Qantas Airways will reduce its scheduled service between Brisbane and Taipei to two flights per week from the current three, beginning March 30. The company plans to introduce two additional flights to Shanghai and Beijing next August, pending government approval. Sources in Taipei said increased competition by EVA Airways, Mandarin Airlines, Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand cut into Qantas's load factor on the Brisbane-Taipei route and led to the carrier's decision to reduce service.
Fine Air applied to DOT for authority to operate a wet lease providing all- cargo service for Fast Air between Miami and Chile via intermediate points, using Fine DC-8-50 and DC-8-61 aircraft.
Carnival Air Lines will offer a $97 roundtrip companion fare between Newark and two points in Florida, Tampa and Palm Beach, for travel from Jan. 7 through Feb. 13.
Northwest Airlines will attempt further inroads into the Asian market under a proposed code share with Garuda Indonesia Airlines. The carriers have signed a memorandum of understanding for what would be the first marketing and operational alliance between U.S. and Indonesian airlines.
Northwest has applied to DOT for an exemption to fly scheduled combination service between the U.S. and Belgrade via Amsterdam in a code share with partner KLM. The Dutch carrier plans to launch Amsterdam-Belgrade service March 30.
Kiwi International Air Lines' inability to find enough flightcrew personnel to fly charters for ValuJet during the weekend caused ValuJet to cancel all flights from Atlanta to Dallas/Fort Worth and Fort Myers and refund money to passengers. ValuJet has made advance cancellations to "minimize the negative impact of this situation," and it gave passengers roundtrip certificates for future travel.
Virgin Atlantic ordered automated external defibrillators from Physio- Control International, expanding its 1990 decision to adopt simple defibrillators to deal with sudden cardiac arrest during flights.
LanChile is offering "Visit Chile" fares in 1997 from its three North American gateways, Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Travelers will be able to visit as many as nine different destinations in Chile within a 21-day period. LanChile operates 28 weekly flights to Chile from the U.S.
MSAS is expanding its logistics and transportation management business into Mexico. MSAS de Mexico S.A. de C.V. will begin operations Jan. 1 with headquarters in Mexico City and branches in six Mexican cities and Laredo, Texas. The expansion was established via a majority owned joint venture with Central de Aduanas de Mexico. MSAS plans other expansion in Latin America in the coming 18 months.
Asiana Airlines, the eight-year-old Korean carrier with a young fleet, has set a corporate goal of becoming at least the 20th largest carrier in the world within nine years. Today, the airline is ranked 39th, said Patrick Khoury, its Los Angeles-based general manager of marketing and sales. "In other words, our goal is to become one of the best airlines in the world," he said. With 45 aircraft in operation - and one additional 747-400F delivered Friday - the carrier will more than double in size by 2005, when it will have 100 aircraft.
LTU is expanding domestic service from Dusseldorf to Westerland/Sylt, Erfurt and Saarbrucken. All flights are operated by LTU's new partner, RAS, formerly Rheinland Air Service.
The American Association of Airport Executives, in conjunction with GRA Inc., has scheduled an airport privatization workshop Feb. 2-4 in Arlington, Va. The workshop will cover issues related to the two-year, five-airport pilot program authorized in the 1996 FAA reauthorization act, as well as the feasibility and desirability of privatizing U.S. airports, potential legal obstacles and economic implications of privatization. For more information, call AAAE at 703-824-0504.
United Airlines and Raytheon E-Systems will be members of a team that will develop a Boeing 747 to carry a Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The Universities Space Research Association heads the team effort under a 10-year, $434.2 million NASA contract to design, assemble, test and operate the eight-foot-diameter telescope. When SOFIA begins flying in 2001, it will be the world's largest flying astronomical observatory, according to the contractors, who will work in cooperation with Ames Research Center.
United has just the idea for last-minute Christmas shoppers with at least $1,000 to spend - buy someone the chance to be a pilot for a day. United and UAL Services offer flight simulation programs to anyone 18 or older at the Denver Flight Center. A Boeing 747-400 gold package costs $1,550 and the Boeing 737 bronze package costs $950. Pilots and other professionals have priority on scheduling simulator time.
