Paradise Island Airlines will give away all 700 seats it offers today, the first day of new service between Fort Myers/Naples and Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers/Naples and Miami. The carrier will operate eight nonstop flights a day to Fort Lauderdale and six to Miami with 50-seat Dash 7 aircraft. Normal fares are $69 one way. On Dec. 19, Paradise will inaugurate service from Fort Myers/Naples to Key West for $99 each way.
Numerous parties have filed objections to DOT's notice of proposed rulemaking on passenger-manifest rules, asking that the proposal to be modified or dropped outright. The proposal would require airlines and travel agents to collect and verify passport numbers, passport-issuing country codes and contact names and telephone numbers from passengers traveling to or from the U.S. The intention is to improve security and the flow of information to relatives after a crash or terrorist incident.
..Where did they go? Only two of 1983's top 10 regionals exist today - Henson, now Piedmont, and Air Wisconsin, under new ownership. The others: No. 1 Mid Pacific, bankrupt; No. 2 Britt, to Continental; No. 3 PBA, bankrupt; No. 4 Air Wisconsin, to senior partner United and split up; No. 5 Empire, to Piedmont, later merged with USAir; No. 6 Henson, to Piedmont; No. 7 Metro, to American; No. 8 Mississippi Valley, to Air Wisconsin; No. 9 Prinair, bankrupt; No. 10 Ransome, to Pan Am.
Air Express International has acquired Muller Air Freight and its associated companies. Muller, headquartered at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, had eight offices in The Netherlands staffed by 140 employees.
Charlotte, N.C.-based USAir affiliate CCAIR earned a net profit of $320,762, or four cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, a decline of 15.3% from $378,694, or five cents per share, for the comparable 1995 quarter. Revenues increased 7.0% to $17.4 million from $16.2 million.
Atlanta-based Northwest Airlink affiliate Express Airlines I posted last month a 20.6% increase in traffic to 39.4 million revenue passenger miles from 32.7 million in October 1995, while capacity increased 6.6% to 71.6 million available seat miles from 67.1 million. That combination boosted the load factor 6.4 percentage points to 55.1% from 48.7% in October 1995. Enplanements were up 18% to 156,171 from 132,313. Oct. 1996 Oct. 1995 10 Mths 1996 10 Mths 1995
Delta Express said it boarded 154,624 passengers and achieved a 90.5% on- time rate in its first month of operations, exceeding Delta's expectations. The low-fare, high-frequency unit's 62 daily nonstop flights posted an average load factor of 78.5%. Delta Express VP W.E. Skip Barnette said, "Our advance bookings are strong, and we are on track to exceed our earlier forecasts." Delta Express used its 737-200s 12.1 hours per day during the month, compared with nine hours for the 737s in the rest of Delta's fleet.
Rockwell said it has signed an agreement to form a joint venture with Chinese partners to design, develop and build commercial Global Positioning System navigation receivers. The limited liability firm, Shanghai Rockwell Collins Navigation and Communications Equipment Co., expects activities to begin as soon as a business license is approved. It will provide handheld, maritime and commercial vehicle equipment to the Chinese market.
Regional airline longevity? Of the top 50 regional airlines in 1983, 42% filed for bankruptcy or are otherwise out of business and 50% merged with or were acquired by other airlines. Only 8% are still under the same ownership, and they are all under the marketing control of a major carrier.
World Trade Organization apparently will not look into Brazil's PROEX export finance program, as requested by the Canadian government, at least at this time, The DAILY has learned. Canada, at the urging of Bombardier, had claimed that the PROEX interest-rate buy-down was on the order of 3.8% and in violation of WTO rules. The complaint came after Continental Express ordered 25 new EMB-145 regional jets with options for an additional 175. The competition was the Canadair Regional Jet produced by Bombardier (DAILY, Oct. 4).
General Aviation Manufacturers Association elected Edward Bolen to be president, succeeding Edward Stimpson, now vice chairman. Bolen, previously senior VP and general counsel, immediately assumed responsibility for day-to-day operations, freeing Stimpson to focus on special projects. "GAMA has been working toward this transition for well over a year, and I think it is something both Ed Bolen and Ed Stimpson are really looking forward to," said newly elected GAMA Chairman and Gulfstream Aerospace President Fred Breidenbach.
