Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, said yesterday he will co-sponsor the FAA reform bill (H.R.1392) introduced last month by Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa). Oberstar, a past sponsor of FAA independence legislation, said he strongly supports Lightfoot's bid to make FAA an independent agency. He noted that 10 of the 11 living former FAA administrators supported FAA independence this year, and all 11 opposed a government corporation to run air traffic control (DAILY, Feb. 24).
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft said it is leasing a DC-10-30 to Aeroflot, which has taken an option on a second aircraft. The first, to be delivered in July, will be used on long-haul freight routes. Douglas will provide crew training on the DC-10, which along with the DC-9 received Russian certification in 1993.
Danish carrier Maersk Air has placed firm orders for six 737-500s in a transaction valued at $186 million, and it took options on seven more of the twinjets. Deliveries of the six firm aircraft will being in early 1996 and continue through the year, gradually replacing Fokker 50s on Maersk's domestic and international routes. Maersk is moving toward eventually being an all-Boeing operator. "The fact that we're replacing our 50-seat turboprop fleet with a larger jet might surprise some," said Maersk President Bjarne Hansen.
The European Commission approved yesterday the creation of an information technology joint venture between Lufthansa and EDS. In January, Lufthansa spun off three of its divisions, including its information technology operation, into separate but wholly owned companies. At the time, EDS took a 25% stake in one of the new companies, Lufthansa Systems GmbH. The joint venture is controlled by both companies and will provide IT services tailored to the requirements of the airline and travel industries.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger America West $ 7,466,743 $ 2.00 American 152,443,000 7.41 Continental 28,348,000 2.77 Delta 103,233,000 4.61 Northwest 58,457,000 5.15
Delta has been named "Best Airline" for the fourth year in a row by the ROBB REPORT's annual "Best of the Best" readership survey. The magazine, polled its subscribers regarding products, places and services in 35 categories.
Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Shrontz says negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the prospective Saudia aircraft deal are in their final stages, and the company hopes its new 777 will be part of the buy. The Saudis visited engine manufacturers last week, and Boeing is sending yet another team to Saudi Arabia to try to nail down the deal.
AST Research said it has signed an agreement to supply American with desktop, notebook and server systems for the carrier's customer service base, including the Sabre Travel Information Network.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Landing Fees Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 Average Amount Systemwide Spent Per Landing America West $ 7,298,656 $ 156.70 American 57,497,000 264.61 Continental 29,494,000 208.92 Delta 60,127,000 246.62
Compania Panamena de Aviacion, S.A., has applied for a one-year renewal, beginning June 14, of its authority to operate combination service between Panama City, Panama, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, via Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The carrier provides daily service on the route, using Boeing 737-200 aircraft. (Docket 43853)
DOT has given interested parties until tomorrow to supplement their answers to the joint application of Federal Express and Evergreen International Airlines for U.S.-China all-cargo authority. (Docket 50173)
SAS has suspended its service to Kiev because the Ukrainian government will not give it landing rights until it settles a revenue tax dispute with the carrier. SAS said the Ukrainian government has imposed a 15% tax on all revenue from the airline's Copenhagen-Kiev service. According to SAS, the tax is retro-active to May 1994 and is to be collected from all ticket sales, regardless of whether the tickets were sold in Ukraine.
France is expected to open up a fourth domestic market to competition by allowing Air Liberte and TAT to challenge state-owned Air Inter on the Paris Orly-Bordeaux route. The action was recommended early this month, at the conclusion of France's national elections, by the Conseil Superieur de l'Aviation Marchande, and the new government is considered likely to approve it. CSAM, which represents air transport operators, also recommended that TAT be allowed to serve Orly-Nice in competition with AOM and Air Inter.
The voice switching and control system (VSCS), the next step in FAA's modernization of the nation's air traffic control system, reached initial operational capability yesterday in Seattle with scarcely a hitch, Peter Challan, program manager for contractor Harris Corp., said yesterday (DAILY, May 15). Challan said that with IOC, controllers at the Seattle ARTCC (air route traffic control center) are using VSCS at selected times for coordination and clearance to pilots, and for their communications with other controllers.
