A wildcat pilot sickout grounded hundreds of Alitalia flights and stranded thousands of travelers Wednesday and Thursday as labor unrest continued to dog European airlines at the outset of the busy summer travel season. Italian Transport Minister Giovanni Caravale ordered the pilots to halt their job actions and return to work, and said he has asked that medical tests be carried out on the pilots. The government's action, however, came too late to salvage much of Alitalia's Thursday flight schedule. As of 6 p.m.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-Ga.) co-sponsorship of the commercial jet fuel tax repeal bill (H.R.752), made official last week, is unusual. House speakers rarely sponsor or co-sponsor bills, and Gingrich has attached his name to only three other measures this year. He has sponsored a bill to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and co-sponsored resolutions renaming certain rooms in the Capitol and condemning the Oklahoma City bombing.
American Eagle opened its expanded, $14 million passenger terminal at Dallas/Fort Worth yesterday and added 45 daily departures. The additional flights include new service to Houston Hobby and Memphis. The new 18,000- square-foot facility is nearly four times as large as the original one.
China Airlines will ban smoking on all of its domestic routes and on all of its international flights, except those to Japan, on July 1. Taiwanese competitor EVA Airways plans to ban smoking systemwide on July 1 (DAILY, June 15). CAL said it decided to implement the smoking ban because of passenger demand for a smoke-free environment.
Delta and its chairman, Ron Allen, on June 28 will be awarded the Anti- Defamation League's 1995 Torch of Liberty Award, given annually to an individual or company for outstanding contributions to the community.
Air Canada's systemwide passenger load factor, which had fallen as much as five percentage points or more per month during the past few months, slowed its decline in May, dropping only 2.1 points from May a year ago. The carrier's systemwide passenger traffic increased 10.3% and its capacity rose 14%. Air Canada's domestic traffic was up 8.4% on 21.1% more capacity, and its international traffic increased 11.8% on 9.1% more available seat miles.
New York's recently enacted budget includes provisions that reduce the tax burden on jet fuel and aviation gasoline sold in the state. The budget, effective Sept. 1, provides for a reduction in the petroleum business tax (PBT) to about five cents per gallon from almost 14 cents. Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett told Gov. George Pataki that the 14 cent PBT put New York at a competitive disadvantage by encouraging general aviation and airline operators to purchase fuel in neighboring states.
American and Citibank will award 100,000 frequent flyer miles in a "What I did for miles" contest for Citibank AAdvantage cardholders. Contenders describe, in 50 words or fewer, what made their purchases unique, by Aug. 22.
Iceland and Austria yesterday joined Luxembourg and Finland in signing open skies agreements with the U.S. Switzerland also is close to signing, and the Scandinavian countries are not far behind, said Patrick Murphy, DOT acting assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs. Murphy added that contrary to a report in The DAILY, DOT Secretary Federico Pea is "quite aware of what is going on" with the agreements (DAILY, June 14). He met with transport ministers from the nine countries "last week in Vienna to talk about the timing of the signings," he said.
U.S. Major Carriers Share of Pacific Service Fourth Quarter 1994 Total Revenue Departures America 526 Delta 1,114 Northwest 6,102 United 5,496 Total 13,238 Average Number of Seats Per Departure American 244
A Boeing 777 carrying DOT Secretary Federico Pea and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation transport ministers yesterday from Washington to Denver "experienced a slight fluctuation in cabin pressure," said FAA. The incident occurred 20 miles south of Pittsburgh at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Operating at 35,000 feet, the captain descended the aircraft as a precautionary measure, determined there was no structural damage and the engines were running normally, and continued on to Denver at 10,000 feet.
African startup carrier Alliance, a three-way joint venture with South African Airways (SAA) and the governments and national airlines of Tanzania and Uganda, will launch flight operations in July. The carrier's initial schedule will include service to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Entebbe, Uganda; Bombay, Dubai, Johannesburg and London. The airline will fly a Boeing 747SP bearing an African design, including a lion on the tail and a sunset vignette across the fuselage. Alliance will be accessible to travel agents via the Galileo computer reservations system.
