The House Appropriations Committee has eliminated the Air Force's request for $38 million in advance procurement funding for the GPS Block IIF follow-on satellite program, the next generation of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. The committee approved a $19.7 million request for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E). The committee said it is concerned about reports of technical problems in the development of 21 replacement GPS satellites being built by Lockheed Martin Astro Space.
New federal strategy on tourism, issued Wednesday by the Tourism Policy Council, is not likely to have any impact on airline operations except for facilitating Immigration and Naturalization Service processing of passengers (DAILY, July 27). As with most government policy initiatives, the report is long on broad goals and short on specifics. Among recommendations to promote tourism to the U.S.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Revenues and Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues America West 341,370,684 (1.89) 314,528,451 American 2,612,174,000 7.84 2,251,466,000 Continental 1,008,305,000 0.36 886,431,000
Airlines with employees represented by the Machinists union could be in for a big change in the collective bargaining arena following an announcement yesterday by the Machinists, United Auto Workers and United Steelworkers of America that they may join forces and create a single massive union. The unification would create the largest union in North America, with 2 million active and 1.4 million retired members, the unions said.
National Air Transportation Association is launching an information campaign to clarify what it calls "misconceptions" about Part 135 operations - and shield its members from a government proposal to bring many Part 135 operators under Part 121 standards.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR posted an operating profit of $1.7 million and net earnings of $808,001, or 11 cents per share, for the fiscal year ended June 30. The airline's operating revenues declined 1.5%, but its operating expenses dropped 7.1%. In the year before, CCAIR had a net loss of $4.8 million and an operating loss of $3.9 million. For the June quarter, the final quarter of the carrier's fiscal year, CCAIR had net earnings of $734,161, or 10 cents per share, and an operating profit of $985,209.
A DOT official yesterday told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee that, to his knowledge, there is no evidence that safety has been compromised because of the new requirement that airlines include mechanical delays in their on-time performance reporting. Mechanical delays have always been excluded from airlines' reporting, but under a September 1994 rule change airlines were required, beginning in January, to include them. Citing potential safety concerns, DOT in June issued a proposed rule to reverse that decision (DAILY, June 2).
Atlantic Southeast has not yet said on which Atlanta routes it will place its BAe 146 quadjets when they begin arriving later this year, but analysts believe they will serve relatively short markets. Top choices are Birmingham, 134 miles; Chattanooga, 105 miles; Gainesville, 302 miles; Jacksonville, 277 miles, and Savannah, 215 miles. Those route lengths would average nearly 207 miles, compared with about 450 miles and 500 miles, respectively, for Canadair Regional Jets operated by fellow Delta Connection carriers Comair and SkyWest.
Atlantic Coast Airlines' financial turnabout masks a trend toward deeper involvement by airframers in the operations of their customers. Both British Aerospace at ACA and Saab at Business Express stepped in to force new business plans and detailed profit-and-loss route analyses under the veiled threat that the carriers' fleets could be repossessed. "The only alternative was bankruptcy," said one source. At ACA, the result was a standardized fleet of Jetstreams, a Florida pullout, improved maintenance, new work rules and "more bucks in every seat."
Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines' (ASA) second quarter net earnings declined 9.7% from the previous year to nearly $15 million, or 45 cents per share, and its operating profit fell 12.5% to $23.3 million from $26.6 million in the June quarter a year ago. ASA said it net earnings include an after-tax accrual of $2.6 million, or eight cents per share, associated with the company's stock appreciation rights plan (SARs) and the unusual size of the expense accrual was due to the impact of a 63% jump in the company's stock price during the quarter.
DOT has extended CCAIR's essential air service obligation at Danville, Va., through Aug. 30 or until a carrier that can provide reliable replacement service begins operations. Operating as USAir Express, CCAIR had filed a notice in June last year of its intention to suspend service at Danville by Aug. 30, 1994. However, while seeking replacement service, DOT has repeatedly extended CCAIR's service obligation (DAILY, May 12). The carrier is operating three roundtrips between Danville and Charlotte, N.C. - two nonstop, one via Winston-Salem, N.C.
United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) this week reported record second quarter operating and net profits that it attributed to its fleet restructuring plan, an increase in yield and continued strong passenger demand. ACA, which feeds United at Washington Dulles, posted a second quarter operating profit of nearly $5.7 million, and net earnings of $5.1 million, 52 cents per share on a fully distributed basis.
