Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic November 1994 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 1,084 26.33 2,071 2,245,509 Atlantic 248 26.77 4,138 1,026,976
HeavyLift Cargo Airlines intends to operate a one-way cargo charter flight between Los Angeles and the Cape Canaveral, Florida, Space Shuttle space launch facility on or about July 31. Using a Shorts SH5 "Belfast" aircraft, HeavyLift will transport a containerized satellite and associated items. No U.S. civil aircraft can accommodate the load, the U.K. charter cargo carrier noted in an application to DOT. (Docket OST-95- 294)
AirTran/Mesaba stockholders will meet Aug. 18 in a special meeting to approve the spinoff to stockholders of AirTran Airways, the low-cost jet subsidiary on the East Coast that created major scope-clause problems for the pilots of senior partner Northwest. There is much speculation as to how the mission of Mesaba may change once the spinoff is complete and Northwest takes an increased stake in the company, including the operation of Northwest's considerable fleet of refurbished DC-9s. If that is the case, Northwest has yet to notify Mesaba.
Eastwind Airlines, which has twice received extra time to start up service (DAILY, June 7), has asked DOT for permission to accept reservations and payment July 16 for service beginning Aug. 16. The carrier said it has "completed all of the major pre-conditions to its receipt of effective certification, with the exception of the FAA Part 121 certification," which it said it expects to complete before Aug. 16.
The combined traffic of the U.S. regional airline industry increased 2.9% in the first quarter of 1995 to 2.66 billion revenue passenger miles, but traffic failed to keep pace with the industry's 8.1% increase capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 2.3 percentage points to 45.6%, according to statistics issued by the Regional Airline Association (RAA). The number of departures completed increased 2.8% to 1.11 million, but the number of passengers carried declined 4.9% to 11.98 million.
Frontier Airlines has appointed Jeff Potter VP-marketing. Potter has been regional director of commercial marketing-Pacific and Asia for McDonnell Douglas, and he served earlier in marketing management positions with Northwest, Continental, Pacific Southwest and the original Frontier.
A list of code-sharing partnerships, beginning with Delta Airlines and its affiliates, is printed on the facing page. Alaska Airlines, American, America West and Continental and their affiliates were listed last week (DAILY, July 7).
American will put its designator code on British Midland flights between London Heathrow and Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds/Bradford and Teesside Aug. 9 in an expansion of its code-sharing arrangement with the U.K. carrier. The two airlines currently code share between London and Amsterdam, Brussels, Glasgow and Frankfurt. Members of American's AAdvantage frequent flyer program will be able to redeem miles for economy-class PlanAAhead travel on British Midland, effective Aug. 1. Awards are available for as few as 10,000 miles.
Western Pacific Airlines, which began flying April 28, had a passenger load factor of 60.7% in June. During the month, the Colorado Springs-based startup carried 68,058 passengers on 834 flights, flying 50.2 million revenue passenger miles on 82.7 million available seat miles. "We expanded service by 69% and still maintained our 60.7% load factor," said Tom DeNardin, VP-sales and marketing. "We are extremely pleased with these results for our second full month of service.
The best way to solve the imbalance of service between the New York area and London Heathrow would be to assign Heathrow route authority to Continental at Newark, according to the Regional Business Partnership, a non-profit business organization advocating the economic growth and development of northeastern New Jersey. Slated to resume next week, U.S.- U.K. aviation negotiations "must include additional service between Newark and Heathrow by a U.S.
Iberia has relocated its North American reservations operations to its headquarters facility in Miami. Salvador Humbert, VP and general manager for the USA and Canada, said the move will reinforce Iberia's position and economic growth in South Florida. Iberia offers nonstop service to Spain from New York and Miami, plus direct service from Los Angeles via a code- sharing arrangement with Carnival Airlines. From Canada, Iberia operates six flights a week from Montreal and Toronto.
American Trans Air plans to eliminate its 21 weekly scheduled flights from St. Louis on Aug. 26 because of poor load factors, reallocating the aircraft to better-performing markets. Competing with TWA at St. Louis, American Trans Air serves St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, but "basically, the load factors weren't where we wanted them to be," a company spokeswoman said yesterday.
Mesaba Aviation, flew 29.4 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 1.9% rise from June 1994. Capacity dropped 4% to 59.4 million available seat miles.
Aero International Regional (AIR), the new ATR/British Aerospace joint venture, will name Jeff Marsh its top sales and marketing executive, The DAILY has confirmed. Marsh currently heads sales and marketing activities for BAe unit Avro Aerospace and formerly ran sales and marketing for Saab Aircraft AB. Bill Black, the head of Jetstream Aircraft customer support and engineering, will be named to run customer support for the joint venture, and Joel Lebreton, who formerly was president of ATR Marketing in the U.S., will head contracts and sales finance...
United Express affiliate Great Lakes aviation projected it will suffer a loss of between six and 11 cents per share for its second quarter ending June 30 - "below the expectations of the analysts following the company," Great Lakes said this week. A definitive financial report will be issued during the week of Aug. 8.
Continental Express could be spun off to stockholders as early as this fall, making it a public company with significantly more operational latitude, including code-sharing arrangements with other major carriers. The company expects to make more than $10 million in pre-tax earnings this quarter and, according to one source, is "extremely profitable." Mesa Air Group in early June rejected an offer to buy Continental Express for $90 million, and Continental subsequently rejected a $100 million offer by Express President Jonathan Ornstein to acquire the regional.
America West will begin installing first-class cabins soon on the 39 aircraft in its 91-airplane fleet that are currently configured for a single class of service, and it plans to refurbish the interiors of all its aircraft by the end of 1996, the airline said yesterday. America West, which declined to say how much the changes will cost, thinks first-class service systemwide will make its frequent flyer program more attractive - it will be able to offer upgrades to all destinations - and improve its traffic mix with more higher-revenue passengers.
Grand Holdings Inc., a charter carrier, has registered with DOT the trade name Champion Air. DOT said the name is connected with a pending acquisition that will give the carrier a new market identity, said DOT.
General Aviation Parts Association (GAPA), being formed to represent the interests of distributors and dealers who supply aircraft parts to the general aviation market, held its first meeting July 7 in Wichita. About 50 people attended, discussing potential FAA regulation of parts distributors, proposed accreditation programs that would include third- party audits of quality procedures, stricter "tagging" requirements for parts, and paperwork and traceability issues.
India's two state-owned carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, will be able to operate a total of 700 more seats each week to Kuwait and fly between Sharjah and Kuwait, India's civil aviation ministry officials said. India's bilateral aviation agreement with Kuwait, renewed last week, grants Kuwait Airways the same increase in capacity and authority to fly to Trivandrum as well as its current Indian destinations, Bombay and New Delhi. The new pact allows for a maximum of 3,500 weekly seats, compared with the present 2,800.
