All Nippon Airways has launched twice-weekly service from Osaka's Kansai Airport to Yangon, Myanmar. The carrier is operating a two-class, 204- passenger 767-300 on the route.
Aiming to resume service Aug. 1, ValuJet has applied to DOT for a fitness redetermination, reissuance of its certificate and a waiver from the requirement to file 45 days in advance its intention to fly again. The carrier said it "appears likely" that FAA may revalidate its operating authority for an early-August resumption. It said it is making "a number of operational changes" and working with FAA to "resolve other outstanding issues, including the future scope of its operations and the oversight of its outsourcing of maintenance services." (Docket OST-96-1548)
The number of airline tickets sold daily by the online system Preview Travel on America Online and the World Wide Web has tripled in the past week. Preview Travel says that with the fare war heating up, consumers may find it difficult to reach an agent by telephone. Instead, they can access the online reservations service at www.vacations.com on the Web and at keyword "reservations" on AOL. Preview Travel said it has been selling between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of airline tickets per day since May.
United and United Express carriers intend to beef up jet service to ski destinations this winter, specifically between Los Angeles and Aspen/Snowmass, and at Vail/Eagle, Hayden/Steamboat and Montrose/Telluride, adding 4,200 seats a week. The increased service, including flights from Chicago and Denver, begins Dec. 1.
Flight tests began this summer on a United DC-10 equipped with an advanced cockpit weather information system (CWIN) developed by a consortium led by McDonnell Douglas and sponsored by NASA Langley Research Center. The CWIN, an integrated inflight communication and navigation system, blends data from communication and Global Positioning System satellites, ground weather radar images and lightning strikes, and airport observations and forecasts. The composite gives flight crews up-to-date weather information, including trends.
A study undertaken by Taiwan's Industrial Development Bureau projects that the annual production value of the island's aerospace industry will reach nearly US$6 billion by 2006. The study shows that Taiwan's aerospace industry produced goods and services worth US$1.02 billion in 1995. The sector employed 11,500 workers with annual per-worker productivity of US$88,700. By the turn of the century, the industry's output is expected to be worth US$1.38 billion, with worker productivity growing to US$95,000 and the number of employees rising to 14,500.
Canadian Airlines International's June traffic grew 8.8%, compared with June 1995, on a 0.3% increase in capacity. The carrier flew 1.51 billion revenue passenger miles for the month on capacity of 1.95 billion available seat miles, boosting the load factor 6 percentage points to 77.6%. For the first half of the year, Canadian's traffic rose 10.3%, compared with the first six months of 1995, on a 4.4% jump in capacity. The result was a load factor gain of 3.7 points to 69.5%.
Ecuador will invite expressions of interest July 23 in planning, building and operating replacement airports for Quito and Guayaquil. Selected companies will participate in two common stock corporations, one for each airport, to be formed through the national civil aviation authority. The corporations will operate the existing airports while the new ones are brought on line.
Urging the U.S. and Japan to continue negotiations, Japan Airlines has asked DOT to dismiss Northwest's complaint against the government of Japan. Agreeing with Northwest's argument, United is pressing the U.S. to continue to talk with Japan, as well as Indonesia, before acting on the complaint. Northwest's complaint, filed July 5, accuses Japan of failing to live up to its bilateral commitments by not allowing the U.S. carrier to operate Seattle-Osaka-Jakarta service (DAILY, July 8).
Delta will sponsor a new kind of interactive kiosk during the Olympics, offering vidoeconferences that link consumers directly with reservations agents who speak English, French, German or Spanish. The kiosks will be located in the AT&T Consumer Pavilion at the Global Olympic Village in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. Special kiosks for athletes will be placed in the Global Olympic Village in areas restricted to athletes and their families. "The kiosks are specifically designed so there's no need to use a keyboard or a mouse.
Air Aruba has amended its application for exemption authority to provide scheduled combination service between Aruba and Houston, requesting to co- terminalize its proposed services at Houston with its authorized services at Tampa. (Docket OST-96-1146)
Northwest, Alaska Airlines and United have filed objections to the proposed American-Transaero code-share service. The applicants seek an exemption to operate scheduled code-share service between Chicago and Moscow, beginning in April 1997 (DAILY, June 28). Under the agreement, American would place its designator code on flights operated by the Russian carrier. In a joint answer, Alaska and Northwest asked DOT to defer action on the application until the Russian government rescinds its disapproval of the Alaska-Northwest code-share agreement.
