America West named Richard Goodmanson to its board of directors. He joined the carrier in May as executive VP and chief operating officer and will become president and chief executive officer after he becomes a U.S. citizen. William Franke, chairman, president and chief executive, will become chairman of the airline and chairman and chief executive of America West Holdings Corp.
Sabre subscribers in the U.S. can now book electronic tickets on USAir, and will be able to arrange for ticketless travel on Northwest and TWA next month. Sabre Travel Information Network said adding the airlines will give Sabre agency customers the ability to offer electronic tickets on more than 75% of U.S. flights. Electronic ticketing currently can be booked on Sabre for U.S. flights of American, America West, Continental, Southwest and United.
In what may put an end to speculation by Virgin Atlantic of a clandestine alliance between Japan Airlines and British Airways - not to be unveiled until the BA-American alliance is sealed - the official JAL response is that "there is no secret deal with BA."
Kaman Corp. reported that its third quarter net earnings increased 28% to $5.8 million while revenues gained only slightly, to $228 million. For the first nine months, net earnings rose 11% to $15.4 million while revenues grew 9% to $714.6 million.
USAir Group yesterday reported a 10.6% year-over-year gain in operating revenues for the third quarter, to a record $2.1 billion, but the company's net profit of $67.7 million was mostly attributed to operations outside the core airline. USAir Inc., one of several subsidiaries of the group, posted a $28 million net profit for the quarter, up 69%. Although jet fuel costs increased nearly 20%, USAir paid less per gallon than many of its competitors, attributed both to the airline's fuel subsidiary and its ability to purchase fuel at lower East Coast prices.
Frontier said it will lease a new 737-300 from GE Capital Aviation Services, taking delivery next August. The airline will receive next April a new 737-300 from International Lease Finance. It currently operates two 737-300s and seven 737-200s. President Sam Addoms said the new aircraft will be used for further expansion of Frontier's operations from Denver. The carrier currently serves 13 destinations in 11 states.
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the aviation subcommittee, said U.S. all-cargo carriers that serve foreign airports face unfair obstacles that increase their costs. Commenting on a General Account Office study they had requested (DAILY, Oct. 21), Pressler said he is "alarmed that U.S. all-cargo carriers reported they experience significant problems at 81 of the foreign airports they serve. This is completely unacceptable. U.S.
Delta-DirecTV demonstration of inflight television series enables Delta to boast that it is the only airline offering passengers live broadcasts of the World Series. DirecTV provides FOX television network coverage on a single Delta 767 aircraft.
Reading congressional tea leaves, American hopes the 10% ticket tax, which again will expire at the end of calendar 1996, will return as a user fee. "There is some good momentum to effect this," Chief Financial Officer Gerard Arpey said recently.
Delta and Finnair have received DOT approval to operate code-sharing service in the Boston-New York-Helsinki market. Finnair will code share on Delta flights between Boston and New York, and Delta will code share on Finnair's flights between New York and Helsinki (DAILY, Oct. 4). (Docket OST-96-1835)
Reno Air continues to prove that a low-cost airline with newer aircraft can make consistent profits despite paying higher fuel costs than its competitors and being burned by Southwest's $25 fare sale, which temporarily stole traffic last month. Despite the recent troublesome period cost-wise, Reno yesterday posted a record net profit of $4.75 million for the third quarter, up $4.46 million from third quarter 1995.
United will begin operating a daily 727-200 flight Feb. 11 between Atlanta and Miami, where it will connect with seven South America routes. United serves Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago and Lima from Miami.
Lambert-St. Louis Airport selected a joint venture team led by a unit of Sverdrup Corp. to be the program manager for a proposed 15-year, $2 billion airport expansion. The prospective development includes a third parallel runway, a 2,000-foot runway extension, addition of 20 to 25 gates, a new 1.3 million-square-foot terminal, improvements to an existing terminal, additional auto parking and a people mover. Team members are Sverdrup Facilities, Parsons Infrastructure&Technology Group and Kwame Building Group.
The U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, the National Association of Attorneys General and the American Society of Travel Agents will conduct a symposium on travel fraud Friday as part of National Consumers Week. The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place N.W., Third Floor, Truman Room, Washington, D.C. The symposium will cover deceptive sales practices, recourse for victims and government safeguards against travel scams. For more information, call Dinah Bembofrom at 202-395-7917.
GRA Aviation Specialists Inc., Herndon, Va., introduced The Guide, an aircraft value reference book published twice a year. The book profiles 70 jetliners from Airbus Industrie, Boeing, British Aerospace, Canadair, Fokker, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas, detailing current and projected values, specifications, demographics, payload/range capabilities and current lease costs.
Western Pacific Airlines said it will begin service Dec. 4 between Colorado Springs and Miami, which will become its 22nd destination and, after Orlando, its second Florida point.
France's civil aviation authority, DGAC, has ordered five CTX 500 SP explosives detection systems for use at French airports, the manufacturer, InVision Technologies, said yesterday. The $4.6 million contract includes options for seven more units. The order follows an evaluation of the system at a military test center in Bordeaux, which enabled DGAC to "measure the effective detection capability of the technology using real explosive materials," the company said.
System One Amadeus will delay Summit 1997, next year's presentation in its annual series of customer exchange and new product forums, until 1998, to enable nearly 8,000 travel agents to make the transition to the new Amadeus Central System. System One offers town-hall-type meetings throughout the year to help agencies convert to the same Amadeus system used by other agencies worldwide. The date for the 1998 summit has not been announced.
Emission reductions from more efficient oceanic routings will "dwarf" the reduction that could be achieved through expensive modifications of aircraft engines, FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday at the Airports Council International-North America Annual Conference in San Diego.He suggested that this benefit of the agency's oceanic initiatives may be as important as the airline fuel savings that can be achieved, estimated at $2 billion-$4 billion.
DOT has decided not to draft a list of communicable diseases that could be used by airlines as a means for denying boarding to some passengers, nor will it require carriers to compensate passengers who are denied boarding because of illness.
Midway Airlines has increased the price of tickets to all its destinations, adding a fuel surcharge of $3 one way and $6 roundtrip to offset a 30% increase in its fuel prices, the carrier said. "The surcharge will partially defray some of the added costs until we have some relief in fuel prices," said Steven Westberg, chief financial officer. The carrier promised to review the surcharge as it monitors fuel prices.
Nearly 1,400 administrative personnel of state-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines began wearing black badges to work last week as a protest against management's rejection of their demands for a pay increase, an executive allowance and productivity-linked incentives on a par with those available to engineers and pilots. In a letter to IA Managing Director P.C.
