National Transportation Safety Board is opening the public docket for the Dec. 13, 1994, crash of a Jetstream Super 31. American Eagle Flight 3379 crashed at Morrisville, N.C., near Raleigh/Durham.
United Parcel Service has applied for renewal of its authority to provide scheduled all-cargo service between Louisville, Ky., and Mexico City, Mexico. (Docket 49490)
Cherokee Air is seeking renewal of its authority to conduct on-demand charter service between Marsh Harbour, Babaco, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, on the one hand, and Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Fort Piece, Fla., on the other. The carrier operates more than 10 charter flights per month. (Docket 49268)
Southwest will expand its schedule May 21 by adding nine roundtrips at Seattle, Spokane, Reno, Phoenix, Oakland and Las Vegas. The carrier leased two more 737s recently and expects to accept delivery of 20 more aircraft by the end of the year. Boeing is scheduled to deliver 18 more in 1996.
AT&T subsidiary McCaw Cellular Communications has changed the name of its inflight communications company from Claircom to the Aviation Communications Division of AT&T Wireless Services. Outside the Americas, the division will operate as Claircom International, however. The change is part of a move by McCaw to introduce the AT&T brand name to the cellular communications market. AT&T acquired McCaw for $11.5 billion in September.
Swissair, Singapore Airlines and Delta, the three carriers that comprise the Global Excellence Alliance, have formed a joint-venture purchasing and logistics management company headquartered in Zurich. The not-yet-named new company, which will have branch offices in Atlanta and Singapore, will be run by Cees van der Hoek, who will be general manager-global service agency.
National Car Rental is offering customers a weekend rate program with triple bonus miles on five airlines. The TRIP program is valid for any weekend until June 25. Frequent travelers flying Northwest, United, Midwest Express and USAir will receive 1,500 miles and Continental 2,250 miles.
Asiana Airlines has applied for authority to operate combination service between Korea and Seattle. The carrier has asked DOT to rule on its application by April 27, so that it can begin promoting and selling tickets for three-times-weekly service scheduled to begin on or after that date. (Docket 50282)
Reno Air flew 26.4% more revenue passenger miles last month than in March 1994 on 25.6% more capacity, causing its passenger load factor to rise 0.4 percentage points to 64%. The number of passengers boarded during March increased 14.6% from the same month a year ago. Through the first three months of 1995, Reno's traffic increased 26.4% on 24.9% more capacity, increasing the load factor 0.7 points to 57.5%. The number of passengers boarded in the first quarter increased 19.9%.
America West has appointed John Garel senior VP-marketing and sales. He most recently was chief executive of Cadmus Journal Services, Baltimore, and before that held management positions for 12 years at Northwest and American.
Ocean Optique Distributors and its subsidiary, Classic Optical, is offering one American AAdvantage mile for every dollar spent on their fashion eyewear. They also reward miles for purchases of Revlon, Crayola, Chevrolet, JH Collectibles, Zeiss and Gitano products. The program includes purchase levels that reward customers with Travelpro Rollaboard carry-on luggage.
The Bombardier Business Aircraft Division delivered 25 Canadair Challenger 601-3R business jet aircraft in 1994, 35% of all deliveries for large business jets. "It was a banner year for us with the Challenger 601-3R emerging as the market leader," said John Lawson, president of Bombardier's Business Aircraft Division. Deliveries of the 601-3R will continue through 1995, with introduction of the next-generation 604 model set for December. Development of the 604, designed to achieve a 4,000- nautical-mile range, is proceeding ahead of schedule, Bombardier said.
The American Stock Exchange will begin trading options on ValuJet's over- the-counter stock on April 19, AMEX said. VJQ will open with strike prices of 25, 30 and 35, and position limits of 10,500 contracts. Initial expiration months will be May, June, September and December 1995. AGS Specialist Partners will be the specialist unit for the new options.
Honeywell has been selected to provide air data/inertial reference units for the next-generation Boeing 737-600, -700 and -800 aircraft. Under a multimillion dollar contract, including spares and customer support, Honeywell will provide the 4MCU-size unit, which integrates the laser inertial reference system and air data functions. The new 4MCU configuration replaces 10MCU inertial units and 1/2 ATR air data computers on current 737s.
United Chairman Gerald Greenwald unveiled United's first five-year strategic plan to airline analysts yesterday while attempting to allay their fears that the carrier will be too ambitious in adding capacity. United intends to stick to a strategy to "retire and replace" older aircraft with those already on order, yielding a net of only 19 new aircraft by 2000.
USAir has cut fares between Washington Dulles and Hartford, Conn., nearly in half, to $45 one way, for travel through May 24. The fares do not require an advance purchase or roundtrip purchase. Earlier in the week, ValuJet offered a two-for-one fare from Washington Dulles to Hartford, Chicago Midway, Montreal Dorval and Springfield, Mass., also for travel through May 24.
Western Pacific Airlines was found "fit, willing and able" to operate scheduled service from its Colorado Springs, Colo., hub. Beginning April 28, the new- entrant carrier plans to operate two daily roundtrip flights between Colorado Springs and Los Angeles, San Jose, Las Vegas and Phoenix, using two leased 737-300 aircraft. (Docket 49941)
The Aer Lingus Group and its core airline business yesterday reported pre- tax profits, before accounting for restructuring costs, for the 21-month period ended Dec. 31, but continuing losses at the group's TEAM maintenance subsidiary have revived doubts about the unit's future. The losses at TEAM also could jeopardize the third tranche of state aid due the airline company this summer.
Southwest has leased two 737-300s for 10 years from International Lease Finance Corp. for expansion of its summer schedule. Both aircraft have been delivered to the carrier.
Northwest is urging DOT to dismiss Continental Micronesia's request to provide all-cargo services between Guam and points in Indonesia and Malaysia via the Philippines (DAILY, March 29&April 7). Noting that the applications fall outside the terms of the current aviation agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines, Northwest reminded DOT of its "longstanding practice" of dismissing "applications for extrabilateral authority until after resolution of the unresolved bilateral issues."
PTC, a division of B.E. Aerospace, and Ergomedics, the developer of new back-relief seating technology, announced PTC will build BackCycler units into its commercial aircraft seats. BackCycler is a computer- controlled device that supports and exercises the lower back. The terms and schedule for installation were not disclosed. B.E. Aerospace says it has produced more than half of all seats installed in commuter aircraft since 1980.
Airbus and Fokker Domestic Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1994 A320-1/200 America West Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 17 50 Total Fleet Operations Departures 88 204 Block Hours 207 543
Air Transport Association convened its new safety council for the first time yesterday. Composed of officials from all ATA member airlines, the group is chaired by Edmond Soliday, United's VP-safety and security. In its initial gathering, the council hammered out five or six agenda items, said Soliday, which may be made public after the members discuss them with their respective chief executives and boards of directors. The group also met with Christopher Hart, FAA assistant administrator for system safety.
American is seeking authority to operate service between points in the U.S. and Belfast, Northern Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland, and Leeds and Teesside, England. The service will be operated under a code-sharing arrangement with British Midlands. Under the deal, BMA will place American's designator code on service to the additional U.K. destinations as a continuation of American's service to London Heathrow from its U.S. gateways, New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. American said that while it did not have authority to operate to the four U.K.
Peruvian flag carrier Faucett is seeking renewal of its authority to operate three additional narrowbody frequencies between Miami and Lima, gained earlier this year. Faucett also wants DOT to amend this authority to enable it to add another one and a half frequencies. It plans to use the new frequencies to operate a scheduled Lockheed L-1011 combination roundtrip per week. One and a half narrowbody frequencies equal a single weekly widebody flight.
