U.S. and Japanese officials, who met Sunday and Monday without resolving aviation issues, were scheduled to meet again last night, an industry source said.The talks focused on cargo - specifically, Federal Express's complaint about not being allowed to operate between Japan and the Philippines. Talks have been at the vice minister level so far, and it was unclear yesterday whether DOT Secretary Federico Pea and Japan's Transport Minister, Shizuka Kamei, will meet, the source said.
TWA will begin hourly service to Kansas City from its St. Louis hub tomorrow, with flights departing at the top of the hour. The schedule change includes service to three new cities and 19 new daily departures from St. Louis. New jet service will be inaugurated to Memphis, Knoxville and Madison. The addition of an 11th bank of flights will mean shorter connecting times at the hub, TWA said. TWA feeder Trans States Airlines will increase daily departures to 176 from 162 by adding flights to Milwaukee and Nashville.
The cities of Chicago and Gary, Ind., have dropped a lawsuit, filed in April, that sought a declaratory judgment validating a pact they struck to form the Chicago-Gary Regional Airport Authority. They filed the suit because they believed Illinois lawmakers were going to pass legislation creating a competing state airport authority during the spring legislative session, the city of Chicago said. "The General Assembly has concluded its spring session without passing any competing legislation," Chicago Corporation Counsel Susan Sher said.
Aer Lingus has upgraded its connectivity level within the Infini computer reservations system to Direct Access. The higher level of participation enables Infini's travel agent subscribers to retrieve information, including last-seat availability and schedule display, on a real-time basis directly from the airline's system. In addition, confirmed bookings made through Direct Access are guaranteed. Aer Lingus now uses Direct Access in combination with Infini's Locator Back product. Forty-one Infini participating carriers use Direct Access.
Harry Kimbriel, founder of aviation/financial firm Kimbriel&Associates, died June 9 in Alto, N.M. He had worked for American from 1958 until 1973. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. June 17 at St. Philips in the Hills in Tucson.
The French government has finally agreed to a longstanding demand from cash-strapped French enginemaker Snecma for an injection next year to help it launch development of the 40,000-lbst. CFM-XX turbofan, Snecma chief Bernard Dufour said yesterday in Paris.
U.S. manufacturers recorded 62 orders for large commercial jet transports in the first quarter, the Aerospace Industries Association said yesterday. U.S. companies received 62 of the 70 net orders placed worldwide. In all of 1994, U.S. manufacturers received 79 orders from a net total of 150 for commercial jet transports. During the three-month period, U.S. manufacturers shipped 72 of the 112 large commercial jet transports produced. Last year, U.S. manufacturers shipped 309 of 432 large commercial jets produced.
LTU International Airways plans to begin weekly service between Dusseldorf and Daytona Beach Nov. 2. LTU said it will become the first scheduled airline to offer nonstop international service to and from Daytona Beach. The airline will use a 288-passenger L-1011-500 to operate the service, which will continue on to one of LTU's Latin American destinations. Feeder service to and from Munich also will be available. LTU will operate the service until April 25. Separately, LTU is offering an early-booking special for the fall 1995 season from its U.S.
Abacus Distribution Systems recently named three managers to new positions. Joseph Cheung, named senior manager-operations, will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the Abacus system, as well as the Abacus Transport Network. Thomas Wong has been named senior manager-China, in charge of exploring and understanding the China travel industry and marketing the Abacus system. Lim Phay-Ling has been named manager-marketing communications.
FAA has awarded a contract for technical assistance in the development of the next generation air traffic automation systems to TRW Government Services in a new, streamlined contracting process. The seven-year contract, valued at $231 million, calls for TRW to provide up to 4.5 million hours of engineering and related services. George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisitions, said the contract is important to FAA for two reasons.
Boeing is expected to announce today several airline customers for the not- yet-launched 777-300, the stretch version of the 777, clearing the way for management to ask its board for a launch go-ahead. Among the carriers said to be set to announce orders is Korean Air, which plans to take four firm and four option 777-300s as well as four firm and four option 777-Bs, according to Pratt&Whitney. Korean Air has selected growth versions of the PW4000 engine to power new Airbus A330s and 777s in an engine deal valued at $850 million.
