Western Pacific Airlines is purchasing one new 737-300 and leasing another as it expands its fleet to 14 aircraft and the number of cities it serves from its Colorado Springs base to 20. It will take delivery of the leased airplane from Taca Airlines of El Salvador Friday, and of the airplane it is purchasing from Avensa of Venezuela March 29. One of the 737s is nine years old and the other 11.
Project Newark, sponsored by the Air Transport Association, will be the "world's first certified differential Global Positioning System used for precision approaches in revenue service," according to Honeywell. The Honeywell/Pelorus Satellite Landing System (SLS-2000), selected for the project, will be used by Continental.
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. reported an operating profit of $659,000 but a net loss of $124,000 for the fourth quarter of 1995. The results reflect the carrier's third consecutive quarterly operating profit and an improvement over an operating loss of $3.2 million and a net loss of $3.0 million in fourth quarter 1994. Operating revenues for the 1995 quarter were $92.57 million, a 21.8% increase, and operating expenses climbed 16.1% to $91.92 million.
The Master Executive Council for Delta's Air Line Pilots Association unit has ratified the four-year tentative agreement reached with management Feb. 20. The 27-member MEC voted unanimously to approve the contract, which gives ALPA a non-voting seat on Delta's board of directors, secures the return of furloughed pilots and gives pilots equity in the company. The contract, which cuts pilots' pay by 2% to help Delta reach cost-cutting goals, now is subject to approval by the 8,600 pilots represented by ALPA (DAILY, Feb. 22).
Matching ValuJet as the Atlanta-based carrier launches service between Philadelphia and Boston, USAir has reduced one-way fares in the market to as little as $39 for travel beginning May 1. The fare requires a 21-day advance purchase, except for travel May 1 through May 22. USAir also has reduced its seven-day advance price to $59 from $99, and tickets reserved fewer than seven days prior to departure have been cut to $89 from $159. USAir operates 16 nonstop roundtrips between the two cities each business day.
Dalfort Aviation of Dallas, polling travelers to find out whether there is a market for long-haul service from Dallas Love Field (DAILY, March 18), has made no decisions on what aircraft to use to satisfy the Wright Amendment's 56-seat size limit. The amendment, named after then-House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas and adopted to protect Dallas/Fort Worth Airport from competition from Love Field, prohibits service beyond Texas and the four contiguous states except for cargo flights, limited charters and aircraft with 56 or fewer seats.
Western Pacific Airlines, which says it is the fastest-growing carrier in the country, expects to board its one millionth passenger tomorrow, after 11 months of service. The passenger will receive two roundtrip tickets every month for a year, a free Thrifty car rental with every trip, and accommodations at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Crested Butte ski resort in Colorado and Opryland USA in Nashville.
A controllers' union official told FAA that testing of dual streams into Chicago O'Hare approach control airspace is a "disaster waiting to happen and should be stopped immediately." National Air Traffic Controllers Association facility representative John Carr told Bob Frink, air traffic manager for the tracon, that the test is a failure. "I will urge each controller I represent to file an Unsatisfactory Condition Report and a NASA report for any continued testing of this procedure.
American has opened a 5,700-square-foot Admirals Club in Atlanta Hartsfield Airport's T Concourse. The new club, twice the size of the old facility, is located next to American's gates, inside security checkpoints. It includes two conference rooms with audiovisual equipment.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic September 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) American 1,216 12.07 2,330 2,832,400 Atlantic 364 8.10 4,082 1,484,860
Lufthansa and Air Canada may be close to a new code-sharing agreement.The Canadian airline confirms it is talking with Lufthansa, among others, but has not reached an agreement. Lufthansa dropped Canadian Airlines International recently as an international partner, and a marketing pact between Air Canada and Air France is set to expire at the end of the month.
British Airways is switching new 747 flights to East and Central Africa to London Gatwick to clear space at Heathrow for other new services (DAILY, Feb. 6). BA said the move is in line with its plan to develop Gatwick as a complementary hub to Heathrow. Flights to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Lusaka, Harare and Lilongwe began last Saturday. Also starting from Gatwick this year are flights to Stockholm and Zurich this spring, Edinburgh and Kiev this summer and Phoenix and San Diego in July.
