DOT has cleared ACT International Airlines, operating as Texas Airways, to begin commuter operations with its new operating plans. Originally certificated Dec. 30, 1994, for service between Tulsa, Okla., and Branson, Mo., the carrier notified DOT in February that it had changed its initial operating proposal. Under the revised plan, the carrier will operate two daily roundtrip flights, seven days a week, between Dallas Love Field and Abilene, Texas, using two 13-seat Beech 1300 aircraft.
DOT has tentatively found Western Pacific Airlines "fit, willing and able" to operate scheduled service from its Colorado Springs 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. During its first year of service, it plans to add two more 737-300s and provide twice-daily roundtrip service between Colorado Springs and Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Chicago.
FAA has dedicated a new airport surface detection equipment (ASDE) radar built by Westinghouse for operation at St. Louis Lambert Airport. Mike Hodges, manager of the FAA air traffic control tower at St. Louis, said the ASDE will track movement of aircraft and vehicles anywhere on airport property in any weather and at night. ASDE is being installed at 40 airports nationwide.
British Airways' scheduled systemwide passenger traffic rose 6% last month from March a year ago on 3.7% more capacity, boosting the load factor 1.6 percentage points to 72.3%. The number of passengers boarded increased 4.1% to 2.57 million. The airline's U.K. and European traffic rose 4.8% on just 0.1% more capacity, and its intercontinental traffic was up 6.3% on 4.7% more capacity. For the fiscal year ended March 31, BA's systemwide traffic increased 6.7% on 4.4% more capacity, pushing its load factor up 1.6 points to 71.6%.
Startup Air South's passenger load factor reached 50% in March as the airline boarded nearly 83,000 passengers during the month. Air South, which began flight operations last September, flew 28.9 million revenue passenger miles for the month on capacity of 57.8 million available seat miles. The 50% load factor was Air South's highest since 52.4% last October, when it operated only two aircraft and carried little more than one-third its current traffic. It plans to add a seventh aircraft to its fleet April 22.
Avitas announced publication of the March 1995 edition of its semiannual Avitas BlueBook of Commercial Turboprop Aircraft Values 1995-2015. Avitas said the guide is used by airlines, financiers, manufacturers and appraisers, and provides information and current and future values for 32 of the most popular commuter airliners. For more information, call Fred Klein at 703-476-2300, fax 703-860-5855.
The European Commission has approved payment of the second of four installments of state aid for TAP Air Portugal. The total aid package, approved last July, is valued at about US$1.1 billion and includes a capital injection, loan guarantees and certain tax exemptions (DAILY, July 7). The EC tied approval of the aid to conditions, including the liberalization of non-scheduled air transport between EU airports and the Azores, and achieving goals contained in the airline's restructuring plan.
ValuJet's March load factor rose 4.4 percentage points over that of March 1993, to 73.4%, as traffic grew 235% and capacity increased 215%. Through the first three months, ValuJet's traffic rose 234% on 228% more available seat miles, producing a load factor increase of 1.3 points to 63.5%. "It is particularly gratifying that our load factor increased in a time when we were developing our new focus city at Washington Dulles," said Chairman Robert Priddy.
Pilots and controllers disagreed yesterday with portions of the presentations made Tuesday to the National Transportation Safety Board on probable causes of the USAir DC-9 accident last July 2 at Charlotte, N.C. (DAILY, April 5). The Air Line Pilots Association challenged board statements faulting the crew, saying the pilots were "victims of a failed system" of disseminating weather information.
Korean Air has awarded Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT) a contract valued at more than $10 million to upgrade KAL's mainframe computer systems to SDT's client/server airline operations system. Under terms of the contract, one of SDT's largest ever, the Sabre Group unit will customize and implement nearly 20 of its systems for KAL in the areas of cargo, flight scheduling, flight control, airport operations, yield management and crew management. The first systems to be implemented address crew and yield management.
British Airways unveiled a new sales and marketing organization in the U.S. in what it described as an effort to be more innovative and responsive to the market. The new structure "flattens out" reporting lines and brings the most senior sales and marketing executives into a direct report with the executive VP, with a team objective focused on the customer and the airline's growth, BA said.
National Business Aircraft Association will hold its annual meeting Sept. 26-28 in Las Vegas. Some 700 exhibitors are expected to participate, and more than 150 aircraft will be on static display at McCarran Airport.
United's systemwide passenger traffic rose 5.3% last month on 3.1% more capacity, boosting the carrier's load factor 1.5 percentage points to 70.5%. The number of passengers boarded increased 9.3% from March a year ago. United logged load factor increases in North America, the Atlantic and Latin America in March, but its Pacific load factor fell 4.4 points to 72% as a 7.5% traffic increase was more than offset by 14.1% capacity growth.
