Transavia Airlines, 80% owned by the KLM Group, will take over KLM's twice- weekly Amsterdam-Tunis roundtrip service on Nov. 1. KLM's last flight in the market will be Oct. 29. Transavia is focusing on expanding its scheduled service from northern Europe to sun destinations.
DOT told Nations Air Wednesday it has five days to appeal the department's decision to make public information the carrier supplied on the extent to which Frank Lorenzo is involved in controlling or owning the airline. DOT asked the carrier to submit more information on who its new president will be and the provisions for stockholder rights and voting trusts because it is concerned Lorenzo may be exercising control over the carrier's operations (DAILY, Sept. 8). Nations Air requested confidentiality for all information submitted.
Alitalia told the Italian Transport Ministry that it is prepared to suspend up to 74 flights to cope with a work-to-rule action by air traffic controllers. Alitalia's proposal, to which the Transport Ministry had not responded by yesterday afternoon, was at least in part the result of a near mid-air collision between two passenger jets near Milan Sunday. Alitalia, which operated a regular schedule yesterday, said it would suspend 56 domestic and 17 international flights. The service suspension would not affect flights to the U.S.
Canada 3000 airlines is seeking authority to operate scheduled combination service between any point or points in Canada and any point or points in the U.S. The carrier plans to begin Oct. 1 operating scheduled service on a number of routes - Calgary-Honolulu/Los Angeles/Maui/Orlando/Palm Springs/Phoenix, Montreal-Fort Lauderdale, Edmonton-Honolulu/Los Angeles/Maui/Palm Springs/Phoenix/Fort Lauderdale, Toronto-Fort Lauderdale/Fort Myers/Los Angeles/Orlando/St.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will brief its member states this month on a recently approved mechanism to assist states in improving their safety oversight capabilities. The briefing will be part of the 31st Session of the ICAO Assembly scheduled Sept. 19-Oct. 4 in Montreal. During the session, the assembly will vote on ICAO's work program and three-year budget for the 1996-1998 period.
Duff&Phelps Credit Rating (DCR) yesterday assigned an A rating to Southwest's senior secured securities, including equipment trust certificates and equipment pass through certificates, and an A- rating to its senior notes and debentures. DCR assigned an A rating to the proposed issuance of about $250 million in equipment pass through certificates.
Maverick Airways is seeking a certificate to operate scheduled service to Rocky Mountain resort and business destinations. In its operating plan, the carrier has targeted communities where regional service has been reduced or eliminated. If approved, Maverick said it plans to begin in the fall service from Denver, Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City to Aspen, Steam-boat Springs, Telluride and Grand Junction, Colo., as well as several Wyoming communities, including Rock Springs.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR flew 12.3 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 6.3% drop from the same month in 1994. Capacity rose 10% to 27.5 million available seat miles from nearly 25 million, driving the load factor down 7.7 percentage points to 44.8% from 52.5%. Aug. 95 Aug. 94 8 Mths 95 8 Mths 94 RPMs 12,298,496 13,118,731 91,142,458 98,111,101 ASMs 27,477,508 24,971,155 209,199,686 189,797,964
As the U.S.-U.K. negotiations enter a critical stage this week, the U.K. transport chief stressed the need for the countries to face difficult issues. In a speech marking the inauguration of United's new Chicago- London service, Transport Secretary George Young said he was "a firm believer in liberalization," but added that "true liberalization...goes further than a simple removal of current restrictions on routes and capacity." Addressing the longer-term shape of a liberalized U.S.-U.K. agreement, "we will want to ensure that U.K.
Fleet shopping is intensifying with Northwest Airlink Mesaba calling for route analyses from all regional aircraft manufacturers in the 30-seat- plus class. The carrier says it wants to phase out its 26 19-seat Metro IIIs in favor of a "more cost-effective, customer-friendly aircraft." In addition, the five-year leases on its 25 de Havilland Dash 8s begin expiring next year, and it speaks of "fleet renewal." The competition looks to be an intense one, with de Havilland seeking to defend its turf against the Dornier 328/328EC, Saab 340/2000, ATR and Jetstream.
USAir is offering coach prices for first-class seats to passengers flying from Charleston, S.C., to the West. The "A4Coach" fares are for flights to Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle and San Francisco. Passengers who purchase unrestricted coach-class tickets can upgrade to the first-class cabin, subject to availability.
British Aerospace unit Avro International Aerospace this week launched a North American tour of the RJ85 jet. The tour, which began Sept. 11 in Washington, D.C., will end in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 27.
