Westinghouse Electronic Systems has won a contract to supply the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority with a turnkey air traffic control radar system for the Long Dong Bao Airport. The system will delivered before the end of the year and will include an ASR-9 airport surveillance radar and a monopulse secondary surveillance radar.
Pepperoni for performance? Continental Express carriers achieved a 100% completion factor one day last week, with no cancellations due to maintenance. To reward their efforts, Continental bought Express employees pizza.
Boeing Friday issued 60-day notices of possible layoffs to 5,000 employees, but at the same rolled out a one-time, special retirement-incentive program. Last month, Boeing issued 927 60-day layoff notices and announced production cuts and as many as 7,000 layoffs for the year (DAILY, Feb. 6). Early retirement will be offered primarily to workers at least 55 years old who have worked at Boeing for a minimum of 10 years.
Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) reintroduced legislation last week to require the use of child safety restraint systems on commercial aircraft. Lightfoot's bill, which he has proposed in several Congresses, would require DOT to issue regulations within 90 days requiring such systems. "I am pleased to note the National Transportation Safety Board, the Association of Flight Attendants, the Air Transport Association and the Air Line Pilots Association all support the required use of child safety restraint systems on commercial aircraft," he said.
An investment group headed by the China Development Corp. (CDC) has emerged as the winner in an intensive bidding war for control of Taiwan domestic carrier Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT). CDC, which is owned by Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party, announced that it has purchased 56% of the outstanding shares of FAT at a price of NT$7.8 billion (US$300 million), or NT$225 (US$8.65) per share. Other bidders for stock included the Far Eastern Textile Group, Pacific Electric Wire & Cable Corp., the Tuntex Group and Taiwan Aerospace Corp.
McDonnell Douglas President Harry Stonecipher has challenged Douglas Aircraft to regain its status as the No. 2 producer of jet transports, according to Walter Orlowski, VP and general manager of marketing and business development for the Long Beach, Calif., company. Stoncipher "is bound and determined to drive us" to be No. 2, he said. Douglas has fallen behind Boeing and Airbus Industrie in sales partly because "we are unwilling to cancel orders or to sell below cost," Orlowski said. Douglas is "real close to being the most efficient producer," he said.
SAS ground staff at Copenhagen, the airline's primary hub, may strike on April 1 unless their union and the carrier can work out a new collective bargaining agreement. The latest round of talks broke down Thursday. The threatened strike has been postponed twice by a state arbitrator as allowed by Danish labor law. SAS said Friday it is too early to tell what impact a strike might have, but the carrier operates both intra-Europe and intercontinental flights from Copenhagen.
British Airways has launched what it terms a "major initiative" to fight crime within and around the airline. BA, which recently appointed a 30- year police veteran to the post of senior manager investigations, believes the initiative will cut down on losses and minimize risks.
Some NASA safety panel members question why the agency intends to use Russia's Tu-144 supersonic transport for high-speed aircraft research instead of the Anglo-French Concorde or the Air Force SR-71, with safer records. NASA got a good deal on the Tu-144, and one member speculates that foreign relations, not engineering, drove the decision.
Air South Chairman Clif Haley expects to receive $4 million in early April to keep the new carrier afloat. The Columbia-based carrier also is setting goals to reduce costs to less than seven cents per available seat mile, increase yield to 17 cents per revenue passenger mile, and improve on-time performance. Air South has secured a $1 million revolving line of credit and 60% of its employees have subscribed to an internal stock offering, which has raised more than $175,000.
The U.S. intends to continue to refrain from responding to threats of retaliation from European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock for its open skies initiative in Europe, according to an administration official. On Friday, Finland became the fourth EU country - the sixth overall - to initial an open skies agreement. However, despite expectations, the U.S. and Sweden, Denmark and Norway did not set a date for their single round of talks.
- In Federal Register dated March 17...Proposed an airworthiness directive on certain Fokker F28-100 aircraft to require checks to detect backlash in the elevator mechanical control system. - In FR dated March 20...Superseded an AD on Robinson R22 helicopters concerning inspection of the main rotor drive forward flexplates. - In FR dated March 21...Issued an AD on certain Boeing 737-200/300 aircraft requiring inspections for cracking of the fuselage frames at certain locations.
