National Air Transportation Association, in comments submitted yesterday, ridiculed FAA's estimate of the costs to apply transport jet standards to commuter aircraft.The estimate that compliance would result in a $1.91 fare increase "is ludicrous - many carriers are indicating it will result in fare increases 30 times the agency's figure," said NATA President James Coyne.
Alaska Air Group completed an offering of $132.25 million of convertible senior debentures due in 2005, the airline company said (DAILY, June 9). The company increased the original offer of $100 million to $115 million, and the managing underwriters for the offering, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, exercised their 15% overallotment option Thursday morning. The bonds will bear interest at 6.5% and are convertible to common stock at $21.50 per share, about 22% more than Thursday's closing price.
British Airways Holidays is offering summer fly/drive packages across the U.K. for $729 to $949 per person, based on double occupancy. Packages include roundtrip transatlantic air fare to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester, six-day Hertz car rental and one night's hotel accommodation. It also includes complimentary, en-route telephone service for information on tourist areas, medical/legal assistance and weather. Different prices apply to BA's 19 U.S. gateways, and USAir's 61 code-share cities. The package is available from July 1 through Oct. 31.
AirTran Corp. said it received an Internal Revenue Service ruling that makes the distribution of all outstanding shares of its Airways Corp. subsidiary to AirTran's shareholders tax-free for federal income tax purposes. The spinoff of Airways Corp. will qualify as a tax-free reorganization. AirTran has not yet set a date for AirTran's shareholders to vote on the spinoff and other matters.
The U.S. scheduled airline industry's passenger traffic increased 3.4% last month from May a year ago to 42.91 billion revenue passenger miles on 2.1% more capacity, boosting the average load factor 0.8 percentage points to 66.8%, according to Air Transport Association (ATA) data. The number of passengers enplaned increased 1.7%. Domestic traffic grew 3.1% to 31.1 billion RPMs on 1.8% more capacity, boosting the load factor 0.8 points to 65.6%. International traffic rose 4.4% on 3.1% more capacity, producing a load factor increase of 0.9 points to 70.3%.
Teamsters and Machinists unions won narrow victories last week to represent employees at Jetstream International Airlines, a USAir Express carrier. The National Mediation Board said the Machinists received 62 votes from the 118 mechanics and related workers eligible to vote. The Teamsters won 94 votes from 182 fleet and passenger service workers who voted.
World Airlines' attempt to gain South Africa frequencies continues to draw opposition. United joined TWA and USAfrica in urging DOT to dismiss World's application for a temporary allocation of five frequencies - currently USAfrica's - to conduct scheduled combination service between the U.S. and South Africa. Noting current efforts by the U.S. and South Africa to reach a bilateral agreement, with another meeting of the two sides possible by the end of July, United said the U.S. "should not take action with respect to U.S.
U.S.-U.K. working group meetings last week in Washington focused on sorting through technical language on issues involving cargo, charters and pricing, giving officials a head start on plenary sessions scheduled July 17-21 in London, according to Patrick Murphy, DOT acting assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs.
Stepping down June 30 as DOT general counsel, Stephen Kaplan tells The DAILY he is likely to spend his last week at the department in negotiations with Japan, if the two sides agree to meet. In an eventful two years with DOT, Kaplan was instrumental in negotiating the new U.S.-Canada bilateral.
U.S. national airlines hired 787 maintenance technicians in the past 12 months, more than any other category of carriers, and they took on 122 in May, Future Aviation Professionals of America reports. ValuJet hired the most, 119, and its growth continues this month as it takes delivery of more DC-9s. American International Airways hired 107. Maintenance personnel on furlough totals 4,319.
KLM and the union representing its pilots, the VNV, signed an agreement late Thursday ending their months-old contract dispute. In a joint statement issued Friday, KLM and VNV said the agreement covers the terms of the pilots' 1995 labor contract and the basic premises and guidelines for further discussions of pilot-related costs. The pact, reached after four days of negotiations, "underscores that both parties concur on the need for KLM to be competitive in costs and quality.
