Carnival Air Lines plans to switch its New York Kennedy-Nassau charter service to scheduled flights June 23. It will offer introductory fares starting at $119 one way on flights operating daily except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute, will release their fifth annual Airline Quality Rating April 24 in Washington, D.C. The rating is based on the overall quality of the airlines, based on 19 criteria, including on-time arrivals, safety, aircraft age, complaints and financial viability. American took top honors in the first three years of the rating, and Southwest ranked first in the 1993 survey.
Air Canada will launch in December new service between Western Canada and Frankfurt, Germany. Initially, the carrier will operate three-times weekly service between Vancouver and Frankfurt with a stop in Calgary. It plans to up the service to daily by summer 1996, using new 767-300ERs. The carrier is acquiring six 767-300s and received the first last year, which it will use to launch Toronto-Tel Aviv service June 20.
Airlines and FAA continue at loggerheads over strobe-light standards set to take effect Sept. 1. Industry sources claim that the agency's assumption that 50% of strobes on commercial aircraft do not meet the 400- candle Part 25 standard is based on flawed data provided by STROTEK Corp. under a sole-source contract that is under review by the DOT Inspector General. Chautauqua Airlines said a newly installed strobe on its aircraft tested by STROTEK does not reach 100 candles. One source said the battle is now "political" rather than "technical."
The captain of the American Eagle Jetstream Super 31 that crashed last Dec. 13 while on approach to Raleigh/Durham Airport had trouble maintaining his piloting skills, particularly in the terminal area, according to a report issued yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The pilot previously had been allowed to resign from Comair in lieu of being terminated, the report said. The captain left Comair on Jan. 3, 1991, and went to work for American Eagle a few days later.
Heavylift-VolgaDnepr, the British-Russian joint venture, has asked DOT for authority to operate a one-way charter cargo flight with its An 124-100s between East Midlands, England, and Boeing Field, Seattle, on or about April 13. The airline will carry one Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engine, weighing about 57,000 pounds. (Docket 50280)
FAA's third annual Mid-South Aviation Forum will be held July 6-7 in Memphis. The theme, Partners in Progress, will focus on cooperation among government, industry and the flying public to communicate and educate one another. The program is designed as a vehicle for exchanging ideas on how to improve air traffic services. Guest speaker at 7:30 p.m. July 6 is Bill Kershner, aviation author and instructor pilot. For more information, call David Christmas, 901-368-8542, or Andy Masters, 901-368-8533.
America West's March traffic rose 6.9% to 1.2 billion revenue passenger miles from March 1994 on 9% more capacity, resulting in a slight reduction in load factor to 71.8% from 73.2%. Its RPMs for the first quarter of 1995 were up 1.5% to 3 billion, and available seat miles rose 7.7% to 4.6 billion. Maurice Myers, president and chief operating officer, said the carrier sees positive trends in advance bookings for this month and next. Most of the Easter holiday travel occurred in March last year, he said, instead of April, which modestly reduced traffic this year.
Bloomington, Minn.-based Great Lakes Aviation flew 18.5 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 4.4% increase from the 17.7 million recorded in same month a year ago. Capacity rose faster - 5.3% to 42.4 million available seat miles from 40.3 million in March 1994. As a result, the load factor was off 0.4 percentage points to 43.6% from 44%. The number of revenue passengers carried rose 6.8% to 59,505 from 55,733.
United's plan to replace 94 aircraft over the next five years will leave it with a net increase in aircraft of just 19 by 1997, according to Gruntal Investment Research."We believe it will need even more or lose traffic to competitors," Gruntal said (DAILY, April 13).
American and United are urging DOT to turn down or defer action on Singapore Airlines (SIA) renewed effort to gain authority to operate intermodal cargo services to its U.S. gateways and beyond to other U.S. cities. In its application filed last month, SIA said it will scale back its unsuccessful February 1994 bid to operate nationwide intermodal service to 90-plus points beyond its gateways (DAILY, March 31). Despite the "scaled back" proposal, both United and American maintained their earlier positions. "Singapore can offer no reciprocal intermodal rights to U.S.
John Wayne Airport Board of Commissioners said it received no responses to a request for presentations on how a sale of the airport could be structured to meet the federal law regarding retention of sales proceeds for the Orange County general fund. The commission met Tuesday night and unanimously decided that the county board of supervisors should not issue a request for proposals for the sale of John Wayne (DAILY, April 13).
