Greenwich Air Services said its Greenwich Caledonia subsidiary, Prestwick, Scotland, received a seven-year, $50-million-plus contract from Air Hong Kong to support 12 CF6-50 engines that power three 747-200s.
Canadian Auto Workers has accepted a new contract, ending a 36-day strike and sending union members at Boeing's Winnipeg plant back to work this week, George Capern, the company's VP-government and industry affairs- Canada, said Friday. "Now it is time to put aside our differences and focus on our first priority, service to our global airline customers," Capern said. He did not disclose contract details.
Net profits of the U.S. aerospace sector in the final quarter of 1995 plummeted 60.3% to $670 million despite an increase of 4.2% in sales to $31.1 billion, due in part to the $1.8 billion pretax writeoff by McDonnell Douglas on its MD-11 program, according to the latest figures from the Aerospace Industries Association. The operating margin was a healthy 7%, compared with 5.6% in the same quarter a year earlier.
Like United before it, Delta is asking DOT to reconsider the antitrust immunity it granted the American-Canadian Airlines International alliance, but it wants DOT to defer immunity for United and Air Canada as well "until the open skies provisions of the U.S.-Canada bilateral become fully effective," said Delta. All phase-in restrictions on U.S. carriers' access to Canadian markets will be eliminated Feb. 24, 1998, and Delta said that if DOT grants immunity, it should carve out all U.S.- Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver city-pairs until the phase-in restrictions expire.
Air Travel Card survey of 200 corporate travel decision-makers found that 71% of respondents educated their business travelers about security and safety. Some 10% of the respondents said their travelers experienced a theft of sensitive corporate information during the past two years. Laptop computers and computer disks were stolen most often, comprising 38.5% of the losses, followed by briefcases and files, 28%.
Heli-Star, a joint effort by the Helicopter Association International, FAA and NASA, proved a "great success" during the Olympics in Atlanta, according to HAI President Frank Jensen. The goal was to establish a "fully integrated vertical lift infrastructure to relieve ground transportation gridlock expected during the Olympics and to challenge common perceptions about helicopters being economically non-competitive, unsafe and noisy," said Thomas Marlow, chairman of the HAI Olympic Support Committee.
Electronic Media&Marketing in Travel&Tourism conference on new media for the travel industry will be held Nov. 4-5 at the Hilton Hotel at Walt Disney World Village in Orlando. It is sponsored by Garrett Communications and consulting agency PhoCusWright. The keynote address will be given by Hershel Sarbin, former president and chief executive of Ziff-Davis Publishing, and five industry executives will speak on interactive travel. For more information, call 1-800-9-EMMITT or access the Web at www.phocuswright.com/emmitt.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," or so they say. That is how the folks at Continental Express feel about parent Continental's recent incentive program to give away Ford Explorer automobiles and other items to employees with perfect attendance records. Continental Express a year ago gave a Ford vehicle to a Newark-based mechanic plus large-screen TVs and cash awards to other employees following a three-month contest,, and started "pizza days" for every day that the carrier's reliability was perfect.
Standard&Poor's rating service said ValuJet's B- corporate credit rating and CCC+ rating on its $150 million of senior unsecured notes remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed May 13. ValuJet said this week it most likely will be in violation of some financial covenants related to $162.4 million in bank-held aircraft secured debt by Sept. 30 because it has not been operating since June 18. ValuJet wants to negotiate with lenders to relax the covenants to avoid declarations of default.
American and the Allied Pilots Association resumed federally mediated contract negotiations this week in Washington. American President Donald Carty will take part in the discussions for 10 days. APA said that at the mediator's suggestion, the union and the company will meet separately with the mediator. APA began informational picketing Monday at airports across American's system to protest lack of progress in the talks. The pilots' contract became amendable two years ago.
Southwest intends to issue debt securities to pay for most or all of this year's remaining 737-300 deliveries from Boeing but sees internally generated funds and drawdowns on its credit line as the main sources of money next year, when it will finish off its 737-300 program and take its first 737-700. In a Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Southwest said it is scheduled to receive seven more 737-300s this year and the last 17 in 1997, but it thinks Boeing will move up two deliveries from January to December.
FAA issued special conditions for the Embraer EMB-145 jet, which will use new avionics/electronic systems. Current rules do not contain adequate safety standards to cover the protection of the systems from the effects of high-intensity radiated fields. For more information, contact Gerry Lakin, FAA, at 206-227-1187.
Midwest Express regional affiliate Skyway Airlines' July capacity rose just 2.9% to 13.8 million available seat miles from 13.4 million ASMs the year before. Traffic, however, rose much more quickly - 10.8% to 6.2 million revenue passenger miles from 5.6 million in July 1995. As a result, the load factor increased 3.3 percentage points to 45.2% from 41.9% in the prior period. By comparison, parent Midwest Express posted a load factor decline of 3.4 points to 66.7% from 70.1% in the prior period (DAILY, Aug. 12).
