Fighter Pilot's Heaven: Flight Testing the Early Jets by Donald Lopez. Expounds on the exciting period in aviation history when military pilots made the transition to jets. Smithsonian Institution Press; $24.95 cloth. To order, call 1-800-782-4612. Job Hunting For Pilots: Networking Your Way To A Flying Job by Gregory N. Brown. A pilot and aviation consultant explains how to gain the professional credentials and networking skills needed to secure the right piloting job. Iowa State University Press; $12.95 paper. To order, call 1-800-862-6657.
Strategic airline alliances covering a large number of routes are generating traffic and revenue gains for the partners, according to the General Accounting Office, but benefits vary according to how the arrangements are set up, and there is not enough data to determine the short-term effect on fares and the long-term effect on competition.
Airline Interiors, a wholly owned subsidiary of Simula Inc., has received contracts valued at $1.1 million from Inflight Phone Corp. to provide seating systems for inflight video and entertainment units. The contracts call for Airline Interiors to supply "systems that can house the latest in in-seat services including phone, fax, video games and shopping, regardless of the manufacturer of the electronics," said Don Townsend, president of Simula.
After a week of negotiations in Washington, the U.S. and Peru reached agreement Friday on a new bilateral that expands capacity and frequencies for U.S. passenger and cargo service and increases U.S. carriers' beyond rights. Peru gained new passenger service to Baltimore/Washington Airport and several new cargo points.
TWA, through Dec. 31, 1994, had net losses totaling $2.32 billion in the 1990s, which equals roughly $1.27 million per day, according to Avitas Aviation. Through March 31, 1995, USAir had lost $2.24 billion, or nearly $1.23 million per day.
International scheduled passenger traffic rose 4% in March but capacity increased 5%, according to data issued last week by the International Air Transport Association. The average passenger load factor was 68%. Through the first three months of the year, international scheduled passenger traffic and capacity both were up 6%, and the average load factor was 66%. Releasing the figures, IATA expressed concern about the disappearance of the positive difference of five percentage points between traffic and capacity growth in 1994, when traffic rose 10% and capacity 5%.
Kansas City startup Vanguard Airlines will begin service to Minneapolis/St. Paul from Kansas City and Des Moines May 17. Saying it will "liberate" the Twin Cities from high costs, Vanguard plans to offer unrestricted one-way fares of $45 or $75 to Des Moines, and $59 or $89 to Kansas City. Vanguard will use 737s to operate three daily flights to Kansas City - one nonstop and two through Des Moines - with through and connecting service to Wichita and Salt Lake City. It also will offer one-stop service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver.
- In Federal Register dated April 28...Amended an airworthiness directive on certain British Aerospace Avro 146-RJ series airplanes requiring revision of the flight manual to alert the flightcrew of the potential for significant delays in the Honeywell windshear detection system detecting a windshear when the flaps are in transition...Adopted an AD on certain de Havilland Dash 8-100 and -300 series airplanes requiring an inspection of the shield grounds for the cable harness of the electronic engine control and correction for any discrepancy.
Exotic Metals Forming Co. has been named the National Small Business Subcontractor of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Kent, Wash.-based company supplies Boeing with sheet-metal and duct assemblies for commercial aircraft.
Allison Engine Company elected George Mikelsons chairman. AvAero appointed Robert Finn senior VP-marketing and sales. BFGoodrich Aerospace Avionics Systems promoted Jack Hess to Southeast regional sales manager. Harris Corporation elected Phillip Farmer, president and chief operating officer, to the additional posts of chairman and chief executive. Inmarsat appointed Noel Isotta interim director general. Kistler Aerospace named George Mueller chief executive.
DOT has selected Emery Worldwide Airlines to provide scheduled all-cargo service between Dayton, Ohio, and Mexico City. At the same time, DOT dismissed bids by Fine Airlines and Kitty Hawk Aircargo for the Mexico service designation. Emery is replacing Aerial Transit Co., which is not currently operating to Mexico, as a designated carrier. The U.S.-Mexico aviation pact allows the U.S. to designate five cargo carriers. The other designees are Amerijet International, DHL Airways, Federal Express and United Parcel Service. (Docket 50303)
Northwest's systemwide passenger traffic rose 6.7% last month on 0.8% more capacity, boosting its load factor 3.8 points to 68.2%. The number of passengers boarded was up 7% from April a year ago. Its domestic traffic rose 7.6% on 2.1% more capacity, causing its load factor to increase 3.8 points to 68.1%, and its international traffic rose 4.3% despite a 1.2% decline in capacity, producing a load factor increase of 3.6 points to 68.5%.