Lufthansa, which was shooting to reduce its debt to 3 billion Deutschemarks by the end of 1997, surpassed that goal in 1994.According to preliminary financial results, the carrier slashed its debt in half last year, to DM2.1 billion (US$1.35 billion). Just two years ago, the total stood at DM6 billion.
Women In Aviation International's sixth annual conference drew a record crowd of 1,015 to St. Louis, and the number of exhibitors nearly doubled to 53. The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a commemorative stamp to the late Bessie Coleman, the first licensed African American aviator, who was inducted posthumously into the Women in Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame.
Air Canada got good news and bad news last week from Transport Minister Douglas Young - the airline finally found out when it can begin service to Hong Kong, but the first flight can not take off until Dec. 20. The decision gives rival Canadian Airlines International, which is struggling financially, another full summer without Canadian competition in the market, and it deprives Air Canada of C$1.4 million a week in revenues it told employees it could bring in if Young gave the go-ahead to start service this summer (DAILY, March 22).
Arinc said former Chairman and past President Andrew Hospodor has died. The Brock Group named Patrick Cleary as a principal, specializing in transportation, communications, technology, environment and natural resources. FFV Aerotech appointed Robert Johns regional sales manager. Hill And Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide Co. appointed John Timmons senior VP. Podesta Associates named Elizabeth Inadomi principal, specializing in high-technology issues. SH&E named Harris Herman, former president of the Pan Am Shuttle, senior consultant.
Ten to 15 companies will be making a decision on which type of 300- passenger aircraft to buy by the end of the year, according to a Douglas Aircraft official. The company sees a "good" outlook for its MD-11 "if we can win some of these competitions."
Infini Travel Information Inc. has completed its program to connect the Infini computer reservations system to all of All Nippon Airways domestic reservations terminals installed in travel agency offices. ANA's CRS is called "able." The new terminal connections increase the number of Infini terminals to 7,600 from 3,200, and the number of locations to 5,900 from 2,300, giving Infini a 46% market share in terms of agency locations.
Air Transport Association has asked the Illinois DOT to stop saying the airline industry should report a 1994 profit of $2.6 billion. ATA, which expects a net loss of $100 million, accuses the state of trying to build support for a new airport at Peotone. Questioning what other numbers have been cooked up, ATA said the "foremost and overriding fact, of course, is that there is no interest by U.S. airlines in serving an airport in Peotone."
TWA is organizing a letter-writing campaign to get back into London Heathrow Airport. Its pilots union, complaining that the St. Louis-based airline is the only major U.S. carrier that does not serve the airport directly or by code sharing, has asked members to write President Clinton, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) and DOT.
Qantas subsidiary Viva! Holidays is offering seven-night tour packages to Vietnam for A$1,199. The packages are available for departures from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide and include roundtrip, economy- class travel on Qantas, seven nights' hotel accommodations at the International Hotel, airport transfers and a Viva! travel bag and ticket wallet. Packages are available for travel from April 5 to Aug. 30.
Chinese carriers raised domestic air fares as much as 40% last week in the largest single increase ever approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Officials expect foreign passengers traveling within China to complain about the increase, but believe that since more than 80% of these passengers are traveling on business, traffic and passenger loads will not be hurt significantly. The airlines have generally welcomed the increase because demand is strong and the market is entering the peak season.
Restating familiar airline industry desires, United and TWA told Congress last week that government action in four areas would aid the industry's recovery - taxes, airport revenue diversion, regulations and international access. Two smaller carriers, Kiwi and ValuJet, echoed some of those recommendations but emphasized several issues more relevant to new-entrant airlines.
Qantas is implementing freight revenue management systems developed by Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT). The Qantas systems incorporate two of SDT's next-generation automated systems, CargoRev and CargoMax. Qantas is migrating to UNIX-based client/server technology for these applications.
Lone Star Airlines Friday launched service to Saltillo, Mexico, from Dallas/Fort Worth. The Fort Worth-based regional carrier is offering two daily nonstops to Saltillo, with continuing service to Torreon. Lone Star currently offers three daily nonstops to Chihuahua City. It operates a fleet of 19-seat Fairchild Metros and recently added a 30-seat Dornier 328. With the addition of three more Dorniers, all routes to Mexico will be served by the larger aircraft.
