Northwest has named former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale to its board, effective immediately. Mondale sat on Northwest's board from 1989 until 1993, when he left to become U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
United and Northwest are urging different strategies to deal with Japanese bilateral issues. Concerning Japan Airlines' request to switch gateway designations so it can increase service to Kona while maintaining levels at Atlanta, United recommends DOT approval if the U.S. concludes "comparable approval" will be granted to changes in U.S. third and fourth freedoms.
..AI(R) no longer has any involvement in the Franco/Italian/Chinese program to develop and produce a 100-passenger jet transport, Gavin said. The aircraft is now considered to be the entry-level jet in the Airbus Industrie product line, and AI(R)'s participation has been shifted to Airbus. AI(R) partner Alenia of Italy remains involved in the program, however. The 100-seater originally was envisioned as a regional jet to be built in China and marketed and supported under the AI(R) flag, which includes British Aerospace.
British Airways and NatWest Bank are launching a co-branded credit card for BA's 600,000 Executive Club members in the U.K. Executive Club NatWest Visa cardholders will receive one Air Miles award for each 15 pounds spent, building toward free flight awards. New cardholders will receive a bonus of 100 Air Miles awards if they apply before April 15.
National Air Transportation Association wants FAA to "take quick action in explaining the new pilot record-sharing law, which takes effect in less than two weeks." Andrew Cebula, VP, wrote FAA Chief Counsel Nicholas Garaufis that there is widespread industry confusion over who will have to comply with the new law. He said NATA "is receiving numerous questions from [the aviation industry] on the new requirement" and has taken up the issue with congressional staffers, who have said FAA is supposed to clarify the requirements for industry.
Greenwich Air Services said net sales increased 220% to $187.5 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31. Operating income was up 199% to $16 million and net income was up 161% to $5.5 million. The company attributed the increase in net sales to inclusion of the full quarter of operations of Aviall's Commercial Engine Service operations in Texas and Scotland, which Greenwich purchased June 10. Eugene Conese, chairman, said the quarter was the 13th in a row in which Greenwich logged record results.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) at American has not responded to American's request Tuesday that the pilots reconsider arbitration to reach a fair contract agreement. American spokesman Chris Chiames said, "We have to interpret their silence as declining arbitration," but he added American is hopeful the impression can be reversed.
Dutch Transport and Public Works Minister Annemarie Jorritsma will take advantage of The Netherlands' six-month term as chairman of the European Union to press for the introduction of an aircraft fuel tax in the EU. The Dutch minister told members of the European Parliament last week in Brussels that she would commission a study on the consequences of applying excise duties on kerosene, which now is exempt from EU-wide taxes on mineral oils as defined by a 1992 directive.
Mesa Air Group lost $875,000 in the three-month period ended Dec. 31 on 1% higher revenue of $121.4 million. The net loss compares with a $3.9 million profit in the year-earlier period. During the quarter, the first in Mesa's fiscal year, flight operating expenses declined to $42 million from $44.6 million in the 1996 period, mainly because of Mesa's purchase of 69 aircraft last year that formerly were leased. Mesa's cost for jet fuel rose 26% to 2.8 cents per available seat mile, compared with 2.2 cents in 1995.
Sun Country Vacations has joined Worldspan's Tour Source booking system. Worldspan and System One subscribers can access 19 fall and 20 winter Sun Country packages, including hotel stays, Avis rentals and flights on parent company Sun Country Airlines.
Airlines hoping that United's bid for an American-BA evidentiary hearing will kill the proposal through delay may be looking to recent history. The last international route case to go through that process - one that involved starkly different issues than the proposed alliance - concerned the award of combination routes to Brazil. It ended in August 1992, after 11 months.
Orlando-based Voyager Technologies has appointed Ray Foss senior VP-sales and marketing, focusing on airlines and reporting directly to Chief Executive Bill Daman. Voyager provides transaction processing and travel document distribution services, develops Web sites and is creating an Internet airline ticket auction that is expected to be operational before the end of the second quarter (DAILY, Jan. 27). Foss worked at United on developing Apollo Travel Services and managed the Travel Systems business unit at McDonnell Douglas.
America West is offering fares it claims are 20% less than the sale fares advertised by its major, "full-service" competitors. The one-way fares begin at $39 and at $149 for transcontinental travel. Late-night flights have the deepest discounts. Tickets must be purchased by Feb. 7 and travel completed by June 4. Late-night fares are $39 for Las Vegas-Ontario and $149 for Boston-Las Vegas and Los Angeles-Miami flights.
