Austrian Airlines has taken delivery of the first of four Fokker 70 jets it ordered in January. The second airplane is scheduled for delivery later this month, and the remaining two are expected in March 1996. In Austrian's configuration, the jets seat 80 passengers in two classes of service. The new airplanes will be used on routes between Austria and cities in Western and Eastern Europe.
American and United put in bids late Friday for new Vancouver services to start in February 1996. DOT invited U.S. carriers last month to apply for the new service opportunities, available in the second year of the U.S.- Canada bilateral agreement (DAILY, Sept. 21).
Airlines flying to Latin America from Miami Airport are concerned about plans to finance a $900 million 47-gate expansion for American Airlines. The 26-member Association of Latin American Airlines (AITAL) and the 17 airlines in the frequent traveler consortium LatinPass generally support the American deal but worry that the remaining tenant airlines will be stuck paying for infrastructure, such as a laser baggage system and people-movers, that will be built for the exclusive use of American.
Mesa Air Group flew 109.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, up 22.6% from the same 1994 month's 88.9 million. Capacity increased 22% to nearly 209 million available seat miles from 171.3 million. As a result, load factor edged up 0.3 percentage points to 52.2% from 51.9%. Passengers enplaned totaled 526,188 for September, an 11.3% increase from the 472,859 recorded one year ago.
KLM's overall traffic, including passenger, freight and mail, increased 12% last month to 707.2 million revenue ton kilometers, but its capacity rose 16% to 943.2 million available ton kilometers, resulting in a load factor decline of 2.7 percentage points to 75%. The airline's passenger traffic, as measured in revenue passenger kilometers, increased 10% on 8% more capacity, pushing the airline's passenger load factor up 1.6 points to 78.5%.
Acquisition of USAir by either American or United - an event most analysts see as doubtful - could nonetheless have a major impact on regional aviation in the East. USAir shares many regional markets, especially in the Northeast, with American, United or their regional partners. A merger could result in those markets becoming monopolies - with the obvious impact on fares. There also is the suggestion that as a result of reduced competition, many markets would lose existing jet service to turboprops and possibly face reduced frequencies as well.
Embraer is committed to producing 24 copies of its new EMB-145 regional jet in 1997, the company said. Just 18 firm orders and 19 options for the aircraft have been logged, but the company said more than 100 letters of intent have been signed "and are expected to be converted into firm orders in the next few months."
Moody's Investors Service assigned yesterday a first-time rating of A2 to 2.5 billion Deutschmarks long-term debt guaranteed by Lufthansa AG. The debt rated comprises DM1 billion in Lufthansa International Finance (Netherlands) N.V. Guaranteed Floating Rate Euronotes and DM1.5 billion in various Lufthansa International Finance N.V. Guaranteed Eurobonds.
Qantas subsidiary Eastern Australia Airlines has begun work on the first of three de Havilland Dash 8s from China as part of a A$1 million contract with Bombardier. Under the contract, Eastern Australia will undertake major modifications, refurbishment and repainting of the aircraft at its Tamworth engineering base. Contract completion is estimated for early- to mid-1996. The contract includes an option for work on a fourth aircraft. The airplanes were formerly used by Great China Airlines.
Alphajet International has applied for a certificate to operate interstate combination charter service. The applicant plans to operate most of its charter service carrying freight for United Parcel Service. It also plans to operate passenger charter flights for travel agents and tour operators. Elton Darby is the president of Alphajet and Darby Aviation. (OST-95-703)
Continental's traffic fell 11% in September on a 14% decline in capacity as the carrier continued to eliminate unprofitable flying. It reported the highest September load factor in its history, 65.1%, a 2.2-point increase from last September. It flew 3.1 billion revenue passenger miles and 4.8 billion available seat miles. Sept 95 Sept 94 9 Mths 95 9 Mths 94 RPMs 3,115,116,000 3,499,559,000 30,587,988,000 31,169,941,000
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lamar Davis Thursday turned up the heat on both the FAA and Brunswick, Ga.-based TPI International Airways to settle their enforcement dispute out of court and ordered them to explain during a Nov. 4 hearing why they have not done so. Davis wants to know why TPI has not pushed for a hearing on the disputed FAA allegations that include $800,000 in civil penalties. Also on Nov.
USAir's passenger traffic declined 6% on 11.5% fewer available seat miles last month, pushing the airline's load factor up 3.7 percentage points to 62.1%. The length of the average passenger journey rose 5.7% to 661 miles. Through the first nine months of this year, USAir's traffic rose 0.1% on 2% less capacity, causing the load factor to increase 1.3 points to 64.3%.
