Aeroflot-Russia International Airlines is applying for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between Russia, via intermediate points, and the U.S. co-terminal points New York, Washington, Chicago, Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando. The carrier also seeks renewal of its authority to fly beyond the U.S. points to Chile, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Mexico, and to operate charter service between Russia and the U.S. (Docket 50385)
In the year since they started their code-sharing operation, Lufthansa and United have nearly quadrupled - to 300 a day from 80 - the number of code- sharing flights they offer, Lufthansa said yesterday. The number of destinations the two airlines serve jointly has increased to 78 from 27. Lufthansa said the first year of cooperation has brought the two carriers an additional 1,000 passengers daily, and its passenger load factor on U.S. flights has jumped 10 percentage points to 78%.
Taiwanese carrier Great China Airlines has signed an agreement to buy 12 Dash 8 regional aircraft for US$316 million. Although Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Inc. no longer produces the 70-seat Dash 8, a spokesman said the company hopes the order from Great China will encourage other airlines to order the aircraft, enabling it to reopen production lines. No delivery date was specified in the agreement. The signing was witnessed by Canadian Minister of Transportation Douglas Young and Mao Chi- kuo, Taiwan's vice minister of transportation and communications.
Custom Air Transport is seeking a certificate to begin all-cargo operations. The prospective carrier plans to begin about Aug. 1 to provide scheduled and charter cargo flights using a leased Boeing 727-200 between points in the U.S., initially with roundtrip services between Detroit and Cleveland and Detroit and Kansas City. The new entrant also intends to seek contract business with the U.S. Postal Service, the Military Airlift Command and other potential cargo shippers in interstate and foreign air transportation.
The current upswing in the economic cycle is getting "fresh momentum" from the strengthening of European economies and other factors, according to Air Canada Chairman Hollis Harris. Speaking yesterday to Scotia McLeod's Canadian Airline Investment Conference, Harris said he is optimistic about his airline's prospects for the rest of the decade, and he disagreed with analysts who maintain that the current airline growth cycle is almost spent. "The longer-term fundamentals for North American airlines are encouraging," he said.
Aviation Week Group of The McGraw-Hill Companies will launch the Aviation Week Group Information Center on the CompuServe Information Service with "live" coverage June 11-14 from the Paris Air Show. Services will include a weekly briefing abstracted from all AWG publications, archival and reference databases, interactive access to the AWG editorial staff, a communications forum and hosted conferences.
Continental's shareholders approved the election of 18 directors, amendments to the 1994 Incentive Equity Plan and the appointment of an independent auditor this week at the carrier's annual meeting in Houston. President and Chief Executive Gordon Bethune, speaking after the meeting, said the airline has exceeded its performance targets every month this year, and he expects the first full-year profit in nearly a decade. Bethune reported that Continental Express is performing well and may not be sold or spun off.
Centennial Express is giving fits to the city of Denver and its new Denver International Airport with the prospect of launching regional service from close-in Jeffco Airport. The proposed startup would like to serve the western slope of the Rockies, Wyoming and West Texas from Jeffco with 30-passenger aircraft - Dornier 328s or Saab 340s. The city reportedly promised major DIA tenant United to block scheduled service from airports within 25 miles of DIA.
DOT has tentatively chosen WestAir Commuter Airlines, operating as United Express, to continue to operate essential air service at Merced and Visalia, Calif. The carrier will provide four roundtrips per weekday and five per weekend to San Francisco, routed Visalia-Merced-San Francico and return. At Visalia, WestAir may substitute one nonstop roundtrip between Visalia and San Francisco for two one-stop Visalia-San Francisco roundtrips. All service will be operated with 19-seat Jetstream 31 aircraft.
An Orange County Board of Commissioners' task force investigating the potential sale of the John Wayne Airport said its preliminary findings "clearly discourage private ownership of commercial airports in the U.S." The panel also cited "significant prohibitions against the use of airport revenues for non-airport purposes." The John Wayne Airport Revenue/Sales Task Force, which has been researching revenue opportunities through legal research, airport surveys and other techniques, is expected to report to the supervisors this month.
USAir is opposing Spirit Airlines' bid for 10 arrival and departure slots at New York LaGuardia Airport to operate service to and from Detroit. USAir maintains that Spirit has not demonstrated "exceptional circumstances" that would justify a special exemption from the high density rule at LaGuardia. Spirit has applied for the slots to operate five daily roundtrips between LaGuardia and Detroit City Airport, using DC-9-21 aircraft.
