Express One has requested a waiver of the 45-day notice period required before the restart of air operations so it can begin service as soon as it gets authorization from FAA. The cargo and passenger carrier voluntarily grounded its fleet of 39 aircraft June 4 after an FAA investigation "disclosed serious safety concerns." Subsequently, FAA entered into a consent order with Express, imposing a $500,000 civil fine on the carrier and requiring it to take a series of steps (DAILY, June 19). The airline also has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Air South has retained former University of South Carolina and National Basketball Association star Alex English as a spokesman. English will address community and business groups and work as a consultant.
Air Macau is leasing two A320 and two A321 aircraft from International Lease Finance Co. The new regional carrier - and the first airline to be established in Macau - will take delivery of the A321s by the end of the year and the A320s in the first quarter of 1996. All are powered by IAE V2500 engines. Air Macau is 51% owned by Macau Aviation Services Co. Other shareholders include TAP Air Portugal and local interests.
Southwest recaptured low-cost leadership from ValuJet in the fourth quarter by attaining 6.27 cents per available seat mile, compared with 6.47 cents for the new entrant, according to Roberts, Roach&Associates.United's costs were highest - 10.64 cents per ASM, 70% higher than Southwest. Costs increased at ValuJet, American and Northwest.
Qantas will operate a third weekly flight between Sapporo, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, to Cairns and Brisbane, Australia, from Nov. 30, 1995, to March 28, 1996. The added service "is designed to cope with the demand for travel to Queensland and Australia from Hokkaido during the cold northern winter," said Paul Edwards, Qantas executive general manager- pricing, scheduling and yield.
The battle between Australia and Hong Kong continued to heat up, as the government of Australia took steps to limit Cathay Pacific's service to Australia. Beginning July 1, the carrier's Boeing 747-400 service between Hong Kong and Sydney will be limited to 164 passengers, about 40% of capacity, according to a Reuter report. The Australian government action is in response to Hong Kong's decision to restrict the capacity of Qantas's fifth-freedom service through Hong Kong to Singapore and Bangkok.
ValuJet's mechanics and related workers voted this week against representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The National Mediation Board said the union received 11 votes from the 31 eligible voters. The Association of Flight Attendants recently became the first union at the carrier (DAILY, June 2).
Northwest's new Pacific Operations Center (POC) in Japan required an investment of US$1.2 million, excluding the building, but will save the airline an estimated US$3.5 million a year, according to Murray Barrett, head of the POC. The assessment may be conservative. When the carrier built its Systems Operations Control center in Minneapolis in 1991, it cost US$6.7 million and was expected to save US$9 million. But it actually saved the airline US$18 million.
ValuJet Airlines plans to purchase four DC-9s for $18 million, including the cost of hushkitting and other modifications, from McDonnell Douglas and Paxford International. The aircraft, operated previously by Alitalia and Mexican charter carrier SAM, will be delivered in August, September, October and December. In an earlier acquisition, ValuJet expects delivery of three DC-9s in July and another in August, and after the newly announced purchase of four, it will have 36 of the aircraft in its fleet.
Wicat was selected by China Southern Airlines to provide computer-based training file servers and systems for delivery of Boeing 777 flight training courseware.
Air Travel Card interviews with 200 corporate travel decisionmakers in May found that 74% educate business travelers about safety and security. More than half said travel agencies also play a role through written materials or security alerts. The main security concerns of corporate employees traveling in the U.S. are property theft (32%), assault (27%) and lost or stolen travel documents (22%). Top international travel concerns are terrorism (24%) and cultural and custom differences (21%).
Delta plans to discontinue three weekly flights from Frankfurt to Delhi Nov. 30. On Dec. 2, it will expand its four weekly flights to daily service to Bombay from Frankfurt. The carrier operates 218-seat 767-300ER aircraft in the market. The flight to Delhi is being terminated because it requires a circuitous routing due to airspace restrictions over Afghanistan for U.S. carriers, Delta said, which disadvantages U.S. carriers in competing with foreign carriers.