Hawaiian Airlines made a $1.5 million profit in the second quarter, the most lucrative second quarter in its history. The carrier posted a $451,000 net loss in the same quarter of 1995. Operating profits in this year's quarter totaled $3.1 million, up from $431,000. Operating revenues were $96 million, a 12.3% increase, and operating expenses totaled $92.9 million, up 9.3%. Hawaiian said this week it will generate $25 million after it issues shares to a group of investors in conjunction with a shareholder rights offering (DAILY, Aug. 15).
Tower Air is seeking renewal of its exemption authorizing it to operate scheduled combination nonstop service between New York and Paris. It has been operating scheduled service to Paris since 1991. (Docket OST-96-1647)
Great Lakes Aviation reported a net loss of $1.155 million, or 15 cents per share, for its fiscal quarter ended June 30. Before subtracting interest expense of $1.414 million, the carrier reported an operating income of $259,000. For the June 30, 1995, quarter, the Bloomington, Minn.-based regional posted a net loss of $542,000, or seven cents per share, on an operating income of $932,000, with interest expense of $1.804 million. The carrier reported an income tax provision (benefit) of $330,000 for the 1995 quarter.
Servicios Aereos Litoral (Aerolitoral), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeromexico, between Nogales, Mexico, and Phoenix. Aerolitoral is also requesting authority to hold out the Aeromexico designator code in the market and that the department grant Aeromexico an exemption permitting it to engage in the codesharing arrangement with Aerolitoral. The flights will carry only the Aeromexico code. Aerolitoral proposes beginning the service on Sept. 3, using 19-seat Metro aircraft.
Amadeus Global Travel Distribution has introduced , Amadeus Destination, a product that provides destination information by country, region, event and activity. The first service available is a connection to TravelFile, an online destination database provided by Applied Information Services. The database has more than 120,000 listings of tourism offices, tour operators, accommodations, attractions, museums, sports venues and events. Amadeus said users can view descriptions of travel services and make online bookings.
Regional airlines fully expect the Internal Revenue Service to make the capitalization of engine overhauls a "coordinated audit issue." So far, the tax agency has issued only a Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM) theorizing that overhauls should be considered a capital expenditure rather than an everyday business expense that can written off for the year in which it occurred (DAILY, Aug. 19).
John Presburg is out as executive VP/COO and Hap Pareti is in at USAir Express Paradise Island Airlines - at least as a consultant. Pareti, the former president of Presidential Airways, failed in his recent attempt to launch Jet Aspen, a planned BAe 146 carrier operating out of the Colorado ski resort, but was brought into Paradise Island by its new ownership - The Ages Group of Boca Raton, Fla. Ages is an international aviation services group that reportedly is interested in expanding Paradise Island's Dash 7 operation to the Denver-Aspen market.
Trans States Airlines has contracted with Northwest Aerospace Training Corp. (NATCO) to develop an FAA-approved advanced qualification program for the carrier's Jetstream 41 aircraft. Nannette Gibbons, manager, training program development for the Northwest Airlines subsidiary, said, "We are pleased that Trans States has put their confidence in NATCO." Gibbons said Trans States' decision "shows their commitment to the highest standards of pilot training quality."
A Delta Boeing 727 made an emergency landing at New York LaGuardia Airport Wednesday night after one of its Pratt&Whitney JT8D turbofans suffered a severe surge and turbine failure during climbout, sending pieces of the turbine section into a residential area near the airport, P&W and airline officials said yesterday. Delta spokesman Bill Berry confirmed that the damaged pieces are believed to be from the "fourth-stage turbine area," although the extent of the damage will not be known until the engine can be inspected completely by P&W and FAA.
InVision Technologies said it has shipped a fourth FAA-certified explosives detection system, the CTX 5000, to the Israel Airports Authority for use at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.
DOT has assessed Fast Air $60,000 in compromise of potential civil penalties for operating unauthorized service and violating the cease-and- desist provisions of an earlier consent order. The DOT Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings said Fast Air, a Chilean carrier, conducted a number of flights between Lima, Peru, and Miami in 1995 and 1996 without economic authority from DOT.
FAA will impose new IFR wake vortex separation standards at midnight tonight that by its own study are expected to increase aircraft delays - during good weather - as much as 72% at Los Angeles, 34% at San Francisco, 29% at LaGuardia, 19% at Atlanta and 17% at Newark, according to an Air Transport Association official. The standards will reclassify more than 880 commuter aircraft to small from large, which means they will have to increase the distance at which they follow larger aircraft.
