Paul Tate has been named chief financial officer for Atlantic Coast Airlines. Tate had been CFO, VP-finance and treasurer at Reno Air and previously was with Midway Airlines.
All Nippon Airways, the sixth largest airline in the world in 1995 based on passengers carried, plans to enlarge its international capacity by 25% during its current fiscal year. The airline, which grew 24% internationally in fiscal 1995 and 23% in fiscal 1996, said it hopes this year for "major growth in its operations to the United States," pending the outcome of U.S.-Japan aviation talks. Currently, three carriers - Japan Airlines, United and Northwest - fly 80% of U.S.-Japan transpacific traffic. ANA and three U.S.
FAA 1998 Budget - Summary of FAA Accounts, By Progem (In Millions of Dollars) 1996 Actual 1997 Est. 1998 Est. Operations Obligations by program activity: Direct program: Air traffic services 3,559 3,909 3,976 Regulation and certification 495 529 575 Civil aviation security 67 116 93
Richard Goodmanson has been elected president of America West Holdings Corp. and president and chief executive of America West by the two companies' board of directors, as anticipated last May. Goodmanson, a native Australian who has lived in the U.S. for more than 13 years, became a U.S. citizen last month.
United Chairman Gerald Greenwald told employees yesterday the company needs to "stay the course" if it is to continue making profits and be competitive for more than just a few years. He made the comments in light of contentious contract negotiations with the Association of Flight Attendants, which continued this week, and ongoing wage discussions with the Air Line Pilots Association and the Machinists. Greenwald said employees must remember the competitive environment in which they work. "That environment is changing every day. So are our competitors.
Northwest has added hotel rate specials at Radisson to its weekly CyberSaver fare sales on the Internet. The airline plans to advertise more specials by car rental and hotel partners, and possibly other travel services companies, in the future. This week's CyberSaver page includes a link to Radisson's Hot Deal page. The airline's fare specials are posted every Wednesday for travel the following weekend.
New Regional Aircraft Deliveries November 1996 Last 12 Months Carrier No. Type Engines Delivery ------------------------------------------------------------------- Air Littoral 1 AA ATR 42-500 PW127E 7 Air Tahiti 1 AA ATR 42-500 PW127E - Cimber Air 1 AA ATR 42-500 PW127E 2 Comair Inc. 2 Canadair RJ CF34-3A1 15
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin posted a 23.7% increase in traffic last month to 44.9 million revenue passenger miles, as capacity increased just 2.2% to 83.3 million available seat miles. The resulting load factor of 53.9 was 9.3 percentage points higher than January 1996's figure. Enplanements rose 14.3% to 155,074.
Correction: The settlement proposed by the Allied Pilots Association to American includes 7.25 million stock options at $10 below market value. The 7.25 million was incorrectly expressed as a dollar amount Feb. 5 in The DAILY.
British Airways posted a 9% increase in January traffic, boosted by strong growth in international flights to the Americas and the Asia/Pacific region. Capacity rose 7.6% and the load factor was 67.5%, up 0.9 percentage points. BA also posted a 9.7% gain in cargo tonne kilometers. Its two regional airlines, Deutsche BA and TAT, experienced a combined traffic gain of 8.3% on 7.9% greater capacity. The two carriers transported 287,000 passengers in January, up 10.8%.
Flight attendants at American Eagle carrier Executive Airlines have ratified their first contract since joining the Association of Flight Attendants in 1995. The contract is effective for 18 months - from Feb. 1, 1997, until Sept. 1, 1998 - so that it will correspond with the amendable dates of contracts with the other Eagle carriers. In the future, the AFA hopes to negotiate one contract for all four Eagles and merge seniority lists. The AFA represents 1,076 flight attendants at the four Eagle carriers, including the 113 at Executive.
Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air in January flew 67 million revenue passenger miles, an increase of 2% from the January 1996 figure. January 1997 January 1996 ------------------------------ Rev. Passenger Miles 67,000,000 66,000,000 Available Seat Miles 119,000,000 117,000,000 Load Factor (%) 56.8 56.4 Passengers 286,800 286,700
British Airways will launch electronic ticketing for British travel agents and U.K. domestic customers, including those on franchised routes, starting March 12. The e-ticket trial, which began last year on the Gatwick- Aberdeen route, will be extended to Galileo reservations system users next month.
