FAA officials said yesterday a circuit board that "burned" may have triggered Wednesday's power outage at the Oakland center that caused the loss of radar and radio contact with aircraft and may have led to as many as three traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) alerts. FAA, which is investigating each TCAS alert, has concluded that at least one involved a system error because aircraft separation standards were exceeded, Monte Belger, FAA associate administrator for air traffic, said yesterday.
Aerovias de Mexico d/b/a Aeromexico has successfully completed its financial restructuring through the issuance of new five-year Euronotes and US$530 million recapitalization by existing shareholders and creditors, the company said this week. The new Euronotes are being exchanged for US$137.5 million in outstanding Euronotes and Euro-commercial paper.
IPTN of Indonesia flew the new Allison-powered N-250 for the first time Thursday, but the project continues to swirl in controversy. The program already has absorbed $400 million of a projected $650 million, which critics say is too expensive for an outdated aircraft in a shrinking market. The World Bank calls it a waste of money, and one Indonesian academic said the world's fourth most populous country, where a large percentage of the 190 million people live in poverty, cannot afford it. Next on the drawing board is a $2 billion, 130-passenger regional-jet program.
Delta Connection Comair saw its operating profit margin top the 20% level for the first time during the June quarter. The actual number was 22.7%, which represents the percentage of revenues retained after expenses. The carrier's average operating margin over the past nine quarters was 15.5%. The net profit margin also hit a high of 14.5% after averaging 9.5% over the past nine quarters. There were other firsts in the June quarter for the Cincinnati-based regional. Quarterly revenues topped $100 million for the first time, reaching $115.4 million.
United Parcel Service said yesterday it has contracted to re-engine seven 727-100s with Rolls-Royce engines next year, which will give it an all- Stage-3 fleet three years ahead of the 1999 deadline set by FAA. UPS said it will pay more than $70 million to install Tay 651-54 engines. The modifications will be performed by the Dee Howard Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Alenia.
FAA yesterday said it awarded a contract to Denro Inc. Gaithersburg, Md., to build and install the Enhanced Terminal Voice Switch (ETVS). The contract was valued at $1.38 million over 10 years, the company said. George Donohue, associate administrator for research and acquisition, said the amount represented a 30% savings over originally projected costs to upgrade the communications capability at air traffic control towers and approach and departure facilities.
The Senate yesterday passed the fiscal 1996 DOT appropriations bill (H.R.2002), defeating an effort to strip the bill of measures requiring new FAA procurement and personnel regulations exempt from various federal laws. In other action on the bill, the Senate rejected 63 to 33 an effort to extend Railway Labor Act coverage to U.S. airline flightcrews overseas, and it dropped a measure preventing DOT from terminating passenger facility charge revenues pledged to pay debt service (DAILY, Aug. 7).
DOT has issued a show cause order on the certificate application of Sierra Expressway, L.L.C., enabling it to begin operating scheduled commuter passenger service. If approved, the Oakland, Calif.-based operator initially plans to provide scheduled service from Oakland to Monterey, Medford, Sacramento and Eureka/Arcata, Calif., using five 19-seat British Aerospace Jetstream 32 aircraft.
Northwestern Business Travel, one of the largest travel management firms in the U.S., has completed a company-wide transition to Worldspan's World Ledger 4000 with Windows accounting and information system. Two IBM AS/400 computers are the hardware platform for the newly installed system. Northwestern also plans to explore the use of Worldspan's TechXChange products, the computer reservations system company said.
Mesaba Aviation flew 29.3 million revenue passenger miles in July, a 3.1% decline from the July 1994 level of 30.2 million. Capacity dropped more quickly - 4.3% to 61.4 million available seat miles from 64.1 million in July 1994. The load factor rose 0.6 percentage points to 47.7% from 47.1%. Passenger boardings decreased 2.1% to 132,495 from 135,326. Mesaba, which operates as Northwest Airlink, serves 55 airports in 16 states and one Canadian province. July 1995 July 1994
Unisys Corp. and Mexicana have signed a five-year agreement under which Unisys will maintain and support Mexicana's USAS software and renew its software licenses. The renewals cover USAS passenger processing solutions, as well as operating system software and AIR/net communications software. The maintenance and support contract covers the software and the Open 2200 enterprise servers on which it runs.
USAir Express affiliate Chautauqua Airlines will use some of the 17 Jetstream 31 aircraft it is leasing from fellow USAir Express Jetstream International to replace service that had been operated by Jetstream in nine markets, Chautauqua said (DAILY, Aug. 8). Chautauqua will replace Jetstream in the following markets on the indicated dates: Hagerstown, Md.-Pittsburgh, Nov. 1; London, Ontario-Pittsburgh, Nov. 1; Lancaster, Pa.- Pittsburgh, Dec. 1; Hamilton, Ontario-Pittsburgh, Dec. 1; Altoona, Pa.- Pittsburgh, Jan. 6, 1996; Johnstown, Pa.-Pittsburgh, Jan.
The Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) is looking at adding some parameters to the flight data recorders of 737s that would track rudder performance, Thomas McSweeny, FAA director of Aircraft Certification Service, said yesterday. The committee also is considering the "feasibility and time frame" of retrofitting the aircraft with newer recorders, as recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, McSweeny said.
Horizon Air Industries has elected Thomas Gerharter to senior VP-operations and Daniel Scott VP-flight operations. Gerharter has 12 years with the company, and for the past three he served as VP-flight operations. Scott, also with the company for 12 years, will succeed Gerharter. Scott most recently was director-flight operations. Gerharter will assume responsibility for flight operations and the maintenance divisions, and Scott will be in charge of managing flight crews, pilot training and related activities.
American is studying whether to postpone the retirement of up to 22 Boeing 727s.The airline has mothballed seven of the aircraft this year but is considering whether to retain 16 more that are scheduled to leave the fleet this year and six tagged for retirement in 1996.
In deeply divided comments on DOT's proposal to reinstitute the exclusion of mechanical delay information from on-time data, the industry also split on other potential Air Travel Consumer Report changes included in the notice of proposed rulemaking. Most of the respondents - Delta, TWA, United, American and Southwest -supported continued monthly reporting and publication of the on-time reports, saying the public benefits from them and airlines would gain only negligibly if the reporting frequency were reduced.
DOT has agreed to defer action for 30 more days, until Sept. 8, on Fine Airlines' complaint against the government of Ecuador and Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos (AECA). The extension is the second granted to Fine as it continues its battle to gain greater access to the South American country (DAILY, July 11). Fine complained initially against Ecuador in January, saying it would not permit Fine to conduct charter services authorized under the U.S.-Ecuador aviation agreement.
TWA has reached an agreement to sell to a group of private investment funds the ticket vouchers the airline is issuing to 8% noteholders as part of its prepackaged Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The investment funds, which are managed by M.D. Sass Investor Services and its affiliates, have agreed to purchase the vouchers for $26 cash per $50 face amount tendered by the voucher holders.
Arlington, Va.-based travel management corporation SatoTravel has received a two-year contract from the Los Angeles Air Force Base to provide $12 million in official travel services and $3 million in leisure travel each year, effective Aug. 17. The company, the incumbent bidder, will operate four offices at the AFB and one at Fort MacArthur. SatoTravel also obtained a two-year contract worth $4 million from MWR Pearl Harbor to arrange leisure travel for five Navy offices. The contract became effective July 29.
CMF International signed an agreement with Airbus Industrie to offer the CMF56-5B3/P as a powerplant for the A321-200, a growth version of the A321. The engine will be rated at 32,000 pounds thrust. Flight tests begin next April.
United was alone among the five U.S. global airlines to hire flight attendants in July. Future Aviation Professionals of America said the carrier took on 20 attendants in Hong Kong, where it has opened a domicile against the wishes of its flight attendants union. United has hired 2,454 attendants in the past 12 months and will hire 80 more this month. American, which has not hired any flight attendants in a year, is interviewing and expects to hire 400.
Cunard will participate in Sabre's Cruise Director reservations and information system, giving travel agents immediate access to its availability, pricing, cabin/category inventory and pre-/post-cruise packages.
Cathay Pacific yesterday posted first-half earnings of HK$983 million (US$128 million), an improvement of 22.4% from its first-half 1994 profit of HK$803 million. The Hong Kong-based airline's revenues for the first six months of 1995 rose 14.8% to HK$14.23 billion (US$1.85 billion) from HK$12.39 billion in the first half of 1994. Cathay said its passenger revenue growth was in line with expectations, and its cargo performance exceeded management forecasts.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena ordered airlines to warn Manila-bound travelers that the airport there does not meet security standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The Ninoy Aquino Airport was cited last January as a source of possible terrorist activity against U.S. carriers serving the Pacific region. It tightened security as a result, and FAA said in May it believed the precautions were adequate to protect the public (DAILY, May 25).
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall yesterday outlined several more steps the board is taking, including a reconvened public hearing later this year, in an attempt to explain what caused a USAir 737 to crash almost a year ago near Pittsburgh. Hall also said the board will continue to push for early retrofit of modern flight data recorders on 737s. He said that in two recent accidents involving turboprop aircraft, modern recorders helped the board and FAA take prompt action to prevent further accidents.
