GE Engine Services said it and the Nordam Group have formed Nordam Europe, Wales, a joint company to perform maintenance and overhaul work on jet engine thrust reversers and nacelle components. The joint company initially will serve GE's maintenance and overhaul operation in Nantgarw, Wales. Plans are to expand Nordam Europe's customer base to include other jet maintenance and overhaul operations worldwide. Completion of a $9.3 million, 100,000-square-foot facility in Blackwood, Wales, is scheduled early in 1997. The new company will create up to 170 new jobs.
TWA's board has named Roden Brandt senior VP-marketing and planning, which is his old title with the addition of the marketing function. The board also elected Stan Henderson to VP-financial analysis from his former post as staff VP-financial analysis and controls, and Philip Whitcomb as VP- labor relations from staff VP-labor relations. Brandt joined TWA in September from Air South, where he was president.
Alaska Airlines has inaugurated service from Los Angeles to Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, Mexico, with four frequencies a week, operated with 140-seat MD-80s. The flights have direct one-stop service to San Francisco. Special fares available through Dec. 15 are $160 one way from Los Angeles, $200 from San Francisco, and $250 for connecting service to Seattle and Portland.
Boeing is surveying Chinese national carriers and expects to formulate a narrowbody fleet expansion plan for the Civil Aviation Administration of China. CAAC is said to need about 50 narrowbodies.
Western Pacific has contracted with Flight Dynamics to equip its 737s with head-up guidance systems (HGS). Flight Dynamics said HGS will give the carrier a "significant advantage over its competitors by permitting them to conduct Cat 3 operations with landings in visibility as low as 700 feet and takeoffs in visibility as low as 300 feet." WestPac Chairman Ed Beauvais said HGS also will increase "our margin of safety in all weather conditions, not just low visibility." The economic benefits are "important to a growing airline like ours," he said.
Los Angeles will host the American Society of Travel Agents' 1998 World Travel Congress, not Seville, Spain, as originally intended. ASTA said it could not come to terms with Spain's tourist office. The convention will be held Oct. 14-19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A Saudi Arabian Airlines 747-100 with 312 persons aboard and a Kazakh Airways Il-76 with 39 aboard, collided at an altitude between 14,000 and 15,000 feet yesterday about 45 miles west of New Delhi in what a U.S. Air Force C-141 pilot described as a "fireball." According to reports, the 747 took off from Indira Gandhi Airport and was cleared to 14,000 feet.
Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Wolf yesterday unveiled the second phase of USAir's transformation from the highest-cost, most labor-entangled U.S. carrier into "US Airways," a fresh-liveried airline with a new attitude and a new transatlantic gateway in Philadelphia.
Opposition to the proposed American-British Airways alliance, which counts a number of U.S. airlines that fear for their own competitive positions, now includes numerous public officials and lobbying organizations not specifically linked to commercial aviation. Late last month, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) wrote to DOT Secretary Federico Pena and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, asking both for a full public hearing. Consumer organizations continue to pile on as well.
Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, Allentown, Pa., has decided to pay Precision Weather $14,000 a month to continue weather observations at Lehigh Valley Airport, even as it seeks a restraining order or injunction to keep the federal government from halting live observations.The authority contends that the lack of complete, reliable weather information will have a serious effect on airlines' decisions about serving Allentown, and that the replacement automated system has difficulties in making some determinations that are essential for the safe operation of the airport.
ValuJet reported a 1996 third quarter net loss of $21.9 million - a figure that was nearly the mirror image of its profit for the same period in 1995. The airline will continue to lose money until at least the second quarter next year, predicting load factors in the high 40s in November. On the positive side, cash is not a problem - ValuJet ended the quarter with $179 million in hand. The carrier's net loss includes a non-recurring charge of $23 million that is a direct result of the shutdown in mid-June.
