City Hotels' new airline venture, City Bird, plans to serve the U.S. next spring. The Belgian hotel group, which set up EuroBelgian in 1991 and sold it to Richard Branson's Virgin Group last May, owns 62.5% of City Bird and said it will specialize in long-haul flights from Brussels. EuroBelgian, renamed Virgin Express, offers short-haul service, also from Brussels. City Bird will operate 371-seat MD-11 aircraft from Brussels to New York, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles and San Francisco, beginning March 27.
Hans Kruger, who has served as president of Saab Aircraft AB for two and a half years, will be moved to Saab Military effective Jan. 1 to head the JAS-39 Gripen business unit. His departure from the commercial aircraft unit had been rumored for some time. Kruger will be temporarily replaced by Henrik Schroder, who currently is president of Saab Aircraft of America. The DAILY is told a permanent replacement for Kruger "has been identified" and will be named at a later date.
The altitude at which pilots can request more direct flights under the National Route Program will be reduced next week to 29,000 feet from 31,000 feet, and FAA plans to cut oceanic vertical separation next March from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet above 29,000 feet altitude, Roger Wall, program director for FAA's air traffic operations, told the Airline Dispatchers Federation 1996 symposium yesterday in Washington. Wall said the agency also plans to begin in 1997 a collaborative decision-making process with industry that studies estimate will save $2.6 billion by 2004.
RAA called FAA's proposal to restrict air tour operations over the Grand Canyon "fundamentally flawed" and said it should be withdrawn or "significantly amended." In comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), RAA argued that air tour operators help, rather than harm, the environment. RAA also said that under the NPRM, "land managers, those with responsibility for this national park, would effectively be exercising supervision of airspace management.
Travelers will be able to earn cash rebates early in 1997 on travel through "Rebate TV," owned by Interactive Technologies Corp. The show offers rebates to viewers who purchase products, including travel-related services, from its advertisers. The 30-minute program, now shown in Central Florida, will be expanded to Atlanta in January and could be aired in the nation's top 25 TV markets. A two-minute spot is being prepared for the travel and leisure industry by Interactive Technologies and its partner, Weldin Resource Associates.
British Midland introduced Diamond EuroClass business-class service on all flights and is opening business-class lounges at Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Nice, Paris, Prague and Zurich. The airline will open a new lounge at London Heathrow Airport for business-class passengers traveling domestically, devoting the current facility to international code-sharing partnerships with American and United of the U.S., Virgin Atlantic of the U.K. and others.
General Electric said yesterday that FAA approved the GE90-powered Boeing 777 for 180-minute extended-range, twin-engine operations (ETOPS). The aircraft is scheduled to begin ETOPS revenue service this month with British Airways.
National Airlines Chile is seeking renewal of its exemption for two years to operate code-share services in Chile for United between Santiago and Antofagasta, Arica, Copiapo, Concepcion, Iquique, La Serena, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, and Temuco. (Docket OST-95-449)
A three-judge federal appeals court panel hearing oral arguments yesterday on a request to repeal the Age 60 rule questioned whether there is a body of evidence supporting the repeal. By the same token, at least one judge was curious how FAA arrived at 60 as a mandatory retirement age in the first place, and suggested that if FAA claims there are insufficient data to support raising the limit, there also are not enough data to justify setting it at 60 in the first place.
Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Air Littoral 1 Canadair RJ - - CF34-3A1 Mountain Air Exp. 12 Do 328 12 Do 328 PW119C Regional Airlines 1 Saab 2000 - - AE2100 SAS Commuter 4 Saab 2000 2 Saab 2000 AE2100A
The 10% ticket tax, not proposed in the 1997 omnibus spending bill or the FAA reauthorization bill, is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. The FAA reauthorization included a non-binding sense of the Senate resolution calling for an 18-month reinstatement of aviation excise taxes while examining long-term funding options.
Air Caribbean, the Trinidad and Tobago-based regional, has obtained operating authority to Barbados and Grenada and similiar applications to fly to St. Lucia and St. Vincent are pending, the carrier said. Air Caribbean, which launched service in August 1993 between the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, operates four Japanese-built 60-passenger YS-11-500 aircraft, with a further two aircraft expected to be delivered this December and in March 1997. Air Caribbean said it carried nearly 1 million passengers in its first three years.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will discuss this week's passage of the FAA reauthorization bill in an exclusive interview on Aviation News Today, to be broadcast Sunday on Washington NewsChannel 8 from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Canada has asked the World Trade Organization in Geneva to investigate Brazil's PROEX export finance program, charging that the program's interest-rate buy-down on the order of 3.8% contravenes WTO rules. The complaint specifically targets the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet, which beat out the Canadair Regional Jet in a competition at Continental Express, which ordered up to 200 of the Embraer airplanes valued at $3 billion. Brazil blocked a first request to the WTO last week but would be obliged to agree to a second request next week.
