United Express operator Air Wisconsin reported record traffic in July, 46 million revenue passenger miles, up 58.3% from July 1994. Capacity for the month rose 54.6%, and the load factor improved 1.3 points to 57%. July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94 RPMs 46,029,405 29,083,849 264,370,556 189,840,609 ASMs 80,761,236 52,255,016 488,396,930 360,903,974 LoadFtr% 57.0 55.7 54.1 52.6
Reno Air carried a record 381,855 passengers in July, up from 301,186 in July 1994. Its revenue passenger miles increased 43% to 216.7 million from 151.3 million. Available seat miles grew to 317.3 million from 225.9 million, producing a load factor of 68.3%, up 1.3 points.
International Space Enterprises said it contracted with PanAmSat Corp. to provide satellite communications services for a nationwide airline ticketing system, based on Sabre, to be established in Russia. The C-band satellite service, to be provided via PanAmSat's PAS-4 satellite, will cover the majority of the Russian territory. Russian firm ITC Sirena is the prime contractor developing the integrated system to automate airline ticketing and reservations throughout the nation. As U.S.
Restoring FAA to its original role as an independent agency with personnel management flexibility, procurement exemptions and budget stability is the best way to meet aviation needs into the next century, former FAA administrator Najeeb Halaby told the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee last week (DAILY, Aug. 4). Halaby, testifying on behalf of administrator alumni, proposed an independent agency that would report directly to the President, with a Senate-confirmed administrator serving a fixed term.
DOT's Office of Commercial Space Transportation will be transferred from the Office of the Secretary to FAA, effective Oct. 1, FAA Administrator David Hinson and OCST Director Frank Weaver said yesterday. DOT is working with Congress to "assure" that OCST's budget is transferred along with it to FAA, "at least for fiscal year 1996," Weaver said. He noted that this year, for the first time, the number of commercial space launches, planned at 15, will exceed government launches.
Employees represented by the Machinists union at Wyman-Gordon Co., a Houston aerospace manufacturing company, went out on strike following a vote to reject the company's contract offer, which would have replaced an agreement that expired Sunday night. Wyman-Gordon manufactures superalloy forgings for aerospace and other products used by the commercial transportation, power and defense industries. The Machinists represent 475 of the 750 employees at the plant. Forging facilities in Grafton, Mass., and Livingston, Scotland, are not affected.
Continental achieved a 71.9% load factor in July on a 4.9% decrease in traffic and a 9.2% capacity decline from July 1994. Continental flew 3.8 billion revenue passenger miles during the month and 5.2 billion available seat miles. Its load factor for the first seven months was 64.8%, a 1.5 point increase from last year. Continental's reduced widebody capacity produced a 17.3% decrease in cargo revenue ton miles in July to 37.9 million. Wholly owned subsidiary Continental Express reported a July load factor of 52.6%, up 1.1 points from July 1994.
Tower Air's scheduled traffic increased 6.5%, to 461 million revenue passenger miles, from the same month in 1994. Block hours rose 41.8%, from 3,590 to 5,092, mainly from military and commercial charters and increased scheduled flying in international markets. Scheduled available seat miles were up 13.8% for the month to 595 million, so the scheduled service load factor was 77.5%, down from 82.8%. The company cited a decline in passenger traffic between New York and San Francisco, San Juan, Los Angeles and Delhi.
Machinists Union, leading off with Boeing as it begins contract negotiations with major aerospace companies, says job security will be the focus of its talks with the Seattle-based company. Bob Gregory, lead negotiator for the union, said that "thousands of jobs are being wiped out as Boeing announces big new orders, and as productivity and profits go up. Our union believes Boeing's success must go hand in hand with the workers' success.
Southwest last week began operating new nonstop service to Baltimore/Washington, Kansas City and New Orleans from Nashville. Passengers on the inaugural flight were the winners of crab races - a promotional stunt celebrating Baltimore's reputation for good crabs - and received tickets to a Baltimore Orioles game and the National Aquarium, as well as a night in the Omni Hotel. Southwest offers two daily flights to Kansas City and New Orleans and four a day to Baltimore.
FAA has granted approval to MarkAir, which it grounded earlier, to use one of its 737s in passenger service between Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth (DAILY, Aug. 3). "By issuing the approval, FAA certified that MarkAir has made significant progress in showing it has improved" its maintenance oversight, FAA said.
