Frontier Airlines reported a 20% increase in December traffic, flying 72.9 million revenue passenger miles on 20.9% more capacity. Available seat miles rose to 120.9 million, and the load factor dipped to 60.3% from 60.7%. For the year, traffic jumped 116.1% to 788.3 million RPMs on 1.327 billion ASMs, up 88.9%.
The New York State Supreme Court turned down four of six arguments KLM made in a November 1995 suit against original shareholders in alliance partner Northwest. In a Jan. 10 decision published during the weekend, the court dismissed KLM's complaint about ownership issues but ruled that the case will continue on two counts - KLM claims about the size of Northwest's board and its argument that Northwest shareholders failed to place in escrow shares that KLM will have an option to buy in 1998.
Requiring United and other major U.S. and foreign carriers at Miami Airport to pay part of the cost of developing American's Super A concourse there would be "a threat to our profits and, therefore, a threat to our operations at Miami," according to United spokesman Richard Martin.
Aerospatiale will post a net profit for 1996 in line with its half-year results of 273 million French francs net income, according to Chairman Yves Michot. Net debt fell by FF3 billion to FF3.5 billion as of Dec. 31 and orders climbed 61% during 1996 to FF63.3 billion from FF39.3 billion in 1995, Michot told a New York news conference.
The Sabre Group elected Paul Ely and Bob Martin to its board. Ely is a general partner of Alpha Partners, a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. He was a senior executive with Hewlett-Packard, leading the computer products operation. Martin is president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart International.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association asked President Clinton yesterday to nominate former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Carl Vogt as FAA administrator. In a letter to Clinton, AOPA President Phil Boyer said Vogt's "background and reputation clearly qualify him for the position." Other prominent candidates for the position reportedly include Frank Kruesi, DOT assistant secretary for transportation policy, and Robert Baker, executive VP-operations for American.
Midwest Express Airlines reported a 15.8% traffic increase in December, to 103.9 million revenue passenger miles. Available seat miles during the month rose 12.2% to 165.4 million, so the load factor increased two percentage points to 62.8%. For the year, RPMs increased 7.8% to 1.24 billion and ASMs 8.9% to 2 billion. The load factor was 63.5%, down from 64.1%. The year 1996 was the carrier's first full year as a public company.
U.S. Major Carriers Systemwide Share of Service, Third Quarter 1996 Total Revenue Departures Alaska 41,599 America West 52,563 American 200,751 Continental 113,874 Delta 238,276 Northwest 152,059 Southwest 192,303 TWA 73,882 United 202,924
AirTran Airways will introduce nonstop service Feb. 27 five days a week between Orlando and Columbia, S.C. The carrier will offer $49 one-way introductory fares through Sept. 4. It also intends to start daily service to Charleston, S.C., from Orlando on Feb. 27, offering the same fare.
Western Pacific Airlines said December traffic increased 38.9% to 146 million revenue passenger miles, available seat miles rose 35.7% to 228.6 million and the load factor improved 1.6 percentage points to 63.7%. For the year, Westpac's RPMs totaled 1.5 billion and ASMs 2.6 billion, and the load factor reached 58.2%. Year-over-year comparisons are not available; the carrier began service last April.
Vice President Gore will announce today that the White House has embraced a concept for implementing a Global Positioning System-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) capability and the datalink needed to make it work.ADS is separate from but tied to FAA's plans for a larger Halaska GPS trials program to start in 1999.
Rockwell International's Collins General Aviation Div. will supply primary avionics for the Bell Boeing 609 tiltrotor aircraft, Rockwell said. The configuration of the Collins Pro Line 21 will include three large 10-by-8- inch active matrix LCD Adaptive Flight Displays to provide flight information.
Challenge Air Cargo, Federal Express and Polar Air Cargo applied for additional scheduled all-cargo frequencies to Brazil, with Challenge making a bid to retain some frequencies it says were withdrawn due to a filing error. Six additional frequencies become available April 1. DOT said last month that Challenge underused the 3.5 widebody frequencies it held, so it shifted 2.5 of them into the new allocation, making the total 8.5.
Jerry King, president of the Boeing Defense&Space Group, will head the transition team integrating McDonnell Douglas into Boeing under the aerospace giants' merger agreement, Boeing said. Alan Mulally, senior VP- airplane development and definition at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, will replace King as president of the defense and space unit, effective immediately. King, who joined Boeing as a design engineer in 1958, helped complete the company's recent acquisition of Rockwell International's defense and space business to form Boeing North American.
The travel industry will take several steps this year to improve its planning strategies, including better forecasting, to avoid falling prey to the cyclical nature of the market, according to the Travel Industry Association (TIA). At TIA's annual forecasting conference yesterday, Randy Garfield, TIA executive and senior VP-sales and operations for Walt Disney Attractions, said the association will do this by "investing only where sound research tells us there is a good return on investment, by being leaner, quicker, more aggressive and, above all, smarter."
Kiwi is offering free flight coupons to travelers who fly on the airline between Jan. 20, when it plans to resume scheduled service, and Feb. 12. The coupons will be good for one year. Kiwi intends to resume service with $79 and $99 one-way fares at Newark, Chicago, Atlanta and West Palm Beach. Florida travelers also will receive a Florida SmartCard with 30% discounts at 185 restaurants in the Palm Beach area. Kiwi said fares increased by as much as $350 in some markets when it suspended service Oct. 15.
State-owned Air Algeria, planning regular service from Paris Charles de Gaulle to its home country, has applied to operate as many as four weekly flights between Algiers and Paris. The service will have a negative effect on Belgium's regional airport at Charleroi, industry observers said last week. The airport has been a mini-hub for Air Algeria's flights to France since 1995.
Patricia Friend, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, will speak Jan. 21 at a monthly luncheon of the International Aviation Club, scheduled at 12:30 p.m. at The University Club, 1800 K St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
British Aerospace has signed an agreement with Sabena to place orders worth 1.5 billion Belgian francs with Belgian companies over the next 10 years in compensation for Sabena's purchase of 23 Avro regional aircraft from BAe in 1995. One quarter of the business will go to Sabena Technics, the Belgian carrier's maintenance subsidiary, and the rest will be split among firms in the Belgian aircraft industry.
Mobile, Ala., has persuaded ValuJet not to pull its service from the city by offering short-term revenue guarantees. ValuJet said last week it would drop service to Mobile as a result of restarting some of its Florida service, but on Friday it reversed that decision because of what it described as an "outcry from citizens of Mobile." Mobile Airport Authority representatives visited ValuJet Thursday to convince the carrier that the business and civic communities would support it.
Luxair, Luxembourg's flag carrier, has raised its stake in Cargolux from 24.53% to 30.5%. Luxair's main stockholders are the Luxembourg state and Lufthansa.
The government plans to determine by Feb. 21 a controversial assignment of a second civilian frequency for the Global Positioning System, according to Frank Kruesi, DOT assistant secretary of transportation policy. The second frequency, designated L-5, could be used to help the Wide Area Augmentation System make ionospheric corrections required for safe aircraft landings, but FAA says it does not need it and can save millions of dollars by using the Defense Department's L-2 frequency instead.
George Donohue, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition, will eliminate a layer of management between himself and the agency's integrated product teams as part of R&A management changes to be imposed soon, sources told The DAILY.Asked directly about the report, Donohue refused comment but did not deny the plans.
