CCAIR's May passenger traffic decreased 12.8% from a year ago despite a 5.2% increase in capacity, causing the USAir Express carrier's load factor to fall 9.3 percentage points to 45%. The number of passengers enplaned dropped 13.4% from May a year ago. CCAIR said its May 1994 traffic was inflated by discounted fares offered throughout the system to compete with Continental Lite services in Greensboro and Greenville/Spartanburg.
The regional airliner joint venture of France's Aerospatiale, Italy's Alenia and British Aerospace will launch operations officially Jan. 1 as Aero International Regional, or AIR, but each company will keep making its own core products initially. Two representatives from each company will sit on the joint venture's board of directors, Aerospatiale Director General Louis Gallois said Saturday, and some functions will be merged immediately.
Delta has signed an agreement with the Hellenic Olympic Committee and the Hellenic Olympic Team to be the official airline for both Greek organizations at the 1996 Olympic Games. Delta is the official airline for the Olympics, to be held in Atlanta, and is the official carrier for the British and Irish Olympic teams.
Peruvian flag carrier Compania de Aviacion Faucett, S.A., has applied for renewal of its authority to operate service between Peru and the U.S. It has also requested permission to continue to conduct wet-lease operations on behalf of APA International Airlines, on APA's U.S.-Dominican Republic scheduled combination routes between the coterminal points Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and the terminal points Miami/San Juan, Puerto Rico/New York. In April, Faucett applied for authority to operate the wet lease service for one year (DAILY, April 11).
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.