American and British Airways accused their opponents of an "apparently orchestrated" effort to kill their alliance by delaying it using such measures as United's request for an evidentiary hearing into the matter (DAILY, Jan. 29). "Indeed, the opponents seem to have organized themselves into a Docket Branch tag team, taking turns with a constant stream of motions, answers and other pleadings, all intended to throw the American/British Airways alliance into a bottomless regulatory pit." The alliance carriers noted Delta's Jan. 14 motion, with comments due Jan.
FAA Acting Administrator Barry Valentine said seven new members have been added to the agency's Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee and 12 will leave the panel. He said the remaining 1997 meeting dates for the committee are April 8-9 and Sept. 16-17.
President Clinton's fiscal 1998 budget, sent to Congress yesterday, recommends $8.461 billion for FAA, about $100 million less than the fiscal 1997 total. An 8.7% increase in FAA operations funding, to $5.386 billion, depends on Congress agreeing to $300 million in new user fees. As suggested by the Office of Management and Budget recently, the budget proposes replacement of the aviation excise taxes with cost-based user fees, beginning in fiscal 1999 (DAILY, Dec. 13).
Max Karant, 83, aviation editor and retired first senior VP of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, died Feb. 1 in Gaithersburg, Md. He founded AOPA Pilot magazine in 1958 and was its editor for 18 years.
American, with help from outside sources, has started a campaign inviting employees and customers to ask their representatives in Congress to urge President Clinton to intervene in the dispute with its pilots and force a resolution by arbitration. Many employees have asked how to contact officials, American said, prompting it to provide telephone numbers and e- mail addresses of senators and the White House. Local governments in cities where American is a dominant carrier are using letter-writing campaigns and newspaper advertisements asking Clinton to intervene.
South African Airways ordered Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines to power two additional 747-400s it ordered from Boeing for delivery in May and October, 1998, to accommodate increased passenger traffic to the U.S.
In a blistering attack on Japan Airlines, Federal Express now wants DOT to deny the carrier's application to operate new Tokyo-Atlanta cargo service. FedEx earlier recommended that action be deferred or that DOT grant 90-day authority to pressure Japan into permitting beyond service by FedEx from Tokyo (DAILY, Jan. 30). JAL said deferral of action would be an "unlawful sanction" because the two governments agree that JAL's application falls under the bilateral, but they disagree on beyond-Tokyo issues (DAILY, Feb. 4).
Fairchild Dornier this week officially launched its 328JET program, only a few days after announcing that the aircraft would be powered by the Pratt&Whitney Canada PW306/9 turbofan engine (DAILY, Jan. 30 and 31). The manufacturer is scheduling first flight of a prototype in January 1998, with entry into service in early 1999. Fairchild Dornier projects a potential market of more than 350 328JETs - more than 50% to North America customers, The DAILY was told - in airline and corporate configurations over the next 15 years.
United's labor problems with several employee groups are based on management's failure to "exalt," "respect" and "reward" employee owners, and a general feeling of disappointment halfway through the term of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), according to the head of the carrier's Air Line Pilots Association unit. ALPA recently laid out a strategy to turn around the corporate culture at United, claiming employees are fed up with the status quo (DAILY, Jan. 29).
Northwest has expanded its Dining for Miles program to include more than 2,300 restaurants in 57 cities. For every $1 spent on meals, WorldPerks members will receive three miles. Members also receive 500 bonus miles for every first visit at about 1,500 of the restaurants. The program is offered in partnership with CUC International, a provider of promotional dining programs.
Correction: Delta suffered its fourth JT8D engine failure in a year, not its fourth 727 engine failure in a year, as reported Jan. 29 in The DAILY. The fatal accident cited involved an MD-80 series aircraft, not a 727.
United will add second daily nonstops June 17 from Frankfurt to Chicago O'Hare and June 5 to Washington Dulles airports. It will operate the Chicago service with 777 aircraft configured for 292 seats in three cabins. One Washington flight will use a 777 and the other a 767 with 206 seats in three classes. The new schedule will be coordinated and code-shared with alliance partner Lufthansa.