United, which was hiring about 20 pilots a week recently, has increased the rate to 30 a week and may continue at that pace through the summer - and possibly until the end of the year - to grow Shuttle by United on the West Coast. The carrier is searching actively for another Shuttle base.
Air traffic controllers will express concern about what they consider declining aviation safety today, distributing literature and congressional mail-back cards at about 50 major U.S. airports, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Saying U.S. ATC is in the "technological dark ages," the group is complaining that controllers must rely on outdated, unreliable equipment, with frequent radar breakdowns, random communication outages and a low standard of safety for the public.
United's systemwide passenger traffic rose 6.4% last month on 3.7% more capacity. The result was a load factor increase of 1.7 percentage points, to 69.8%. The number of passengers boarded was up10.3%.
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines recorded a 31.1% drop in capacity to 56.2 million available seat miles in April as it completed a fleet restructuring that left it with two aircraft types. Revenue passenger miles declined 17%, lifting the load factor 8.7 percentage points to 51.1% from 42.4%. Passenger boardings were down 14.3% to 116,139 from 135,567.
Qantas plans to convert two of its Boeing 747 Combis to an all-passenger configuration on the main deck this year (DAILY, May 4). The modified airplanes will accommodate 34 passengers in business class and 395 in coach. The aircraft, which can carry up to 35 tonnes on the main deck and in the lower holds, will be limited to 13 tonnes after the conversion. Qantas said it will maintain its freight capacity by using leased freighter aircraft from the U.S. to provide extra capacity on routes to Hawaii and Los Angeles, beginning Dec. 6.
Airbus Industrie executives expressed resentment yesterday about what they described as unfounded but lingering safety concerns among pilots - and in the mass media - over technologies introduced on Airbus aircraft. In press briefings in Toulouse, Airbus human factors experts denied that the consortium designs its cockpits "in the laboratory," without participation by pilots. And senior captains from United, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific described their experiences with the introduction of Airbus aircraft into their airlines' fleets.
A Bearskin Air Metro V collided with an Air Sandy Piper Navajo Monday near Sioux Lookout, Ont. One pilot and four passengers aboard the Navajo and two pilots and one passenger aboard the Metro perished. The Metro was inbound to Sioux Lookout from Red Lake, Ont.; the Navajo was outbound from Sioux Lookout to Red Lake when the collision occurred 15 miles west, northwest of Sioux Lookout at 1:38 p.m. Weather was 4,000 scattered and 15 miles. Wreckage of the Navajo and its occupants were recovered. Divers were searching in a lake for the Metro.
China Airlines (CAL) plans to add an Airbus A300-600R to its fleet this month and a Boeing 747-400 by mid-June to boost its passenger capacity. The additions will increase the size of CAL's fleet to 40 aircraft. The A300 will be used in the Taipei-Kuala Lumpur market, and the 747 will be used by CAL subsidiary Mandarin Airlines for its four weekly flights between Taipei and Vancouver. The Canada service is operated in conjunction with Canadian Airlines International.
LOT Polish Airlines is serving Beirut, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi on a weekly basis from Warsaw as part of its summer schedule. The airline also recently added flights from Katowice to Rome, Paris, Cologne, Vienna and London, which will remain on the schedule during the renovation of the Krakow-Balice Airport this summer and fall, according to the Polish National Tourist Office. LOT's transatlantic schedule this summer lists 12 weekly flights to New York and Newark, eight to Chicago and five to Toronto.
Swissair, Sabena and the Belgian government signed an agreement yesterday that - if approved by the European Commission - will see Swissair spend 10.5 billion Belgian francs (US$371 million) for a 49.5% stake in Sabena and the option to take majority control of Belgium's flag carrier someday (DAILY, May 3). For now, majority control will remain with the government of Belgium and Belgian investors, and Sabena will retain its own identity and management.
Canadian Airlines International parent Canadian Airlines Corp., known until yesterday as PWA Corp., posted a net loss of C$108.6 million (US$79.9 million) and an operating loss of C$71.6 million (US$52.6 million) for the first quarter 1995. Despite the losses, both of which were substantially larger than in the first quarter last year, the company's management said it is still on track to earn roughly C$50 million this year.