DOT ruled Wednesday that the City of Los Angeles must file a letter of credit covering a disputed amount in a complaint filed by the Air Transport Association over rates and charges at Los Angeles Airport (DAILY, Aug. 29). The security amount, based on the new fee of $2.06 per thousand pounds landed weight, was calculated by the airlines to total $5,883,309. DOT did not agree with the City's estimate of $1.6 million.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to launch service to Macau and Cairns, and increase service to Auckland, Christchurch, Johannesburg, Sydney and a number of destinations in Southeast Asia with the implementation of its northern winter schedule Oct. 29. Service to Cairns will be operated twice a week with Airbus A310s. One weekly outbound flight to Cairns, and one weekly inbound flight to Singapore will stop in Darwin. Nonstop Macau service will start Dec. 1 with twice-weekly A310 flights.
The six airlines being sued by travel agents alleging collusion in capping domestic commissions have filed a joint motion with the court for an interlocutory appeal. The airlines are appealing a determination by Federal Judge James Rosenbaum that there is sufficient evidence of possible collusion to proceed with a jury trial. At a news briefing yesterday on a wide range of issues, Paul Ruden, senior VP-legal and industry affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), said the motion indicates none of the airlines is thinking of settling at this time.
An unidentified caller phoned in a bomb threat Wednesday to the Indianapolis center, but FAA management officials outside the facility decided not to evacuate it or tell employees of the threat, Tom Demske, VP of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) local at the center, said yesterday. Demske said the caller phoned the threat to an unlisted number at the guard house at 4:10 p.m. and again at 5:22 p.m., saying a bomb would detonate in one hour and 30 minutes.
Delta Connection carrier Comair's August traffic rose 23.9% on 14.5% more capacity, boosting the airline's load factor 4.2 percentage points to 55.4%. The number of passengers boarded increased 17.5%. Through the first eight months of 1995, Comair's traffic increased 26.8% on 22.2% more capacity. August 1995 August 1994 8 Mths 1995 8 Mths 1994 RPMs 110,608,000 89,268,000 764,611,000 603,184,000 ASMs 199,515,000 174,207,000 1,492,104,000 1,220,929,000
Loral Air Traffic Control yesterday was awarded a $10 million FAA contract to begin production and installation of new hardware and software to replace aging display channel computers at five air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs). Under the Display Channel Complex Rehost (DCCR) program, Loral will provide new mainframe computer hardware and software to replace IBM 9020E display channel complex computers that have been in operation since the early 1970s.
The European Union's competition authority approved a proposed regional aircraft joint venture between British Aerospace and the French/Italian partnership Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) - but for only five years. The European Commission said the international consortium would not seriously reduce or eliminate competition.
Minneapolis-based Mesaba Aviation, a Northwest Airlink affiliate, has named industry veteran Darrell Richardson as VP and chief operating officer for the carrier. Richardson, who had been senior VP-operations for Express Airlines I and had held many other positions at regional airlines, will assume the operating duties formerly held by John Fredericksen, who was named VP-finance, administration and general counsel for Mesaba Airlines and Mesaba's parent company, Mesaba Holdings, Inc.
DOT has extended Air Midwest's obligation to continue operating essential air service at Topeka, Kan., 30 days through Oct. 15, or until a carrier that can provide the EAS begins the service, whichever occurs first. The carrier, operating as USAir Express, originally told DOT it intended to halt its Beech 1900 service at Topeka on July 11, but it was required to continue the service until Sept. 15 (DAILY, Aug. 11). DOT said it has not yet received any service proposals, however.
The U.S. scheduled airline industry flew 1.9% more revenue passenger miles last month than in August a year ago, according to the Air Transport Association (ATA). The industry's capacity rose 0.7%, while its passenger enplanements declined 1.3%. The load factor gained 0.9 percentage points, to 73.6%. U.S. airlines' domestic traffic rose 1.1% on 0.1% more capacity, and their international traffic increased 3.7% on 2.4% more capacity.
Delta is expanding its schedule from Atlanta to Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington National Dec. 1 to increase convenience for business travelers throughout the day. It is adding eight flights a day to DFW for a total of 18, and eight return flights for a total of 17. Departures from Atlanta to Washington will leave at 25 minutes past the hour and all flights from Washington at 55 minutes after the hour. It is offering 13 flights throughout the day.
United has applied for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination services between Atlanta, Houston and Tampa and points in the Cayman Islands, under a code-share pact with Cayman Airways. (Docket 49851&OST-95-556)
