World Airways parent WorldCorp posted a first quarter operating loss of $5.6 million, a marked improvement over last year's first quarter operating loss of $8.4 million. The company reported a first quarter net loss of $8.5 million, after having posted a first quarter net profit of $15.6 million the year before. The first quarter 1994 results were boosted, however, by a $26.9 million gain from the sale of a 25% stake in World Airways to MHS Berhad of Malaysia. WorldCorp's operating revenues rose 28.9% and its operating expenses increased 16.1%.
Aloha appointed Michael Cohen senior VP-operations, Alton Higa director-corporate accounting and Randal Okita director-internal audit. Mesa Air Group named Clark Stevens to the board. Southern Air Transport appointed Crystal Bergstrom VP-sales. United appointed Andrew Studdert chief information officer.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Rental Expenses Fourth Quarter 1994 % Of Total Operating Systemwide Expenses America West $ 57,699,980 18.40 American 287,072,000 7.73 Continental 159,016,000 12.89 Delta 282,327,000 9.59
Air Inter Chairman Michel Bernard has resigned, leaving a vacancy at the top of the French domestic carrier but in parent company Air France's management structure as well. In addition to being chairman of Air Inter, which is 75% owned by Groupe Air France, Bernard was head of Air France's European profit center and had been picked to head the airline to be created when Air France merges its European operation into Air Inter's.
- In Federal Register dated May 8...Superseded an airworthiness directive on Cessna T303, 402C, 404, 414A and 421C aircraft concerning inspection of fuel inlet float valves...Issued an AD on certain Raytheon Hawker 1000 and BAe 125-1000A aircraft requiring inspection of the fuel hose assemblies on the auxiliary power unit.
Voice Switching and Control System is expected to achieve initial operational capability today at the Seattle air route traffic control center. The Harris-built VSCS eventually will go into all ARTCCs, starting next with Salt Lake City and Denver.
NatWest Securities predicts kerojet prices will increase from 53 cents to 58 cents per gallon by the third quarter. If the price rises five cents and the 4.3-cents-per-gallon fuel tax kicks in, the airlines' fuel bill will grow by $900 million in 1996, NatWest says. It would take a 2% to 2.5% increase in yield to offset such an increase, it says.
China Airlines (CAL) plans to launch service from Taipei to Zurich July 12 and between Taipei and Rome on July 17. Because of what CAL described as "political concerns," the airline will use its CI designator code for the new routes but will operate the service in the livery of subsidiary Mandarin Airlines, whose airplanes fly without the Taiwan flag. The Zurich service will be operated twice a week with MD-11s flying via Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt. The Taipei-Rome service will also be operated twice a week, but with 747SPs operate via Dubai.
Canadian Airlines International would have to acquire 17 aircraft to offer on its own the same amount of service it plans to operate on a code sharing basis with American. Not to be left out, Air Canada is working on code- sharing plans with U.S. partner Continental.
The new round of U.S.-U.K. aviation negotiations in London ended Friday, a day earlier than scheduled. Progress was made, but the talks fell short of agreement on all issues, said a DOT spokesman. The U.K. Department of Transport reported "encouraging progress...on a package of changes," adding that "both sides hope that the agreement can be completed in a final meeting in Washington around the end of the month." The U.S. DOT spokesman said the two sides will meet again June 1 and 2 in Washington. The U.K. said progress was made in several areas - a second U.S.
Continental's performance bonuses continue to pay off. Based on preliminary data and information from seven of the 10 airlines tracked in the DOT Consumer Report, habitual also-ran Continental believes it had the best on-time performance in April. The carrier also achieved a 66% load factor in April, a 10-year high for the month.
Federal prosecutors in Cincinnati are due to decide today whether to stay involved in a whistleblower case against General Electric Aircraft Engines alleging a cover-up of safety issues on thousands of GE engines. FAA and the U.S. Air Force recently filed technical reports with the Justice Department refuting claims raised in the suit, filed by former GE engineer Ian Johnson and unsealed last summer.
