FlightSafety International reported yesterday record earnings for both the fourth quarter and year 1994. The company posted fourth quarter net earnings of $23.5 million, or 75 cents per share, on revenues of $83.6 million. In the December quarter 1993, FlightSafety had earnings of $19.6 million on revenues of $76.8 million. For the year 1994, FlightSafety had net earnings of nearly $74.5 million, or $2.35 per share, on revenues of $301.3 million, compared with net income of $66.4 million on revenues of $297.1 million. A.L.
Two accidents in the third quarter costs USAir $110 million in lost revenue in the fourth quarter, according to the airline company's estimates. USAir Group's fourth quarter 1994 revenues declined 6.7% from the previous year to $1.68 billion from slightly more than $1.8 billion (DAILY, Jan. 30). After the fatal accidents at Charlotte and Pittsburgh, the carrier's traffic fell off in October and November before returning to near normal levels in December.
European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and Spanish Industry Minister Juan Manuel Eguiagaray will meet Feb. 9 in an effort to clear the way for subsidies to Iberia. The main issue is whether the damaging circumstances mentioned by the Spanish government - 25% devaluation of the peseta in less than two years, economic crisis and increased competition - are the "exceptional and unforeseeable" circumstances the European Commission warned would be necessary for it to consider a second shot of state aid. Iberia received 120 billion pesetas in 1992.
The U.S. is awaiting replies from the nine European countries to model open skies agreements, while forging ahead with Canada negotiations. "We're giving the nine time to digest the contracts" presented to them last Thursday before beginning the seven negotiations, Paul Gretch, director of DOT's Office of International Aviation, told The DAILY. There will be one set of negotiations for the Scandinavian countries concerned - Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The other countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
Barbados-based startup Carib Express will begin flight operations Feb. 15 with a single BAe 146 (DAILY, Dec. 15). The initial schedule will include an early morning Barbados-St. Lucia-St. Vincent flight; a midmorning Barbados-St. Lucia-Domincia service; an evening Barbados-Grenada-St. Vincent-St. Lucia service, and a three-times-weekly Barbados-St. Lucia-St. Vincent-Grenada flight. All flights return to Barbados.
America West was profitable in the fourth quarter of 1994, its eighth straight quarter in the black, but its earnings dropped significantly because of stiff downward pressure on yields and softer-than-expected traffic. For the three-month period ended Dec. 31, the carrier posted net earnings of $6.6 million, down 36% from a year earlier, and an operating profit of $30.5 million, a decline of 33.2%. Operating revenues declined 1.8% as traffic was flat to slightly down, and yield dipped 2%.
Justice Department is planning to file an antitrust suit and proposed settlement against St. Louis-based Sabreliner Corp., which purchased Midcoast Aviation from TWA last November, because of a monopoly situation concerning general aviation fuel services at St. Louis Lambert Airport.
Andrew C. Genor has been elected vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Genor most recently served as chief financial and operating officer of HNSX Supercomputers, Inc., Boston, Mass.
GM Hughes Electronics turned in slower sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of 1994 as missile production rate cuts hit revenues and the introduction of the DirecTV satellite service took a bite out of quarterly profits. But stronger Automotive Electronics and DirecTV sales helped swell full-year revenues to record levels, and aggressive cost-cutting was credited for improving operating profits against 1993 results.
Barney Parrella, senior VP finance, administration and international affairs for the Airports Council International-North America, said it is ACI's "preference to keep AIP within FAA depending how the funding goes." He added, "If AIP shrinks to such a point [that] it is very limited, then we would be open to looking at an infrastructure bank." ACI is not in favor of individual banks in each state. Parrella was misidentified and the quotation by implication was attributed erroneously to FAA Feb. 1 in The DAILY.
FAA is convening a two-day meeting today of more than 100 officials from the airport, airline and investment communities to discuss how to incorporate innovative investment concepts into funding for airports. The initiative is part of DOT's Partnership for Transportation Investment, announced yesterday by President Clinton. The current focus is on finding ways to allow airports to leverage passenger facility charges, said Cynthia Rich, FAA assistant administrator for airports.
