British Airways took delivery last weekend of the first of 15 Boeing 777s on order and plans to begin revenue service with the aircraft on Saturday between London and Muscat. The aircraft, the first 777 powered by General Electric GE90 engines to be delivered, was scheduled to reach BA at the end of September, but engine testing problems and a strike at Boeing delayed the turnover. The GE90-powered 777 received FAA certification last Thursday (DAILY, Nov. 13).
Air Line Pilots Association and the Independent Association of Continental Pilots have agreed to establish a joint working group to review the IACP's request to become affiliated with ALPA (DAILY, Nov. 14). ALPA President Randolph Babbitt said, "During this time of consolidation and globalization within the airline industry, it's more important than ever for those independent and unrepresented pilot groups to unite under ALPA's banner."
Standard&Poor's yesterday affirmed its ratings on UAL and United and removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed on Oct. 3 after UAL confirmed it was talking to USAir Group about acquiring the struggling East Coast airline. UAL said Monday it has called off talks with USAir about a possible merger (DAILY, Nov. 14). S&P also affirmed its ratings on three issues of Jet Equipment Trust Series (JETS) structured aircraft notes, backed by United leases, and removed those ratings from CreditWatch as well.
The combined market value of the U.S. airline company stocks tracked by The DAILY fell 4.8% in October to $31.98 billion from $33.59 billion in September. The decline came despite the fact that a number of airlines posted record third quarter financial results during the month. As usual, the industry's value was largely determined by the value of the major airline company stocks, which fell 6.6% to $22.76 billion.
British Midland is introducing a reservations system on the Internet that allows direct access to the airline's reservations system and features a payment capability lacking in many other Internet booking facilities. The new service, called CyberSeat, was designed by Novus.
TWA's board yesterday elected Thomas Meagher non-executive chairman, replacing John Cahill, who died this month. Meagher, a director since November 1993, has been acting chairman for several months. His term of office expires with the annual meeting next year. At this year's annual meeting, held yesterday before the board meeting, shareholders re-elected five directors - William O'Driscoll, Victoria Frankovich, William Compton, Gerald Gitner and Myron Kaplan.
Onur Air, Istanbul, Turkey, has ordered five Douglas MD-88s and taken options on another five. The aircraft will seat 172 in charter configuration. Deliveries are to start in the first quarter of 1997.
Ansett Australia inaugurated service between Sydney and Taipei Nov. 11, becoming the second Australian carrier to provide direct flights between Australia and Taiwan. Initially, Ansett will operate twice-weekly service on the new route, using 747-300 aircraft configured to carry 12 passengers in first class, 20 in business and 382 in economy class. The carrier is expected to sign a code-sharing agreement with EVA Airways that will increase the number of weekly flights to four by early December.
UAL Corp.'s decision to call off its acquisition and merger talks with USAir raises questions about the timing of the widely anticipated U.S. aviation industry consolidation, but not about whether such a consolidation will happen (DAILY, Nov. 14). No one who commented yesterday on Monday's development - in which UAL's board decided somewhat surprisingly not to make at least a highly conditional bid for USAir - ruled out industry consolidation in the future. In fact, most observers seem to consider it inevitable.
United will launch daily flights to Las Vegas from Washington Dulles March 5 with A320 aircraft. United now operates 35 daily nonstops to Las Vegas from Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Singapore Airlines said yesterday it placed an order for 77 Boeing 777-200B aircraft valued at $12.7 billion, with deliveries scheduled for 1997-2004 (DAILY, Nov. 6). SIA in June 1994 ordered 52 aircraft valued at $10.3 billion. That order included 11 747-400s with 11 options and 10 Airbus A340-300s with 20 options (DAILY, June 23, 1994). Managing Director Cheong Choong Kong said yesterday the latest order will enable SIA to maintain capacity growth of 8% to 10% a year over the next 10 years.
National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an accident involving an emergency landing of an American MD-80 early Sunday at the Hartford, Conn., airport, during stormy weather. The aircraft clipped a row of trees and an airport antenna during the landing at Bradley Airport about an hour after midnight. The board said it was unclear whether the aircraft, which may have encountered windshear, experienced engine problems before or after it struck the trees.
Alaska has increased its Seattle-Palm Springs flights from one roundtrip a day to two, and its Portland-Palm Springs flights to one a day from one a week. Through Feb. 1, the carrier is reducing fares in both markets to $89 one way with a seven-day advance purchase.
Canadian authorities are looking into allegations that bribes may have been paid into Swiss bank accounts in connection with an Air Canada order for 34 Airbus A320 aircraft in 1988. Swiss police have agreed to cooperate with the Canadian Royal Mounted Police in the investigation, according to press reports in Europe and Canada.
FAA was facing the prospect yesterday of having to furlough 14,147 employees today in the increasingly likely event that neither the DOT Appropriations Act nor a new continuing resolution would be enacted by midnight last night. Congress has approved a DOT appropriations bill for fiscal 1996, but as of late yesterday afternoon it had not been sent to the White House for President Clinton's signature. Some 34,468 FAA employees involved in safety and security were to remain on the job today in any event.
Delta has reduced requirements for frequent flyer members to reach the program's elite level, Platinum Medallion, to 100 qualifying segments a year, down from 120. Delta said it made the change in response to customer requests.
SAS Group's third quarter pre-tax earnings soared 77.7% from a year ago to 1.11 billion Swedish krona (US$166.6 million) on operating revenue of 9.01 billion krona (US$1.35 billion). Through the first nine months of this year, SAS Group's pre-tax earnings rose about 73% to nearly 2.15 billion krona (US$322.2 million) despite strikes that had a 300 million krona negative effect on earnings.
Block hours flown by World Airways rose about 77% last month over October year ago levels, to 3,194. Average daily aircraft utilization was 10.3 hours per day, versus 9.7 hours. Block hours flown through the first 10 months increased 41% to 31,317 and year-to-date aircraft utilization was up 16% to 10 hours per day. "Our October flying hours continue to confirm the success of our strategy to establish a year-round base of contract business with greater revenue predictability and higher utilization of our fleet," said Chuck Pollard, president of World.
Frontier Airlines' load factor increased 22.5 percentage points last month from October a year ago, to 58.4%. The carrier's passenger traffic gained 72.5% on 6.1% more capacity, and passenger enplanements increased 46.3% to 42,368. October 1994 was Frontier's fourth month of flight operations. The airline currently operates five 108-seat Boeing 737-200s, and one recently added 136-seat 737-300, on routes linking its Denver hub with Albuquerque, Chicago Midway, El Paso, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Omaha, Phoenix, Bismarck and Fargo.
The 10 largest U.S. scheduled passenger airline companies achieved a combined operating profit of $2.32 billion and net earnings of $1.09 billion during the third quarter. All 10 companies posted operating profits and all but TWA managed net earnings for the quarter, which will go down as one of the most profitable in U.S. airline history. The quarterly net is more than the industry made in any year in recent memory except 1988's $1.69 billion. The $2.32 billion operating profit compares favorably with last year's full-year profit of $2.77 billion.
Northwest will increase its Detroit-London Gatwick service to twice-daily frequency June 1, the airline said last week. The carrier, which began daily service in the market April 20, will boost its offering to nine flights a week for the Dec. 15-April 6 period. It will operate the double- daily schedule from June 1 through Sept. 14, using DC-10s. "Our Detroit- London service has been successful from its first week of operation," said David Wookey, VP-Atlantic region. "This route has been consistently strong and has led to the expanded schedule.
