Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses First Quarter 1995 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues America West 344,509,805 0.04 318,747,098 American 2,632,497,000 1.92 2,244,721,000
FAA said yesterday it will start enforcing on Feb. 1 its rule on duty limits and rest requirements for flight attendants that was supposed to go into effect March 1 but was held up by a lawsuit filed by Sun Country Airlines. The agency issued the rule, long awaited by flight attendant unions, on Aug. 19, 1994, to "ensure that flight attendants would be rested sufficiently to perform their routine and emergency safety duties." The final rule was effective Sept. 19, 1994, with the March 1, 1995, compliance date.
Gemini Air Cargo, a U.S. indirect cargo carrier, is seeking authority to resell cargo air transportation to direct air carriers. Gemini's operating plan calls for it to contract with one or more U.S. carriers to acquire cargo aircraft space as an indirect cargo carrier and resell the space to other airlines.
A binding decision issued yesterday by arbitrators overseeing contract talks between American and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) gave the union significant pay raises, while enabling American to reduce costs with productivity enhancements. American President Don Carty said the carrier is pleased "to have this decision behind us," while APFA declared the award a "remarkable victory."
AirWays Corp. subsidiary AirTran Airways is offering one-way, $79 introductory fares between Kansas City and Orlando until Nov. 7. The carrier inaugurated service in the market Oct. 1. AirTran, which operates a fleet of seven 737s, has signed letters of intent to purchase three more.
AirTran Airways will offer a $49 introductory fare between Norfolk and Orlando Oct. 16, when it begins nonstop daily service, through Nov. 13. It will operate 737s on the route. The fares do not require an advance purchase.
Northwest is offering discounted fares to Memphis for the weekend of Oct. 27 in honor of blues singer B.B. King's 70th birthday. Tickets must be purchased by Oct. 26 and used for travel to the city on Oct. 27 and return on Oct. 28 through Oct. 30. The fares are good from points throughout the U.S. Example fares are $79 roundtrip from Nashville, $99 from Atlanta and $169 from Las Vegas.
Reno Air boarded 330,414 passengers last month, and its load factor increased to 64% from 55.3% in September last year. The airline flew 180.1 million revenue passenger miles on 281.4 million available seat miles in September. "September's load factor is particularly encouraging due to the usual seasonal decrease in passenger traffic after Labor Day, and the intense competition on the West Coast," said Robert Reding, Reno Air's president.
Pete Gauthier, chairman of USAir's Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council, resigned yesterday. Gauthier, who has one year left in his second two-year term, said, "The period between management's rejection of the restructuring talks and the possible combination of USAir and other airlines is a natural time for a change in pilot leadership." Vice Chairman Bob Gaudioso will be interim chairman until the MEC can elect a new chairman.
Delta and TAP Air Portugal are negotiating revisions to their previously signed code-sharing agreement because of Delta's decision to suspend service to Lisbon on Oct. 29. TAP, which said it was caught off-guard by Delta's announcement in August that it is dropping the Lisbon service, said late Friday it has reached an agreement with Delta that "guarantees the fulfillment" of the code-sharing agreement, albeit under different terms (DAILY, Aug 4). Delta said yesterday, however, that while it is in talks with TAP, no agreement has been reached.
Northwest's systemwide passenger traffic rose 9.7% in September on 5.3% more capacity, boosting the airline's load factor 2.9 percentage points to 72.2%. The number of passengers boarded rose 8%. The airline attributed the higher capacity to new flying to Canada, Osaka and London. "September was an excellent month, coming off an outstanding summer where are passenger loads were some of the largest in Northwest's history," said John Dasburg, Northwest's chief executive.
Aviall's board has declared a quarterly cash dividend of one cent per share of common stock. The dividend will be paid on Jan. 2 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 15.
UNC Inc. has completed the sale of its Connecticut property to the Mohegan Tribe for $28.4 million in cash. The original $25 million sale price was supplemented by an additional $3.4 million to cover the cost of money and other services provided by UNC. "We are pleased to see the completion of this transaction, which is another major milestone in our 1994 restructuring asset sales program," said Dan Colussy, chairman of UNC. The proceeds will be used by UNC to retire debt.
Philadelphia posted the greatest growth in the number of departures of U.S. travelers to international destinations in 1994, according to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration. A total of 165,556 U.S. citizens made trips abroad from the city, up 257% from 1993. Overall, U.S. citizen departures to overseas destinations in 1994 grew 6% to more than 18 million, with New York Kennedy Airport providing the greatest number, more than 4.3 million.
