U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Share of Service Fourth Quarter 1994 Total Revenue Departures America West 46,343 American 189,262 Continental 132,810 Delta 230,435 Northwest 132,156 Southwest 165,735 TWA 66,321 United 174,910
Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) brought to Le Bourget for the first time the new "hot-and-high" ATR 42-500. New Pratt&Whitney PW127E turboprops give the aircraft enough performance to operate from Denver, Bogota or Mexico City - all on the order of 5,000 feet above sea level - at temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit with no payload Pena lty. The -500 has a takeoff balanced field length of 3,710 feet under sea-level ISA conditions, or 4,396 feet at an elevation of 3,000 feet under ISA plus 10 degrees Celsius.
Mesa Air Group's stock is undervalued and management should take action to enhance shareholders' value, company chairman Larry Risley said in agreeing with a June 7 Securities and Exchange Commission filing by FMR Corp., which has taken a 6.23% stake in the airline company (DAILY, June 9). But Risley also said, "We disagree that at this time one of those options should be the sale of the company.
U.S. Major Carriers Share of Atlantic Service Fourth Quarter 1994 Total Revenue Departures American 5,578 Continental 1,229 Delta 8,764 Northwest 1,420 TWA 2,614 United 4,185 USAir 552 Total 24,342 Average Number of
Bombardier would like to be involved in a new 100-passenger airliner project but has no desire to lead it, according to Bob Brown, president of the Canadian manufacturer's Aerospace Group-North America, which comprises Canadair, de Havilland, Learjet and the aerospace activities of the Shorts Group. "We've always competed in a niche where we can be a leader," he said. "All our products except the Global Express long-range high-speed business jet are derivatives.
China Airlines and its wholly owned subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines, signed an agreement with four international banks for an $85 million syndicated loan for the purchase of a Boeing 747-400 to be used by Mandarin, Taipei's Economic Daily News reported. ABN-AMRO Bank of Holland and Societe Generale of France each will provide $30 million and Banque Paribas and Banque Nationale de Paris will provide $25 million, according to the report.
Air Transport Association board has agreed to support language adopted last week in the Senate anti-terrorism bill requiring foreign carriers to provide the identical level of security as U.S. carriers.Sources said FAA officials have mischaracterized U.S. airlines as being in disagreement on the issue.
Boeing, Airbus, Saab and Embraer unveiled firm orders, a confirmation and a memorandum of understanding from nine airlines for a total of 96 new aircraft during the first hours of the Paris Air Show, and more announcements are likely over the next several days. The first rush of orders, which included some conversions of previously announced options into firm orders, did not involve any McDonnell Douglas aircraft or widebodies from Boeing or Airbus Industrie.
Majors continued hiring the most pilots in May, as five of them took on a total of 263. United hired 141, FedEx 48, UPS 28, Northwest 26 and Southwest 20. Pilots on furlough increased during the month to 2,543. American, Delta, USAir and America West account for 64% of all furloughed pilots, according to AIR, Inc.
State of the industry: A press conference at the Paris Air Show by Boeing Commercial President Ron Woodard and Boeing Defense President Jerry King prompted numerous questions for Woodard, none for King.
ValuJet plans to formally recognize the flight and cabin crew on Flight 597, a DC-9 that caught fire last Thursday during taxi for takeoff at Atlanta Hartsfield with 55 passengers aboard. The fire started in an engine and spread to the forward roof of the cabin, injuring four passengers and three flight attendants. All were released after hospital treatment except one of the flight attendants, who still was hospitalized yesterday with second- and third-degree burns on her arms and legs.
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Ba3 rating to Alaska Air Group's proposed $100 million convertible senior debentures due in 2005. Moody's said it also assigned prospective ratings to the airline company's $200 million shelf registration of (P)Ba3 senior unsecured and (P)Ba3 subordinated debt, and to Alaska Airlines of (P)Baa2 equipment trust certificates and (P)Ba1 senior unsecured debt.
American and TWA praised the House majority and minority leaders for their criticism of the recently concluded U.S.-U.K. aviation mini-deal. Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Texas) and Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) called on DOT Secretary Federico Pena to press the U.K. for comprehensive liberalization in upcoming talks (DAILY, June 9). In a letter to Pea, the legislators termed the current bilateral "a monument to British protectionism."
