Travel Distribution 2000 conference, sponsored by the CRS Update newsletter, will mount two seminars devoted to the airline distribution system. One will focus on using booking and marketing tapes to cut costs, with panel discussions by executives from Delta, Air France and Lufthansa. The other will be on direct distribution by airlines, with managers from United, ValuJet and America West. The conference will be held Sept. 11-13 at the ANA Hotel in Washington, D.C. For more information, call 301-738-7927.
USAir has received a civil investigative demand from the Justice Department, requiring it to produce information on what DOJ called "possible predatory behavior" toward ValuJet and Nations Air Express. USAir said it will comply with the CID and denied predatory actions against the new entrants.
AAR Allen Group International named Jim Clark general manager-aircraft component maintenance facility, The Netherlands. Astra Jet Corporation appointed Walter Kraujalis director-Galaxy program. Cooper Industries board elected President H. John Riley to the additional position of chief executive. Flight Visions Inc. named Ivan Yung project manager-civilian aircraft programs. Goodkind&O'Dea named Anthony Cecere regional manager-New England.
Atlas Air said Friday it has begun an initial public offering of four million shares of common stock at $16 per share. The Golden, Colo.-based air cargo carrier operates 747 freighters on behalf of such major international airlines as KLM, Lufthansa, China Airlines, Varig and, soon, British Airways. The offering is managed by Merrill Lynch&Co. and Smith Barney.
FAA's designation of Peggy Gilligan, deputy to Anthony Broderick, associate administrator for regulation and certification, to oversee a task force on suspected unapproved parts, raised some eyebrows last week. In May, the DOT inspector general criticized Broderick, questioning his commitment to detecting such parts.
Alaska Airlines named William Ayer VP-marketing and planning. Federal Express promoted Robert Shirley to VP-sales, FedEx Logistics Services; Eugene Bastedo to VP-internal audit; Christopher Hjelm to VP- international systems, and Thomas Martin to VP-corporate communications. Island Air promoted Rosie Nenezich to director-airport services. Martinair Holland appointed Richard Saylor VP-passenger sales.
Overall business travel costs will increase 5.2% in 1996, according to the consulting firm Runzheimer International. The company believes air travel costs will increase 5%, lodging 7%, meals 3% and car rentals 5%.
EVA Airways plans to launch service from Taipei to Brisbane and on to Auckland, with fifth-freedom rights in both directions. It will operate the new service weekly, routed Taipei-Brisbane-Auckland-Brisbane-Taipei, with a 767-300ER. EVA began Taipei-Sydney-Brisbane service in September 1993 and now offers four flights a week between Taipei and Australia. It launched twice-weekly Taipei-Auckland service last September.
Boeing 777-200 maintenance training simulator built by Thomson Training&Simulation for All Nippon Airways has become the first 777 simulator to enter service in the Far East. The simulator achieved Japanese Civil Aeronautics Board approval July 20.
Air Canada, North America's first operator of the A340, is negotiating with Airbus Industrie about the proposed A340-8000, which the airline would like for nonstop flights between Toronto and Hong Kong. Air Canada Chairman Hollis Harris said the carrier may even slide some A340-300 high gross weight aircraft delivery positions to bring the Dash 8000 into the fleet as soon as possible.
General Electric Aircraft Engines settled a 1993 whistleblower lawsuit filed by former GE engineer Ian Johnson, agreeing to pay $7 million - $1.7 million of it to Johnson - despite FAA and Air Force evidence discrediting Johnson's claims. The Air Force asked GE to settle the case to avoid the disruption and expense of a trial, and GE said it did so "in the interest of good customer relations." The $7 million will pay for government testing and investigative costs as well as the award to Johnson.
Collins Commercial Avionics said Airbus Industrie is accelerating the certification schedules for Collins's Series 900 avionics equipment on A319/A320 and A330/A340 aircraft at the request of airline customers.
British Airways put travel to 23 cities in Continental Europe and Israel on sale in a new round of "World Offers." BA, which rolls out the promotion periodically to sell off surplus capacity, said the new World Offers fares will be available for purchase through Aug. 28 for travel Sept. 17 through Oct. 31. Fares are non-refundable and require five-day minimum and 30-day maximum stays. Full payment and ticketing are required within one day of reservation, except for travel to Israel, which requires a 21-day advance purchase.
