The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has appointed Graham Rose, currently general manger-business communications for Galileo International, its new director of communications, effective July 1. WTTC, a global coalition of 70 chief executives from all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, seeks to convince governments of the strategic and economic importance of travel and tourism, promote environmentally com-patible development and eliminate barriers to growth of the industry. Rose has been at Galileo for seven years.
Swissair Group will realign aircraft maintenance responsibilities within the company during the next 18 months as it retires its 10 Fokker 100s, brings in more Avro RJ100s and replaces its McDonnell Douglas MD-81s with Airbus A320s. As it phases out the older jets, which are maintained at Geneva Technical Services, and phases in the new jets, which require less maintenance, Swissair will reassign 130 Technical Services personnel within the Swissair Group and eliminate the remaining 80 positions through early retirements and some layoffs.
Consumer Reports magazine released a survey in which readers chose Midwest Express the best U.S. airline in overall performance, on-time, check-in, seat comfort, flight attendants, crowding and baggage handling. The survey, of 120,000 readers who flew between January 1993 and April 1994, ranked Alaska Airlines second and Kiwi International third. Carnival and Mark Air rated lower than average in all categories.
Alitalia requested renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between points in Italy and Miami. The carrier plans a maximum of seven weekly frequencies between Rome and Miami. Some of the flights would stop in Milan. (Docket 48148)
BWIA International Airways signed a joint marketing pact with Air Martinique in what BWIA described as the first phase of a partnership that will soon add service to Martinique from BWIA's Miami gateway. BWIA said the agreement will allow it to sell the New York-Martinique market. Service to Martinique will be routed through St. Lucia, where passengers will switch to an Air Martinique onward flight. To promote the new alliance, the carriers are offering introductory fares 25% off the lowest fare until June 30.
In what it described as an effort to reduce the cost of regulations, DOT is proposing to allow carriers to file their international passenger service rules, or tariffs, electronically. DOT estimated the change would save the airline industry about $1.6 million annually in submission, printing and distribution cost, while also reducing the department's review, filing and storage costs.
DOT has denied a request by Alia-The Royal Jordanian Airline to renew its exemption to operate scheduled combination service between Amman, Jordan, and Miami, and to continue serving Cologne, Germany, as an intermediate point. Filed in April 1994, the renewal application drew opposition from Northwest and United. Northwest urged DOT to turn down Royal Jordanian's request because the Government of Jordan denied its request to serve Amman under its code-share arrangement with KLM.
American has applied for renewal of its authority to carry cargo between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on the one hand, and Melbourne, Australia, on the other, under a blocked-space/code-sharing agreement with Qantas Airways. (Docket 50143)
FAA ordered an emergency inspection of Lockheed L-1011-300s after receiving six reports of fatigue cracking in fuselage frames that it said could reduce the structural integrity of the fuselage shell. FAA said the fatigue cracking appears to result from pressurization loads on aircraft with between 20,000 and 25,000 landings. It approved a Lockheed alert service bulletin describing procedures for the inspections and repairs.
Hawaiian Airlines received the 1995 onboard services award from Onboard Services magazine. The carrier's Hawaii Regional Cuisine menu in first class took top honors in the food service category. Hawaiian consults with local chefs and changes the menu every three months. Caterair, which caters all of Hawaiian's flights, adapts the recipes for airline meals.
Metro Dade County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners approved American Airlines' "Super A" expansion at Miami Airport. The board voted Thursday to incorporate the plan into its capital improvement program. Dade County Department of Aviation has 60 days to iron out a financing plan with the county manager for final board approval.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Balance Sheet As of March 31, 1995 Current Month ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 353.76 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 169,984,451.01 TOTAL RECEIVABLES Investments:
House Transportation aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) is drafting FAA reform legislation that would establish an independent control board to set policy and oversee the agency, a subcommittee aide confirmed Friday. Duncan is developing the bill on a bipartisan basis and hopes to introduce legislation next month. Members of the control board, to be confirmed by the Senate, would choose the FAA administrator, who would serve indefinitely and have day-to-day responsibility for running the agency.
