Li Zhao, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), has suggested that the airlines of his country and Taiwan remove the national flags from their aircraft to facilitate direct flights between the two nations. Visiting Taiwan to attend a seminar on cross-strait civil aviation, Li said he is confident that Taiwan's four-decades-old ban on direct flights to and from the mainland can be relaxed soon.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals March 1994 - February 1995 Total Total Cost Gallons (Dollars) 1994 March Domestic 1,044,218,133 560,153,352 International 344,789,156 208,885,759 System Total 1,389,007,289 769,039,111
Alaska Airlines is boosting service between the Pacific Northwest and California, effective June 4. The carrier will offer 105 nonstops between Seattle/Portland and the 10 California cities it serves, which is a 34% increase over last summer's schedule. Thirteen of the new flights are to Northern California and 12 to Southern California.
Southwest will begin service Aug. 4 from Nashville to Baltimore/Washington, Kansas City and New Orleans. The carrier will operate four daily flights to Baltimore for $59 one way with a 21-day advance purchase or $99 at departure. It will operate two daily flights to Kansas City and New Orleans at fares ranging from $59 to $89.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American's pilots, says it has reached an agreement in principle with management on job security concerns, particularly in regard to the role of regional partners. An APA spokesman said the issues boil down to the idea that the purpose of commuter partners is to feed the main airline, not to replace its service, although in the past, some AMR Eagle service supplanted American flights.
The International Transportation Committee&the Air and Space Committee of the Transportation Section of the Federal Bar Association will present on April 28 a luncheon program devoted the U.S. nine-country European open skies initiative. The program will feature three panelists - Paul Gretch, DOT director of the office of international aviation; Yves Devellenes, counsellor (transportation, energy and environment), delegation of the Commission of the European Community, and Stale Risa, counsellor (shipping and civil aviation), Embassy of Norway.
Denver Mayor Wellington Webb yesterday signed a lease with Continental for gates at Denver Airport. Under the pact, the airline is released from its original 20-gate obligation and will lease 10, including 113,488 square feet of gate and operational space. After five years, Continental may exercise an option to cut back to three gates and support space without penalty.
Hawaiian Airlines reported 1994 net and operating losses of $12.9 million and $12.7 million, respectively, excluding one-time restructuring charges and other extraordinary items. The airline, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last September, logged a net profit of $169.4 million, all of which can be traced to a $190.1 million non-cash gain representing the extinguishment of pre-bankruptcy liabilities. In 1993, Hawaiian had an operating loss of $24.8 million and a net loss of $28.9 million.
FAA late yesterday said no threat to air transportation had been identified following the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. As required by security regulations, airlines and airports have contingency plans, and the agency is in communication with the intelligence community, a spokeswoman said. FAA also is conducting a system review of contingency plans, but that review is not connected to the bombing, she said.
Major European aerospace companies say the weak dollar threatens to spoil their financial results for 1995. Daimler-Benz Aerospace of Germany, which receives all of its aircraft and engine revenues in dollars, said it will miss its breakeven target for the year, losing at least 100 million Deutschmarks, unless the dollar returns soon to DM1.60, Reuter reported. Yesterday, the dollar stood at DM1.35. DASA is at risk even though it hedged about DM2 billion against the dollar before the dollar's value fell.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. yesterday reported record net earnings, mainly from military aircraft manufacturing, and increased revenues, mainly from increased commercial transport deliveries, for the first quarter of 1995. During the three months ended March 31, the company netted $159 million, up 19% over the $134 million of 1994's first quarter. The per-share increase was from $1.13 to $1.38.
Sabre Travel Information Network launched yesterday a cruise industry reservation and information system, Sabre CruiseDirector, and said that Princess Cruises is the first participatant. Kloster Cruises' Norwegian Cruise Line will be available in Sabre CruiseDirector in the third quarter. The new product features fill-in-the-blank entries instead of formats and codes. Sabre CruiseDirector will be distributed to all Sabre with Windows subscribers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean at no extra charge.