Boeing 757 And 767 Domestic Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1994 Boeing 757-200 America West American Number of Aircraft Operated 12 62 Total Fleet Operations Departures 52 200 Block Hours 147 650
More than four years of negotiations between FAA and the certification authorities of three nations laid the foundation for Delta's plans to begin overflights of China on its Los Angeles-Hong Kong service (DAILY, March 24). The new route, over Khabarovsk, Russia, and Harbin, can save one hour and 40 minutes flight time compared with the North Pacific route, especially in the fall, when favorable winds will aid the flights.
Nordeste has ordered two Fokker 50s and Rio-Sul has ordered a third. Nordeste will take delivery of its aircraft in May and June, operating them from its main hubs. Rio-Sul, already a Fokker 50 operator, has received its new aircraft. Fokker now has 204 orders and 15 options for the F50.
TWA's systemwide traffic declined 2.9% in March on roughly 2.9% less capacity. The carrier's load factor was the same as last year's, and the number of passengers boarded fell 1.1%. Domestic traffic slipped 0.6% on 1% more capacity, while international traffic dropped 8.9% on 14.7% fewer available seat miles. Through the first three months of this year, TWA's systemwide traffic increased 3.4% on 0.4% less capacity, producing a load factor increase of 2.3 points. March 1995 March 1994 3 Months 1995 3 Months 1994
Northwest's board of directors has voted unanimously to extend to 10 years the right of three unions to name one director apiece. The Machinists, Teamsters and Air Line Pilots Association were given three seats on the board when employees took ownership in the company in 1993. Their right to seats on the board now extends to Aug. 1, 2003. The original agreement permitted Northwest to reduce the term unilaterally from 10 years if employees disposed of at least 75% of the Northwest stock issued to them in 1993.
Royal Jordanian Airline has added a third weekly cargo flight to its New York Kennedy-Amman schedule. The new flight departs JFK on Tuesday and, like the other two, stops at Maastricht en route. Royal Jordanian operates five weekly passenger flights from New York and two a week from Chicago O'Hare.
Clipper Air Cargo has asked DOT for a certificate to launch all-cargo service by June 1. During its first year of operations, Clipper plans to operate between New York Stewart Airport and the Far East, using two Boeing 747-100SF aircraft it intends to purchase or lease. The carrier said it will not specialize in small-package service but will carry a wide variety of cargo. To keep costs down, Clipper will contract out maintenance, cargo handling, dispatch and crew scheduling to the extent permitted by DOT and FAA regulations. (Docket 50243)
Swissair named Eberhard Suhr, general manager for the U.K. and Ireland, its new general manager-southern region, to be based in Atlanta. He will be responsible for operations at Atlanta and oversee sales and marketing in the southeastern and southwestern U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
SilkAir and Indonesian carrier Sempati Air have launched joint, nonstop service between Singapore and Lombok, in Indonesia. Service is offered four times a week with Fokker 70s under the codes of both carriers. SilkAir, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, recently launched service to Pekanbaru and Padang, and added an extra flight to Yangon. The carrier deferred launching service to Solo City until April 12 pending government approval. Service to Padang, the capital of Sumatra, and to Pekanbaru, the provincial capital of Riau, both are offered three times a week.
TPI International Airways has filed a motion for sanctions against the U.S. government for failing to present a key witness in its $28 million breach-of-contract appeal against the Air Force. Hearings in the case were concluded last week in Brunswick, Ga., by Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) Administrative Judge Allan F. Elmore (DAILY, March 29).
At least one of the losing bidders is expected to protest FAA's choice of a Wilcox team to receive the $500 million Wide Area Augmentation System contract.There is speculation in industry that FAA used the "competitive range" process to draw a protest in order to delay the program while the agency works out WAAS problems with the Pentagon. Two former FAA procurement officials question whether the way the contract was concluded will allow FAA to claim "fair and open competition."
Cargolux Airlines International is seeking renewal of its authority to serve Prestwick, Scotland, as an intermediate point on some of its service between Luxembourg and the U.S. The carrier also is asking DOT to amend its existing authority to enable it to add Reykjavik, Iceland, as an intermediate point on its Luxembourg-U.S. service and Detroit as a co- terminal point on its scheduled all-cargo service. "While Cargolux relies specifically on the newly initialed 'open-skies' agreement between the government of Luxembourg and the government of the U.S.