Bad News: Emery Worldwide President David Beatson says the cargo carrier's operating costs doubled at DIA, and "there is really no added value to our customers there." If airport managers do not "study more seriously" the problems faced by cargo airlines, they will "lose our business," he says.
- In Federal Register dated June 16...Issued an airworthiness directive on Lockheed L-1011-385 aircraft requiring inspection of the bulkhead for cracking at a certain fuselage station...Issued an AD on certain Fokker F28-100 aircraft requiring inspection for proper clearance between the engine fuel supply line and the hydraulic line...Issued an AD on certain Jetstream 4101 aircraft requiring replacement of a certain pressure switch in the fuel system...Issued an AD on certain Fokker F28-100 aircraft that requires inspecting the clearance between the normal maximum deten
World Airways appointed longtime Martinair Holland executive Henk Guitjens to be its senior VP-marketing and sales, with responsibility for marketing its soon-to-be-launched scheduled service and its expanding charter, wet-lease and cargo operations. "My goal is to leverage the expertise, knowledge and innovation that has made World Airways a leader in the charter and air freight industries to ensure the success of our new passenger service," said Guitjens, who leaves Martinair after 27 years.
Air Express International declared a quarterly dividend of five cents payable July 28 to holders of record July 7. The dividend is a 25% increase over the existing dividend and is the fourth increase since AEI reinstated dividend payments in 1991.
Air France will begin installing new seats in the front cabins of its long- haul aircraft this month, according to marketing materials it is sending to its frequent flyers. Two new seats that recline to angles of 127 degrees and 180 degrees, respectively, are being installed as part of a premium- class product upgrade.
American Society of Appraisers elected Max Koeper international president. Experimental Aviation Association named Tom Barrett director-EAA Air Adventure Museum.
Good News: Delays at the new Denver Airport are averaging less than one- half of one percent of operations, compared with more than 3% of operations at Stapleton in the same period last year, according to FAA Administrator David Hinson."At the current rate, we expect that DIA will handle more than 500,000 operations and 33 million passengers in the first year."
A giant Aeroflot An-124 cargo aircraft was scheduled to fly out of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport during the weekend after spending more than 10 days on the ground due to a paperwork problem. The four-engine transport, which resembles the Lockheed C-5, brought a load of cargo to DFW June 13 but needed an engine change to resume its schedule. Russian authorities loaded a replacement engine aboard a Volga Dnepr Il-76 and it arrived June 17 - without any of the paperwork needed to satisfy U.S. Customs.
Lufthansa Technik, the German carrier's 100%-owned overhaul and maintenance subsidiary, has determined through a survey that 92% of the world's aircraft operators are too small for in-house overhaul capacity to pay off. Only 98 of 1,200 operators worldwide have fleets of more than 30 aircraft "and thus begin to approach critical size," said Lufthansa Technik, which does O&M work for Lufthansa and for third parties.
Retired Vice Adm. Donald Engen, a former FAA administrator and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, will lead a four-member panel convened by the Air Force to help determine why the service has had so many aircraft accidents recently - 18 this year, 10 of them in the past two months, that involved fatalities, aircraft destruction or $1 million in damage. Members of the panel are retired AF Gen.
Aeromexico Vacations, launched in 1992 by Aeromexico, says business rose 29% last year. It offers service on Aeromexico along with various hotel packages to Mexican destinations, as well as Colonial Cities Tours and Copper Canyon Adventure. Aeromexico Vacations also offers special honeymoon, golf and fishing vacations from all Aeromexico gateways.
Rep. Jon Christensen (R-Neb.) plans to introduce the Independent Contractor Tax Simplification Act, supported by the American Society of Travel Agents, to set new criteria for determining who is an independent contractor and who is an employee. ASTA said the bill would systematically set out the parameters that define employment, including the payment of commissions, purchasing products for resale, liabilities for non- performance, non-reimbursable expenses and contractual obligations.
FAA's plan to require operators of regional aircraft to adhere to the same standards as larger jet transports will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and reduce safety and payload, according to a report by Morten Beyer and Associates. The Beyer report specifically concerns 15- to 19- seat aircraft produced by U.S. manufacturers.