TWA has completed the launch of its new first-class service - Trans World One - to Europe. TWA rolled out the service a month ago to major European and U.S. cities. It now is on all transatlantic flights to London, Paris, Athens, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona. In the U.S., it is available from New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Transportes Charter Turismo, operating as Brasil Transair, is asking DOT for authority to operate all-cargo service between Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Miami with intermediate stops in Manaus, Brazil. While awaiting DOT and FAA approval to use its own equipment, the carrier plans to operate flights through long-term wet-leases with U.S. or foreign carriers. It proposes starting operations through long-term wet-leases with Tower Air. The carrier currently leases a DC-8-71F from GPA. (Docket 50296)
The City of Chicago strongly supports Kuwait Airways' request to operate combination service between Kuwait and Chicago via Amsterdam. Service between Chicago and Kuwait "is long overdue," said the city, noting that passengers seeking nonstop service to Kuwait may do so only from New York. Saying there is a rapidly growing "community of interest between Chicago and the Middle East," the city noted that only one Arab flag carrier serves Chicago from the Middle East - Royal Jordanian, with flights from Amman, Jordan, via Amsterdam.
USAir Group yesterday reported a first quarter net loss of $96.7 million, which, while substantial, still represents a marked improvement over the first quarter last year, when the struggling airline company lost $196.7 million. After taking into account preferred dividend requirements, the net loss applicable to holders of common stock was $117.5 million, or $1.91 per share, down from a loss of $215.9 million, or $3.64 per share.
Qantas has recruited and is training more than 100 new engineering and maintenance apprentices and 19 new flight catering apprentices.Its total intake of 183 apprentices this year amounts to an increase of 12.5% over 1994.
FAA and Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities granted certificates yesterday for Boeing 777's type/design and production, officially declaring the new aircraft "safe and airworthy." The certificates clear the way for the aircraft to begin service in June with United. In a ceremony in Seattle marking certification, DOT Secretary Federico Pena touted the steps taken by the administration to spur growth in the aerospace industry, while noting sharp increases in passenger and cargo traffic.
American parent AMR Corp. yesterday posted first quarter net earnings of $38 million ($37 million after stock dividends), or 48 cents per share, and an operating profit of $252 million. In the same quarter last year, AMR suffered a net loss of $7 million ($23 million after dividends), while managing an operating profit of $159 million. AMR Chief Financial Officer Gerard Arpey, describing the results as "a little bit better than we had anticipated," said they show that the company's two-year-old Transition Plan is on track.
S&P's B- preliminary rating on Continental's $1 billion Rule 415 shelf registration remains on CreditWatch with negative implications, leaving open the possibility that the rating will be downgraded. Any action likely will be determined by whether Continental, which recently confirmed it is scrapping its Continental Lite product, will successfully complete negotiations on deferring aircraft deliveries and scaling back its lease commitment at the new Denver Airport.
World Airways flew 2,210 block hours in March, an increase of 82% from the 1,212 it flew in the same month a year ago, the charter carrier's parent company, WorldCorp, said yesterday. First quarter block hours flown rose 64% to 6,913. Revenues per block hour flown declined, however, to $5,843 from $6,201 in March 1994, and fell to $5,682 in the first quarter 1995, compared with $7,502 a year earlier. The company attributed the decrease to its strategy of obtaining a higher percentage of its total revenues from "basic" as opposed to "full-service" contracts.
Varig's first quarter passenger traffic rose 6.8% from a year ago to 6.07 billion revenue passenger kilometers. The number of passengers boarded increased 8.9% to 2.48 million, and the airline's cargo traffic rose 20.8% to 320.4 million freight tonne kilometers. In March, Varig's passenger traffic increased 12.4% to 1.94 billion RPKs, and its passenger boardings rose 9.8% to 800,320. Freight traffic increased 20.4% to nearly 120.1 million FTKs.
Airlines Reporting Corp. has suspended its agreements with Private Jet d/b/a National Airlines and Dominicana de Aviacion d/b/a Dominicana Airlines. Both no longer are providing scheduled passenger service, and ARC processing of travel agency transactions for them will end, effective May 1. ARC said travel agents may begin May 1 to report sales on World Airways. World plans to begin three weekly flights from New York Kennedy to Tel Aviv July 2 with MD-11s.
Air France Group yesterday reported a net loss of 2.36 billion French francs (US$494 million) on revenues of FF 56.19 billion (US$11.78 billion) for the first 12 months of its extraordinary 15-month fiscal year, which ended March 31. Air France is switching to an April 1-March 31 fiscal year, which is why the year just ended was 15 months long. The net loss for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31 was significantly better than the previous year's loss of FF8.48 billion.
