Citing lack of jurisdiction, DOT dismissed this week a rates and charges complaint filed by Continental Micronesia against the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Commonwealth Ports Authority. The airline had challenged fees imposed since July 1993 at three airports - Saipan, West Tinian and Rota. DOT ruled that the fees were imposed pursuant to a written agreement and were existing fees not in dispute as of Aug. 23, 1994 - both exclusions from the 1994 rates and charges legislation.
Mesa Air Group's systemwide traffic rose 19% last month on 22.3% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decline of 1.4 percentage points. The number of passengers carried fell 21.3%. Through the first three months, its traffic was up 16.1% on 20.5% more capacity, pushing the load factor down 1.8 points. March 95 March 94 3 Mths 95 3 Mths 94 RPMs 101,565,000 85,731,000 264,751,000 227,943,000 ASMs 199,518,000 163,134,000 555,072,000 460,730,000
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Domestic Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1994 DC-10-10 American Continental Number of Aircraft Operated 20 3 Total Fleet Operations Departures 48 5 Block Hours 201 25 Flight Hours 180 23
The Armed Services Board Of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) has asked the Justice Department to compel the testimony of a key DOT witness in the case of TPI International Airways (DAILY, April 6). TPI seeks $28 million in damages from the Air Force in the cancellation of a Logair contract in August 1990.
British Airways yesterday realigned its North American public relations department in an attempt to give it a clearer marketing focus, the airline said. BA said the new structure crosses traditional regional lines to reflect market realities, and public relations personnel will have specific gateway and product mandates. The entire team will focus on New York/Newark, the USAir code-share arrangement and the BA/USAir joint operation.
Competing interests stepped up their lobbying efforts as U.S. and U.K. aviation negotiators prepared to wrap up their current round of talks today. The two sides did not conduct a plenary session but met in chairmen's groups Tuesday. There was little movement on the first day on proposals for a broader agreement, with the U.K. still resisting awarding U.S. carriers about three new slots at Heathrow, according to industry officials.
Lockheed L1011 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Domestic Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1994 L1011-1-250 Delta TWA Total Number of Aircraft Operated 34 17 52 Total Fleet Operations Departures 115 47 161
Northwest will expand its ConnectFirst service to cities served by regional partner Express Airlines I, operating as Northwest Airlink, until Aug. 31. ConnectFirst offers business travelers flying on a full coach ticket an upgrade to first class on the jet portion of many domestic routes connecting through three cities - Memphis, Detroit and Minneapolis. Travelers also will receive 500 WorldPerks bonus miles for each Northwest Airlink segment. If first class is full, passengers will receive double miles.
United has selected Wicat to provide computer-based maintenance training workstations at Washington Dulles, New York Kennedy, Miami and Oakland airports, with courseware for 777, A320 and 747-400 aircraft.
Continental is receiving a bonus from its 4,000 pilots instead of paying one as planned. At the advice of their union, the pilots are not accepting the $65 performance bonus being paid to Continental and Continental Express employees at management level and below for February's on-time performance. The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP), in mediation with the company over compensation and incentives, was told by its counsel that it would be inappropriate to accept money from a unilaterally imposed program when incentives are a bargaining issue.
German charter carrier LTU has ordered one 757 and one 767-300ER in a deal worth $160 million, Boeing said this week. The 757, to be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, will seat 209 passengers. The Pratt&Whitney-powered 767 will seat 276 passengers. Both aircraft are scheduled for delivery in spring 1996. Boeing said the 757 will be certified to fly at high gross weights, enabling LTU to use it to serve the East Coast of the U.S. from Germany. The 767-300ER will have enough range to serve the entire North American continent.
Denver City Council voted 12-0 Tuesday night to approve Continental's lease agreement at Denver International Airport.Released from its original 20- gate obligation, the airline will lease 10 gates, including 113,488 square feet of gate and operational space (DAILY, April 4). Mayor Wellington Webb is expected to sign the agreement this week.
Delta and United pleased the most frequent flyers in a recent survey conducted by Business Flyer newsletter, with American coming in a close third. Delta received the most votes for the best frequent flyer program, 27%, followed by United, 22%, and American, 12%. United's business class was rated the best, receiving 22% of the votes, followed by Delta, 20%, and American, 18%. American beat the other two for the best first class, receiving 23% of the votes, followed by Delta and United at 21% each.
