The U.S. concluded separate talks with South Africa and China last week without reaching new agreements with either. Progress was reported after three days of talks with South Africa, according to a DOT spokesman, who added the parties planned to talk again but set no dates for negotiations. The two countries are operating without a bilateral. In the talks with China, however, the two sides made no plans to meet again. The U.S. wants China to recognize U.S. rights to operate additional combination and cargo frequencies to that country.
A new partnership of six technical, financial and asset management firms has acquired most of Delta's inventory of spare parts, accessories, avionics and engine components, estimated to be worth more than $400 million. Avatar Alliance, based in Stratford, Conn., said the spares from Delta will form the base for the new partnership, and include 59,000 line items totaling 17 million individual parts for 12 aircraft models - Airbus A300 and A310; Boeing 737-200 and -300, and 747, 757 and 767; Lockheed L- 1011, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9, DC-10, MD-82/88 and MD-11.
The European Union is preparing to send letters to six member countries that have initialed open skies pacts with the U.S. asking them not to sign the agreements. The letters are the first phase of a formal procedure that may lead to an EU Court of Justice action against the six - Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria. The countries will have one month to reply. The letters follow an earlier series of threats of legal action by EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock if the six proceeded with the open skies talks.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is offering travel agents a 15% commission rate on all published economy fares from Newark, Boston and Milwaukee to London, and on published through fares to Athens from those gateways. The Milwaukee service is operated in conjunction with Midwest Express. Virgin said it will give the 5% bonus commission at the time of ticketing, and all outbound travel must begin by Sept. 30.
Aeromexpress is seeking renewal of its authority to operate all-cargo service between points in Mexico and the U.S. The carrier is seeking renewal for two years of service between a number of markets, including Mexico City-Chicago/Houston/Laredo/New York/San Francisco/Seattle; Guadalajara-Laredo/Miami/New York/San Francisco; Monterrey-Miami/New York, and Tijuana-Miami/New York/Seattle. The carrier also wants continued authority for service between Mexico City and three U.S. co-terminal points - Detroit, Los Angles and Miami - and between Merida and Miami.
Duff&Phelps Credit Rating Co. yesterday raised its rating on McDonnell Douglas's senior debt to BBB+ because of the continuation of the company's strong operating performance and cash flow, and the expectation that these trends are sustainable. At the same time, Duff&Phelps raised McDonnell Douglas Finance Corp.'s senior debt rating to BBB+ and subordinated debt to BBB.
Members of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) recently toured Vietnam as part of the first official educational tour by U.S. travel agents, one of the "biggest breaking destinations," the travel group said. The tour, coordinated by ASTA and Northwest WorldVacations, came at the request of the Vietnamese government. ASTA President Jeanne Epping said, "Since the travel industry is one of the driving engines of the global economy, this one cutting-edge visit by travel agents can ultimately have a major ripple effect on Vietnam's future economic growth.
Aeromexico has applied for renewal its authority to operate scheduled combination services between Puerto Vallarta and Ontario, Calif. The carrier is not currently serving the market. (Docket 50371)
Aerolitoral is seeking authority to operate scheduled combination service between Hermosillo, Mexico, and Phoenix; and between Tijuana, Mexico, and Los Angeles. A wholly owned subsidiary of Aeromexico, Aerolitoral has asked DOT for permission to carry the Aeromexico code on the service. The carrier requested immediate action on the application since Air L.A., Aeromexico's code-share partner in the markets, announced plans to terminate service on the routes. As of yesterday, Air L.A.
Qantas Airways plans to introduce a third weekly Sydney-Johannesburg flight on Nov. 6, subject to government approval, to keep pace with heavy demand. The service, operated with a Boeing 747, will continue to Harare, giving Qantas two flights per week from Australia to the capital of Zimbabwe. "Visitor numbers from South Africa to Australia have doubled in the two years since we resumed services to Johannesburg," said Geoff Dixon, Qantas Group executive general manager. Both of Qantas's current African services will become non-smoking flights on July 1.
DMS Travel Group, New York, is offering corporate clients two-way communication via the Internet e-mail system, enabling DMS to communicate with users of any system.
Japan's two largest carriers, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, rode an improving Japanese economy, a strong yen and internal restructuring to improved financial results for year ended March 31. JAL, the larger of the two in terms of revenue but the smaller in terms of passengers carried, reported a fiscal 1994 operating loss of $110.8 million and an after-tax loss of $13.5 million, after suffering an operating loss of $329 million and an after-tax loss of $285 million in fiscal 1993.
