Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) supports the National Mediation Board's (NMB) decision issued Monday to declare the four American Eagle carriers a single carrier for labor representation purposes (DAILY, Aug. 15). An election will be scheduled to determine which union - the Allied Pilots Association (APA), ALPA or the Regional Airline Pilots Association - will represent the 2,500 pilots. The NMB will set a date after it updates its list of eligible voters, determines how many ballots need to be printed and decides the length of the voting period.
Lone Star Airlines will inaugurate nonstop service to Aspen from Dallas/Fort Worth Dec. 15 under an exclusive agreement with Aspen Skiing Company to promote the service. Lone Star will operate on the route year- round, increasing frequencies during the peak ski season. It plans to offer up to six flights a day this winter. To promote the new service, all passengers will be entered to win a three-year lease of a 1996 Mercedes C220 furnished by Daimler-Benz Aerospace.
British Airways and USAir will add five more cities served by USAir - Charleston and Huntington, W. Va.; Lansing, Mich.; Newport News, Va., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. - to the code-sharing network that feeds routes to London. The new service, which takes effect Sept. 26, will bring to 68 the number of code-share points beyond U.S. gateways served by the transatlantic partners.
American is offering up to $95 in discounts on domestic travel to passengers who purchase Microsoft's new Windows '95 software at one of 86 CompUSA stores by Sept. 30. The carrier will take $45 off a $299 roundtrip, $65 off a roundtrip of $399 or more and $95 off a fare of $499 or more. Mayda Welis, manager-special market promotions, said, "Research has shown that the demographics of the computer user are very similar to the American Airlines passenger profile."
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air averaged a load factor of 61.9% in July, down from 66.6% in July 1994 but still higher than the other 10 regional airlines in a DAILY sampling. United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin was next at nearly 57%, up from 55.7% in the prior period.
United Airlines and Worldspan Travel Information Services reached agreement on the carrier's increased participation in Worldspan Airline Source, the automated airline distribution service offered through the Worldspan computer reservations system. The upgrade, to be concluded later this year, will give travel agents real-time, interactive connectivity with United during the booking process. Availability requests will be routed to United's database, and flight information will be gathered and maximized within two seconds.
American has published a Fly AAway Vacations ski brochure inviting skiers to customize their air transportation, accommodations, rental car and ski lift tickets. British Columbia's Whistler resort, with five different lodging packages, is a new destination this year. Bonuses include free ski goggles, night skiing passes and mountain tours.
Northwest Airlines Corp. becomes a component of the Nasdaq-100 Index today. The capitalization-weighted index comprises the 100 largest non-financial growth stocks listed on Nasdaq's national market.
Denver officials intend to reduce Denver Airport rates and charges this week. Expenses are less than expected, City Attorney Lee Marable said, and during the time Denver Stapleton was open and not meeting airside capacity, landside concessions were booming, generating money that later went to the new airport. "People were stuck, so they spent money," he said.
FAA said it plans to extend the terminatation date of a Special Federal Aviation Regulation that permits an alternate method of training, known as the advanced qualification program (AQP). The special regulation is set to expire Oct. 2. The agency said the extension is necessary while it completes a rulemaking process that will incorporate the rule into the Federal Aviation Regulations.
Cash conservation in the face of FAA's pending Commuter Safety Rule is said to be the reason that some regional airlines in the Northeast are up to two years behind in their bills. One vendor said that was the reason given by more than one airline. The new rule - prompted by DOT Secretary Federico Pena - is expected to have a major impact on the operation of 19-passenger aircraft, perhaps to the extent that older models will be forced out of the fleet, causing loss of small-community air service.
The House Appropriations Committee has asked the General Accounting Office to study the reimbursement pricing policies used in the Defense Logistics Agency's bulk and into-plane aviation fuel programs, administered by the Defense Fuel Supply Center. In the committee report on the fiscal 1996 Defense appropriations bill, the panel said the evaluation should include costs of personnel, training, equipment, environmental compliance, inventory, maintenance, insurance, consumables and federal excise taxes.
It wasn't supposed to happen, but it did. Despite extensive testing at the Tech Center and a year-long trial at the Seattle Center before it went on line, FAA's new $1.4 billion Voice Switching and Control System (VSCS) was knocked out by a software bug last Friday afternoon at Seattle. Communications never were lost with aircraft in the airspace of six western states served by the center because a backup system kicked in almost immediately, an FAA spokesman for the Northern Mountain Region said yesterday.
