The estate of Eastern Airlines this week issued 71,000 checks totaling $30 million to resolve "virtually all" remaining employee claims and all other general unsecured claims of $100,000 or less, the estate said yesterday. Vendors and other consumer claimants, such as ticketholders, will receive about $11 million, in addition to the $62 million already paid ticketholders with administrative claims. Part of the current $11 million will be used for payments to subordinated debtholders.
Industry officials criticized the administration's fiscal 1996 DOT budget proposal, complaining that it lacks specifics. On the surface, the budget, released Monday, proposes $8.38 billion for FAA, about the same as last year (DAILY, Feb. 7). But DOT restructuring, which consolidated many infrastructure elements into the Unified Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program, has left a number of funding issues unresolved. The future of the Airport Improvement Program, to be financed entirely from UTIIP, is especially unclear.
Retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen are scheduled to speak at Apollo Travel Services' 1995 Automation Conference June 4-9 in San Diego. Also speaking will be Apollo Chief Executive Paul Blackney, a 30- year veteran of the travel industry.
U.S. Major Carrier Share of Domestic Service Third Quarter Total Revenue Departures America West 46,732 American 195,336 Continental 135,610 Delta 230,774 Northwest 133,431 Southwest 152,047 TWA 67,032
The Humane Society has asked Delta to review and make necessary changes to its policies on transporting live animals after the carrier allegedly violated IATA standards last June when it carried 2,000 turtles to The Netherlands. The Humane Society said many of the turtles were dehydrated and diseased when they arrived at New York Kennedy from Arkansas, and an agent from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Society he had recommended that Delta not accept the shipment. A Delta spokeswoman said it is investigating the alleged incident, and added that two U.S.
Aviation Capital Group investment vehicle ACG Acquisition Corp I has sold a 737-200 Advanced aircraft to El Salvador's TACA International Airlines. The aircraft had been on a two-year lease to TACA.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) pronounced "dead on arrival" the portion of the fiscal 1996 DOT budget that would allow expanded use of the transportation trust funds. "Frankly, I'm extremely disappointed" by the Clinton administration DOT budget, he said. The budget proposal calling for "busting open" both the highway and the aviation trust funds, under a Unified Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program (UTIIP) "is, pure and simple, a non-starter."
FAA issued special conditions on General Electric's newly certified GE90 turbofan because of an "unusual design feature" - the carbon composite material used in the engine's first stage fan blade. The agency questioned whether it is necessary to meet current requirement to show blade containment after a failure of the blade, saying failure under certain conditions "may be highly improbable." It said current requirements, based on metallic blade characteristics and service history, "are not appropriate for the unusual design features of the composite fan blade."
Continental flew 5% more systemwide revenue passenger miles last month than in January 1994, but its capacity increased 7.8%, producing a load factor decline of 1.5 percentage points. Continental does not report passenger boardings on a monthly basis. The airline's domestic traffic rose 3.3% on 7.4% more capacity, resulting in a load factor decrease of 2.1 points to 53.8%. It fared better internationally, however, with a traffic increase of 9.5% on 8.8% more capacity, pushing its international traffic up 0.4 points to 61.6%.
David Traynham, longtime House aviation subcommittee staff member, today will receive FAA's Extraordinary Service Award, the highest recognition it gives to persons it does not employ. He is leaving the subcommittee after 15 years.
FAA is preparing to require modification of the nacelle strut and wing structure of 747s with Rolls-Royce engines at a cost of about $120,000 per aircraft. The agency yesterday issued a proposed airworthiness directive based on a Jan. 12 alert bulletin issued by Boeing, which will supply the parts at no cost to the operator. The cost estimate does not cover changes imposed by other Boeing service bulletins that would be performed prior to or concurrent with the strut and wing structure modification. FAA said that while there are no Rolls-powered 747s in the U.S.
U.S. aerospace companies hope scheduled talks between the U.S. and China will resolve tariff disputes before the end of the month, when the U.S. is to impose a 100% duty on many Chinese products. China bought aerospace products valued at $2.4 billion in 1993 and the market is growing, an Aerospace Industries Association official said.
