Granted orally an exemption to Bay Air Cargo to operate charter cargo service between a point or points in Brazil and a point or points in the U.S., and other charters...Granted orally an exemption to Servicios Aereos Litoral to engage in scheduled combination service between Hermosillo, Mexico, and Phoenix and between Tijuana, Mexico, and Los Angeles.
Attempts by Orange County executives to sell John Wayne Airport are "purely a mechanism to finance the sale or leveraged buyout of an existing airport," according to the Air Transport Association. In comments to Orange County's John Wayne Airport Revenue/Sale Task Force, ATA said the sale of the airport could be considered a diversion of airport revenue to non-aviation purposes or an offset of county debt to another agency (DAILY, April 19).
Mexicana is seeking authority to operate combination service between Morelia, Mexico, and Los Angeles. The carrier has asked for quick action on the application as it wants to begin operating twice-weekly roundtrip service on the route immediately, using Boeing 727-200 aircraft. Apologizing for the short notice of the application, Mexicana said it had been advised by the government of Mexico on May 31 of its authorization to serve the route and that the designation of TAESA for the route was canceled. (Docket 50378)
Airline industry still supports federal standards for child safety seats but is concerned that some FAA officials believe otherwise. The confusion arose after the Air Transport Association last month withdrew its petition for the standards at the request of FAA, which argued that the petition's existence limited the agency's ability to deal with the issue. "At this point, our priority is for FAA to develop standards for the seats," an industry official said.
DOT has issued its Air Travel Consumer Report for the first three months of the year. The on-time section of the report, issued last week, for the first time includes data on mechanical delays and cancellations and will continue to include the information until a proposed rule is approved (DAILY, June 2). The overall on-time performance for all reporting airlines for the three months was 77.3% That figure was well below the 82% for the last quarter of 1994 but better than last year's first quarter result of 75.7%.
The potential for U.S. actions against Japan was on hold Friday as U.S. and Japanese officials held talks aimed at breaking the aviation stalemate between the two countries. A Thursday meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale and Japan's Minister Shizuka Kamei was followed on Friday by "ministerial level talks," said a DOT official. The talks are a positive development, but if they fail, "we'll be right back where we started."
U.S.-U.K. talks were going well, said a DOT official, but still were going on as The DAILY went to press Friday evening. One remaining sticking issue was a British timeline for completion of a Phase 2 agreement, a DOT official said (DAILY, June 2). Also, regarding the first phase, or so- called "mini-deal," the two sides still were determining the U.S. gateways where British Airways would be allowed to bid for Fly America passengers and the size of aircraft United can use for the new Chicago-Heathrow service.
Continental is planning to inaugurate service to Nashville Sept. 7 from its principal hubs at Houston, Newark and Cleveland. It will operate three daily nonstop flights with 737s from Houston Intercontinental, two daily flights from Newark and two from Cleveland. One-way fares will be as low as $89 to Houston, $174 to Newark and $69 to Cleveland.
Qantas Chairman Gary Pemberton and Managing Director James Strong resigned from the Air New Zealand board of directors last week in what is seen as a prelude to Qantas selling its 19.4% stake in Air New Zealand and ANZ taking a 50% stake in Qantas's primary domestic competitor Ansett Airlines. Pemberton said that "growing areas of commercial competition between the two airlines" prevented him and Strong from participating in a broad range of board discussions.
USAir and El Salvadoran carrier TACA have quietly signed a letter of intent and are currently looking at ways to cooperate, USAir officials confirmed last week. Daniel Brock, the U.S. carrier's VP-marketing services, declined to go into detail other than to say the two carriers are looking at cooperative scheduling. "We're very impressed with TACA," Brock said. One source at last week's International Airline CEO Conference in Miami said the two airlines have discussed code sharing, but the statement could not be confirmed. USAir is the only U.S.
Air Canada will inaugurate nonstop service to code-sharing partner United's Denver hub from Toronto and Vancouver Oct. 29. Air Canada will operate two daily flights in both markets with A320 aircraft configured for economy- class and business-class service. The flights, the only nonstops on both routes, go on sale June 7. Under the expanded code-share alliance between the carriers announced earlier this week, Air Canada's code also will appear on United flights from Denver to Calgary (DAILY, June 1).
Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee yesterday approved a draft notice of proposed rulemaking to allow operators to fly certain single- engine aircraft under Part 135 in instrument flight rule conditions. The draft NPRM, developed at the request of FAA, will be sent to the FAA for action. The proposal, which primarily affects Cessna Caravan, Pilatus PC- 12 and TBM 700 operators, stipulates reliability standards and equipment requirements for single-engine aircraft operation in IFR conditions.
New Regional Aircraft Orders And Options March 1995 Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines Avianova 1 AA ATR 72 - - PW127B National Jet 1 DHC-8-300 1 DHC-8-300 PW123 Orders - Last 12 Months - Options Carrier Delivery Dates No. Type No. Type
A number of flights departing Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek Airport this week were delayed when workers at the Grand Hotel's airport restaurant refused to wash dishes to be used for onboard meals by China Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. The workers were protesting an agreement between the two airlines to set up their own restaurant to provide onboard meals.
Innsbruck, Austria, regional carrier Tyrolean Airways took delivery of the first of three Fokker 70 aircraft it had on firm order. The airline will use the aircraft to serve routes between Vienna, Zagreb and Innsbruck. The second aircraft, scheduled for delivery in July, will serve routes between Salzburg, Frankfurt and Zurich. The third aircraft is scheduled for delivery this August.
Frontier Airlines has promoted Jeffrey Truax to the newly created position of director-pricing and scheduling from manager-pricing. Before joining Frontier, Truax had similar roles at Mesa, America West, NPA Airlines and Aspen Airways.
DOT issued a proposal yesterday to exclude mechanical delays and cancellations from on-time data in its Air Travel Consumer Report. At the same time, the department issued delayed reports for the first three months of the year. In those reports, which include mechanical delays, the average on-time performance for all reporting carriers was 77.3%, with Delta ranking first in January with 78.9%, Northwest in February with 82% and Continental in March at 83.1%.
The Senate ultimately approved a modified version of the "sense of the Senate" resolution on essential air service, effectively gutting the measure (DAILY, May 26). The original proposed amendment to the budget resolution, sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), stated the sense of the Senate that essential air service program receive a sufficient level of funding to continue to provide air service to small rural communities that qualify for assistance.
U.S. Major Carriers Productivity In RPMs And ASMs Per Employee Fourth Quarter 1994 Revenue Available Passenger Seat Miles Miles Airline (000) (000) America West 2,872,281 4,621,311 American 25,034,788 38,236,441 Continental 9,596,794 15,813,914
FAA Eastern Region yesterday took over Bermuda airspace from the U.S. Naval Air Station on the island which is closing down (DAILY, May 4). FAA also hired six former Navy controllers who will work at the New York Center and will be responsible for the new airspace. The airspace covers a 180- nautical mile radius at all altitudes surrounding Bermuda.
Cargo traffic carried by U.S. airlines grew by 7.4% in April from the same month last year, the Air Transport Association said. ATA considers the increase disappointing, given recent double-digit increases. Total cargo traffic - mail and freight - was up 16.7% in January, 11.1% in February and 9.1% in March.
Southwest is offering $22 fares from Seattle to Oakland and San Jose through June 22. Tickets must be purchased at least one day in advance, and seats are limited.
The U.S. is considering a number of options for dealing with the current aviation stalemate with Japan, said a DOT official.One possibility is imposing restrictions on cargo carrier Nippon Cargo Airlines, but the U.S. is exploring other avenues, some of which do not include sanctions, the official said.
Taiwan's nine international and domestic airlines have agreed to ban smoking on nearly all flights, beginning in July. The only exception, according to the agreement, will be China Airlines' flights between Taiwan and Japan. A CAL spokesman said that the majority of passengers on its Taiwan-Japan routes are smokers and that they have strongly protested the proposed smoking ban. EVA Airways has taken the extra step of announcing that it will no longer sell duty-free cigarettes aboard aircraft flying international and domestic routes.
