General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) elected Edward Bolen senior VP/general counsel. National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) named William Wagner of Townsend Engineering as treasurer.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) yesterday said he will support the Clinton administration in its efforts to compel Japan to honor its commitments under the U.S.-Japan aviation bilateral, but the administration needs to be tougher in negotiations. "They're directly violating the bilateral" and trying to force us to renegotiate, Pressler said in an interview with CNBC. "It's a form of black mail."
U.S. National Carriers Operating and Net Profit The Year 1994 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) The Year 1994 Alaska $ 62,118 $ 22,571 Aloha (475) 560 American Trans Air 8,851 3,486
Precision Standard and the San Bernardino International Airport Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding for the lease of about 1 million square feet of hangar manufacturing and warehouse space at the former Norton Air Force Base in California. The company will use about 650,000 square feet as an aircraft maintenance and modification center and make the rest available for sublease. Precision Standard Chairman Matthew Gold said the facility will add substantial widebody capabilities to the company's current 3 million square feet of production space.
U.S. National Carriers Operating and Net Profit Fourth Quarter 1994 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) Fourth Quarter 1994 Alaska $ 833 $ (3,872) Aloha (2,119) (709) American Trans Air (7,205) (5,255)
Union and FAA officials disagree over whether a power failure at New York Center last Thursday caused a loss of all radar and radio contact with 37 aircraft in the air at the time. The aircraft were diverted to other airports, and nearly 200 aircraft were delayed at area airports and at Philadelphia.
BA Chairman Colin Marshall, detailing the airline's delivery schedule for new aircraft, said last week the five A-model Boeing 777s BA will start receiving this fall are "not the model we really want." The preferred B- model is to start arriving in December 1996.
- Granted orally an exemption to Gulf Air Company to renew its authority to offer scheduled service from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar via Cyprus to New York until Feb. 8...Approved an IATA agreement to increase children's fares for excursion and group inclusive tour travel within Africa from 50% to 67% of the adult fare...Approved an IATA agreement to revise Hong Kong-Japan first-class fares to meet market requirements by increasing roundtrip fares from Hong Kong to Japan by 10% and setting the one-way levels at 52.5% of the increased roundtrip levels.
- In Federal Register dated May 19...Issued special conditions on Bell Textron 222U helicopters...Proposed an AD on AlliedSignal LTS101-650 and -750 engines to require an improved power turbine rotor.
Air Transport Association President Carol Hallett encouraged airport associations last week to fight airport revenue diversion actively on behalf of individual airport executives, who may be politically constrained from doing so.
On the plus side: The captain of a United 767ER called maintenance at New York Kennedy to report a fuel filter failure during pre-flight. When the work was done in 32 minutes instead of the usual hour and a half, the pilot thanked the maintenance crew. "We own 20% of this airline now," came the reply, "so we'd better make it work."
KLM made an "urgent" appeal to its pilots Friday to abandon their plan to strike today, and instead accept mediation without preconditions (DAILY, May 26). The Dutch pilots union, VNV, called a strike for 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. today to protest contract changes being pushed by KLM, including an increase in the retirement age for new hires to 60 years of age from the current 55. The strike will ground all Amsterdam Schiphol Airport departures and may delay flights scheduled to land at the KLM hub during the strike period.
DOT Administrative Law Judge John Mathias suggested that airlines won something of a pyrrhic victory in their successful claim that Los Angeles failed to adjust fiscal 1994-95 landing fees to reflect actual expenses in the previous year. "Indeed, in view of the proposed upward adjustment of the landing fee in the preliminary reconciliation, it appears the airlines have been better off with the maintenance of the status quo." Briefs on the judge's recommended decision are due today, and DOT must decide on the reasonableness of the landing fee by June 30.
FAA Technical Center, near Atlantic City, N.J., observed its 15th anniversary May 29 as a leader in research, development, test and evaluation in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety and security. The center, which also manages FAA's technology transfer and aviation research grants, operates a fleet of specially equipped aircraft to test new airborne equipment, operational procedures, navigation aids and guidance systems.
America West matched a summer fare sale good for travel through Oct. 15 that is being offered by the major carriers. The carrier said off-peak fares in various markets throughout its system are up to $80 lower than the previous fares. Tickets must be bought by June 2.
Sabre computer reservations system subscribers will be able to accommodate the Airlines Reporting Corp.'s (ARC) Service Fee Processing program scheduled for release on June 5, Sabre Travel Information Network said yesterday. Sabre's product development team has completed the necessary coding and testing to allow its subscribers to include a service fee category on a customer invoice.
El Al may consider flying on the Jewish Sabbath in order to more effectively compete in the international airline industry, Reuter quoted the airline's chairman as saying in an interview. "One has to look into it more thoroughly. It would definitely bring us more passengers," said Joseph Ciechanover. The government of Israel now prohibits the state- controlled airline from operating flights between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday in observance of the Sabbath. Ciechanover said El Al may be able to fly on the Sabbath once the government's stake falls below 50%.
Citing uncertainty about the "long-term damage" that will result from DOT's incremental approach to U.S.-U.K. relations, Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked to review DOT's economic analysis of the bilateral agreement before negotiations resume this week. In a May 26 letter to DOT Secretary Federico Pea, McCain said, "As we agreed yesterday, this subcommittee would like an opportunity to review your department's economic analysis of the bilateral air service agreement before you move forward with talks."
Continental will launch non-smoking flights to the U.K. with its July 19 inauguration of New York-Manchester service. The carrier also will offer passengers a choice of smoking or non-smoking flights when it adds a seasonal second daily Newark-Frankfurt flight. Continental Senior VP Barry Simon said the demand for smoking seats has "greatly decreased" between the U.S. and London recently. "In light of this trend and feedback we have received from our customers and employees, we will provide non-smoking service on 52 of our 122 weekly departures between the U.S.
All Nippon Airways boarded 134,395 passengers on its international services last month, an increase of 23% over April 1994. The carrier's international passenger load factor for April was 56.6%, up 0.6 percentage points. Domestic passenger volume increased 5.4% to 2.59 million, but the domestic passenger load factor declined two points to 55.2%.
Mexicana Airlines had net earnings of 124.8 million new pesos (US$20.5 million) and an operating profit of 28.3 million new pesos (US$4.7 million) for the first four months of 1995, the first time since 1989 that it has been profitable in the January-April period. Mexicana was in the black during the first quarter of 1995, but detailed results were not available.
In what may be the final piece of its global alliance puzzle, Lufthansa signed a memorandum of understanding late last week to develop a marketing and operational alliance with South African Airways.
United's more than 1,0000 employees in Japan have agreed to invest in the carrier in exchange for stock. United negotiated deals with U.K. employees in April and its Vancouver-based workers in March (DAILY, April 5).
Bauer Aerospace named Lou Auletta general manager of Woodward Governor test equipment business. Diefenbach Elkins promoted Robert Kahn to senior VP in charge of the firm's airline practice. O'Brien-Kreitzberg promoted Clay Baldwin to executive VP. Precision Standard named Carsten Birkebaek managing director of Pemco World Air Services Unit in Copenhagen. TNT Express Worldwide appointed George Wilton president of TNT Mailfast.
Alitalia appointed Bruno Scaldaferri manager-sales and marketing, North America. Aloha promoted Henry Arii to VP-safety. Swissair appointed Stephan Egli VP-product development and distribution.