KLM did not add much capacity in its North American and intra-European markets during the first half of the year - just 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively - but it did a good job of filling the capacity it did offer. The carrier's load factor increased a healthy 3.6 percentage points on North American routes and 1.8 points in the European market, while the Asia/Pacific load factor declined 3.5 points.
BE Aerospace said Friday the Commerce and Justice departments are investigating jointly its sales in 1992 and 1993 of passenger seats for aircraft owned by Iran Air. Chairman Amin Khoury said the company applied for and received an export license from Commerce for the transaction, and the investigation appears to center on whether the terms of the export license were followed strictly. Khoury said BEA believes it "operates in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and in accordance with the highest ethical standards."
Rolls-Royce has established Rolls-Royce North America (RRNA) as the senior organization for most of its U.S.-based operations. Richard Turner is chairman and John Sandford president and chief executive of the new unit. RRNA entities include Rolls-Royce Inc., Allison Engine Co., Peebles Electric Inc., Syncrolift Inc., Rolls-Royce Credit Corp. and Rolls-Royce Capital Inc.
Faster-than-planned expansion boosted Air Canada's operating costs, contributing to a second quarter net loss of C$23 million (US$16.9 million) and knocking the airline off course for its projected full-year net earnings of C$99 million. Releasing the results Friday, Air Canada said it incurred the costs for "the benefit of future revenues," but it nonetheless unveiled a number of initiatives to "flatten" the cost curve by C$50 million this year and C$100 million in 1996.
Many cockpit crewmembers found work at national airlines (1,933) and turboprop operators (1,928) during the past 12 months, Future Aviation Professionals of America reported. American International Airways hired 275, FloridaGulf 196, ValuJet 192, Trans States 164, American Eagle/Simmons 162, Mountain West Airlines 154, and Business Express 149. United outhired the rest of the majors, taking on 722.
FAA will publish in today's Federal Register its massive, long-awaited proposal to revise certification and training requirements for pilots, flight instructors, ground schools and agency-approved pilot schools. The current rules have been under review since 1987, and the revisions are expected to benefit the general aviation industry, according to James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association.
ALM Antillean has asked DOT for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, as an intermediate point on its Netherlands Antilles-Miami service. The carrier also wants renewal of its right to display United's designator code on flights between Miami and Netherlands Antilles, via Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata, under its code-share agreement with United. ALM noted that the Dominican Republic has not yet approved the code-share services. (Docket 49611&OST-95-377)
Miami-based Gulfstream International Airlines reported record boardings of 31,526 passengers in July, a 59.8% increase from July one year ago. Revenue passenger miles rose 58.9% to 5.8 million from 3.7 million, as capacity increased 40.9% to 10.2 million available seat miles from 7.3 million. Load factor rose 6.4 percentage points to 56.7% from 50.3%. President and Chief Executive Thomas Cooper said, "We are encouraged by our steady growth," adding that the carrier believed "that the trend will continue" in the latter portion of the year.
Apollo will give its travel agent subscribers six weeks' free-trial use of the computer reservations system's new Preview Plus product when it is deployed Aug. 14. Preview Plus is an enhanced version of Apollo's Preview, designed to make it easier for agents to locate groups of passenger name records based on particular criteria. For example, Preview enables an agency to find quickly the records of all customers traveling on a specific airline on a certain day, who were booked by a specific agent on a corporate account.
The Senate Appropriations Committee last Friday and the full Senate this week modified DOT appropriations bill language three times to allow continued subsidized air service for certain communities. A fourth effort to preserve essential air service subsidies for two New England points was dropped. The House and Senate now go to conference on EAS measures that are quite different. The House approved $15 million for the program, providing for a 50% local match. The Senate EAS funding level is more than $10 million higher without a local match requirement.
KLM's June quarter net earnings rose 10.7% from a year ago to 135 million guilders (US$85.7 million), but its operating profit fell 22.3% to 164 million guilders ($104.1 million) as a result of two pilot stoppages and the adverse impact of a strong Dutch guilder. KLM estimates the job actions had a negative impact of 20 million guilders on its operating income.