Atlantic Southeast Airlines' May passenger traffic declined 1.8% from the same month a year ago on 2.4% more capacity, causing the Delta Connection carrier's load factor to slip two percentage points to 46.9%. The number of passengers boarded was off 0.9%. "We were pleased with our May traffic in light of the significant impact the adverse weather conditions had on our operations during the month, particularly at our Dallas hub," said ASA President John Beiser.
Jaynne Allison, American's VP-corporate real estate, has been named VP- human resources. She succeeds Mary Jordan, who was named president of American Eagle carrier Wings West last week.
AirTran Corp.'s board declared a quarterly cash dividend of three cents per share to be paid June 28 to stockholders of record as of June 16. AirTran is the parent company of two airline subsidiaries, Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba Aviation and Orlando-based jet operator AirTran Airways. As of June 6, there were about 8.66 million shares of AirTran Corp. stock outstanding. The company has paid a quarterly dividend since 1987.
American has requested an emergency allocation of four of the 16 additional weekly frequencies to Brazil granted under the new U.S.-Brazil aviation agreement, for use in continuing daily nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Sao Paulo after July 31. The carrier was allotted the four frequencies earlier this year on a temporary basis, until United expanded its service between Miami and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from three flights a week to daily (DAILY, March 29).
SAS suspended all flight operations yesterday for the second time in five days and may do so again tomorrow unless management and pilot union negotiators can settle an increasingly acrimonious dispute over wage rates (DAILY, June 12). SAS canceled 800 flights as a result of yesterday's 24- hour pilot strike/lockout, which followed the failure of talks Saturday and Sunday. Operations were expected to be back to near-normal today, but disruptions were expected in some long-haul markets.
Atlas Air is purchasing three Boeing 747-200 combi aircraft from Alitalia. The Golden, Colo.-based cargo carrier expects to have all the aircraft in service by early 1996. Upon delivery, Atlas plans to modify the aircraft to high-gross-weight, full-freighter configuration, bringing its 747 freighter fleet to 12.
The 27-passenger Antonov An-38 light transport, the first new commercial aircraft designed and built by a Russian military aircraft manufacturer with Western engines, is appearing at Paris for the first time. Paris flights count toward the Russian certification and flight test program. The An-38 has completed about 90 flights and 112 hours of the 250 it needs. The aircraft is scheduled to be certified by the Russian Interstate Registry by December, and subsequently by the FAA. The An-38 is powered by AlliedSignal TPE321-14 engines, and the U.S.
Speaking in Paris on the eve of the Paris Air Show last Friday, DOT Secretary Federico Pena reaffirmed the administration's policy of pursuing liberal open skies agreements where possible. In the speech, delivered to U.S. aerospace industry representatives, he pledged to "move forward with other countries in Europe that are ready and willing to proceed with fundamental liberalization of air service markets." He outlined current liberalization efforts, including open skies agreements with nine European countries.
Gulfstream has put development of its GIV-B on hold for a year following a marketing study that concluded potential customers do not put "a high value" on the aircraft's 5% to 7% range increase compared with the GIV-SP. "While the feasibility study we conducted in conjunction with Textron Aerostructures confirms that there is adequate growth in the GIV-SP airframe to incorporate the increased range, the market survey told us the GIV-SP is the solid market leader and that it will stay that way," Gulfstream Aircraft president Bill Boisture said.
The increasingly acrimonious air services dispute between Hong Kong and Australia ended up in Australia's Federal Court last week, as Cathay Pacific Airways accused the Australian government of misusing its powers and unlawfully banning Cathay's service to Australia as of June 30. The airline asked the court to quash the ban, which was proposed by the Australian Department of Transport. A preliminary hearing was held Friday in Sydney, and the parties are expected back in court tomorrow.
International markets accounted for more than 70% of Sabre's growth in 1994, according to the computer reservations system company. Sabre has 122,138 terminals installed at 29,275 travel agencies in 74 countries.
DOT has approved renewal of the British Airways-USAir authority to operate code-share services to 66 interior U.S. cities through BA's gateways and in the Philadelphia-Mexico market, and an expansion to 65 more U.S. and seven international cities in the so-called third phase of the code-share arrangement. The approvals result from the recent U.S.-U.K. mini-deal, which included assurances that these applications would be approved in seven days (DAILY, June 6). Among the U.S. cities added under the expanded code-share authority are Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
