Civil aviation officials in Hong Kong are considering playing recordings of birds' distress calls as a way of frightening birds from the area of the new Chek Lap Kok Airport. Concentrations of shore birds lead experts to fear a greater threat of bird strikes there than at Kai Tak, where 16 strikes so far this year have caused one aborted takeoff and two cases of engine damage.
City Bird, an airline subsidiary of City Hotels in Brussels, took delivery Friday of a new MD-11 from Douglas in Long Beach. The airline plans to use the aircraft for long-distance scheduled and charter air service from Brussels. City Hotels previously owned EuroBelgian Airlines, now flying short- and medium-haul charter services in Europe as Virgin Express Airlines. "In deciding to re-enter the aviation business, we decided to focus on the long-haul markets, with both charter and scheduled operations," said Victor Hasson, president of City Hotels.
Continental has inaugurated Houston-Lima, Peru, service with special fares of $398 roundtrip, 50% off the regular excursion fare. The fares are good for tickets purchased by Jan. 15 for travel completed by April 30. Lima is the fourth city in South America served by Continental from Houston. The carrier will begin nonstop service to Guayaquil Jan. 9. Continental also began nonstop service to Mazatlan on Friday and San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday.
United and the Machinists union have come to a tentative agreement on a mid-term wage adjustment for mechanics and related workers that will give workers lump-sum, profit-sharing payments if UAL Corp. achieves at least $1 billion in pre-tax earnings. United said the wage adjustment process was built into the employee stock ownership plan to allow the "relative wage positions of United employees to keep pace with the rest of the industry." United's pilots recently agreed to a similar wage adjustment.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic November, 11 Months 1996 (000) November November % 1996 1995 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles 739,000 711,000 3.9 Available Seat Miles 1,134,000 1,101,000 3.0 Load Factor (%) 65.2 64.6 America West
Northwest's steady expansion continues to build the case for calling the top-tier U.S. carriers "The Big Four" instead of "Three." Through the first 11 months, Northwest achieved a 12.7% traffic market share, closer to No. 3 Delta's 17.3% than to No. 5 Continental's 7.7%. The largest shares are held by United (21.5%) and American (19.2%).
Ann Hodges has been named counsel of the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee. Hodges, who works for the Washington law firm Shaw Pittman Potts&Trowbridge, previously was senior director of congressional affairs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Three passenger airlines - Northwest, USAir and United - are among the 50 U.S. companies with the largest underfunded pension liabilities, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said last week. UPS also is on the list, as are aerospace companies Rohr, Loral, United Technologies, Unisys and AlliedSignal.
Canada signed a limited-entry bilateral agreement - its first - with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua last week. Canadian Airlines International was designated by the Canadian transport ministry as the first flag carrier to the region and within the next few weeks will launch service to one city in each country, at first through a code share with partner American from Miami. Service by a Central American carrier will start this winter.
FedEx reported net income of $103.7 million on revenues of $2.9 billion for the quarter that ended Nov. 30 - the company's second - up from net income of $89.9 million on revenues of $2.5 billion in the same period a year ago. Operating income was $184.9 million, up from $170.9 million.
America West said it set a one-day revenue record, $7 million, on Dec. 1, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The previous record was $6 million, set on Nov. 26, 1995. The holiday traffic gave the carrier an 88.1% load factor for the day.
Continental may begin using passenger survey information to improve customer service, not just for marketing. In-Flight Phone Corp. and CIC Research, which have been conducting generic surveys for a month on America West's and Continental's FlightLink system, are discussing a deal to tailor questions for Continental. Because the companies could turn around survey information in less than 24 hours, the carrier would be able to upgrade on the return leg a passenger who complains in the survey about the outbound leg.
Airbus Industrie's A321-200 made its first flight on Dec. 12, lasting four and one half hours. The aircraft was powered by IAE V2533-A5 engines. The A321-200 has a range of 2,700 nautical miles, about 350 more than the A321- 100, and can accommodate up to 220 single-class passengers. The launch order came from International Lease Finance Corp. Certification is expected in February.
American Society of Travel Agents officials have been meeting with airlines during the past month to discuss travel agent commission caps and related issues. ASTA President Mike Spinelli and Senior VP Joe Galloway have met with America West, American, Continental and Delta, and they plan to meet in January with United and Northwest. One of Spinelli's goals has been to "reopen dialogue" with all carriers, ASTA said.
SAS posted a 6% gain in revenue passenger kilometers in November and a 36% jump in freight ton kilometers. It flew 1.54 billion RPKs and 55.2 million FTKs for the month, and 18.4 billion RPKs and 450.1 million FTKs year-to- date. Traffic rose 5% in the first 11 months of 1996. SAS carried 1.65 million passengers in November, up 7%.
Air Canada appointed Marc Rosenberg VP-sales and product distribution, a new position. American International Freight named Debra Yates director- international development and Dennis Schmidt director-postal affairs, a new position. Federal Express promoted David Rebholz to senior VP-U.S. and Canada and William Fraine to senior VP-global sales, and named Terrance Nord VP- aircraft base maintenance and Michael Snyder VP-regional operations, U.S. eastern region.
- In Federal Register dated Dec. 6...Proposed an airworthiness directive on certain Jetstream 4101 aircraft concerning weight limitation placards. - In FR dated Dec. 10...Proposed an AD on Astra N22/24 aircraft to require inspecting the stub wing upper spar cap flanges...Proposed an AD on Astra N22/24 aircraft to require inspecting the horizontal stabilizer...Issued revisions to an NPRM on digital flight data recorder rules.
AAR Allen Group appointed Ami Zelcer president-AAR Technical Service Center. Dow-United Technologies Composite Products named Bruce Alspach president and chief executive. Greenwich Air Services named Michael Bucci senior VP- general counsel and secretary. Hughes Electronics elected John Weaver corporate executive VP and Roxanne Austin corporate senior VP.
European Union transport ministers reached agreement last week in Brussels on new carrier liability rules designed to enhance the 1929 Warsaw Convention. The new regulation is expected to enter into force in the first half of 1997, after a second reading at the European Parliament and a final confirmation by the EU Council of Ministers. The text lifts all compensation ceilings in a fatal accident if the airline is proven guilty of negligence.
Frontier Airlines' traffic increased 25.5% to 61.2 million revenue passenger miles in November. Traffic rose 45.5% and the load factor dropped to 52.7% from 61.1%.
Southwest Airlines gradually will experience the "brand-name preference" fallout that has stung other low-cost carriers after last summer's ValuJet crash, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Glenn Engel. "The deeper problem is a preference issue, and Southwest will have a problem with this," he said, as perceived higher-cost majors match the lowest fare and make brand preference more of a factor in the travel choice.
Khabarovsk Aviation Group defended its developing independence from Aeroflot in an answer to recommendations by U.S. airlines that it not be permitted to code-share with its former parent until their own code shares into Russia are permitted. KAG applied for combination authority to serve Seattle and San Francisco from Khabarovsk via Anchorage, a bid the U.S.
Pan Am will launch daily nonstop service between New York Kennedy and San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Jan. 5. Pan Am said it made 30,000 bookings for its twice-daily Miami-San Juan service between the time it was announced, Oct. 23, and the start of the service during the weekend. The carrier will offer daily A300 flights from New York with 24 seats in first class seats and 230 in economy. It also will operate one-stops from New York through Miami. Unrestricted economy-class fares start at $129 each way and do not require an advance purchase.
