Carnival Air Lines is seeking authority to operate scheduled combination service between Miami and Cancun. The carrier also wants authority to carry the cargo traffic of Chilean carrier Ladeco moving between South America and Miami under Ladeco's code on the Miami-Cancun flights. Carnival proposes twice-weekly scheduled service between Miami and Cancun, using Boeing 757-200ER aircraft dry-leased from Ladeco. (Docket OST-95- 555)
Iberia's passenger traffic gained 6.2% in July to 2.44 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded rose 3.8% to nearly 1.31 million, and cargo traffic was up 18.1% to 55.8 million freight ton kilometers. Through the first seven months, passenger traffic increased nearly 7.2% to 13.56 billion RPKs, and the number of passengers boarded was up 4.7% to 8.1 million. Cargo traffic jumped 20.7% to 378.1 million FTKs.
Cathay Pacific Airways plans to increase the capacity it offers in the Hong Kong-Seoul market, beginning in late October following bilateral talks between Korea and Hong Kong. Cathay, which operates three roundtrips a day using a mixture of 233-passenger Airbus A340s and 299-passenger Lockheed L- 1011s, said yesterday it will increase the size of the aircraft it operates in the market from the end of October, upgrading to a 320- passenger A330, a 398-passenger Boeing 747-400, and a 434-passenger 747- 300.
Reno Air's August load factor jumped 5.2 percentage points from a year ago to 75.2%. The 14-month-old carrier's traffic rose 42.8% to 239.6 million revenue passenger miles, and its capacity was up 33.1% to 318.9 million available seat miles. The number of passengers boarded increased 30.9% to 428,158. Reno operates 22 MD-80s and serves 16 cities in the West and Canada, as well as Chicago O'Hare.
National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association will hold its annual Aviation Safety Enforcement Law Seminar Oct. 26 at the Capitol Holiday Inn in Washington. Several NTSB board members and senior officials will address the meeting, which will be followed by a reception. FAA and industry officials also will speak on administrative law practices and significant cases decided by the board. For more information, call Mark McDermott at 202-331-1955.
The governments of Dubai and Australia have reached an agreement on air traffic rights that will allow Emirates, the international carrier of the United Arab Emirates, to operate flights between the two countries. The service startup date and the destinations to be served have not been determined, but Emirates wants to operate as many as three flights per week, possibly using Melbourne as its Australian base. When Emirates launches flights to Nairobi and Ho Chi Minh City on Oct.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena said yesterday he will travel to a number of Asian countries in November to press for liberalized aviation agreements. Announcing the trip in a speech to Airports Council International-North America's Fourth Regional Conference in Washington, Pena detailed other DOT bilateral, legislative and security efforts. He cited the administration's successful open skies initiatives with Canada and nine European countries, and its on-going efforts to gain more liberal agreements with the U.K., Japan and Latin American countries.
America West's August passenger traffic rose 11.8% from the same month a year ago on 8% more capacity, boosting the load factor 2.5 percentage points to 75.1%, an August record for the airline. The number of passengers enplaned increased 9.6%. "We more than filled the additional 8% capacity added since 1994 and continue to experience strong booking levels," said President Maurice Myers. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 1,269,519,000 1,135,981,000 8,982,017,000 8,447,700,000
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) has added inflight gambling to its staple of battles to wage in Washington this year, including continuing advocacy of child restraint seats and smoking bans on international flights.
U.S. and Thailand are moving closer to bilateral negotiations, according to a U.S. government official. The countries have had no bilateral since 1990, when Thailand renounced the old agreement.
FAA's Chicago Center experienced another major computer failure yesterday, causing air traffic controllers to operate on the DARC (direct access radar channel) backup system throughout the day. FAA said technicians conducting routine maintenance on the primary computer system were unable to reactivate it shortly after 3 a.m. local time, so they left operations on the backup system.
Tower Air's August scheduled passenger traffic rose 4.2% from the same month last year on 6.4% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 1.8 percentage points to 85.3%. The number of passengers carried was up 1.2%. Tower's total block hours flown, including scheduled and charter operations, were up 21.6% to 5,282 hours. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 498,000,000 478,000,000 2,398,000,000 1,920,000,000
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin flew 50.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 70.4% rise from the same 1994 month. Capacity rose 59.4% and load factor was up 3.9 percentage points. Enplanements were up 5.4%. Aug 95 Aug 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 50,139,866 29,433,431 314,510,422 219,274,040 ASMs 83,869,722 52,614,066 572,266,652 413,518,040 LoadFtr% 59.8 55.9 55.0 53.0
World Airways' August block hours flown rose about 56% from the same month last year to 3,703. Average daily utilization of aircraft was 10 hours, compared with 10.7 hours per day in August a year ago. Through the first eight months, World's block hours increased 32% to 24,983, and its average daily utilization rose to 10 hours from 8.6 hours last year.
Aer Lingus has made available its 1995-96 program of short-stay vacation packages - "Ireland Short Stay Escapes." Included in the price are transatlantic air fare on Aer Lingus, accommodations, luxury bus touring and most meals. The packages are designed for groups, including one free place (air and land) for every 20 paying participants. Prices start at $639.
BAA USA Holdings, the U.S. unit of the U.K.-based BAA plc, has signed a 10- year contract with the Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) to manage the Indianapolis airport system. BAA has managed retail operations at Pittsburgh for the past three years, but the Indianapolis contract is the first giving it management responsibility for all aspects of running an airport outside the U.K. In the U.K., BA manages seven airports, including London Heathrow and Gatwick.
Air Canada has been designated by Transport Canada to serve Poland, but actually launching the service will require renegotiation of the Canada- Poland bilateral. Air Canada wants to serve Warsaw over another European gateway.
Air France's flight attendants are scheduled to strike today to protest Chairman Christian Blanc's plans to change their job description. Yesterday, the airline said it planned to operate all of its long-haul service, but it may have to use wet-leased aircraft and crews to operate to some destinations, such as Miami and Newark. To what extent Air France brings in leased aircraft will depend on how many union flight attendants report for work. The airline declined to reveal where it plans to get the airplanes and crews.
TWA will begin operating nonstop service four days a week to Mexico City from St. Louis Oct. 29 pending government approval. The carrier said it anticipates increasing to daily flights over the Christmas holiday period. The new service is part of its strategy to build operations in markets with the greatest revenue potential. It recently added new service to Cancun, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo.
Sabena's passenger traffic rose 9.8% in July from the same month a year ago, to 837.7 million revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded rose 16.7% to 465,592, and the airline's cargo traffic fell 5.1% to 32.2 million freight ton kilometers. Through the first seven months, passenger traffic was up 18.5% to 4.87 billion RPKs, and passenger volume rose 19.8% to 2.8 million. Cargo traffic increased 3.1% to 248.1 million FTKs.
Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1995 B747-100 Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 1 23 9 Total Fleet Operations Departures 1 36 12 Block Hours 3 259 73
Aer Lingus, which has been operating twice-weekly flights to Belfast from the U.S. as part of its Vacations Ireland tour product since July, will upgrade the service to year-round, scheduled status on Oct. 1, increasing the number of weekly flights to three. "The service we operated this summer has shown sufficient potential for us to commit to operating the full Aer Lingus product through this winter," said David Bunworth, Aer Lingus sales and marketing director.
Boeing 737 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day First Quarter 1995 B737-300 America West Continental Number of Aircraft Operated 34 62 Total Fleet Operations Departures 224 311 Block Hours 391 626
Flightstar Corp. has begun construction of a new fixed-base operation facility at the former Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Ill. Flightstar currently is operating at a hangar that will be converted into a window manu-facturing plant.