Several carriers launched more domestic summer fare sales this week, beginning with Northwest, which is offering a sale until June 27. The tariffs are up to 35% lower than regular seven-day advance purchase fares, for travel July 2 through July 7. TWA is offering a four-day sale, and tickets must be purchased by midnight June 16. The fares are good for travel July 3 through Oct. 15. They are available in 64 cities nationwide, and are up to 45% off the 21-day advance purchase price. America West said it will offer a fare sale from July 3 through Oct.
FAA yesterday unveiled a plan to conduct and apply human factors research to the National Airspace System. The agency also announced that the first Voice Switching and Control Systems became operational this week. A joint effort of FAA, Defense Department and NASA, "The National Plan for Civil Aviation Human Factors" lays out an agenda to address a key goal of FAA's Strategic Plan - to eliminate accidents caused by human error.
Draft legislation under consideration by House Transportation aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) would establish FAA as an independent agency governed by a five-member Federal Aviation Board. Under the draft bill, obtained by The DAILY, the new FAA would be funded by an off-budget aviation trust fund, consistent with legislation (H.R.842) supported by the House Transportation Committee. The draft, still subject to change, also would reform FAA personnel and procurement requirements.
Lufthansa Cargo has added Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to its network of 22 destinations in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Lufthansa Cargo is operating twice-weekly services between Frankfurt and Baku, using the belly hold space of an A320. The aircraft has a cargo capacity of about three tonnes.
This just in: Luxembourg and Finland quietly signed their open skies agreements with the U.S. on June 6 and 9, respectively. DOT officials were so tightlipped about the signings, even DOT Secretary Federico Pea may have been in the dark. In a speech June 9 in Paris, Pea said agreements with nine countries, including Luxembourg and Finland, "have already been initialed, and we look forward to their formal signing soon."
British Airways is negotiating to buy seats on Transwede's flights between London and Stockholm, but the two carriers have yet to reach an agreement, BA said yesterday responding to press reports that it and KLM are considering taking a stake in the small Swedish airline. KLM said that it had been approached by Transwede about taking a financial interest, but that it is not considering such a transaction. KLM did not rule out other forms of cooperation, however.
Northwest has started equipping its MD-80s with forward-looking windshear radars that can detect and warn crews of windshear up to five miles ahead. Installation of the equipment should be completed by November. Northwest is installing fiberglass honeycomb radomes made by Norton Performance Plastics Corp. with an AlliedSignal RDR4B windshear/weather avoidance radar set.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has opened a new "Clubhouse" lounge, its first in the U.S., for its Upper Class passengers at New York Kennedy in Terminal 1A. "We had always planned to open a lounge for our Upper Class passengers at JFK, but up until now we were not able to find a facility that would showcase our creative and unique style," said Virgin Chairman Richard Branson. "Our new partnership with Delta has given us the opportunity to set up our lounges at our various U.S. gateways," he said.
Air France's systemwide passenger traffic fell 2.4% last month from May 1994 on 2.6% more capacity, producing a load factor decline of 3.5 percentage points to 68%. Its May cargo traffic was down 3.1% on a capacity increase of 2%. Air France's freight load factor dropped 3.4 points to 64%.
Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) has added "Association Member" to its membership categories, offering access to its work/study programs and training conferences.
Waglisla Air has applied for authority to operate scheduled cargo service between Canada and the U.S., with plans for initial service between Vancouver and Seattle using Fairchild F27 aircraft. The British Columbia- based carrier has entered into a one-year contract with United Parcel Service to carry its cargo on the route. (Docket 50386)
The two-day meeting of transportation ministers from the 18 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries began yesterday in Washington as DOT Secretary Federico Pena emphasized the Clinton administration's commitment to "free and open trade and investment throughout the Pacific Rim." Pena identified three key areas for discussion: development of an integrated transportation infrastructure; facilitation, deregulation, liberalization and cooperation in the transportation sector, and safety and security.
