The new Pan Am will be launched on the American Stock Exchange today, trading under the ticker symbol PAA. The new carrier began accepting reservations Sept. 18 for its inaugural service Thursday on New York-Miami and New York-Los Angeles routes.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel has acquired Sweden's third largest travel agency and its former partner, ReseCenter. Travis Tanner, co-president and chief executive of Carlson, said, "We have sought to strengthen our direct presence in Scandinavia, which is a strategic European market." There is a strong demand from Swedish companies for "another major worldwide operator to stimulate the competition in the business travel market," he added.
Hawaiian Airlines launched its World Wide Web page with an incentive to peruse the site - a contest to win first-class upgrades on Hawaii-U.S. mainland flights. The Internet address is http://www.hawaiianair.com. Consumers can make reservations on the site, and online booking capability will be available soon.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena will tour the aviation and security facilities at Miami Airport today. In connection with his participation with the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, Pena will review security procedures at the facility.
America West has officially asked travel agents to stop making passive bookings, which cost the airline in computer reservations system fees (DAILY, Sept. 11). "A passive booking is a duplicate or mirror booking of an existing passenger reservation that is often created to generate itineraries or other support documents," America West explained.
Continental has put Caribbean, Mexican and Latin American fares on sale 25% off the normal excursion fare. Tickets must be purchased by Sept. 30 for travel completed by Feb. 13. A seven-day advance reservation is required.
Fourth Annual Aero Club Fall Classic Golf Tournament is scheduled Nov. 1-3 in Williamsburg, Va. At $338 per couple or $286 per individual, the weekend package includes two nights at the Williamsburg Lodge, championship golf, visits to historical sites and dinner at the Kings Arms Tavern. Call 804-229-1000 for reservations, using reservation code ACW 1196.
Reno Air and American Eagle carrier Wings West have signed a code-sharing agreement for flights connecting between Los Angeles and 10 points in California and Nevada. The pact applies to Wings West flights to San Diego, Orange County, Monterey, Bakersfield, Fresno, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Carlsbad, Palm Springs and Las Vegas. The Wings West flights will carry the Reno code beginning Oct. 15. Eagle operates Saab 340Bs.
Fresno, Calif.-based regional carrier Air 21 reported its second profitable month, with $1,800 earnings in August on sales of $1.3 million. The airline, which began late last year operating Fokker 28s, posted a $36,000 net profit in July on sales of $1.6 million. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Mark Morro said it earned six cents per passenger in August and is $400,000 ahead of budget projections. Due to strong demand on its Fresno-Los Angeles route, the carrier plans to increase service from two to four daily roundtrips in October.
Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus came to terms with its pilots Sunday, averting an Irish Airline Pilots Association strike by just 3.5 hours. The airline, which had arranged several wet-leases to operate much of its schedule yesterday, did not have a single disruption in service after the Irish Labor Court mediated an agreement with pilots. The new contract is in effect and does not have to be ratified, and Aer Lingus has no other pending labor negotiations.
American Helicopter Museum&Education Center will open Oct. 18 at 1220 American Blvd., Brandywine Airport, near West Chester, Pa. It is the first museum dedicated solely to rotary wing aircraft.
Airlines Reporting Corp. said August travel agent sales increased 5% to $4.901 billion. Domestic fares for the year were up 12% and international fares 8% from August 1995. Domestic commissions paid rose 3% to $2.614 billion, and international commissions were up by the same amount to $1.804 billion.
Northwest said its DreamPerks auction packages have attracted more than 400 absentee bids in anticipation of the auction Friday at Sotheby's New York. The auction enables the public to purchase frequent flyer miles at five cents per mile. The packages consist of first-class travel and lodging for 34 unusual vacation deals. Much of the profit goes to Habitat for Humanity.
Airline revenue passenger miles for Air Transport Association carriers rose 7.3% in August to 53.6 billion on 3.4% more capacity, for a total of 70.2 billion available seat miles. Passenger enplanements were up 7.1%. For the first eight months of the year, RPMs rose 4% to 347.1 billion and ASMs 2.6% to 511 billion. The average load factor for August was 76.3%, compared with 73.5% in August 1995, and the load factor for the first eight months was 67.9%.
DOT has issued a show cause order tentatively awarding an operating certificate to Vision Air. Headquartered in Hicksville, N.Y., Vision Air plans to provide six weekly roundtrips between New York Kennedy Airport and London Stansted, using one leased 323-seat L-1011-100 aircraft (DAILY, March 23). Vision Air's president and chief operating officer, Vincent Civitello, was manager-international planning for United. (Docket OST-96- 1185)
Miami Airport has installed a new, computerized baggage tracking system, "the first of its kind" and the result of cooperation with government agencies and airlines. The bar-code scanning system, which uses portable, lightweight, hand-held scanners to read airline bag tags, will expedite handling of international transit baggage while providing improved security, officials said. The information from the codes is recorded in a centralized database that can be accessed instantly.
On the brink of being downgraded to Category 3 in August, Venezuela has made progress and will maintain its Category 2 status, said a U.S. official. The U.S. will continue to work with Venezuela in its attempts to achieve Category 1.
Greenwich Air Services President Eugene Conese said yesterday that USAir has decided not to renew an existing five-year contract for CFM56-2 engines. The current contract expires Oct. 8. Conese said USAir decided to rebid the contract before Greenwich's acquisition June 10 of Aviall "due to dissatisfaction with Aviall's Dallas pre-acquisition turntime performance." Conese said that while the USAir decision is a "disappointment," loss of the contract was "anticipated in our acquisition plan" and by research analysts.
Boeing said its new-generation 737-700 has received its wings at the company's Renton, Wash., facility. Since program launch in 1993, the new aircraft has had record sales with orders from 19 airlines for 392, Boeing said.
Southwest will begin service to Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 15 from Baltimore/Washington, Nashville, Fort Lauderdale, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Tampa. The carrier said it will operate 14 daily nonstop flights in the markets, with the most - five a day - to Fort Lauderdale. With a 14- day advance purchase, one-way fares to Baltimore and Indianapolis will be $79, Nashville and New Orleans $59, Tampa $29 and Fort Lauderdale $26.
American said William Boesch, president of its Cargo Division, is retiring and will be succeeded by David Brooks, president of the Airline Services Division of AMR Services Corp. Boesch has agreed to remain as chairman of the Cargo Division for the rest of the year, said American President Donald Carty.
All Nippon Airways has contracted with Boeing-Wichita to convert one 747- 200 to freighter configuration, Boeing officials said. The aircraft, the second conversion Boeing has performed for ANA, will join Nippon Cargo Airlines' fleet when the modification is completed next July.
Air France Chairman Christian Blanc, visiting Washington this week, is expected to meet with DOT Secretary Federico Pena and officials of one or more potential U.S. airline partners.
The Justice Department has informed DOT it is in favor of DOT's proposed rules that would ban computer reservations systems from requiring carriers to keep the same level of participation in all CRSs, with an exception that would permit the CRSs to require parity for carriers that own or market a CRS. Three of the four CRSs operating in the U.S. - Sabre, Worldspan and System One/Amadeus - have parity clauses in their contracts with airlines (DAILY, Sept. 18).
India's Civil Aviation ministry has proposed increasing the allowable foreign equity stake in domestic carriers to 49% from 40%, ministry officials said last week. The proposal, part of a comprehensive civil aviation policy awaiting governmental approval, maintains, however, that under no circumstances should foreign airlines be allowed to hold a majority stake or operate on domestic routes.