Two companies have protested the U.S. Army's award of a $123 million contract to Martin Marietta for production of over 400,000 Hydra 70 rockets. A spokeswoman for the Army's Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command said yesterday in response to a query that Olin and Alliant Techsystems protested the command's Jan. 20 award to Martin Marietta's Ordnance Systems unit. She said the protests were filed with the Army on Jan. 27. The companies also protested to the General Accounting Office.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command will solicit industry in February for the Advanced Message Oriented Data Security Module (AMODSM), an encryption device for aircrew training ranges. NavAir said in a Jan. 31 Commerce Business Daily notice that it initially planned the work as a small business set-aside, but that AMODSM now be procured through a "full and open competitive solicitation."
Air Canada and Soletur, a Brazilian tour wholesaler, have signed an agreement worth more than C$500,000 to bring more than 1,000 tourists from Brazil to Canada this summer. Rio de Janeiro-based Soletur plans to offer two-week, cross-Canada packages from April to October. Passengers will fly from Brazil on Varig and connect in Miami to Air Canada flights to Toronto.
The Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) office is putting together a strategy for reducing risk in the "electric jet" effort to eliminate hydraulics in the next generation of strike aircraft, JAST program director Gen. George Muellner said yesterday.
Legislation to extend the exemption of airlines from the 4.3-cents-a-gallon transportation fuel tax was introduced yesterday in the Senate by Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) and in the House by Mac Collins (R-Ga.) and Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.). Dunn and Collins plan to propose privatizing the Government Printing Office as a "significant down payment" toward offsetting the revenue losses the extension would cause. Airlines were exempted from the first two years of the fuel tax, but this will end Sept. 30 unless Congress votes an extension.
U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) is surveying industry for engineering services to support the Advanced Threat Radar Jammer (ATRJ) program. CECOM's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, Ft. Monmouth, N.J., said it plans a three-year contract to support systems of advanced development (AD) and engineering and manufacturing development (EMD).
The Dutch Ministry of Defense has indefinitely postponed a decision on a new attack helicopter. Disagreement within the cabinet over whether to select the McDonnell Douglas AH-64 or the Eurocopter Tiger has led to postponement of the selection before. The decision was first postponed from Jan. 16 to a Jan. 20 cabinet meeting, during which no consensus was reached. It was then delayed following failure to include the decision in the agenda of a Jan. 27 cabinet meeting.
United Airlines and parent UAL Corp. are being sued by six non-union customer service employees who claim last year's $3 billion restructuring plan, which cut employee wages and benefits, and implementation of the employee stock ownership plan violate the Railway Labor Act. The suit seeks a return to previous wage levels and restoration of benefits for about 24,000 non-union employees covered by the Railway Labor Act.
Northwest announced an "alarm clock" sale of 35% off fares that was quickly matched by Continental and will be matched in part by other major carriers, such as Delta, American and United. The fares, which must be purchased by Friday, are for travel between Feb. 21 and April 30 throughout the U.S. and to Canada, Mexico and Jamaica. Northwest, advising travelers to "set their alarm clocks" for the sale, began offering the fares at 3 a.m. yesterday for travel that includes Canada, Mexico City and Montego Bay.
United said it will raise cargo rates by 10% on some Pacific and Latin American flights March 1 to combat rising fuel and equipment costs and an "intensifying competitive environment." The rates will increase on Pacific westbound and Latin American southbound flights from all U.S. points to Asia and Latin America, with some exceptions. Major points affected include Tokyo, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.
Former UAL Chairman Stephen Wolf has been elected to the board of R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co. After leaving UAL last summer following the employee buyout of the airline company, Wolf joined Lazard Freres and Co. as a senior adviser and has been acting as a consultant to Air France Chairman Christian Blanc.
French industry observers believe Air France's statement last week that it will cancel orders for 10 Boeing and seven Airbus Industrie aircraft is no more than pressure on the manufacturers, aimed at securing deferral of deliveries without a cost penalty.
Flight attendants at USAir Express carrier Allegheny Commuter Airlines have ratified a five-year contract that places them on equal footing with flight attendants at Pennsylvania Airlines, which merged with Allegheny in 1991. The new contract, according to the Association of Flight Attendants, provides for a pay raise and a longevity step increase each year and significant work rule changes.
The Japanese government's 1995 budget plan allocates $4.8 milion for Phase-1 development of multi-purpose, stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle. The retractable wing UAV will be deployed from Air Self-Defense Force fighters. After deployment, it will be guided by an inertial navigation system and ground data links. Parachutes will return the UAV to the ground. Phase 2, which will include prototype flight tests, is scheduled to begin in 1996 and be completed 1998. Total program cost will be about $40 million.
