Alitalia pilots and flight attendants plan to strike during parts of today and tomorrow to protest the carrier's plans to wet-lease two 767s from Ansett for use on the North Atlantic. The strike will disrupt operations, but routes to certain international and domestic cities will be flown as required by Italian law. Separately, Alitalia will post a loss for the year ended Dec. 31, but its objective is to break even for the current year. The size of last year's loss has yet to be revealed.
DOT has revoked for reasons of dormancy the certificate of Airmark Aviation, Inc., which operated as Transtar Airlines, to carry out interstate and foreign charter service. (Docket 47829)
Boeing and FAA have determined the 777 test fleet can resume flying above the 25,000-foot limit imposed last week in the wake of a "rapid loss of cabin pressure" incident on test plane WA002 that hospitalized two flight engineers, Boeing said yesterday (DAILY, Feb. 6). The ceiling was lifted after a modified check valve was installed on the 777 test airplanes. Aircraft WA002, which is bound for United, was flying at 43,000 feet last Thursday when the loss of cabin pressure occurred.
USAfrica Airways has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The filing, made late Wednesday, came five days after the fledgling carrier suspended flight operations after management was unable to make an aircraft lease and maintenance payment to American and the two MD-11s leased to USAfrica were repossessed (DAILY, Feb. 8). President Gregory Lewis said the airline is committed to reorganizing and resuming operations as soon as possible.
America West's January traffic declined 5.1% on 6.1% more capacity, pushing the airline's load factor down 6.6 percentage points from January 1994's level. The number of passengers enplaned decreased 2%. "The soft traffic we experienced in the fourth quarter 1994 has continued into January, as evidenced by our traffic decline," said America West President Maurice Myers. "However, we are encouraged by a number of developments in recent weeks which suggest a positive trend," he said.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air reported a capacity increase in January of 40% to 111 million available seat miles froom 79 million in January 1994. Traffic failed to keep pace, rising 38% to 61 million revenue passenger miles from 44 million one year earlier. As a result, the load factor dropped 0.9 percentage points to 55.1% from 56% in the same 1994 month. Passenger boardings rose 32% to 283,200 from 214,700 in January 1994.
DOT has invited U.S. carriers to apply for new service openings between the U.S. and Peru. By an official Exchange of Notes between the two countries on Jan. 13, Peru agreed to increase the number of weekly frequencies available to U.S. carriers from 16.5 to 21 narrowbody combination frequencies and from five to eight narrowbody all-cargo frequencies, effective Jan. 15. Currently, American operates 16.5 combination and Challenge Air five all-cargo frequencies, leaving 4.5 narrowbody combination and three narrowbody all-cargo slots available for long-term allocation.
DOT has granted Transaero Airlines, a privately owned Russian carrier, authority to operate between Russia and six U.S. points (DAILY, Dec. 5). The carrier plans to begin operations in summer 1995 with two weekly scheduled flights each between Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and Moscow. It plans to operate four weekly flights between Moscow and Seattle. It also is seeking authority to fly charter service between Russia and the U.S. and beyond to a third country, under terms of the U.S.- Russia bilateral.
British Airways, which put dozens of cities on sale last month, is again marketing discounts of up to 57% in a new round of "World Offers" from 18 U.S. gateways. In the first incarnation, BA sold twice the number of seats it expected, which is why it decided to repeat the sale. "This is a major campaign to attract more leisure travelers to Britain, Europe and the world beyond," said Dale Moss, senior VP-sales and marketing USA. World Offers are available for sale through Feb. 22 for travel beginning Feb. 16 through March 31 and ending by April 30.
Simmons Airlines, operating as American Eagle, has given notice to DOT that it plans to terminate service at Lafayette, Ind., and Decatur, Ill., on April 2. The carrier operates two daily nonstop roundtrips between Lafayette and Chicago O'Hare and a single one-stop flight between Decatur and Chicago, using 34-seat Saab 340B aircraft. DOT gave Simmons permission to suspend operations at Lafayette and directed the transfer of O'Hare slots to Great Lakes Airlines. which plans to begin three daily nonstop roundtrip flights April 2 using 19-seat Beechcraft 1900 aircraft.
Air Canada has reached an agreement to increase its stake in regional subsidiary AirBC Ltd. to 100% through the purchase of the minority interest held by Iain Harris, the regional carrier's president and chief executive. Air Canada already holds 85% of AirBC, Air Canada said this week. Air Canada declined to release the purchase price. As part of the transaction, Harris, who has headed AirBC for 13 years, will resign his post March 1, by which time a successor is to have been appointed by Air Canada and the AirBC board.
DOT's proposal to transfer airport grants to a Unified Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program apparently would not mean a staffing reduction for FAA personnel administering airport grants and safety. As part of the $121.5 million increase requested for FAA operations in fiscal 1996, the Clinton administration budget calls for $1.9 million to increase airports office personnel by 50 positions. As announced Monday, staffing for aviation inspectors and support staff would increase by 261 positions at a cost of $9.9 million (DAILY, Feb. 7).