SAS Group yesterday reported a preliminary 1994 pre-tax profit of 1.5 billion krona (US$202.1 million) - the airline company's first pre-tax profit in five years and a significant improvement from 1993, when it lost 492 million krona. From 1990 through 1993, SAS Group had pre-tax losses, including extraordinary items, of nearly 3.31 billion krona.
USAir plans to start daily nonstop service to Frankfurt from Philadelphia and Boston on June 11, and transfer its Philadelphia-Paris service to Charles de Gaulle from Paris Orly on March 26. USAir currently operates daily nonstop service to Frankfurt from Charlotte and Pittsburgh. With the new schedule, the Charlotte service will become a one-stop over Boston, so the net increase in flights to Frankfurt is seven a week.
Carnival Air Lines is offering a roundtrip business fare of $159 for passengers traveling from Fort Lauderdale to New York Kennedy and returning on the same day. Business-class upgrades are available for $59 each way. The flights depart Fort Lauderdale at 8 a.m. and return at 11:25 p.m.
Kiwi International Air Lines' founder and chairman, Robert Iverson, and three other high-level managers have left the company and other departures are expected in a management shakeup about which the company offers few details. Kiwi would not describe Iverson's departure as a resignation, saying only that the consensus of the board was that it was time to take Kiwi "to its next plateau," indicating that there have been differences in philosophy by management on the future of the company.
Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT) has at least a tentative deal to supply Air France with yield management and other of its decision support software, the AMR unit confirmed yesterday. In addition to the yield management system, Air France and SDT are discussing the U.S. company's airline profitability model, its fleet assignment model, an aircraft routing model and other products. SDT has a team of about 20 consultants working with Air France in Paris.
Lufthansa Technik AG has developed what it said is the first system for transporting the seriously ill that can supply oxygen reliably on very- long-range flights. The system includes a breathing apparatus with an oxygen capacity of 13,000 liters. The solution to aviation authorities' rules against carrying large quantities of oxygen in aircraft cabins was a central link to the aircraft's exterior, securing the system's four oxygen flasks against leakage into the cabin.
Delta's systemwide passenger traffic rose 2.7% in January from the same month a year ago on 0.5% more capacity, boosting its load factor 1.3 percentage points. The number of passengers boarded systemwide increased 3.4%. Delta's domestic traffic was up 3.2% on a like amount of additional capacity, and its international traffic rose 1.3% despite an 8% decline in capacity. "The new year has started out positive for us with an increase in terms of passenger boardings and load factor over a very strong January last year," said Delta Senior VP-Marketing Robert Coggin.
Comair Holdings has reached an agreement with the Canadair Group of Bombardier to exercise options on five Regional Jets, and it placed a conditional order for 10 aircraft with options on 25 more. Comair Holdings valued the 15 aircraft at about $260 million and said the deal is subject to financing arrangements. The aircraft would be delivered next year, and the 25 on option would be delivered in 1997 and 1998.
AlliedSignal yesterday reported record sales and net income in 1994. Earnings increased 16% from the previous year to $759 million, while sales grew 8% to $12.8 billion. Earnings also rose 16% in the fourth quarter to a record $205 million, while sales were up by the same percentage to $3.5 billion, also a record. AlliedSignal Aerospace reported its first sales increase since 1990. Full-year sales were up 2% to $4.6 billion and income increased 14% to $260 million.
Air New Zealand plans to increase its operations from Los Angeles July 1 with two more weekly nonstops to Sydney, for a total of five, plus an eighth to Auckland and a fourth to London Heathrow. To accommodate the additional service, Air New Zealand will add a 747-400 from International Lease Finance Corp. to its fleet later this year. With the additional service, Air New Zealand will operate 27 flights a week from Terminal 2 at Los Angeles.
FAA has notified bidders of a one-month delay in awarding its $500 million wide area augmentation system contract because of uncertainty over whether the Defense Department will require encryption of signals from its Global Positioning System satellites (DAILY, Jan. 30).Until FAA knows what DOD intends - and its position appears to be hardening - it cannot evaluate the bids fully. Contract award was planned in March or April.