The commuter industry continues to suffer from a public perception that small airplanes are unsafe, according to a new U.S. News&World Report/CNN survey. The poll, conducted Jan. 16-22 by Gallup, randomly surveyed 806 adults and found that 62% feel less safe on small aircraft and 48% would go out of their way to avoid a commuter plane. However, 31% said they believe the news media have overstated the risks of flying small aircraft.
Union leaders at the New York Center and Tracon are warning that "chronic understaffing" and an impending shortage of overtime funds threaten to create air traffic flow problems and to drive up operational errors sharply during the busy summer season. A preview of what might develop occurred in mid-March, when an Air Transport Association official complained to FAA about what was thought to be a slowdown by center controllers, according to union representatives.
Interstate Electronics and Airport Systems International, which teamed last December to develop aircraft landing systems using the satellite-based Global Positioning System, said they will conduct a Differential GPS evaluation program for Crossair, Swissair's regional subsidiary, and Swisscontrol. In the first phase of the evaluation, the companies will install Interstate Electronics GPS navigation and landing systems in two Saab 2000 aircraft and an Airport Systems DGPS ground station at Lugano, Switzerland, for flight demonstrations.
Summary of U.S. National Carrier Systemwide Revenues and Expenses Third Quarter 1994 In Dollars Total Operating % Passenger Carrier Revenues Change Revenues Alaska 319,127,000 19.70 267,968,000 Aloha 60,082,195 6.18 49,962,790 American Trans Air 155,829,784 27.78 59,903,486
Arrow Air, which grounded its fleet March 17 after an FAA investigation turned up numerous recordkeeping violations, remains shut down and is awaiting further action by the agency. FAA charged the airline with falsifying maintenance records and issued a notice of revocation, the first step toward revocation of the Miami-based cargo carrier's operating certificate (DAILY, March 27).
John Wayne Airport staff have been asked by Orange County (Calif.) Chief Executive Officer William Popejoy to prepare a request for statements of qualification from companies interested in buying the airport, an airport spokeswoman told The DAILY yesterday. The board of airport commissioners was to meet last night to make recommendations to the Orange County board of supervisors, which will decide April 18 whether to issue the RFQ, John Wayne spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch said.
Northwest flew 3.4% more systemwide revenue passenger miles last month than in March a year ago despite a capacity decline of 0.9%, boosting the load factor three percentage points to 72.4%. Its domestic traffic increased 6.9% on 1.3% more capacity, while international traffic fell 1.7% on 4.5% less capacity. Systemwide passenger enplanements totaled nearly 4.19 million, 6.5% more than in March 1994. "March was an excellent month," said Northwest President John Dasburg.
Reno Air is offering common stock to holders of its 7.25% convertible subordinated promissory notes due July 15, 1996. Noteholders can convert the notes and collect accrued interest since Jan. 16, 1995, for $5 a share. As of yesterday, Reno had $4.6 million of the notes outstanding. Paul Tate, VP-finance and chief financial officer, said, "This will eliminate the company's long-term debt, reduce our interest expense and increase stockholders' equity." The notes were issued in April and May last year, with a conversion price of $7.03.
Abacus Distribution Systems has implemented automated ticket and boarding pass (ATB2) systems at two travel agencies in Hong Kong and plans cutover to ATB2 ticketing at a third agency this month, the Asia/Pacific computer reservations system firm said yesterday. ATB2 uses magnetic stripe technology, incorporating ticket and boarding pass on a single document. At the point of ticket issuance, passenger data are encoded in a stripe on the ATB2 coupon. At the airport, passengers insert the coupon into a check-in device, which reads the data, speeding check-in.
Peruvian flag carrier Faucett is seeking charter authority to conduct wet- lease operations on behalf of APA International Airlines, on APA's U.S.- Dominican Republic scheduled combination routes. Under the agreement between the two airlines, Faucett will supply APA with combination aircraft - L-1011, A300 or 727-200 aircraft - with crew for its authorized scheduled routes to the U.S. The carrier wants the authority for about nine months, April 15-Dec. 31. (Docket 50265))
The fourth flying EH Industries EH-101 heavy helicopter, PP4, crashed late Friday in Yarcombe, England, but all four Westland Helicopters' crew - two pilots and two flight test engineers - escaped with minor injuries. The aircraft was slated to reach a maximum of 12,000 feet during the test flight, and officials believe that a "fairly catastrophic failure of some sort" occurred close to that altitude, perhaps at 11,000 feet, a Westland spokesman told The DAILY.
