FAA ordered an emergency inspection of Lockheed L-1011-300s after receiving six reports of fatigue cracking in fuselage frames that it said could reduce the structural integrity of the fuselage shell. FAA said the fatigue cracking appears to result from pressurization loads on aircraft with between 20,000 and 25,000 landings. It approved a Lockheed alert service bulletin describing procedures for the inspections and repairs.
USAir will begin new nonstop service to Seattle from its Charlotte and Philadelphia hubs June 11, with one daily roundtrip in each market for the peak summer and fall season. The carrier will offer the service on a Boeing 757. Also on June 11, USAir will begin using the seven additional frequencies it has received from DOT to operate nonstop service to Frankfurt from Philadelphia and Boston. USAir's current Charlotte- Frankfurt nonstop will become a one-stop. The carrier will continue to offer Frankfurt nonstops from Pittsburgh.
Flooding conditions forced the Jefferson City, Mo., airport to close late last week with its runway and terminal building under two to three feet of water, according to DOT. As DOT monitored flooding along portions of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers, Secretary Federico Pena said the department was "fully prepared to activate emergency response teams" if necessary.
Bart Simpson is flying on startup carrier Western Pacific, but on the outside of the airplane. In what was described as a multi-million-dollar, joint-venture promotional program, Fox Broadcasting has become the second company to advertise on the exterior of WestPac aircraft. A 737-300 has been painted yellow with an ad for Fox's cartoon family, The Simpsons. Marge's blue hair covers the aircraft's tail.
Flight operations, international reservations and other Delta systems have been moved to the Worldspan Data Center in Atlanta, fulfilling the first phase of last September's Worldspan-Delta agreement by which Worldspan was to plan, develop and operate the systems for the airline. The flight operations system was down for 44 minutes during the transfer, and the Deltamatic internal reservations system -- the largest system moved -- was down for 51 minutes.
Airbus disputes Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz's assertion that the 777A/B holds 70% of new orders in its category. Airbus says its A330/A340 family has a 45% market share, the Douglas MD-11 30% and the 777 25%, based on firm orders. Since October 1990, when the 777 was launched, the 777 has 144 firm orders and the A330/A340 has 100, giving Boeing a 59% share. Airbus says it sold 30 A340s last year against none for the 777.
Signature Flight Support, one of the nation's largest fixed-base operators, is scheduled tentatively to meet June 19 with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to discuss handling charges imposed recently by the FBO. Phil Boyer, AOPA president, wants Signature to "modify or scrap" its new fees levied on general aviation pilots who do not purchase fuel, saying these pilots use "few or no services" at Signature's facilities at 43 airports (DAILY, May 16).
Delta is seeking renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination services between Los Angeles and Tokyo and between Portland and Nagoya, Japan. The carrier proposes to offer six nonstop Los Angeles-Tokyo and seven nonstop Portland-Nagoya flights per week. It said it will continue to use MD-11 or other suitable aircraft from its fleet on both routes, as market conditions demand. (Dockets 50358&50359)
House Transportation aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) is drafting FAA reform legislation that would establish an independent control board to set policy and oversee the agency, a subcommittee aide confirmed Friday. Duncan is developing the bill on a bipartisan basis and hopes to introduce legislation next month. Members of the control board, to be confirmed by the Senate, would choose the FAA administrator, who would serve indefinitely and have day-to-day responsibility for running the agency.
Lep Profit International promoted Peter Brown to North American chief operating officer and executive VP for its U.S. and Canadian operations, and promoted Martin McDonnell to senior VP-logistics. Greenwich Air Services named Robert Vanaria to the new position of senior VP-administration and chief financial officer. Tubetronics selected Richard Brandon to be general manager. Raytheon Aircraft named Dan Smartt VP-treasurer and president-Beech Acceptance Corp. Inc. Ken Tomoda was appointed VP-controller.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association has published its 1995 General Aviation Statistical Databook, which contains information on domestic general aviation shipments, composition of the aircraft fleet, exports, aviation safety trends, and hours flown by type and primary use. To order the $10 databook, write to GAMA, 1400 K Street N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20005-2485.