BE Aerospace posted a record $108 million in sales for its third fiscal quarter, up $50 million. Operating earnings were a record $12 million and net profits were $4.1 million, up $22 million and $14 million, respectively, from the prior-year period.
Swissair Group revised its corporate structure last week, creating a holding company for the four operating divisions of the company. The moves were announced at the press conference in Zurich when the airline said it intends to buy future aircraft jointly with Sabena and Austrian (DAILY, Dec. 20). Nearly all of them will have no effect on Swissair, which continues to operate under the same name.
Delta will open a reservations center in May at Northern Kentucky University, the third center employing college students. The carrier intends to hire as many as 200 students to handle routine calls. Its center at Weber State University handles about 3,000 calls a day.
NASA, Williams International and Teledyne Continental Motors will work to develop low-cost engines that NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin says will point the way toward production of as many as 20,000 general aviation aircraft per year early in the 21st century. Under cooperative agreements signed last week, Williams and Teledyne will split with NASA the cost of developing a new turbofan and a new supercharged diesel engine, respectively, over the next four years. The companies were selected in September to negotiate for the cooperative agreements.
United's three-class configuration on its 747-400s across the Pacific, with 36 seats in first class, 123 in business class and 142 in economy, makes it the only 747-400 operator to offer more premium than economy seats on average, according to Carlson Worldwide seating data. The closest match is Japan Airlines' 19-136-218 configuration. Singapore Airlines offers 24-59- 316 and Cathay Pacific 18-67-313, with some 747s having 73 business-class seats. British Airways operates with 18-66-326 seating.
FAA yesterday awarded contracts valued at $2.5 million each to Raytheon Service Co. and Lockheed Martin C2 Integration Systems to plan, design and provide engineering and management services to integrate and install advanced technology security equipment at as many as 77 U.S. airports. FAA said it is procuring hundreds of sophisticated explosives detection devices and other equipment, including bulk explosives detection systems for examining checked baggage and trace explosives detection equipment for scanning electrical equipment and carry-on luggage. On Oct.
Management at Brussels Airport and the national aviation authority, Regie des Voies Aeriennes, are scrambling to improve airport security following this month's hoax by two local journalists who made their way effortlessly into the cockpit of a Sabena 737. Testifying last week before a parliamentary committee, Belgian Transport Minister Michel Daerden admitted "errors" in checking the fake security badges worn by the impostors, who disguised themselves as airline employees to test security at the airport.
Air Line Pilots Association issued an appropriately sober holiday message to travelers at the end of a year fraught with passenger assaults against crews. ALPA advises that anyone who is short-tempered after waiting in long lines for crowded airplanes "better not try to take it out on the airline crew or your fellow passengers." One person who did was sentenced to four years in prison and 200 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay USAir $611 in fuel costs, the union noted.
Carnival Corp. and Airtours plc have signed a letter of intent to buy Costa Crociere, an Italian cruise operator, for an estimated $300 million. Costa, based in Genoa, is Europe's largest cruise operator.
Scheduled traffic worldwide rose 6% in 1996 compared with 1995, the International Civil Aviation Organization reported yesterday. International scheduled traffic was up by 8%, according to preliminary ICAO estimates. Measured in passenger-kilometers instead of tonne-kilometers, total traffic was up 7% and international traffic rose 9%. Freight growth was 5% and 6%, respectively, in terms of tonne-kilometers. ICAO said the airlines carried nearly 1.35 billion passengers and about 22 million tonnes of freight in 1996.
Hungary's privatization authority will unveil plans for a further partial sell-off of state-controlled airline Malev by April 30. The divestiture is to be carried out in parallel with a capital increase, said the authority. The Hungarian state is planning to keep a share of 50% plus one vote, down from its current 63.9% stake. Alitalia holds 30%, Italian foreign investment agency Societa Italiana per le Imprese Miste all Estero 5% and regional Hungarian authorities 0.6%.
