FlightSafety International has appointed Jerry Nickelsburg to be director of airline marketing, a position the company said it created "to provide a marketing interface for the greatly enlarged training services and facilities" it offers. Nickelsburg has been at Douglas Aircraft Co. for eight years, most recently as deputy regional VP-Asia sales. He was an economics professor at the University of Southern California for six years.
FAA has issued a final rule updating the fee schedule for airman and repair station certification services performed outside the U.S. The new rule and schedule of fees, published in today's Federal Register, take effect in 30 days. FAA said the new rule is needed to allow the agency to recover all the costs it incurs in performing certification outside the U.S., and to bring current airman fees in line with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other international treaties.
Emirates is running a Tom Hanks film festival for its first-class passengers, offering a choice of "Forrest Gump," "Big," "Philadelphia," "Splash" and "Turner and Hooch." In the past, Emirates has featured Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood festivals.
Qantas yesterday observed the 60th anniversary of its first overseas flight, a four-day, 18-stop journey from Brisbane to Singapore.The flight now takes seven hours and 45 minutes, nonstop.
The World Health Organization has presented Singapore Airlines with a medal and citation in recognition of the carrier's policy of offering smoke-free services on more than 90% of its flights. Last Oct. 30, all SIA flights except those originating or terminating in Japan became smoke-free. Today, 842 of SIA's 930 weekly flights, or 90.5% of its schedule, are non-smoking. SilkAir, SIA's wholly owned subsidiary, operates smoke-free flights on all of its services.
Auxiliary Power International Corp. reported that it has been chosen by SAETA of Ecuador and Sky Service, a Canadian FBO, to equip A320 aircraft with its APS 3200 auxiliary power unit. The company said the orders will serve as the "launch" of its A320 business in South America and Canada.
Controllers United, which says it represents the interests of 11,400 former Professional Air Traffic Control Organization members, estimates that FAA could save $500 million in training costs by hiring available former controllers, instead of beginners, to fill vacancies at understaffed facilities.
Continental is praising FAA for taking action to reduce delays at its Newark hub by staffing New York-area air traffic control facilities with 30 extra controllers. FAA also has commissioned an instrument landing system at Newark that Continental expects to reduce delays by increasing the use of the third runway during IFR conditions. Newark has led the nation in delays in four of the last five years (DAILY, April 11), and Continental has made improving its on-time performance one of the top priorities in its Go Forward Plan, implemented a few months ago.
Weber Aircraft Inc., Gainesville, Texas, said it has completed TSO C127 dynamic testing of its electrically actuated 7070 seats for the first- class cabin of A340 aircraft ordered by Air Canada from Airbus Industrie. The certification tests were the first conducted on the company's recently completed 16g test track.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an appeal that centers on whether relatives of a passenger killed in an airline accident must show that they were financially dependent on the victim in order to collect damages from the airline under the Warsaw Convention. The suit was brought against Korean Air Lines by the mother and sister of a passenger who died in September, 1983, when KAL Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet military aircraft.
DOT has granted Horizon Air authority to serve Spokane and Calgary. The department also renewed United's authority to serve the same route. (Dockets 45651&49175)
Aeromexico has applied for renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between Tijuana, Mexico, and Bakersfield, Calif. The carrier currently operates daily service on the route via its code-share arrangement with Air L.A. It uses 19-seat Metro III aircraft operated via Las Vegas and/or Los Angeles. (Docket 50294)
Air Jamaica will launch daily service from Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay and Kingston on May 1. Jamaica-bound flights will leave Fort Lauderdale at 8:30 a.m., arrive in Montego Bay at 9:25 a.m., and continue to Kingston. "This is a step in the right direction for the new Air Jamaica," said Gordon Stewart, chairman of the newly privatized carrier. "We have a growth and development plan for Air Jamaica, and Fort Lauderdale is the perfect place to begin."
Delta has turned to the federal government for mediation help in contract talks with its pilots on labor cost reductions after determining that they cannot reach agreement on their own. The Air Line Pilots Association called Delta's appeal to the National Mediation Board for intervention "premature." The parties have been negotiating since last fall, and Delta asked for mediation after ALPA rejected the carrier's suggestion last week that the two make the filing together.
Passenger volume at the London area's three largest airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - rose 4.6% in March to nearly 6.09 million passengers, according to BAA plc, the airport management and development company that runs the three facilities and four other U.K. airports. Total passenger volume at the seven BAA airports increased 3.9% to 6.9 million. Passenger volume at Heathrow, the largest of the seven, increased 5.8% to 4.36 million, but Gatwick volume rose 0.9% to 1.49 million.
The Epilepsy Foundation of America is a new partner of Northwest's AirCares program. The airline will promote the foundation through June, encouraging passengers to donate cash or WorldPerks certificates to the organization. AirCares works with a different non-profit organization every quarter in a public awareness and fund-raising campaign. Northwest offers 500 bonus miles to anyone donating $50 or more, or a Fly-Write certificate.
Honeywell Air Transport Systems, Phoenix, Ariz., reported completion of testing and documentation for initial certification of the airplane information management system (AIMS) it developed for the Boeing 777 transport. The system is the largest commercial avionics design project the company has ever undertaken, involving more than 620,000 lines of software code.
State governments intend to spend $399 million in fiscal 1994-1995 for travel and tourism development and promotion, 7% more than the previous year and twice the rate of inflation, the Travel Industry Association of America said. Hawaii is projected to have the highest state travel office budget, at $34 million, followed by Illinois, $30.5 million, and Texas, $20.8 million. TIA said the fastest-growing tourism budgets are those of Mississippi, up 70% to $12.2 million, and West Virginia, up 56% to $6.3 million. The average is $8.1 million.
The market value of U.S. airline company stocks tracked by The DAILY rose sharply in March, bolstered by expectations of industry profits this summer and increasing confidence that carriers will restrain capacity growth. The combined value of the U.S. stocks increased 6.5% in March to $24.95 billion from $23.42 billion at the end of February. During the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3.7%, closing the month at 4,157.69, and the three transportation indices also increased.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena leaves today on a westward trip that will take him to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seattle to tour Northwest facilities and participate in the debut of the Boeing 777. Today, Pena is scheduled to visit Northwest's facilities in Minneapolis/St. Paul with Chief Executive Officer John Dasburg. He will meet with mechanics at the carrier's maintenance facility and then discuss airline safety issues at the pilot training and crew resource management center - Northwest Aerospace Training Corporation, in Eagen, Minn.
The U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed complaints from Delta Friday and upheld DOT's 1993 award of two transatlantic routes to American. The suit grew out of the department's choice of American for routes to London from Nashville and Raleigh-Durham over Delta's proposed Salt Lake City-London service. In its complaint, Delta charged the route award violated established DOT policy, as well as administrative procedures designed to insulate such rulings from political influence (DAILY, Jan. 7, 1994).
Boeing completed its final certification tests on the No. 2 777 transport last week and reported that the aircraft is on track to attain joint certification this month from FAA and Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities. The second 777's production-configured information management system, thrust management system, flight management computer and electronic engine controls were tested last week, Boeing reported, and the six 777s in flight testing had completed 1,626 flights and 3,045 hours by April 12, nearly twice the testing conducted on the 767. The No.
The GPA Group plc of Ireland has filed a suit in the Bombay High Court seeking the return of two aircraft it had leased to the private Indian domestic carrier East West Airlines, according to EWA officials. GPA also wants a decree against EWA for a total of $1,256,903, covering lease rent, supplemental rent and default interest. Pending court proceedings, GPA has written to India's Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, asking it to ensure that no permit is issued to EWA to operate the leased aircraft.
