USAir intends to support a new aviation maintenance program at Fayetteville, N.C., Technical Community College, providing more than $250,000 in parts for 727s, 737s, DC-9s and F28s, plus training courseware and maintenance manuals to support the donated parts. The parts are surplus, and USAir will phase the 727 out of its fleet during the year.
USAir Group and Hawaiian Airlines stock prices moved dramatically in different directions Friday on speculation that USAir is interested in acquiring Hawaiian, TWA or both. A USAir spokesman called the reports "unfounded." USAir's stock price declined about 10% to slightly more than $12 per share, while the price of Hawaiian's stock, which resumed trading Wednesday after an 18-month hiatus due to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, zoomed up 6 1/8, or 83% to $13.50 per share before trading was halted by the American Stock Exchange.
Although DOT decided not to recommend rulemaking to change the high- density rule following its HDR study, the department listed a number of changes that "could be made to improve the performance of the rule and/or simplify its implementation." Many of the changes would impact directly the current commuter service at the nation's four slot-controlled airports - Washington National, Chicago O'Hare and New York LaGuardia and Kennedy.
Aeromexico Vacations, launched in 1992 by Aeromexico, says business rose 29% last year. It offers service on Aeromexico along with various hotel packages to Mexican destinations, as well as Colonial Cities Tours and Copper Canyon Adventure. Aeromexico Vacations also offers special honeymoon, golf and fishing vacations from all Aeromexico gateways.
Jacksonville air route traffic control center has 20 goats in residence on its nine fenced-in acres, "brought in to keep down the foliage in the area because it is extremely difficult to keep mowed." Their water and feed troughs are surplus lavatory materials from an aborted project at the facility. "If they reproduce or cause problems, their lease will be terminated," FAA says.
FAA's plan to require operators of regional aircraft to adhere to the same standards as larger jet transports will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and reduce safety and payload, according to a report by Morten Beyer and Associates. The Beyer report specifically concerns 15- to 19- seat aircraft produced by U.S. manufacturers.
Qantas has acquired a further 7.5% interest in marketing and code- sharing partner Air Pacific, increasing its stake in the Fiji-based airline to 17.5%. Qantas acquired an additional two million shares in Air Pacific from Japan-based Sea-Com Corp. for an undisclosed sum, the Australian airline said Friday. James Strong, Qantas's managing director, said the investment strengthened "well established commercial links" between the two airlines.
A giant Aeroflot An-124 cargo aircraft was scheduled to fly out of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport during the weekend after spending more than 10 days on the ground due to a paperwork problem. The four-engine transport, which resembles the Lockheed C-5, brought a load of cargo to DFW June 13 but needed an engine change to resume its schedule. Russian authorities loaded a replacement engine aboard a Volga Dnepr Il-76 and it arrived June 17 - without any of the paperwork needed to satisfy U.S. Customs.
The U.S. scheduled airline industry's passenger traffic increased 3.4% last month from May a year ago to 42.91 billion revenue passenger miles on 2.1% more capacity, boosting the average load factor 0.8 percentage points to 66.8%, according to Air Transport Association (ATA) data. The number of passengers enplaned increased 1.7%. Domestic traffic grew 3.1% to 31.1 billion RPMs on 1.8% more capacity, boosting the load factor 0.8 points to 65.6%. International traffic rose 4.4% on 3.1% more capacity, producing a load factor increase of 0.9 points to 70.3%.
- In Federal Register dated June 16...Issued an airworthiness directive on Lockheed L-1011-385 aircraft requiring inspection of the bulkhead for cracking at a certain fuselage station...Issued an AD on certain Fokker F28-100 aircraft requiring inspection for proper clearance between the engine fuel supply line and the hydraulic line...Issued an AD on certain Jetstream 4101 aircraft requiring replacement of a certain pressure switch in the fuel system...Issued an AD on certain Fokker F28-100 aircraft that requires inspecting the clearance between the normal maximum deten
American Society of Appraisers elected Max Koeper international president. Experimental Aviation Association named Tom Barrett director-EAA Air Adventure Museum.
Good News: Delays at the new Denver Airport are averaging less than one- half of one percent of operations, compared with more than 3% of operations at Stapleton in the same period last year, according to FAA Administrator David Hinson."At the current rate, we expect that DIA will handle more than 500,000 operations and 33 million passengers in the first year."
Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines Co. has ordered 20 Il-96M aircraft, powered by Pratt&Whitney engines and using avionics from Rockwell Collins, according to Tass. Albert Mikhailov, director general of the Voronezh Aircraft Factory, told the Russian news agency that the order is valued at $1.5 billion, about half the price of equivalent Western aircraft. "We offered serious competition to world-known Boeing and Douglas firms, which were eager to put their planes on the Russian market," Mikhailov said.
Retired Vice Adm. Donald Engen, a former FAA administrator and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, will lead a four-member panel convened by the Air Force to help determine why the service has had so many aircraft accidents recently - 18 this year, 10 of them in the past two months, that involved fatalities, aircraft destruction or $1 million in damage. Members of the panel are retired AF Gen.
U.S. national airlines hired 787 maintenance technicians in the past 12 months, more than any other category of carriers, and they took on 122 in May, Future Aviation Professionals of America reports. ValuJet hired the most, 119, and its growth continues this month as it takes delivery of more DC-9s. American International Airways hired 107. Maintenance personnel on furlough totals 4,319.
United is urging DOT to approve "only for a limited time" Aeroflot's application for renewed authority to operate to the U.S. and beyond. By limiting the renewal to 179 days, United said the department will give "the Russian Federation an opportunity to reconsider and correct its policy toward U.S. carriers." United remarked that Russia recently refused to renew the carrier's right "to offer code-share services between the U.S. and Moscow via Frankfurt" with Lufthansa.
British Airways Holidays is offering summer fly/drive packages across the U.K. for $729 to $949 per person, based on double occupancy. Packages include roundtrip transatlantic air fare to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester, six-day Hertz car rental and one night's hotel accommodation. It also includes complimentary, en-route telephone service for information on tourist areas, medical/legal assistance and weather. Different prices apply to BA's 19 U.S. gateways, and USAir's 61 code-share cities. The package is available from July 1 through Oct. 31.
U.S. National Carriers Traffic May, 5 Months 1995 May May % 1995 1994 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 675,000 577,000 17.0 Available Seat Miles (000) 1,130,000 945,000 19.6 Load Factor (%) 59.7 61.1
Aero Technology promoted P.J. Mayes to general manager. Associated Air Freight named Jose Cosio district manager- Miami. Beck, DeCorso, Barrera&Oh named Bryan Daly an associate. BTI Americas named Lora Ellis director-affiliate sales. Garrett Aviation Services named Charles Trujillo regional sales manager- Europe. Intelsat elected Tetsuo Hashimoto, Japan, and John Stanton, Australia, chairman and vice chairman.
The Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, set to expire in 1995 after four years in existence, has been extended by FAA for two years, until February 1997. ARAC is credited with providing a forum in which industry can advise FAA and make recommendations to it on a wide range of rulemaking issues.
Air France will begin installing new seats in the front cabins of its long- haul aircraft this month, according to marketing materials it is sending to its frequent flyers. Two new seats that recline to angles of 127 degrees and 180 degrees, respectively, are being installed as part of a premium- class product upgrade.
FedEx said it has added service to nine new countries - eight in the former Soviet Union and Myanmar, formerly Burma, in Indo-China. New service to former Soviet Union countries, through FedEx's Global Service Participants, will go to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. FedEx announced in February the acquisition of China route authority from Evergreen International.
World Airways appointed longtime Martinair Holland executive Henk Guitjens to be its senior VP-marketing and sales, with responsibility for marketing its soon-to-be-launched scheduled service and its expanding charter, wet-lease and cargo operations. "My goal is to leverage the expertise, knowledge and innovation that has made World Airways a leader in the charter and air freight industries to ensure the success of our new passenger service," said Guitjens, who leaves Martinair after 27 years.
- Granted orally an exemption to Northwest renewing its authority to operate scheduled combination service between the U.S. and Abu Dhabi; Bombay and Delhi; Vienna; Athens; Prague; Nairobi; Jeddah and Dharan; Warsaw; Istanbul; Cairo; Kuwait; Karachi, Pakistan; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse; Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Budapest. The service will be operated via Amsterdam under Northwest's code-share arrangement with KLM...Granted orally an exemption to Aviacion del Noroeste, S.A. de C.V.