U.S. and Canadian negotiators hope to wrap up a bilateral agreement during talks next week in Ottawa, well in advance of President Clinton's Feb. 23- 24 visit to Ottawa, but "the road has gotten rough," an industry official said. Easy issues have been resolved, and now negotiators are "butting heads over issues that are viewed as essential to both sides," the official said.
Appleton, Wis.-based Air Wisconsin in January recorded its best results ever in terms of passengers and load factor on its jet operation, and the carrier's traffic jumped 13.2% to 30.5 million revenue passenger miles from 26.9 million in the prior January. Enplanements rose 22.3%; capacity was up 4.1% to 58.8 million available seat miles, and the load factor increased 4.2 percentage points to 51.8%. The results were for the 13th month under the carrier's current ownership.
Lone Star Airlines inaugurated revenue service Feb. 1 between Dallas and Chihuahua, Mexico, with its first new Dornier 328-110 aircraft, Daimler- Benz Aerospace announced. The carrier is scheduled to take delivery of its second, third and fourth Dornier 328s by the middle of the year. The next two aircraft also will be used between the U.S. and Mexico.
Mesa Air Group is establishing a new position of VP-safety, the company announced yesterday. The position, not yet filled, will report directly to the chief executive - currently, founder Larry Risley - and have responsibility for monitoring flight, maintenance and ground operations for safety issues in all of Mesa's airline operations. In addition, the company said it planned a complete internal safety audit of its maintenance, flight and ground operations.
Delta Connection affiliate Comair flew 74.7 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 36.7% increase from the 54.6 million logged in January 1994. Capacity failed to keep pace, growing 35.7% to 173.1 million available seat miles from 127.6 million in the same 1994 month. The load factor climbed 0.3 percentage points to 43.1% from 42.8%. Enplanements were up 20.9% to 250,878 from 207,541 in the prior period. January 1995 January 1994 Rev. Passenger Miles 74,671,000 54,638,000
Delta Connection Affiliate SkyWest flew 35.1 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 21.6% increase from the January 1994 figure. Capacity, however, rose 27.5% to 78.6 million available seat miles from 61.6 million, causing load factor to drop 2.2 percentage points to 44.6%.
Delta hit the travel agent industry with a second set of commission cuts yesterday, announcing a maximum commission payment on domestic tickets. Effective today, Delta will pay a $50 commission on roundtrip domestic tickets with a base fare of more than $500 and $25 on one-way domestic tickets with a base fare of more than $250.
FAA Administrator David Hinson yesterday accepted an offer by the Air Transport Association and the Air Line Pilots Association to permit use of information from flight data recorders, provided that the results are used for safety purposes and not for enforcement or disciplinary actions. Hinson described access to FDR information as a safety breakthrough, because airlines and pilots have guarded such information zealously in the past for fear that it would be used against them.
American's systemwide passenger traffic rose 9.9% in January on 2.7% more capacity, producing a load factor increase of 4.1 percentage points - its 13th consecutive monthly load factor increase. The number of passengers boarded rose 7.5% from January a year ago. American's domestic traffic was up 8.9% on 0.7% more capacity, and its international traffic rose 12.3% on 8.1% more capacity. "January was a strong traffic month for American," said Michael Gunn, the carrier's senior VP-marketing.
Canadair Regional Jet markets served by Delta Connection carriers Comair and SkyWest when they complete their planned schedule realignments with Delta this summer will total 52, with an average segment of 458 miles. Comair will serve 34 markets from its Cincinnati hub, averaging 436 miles. Eight introductory markets will be served from the Orlando hub, averaging 443 miles, including Cincinnati. SkyWest will be up to 10 jet markets, averaging 496 miles. The longest route - Orlando-Cleveland - is 889 miles, and the shortest is Cincinnati-Dayton at 44 miles.
Japan Airlines passenger traffic rose 16.9% in November, the most recent month for which data are available, to 5.24 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded increased 14.3% from November 1993 to 2.2 million, and cargo traffic grew 14.3% to 824.9 million ton kilometers. Through the first 11 months of 1994, JAL's passenger traffic rose 14.8% to 57.85 billion RPKs and its passenger volume increased 8.6% to 23.6 million. Cargo traffic increased 12.4% to 8.59 billion CTKs.
The leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said yesterday that Congress should retain some means of ensuring national oversight of Washington National and Dulles airports, although there appears to be no agreement on the nature of that oversight. As a result of a Supreme Court ruling in January overturning a board of review, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) on March 31 will lose the ability to make certain major decisions (DAILY, Jan. 26).
USAir Express carrier Allegheny Commuter, wholly owned by USAir Group, has changed its corporate name to Allegheny Airlines, the company announced this week. Allegheny President Ronald Aramini said, "The new name more accurately reflects the recent transition of Allegheny to an airline that operates a modern high-tech fleet composed exclusively of Dash 8 aircraft." Allegheny's route system comprises 29 cities in 11 eastern states and the District of Columbia. It is headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa.