American's Allied Pilots Association is scheduled to present its settlement proposal on contract issues to the company Aug. 1, barring a last-minute hold-up because of pilot concerns over code sharing with Canadian Airlines International (CAI). An APA official said the union has been unhappy with American's response to its fears that the best flying would go to CAI, and that code sharing may prevent American from seeking service in its own right. At issue is potential code sharing from Vancouver to Hong Kong, Manila, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan.
AirTran Airways has signed a letter of intent to purchase a 737-200 - its eighth - from Orlando-based NSJ Corp. The 130-passenger aircraft will be placed in service in October. The airplane is powered by Pratt&Whitney JT8D-17 engines equipped with Stage 3 hushkits.
June load factors averaged 52.7% for 13 regional airlines tracked by The DAILY. That compares to 52.2% in June 1994 for an increase of one-half of a percentage point. Three Delta Connection carriers reported declines, however. Business Express lost 5.1 points to 45%, SkyWest 4.9 points to 49.7%, and Atlantic Southeast 0.9 points to 49.5%. Other decliners were USAir Express CCAIR, down 7.2 points to 46.2%, and Horizon, off 5.5 points to 61%. Horizon, the traditional group leader in load factors, fell behind Air Wisconsin in June, which was up 3.8 points to 61.5%.
Delta yesterday reported record quarterly net earnings of $251 million, or $3.21 per share on a fully diluted basis, and an operating profit of $449 million for the June quarter, the fourth of the airline's fiscal year. In the June quarter last year, Delta suffered an operating loss of $321 million, including $414 million in restructuring charges, and a net loss of $250 million. For the year ended June 30, Delta reported an operating profit of $661 million and net earnings of $408 million, or $6.43 per share, including $1.42 gained from an accounting change.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Revenes and Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 (In Dollars) Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues Alaska 256,022,000 13.40 206,204,000 Aloha 53,533,142 (3.31) 42,972,786
Add Delta to the list of U.S. carriers interested in serving South Africa with a code-share partner. The most likely candidates are Swissair and Sabena, both of which serve South Africa now, said a Delta official. Northwest and United have applied for South Africa service with their respective code-share partners, KLM and Lufthansa.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is opposing an FAA proposal to replace its standard half-page flight plan form with the full-page International Civil Aviation Organization format. AOPA President Phil Boyer said FAA has "provided no compelling reason to force the majority of the world's pilots here to use the more complex international form." The FAA proposal claimed that a single standard flight plan would make it easier for pilots to file anywhere in the world and reduce the costs of software development for datalink and other flight equipment, Boyer said.
Air Ontario will enhance its Indianapolis-Toronto service Sept. 17 by offering three daily week-day nonstop flights. The Canadian carrier had been operating one-stop service via Columbus. President Stephen Smith said the airline will continue to look toward adding other U.S. destinations now that the U.S. and Canada have an open skies agreement. Air Ontario uses the newly renovated Terminal 2 at Toronto Pearson Airport, where it links its flights to Air Canada's. It operates a fleet of 23 Dash 8 aircraft.
SkyWest Inc. reported net income of $3.1 million in the first quarter of 1995, down from $5.4 million realized in the same 1994 period. SkyWest, the holding company of Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines, said operating revenue was up 2.6% to $60.4 million during the quarter. Noting that the carrier has made significant financial improvements, Executive VP Bradford Rich said, "However, in being very simple and straightforward, we have much more yet to accomplish.
Only two weeks after it was named one of seven companies qualified to bid for FAA's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) contract, Hughes Information Systems has dropped out of the prime contractor competition, according to DAILY affiliate ATC Market Report. While Hughes had no comment on the decision, industry sources said it is in discussions with Raytheon Co. about being part of the Raytheon STARS team. Raytheon confirmed the talks but said it has not yet selected partner companies.
America West has applied for authority to operate combination service between Phoenix and Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, Mexico. If approved, the carrier plans to begin daily service to Puerto Vallarta and four weekly flights to Manzanillo about Oct. 29, using 737-200 or other aircraft.
Regional airframers are trimming back on sales support personnel by moving them into direct sales and not replacing them. British Aerospace, Fokker and Saab are doing it, and ATR has never had a sales support team in the U.S., relying solely on the factory in Toulouse, France. It is an excellent way to downsize, said one marketer, while placing experienced analysts into front-line sales jobs. The problem, as he sees it, is that there are no new faces coming in. When people leave, as a number from those companies have done recently, they are hard to replace.
A just-published study finds that exports have "taken on a new urgency" for U.S. aerospace companies and that the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) strengthened the dispute process by setting strict time schedules. Another finding is that limits placed on the technology that U.S. companies can bring to a joint venture make U.S. participation less attractive to potential partners and customers. The study, After the Cold War: The U.S.
