A U.S.-Germany open skies agreement still is "a while off" despite productive talks and a recent ministerial meeting, a senior U.S. government official said. U.S. negotiators still face "hard discussions" about a number of "German interests from a European point of view."
Reno Air is making an offering of $25 million, principal amount, of senior convertible notes due in 2002. The interest rate and price at which the notes may be converted into shares of common stock have not yet been determined.
Air Canada will begin operating daily, non-stop Toronto-Minneapolis/St. Louis service this fall. The carrier is scheduled to start the Minneapolis service Oct. 2 and St. Louis flights Nov. 13. Air Canada plans to operate three daily roundtrip flights on each route, using Canadair CL-65 jets. Seats went on sale yesterday. As an introductory offer, Air Canada is offering triple Aeroplan and Mileage Plus miles on the Toronto-Minneapolis service between Oct. 2 and Nov. 30, 1995, and on Toronto-St. Louis flights Nov. 13-Jan. 15, 1996.
Nordstress Australia is seeking renewal of its rights to operate wet-leased 767-33AERs for Alitalia on its Rome-Chicago/Boston and Milan-New York Kennedy/Newark routes for one year. (Dockets 50044&OST-95-262 and 50155&OST-95-192)
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall told Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett this week that he is "deeply disappointed" by ATA's reaction to his letter to FAA criticizing the agency for not expediting installation of updated flight data recorders on 737 aircraft. Hallett, in a letter to Hall last week, said ATA takes "strong umbrage" with the NTSB response to the FAA decision to work with the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee on 737 recorders (DAILY, July 26).
Moody's Investors Service this week downgraded Fairchild Corp.'s subordinated debt issues to Caa from B3 and its senior secured notes to B3 from B2. Moody's said Fairchild's balance sheet remains highly leveraged with a debt to capitalization ratio of 92% at the holding company level. The company's growing net deficit and weak returns on equity continue to offset the modest reductions in total indebtedness, Moody's said.
Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit has established an Internet home page to provide updated information on its contract negotiations with the company, background on the industry and labor settlements at other carriers. A mailbox is included to encourage feedback from users. Until Sept. 1, the World Wide Web site is www.whatsup.com/DALPA/DALPA.html. After Sept. 1, the home page can be found at www.DALPA.com. Anyone interested in a weekly overview of Delta pilot talks also can call 1-800- 354-ALPA, beginning Aug. 14.
Canadian Airlines International (CAI) this week launched 17 new daily flights between Canada and the U.S. under its code-share agreement with American. Including Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth flights, the service will be operated with American's MD-80, 757 and Fokker 100 aircraft. Noting that CAI has added 50 flights a day to 15 new U.S. destinations since June 2, Allister Paterson, VP-sales, North America, said the carrier's new transborder services "are the latest step in an aggressive strategy to provide customers in the U.S.
United will inaugurate service to Delhi, India, as part of its new "round- the-world" flights, scheduled for a Dec. 14 launch. The three-day flights will include five segments over an eastbound routing of Los Angeles-New York (Newark Airport)-London-Delhi-Hong Kong-Los Angeles. The carrier also will operate westbound service. Each segment will be open to local passengers, enabling the carrier to provide connecting service to other destinations from points along the route.
Qantas shares, which began trading on the Australian stock market Monday, moved at a 16% premium to the institutional issue price, according to The Financial Times. The Australian government over the weekend set the flotation price for the sale of its remaining 75% stake in the carrier at A$2 for institutional investors and A$1.90 for individuals. The stock was listed at A$2.32 when trading opened and slipped to A$2.15. About 73.6 million shares changed hands on the first day, and the float should net the government A$1.45 billion, the paper reported.
U.S. and foreign airlines canceled most flights into and out of southern Florida after midday yesterday in anticipation of Hurricane Erin. U.S. Customs shut down operations at Miami Airport, one of the busiest U.S. gateways. American said it expected to resume operations by 11 a.m. EDT today at Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, subject to each airport's operational status. United also suspended all flights at the three airports, saying it expects flights to be back to normal by early today unless facilities are damaged or flooded.
FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday the agency will spend about $65 million from a shrinking budget to replace aging computers at five air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs) by February 1998 even though the completely automated air traffic control workstation of the future - the Display System Replacement (DSR) - will go into operation at the five centers less than two years later.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) has filed a motion in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York seeking a declaratory judgment permitting mechanics at Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) to strike. The Railway Labor Act prohibits unions from initiating unilateral "self- help" measures when parties are in federal mediation. ACA and AMFA currently are in mediated talks for their first contract.
PLM International reported second quarter revenues of $14.8 million and net income of $1.6 million, compared with revenues of $14.5 million and net income of only $20,000 the same previous quarter. For the first six months, revenues were $31.9 million, compared with $29.4 million, and net income was $3.1 million, up from a net loss of $4.6 million.
Association of Flight Attendants has asked the National Mediation Board to step in and mediate talks with Business Express. Patricia Davis, AFA local president at Business Express, said the company's last proposal on a first contract for its 172 flight attendants contained too many demands for concessions. She said flight attendants have been working under a pay freeze for the past three years. The carrier operates as Delta Connection and Northwest Airlink.
International visitors to the U.S. are expected to account for 1.1 million U.S. jobs by the year 2000, the Commerce Department predicts, not 11 million as reported in The DAILY, July 27.
Federal Express said it will launch Sept. 5 a new service to provide delivery by 8 a.m. to major U.S. metropolitan markets. Called FedEx First Overnight, the service will provide the 8 a.m. delivery from any U.S. zip code to more than 90 major markets. The carrier said it is offering a money-back guarantee if the package is not delivered by 8 a.m. or if the status of the package cannot be reported within 30 days of inquiry.
DHL International said it will expand its air express operations to cover 26 cities in China by the end of the year in coordination with its joint venture partner Sinotrans.
Aerovias de Mexico, parent company of Aeromexico, logged a net profit and broke even on an operating basis in the second quarter, the company reported. After suffering an operating loss of nearly 28.3 million new pesos (Np$) in the second quarter last year, Aeromexico trimmed that loss to Np$252,000 (US$40,419) in the June quarter of 1995 by cutting its payroll by 60 employees and reaching concession agreements with the remaining workers, and by reducing the size of its fleet to 51 aircraft from last year's 58.
China Airlines (CAL) has revised its projected 1995 pre-tax earnings upward to US$37.6 million. Previously, CAL projected that pre-tax earnings for the year would reach US$21.05 million. A CAL official said stronger-than- expected demand on the company's European routes will boost earnings. In addition, he said, CAL will report a large non-operating profit from the sale of shares in Far Eastern Air Transport Corp.
DOT has issued a consent order concerning violations of advertising requirements by TWA and directing the carrier to cease and desist from future violations and pay compromise civil penalties. DOT said Friday it found that the carrier failed "to prominently and proximately disclose each-way fares" in separate ads appearing in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Air Express International has acquired the U.K. air and ocean freight forwarder Brantford International from its parent FW Terminals, a division of Hong Kong-based OOCL.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses The Year 1994 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues America West 1,404,502,743 6.16 1,303,814,627 American 10,630,584,000 (1.82) 9,178,009,000
Northwest's profits during the past year mean 1995-96 revenue of about 100 million guilders for KLM as the Dutch carrier revalues its 25% stake in its U.S. partner. KLM wrote down its investment to zero back when Northwest was losing money.
Airbus Industrie and at least five companies are fleshing out their stakes in the new Airbus Military Company being set up to manage Europe's Future Large Airlifter program. BAe is finalizing its arrangements for about 15% of the new company, and Airbus is expected to hold roughly 30%. Italy's Alenia, not an Airbus member but one of the original EuroFLAG companies, gets 20%, and Spain's CASA probably will hold about 18%.