USAir Express has resumed daily nonstop seasonal flights between New York LaGuardia and Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and will begin flights to Hyannis on Cape Cod June 11. The carrier will offer two daily flights with 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8s to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, with a third offered from LaGuardia on Friday evenings and to LaGuardia on Monday mornings. It will offer four daily roundtrips to Cape Cod with 19-seat Beech 1900Ds. USAir Express also operates to the cape and islands from Boston.
TWA is saving an estimated $3.5 million a year in health care costs by using a self-funded plan, according to the third-party administrator of the plan, Benefit Plan Administrators, Melville, N.Y. BPA has been managing the health care of about 6,000 TWA employees in the greater New York area for about seven months and wants to expand its relationship with TWA to cover other employees.
Viking International Airlines, operating as Eagle Airlines, is asking DOT for renewal of its authority to operate combination charter services between points in the U.S. and destinations in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Providing charter service since 1993, the carrier filed a Chapter 11 proceeding Aug. 12, 1994, and is currently putting together a reorganization plan. The carrier's fleet includes MD-82, Convair 600F and DC-9-10 aircraft. (Docket 48863)
KLM's pilots walked off the job for six hours yesterday in a dispute with management over proposed changes to the their labor contract (DAILY, May 30). More than 50 KLM flights from the airline's Amsterdam Schiphol hub were canceled, delayed or flown in advance. The strike had little, if any, effect on other airline operations at Amsterdam. A last-minute plea from the airline for pilots to accept mediation without preconditions was rejected. According to at least one KLM source, talks between management and VNV, the pilot's union, are scheduled to resume today.
Three Florida legislators are boosting Carnival Air Lines' request for new service to Peru. The carrier, along with American and United, is contending for a share of the 3.5 new frequencies in the South Florida-Lima market opened up by the recent U.S.-Peru agreement (DAILY, May 10). In a letter to DOT Secretary Federico Pea dated May 22, Reps.
California edged out Florida, consistently the state of choice by visitors, in 1994 for overseas arrivals. Of all overseas visitors to the U.S. in 1994, 27.2% picked California, up 4% over 1993, and 26.3% headed for Florida, down 7%. New York captured the third highest market share at 22.7%. The largest gain was seen in visits to Guam, up 29% for a 5% share, followed by Nevada, up 26% to 9.8%.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) Cargo has opened its US$150 million "Superhub" airfreight terminal at the Changi Cargo Complex. The facility was built and is being managed by SIA's ground-handling subsidiary, SATS Airport Services. The multi-tier cargo processing terminal - the first in operation in Southeast Asia, according to SIA - increases by 64% SIA's annual cargo-handling capacity and doubles SATS' total capacity to one million tonnes.
BA Chairman Colin Marshall, detailing the airline's delivery schedule for new aircraft, said last week the five A-model Boeing 777s BA will start receiving this fall are "not the model we really want." The preferred B- model is to start arriving in December 1996.
Qantas plans to begin nonstop service between Tokyo and Brisbane in October in a move to bolster tourism and business travel to Queensland. The carrier will operate a weekly Boeing 747 roundtrip on Mondays, with continuing service to Sydney, and a one-way Tokyo-Brisbane flight on Thursdays. "Nonstop flights from Tokyo to Brisbane will boost visitor numbers to southern Queensland holiday destinations such as the Gold Coast," said Qantas Regional General Manager-Queensland Ian Mitchell.
FAA said Friday that ATR has installed new deicing boots on all 175 ATR-42 and -72 aircraft flying in the U.S., and that it has lifted a restriction prohibiting their dispatch into "forecast" freezing drizzle or freezing rain. Like all aircraft, ATRs still will be restricted from dispatch or operation into "known" freezing conditions. The new deicing boots, which nearly double the protected area of the wing, were approved March 20 following a review by FAA and DGAC of France.
Union and FAA officials disagree over whether a power failure at New York Center last Thursday caused a loss of all radar and radio contact with 37 aircraft in the air at the time. The aircraft were diverted to other airports, and nearly 200 aircraft were delayed at area airports and at Philadelphia.
Standard&Poor's ratings of USAir Group and USAir remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, but the agency may affirm the ratings in light of the tentative agreement on contract concessions concluded by the airline and its flight attendants union. S&P said the latest deal, following similar understandings with pilots and machinists, "makes it more likely" that it will affirm the ratings at current levels.