World Airways said yesterday it flew 4,054 block hours in July, up 38% from 2,942 flown in July 1994. Average daily utilization was 10.9 hours in July 1995, compared with 11.6 hours in July 1994. The carrier flew 21,280 block hours for the year to date, up 28% from 16,601 hours last year. Utilization rate was 10 hours, up from 8.4 last year.
Alaska Airlines' July traffic was up 11.9% to 881 million revenue passenger miles, compared with July 1994 on 15.3% higher capacity. The load factor dropped to 65.5% from 67.5%. The other Alaska Air Group carrier, Horizon Air, posted a 14.2% traffic increase to 83 million RPMs. Its load factor dropped to 61.7% from 66.6%. Horizon carried 364,700 passengers, up from 341,500 in the same 1994 month. Alaska Airlines July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94
Gulf Air said it will start service from Houston Intercontinental Airport to Arabian Gulf points and Cyprus, via New York, on Oct. 29. It flies from New York to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, via Cyprus, using A340s.
Southwest Airlines' traffic increased 7.8% in July to 2.2 billion revenue passenger miles as available seat miles increased by 9.9%, resulting in a dip in the load factor from 73.2% to 71.8%. Its traffic for the first seven months of the year was up 6.9%, but the load factor was down 3.9 points to 65.3%. Capacity for the period rose 13.2%. July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94 RPMs 2,182,449,038 2,025,419,399 13,380,777,804 12,521,770,094
Atlantic Coast Airlines' traffic fell more than 19% in July, according to preliminary results issued by the United Express operator. It flew 31.7 million revenue passenger miles, compared with 39.3 million in July 1994. Capacity was down a little more than 19%. Chief Executive Kerry Skeen said he was pleased with the overall revenue performance because of "substantial improvement in our passenger yield as compared to last July." July 95 July 94 7 Mths 95 7 Mths 94
USAir Group regional carrier Jetstream International Airlines said it has leased 17 Jetstream 31 19-passenger aircraft to Chautauqua Airlines and will replace them with 32-passenger Dornier 328 aircraft. Chautauqua, based in Indianapolis, is an independent USAir Express operator. The transaction enables Jetstream to "focus its energies on the new Dornier 328 and to supplement USAir's marketing strategies in Pittsburgh," said Keith Houk, VP-USAir Express division.
United's systemwide and domestic traffic remained flat in July, while Pacific revenue passenger miles rose 4.2%, Latin American RPMs were up 1.9% and transatlantic traffic dropped 7.3%. Total RPMs were down 0.1%, to 10.447 billion, from July 1994.
United is offering 10,000 bonus miles until Dec. 1 to frequent flyers on its San Francisco-Sydney flights who stay at least three nights at any of eight Radisson hotels in Australia. Mileage Plus members must fly on a paid roundtrip ticket from the U.S. to Australia, with no discount on the hotel accommodation.
The 10 core board members of Nav Canada were named at a meeting last Friday in Ottawa. Nav Canada is the newly formed non-share capital corporation that is negotiating with Transport Canada to purchase and operate the Canadian civil air navigation system. The board ultimately will have 15 members - five appointed by national aviation user associations, three by the federal government, two by air navigation system (ANS) unions, four directors-at-large chosen by the core board of 10 and the president and chief executive.
Like several U.S. carriers, British Airways reported a record net profit for the three months ended June 30 - 101 million (US$160 million), a 57.8% increase over the same period in 1994. Reporting on the quarter, the first in BA's fiscal year, Chairman Colin Marshall said the carrier found "good demand" on long-haul routes in particular, and Club Europe, its short-haul business service, continued to strengthen.
Fine Airlines opened an office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to support the all-cargo carrier's service between Miami and San Juan. The new office is the carrier's 24th and the 10th it has opened this year. "The San Juan business is the latest step in our rapid expansion throughout the hemisphere," said J. Frank Fine, president of the company.
Marriott International is the first hotel participant to subscribe to Sabre Travel Information Network's premier level of participation, Direct Connect Availability. Travel agents at 29,000 locations worldwide can access and book true-last-room availability at any Marriott Hotel and Resort, Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott Vacation Club and Fairfield Inn. Residence Inn by Marriott will be added within a month. Agents can access rate information, room inventory and information about each property.