Subsidized Essential Air Service As Of May 1, 1995, (Excluding Alaska) State/ Subsidized Service to Aircraft Communities Carrier (Hubs) Type Alabama Anniston Gulfstream Atlanta Beech C-99 Arizona Kingman Mesa Phoenix Beech 1900 Prescott Mesa Phoenix Beech 1900
Dennis Dutch, special agent for the DOT Office of Inspector General (DOTIG), said Wednesday he did not recall much of his investigation into FAA's shutdown of TPI International Airways. In testimony before Administrative Law Judge Allan Elmore of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the career criminal investigator said he conducted a "management review" of the investigation of the Brunswick, Ga.-based cargo carrier by the Atlanta Flight Standards District Office.
The medium-term outlook for the aircraft finance industry is stable because aircraft values have firmed up and leasing activity and lease rates are increasing, which should lead to steady profitability, according to a just- published report from Moody's Investors Service. The report adds, however, that any predictions should incorporate several elements that were not significant in the past, including the reversal of the historic relationship between realizable passenger yields and aircraft prices, and airlines' reluctance to order new aircraft.
FAA issued safety recommendations for children on aircraft yesterday and introduced rulemaking aimed at banning child-safety systems it said have been shown not to provide adequate protection, but it did not propose to require the use of child safety seats. Trying to give parents clear guidelines for air travel with children, FAA wants to "get children off the laps and into straps," said Deputy Administrator Linda Daschle.
Fidelity Management&Research, its parent company and an affiliated company have acquired a 6.23% stake in Mesa Airlines Inc. and believes the airline company's stock is undervalued. In a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fidelity said it has no current proposals related to any type of "extraordinary" corporate transaction, such as a merger, liquidation or sale of assets, but Mesa should consider various ways of enhancing shareholder value, "including the sale of the company."
McDonnell Douglas Corp. believes the worldwide airline industry will need 13,272 new passenger aircraft valued at $1.024 trillion through 2013 to accommodate traffic growth and replace older aircraft. The long-term outlook, to be published this summer, sees fewer aircraft than Boeing's 15,462 through 2014, but it projects about the same dollar volume (DAILY, June 6). Summarizing the analysis, MDC said worldwide aircraft requirements are divided about evenly between widebodies and narrowbodies, but the latter account for only about one-quarter of the value.
Kenneth Mead, General Accounting Office director-transportation issues, is moving to the Office of Comptroller General within GAO. He will be replaced by John Anderson, who most recently has worked on natural resources issues for the agency.
Fuel Cost and Consumption, U.S. Majors Nationals and Large Regionals May 1994 - April 1995 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1994 May Domestic 1,024,303,178 542,391,432 International 350,115,248 207,889,880 System Total 1,374,418,426 750,281,312
AirTran Corp. and subsidiary Mesaba Aviation have elected a new board member, bringing the number of directors at both companies to 10. Raymond Zehr, elected to AirTran's board, has served as VP of Pohlad Companies since 1987. Donald Benson has been named to Mesaba's board. Benson has been executive VP of Marquette Bancshares since 1993.
Pilots at Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines look like the newest members of the Air Line Pilots Association. The National Mediation Board yesterday counted 128 votes for ALPA out of 199 eligible. The board makes the vote count official after giving parties 48 hours to appeal.
The collapse of negotiations between SAS and its pilots union yesterday, and the resulting strike/lockout, forced the cancellation today of SAS's entire schedule of 800 flights affecting 56,000 passengers, the airline said yesterday. SAS expects negotiations and the majority of its flights to resume tomorrow. The walkout by the pilots and SAS's subsequent lockout began at midnight Thursday Stockholm time and was scheduled to last 24 hours. The pilots are demanding higher pay for the busy summer travel season.
KLM yesterday reported strong earnings improvement for fiscal 1994-95 and said that, for the first time in its history, two people from outside The Netherlands have been nominated to its Supervisory Board. For the year ended March 31, KLM reported pre-tax income of 563 million guilders (US$356.2 million) and net earnings of 470 million guilders (US$297.4 million), both significant improvements from fiscal 1993-94, when the airline had pre-tax income of 110 million guilders and net earnings of 103 million guilders.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), hosting a ceremony yesterday to mark a milestone U.S. airlines will reach this month - 10 billion passengers carried - took the opportunity to restate his commitment to fighting for continued exemption for airlines from the 4.3-cents-per-gallon fuel tax (DAILY, March 16). Commenting that the tax would kill jobs and "might well kill airlines," Gingrich said he is also "very committed to maintaining a healthy manufacturing industry," which would be hurt by whatever hurts airlines.
