placed a year ago. The action follows TWA's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. S&P also withdrew its D rating on TWA's $225 million 10% senior secured notes, which were exchanged as part of the pre-packaged plan of reorganization.
Next week is travel agent appreciation week at TWA, one of the terms of the carrier's settlement with travel agents who dropped it from a lawsuit against airlines that capped travel agent commissions. During Project STAR (Special Travel Agent Recognition), TWA will salute agents with airport banners, gate and inflight announcements, advertising and a window display contest.
U.S. Major Carriers Productivity In Revenues and Expenses Per Employee, First Quarter 1995 Total Total Operating Operating Revenues Expenses Total Airline (000) (000) Employees America West 348,046 323,151 10,698 American 3,679,173 3,427,971 86,244 Continental 1,162,153 1,166,424 34,930
Embraer will take the new 50-passenger EMB-145 regional jet on a North American sales tour in February, only six months following rollout and first flight. The Brazilian manufacturer is hoping to avoid what it considers a significant strategic error by Saab in not presenting the 50- passenger Saab 2000 high-speed turboprop to the North American market until last spring, long after it had entered commercial service in Europe. The -145 - priced at $14.5 million in 1995 dollars - was rolled out Friday with 18 firm orders, 16 options and 127 letters of intent.
U.S. Major Carriers Productivity In RPMs And ASMs Per Employee, First Quarter 1995 Revenue Available Passenger Seat Miles Miles Total Airline (000) (000) Employees America West 2,960,355 4,634,995 10,698 American 23,810,735 37,376,755 86,244
Brazilian regional airlines seeking to operate the new EMB-145 will have to import it...from the U.S. Tax laws in Brazil place a heavy penalty on in-country airlines that acquire the airplanes internally. Those taxes do not apply to imports. There also is talk at Embraer of shipping all -145s to the company's Fort Lauderdale-based Embraer Aircraft Corp. for final completion and delivery from that point. Details of the strategy were not immediately available; the process, however, is believed to include considerable customer savings.
Bombardier can relax, at least a little. Although the EMB-145 is significantly less expensive than the 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ), Embraer does not intend to challenge the CRJ's perceived long-range market niche. Rather, the manufacturer will focus on the Saab 2000/Dash 8/ATR 42 and 72 markets as a turboprop replacement. Embraer intends to offer a pure jet aircraft with the same direct operating costs as the large turboprops over shorter - 250- to 300-mile - route segments. Indeed, CRJ operators Comair and SkyWest are considered prime candidates.
Swissair's overall traffic (passenger, cargo and mail) increased 7.8% in July to 319.6 million revenue tonne kilometers on 10.1% more capacity, resulting in an overall load factor decline of 1.5 percentages from July a year ago, to 71.4%. The airline's passenger traffic increased 5.3% to 187.3 million RTKs, and its cargo/mail traffic rose 11.5% to 132.3 million RTKs. Swissair's passenger load factor for the month fell 3.3 points to 69.8% Total passengers carried declined 0.5% to 791,898.
United is participating in Sabre's Direct Connect Availability, the computer reservations system's highest level of connectivity. "Direct Connect Availability gives Sabre subscribers true last-seat availability information directly from United's internal database, automatically integrated in the normal Sabre availability screen," said Sabre's VP- product planning, Eric Speck. United is the seventh carrier to join the Sabre Direct Connect Availability program.
General aviation airports, following an organizational meeting last week, are forming a new association, the General Aviation Airports Coalition, to represent those airports in Washington (DAILY, July 21). A meeting to elect the coalition's board of directors will be held in late September. For more information, call Michael Stephens at 703-802-9189.
Strong yields and decent traffic results are generating enthusiasm and optimism about the U.S. industry's potential September quarter earnings, according to NatWest Securities analyst Vivian Lee.Airlines Lee has talked with say yields range from "better than expected" to "strong," and she said she is likely to revise upward her September quarter estimates.
Airbus Industrie yesterday rolled out its A319 twinjet, the third and final member of its single-aisle transport family. About 500 persons, including representatives of customers Air Canada, Air Inter, International Lease Finance Corp., Lufthansa and Swissair, attended ceremonies at Daimler-Benz Aerospace production facilities in Hamburg, Germany. The first flight of the aircraft, planned within days, will be followed by flight tests to certify it with CFM56-5 engines, Airbus Industrie said. The first delivery, to ILFC for use by Swissair, is scheduled next April.
Qantas posted an operating profit of A$320.4 million (US$236.3 million) and an after-tax profit of A$180.1 million (US$132.8 million) yesterday for the year ended June 30, fulfilling the forecast the airline laid out last month in the prospectus of its public float (DAILY, Aug. 22). In the previous year, Qantas had an operating profit of A$302 million and an after-tax profit of A$156 million. The airline has forecast an operating profit of A$400 million and after-tax profit of A$237 million for the year ending June 30, 1996.