Members of American's Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) have ratified an agreement reached with the company in April that resolves all issues pertaining to the November 1993 strike. The pact does not cover major financial issues now in arbitration (DAILY, April 27). American Chairman Robert Crandall said Monday, "Those big-ticket items are in the hands of the arbitrators, whose decision we expect this fall." The two groups agreed there would be no reprisals against flight attendants who participated in the strike or crossed picket lines.
American has applied for authority to operate scheduled combination service between Honolulu and British Columbia, Canada, under its code-share arrangement with Canadian Airlines International. American plans to display its designator code on CAI's Honolulu-Vancouver service, beginning Sept. 15. CAI currently operates daily DC-10-30 service on the route. DOT approved in May the American and CAI code-share arrangement for one year, beginning June 1 (DAILY, May 19). (Docket 50392)
Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-Kan.) reaffirmed his support of the commercial jet fuel tax repeal yesterday in a talk to St. Louis area business leaders, sources said.In remarks to the same group, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said the Clinton administration recognizes the financial burden of the fuel tax on the industry and is looking at the issue, but someone would have to pay for lost revenues if the airlines were exempted.
Singapore Airlines has signed an agreement with Wicat to provide the airline with safety and emergency training courseware and systems for the Singapore Airlines Training Center. The agreement includes aircraft- specific courses for the Airbus A310 and A340, and the Boeing 747-200/- 300/-400 and 737.
The Vatican has selected TWA to provide air transportation for Pope John Paul II while the pontiff visits the U.S. this fall. The pope will fly on a specially configured 767-300 during the domestic portions of his trip. TWA also will provide his return transportation to Rome.
United has chosen COMSAT Aeronautical Services and GTE Airfone to provide communications services aboard its aircraft, including Boeing 777s, on transoceanic flights. COMSAT will provide satellite communication capabilities for 70 United airplanes, including 18 of United's 34 777s planned for delivery. Facsimile capability will be available this summer. GTE's Airfone will be integrated with the interactive video systems on the aircraft, which are installed at every seat on United's 777.
Four Asia/Pacific carriers have committed themselves to $3.1 billion in orders for the stretched version of the Boeing 777, enough to launch the 777-300 program into development and production, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group President Ron Woodard said yesterday at the Paris Air Show (DAILY, June 14). All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air Lines and Thai Airways International have ordered a total of 31 of the airplanes, 20 of them new orders and 11 confirmations or conversions of earlier 777 orders.
McDonnell Douglas has amended its revolving credit agreement, increasing the funds available by $500 million to $1.75 billion and extending the facility's term to June 2000. "We are very pleased with the continued strong support and response of our banks," said Herbert Lanese, the company's chief financial officer. The co-arrangers of the transaction were Chase Securities and J.P. Morgan Securities.
United, at loggerheads with its flight attendants over foreign domicile openings, hired far more flight attendants, 2,434, than any other U.S. carrier from May 1994 through May 1995. Continental hired 905 and Southwest 825, according to the Future Aviation Professionals of America. National carriers American Trans Air and ValuJet hired 617 and 612, respectively.
McDonnell Douglas says it has used the results of a worldwide passenger survey to select a futuristic design for the interior of its proposed, next-generation MD-95. Fischer Advanced Composite Components, Reid, Austria, will manufacture the interior of the 100-passenger twinjet. The survey process included focus groups composed of executives from Midwest Express, Aviaco and TWA, and flight attendants from Delta, American and Continental, who critiqued several interior mockups.
EVA Airways will ban smoking on all flights, effective July 1, and predicted a profit for calendar year 1995. The airline also will prohibit the sale of duty-free cigarettes on all flights. Since launching its first passenger flights in 1991, EVA has steadily reduced the number of smoking section seats available on its international service. EVA's non-smoking policy extends to all EVA offices worldwide. The Evergreen Group, EVA's parent company, has maintained a non-smoking policy in its offices for years, EVA said.
El Al has taken delivery of its third 747-400. The airline plans to begin using the new aircraft for its new, weekly nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, beginning June 24. The 747-400s also will be used for El Al's two weekly nonstops between Newark and Tel Aviv and nonstop New York-Tel Aviv flights.
Lauda Air has signed a license agreement with PROS Strategic Solutions for a customized version of PROS Passenger Revenue Management Optimization system. The mission of the system is to support a flight controller's decision-making abilities when setting inventory levels for future flight departures.
