Piper Aircraft has emerged from bankruptcy protection after four years when a U.S. bankruptcy judge Monday in Miami approved its sale for $95 million to creditors and the Philadelphia investment firm Dimeling, Schreiber and Park. The investment firm will own 50% of New Piper Aircraft Inc., and Teledyne, Piper's largest creditor, and the remaining Piper creditors will own the rest. Piper filed for bankruptcy in July 1991. A new board will be appointed. Piper President Charles Suma will continue in that role.
Lufthansa Technik has developed a new method of repairing parts of Airbus A300 and A310 engine cowlings damaged by moisture and hot air. Claiming a reduction in cost and time, the Hamburg engineers use a highly resistant bonding system and install a drainage system that allows water to run off instead of collecting in the interior of the cowling, avoiding damage on parts of the cowlings caused by moisture and hot air from anti-ice ducts.
Alaska Airlines has asked for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between Anchorage and Russian points Magadan, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. Asking for a five-year renewal, Alaska also requested that its authority be amended to add Petropavlovsk-Kamschatski as a co-terminal point. (Dockets 47840&49365 or OST-95-259)
Alaska Airlines registered 89% on-time performance in May, the best monthly record of the nation's 10 largest carriers tracked in DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report. The overall on-time mark for the month was 80.7%, down from 81.3% in April. USAir ranked second with 84.9%, followed by Southwest, 83.6%, and Northwest, 83.4%. After topping the list in April, Continental slipped to eighth place. As in the reports for the first four months of the year, the on-time data for May include mechanical delays and cancellations.
United has promoted Thomas Mutryn to VP and treasurer and Gregory Taylor to VP-revenue management. Mutryn was VP-revenue management, and Taylor was director-domestic revenue management.
Air Canada has agreed on a two-year contract with its Machinists unit that provides an 8% salary increase in three increments over the two-year period. In return, the company gets more flexibility in using part-time employees and in bidding for third-party maintenance work. The IAM represents nearly 6,600 of Air Canada's 18,500 employees.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic October 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 1,125 2.45 2,301 2,588,066 Atlantic 331 2.51 4,111 1,360,828
Member companies of St. Louis' Civic Progress purchased another 55,000 tickets on cash-strapped TWA. The companies pre-purchased the same amount in March (DAILY, March 17), and this purchase completes their commitment to buy six months worth of travel in advance. Civic Progress President William Maritz said, "Our members believe that the best way to assure hub air service is to protect the long-term viability of TWA."
Alaska Airlines' fall schedule changes include an increase from two to five daily Seattle-Spokane flights, beginning Sept. 10. Seattle-Anchorage service will go up to 15 flights a day. Alaska will extend its summer schedule in the Seattle-Juneau market with one additional flight through Oct. 1, as well as an extra flight between Seattle and Ketchikan. In Mexico, it plans another daily roundtrip from Los Angeles to Los Cabos for a total of four a day.
Air South is moving flights serving Petersburg/Clearwater Airport to Tampa Airport Aug. 6. The carrier will fly to Tampa from Atlanta, Columbia, Miami and Tallahassee. Air South, which has served the Tampa Bay area for the past year, said it is making the change because of the "vast difference" in passenger enplanements between the two airports and the withdrawal of jet service by other carriers at Tampa. Air South VP- Marketing Tom Volz said Tampa handles 12 times the number of passengers traveling through St. Petersburg.
Gulf Air has upgraded its level of connectivity with the Infini computer reservations system to Direct Access, which it is using in combination with Locator Back. Direct Access enables Infini subscribers to retrieve information in real time directly from the airline's system.
Airports participating in Geneva-based Airports Council International's latest traffic survey reported a roughly 6% increase in passenger traffic, while cargo volume rose 12% during the first quarter of 1995, compared with the same 1994 period. Aircraft movements increased 3% at the more-than-430 participating airports. In March, passenger traffic was up 4%, cargo volume 11% and aircraft movements 1%, compared with March 1994.
Eastern, in a second distribution, has paid $28.6 million to holders of general unsecured claims greater than $100,000. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. received more than $14 million, Eastern said. The distribution represents 2.5 cents per dollar of the allowed claims greater than $100,000. Added to the initial distribution in April of 4.25 cents per dollar, the total distribution to date to large creditors amounts to 6.75 cents per dollar of allowed claims.
GE90-powered Boeing 777s, grounded for more than a month, may return to certification test flying early next week, following a successful test last Friday of a GE90 with redesigned fan platforms. Officials said yesterday that the new components should start arriving today at Boeing Field in Seattle, Wash., for installation on two flying GE90s. After ground testing to verify the installation, Boeing will confirm to airworthiness authorities that the engines are ready to resume certification testing.
DOT and FAA told airlines this week that failure to remit to airports the passenger facility charges they have collected could lead to civil penalties, negative fitness determinations and even criminal prosecution. In a July 10 notice to U.S. and foreign carriers, officials of the FAA chief counsel and the DOT general counsel offices said some carriers may be collecting PFCs but failing to remit them to airports as required by regulation.
Air South yesterday reported a net profit of $231,000 for June, its first full month of profitable operations. The airline, which began flying last Aug. 22, had operating revenues of nearly $5.9 million. Air South, which operates seven 737-200s, serves Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic October 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 744 32.55 831 618,749 Aloha 397 3.55 135 53,762
Delta's June domestic passenger traffic fell 0.6% from the same month a year ago on 1.7% more capacity (DAILY, July 10). Its international traffic fell 3.2% on 5.1% less capacity. Systemwide results: June 95 June 94 6 Mths 95 6 Mths 94 RPMs 7,678,316,000 7,779,573,000 41,588,847,000 41,530,695,000 ASMs 11,002,292,000 11,011,381,000 64,513,163,000 64,183,900,000 LoadFtr% 69.8 70.7 64.5 64.7
Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett will be the guest speaker at the International Aviation Club's monthly luncheon July 18. Lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. at the International Club, 1800 K St. N.W., Washington.
Southwest's June passenger traffic rose 11.3% from the same month a year ago, but its capacity increased 14.4%, resulting in a load factor decline of two percentage points. The number of passengers carried was up 7.1%, and the average length of haul rose 3.9% to 531 miles. June 95 June 94 6 Mths 95 6 Mths 94 RPMs 2,116,829,265 1,931,916,520 11,198,328,766 10,496,350,695 ASMs 2,992,195,624 2,614,548,191 17,447,196,592 15,334,297,242
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Traffic October 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) America West 1,226 (2.13) 783 959,563 American 5,949 (0.60) 1,033 6,143,972
DOT Secretary Federico Pena is scheduled to testify today at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on airline global access issues (DAILY, July 10). Also slated to testify are Frederick Smith, Federal Express president and CEO, Gerald Greenwald, United chairman and CEO, and Jeffrey Erickson, TWA president and CEO. The hearing is taking place as the U.S. resumes talks in Berlin aimed at gaining open skies with Germany and prepares to continue negotiations with Japan in Tokyo.
KLM's systemwide traffic, including passenger, cargo and mail, increased 9% last month over June a year ago, to 651.1 million revenue ton kilometers, on 9% more capacity. The airline's overall load factor inched up 0.4 percentage points to 74.4%. Passenger traffic increased in June to 3.71 billion revenue passenger kilometers on 1% more capacity, pushing the load factor up to 76.4% from 72.5% in June a year ago.
Midway Airlines will begin nonstop service between Jacksonville and Raleigh/Durham July 31, and between Jacksonville and Orlando, using F100s. The carrier will increase flights to both cities this fall.
