Air Transport Association called on FAA yesterday to pursue a short-term remedy for aging computers at busy air traffic control centers. ATA President Carol Hallett, in a letter to FAA Administrator David Hinson, urged a speedy replacement of the Display Channel Complex (DCC) at the centers with the Display Channel Complex Replacement (DCCR) (DAILY, July 26). The DCCR project was restarted as part of overall ATC modernization as "insurance" against program delays that place the ATC system in jeopardy, Hallett said. "We believe that point has been reached.
TAP Air Portugal's June passenger traffic rose 5% from the same month a year ago to 665.7 million passenger kilometers, and its passenger volume increased 8.5% to 317,192. TAP's cargo traffic rose 1.5% to 16.4 million freight tonne kilometers. Through the first six months of 1995, TAP's passenger traffic was up 0.4% to 3.46 billion RPKs, and its passenger volume was up 5% to 1.7 million. Cargo traffic rose 2.7% to 94 million FTKs.
Pilots at Milwaukee-based Skyway Airlines have voted for representation by the Air Line Pilots Association. The National Mediation Board counted 58 votes for ALPA from the 101 pilots who were eligible to vote. Although the victory was narrow, ALPA still described it as "solid" because of what it called an "aggressive anti-union campaign by the company." Skyway is a Midwest Express subsidiary that operates 15 Beech 1900Ds, mainly in the East and Midwest.
Airlines have offered the San Francisco Airport Commission what they termed a few "common sense" principles for consideration in planning to connect the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to the airport. The current proposed alternative, the most expensive design option, calls for an underground segment to the airport. Cost efficiency, interference with airport operations and adverse social and environmental impacts should be considered in choosing a plan, the Air Transport Association said.
GATX Corp. yesterday reported record second quarter net income of $29.9 million, up from $20.9 million during the same quarter last year. For the first half, net income was $55.6 million, up from $41.1 million. GATX Air and GATX/CL Air recently announced securing or acquiring leases and loans for about $380 million worth of aircraft to eight carriers, including two MD-83s, a 767-300, a 757-200, a DC-10-30 and five A320s. The MD-83s are on lease to Aero-Lloyd and Reno Air. GATX Air acquired a lease and loans on a 767 and a 737 for Canadian Airlines International.
DOT issued an order Tuesday terminating its show cause proceeding against Japan Airlines and Nippon Air Cargo Airlines. "In view of the Japanese approval of Federal Express's schedules, the purposes of the show cause proceeding have been achieved," the department said. (Docket 50508&OST- 95-216)
DOT has denied Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) request to renew its extrabilateral authority adding Toronto to its Pakistan-U.S. service and serve that city and Montreal as intermediate or beyond points on its New York operations. PIA's application last year drew stiff opposition from Northwest, which asked DOT to reject the bid because the government of Pakistan had denied its application for renewal of Karachi service under its code-sharing arrangement with KLM (DAILY, Aug. 18, 1994).
National Tour Association will launch an on-line product Aug. 1, called NTA Tour and Travel Shoppe, that will provide information on packaged leisure travel products to travel agents and consumers. The information on the Internet World Wide Web will include descriptions of NTA's 600 tour company members. Agents can access the information through Sabre, Apollo, Worldspan and Galileo Canada. NTA members also can purchase booking capabilities to enable travel agents to communicate their intent to book packages.
Aviall yesterday reported net earnings of $2.3 million on sales of $221.2 million for the second quarter, compared with net earnings of $1.1 million on sales of $215.9 million during the same quarter last year. For the first six months, net earnings were $4 million on sales of $433.4 million, up from earnings of $2.4 million and sales of $411.5 million. Commercial engine services sales were $133 million for the quarter, up from $118.4 million, and $257.6 million for the half, up from $224.1 million.
DOT has suspended the procedural dates for applications for expanded all- cargo opportunities in the U.S.-Brazil market. DOT instituted this month the U.S.-Brazil All-Cargo Service Proceeding to designate a third and fourth carrier for the market - one immediately and the other April 1, 1996 - and allocate 12.5 weekly widebody frequencies - 6.5 immediately, three in April 1996 and another three beginning April 1997.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic The Year 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) America West 15,605 6.30 780 12,165,378 American 67,727 (3.01) 1,034 70,008,701
Tower Air yesterday reported significantly improved second quarter financial results, citing increases in both charter and scheduled passenger revenues. Tower logged an operating profit of $8.8 million and net earnings of $4 million, or 26 cents per share, for the quarter. In the June quarter last year, Tower had an operating loss of $488,000 and a net loss of $658,000, or four cents per share. The airline's revenues for the quarter jumped 52.4% while its operating expenses increased 41%.