An airframe weight savings of 2.5% is possible through use of fly-by-light technology, according to Raytheon Aircraft Chairman Arthur Wegner. "You can expect to see production airplanes from Raytheon using this technology before the year 2000," he told a recent SAE meeting. "Complete control-by- light is probably less than a decade away," he said, adding that Douglas projects a 50% reduction in the $12 million cost of the MD-11 control system with the technology.
Infini Travel Information, the Japan-based computer reservations system company, switched its fare system from SITA Fareshare to SITA Airfare. SITA Airfare will be used for fare quotes not available in the Infini in- house fare system, which is still the primary system used by Infini subscribers for pricing itineraries originating from Japan, and for fare display and other supplementary information. Infini also offers subscribers the option of using Worldspan's fare system for fare display and itinerary pricing of TC1 fares.
As Boeing delivered the first 777 twinjet to United last week, drawing revenue from its first all-new aircraft design since 1982, its engineers already were developing a smaller and a larger version of the aircraft. Success of the 777 is a must for the company, and Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Shrontz said Boeing believes the aircraft type should be particularly popular in Asia, where seven carriers have ordered it and several others are near decisions on widebody purchases.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has appointed Graham Rose, currently general manger-business communications for Galileo International, its new director of communications, effective July 1. WTTC, a global coalition of 70 chief executives from all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, seeks to convince governments of the strategic and economic importance of travel and tourism, promote environmentally com-patible development and eliminate barriers to growth of the industry. Rose has been at Galileo for seven years.
In what it described as an effort to reduce the cost of regulations, DOT is proposing to allow carriers to file their international passenger service rules, or tariffs, electronically. DOT estimated the change would save the airline industry about $1.6 million annually in submission, printing and distribution cost, while also reducing the department's review, filing and storage costs.
White House aides are looking into what was described as the FAA bureaucracy's "underlying bias" against returning former Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization controllers to work.Since August 1993, when President Clinton signed an executive order permitting former PATCO members to apply for jobs, FAA has hired 27.
American has joined United and Carnival in the bidding for additional frequencies to operate between Miami and Lima, Peru. The frequencies were made available in the new aviation agreement between the U.S. and Peru, struck this month, which boosts the number of weekly combination roundtrip frequencies for both countries' carriers from 21 to 31.5 (DAILY, May 8). The pact reserves seven of the new frequencies for cities other than Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., however.
U.S. negotiators will conduct separate negotiations this week in Washington with South Africa and China. The U.S. will be looking to liberalize its relationship with South Africa, which is "very restrictive" in the absence of a bilateral agreement, according to Paul Gretch, director of DOT's Office of International Aviation. South Africa will be seeking to expand the code-share arrangement between South African Airways and American. "We are willing to expand it" in return for more liberal relations, Gretch added.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Income Statement October 1, 1994 - March 31, 1995 Current Month RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 12,097,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc. 370,164,000.00 Use of International Travel Facilities 18,621,000.00
Consumer Reports magazine released a survey in which readers chose Midwest Express the best U.S. airline in overall performance, on-time, check-in, seat comfort, flight attendants, crowding and baggage handling. The survey, of 120,000 readers who flew between January 1993 and April 1994, ranked Alaska Airlines second and Kiwi International third. Carnival and Mark Air rated lower than average in all categories.
Alitalia requested renewal of its authority to operate scheduled combination service between points in Italy and Miami. The carrier plans a maximum of seven weekly frequencies between Rome and Miami. Some of the flights would stop in Milan. (Docket 48148)
Hawaiian Airlines received the 1995 onboard services award from Onboard Services magazine. The carrier's Hawaii Regional Cuisine menu in first class took top honors in the food service category. Hawaiian consults with local chefs and changes the menu every three months. Caterair, which caters all of Hawaiian's flights, adapts the recipes for airline meals.
Swissair Group will realign aircraft maintenance responsibilities within the company during the next 18 months as it retires its 10 Fokker 100s, brings in more Avro RJ100s and replaces its McDonnell Douglas MD-81s with Airbus A320s. As it phases out the older jets, which are maintained at Geneva Technical Services, and phases in the new jets, which require less maintenance, Swissair will reassign 130 Technical Services personnel within the Swissair Group and eliminate the remaining 80 positions through early retirements and some layoffs.
