America West reduced fares Friday for the next two weeks, offering one-way flights between $84 and $179. Tickets must be purchased seven days in advance and no later than Jan. 17. Travel must be completed by May 18. Seats are limited, and minimum stay restrictions and blackout dates apply.
Berkshire Hathaway said shareholders of FlightSafety International approved the merger of FSI into a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire, and the merger has been completed.
United has transmitted waypoint position reports via data link for the first time, to air traffic controllers in Gander, Newfoundland. Voice WPRs are being delivered in parallel, according to Arinc. Nav Canada wants digital WPRs to become the primary source of such reporting. United 767 services to Europe have upgraded flight management systems that send WPRs to the ground automatically.
Transportation Secretary Federico Pena and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Friday that FAA will temporarily ban commercial air tour operations over Rocky Mountain National Park while the agency works on addressing noise in the national parks system as a whole (DAILY, Jan. 3). Pena said the ban complies with a directive from President Clinton to reduce the noise impact of aircraft flying over national parks. DOT said that while there currently are no commercial air tours over the park, several operators have recently explored the possibility of offering them.
EVA Airways said good-faith efforts have been made by authorities at Chang Kai -Shek Airport to reach an agreement on construction of handling facilities by Federal Express, obviating the need to delay a grant of authority to EVA for intermodal cargo services to new U.S. points. FedEx wants action on EVA's application to be deferred until a firm agreement is in sight (DAILY, Dec. 24).
Opposition to construction of Bangkok's new Nong Ngu Hao Airport is mounting as opponents protest escalating costs and expected construction delays. The project was budgeted originally at 97.3 billion baht (US$3.79 billion) but now is expected to cost more than 170 billion baht (US$6.63 billion). The initial completion date of 2000 has been pushed back by at least three years.
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China has replaced its weather-standard pilot certification rules with the international system of instrument rating and Cat II and Cat III instrument authorization. The Civil Aviation Administration of China plans to convert the nation's nearly 7,000 qualified pilots to the new certification by yearend. Until 1985, certificates were not issued.
America West has adopted a holding company structure, effective Jan. 1, in which the airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of America West Holdings Corp., incorporated in Delaware. Airline shares were exchanged one-for-one for holding company shares, which still are traded under the "AWA" symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.
American will reinstate service to Long Beach, Calif., from Dallas/Fort Worth Jan. 31, with continuing service to Newark, Pittsburgh and Columbus. It discontinued the service in June 1994.
Western Pacific borrowed $5 million in late December "to supplement the cash available to the company to pay certain obligations before yearend," the airline said Friday in a Form 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company borrowed $2.5 million from Hunt Petroleum of Texas Inc. on Dec. 18 and $2.5 million from GFI Co. on Dec. 20. The latter had terms anticipating repayment by Jan. 20. Both firms are major shareholders in Western Pacific.
Free-market competition has expanded around the globe in recent years with the rise of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), single-market forces within the European Union, new consumer demands in the regulated stronghold of Japan and the collapse of Communist economics in most of its remaining enclaves. International aviation resisted this trend until recently, but open skies and liberalization are finally making headway.
ValuJet has received FAA's go-ahead to operate West Palm Beach and Fort Myers, Fla., service from Atlanta, but only if it can do so using the 15 DC-9s in its fleet. ValuJet, which has been providing the service by contracting for charters, will start operating scheduled service with its own aircraft this week. The charter authority expires at the end of today. On Friday, FAA approved the routes but did not allow ValuJet to add five aircraft to its fleet, as it requested.
Chiang Hung-i, chairman of China Airlines, became the chairman of CAL's wholly owned subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines, on Jan. 1. CAL said Chiang will retain his responsibilities with CAL, and Mandarin will remain independent and continue to serve its current routes between Taiwan and Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Mandarin may get new international and cross-Taiwan-Straits routes in the future. Chiang succeeds Peter S.N. Bien, whose request to be relieved as chairman was accepted by Mandarin's board.
Mesa Air Group traffic dipped by 0.9% in December to 111.5 million revenue passenger miles while capacity fell 5.5% to 197.6 million available seat miles. The load factor improved 2.6 percentage points to 56.4%. Mesa carried 525,291 passengers during the month, up 1.8%. For the year, Mesa's traffic rose 7.3% to 1.258 billion RPMs, capacity fell 0.4% to 2.397 billion ASMs and the load factor rose 4.1 points to 56.3%. The regional carrier operates 179 aircraft and has more than $500 million in annual revenues.
FAA has assessed security procedures and found that Eldorado Airport in Bogota meets international security standards. FAA determined last fall that the airport did not maintain and carry out effective security measures. DOT said airlines are no longer required to inform passengers of the Sept. 15 finding.
Millon Air filed last month for a renewal of two wet-lease agreements, one with Bolivia's Florida Cargo Express and another for Phoenix Air Lines of Brazil. The carrier, which suspended operations following a 707 crash in Ecuador, continues to work toward being found fit by DOT to resume operations (DAILY, Dec. 11). It expects this to happen over the next 30-90 days, at which time the wet-lease operations would restart. Millon plans to operate a 707 or L-1011 for both Florida Cargo Express and Phoenix Air Lines on one-year contracts.
A U.S. delegation heads for Tokyo this week for informal talks Friday on stagnant aviation negotiations. DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Gerchick says the U.S. is looking "to see if there is any basis to move into a broader resolution of issues." Heading to the meeting are DOT Assistant Secretary Charles Hunnicutt and Al Larson, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration will publish a White Paper late next year describing its policy on civil aviation, future development of commercial aviation services and aviation-related industries and services, CAA Director-General Tsai Tuei said during a briefing for the Legislative Yuan. Tsai also said the CAA has decided to open commuter flights between Chiang Kai-Shek Airport and all other airports in Taiwan by the end of 1998. Currently, commuter flights through CKS are available only to Kaohsiung Airport.
American posted a 6.9% traffic rise in December on 0.1% more capacity, boosting the load factor 4.3 percentage points to 68.4%. International traffic was up 2.3% on the strength of 8.5% more Latin American traffic. Pacific and Atlantic traffic fell 4.8% and 3.8%, respectively. For 1996, traffic rose 1.8% on 1.6% less systemwide capacity.
FAA hopes to issue within 45 days information on airline safety enabling consumers to make comparisons, according to Acting Administrator Linda Daschle. Such information was suggested by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), and the DOT Office of Inspector General recommended last November that FAA compile and publish airline safety information periodically.