FAA Administrator David Hinson said yesterday the agency will ban oxidizers and oxidizing materials in specific compartments on passenger and cargo aircraft. It also will ask Congress to make changes in the agency's fiscal year 1997 budget to free up $14 million, of which $10.6 million will be used to expand its hazardous materials inspector and legal work force by 130 positions, he said. There also will be stepped-up cargo security programs to address terrorist and criminal concerns.
India's Directorate-General of Civil Aviation has issued notices to three foreign carriers for allegedly offering huge discounts on officially announced fares, DGCA officials said yesterday. The airlines - Aeroflot, Uzbek Air and Thai Airways - have been asked to explain their positions, failing which the show-cause notice threatens further action. Following massive price-undercutting by Tower Air and other foreign carriers, the DGCA instructed all domestic and foreign carriers to file fares at its office every season.
Swissair's pilots have completed an agreement with the airline that will give it more flexible work rules and save it up to 60 million Swiss francs (US$48 million) per year. The carrier said it signed a new collective agreement with the Aeropers Staff Association representing its cockpit personnel. Out of 1,232 pilots eligible to vote, 1,077 did so, and 86% of them voted to accept the new work rules, which were tentatively agreed upon May 16 and finalized yesterday. Swissair's board unanimously accepted the accord, which will be retroactive to July 1, 1996.
Southwest's $25 fare for one-way, nonstop routes, launched last week, reduces the cost of some trips to less than two cents a mile, said Tom Parsons, editor of Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine. The $50 Baltimore- Los Angeles flight, for instance, costs 1.8 cents per mile for the 2,685- mile trip. Parsons has written a 416-page book - Insider Travel Secrets - that will be published July 19. The book is being billed as a compendium of tips and techniques the travel industry does not want the public to know.
Northwest's consulting chefs have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation for their innovative menus. The foundation, which advances the culinary arts by providing scholarships, is a resource for chefs nationwide. Northwest's chefs hosted a dinner to benefit the foundation.
U.S. Major and National Carriers Food Expense First Quarter 1996 Cost Per Systemwide Passenger Alaska $ 9,997,000 $ 3.88 America West 5,726,100 1.33 American 144,059,000 7.66 Continental 27,795,000 3.29
United is passing envelopes around the cabin on its Chicago-London flights to collect donations for UNICEF. Passengers can donate their foreign currency under the "change for good" program. Eileen Sweeney, United's manager-civic affairs, said many passengers find changing foreign currency a nuisance.
U.S. airlines are expected to report stellar second quarter financial results that are likely to propel the industry to record profits this year. Results for the quarter, starting Wednesday with a report from American, "are going to be pretty damned spectacular," said PaineWebber's Samuel Buttrick.
Great Lakes Aviation's revenue passenger miles increased 21.5% in June, to 27.2 million, but available seat miles were up even more, 31.2% to 59.6 million. The load factor fell 3.7 percentage points to 45.7%. For the first six months of the year, RPMs rose 31.8% to 144.9 million, ASMs were up 28.8% to 326.8 million and the load factor gained one point to 44.3%. Great Lakes operates under three regional marketing identities - United Express, Midway Connection and Great Lakes Airlines.
South African Airways and the private Indian carrier Jet Airways are formalizing a marketing agreement that is expected to take effect in November, Jet Airways sources said. The agreement will seek to consolidate an existing informal arrangement, under which Jet Airways flies SAA passengers from Mumbai to and from points in India. Currently, SAA operates only to and from Mumbai, but it plans to set up hubs at New Delhi and Madras.
Airbus Industrie said yesterday it received 40 firm orders and 40 options from General Electric Capital Aviation Services for A319/A320/A321 aircraft, plus five firm orders and five options for the A340-300. Deliveries of the single-aisle aircraft are to begin in mid-1997 and continue at a rate of 10 to 15 a year through 2001. The A340s on firm order will be delivered between 1999 and 2000. All the aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International, the 50-50 partnership of General Electric and Snecma of France.
Cheong Choong Kong has been named deputy chairman and chief executive of Singapore Airlines as of Aug. 1. He replaces the previous deputy chairman, Lim Chin Beng, who retired from the carrier's board as of July 13. Cheong has been managing director of SIA since August 1984.
