Internet Travel Network (ITN) and Global Discount Travel Services (GDTS), a provider of discount air travel, are offering an online reservation system that makes available travel to 85 destinations worldwide at discount prices. The companies said the fares are available only on their World Wide Web site at http://www.lowestfare.com. ITN is a privately held company based in Palo Alto, Calif.
DOT, which has started an enforcement action against American and Sabre for computer reservations system bias in the Preference MAAnager add-on program (DAILY, Oct. 29), has dismissed a bias complaint from Delta charging that the CRS adopted practices that violate rules against discriminatory pricing. Sabre now charges "segment cancellation fees" - 12 cents per cancellation in North America and 14 cents per cancellation in other regions except Europe - to airlines, like Delta, that participate at the Direct Connectivity level.
- In Federal Register dated Oct. 25...Proposed to supersede an airworthiness directive (AD) on Bell 412 helicopters concerning inspection of certain swashplate support assemblies...Revised a proposed AD on Raytheon 125-800 aircraft concerning inspection of the fuel feed hose assemblies of the auxiliary power unit.
Continental filed for authority to serve the London market out of Cleveland, saying it would like Heathrow - it has applied for slots there - but will take Gatwick. Currently there is one unexercised "roving route" to Gatwick available to U.S. carriers. If no competing applications are filed and Continental wins the service, it would start operating the route next April 1.
Air Express International said its net income rose 46% to $10.6 million in the third quarter, on revenues that gained 8% to $340.9 million. For the first nine months, net income was up 33% to $26.5 million while revenues rose 7% to $956.4 million. Dennis Dolan, chief financial officer, said the company "continued to perform very well, with our foreign operations reporting significant gains in operating income in the quarter."
Business Express Chapter 11 bankruptcy is coming down to the wire with a reorganization plan expected to be approved by the court shortly. Sources indicate that USAir would like to acquire all 90 of the carrier's slots at New York Kennedy and LaGuardia and Washington National airports and that Business Express, along with its 37 Saab 340s, could go to USAir Express Commutair. One analyst suggests that with sufficient slots, LaGuardia would be a "juggernaut" as an O&D hub for 50-passenger regional jets or the Saab 2000 turboprop.
Roanoke, Texas-based Medical Air Services Association (MASA) will purchase one Jetstream 31 turboprop aircraft with an option for a second J31, British Aerospace Asset Management Inc. - Turboprops announced. The firm aircraft, configured with two Spectrum Aeromed aero medical equipment units and six passenger seats, will be delivered to the operation in mid- November.
Republican Presidential Candidate Bob Dole said yesterday he will "significantly reduce" the tax burden on aviation if he is elected. The Dole campaign has told the travel industry Dole believes that a key to its success is "ensuring that its tax burden is not increased by saddling it with the costs of unrelated federal programs." Dole said he opposes President Clinton's proposed $10 increase in the international departure fee to pay for college tuition tax credits.
Jersey European Airways has agreed to operate as an Air France franchisee on a limited basis and is expanding its fleet of BAe 146 quadjets. The regional will lease two additional BAe 146-100 aircraft from British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets (AMJ), bringing its 146 fleet to nine aircraft. One of the two aircraft, which are being leased for five years each, already has been delivered; the other will be delivered by yearend.
Northwest's selection of the Aero International (Regional) RJ85 to replace its aging fleet of DC-9-10s and be operated by Mesaba has led to speculation that the aircraft - configured for 16 first-class and 53 coach seats - may be an interim choice pending the availability of the new AI(R) 70 regional jet, which is expected to be launched by next June. Sources at both AI(R) and Mesaba say there are no early turn-back terms in the leasing agreement.
Continental and Alitalia will expand their code-sharing relationship next summer to twice-daily service on the Newark-Rome route. The two carriers currently operate one daily flight in the market, plus another between Newark and Milan. Both share cargo and passenger capacity. The flights are operated by Continental.
Northwest Cargo is scheduled to begin 747 freighter service to Manila today, departing the U.S. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and arriving in Manila on the next day. Flights will originate in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York and stop in San Francisco, Anchorage and Tokyo, depending on the day of the week they depart. Vince Puccia, director of cargo marketing, said demand for service to Manila "has grown by more than 35%."