Delta was most deft at handling a crisis among five carriers that faced aircraft accidents, incidents or other difficulties last spring and summer, according to a survey of airline beat reporters for newspapers and trade publications. Kiwi came in second, followed by ValuJet, TWA and American, according to the 21 respondents to the survey, conducted by Kulat Communications, whose president also is a consultant and spokesman for Kiwi. "The survey was intended to help all public relations professionals become better communicators," said Rob Kulat.
Northwest and Alaska Airlines are seizing a U.S.-Mexico code-share dispute as an opportunity to pursue their own proposed cross-border agreements. In a recent DOT filing, the carriers said they support a Delta-Aeromexico deal (DAILY, Nov. 8). But they want DOT to grant approval only for an initial 60-day period, in the hopes that comity-and-reciprocity pressure will prompt Mexico to grant the Northwest/Alaska application. The carriers attribute the lack of action on the matter to a possible "misunderstanding" of the agreement's scope.
The International Federation of Flight Attendants (IFFA) at TWA received a preliminary injunction Friday against organizing activity by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and IFFA's own president, Sherry Cooper. The flight attendants union also has reassigned Cooper to a "standby status" pending a determination on whether she can continue as president under internal union procedures. IFFA said the injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry, keeps the terms of a temporary restraining order issued last month in place until Dec. 30.
U.S. Carrier Systemwide Market Share At Leading U.S. Airports U.S. Major, National and Commuter* Carriers Six Months 1996 (Part 2 of 2) Newark Enplaned Percent Passengers Marketshare Continental 3,078,496 50.47 United 626,600 10.27 American 568,253 9.32
Air Canada appointed Douglas Port senior VP-Europe and Marc Rosenberg VP-sales and product distribution. Alaska Air Group named John Rindlaub, chairman and chief executive of Seafirst Bank, to its board. Arrow Air named David Tejada sales manager. Emery Worldwide appointed Robert Buhl director-business development, Africa, a new position. TWA named Henry Lilly staff VP-domestic pricing to oversee its North American and Caribbean pricing structure.
FAA has received a request from a "major aviation authority" to share information on accidents "as they occur," according to former Administrator David Hinson. Speaking with reporters during his last days in office, Hinson said this is the first time such an approach has been made, and "when we find an obvious problem, we can take pre-emptive action."
Air traffic delays in Europe increased "sharply" in the first six months of 1996, a "disturbing trend which continued through the busy summer season," according to the Air Transport Action Group. Some 14% of all flights in Europe were delayed by an average of more than 16 minutes during this year's first half, compared with 9% delayed about 17 minutes a year earlier, ATAG says.
Commenting on the Gore Commission's analysis of new airport security measures and who will pay for them, Hinson asked whether FAA is the "right place for aviation security to be. Is this a law enforcement agency? I think the commission will [have] to decide that."
Continental will operate three new weekly nonstop flights to Guayaquil, Ecuador, from Houston Jan. 9, in addition to its current one-stops. The nonstop flights, to be operated with 737-500 aircraft, will shorten flight time by one hour, compared with flights that stop in Panama City. Continental operates more than 400 weekly flights to Latin America (DAILY, Nov. 1).
Former Japan Airlines President Shizuo Asada, head of the airline from 1971 until 1981, died in Tokyo Friday of respiratory problems. Asada, who was 85, joined JAL in 1963 and spearheaded the dramatic opening of service to the People's Republic of China in 1974.
FedEx Pilots Association (FPA), which won a representational election at the end of October, is working to develop its infrastructure and expects to elect officers in January. The new union has mailed membership applications to about 3,200 FedEx pilots, said Mike Akin, chairman of its steering committee, and the members will elect a president, VP, secretary/treasurer and about 15 domicile representatives. Akin reported a good response from members of the Air Line Pilots Association, which lost the election.
Tower Air experienced a 40.6% decrease in total block hours flown in October, mainly due to a reduction in military and commercial charters and its withdrawal from India service. Tower also had to ground one of its two cargo aircraft. Tower flew 2,449 block hours during the month, and the total for the first 10 months of 1996 was 37,021 hours, down 6.8% from last year. Scheduled service revenue passenger miles totaled 204 million, down 33.6% from 307 million.