A windshear training aid (WTA) for operators of commuter, air taxi, corporate and other smaller aircraft is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service. The WTA, consisting of package of training materials, was developed by Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) after FAA asked the foundation to look at the adaptability to smaller aircraft operations of a WTA developed for air carrier flight crews and implemented in 1987.
Lone Star Airlines will begin nonstop service to Hermosillo, Mexico, from Dallas/Fort Worth Sept. 5, 1995. The regional said it will operate one roundtrip each weekday, using 30-seat Dornier 328 aircraft. Separately, the carrier said it will introduce service to Roswell and Ruidoso, New Mexico, from Dallas/Fort Worth on the same date. The regional currently serves 13 cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Mexico.
Raytheon Aircraft delivered the first of four Beech 1900Cs to Dubai-based Falcon Express Cargo Airlines. Falcon Express ordered four and placed options on two additional aircraft to fly express packages. United Beechcraft-Wichita modified the aircraft. It fitted aluminum liners to the ceiling and sidewalls and installed seven 54-inch by 57-inch web nets to divide the cabin area into cargo compartments. In addition, United Beechcraft installed a removable jumpseat to accommodate additional crew or personnel.
Low-fare competition will heat up in Nashville this fall, when Continental enters the market with prices as low as Southwest's. Continental will inaugurate service Sept. 7 with daily departures to Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Boston, Newark and Phoenix. The one-way fare to Chicago and Cleveland will be $59, Houston $69, Boston and Newark $139 and Phoenix $149. Ticket prices, based on roundtrip purchase, are valid through Dec. 15. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. Continental and Southwest will compete in four markets.
FedEx yesterday announced a Sept. 4 launch of AsiaOne, which it called the first intra-Asia overnight delivery network. AsiaOne will connect 11 major commercial and financial centers from FedEx's new Subic Bay hub in the Philippines. The recent resolution of the U.S.-Japan aviation dispute opened up beyond-Japan rights for FedEx, enabling it to go forward with its Subic Bay plans, and the company said the AsiaOne service will integrate Asia fully into the rest of the FedEx system.
Frontier Airlines promoted Jim Wyche to the newly created position of executive VP-operations from VP-flight operations. The Denver carrier also named Lowell Miller director of station operations, Terry White manager of the Denver station, Ed Quisenberry city manager for Phoenix, Joe Slawinski city manager for Chicago Midway and Bob Knotts city manager for Las Vegas.
The Allied Pilots Association, in a coming representation election, will not vie to represent its member pilots with AMR Eagle carriers Executive and Flagship. The National Mediation Board this week ruled that the four Eagle carriers, also including Simmons (ALPA) and Wings West (RAPA), constitute a single transportation system for bargaining purposes. That means there will be an election for a single union.
Financing battle appears to be under way within the Aspen/Snowmass ski resort community between two proposed airlines - Hap Pareti's Jet Aspen and Peak Airlines, backed by the Aspen Skiing Co. (Skico). Snowmass Sun reports Skico officials were said to be "putting out the word in the investment community to not get behind Jet Aspen." Pareti is seeking $5.4 million, but could start with $4 million. Meanwhile, the Sun reported that IRS has refiled a tax lien seeking to collect $997,540 in income and FICA withholding taxes from Pareti's former Presidential Airways.
The Senate late last week confirmed Robert Francis and John Goglia as members of the National Transportation Safety Board. Francis, whose term ends Dec. 31, 1999, is a 17-year FAA employee and most recently the agency's senior representative in Western Europe and North Africa. Although formally confirmed only last week, Francis has served on the NTSB for more than six months as a congressional recess appointee. Goglia, whose term expires Dec.
U.S. Major Carriers Operating and Net Profit First Quarter 1995 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) First Quarter 1995 America West $ 24,895 $ 5,210 American 251,202 56,506 Continental (4,271) (30,156) Delta 36,516 (11,226)
Air South has won designation as "preferred carrier" for travel on state business from the State of Florida. The contract, effective Aug. 1, 1995, through July 31, 1996, will apply to employees traveling on state business between Atlanta, Jacksonville, Raleigh/Durham, Tallahassee and Tampa. The airline said it offered the state "highly competitive prices" and frequent service patterns in the designated markets. Operating seven 737-200s, Air South serves Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Flush with a recent firm order from BWIA for five EMB-145 regional jets, Embraer of Brazil today formally will roll out the 50-passenger-seat, $14.5 million aircraft at the company's plant in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. In a statement issued two days before the rollout, the manufacturer boasted that the aircraft "offers acquisition and operating costs equivalent to those of smaller turboprops." The company claims it has won 161 orders, options and letters of intent to purchase the aircraft from 21 airlines in 10 countries.