Orange County Board of Supervisors failed Tuesday night to pass a measure that would have called for a plan for the transfer of John Wayne Airport and Marine Corps Air Station El Toro to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). Supervisors Roger Stanton and William Steiner requested the agenda item to direct the interim county chief executive, Aviation Director Janice Mittermeier, to appropriate county staff and the John Wayne Airport Revenue/Sale Task Force to work with OCTA in evaluating the potential benefits of the transfer.
Swissair's combined scheduled passenger and cargo/mail traffic increased 9.3% in the first six months of 1995 from the same period last year on 6.5% more capacity, pushing the carrier's overall load factor up 1.7 percentage points to 68%. Passenger traffic increased 10.9%, and the passenger load factor rose 2.3 points to 61.6%. The number of passengers carried increased 4.8% to 4.1 million. In June, Swissair's overall traffic rose 7.5% on 6.9% more capacity, increasing the load factor 0.4 points to 71%.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic, The Year 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 8,957 39.18 847 7,587,194 Aloha 5,041 6.96 135 681,466
Gulfstream mated the wing and fuselage of its GV long-range business jet this week. First flight of the 6,500-nautical-mile, Mach .80 aircraft is scheduled for November.
Luxair, after studying new airplanes from Fokker and Avro, has decided to order two 737-500s from Boeing. The Luxembourg-based airline said Boeing made an attractive offer, but it did not provide any details. The new aircraft are expected to be delivered this winter and go into service on routes where Luxair said it has needed equipment with 70 to 80 seats. Luxair already operates 737s, and the latest orders bring its fleet to 13 aircraft.
Budget-watching FAA is looking reluctantly at an expensive fix to the troubling outages at its air traffic centers. The agency is expected to decide soon whether to pay $5 million for display channel complex rehosts at each of its 20 centers for a total of $100 million - not counting $30 million to implement the fixes.
In an unusual move, the Air Transport Association leveled criticism at the National Transportation Safety Board for the board's criticism of FAA's refusal to go along with its recommendations for installing updated flight data recorders on Boeing 737 aircraft.
International Lease Finance Corp. said yesterday it sold 13 A310-200s and a spare engine to FedEx, and a letter of intent was signed to sell two more. ILFC acquired the 15 aircraft from Swissair and KLM as part of transactions in which the company leased 15 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft to the two carriers. FedEx plans to convert the A310s to all-cargo configuration. The first is to be delivered to FedEx in the fourth quarter, nine in 1995 and the remaining five in 1997, the leasing company said. ILFC currently leases two DC-10-10Fs to FedEx.
America West reduced summer fares again yesterday throughout its domestic system and to Mexico and Canada, and it lowered fall fares. Tickets must be purchased by Aug. 7 for travel through Sept. 4 for the summer savings and through Nov. 12 for the fall promotion. The carrier cut fares by up to $80 on July 7 for travel through Sept. 14 on tickets purchased by July 12. America West said the new fare structure cuts prices by up to $122 for summer fares and by up to $162 for fall fares. The lowest fares are available for flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Shuttle by United will introduce self-service, ATM-like boarding machines at San Francisco and Los Angeles airports this week, eliminating the need for passengers to check in at ticket counters. The machines, developed by AT&T Global Information Solutions, will be located in gate areas at Los Angeles and in the lobby and gate areas at San Francisco. The machines, which will be tested for about one month, are planned for every city the Shuttle serves.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic Fourth Quarter 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 3,382 12.57 2,126 7,188,007 Atlantic 819 11.62 4,126 3,378,839
Malaysia Airlines has asked DOT for authority to operate charter combination service between points in Malaysia and the U.S. Malaysia currently operates scheduled combination and cargo service between Malaysian points and Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco, via intermediate points and beyond to Mexico City. (Docket OST-95-340)
USAir has discounted fares in about 200 transcontinental markets for travel Aug. 1-Sept. 5. Tickets must be purchased by Aug. 7. Fares are reduced by as much as $100 and require a seven-day advance purchase. USAir also extended the travel dates for its previously announced fall sale to Sept. 5-Nov. 12.