America West yesterday began testing a ticketless travel option, called EZ Ticket, between Phoenix and Tucson/Colorado Springs. Initially, EZ Ticket will be available through the airline's reservations department and at airport ticket counters in the three cities. The airline plans to introduce the electronic ticketing option systemwide by late summer. At full implementation, America West EZ Ticket will be available through travel agents.
Emirates has launched weekly 747 freighter service between Dubai and Singapore using an aircraft leased from U.S.-based Atlas Air. The new service is in response to growing demand for cargo space in the market and is being operated in addition to the airline's six weekly passenger flights to Singapore.
Carnival Air Lines is asking DOT to allot it three new U.S.-Peru frequencies and reject United's request for 2.5 additional frequencies between Miami and Lima (DAILY, May 10). Noting that the new U.S.-Peru agreement provides for 3.5 additional Miami/Fort Lauderdale-Lima frequencies, Carnival maintains that they would be used "most efficiently and advantageously to enable a third U.S. competitor - Carnival - to enter the South Florida-Peru market." Currently, American and United operate the only scheduled U.S. passenger service between the U.S. and Peru.
Speedwing, a division of British Airways, has signed an agreement to participate in SITA's Sahara hotel booking system. The five-year agreement, which begins June 1, will enable Speedwing's hosted reservations customers to purchase directly through Speedwing access to Sahara. SITA Sahara provides airline subscribers with real-time access to more than 13,000 hotel properties in more than 1,750 cities worldwide, allowing direct bookings and real-time confirmations.
CFM International said yesterday its CFM56-7, which will power the Boeing 737-600/700/800 series aircraft, has met "all pre-test predictions" in the seven hours it has accumulated since testing began April 28. The engine has achieved its rated thrust and completed power calibration and preliminary performance runs, CFMI said. It is scheduled for first flights on a modified Boeing 747 next January and on the 737-700 in early 1997 before entering service with Southwest that fall.
U.S. and Polish negotiators made some progress in the three days of talks in Warsaw last week, a DOT spokesman said, but there was no new agreement (DAILY, May 15). In the negotiations, which ended Friday, the U.S. proposed open skies to Poland, although there was "no conclusion" on the issue, the spokesman said. The Polish officials did agree to allow the third-country, code-share service in a year, said industry officials, if the U.S. approved immediately the American-LOT code-share agreement.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Interest Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 16,278,550 5.19 American 146,009,000 3.93 Continental 43,412,000 3.52
Precision Standard's Pemco World Air Services subsidiary in Copenhagen has contracted with Air Espana of Palma de Mallorca for line maintenance of 737 and 757 aircraft operating out of Gardermoen Airport in Oslo.
EVA Airways and Emirates recently upgraded their participation levels in the Japan-based Infini computer reservations system. EVA selected the Direct Sell connectivity level, making possible instantaneous communications between travel agents and the EVA host system each time a flight segment is booked. Emirates upgraded to Direct Access, enabling Infini subscribers to enjoy real-time information retrieval directly from the airline's system, including last-seat availability and schedule display. Emirates becomes the 40th airline to upgrade to Direct Access.
Sabena's first quarter passenger traffic jumped 22.4% from the same period last year to 1.76 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers carried rose 1.54% to more than one million, and the Belgian airline's cargo traffic was up 7.5% to 107 million freight ton kilometers. In March, Sabena's passenger traffic rose 22.8% to 660.9 million RPKs, and the number of passengers enplaned increased 15.8% to 386,172. Cargo traffic rose 3.5% to 38.9 million FTKs.
TWA yesterday posted slightly smaller first quarter net and operating losses, and announced that it is starting solicitation of noteholder, shareholder and lessor approvals for its delayed $500 million debt-for- equity financial restructuring plan. The solicitation is expected to be completed by June 27. The latest incarnation of the restructuring plan includes substantially revised proposals to the holders of its 10% and 8% notes.