Airlines are concerned about a plan to link Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) with San Francisco Airport, Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett told BART Board President Michael Bernick this week. Hallett said concerns about airport operations, airport security, environmental mitigation and airport and airline liability arose once BART opted for a plan to build a station under San Francisco's future international terminal. She also noted opposition from local public officials.
Officials representing airlines, manufacturers and trade associations met yesterday at the Air Transport Association as part of an attempt to eliminate duplication from their initiatives to solve the unapproved parts problem.The effort grew out of an international maintenance conference sponsored by FAA about 18 months ago.
Air Canada's transborder service with new, efficient Canadair Regional Jets will be a winner as the marketplace adjusts to open skies and a shakeout occurs as it evolves, according to Chairman, President and Chief Executive Hollis Harris. Speaking to the International Aviation Club in Washington, Harris said convenient nonstop services will win out over connecting flights, multistops and hubs.
Any FAA flight- and duty-time rulemaking that does not take into account the "unique nature" of smaller Part 135 operators will be opposed by the National Air Transportation Association. NATA Chairman James Coyne said his members are "extremely concerned with the impending FAA flight- and duty-time proposal," expected by midyear. "FAA claims that it is basing the new rule on scientific data, yet there is nothing scientific about severe economic hardship that forces an aviation business to cease operations," Coyne said.
Air New Zealand is marketing a holiday package to New Zealand through December 1995 in honor of Team New Zealand's recent victory in the America's Cup in San Diego. The carrier is offering North American passengers eight- and 15-day self-drive vacations that include roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles, hotel accommodations, car rental and a two-hour lunch cruise. Packages begin at $1,184 per person for eight days and $1,796 for 15 days. The eight-day trip tours the North Island of New Zealand, with stops in Auckland, Bay of Islands, Waitomo and Rotorua.
America West Vacations, the tour package division of the airline, is offering vacation packages to Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler Resort in British Columbia. The two-night package starts at $349 from Phoenix, $379 from Tucson and $439 from Dallas. The deluxe package includes roundtrip airfare to Vancouver, a choice of hotel accommodations, 500 bonus FlightFund miles and 24-hour customer service, with optional rental car and ground transfers.
ValuJet is the only U.S. airline that currently possesses both a yield premium and cost discount, is run by seasoned operators and "appears to be a success story that has no ending. But we are cautious," says Gruntal Investment Research in initiating coverage of the no-frills carrier with a "neutral" rating. If the carrier's capacity increases fall off from 130% - a level that holds down unit costs - to about 65% without an equal reduction in aggregate outlays, "unit costs would double," Gruntal says. The company acknowledges that this scenario is "not realistic.
Orange County Board of Supervisors' John Wayne Airport Revenue/Sale Task Force issued yesterday the results of a study indicating that a sale of the airport could not take place without overcoming many legal hurdles (DAILY, June 9). The board will meet this afternoon in a special session to examine the report and hear comments from airlines and other interested parties.
European Union transport ministers yesterday gave Neil Kinnock six months to prove that individual EU member states would be better off if they let the European Commission negotiate a multilateral air agreement with the U.S. on their behalf. Kinnock, the European Commission member in charge of transport, who has campaigned for a united front in talks with the U.S. - and against individual open-skies bilateral agreements negotiated by the U.S. with nine European countries - said he was "delighted" with the decision, taken as the ministers met in Luxembourg.
Lone Star Airlines has decided to begin flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Del Rio, Texas, on July 10 because it has received enough commitments from businesses to use the service (DAILY, June 7). The carrier will offer two roundtrip flights each weekday and one on weekends, using new 30-seat Dornier 328s. A Lone Star spokeswoman said the airline received twice as much support as it had hoped, with some businesses buying vouchers for travel in the next year and others committing themselves orally to specific levels of business flights.
A cooperative effort among several airlines, Honeywell and Boeing has won FAA certification of the Future Air Navigation System 1 (FANS-1), which Qantas will introduce this month on air routes over the Pacific. Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and United also participated in the development effort. Aircraft equipped with FANS-1 will make primary use of Global Positioning System equipment for navigation and a data link for two-way communication between pilots and air traffic controllers.