Midwest Express Holdings named David Reeve president and chief executive of Astral Aviation, which operates as Skyway Airlines, effective March 1. Reeve currently is director of flight operations for DHL Airways. Midwest Express Holdings is the holding company for Midwest Express Airlines, and Skyway s a wholly owned subsidiary of Midwest Express.
Austrian Airlines predicts it will stay in the black and increase profits over the next few years despite competition on fares. "We are striving to increase productivity and to show steady profits," said Chief Executive Herbert Bammer. In 1995, the airline reported group sales of 11.7 billion schillings (US$1.17 billion) and posted a pre-tax profit of 65.9 million schillings (US$5.7 million). The carrier expects similar gains for 1996, although fuel costs rose by 100 million schillings last year.
One day after placing its first order for regional jets, Atlantic Coast Airlines reported 1996 profits of $19.2 million, up 49%. The United Express carrier also paid employees $2.9 million in profit sharing, a record. Revenue rose 16.5% and yield jumped 13.4% to 50 cents. Operating income grew 57.8%, even though the carrier paid 20.5% more for a gallon of jet fuel than it did a year earlier. Fourth quarter profits, $2.7 million, were down from $5 million in the year-earlier period, but extraordinary items in the quarter had a $2.3 million impact on earnings.
Confirming indications that Malaysia will join the U.S.'s Asian open skies initiative soon, Malaysian Transport Minister Ling Liok Sik said he expects to sign an accord in April, since "most of the problems between both sides have been worked out." Negotiators are scheduled to meet next month.
New York research firm Jupiter Communications reports that half of World Wide Web transactions in 1996 were for travel services, and online spending for those services account for $1 billion of the $2.3 billion to be spent this year. Jupiter will host Travel '97 for Internet technology developers, service providers and publishers April 16-17 at The Drake Hotel in Chicago. The seminar will focus on development strategies for travel- oriented content, services, technologies and communications. For more information, call 212-780-6060.
BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 engine for the long-range Bombardier Global Express corporate jet received approval from the European Joint Aviation Authorities one month ahead of schedule. The BR710, rated at nearly 15,000 pounds thrust, also powers the Gulfstream V. Development of the BR715 for the Douglas MD-95 is on schedule for certification in September 1998.
Facing friendly questioning, DOT Secretary-designate Rodney Slater moved one step toward confirmation yesterday with a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on his nomination that focused as much or more on surface transportation issues as it did on aviation. The only concerns expressed about Slater's nomination came from Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), who said he was "very concerned" about the amount of time Slater, now head of the Federal Highway Administration, has spent traveling.
Air France has become the first European airline to serve Nigeria's oil capital, as it launched a nonstop weekly service to Port Harcourt from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport last week, using a 747-200 Combi.
Fairchild Dornier selected the Pratt&Whitney Canada PW306/9 turbofan engine to power the first 32-seat-plus regional jet aircraft. The engine, with a takeoff thrust of 6,050 pounds, "combines low weight and a small size with excellent fuel efficiency," Dornier President Jim Robinson said.
British Airways will sell its U.K. Ground Fleet Services division to a unit of Miami-based Ryder System Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The move was discussed in December as part of BA's three-year, 1 billion pound cost-reduction initiative. The unit, which provides ground equipment engineering and vehicle leasing services to operators at London Heathrow and Gatwick, has 7,300 vehicles and employs 500. BA intends to award the winning bidder, Slough, U.K.-based Ryder plc, a five-year contract, subject to completion of the deal.
FAA yesterday introduced an aviation safety data program agency officials said will provide information about long-term safety trends but will not enable travelers to select the safest air carrier. The two senators who asked FAA to come up with the program endorsed it immediately. So did the Air Transport Association, which said it will help the public "better understand just how impressive and safe the overall aviation system is."
Federal Express, which has joined the fray in public efforts to implement what U.S. carriers regard as authorized beyond rights from Tokyo, said in a DOT filing this week that Japan Airlines has engaged in a "glaring fallacy." JAL wants an exemption for Tokyo-Atlanta all-cargo service and warned that demands to withhold authority as leverage against the Japanese government would needlessly escalate bilateral tensions (DAILY, Jan. 23).