A draft advisory on undocumented parts issued last week by FAA calls for certificate holders to establish and rely on an "incoming receiving inspection system" for all parts and materials "received and presently in inventories." FAA said this inspection system should "separate documented from undocumented or questionable parts in a manner that eliminates the probability of unacceptable parts being installed on products." The system "should be documented in a procedures manual accepted by the FAA," the agency said.
Duff&Phelps Credit Rating Co. (DCR) Friday assigned an AA- rating to International Lease Finance Corp.'s $100 million 6.25% senior note offering. The rating reflects ILFC's status as a major international aircraft operating lessor, its strong record of profitability, widely diversified aircraft portfolio and experienced management team, DCR said. The financial strength and support of ILFC's parent company, American International Group, also was cited by DCR as an important component of the rating.
Denver International Airport, with its triple parallel runway configuration, has an air traffic delay rate of about 0.4%, according to FAA's latest report card on the new $4.3 billion airport. The report, issued last week by FAA, said that in the first six months of operations - Feb. 28-Aug. 28 - the new airport logged 241,200 takeoffs and landings with only 1,030 delays. The old Stapleton Airport had a 2.4% delay rate for the same period in 1994. Compared with other airports, Denver fared twice as well as Minneapolis-St.
Alaska Airlines and partner Horizon Air will expand electronic ticketing to customers Oct. 11 by offering it from Seattle to San Francisco, San Jose and Portland. The carriers will be offering ticketless travel in seven markets on that day, and expect a systemwide rollout later this fall.
A combination of USAir with either United or American would give the surviving carrier the dominant position at the country's four slot- controlled airports, assuming the merged entity was not forced to sell off any slots. As of summer 1995, United had 864 domestic slots at the four airports, followed by American with 804 and USAir with 448, according to Avitas. USAir has more domestic slots at New York LaGuardia than United and American combined, and nearly twice as many at Washington National than the other two combined.
DOT has approved Fine Airlines' request to extend for the fourth time the statutory deadline for action on its complaint against the government of Ecuador and Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos (AECA). The department has agreed to defer action on the complaint until Nov. 7, 1995.
Boeing said it delivered 51 jetliners in the quarter ended Sept. 30. The deliveries comprised 25 737s, four 747s, 12 757s, eight 767s and two 777s. For the first nine months, deliveries totaled 170 - 80 737s, 20 747s, 39 757s, 24 767s and seven 777s. One non-commercial 767 was delivered in the third quarter. It was the second of four that will be modified with the Advance Warning And Control System (AWACS) for the government of Japan.
- Granted orally an exemption to DHL Airways to operate scheduled all- cargo services between Cincinnati and New York, on the one hand, and the co-terminal points London and Brussels, on the other, with local traffic rights between London and Brussels...Granted orally an exemption to Philippine Airlines renewing its authority to serve Saipan as an additional point on service authorized by Route 2 of its foreign air carrier permit...Granted orally an exemption to Finnair renewing its exemption to conduct scheduled combination service between Helsinki, Finland, and San Fr
American's systemwide passenger rose 2.7% last month on 1.4% more available seat miles, pushing the airline's load factor up 0.9 percentage points to 64.6%. The number of passengers boarded declined 4.8%, however. The carrier's domestic traffic declined 1.6% on 2.5% less capacity, while international traffic jumped 12.2% on 11.8% more capacity. "September was a relatively strong traffic month for American, even with the impact of hurricanes on our Caribbean operation," said Michael Gunn, senior VP- marketing.
Machinists union members at Boeing, on strike as of midnight Thursday, have a considerably weaker hand than they did six years ago when the union last walked out, suggesting the labor dispute will last days rather than months, financial analysts and company executives said Friday. Low production volume diminishes the pain inflicted on the company by the job action. The lack of real opposition to the heart of the Boeing proposal rejected Oct.
British Airways, arguing for construction of Terminal 5 (T5) at London Heathrow, recently presented to a public inquiry an exchange of letters between BA Chairman Colin Marshall and Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz in which Shrontz confirmed that developing new, larger variants of the 747 for service entry in 2000 are high priorities for the manufacturer. The combination of larger airplanes and T5 would increase Heathrow's capacity to 80 million passengers a year from 50 million without the need for a third runway, BA said.