USAir officially notified DOT that it plans to change its name to US Airways Inc. and the parent company's name to US Airways Group Inc. on or before Jan. 15. Subsidiaries and partners doing business as USAir Express will file separately to operate as US Airways Express. (Docket OST-96- 1945) $end 267 DOT Chooses UPS, Polar Air Cargo For Philippines Cargo Service
United is opposing an application by American and Continental to code share with China Air Lines from the U.S. to Thailand via Taiwan unless United's own code-share with Thai Airways through Taipei is permitted by the Republic of China. The CAL code-share plans combination service by that flag carrier and American from Miami and Chicago. Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration denied the United/Thai routing Oct. 30. In a letter from Taiwan's transportation ministry to those carriers, acting Director General Chang Juo-cheng said Taiwan's bilaterals with the U.S.
The European Commission has sent a "statement of objection" to British Airways expressing concern about its proposed alliance with American. A European Commission official declined comment on the contents of the letter but confirmed that the alliance is the only recipient thus far of such a notice. Receipt of the statement suggests the alliance is more likely to undergo a competition investigation by the commission, although BA is likely to reply that EC has no jurisdiction over a transatlantic matter that falls under the bilateral authority of the U.S. and U.K.
Fairchild Dornier 328-300 regional jet is, for all intents and purposes, a go project, although it has yet to be officially announced. Engine selection for the first 30-seat turbofan has not been completed, but there is "a lot of [development] activity" at the company's Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, factory, The DAILY is told. The aircraft is expected to be on the market in about two years following one year of development and one of certification flight test. The aircraft, essentially identical to the turboprop 328 except for the engines, will cruise at 375 knots.
Rapidly growing Gulfstream International's traffic is finally catching up to its capacity. The carrier last month posted a load factor of 51.2%, an increase of nearly 2.6 percentage points from the prior October's 48.6%, and the second straight month the carrier has enjoyed a more than two-and- one-half-point load factor increase. Revenue passenger miles increased 56.4% to just above 10 million from 6.4 million, while capacity was rising 48.5% to 19.6 million available seat miles from 13.2 million. Passenger enplanements rose 58.4% to 52,898 from 33,389.
Air Jamaica will start scheduled service from Jamaica to Los Angeles March 23, with a second flight beginning May 3. The carrier will operate 218- passenger A310s, with 18 first-class seats. The new service is subject to U.S. government approval. Air Jamaica has timed the expansion carefully, assuming that Jamaica's Civil Aviation Authority will be restored to Category 1 status by FAA. The airline's ability to operate new routes to the U.S. was stopped in November 1994, when the CAA was downgraded to Category 2.
Carnival Air Lines has introduced a Senior Sampler Pack for customers 60 or older, offering four one-way flight coupons for travel to Florida from the Northeast for $422. Seniors have one year to cash in the coupons, which do not require a minimum, maximum or Saturday night stay.
Air New Zealand has restructured its service across the Tasman Sea to Australia, increasing capacity because demand rose much faster than expected, and faster than it could acquire aircraft to support. With trans-Tasman demand from New Zealanders up more than 25% since last year, ANZ said it has been "unable to conclude satisfactory arrangements" to lease additional aircraft to serve holiday travel. During the southern hemisphere's peak summer period, from Nov. 24 through Feb. 7, ANZ will reschedule service to use all available 747s and 767s.
Hughes Aircraft of Canada said it has successfully negotiated the transfer of its $485 million Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) contract from the Canadian government to Nav Canada, the private company that took control of Canada's air navigation system Nov. 1. CAATS is expected to support the needs of Canada "well into the next century," Hughes said.
International Aviation Club will hold its monthly luncheon Nov. 19 at the Capital Hilton Hotel, 16th and K Streets N.W., Washington. Guest speaker is Jack Schofield, chairman and chief executive of Airbus Industrie of North America. Lunch begins at 12:30 p.m.