Saab 2000 launch customer Crossair has exercised five of its 25 options for the high-speed turboprop, Saab announced. Crossair placed the aircraft in service in September 1994. The order will bring the Swissair subsidiary's total commitment to 25 Saab 2000s and 20 options. The manufacturer has won 40 firm orders for the aircraft.
FAA will participate in a workshop and trade show Oct. 15-17 in Warsaw. Barry Valentine, assistant administrator for policy, planning and international aviation, will lead a workshop on managing airports and aviation in the 21st century. The conference is sponsored by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Airport Consultants Council and the Polish Airports State Enterprise. More than 60 leading Central and Eastern European airport project managers are expected to attend the conference, and Valentine said it will provide and opportunity for U.S.
LOT Polish Airlines has upgraded its connectivity level in the Infini computer reservations system to Direct Access, an enhanced function enabling Infini subscribers to retrieve information on a real-time basis from the airline's system. In addition, confirmed bookings made through Direct Access will be guaranteed. To date, 41 Infini participating airlines are the using Direct Access function.
TAP Air Portugal's passenger traffic rose 2.6% in August to 878.8 million revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded increased 5.1% to 418,956, and cargo traffic was up 8.2% to 15.4 million freight tonne kilometers. Through the first eight months of this year, TAP's passenger traffic rose 0.7% to 5.17 billion RPKs and the number of passengers boarded 5% to 2.48 million. Cargo traffic for the eight-month period increased 3.2% from a year ago to 1.27 billion FTKs.
...AvStat President Doug Abbey said that 20 airport-pairs, none of which had shown regional-passenger activity in 1993, each produced more than 20,000 passengers in 1994. Only one, Chicago O'Hare-Columbus, accounted for more than 100,000 passengers in the first full year of service. Most posted boardings in the 25,000-35,000 range.
Hughes Aircraft of Canada said yesterday the Treasury Board of Canada has approved an amended, $360 million contract from Transport Canada to develop and install the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS), a national air traffic control system that now is to be delivered by July 1998. The contract was held up after Hughes started work because of differences over the scope and cost of the project. Originally, CAATS was to have been completed in 1996. The Canadian project still will be completed long before its counterpart in the U.S., however.
American has withdrawn its complaint concerning self-handling at Milan Malpensa Airport against the government of Italy, Italy's Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport, Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali and Alitalia. "Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali has now agreed that American may engage in those self-handling activities of interest to American at Malpensa," said the carrier, resolving the issues raised by American in its Nov. 9, 1992, petition. (Docket 47956)
USAir Express carrier CommutAir will begin serving Worcester, Mass., from New York LaGuardia and Philadelphia Nov. 1. CommutAir will operate five daily flights in both markets. The carrier will use Beech 1900D aircraft, seating 19 passengers.
Lufthansa will begin code-sharing flights with Thai Airways International and will launch service to Lima and Quito this winter. With the introduction of Lufthansa's winter schedule on Oct. 29, Thai and Lufthansa will offer 14 flights a week from Frankfurt to Bangkok, as well as two flights a week from Munich to Bangkok, with connecting flights to Chian Mai and Phuket. Seven of the 14 Frankfurt-Bangkok flights, as well as the connecting flights in Thailand, will be operated by Thai.
Fokker has authorized Honeywell to add Global Positioning System functionality to the Honeywell Flight Management for the Fokker 100 and 70 aircraft, Honeywell said.
American has given struggling Hawaiian Airlines another 45 days to make good on $6.9 million in back lease and maintenance payments the smaller carrier owes on the handful of DC-10s it leases from American. Hawaiian, which got a similar extension in August, said the deferral is needed to give the company more time to obtain additional financing (DAILY, Aug. 24). At the same time, Hawaiian has asked its pilots, flight attendants, ground crews and clerical staff to accept contract extensions beyond their current terms.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air last month recorded a load factor decline of 3.6 percentage points to 60.1% from 63.7% in September 1994. Traffic increased 5% to 71 million revenue passenger miles from 68 million in the prior-year period, but capacity rose 11% to 118 million available seat miles from 106 million. Sept. 1995 Sept. 1994 9 Mths 1995 9 Mths 1994 RPMs 71,000,000 68,000,000 631,000,000 532,000,000 ASMs 118,000,000 106,000,000 1,070,000,000 845,000,000