United Connection, United's travel software, can be downloaded from the airline's World Wide Web site, found at http://www.ual.com. United Connection provides self-service reservations and purchases on United and more than 500 airlines, 30,000 hotels and 45 car rental agencies. It has Mileage Plus account information, E-ticket service and a Fare Shopper program that finds the best available fares for a specific itinerary.
National Transportation Safety Board, responding to a request from the Peruvian government, sent a team to assist in the investigation of the AeroPeru 757 accident over the Pacific Ocean near Lima on Wednesday. FAA, Boeing and Pratt&Whitney comprise part of the team.
Meigs Field, which shut down Monday with FAA Administrator David Hinson's blessing so Chicago Mayor Richard Daley can convert it into a park, is generally thought of as strictly a corporate and general aviation facility. Not so! Great Lakes Aviation was carrying approximately 50,000 passengers per year between the downtown airport and the state capital at Springfield before the yellow Xs were painted on the runway. No wonder the Illinois Department of Transportation fought so vigorously in its unsuccessful attempt to keep it open.
Tower Air awarded a maintenance and overhaul contract valued at more than $200 million to GE Engine Services. GE will maintain the Pratt JT9D engines on Tower's 14 747-100s and 747-200s at its plant at Nantgarw, Wales.
AirTran Airways intends to begin nonstop flights to Bloomington-Normal, Ill., from Orlando on Dec. 18, operating one daily 737 flight for fares starting at $99 one way. AirTran said it will be the first airline to offer scheduled passenger jet service from Central Illinois Regional Airport. "New service to Bloomington-Normal reflects our commitment to serving mid-sized markets that lack the convenience of nonstop, low-fare service to Florida," said Gus Carbonell, VP-planning.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR managed to earn a net profit of $95,755, or one cent per share, for the fiscal year ended June 30, despite posting a fourth-quarter net loss of $391,226, or five cents per share. For the previous fiscal year, the carrier reported a net loss of $362,123, or five cents per share. 3 Mths 1996 3 Mths 1995 FY 1996 FY 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Oper. Revenues $18,168,113 $17,074,071 $66,233,701 $63,038,700
Casino Jet Express, the new in-house tour division formed by Nations Air Express and tour operators World Technology Systems and AIRFAIR, has come up with an easy-to-remember phone number for reservations - 800-WIN-LOOT.
Alitalia's losses plunged to 310 billion lire in the first six months of 1996, compared with LIT197 billion in the same period last year. Revenues rose to LIT3.77 trillion, up 6.1%, as passenger volume increased 10.8%. The first-half deficit dropped Alitalia's equity into the red - the airline now has negative capital of LIT38 billion - increasing the urgency of recapitalization proposals before the European Commission.
Citing serious problems in methodology, a DOT report challenges the accuracy of four privately sponsored studies of the U.S.-Japan market. The report, prepared by the DOT Office of Aviation International Economics, points to weaknesses in the approaches and assumptions used in the studies (DAILY, Oct. 3). The U.S. industry battle this year over the future shape of the U.S.-Japan relationship spawned a series of studies. Three of the studies, sponsored by United, Northwest and Access U.S.-Japan, drew conclusions supporting their sponsors' respective positions.
Lockheed Martin's Oceanic Radar and Sensor Systems Division has proposed a plan to help Venezuela upgrade its air traffic control systems. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based division already has a contract with the country for ocean vessel traffic work and hopes to expand to the aviation sector. Venezuela is one of the largest potential markets in Latin America requiring ATC modernization, according to a report issued at last week's Americas Conference on Aviation in Miami.
The Senate adopted yesterday 92-2 the FAA reauthorization bill (H.R.3539), ending nearly a week in which the legislation was tied up by a controversial labor provision involving Federal Express. Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.), ranking Democrat on the Senate aviation subcommittee, said passage culminates two years of effort to reform FAA, and Chairman John McCain (R- Ariz.) said it may be the session's most significant piece of aviation legislation.