Holders of Reno Air's $4.55 million 7.25% convertible subordinated notes have converted their notes, including accrued interest, into shares of Reno common stock. The conversion results in the issuance of 930,744 shares of Reno Air common stock and an increase in stockholders' equity of approximately $4.65 million. On April 10, the company tendered a proposal to convert their notes, plus accrued interest, into common stock at a conversion price of $5 per share. Substantially all noteholders tendered the note for conversion at this price as of May 8.
Hawaiian Airlines will increase its Honolulu-Las Vegas frequency to daily but eliminate nonstops June 15. The carrier offers four flights a week, two of them nonstops. When flights are offered daily, all will stop in Los Angeles.
Granted orally an exemption to Amerijet International for two years to operate scheduled all-cargo service between Miami/Fort Lauderdale and the Turks and Caicos Islands...Approved an IATA agreement revising fares between the Russian Federation and Japan to reflect the commencement of new services. It establishes fares between Khabarovsk and Aomori and amends fares from Toyama to Vladivostok.
A Transport Canada proposal to FAA to establish Class C airspace over the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington is being opposed by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Class C airspace in the U.S. is usually defined as a five-nautical-mile radius around a primary airport to 4,000 feet above ground level, and out to a 10-mile radius from 1,200 to 4,000 feet AGL.
Airbus Industrie and representatives of 23 of its customer airlines and operators have agreed to establish a flight safety confidential reporting system. The agreement, which more airlines are expected to join, will "enhance the gathering of valuable operational feedback on in-service events which usually go unreported," Airbus says.
Europe cannot afford to let the opportunity to develop a 500- to 600-seat civil transport slip away, Daimler-Benz Aerospace's Manfred Bischoff says. "Boeing already has a monopoly position for its 747 model, whose profit margin is so large - 30 to 40 percent - that it allows Boeing to practically give away its smaller aircraft for very cheap prices on the world market."
Three days of U.S.-Poland talks last week failed to produce a new aviation agreement, according to an industry official. The U.S. was to offer the Poles an open skies agreement and, short of that, press for third-country code-share access. The Poles agreed to allow the code-share service within "a specific period of time," the official said.
The International Air Transport Association has scheduled a Worldwide Airline Liability Conference June 19-27 in Washington, D.C., to work on ways to modernize the air carrier liability system and update passenger liability limits for international air transportation. IATA said it is bringing together the world's airlines in an effort to try to preserve the advantages of the universal Warsaw Convention regime while correcting the convention's deficiencies. Any air carrier package produced by the conference will be subject to government approval.
Reversing an earlier, tentative decision, the Australian Trade Practices Commission (TPC) Friday approved a major element of the British Airways/Qantas alliance that envisions joint operations over the so-called Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe (DAILY, Nov. 21). After months of review and negotiations, the TPC approved the carriers' Joint Service Agreement, which covers fares, capacity and scheduling, for a period of five years. However, it set a ceiling on how much the two airline may increase excursion fares.
Orlando and London retained their No. 1 positions as the leading domestic and international destinations for the summer in the American Society of Travel Agents' annual Summer Hot Spots survey, released last week at its Western Regional Conference in Beaver Creek, Colo. The survey found that 55.3% of agents polled said international summer bookings are higher now than they were at the same time last year. A smaller fraction, 42.6%, said domestic bookings are up.
The American Society of Travel Agents said Friday it is confident that its proposed commission cap settlement agreement with TWA will pass Justice Department muster, and it described as "difficult to grasp" DOJ concern that other airlines may be disadvantaged by the deal (DAILY, May 12). "In no way does the settlement harm the travel consumer or threaten agents' total sale of airline tickets," said ASTA General Counsel Burton Rubin. "The antitrust laws protect competition, not competitors.
The Airlines Reporting Corp.'s Joint Advisory Board-Agent Reporting Agreement decided last week to recommend adoption of travel agency on-site branch locations - in the same building as a corporation, for example - as a permanent feature of its operations. During its semi-annual meeting, the JAB-ARA endorsed a plan to work with current customer premises locations to convert to the new on-site category.