Encouraged by increased transport orders following several years in which heavy airline losses dampened sales, Boeing said yesterday it will speed up production of the 737, 757 and 747, beginning next year. In the first quarter, production of the 737 will increase from 8.5 aircraft per month to 10, and 757 production will return to four a month from three. In the second quarter, 747 production will increase from 3 1/2 a month to four. Boeing said last December that monthly production will reach 22.5 airplanes a month by the fourth quarter of this year.
The Clinton administration has committed $2 billion in full-funding transit grants for rail projects in East St. Louis, Sacramento, San Francisco, Denver, Puerto Rico and Northern New Jersey. In San Francisco, extending the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail line to San Francisco Airport is one of the top priorities, and BART, SamTrans and airport officials applauded the funding announcement. The federal share of the $1.1 billion project is $710 million. SamTrans, the state and the airport will pay for the portion of the line inside airport property.
SAS will spend several million crowns this year to improve its EuroClass business product, according to Vagn Sorensen, senior VP-business systems division. The funds will go for more comfortable seating, better food and on-board entertainment.
Delta has set up a task force to improve customer service and operational reliability in Atlanta. The carrier recently said it is restructuring its airport customer service (ACS) at Atlanta Hartsfield after determining that cost-cutting measures have gone too far and hurt customer service. The team will consist of directors from the New York Kennedy station, airport customer service in Dallas/Fort Worth and ACS field operations.
As U.S. interests push the Global Positioning System as a sole means of satellite-based worldwide navigation, the International Civil Aviation Organization is preparing to accept Glonass, the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System, as a second and equal component of the ICAO Global Navigation Satellite System. GNSS is a linchpin of the future CNS/ATM (communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management) system, and the ICAO Council deliberated last week on Russia's offer to provide Glonass for at least 15 years with no direct user charges.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic September 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska 837 7.45 833 697,467 Aloha 398 2.57 135 53,752
Carnival Air Lines reported a 38.9% increase in February traffic, to 206.8 million revenue passenger miles from 148.8 million. Available seat miles increased 35.8% to 321.7 million from 236.9 million. The load factor inched up to 64.3%. Carnival enplaned 177,247 passengers during the month.
Government of Greece last week fired Olympic Airways Chairman Rigas Doganis. Doganis was hired in February 1995 to restructure the carrier as part of a European Commission-approved bailout.
American and the Allied Pilots Association, with the help of a federal mediator, resume negotiations today in Miami on a collective bargaining agreement that became amendable in August 1994. American said it needs an agreement to make decisions on expanding its fleet to remain competitive, according to the carrier's flight attendants union.
Standard&Poor's revised its ratings outlook on Continental Airlines Inc. to positive from stable. S&P affirmed the carrier's corporate credit rating of B- and assigned a CCC rating to its $200 million 6 3/4% convertible subordinated notes due 2006, through a private issue. The ratings, affecting about $638 million of debt, reflect the company's "sharply improved operating performance and prospects for continued good earnings," S&P said.
Bruce Nobles, chairman and president of Hawaiian Airlines, and Ron Letterman, president of Classic Custom Vacations, will be among the featured speakers at the American Society of Travel Agents Western Regional Conference, scheduled May 2-5 at the Kauai Marriott, Kauai, Hawaii.
American Trans Air reported that traffic increased 16.3% in February, to 799 million revenue passenger miles, while capacity rose 10.8% to 1.1 billion available seat miles. The load factor increased to 72% from 68.6%. Revenue passengers gained 22.4% to 550,918 and the average trip length declined 4.9% to 1,450 miles.
In a joint letter, United and Northwest told Access-U.S.-Japan Chairman Gerald Baliles that despite public statements, Access is pursuing the "parochial interests of its founders and financial supporters, principally American and Delta...to obtain point-to-point service" from the U.S. to Japan in exchange for beyond-Japan service.