Burlington Air Express's operating profit increased 17% to $20.5 million in the third quarter, while revenues rose to $377.7 million from $365.8 million. Net profit was $10.7 million, up slightly from $10.5 million. For the first nine months, operating profit was up 14% to $45.5 million and net income rose to $23.2 million from $22.6 million. Revenues were up 6% to $1.1 billion.
Aviation talks concluded without fanfare in Washington yesterday between the European Commission, the State Department and DOT. A senior U.S. government official described the discussions as "informative" but said no clear action will be taken immediately as a result. He said the Europeans made some concrete suggestions: that the parties meet around March or April next year; that working groups be formed on some specific issues like computer reservations systems, and that a memorandum of understanding improving information exchange between the EC and the U.S.
Georgia-based Delta Connection affiliate Atlantic Southeast posted a record net income of $16.5 million, or 53 cents per share, for its third 1996 quarter, compared with $15.1 million, or 46 cents per share, for the prior-year period. Total revenues rose to $94.7 million from $84.2 million in the comparable 1995 quarter. Average shares outstanding during the third quarter decreased 6.4% to 31 million compared with 33.1 million for the similar 1995 period, the company said, attributable to the company's stock repurchase program.
Eight state attorneys general have asked DOT Secretary Federico Pea for a public hearing on the proposed American-British Airways alliance. The group, led by Richard Blumenthal, attorney general of Connecticut, and Scott Harshbarger of Massachusetts, wrote Pea and, in a separate letter, asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to support their request and give the alliance suitable scrutiny in its planned request for immunity from U.S. antitrust laws.
TriStar Airlines has suspended flight operations in what President Don Martin called "a dispute with British Aerospace over the status of its leases" of four BAe 146 aircraft. The manufacturer obtained a temporary restraining order barring the Las Vegas-based start-up from operating the aircraft. Martin said the carrier is working with BAe to get one or more aircraft back on the line.
FAA has assigned a conditional rating to civil aviation oversight by members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), including Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis. The conditional rating means that the civil aviation authorities of those countries do not meet safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, and FAA said it is negotiating with the CAAs to begin corrective measures.
Boeing 747 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day Second Quarter 1996 B747-100 Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 23 9 Total Fleet Operations Departures 36 14 Block Hours 271 93 Flight Hours 255 85
Two recent military contracts to civil aviation companies for helicopter training were praised by the Helicopter Association International as a "significant step toward broader privatization." HAI cited a UNC Aviation Services' contract valued at up to $101 million to provide helicopter flight training services for the Army Aviation Training Center, and an Air Force contract valued at more than $4 million with FlightSafety International for simulator training of UH-1N crews at the FSI Bell Helicopter training center.
Societe d'Exploitation et de Constructions Aeronautiques - Company (SECA), the Paris Le Bourget-based maintenance specialist and overhauler, has named Henri-Paul Puel as chairman and chief executive, replacing Maurice Bloch. Puel is chairman and chief executive of the SOGERMA Maintenance Centre, of which SECA is a subsidiary. Bloch had been chairman since March 1990.
Air Canada expects to add service to several Asia/Pacific destinations during the coming year while building its profitable transborder network, which now serves 34 U.S. cities. "The greatest potential for us over the next 10 years is in the Pacific," said R. Lamar Durrett, Air Canada president and chief executive, who will travel to Japan next month to meet with his counterpart at All Nippon Airways. Air Canada and ANA code share, but only on the Vancouver-Osaka route.
SkyWest Airlines has been named the third highest growth revenue company in Utah by Mountainwest Venture Group. SkyWest's operating income rose from $113.4 million in 1991 to $225.4 million in 1995. The award was presented at the "UTAH 100" awards luncheon Oct. 24 in Salt Lake City. SkyWest said the 100 companies on the UTAH 100 list had combined sales of $1 billion in 1991 and $2.7 billion in 1995.
Continental, pinning its hopes on Newark as a near-future alternative to American's Miami bastion for service to Latin America, will apply soon, perhaps as early as today, for service authority from Newark to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The U.S. and Brazil signed a bilateral agreement last week that will allow the U.S. to designate a fourth carrier to provide scheduled service and add 14 new frequencies in April (DAILY, Oct. 28).
Cargolux Airlines International will use one of its 747-200 freighters in Paris-New York-Paris service today and Nov. 6-7 as a subcontractor to Air France, which arranged the service on an emergency basis due to mechanical problems with its own aircraft. (Docket OIA-96-772)