Four independent pilots' unions have united in an attempt to strengthen their voice on aviation safety and security. The Allied Pilots Association, representing pilots at American and American Eagle; the Independent Association of Continental Pilots, which also represents Continental Express pilots; the Independent Pilots Association at UPS, and the Southwest Airline Pilots Association met May 17-18 in Arlington, Texas, to collaborate on issues of common interest, with FAA's one-level-of- safety initiative as the driving force.
Lep Profit International promoted Peter Brown to North American chief operating officer and executive VP for its U.S. and Canadian operations, and promoted Martin McDonnell to senior VP-logistics. Greenwich Air Services named Robert Vanaria to the new position of senior VP-administration and chief financial officer. Tubetronics selected Richard Brandon to be general manager. Raytheon Aircraft named Dan Smartt VP-treasurer and president-Beech Acceptance Corp. Inc. Ken Tomoda was appointed VP-controller.
National Transportation Safety Board will hold public forums on commuter airline and air taxi safety in Juneau, Alaska, today, and in Anchorage Wednesday and Thursday. In its last major look at aviation safety in Alaska, 15 years ago, the board said it found that Alaskan air taxis have "far higher accident rates than air taxis in the rest of the U.S." The forums, to be similar to NTSB public hearings that follow major accidents, will be overseen by Chairman Jim Hall.
Signature Flight Support, one of the nation's largest fixed-base operators, is scheduled tentatively to meet June 19 with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to discuss handling charges imposed recently by the FBO. Phil Boyer, AOPA president, wants Signature to "modify or scrap" its new fees levied on general aviation pilots who do not purchase fuel, saying these pilots use "few or no services" at Signature's facilities at 43 airports (DAILY, May 16).
CIC Research, San Diego, has started the Net Traveler Survey, a monthly survey of activities, preferences and plans of travelers who use Internet. CIC, which conducts surveys for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, will update and analyze the survey. Its purpose is to find out where Internet travelers go and what they think of airlines, airports, aircraft and other travel services. It also will poll users on their interest in booking travel by Internet. The address for the survey is HTTP://WWW.THEGROUP.NET/CIC/SURVEY.
Lufthansa Technik AG has decided to outsource the overhaul work it does on Lufthansa's 737 fleet at Berlin Schunefeld to Shannon Aerospace because the Irish venture - co-owned by Lufthansa, Swissair and GPA - can do the work cheaper. Line maintenance on the airplanes, one of the largest 737 fleets in the world, will remain with Lufthansa Technik at Berlin.
Flooding conditions forced the Jefferson City, Mo., airport to close late last week with its runway and terminal building under two to three feet of water, according to DOT. As DOT monitored flooding along portions of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers, Secretary Federico Pena said the department was "fully prepared to activate emergency response teams" if necessary.
An airframe weight savings of 2.5% is possible through use of fly-by-light technology, according to Raytheon Aircraft Chairman Arthur Wegner. "You can expect to see production airplanes from Raytheon using this technology before the year 2000," he told a recent SAE meeting. "Complete control-by- light is probably less than a decade away," he said, adding that Douglas projects a 50% reduction in the $12 million cost of the MD-11 control system with the technology.
In a surprisingly frank press release on its bid to turn itself into one of Asia's best, Philippine Airlines said it is "hobbled by corporate squabbles, saddled by a bloated work force, and crippled by huge financial losses." The self-described "anemic national carrier" has embarked on an effort to renew its fleet and restructure its route network.
Airports and communities are expressing frustration that only one airport/community witness is being allowed to testify at Wednesday's Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee hearing on international aviation policy. They argue that limiting their interests to a single voice does not present a balanced view or adequately represent the varied positions of airports and communities.
About 40% of international travelers from Russia prefer to fly with foreign airlines and the number is growing, according to Russia's Department of Air Transport. It estimates that Russian carriers will lease 100 foreign-made aircraft by 2000. One reason: Russian manufacturers demand 100% up-front payment for new aircraft.