Japan Airlines has selected Akira Kondo, senior managing director, as its new president, subject to approval by the shareholders at JAL's annual meeting June 29. Kondo would succeed Matsuo Toshimitsu, who has served as president since 1990. He will remain on the board of directors as an adviser. JAL also promoted Akio Kohno, managing director-domestic passenger marketing, to executive VP. Susumu Yamaji continues as JAL's chairman.
Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 1.3% more revenue passenger miles last month than in March 1994, but its capacity grew 5.8%, pushing its load factor down two percentage points to 45.3%. The number of passengers boarded increased 0.5%. Through the first three months of this year, ASA's traffic declined 3.7% on 3.7% more capacity, causing its load factor to fall 3.2 points. The number of passengers boarded declined 4.8%. March 95 March 94 3 Mths 95 3 Mths 94
National Mediation Board (NMB) has ordered a 30-day cooling-off period between Alaska Airlines and the Machinists union after contract talks, which have been in mediation since April 1994, reached an impasse. The Machinists represent about 2,200 clerical, office and passenger service employees at the carrier. The union has been negotiating a contract with the company since September 1992. The NMB declared an impasse on April 3 and asked the parties to accept binding arbitration. The Machinists rejected the offer.
Continental reported yesterday a fourth quarter 1994 net loss of $523.4 million, including a one-time charge of $446.8 million, and said it has concluded agreements for aircraft and cash deferrals for the next two years totaling about $370 million. The yearend loss, combined with the non- recurring charge, totaled $613.3 million, which is greater than the amount the airline projected in January when it released preliminary unaudited results (DAILY, Jan. 27).
Air Canada will begin Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) service to Washington National Airport from Toronto (five daily flights) and Montreal (three) July 19. It will mark the first nonstop international service to the close-in airport as well as the first 50-passenger CRJ flights. The service is possible under the new open skies agreement with Canada, which provides for slots and several years of protection to be awarded to the Canadian carrier. During that time, U.S. carriers may not compete in the markets.
Effect of 4.3 Cent Per Gallon Fuel Tax Year Ending Third Quarter 1994 Cost Per Total Total Gallon Dollars Gallons Cost (cents) Block Hour America West 283,708,899 $157,380,097 55.5 $461 American 2,056,414,988 1,084,696,000 52.7 582 Continental 995,121,000 521,861,000 52.4 541
Mesaba Aviation's traffic declined 0.2% in March to 27.367 million revenue passenger miles from 27.417 million, although capacity dropped faster - 2.6% to 60.8 million available seat miles from 62.5 million. As a result, the load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 45% from 43.9%. Enplanements declined 0.78% to 126,160 from 127,182.
AirTran Airways traffic jumped 56.1% in March to 27.3 million revenue passenger miles from February's 17.5 million. The airline carried 27,897 passengers during the month, a 54% increase from February's 18,175. Available seat miles grew 38.9% to 42.7 million from 30.7 million, and the load factor rose 7.1 points to 63.9%. AirTran, which began service with two 737s last October, now operates four 737s. Robert Swenson, chairman of AirTran Corp., said, "Our low-fare, low-cost airline system is continuing to develop successfully."
Palermo, Sicily-based Air Sicilia has taken delivery of one ATR 42- 300. Air Sicilia becomes the third ATR operator in Italy, following Avianova, which has 11 ATR 42-300s and three ATR 72s in service, and Air Dolomiti, which operates five ATR 42-320s with two ATR 42-500s scheduled to be delivered.
German charter carrier Aero Lloyd has signed a series of agreements to acquire 16 Airbus A320s and A321s to replace its fleet of MD-80s, Airbus Industrie said yesterday. Aero Lloyd will purchase two A320s and four A321s from Airbus and lease four A320s and six A321s from International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC). In addition to the firm commitments, Aero Lloyd holds options to take four more of either type of aircraft from Airbus and two more from ILFC. Delivery of the aircraft is scheduled during a five-year period beginning early next year.
S.G. Warburg&Co. estimates that the eight U.S. carriers it tracks will reduce their combined debt 21% by yearend 1997 to $5 billion, while boosting shareholder equity 112% to $5.4 billion.Such an accomplishment will be driven by revenue stability, continued real cost declines and low capital expenditures, the company said in a recent report.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9- and MD-80 Domestic Aircraft Utilization Per Day Third Quarter 1994 DC-9-30 Continental Northwest Number of Aircraft Operated 31 77 Total Fleet Operations Departures 229 404 Block Hours 292 641
Northern Star Airlines has gained permission to operate service under the trade name Great Lakes Link. The carrier plans to use the name to conduct service in certain markets under a code-sharing arrangement with Great Lakes Aviation.
