India's largest private domestic carrier, East West Airlines, resumed operations last week after the Airport Authority of India grounded its aircraft for three days for nonpayment of fees, airline officials said. The airline owed AAI 136.5 million rupees ($3.9 million) in landing, parking and navigation charges accumulated over three years, AAI sources said. Officials of the authority said East West is the first airline, domestic or foreign, that the authority has grounded for nonpayment of dues.
Air Canada and Lufthansa last week started selling new joint code- sharing flights from Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver to Athens and Prague. The new service will be operated through Frankfurt, starting Sept. 1. Air Canada flies 747s between Toronto and Frankfurt and 767-300s between Calgary and Frankfurt. Lufthansa operates in the Vancouver-Frankfurt market with a 747. The German carrier flies from Frankfurt to Athens and Prague.
Frontier Airlines named Dale Browning, president and chief executive of ProCard, Golden, Colo., to its board. The carrier now has four outside directors and one inside director.
The Midwest Express Connection, Skyway Airlines, flew 6.3 million revenue passenger miles in June, a 6.2% decrease from June 1995's 6.7 million. Capacity declined 13% to 12.9 million available seat miles from 14.8 million, which the airline attributed primarily to weather-related cancellations. The load factor gained 3.6 percentage points to 48.6% from 45%, while passenger boardings declined 5.8% to 28,185 from 29,909 one year ago.
Direct operating costs per available seat mile for the new EMB-145 regional jet and the Saab 2000 high-speed turboprop are nearly identical, at least out to 800 statute miles. The com-parison was prepared for DAILY affiliate Business&Commer-cial Aviation and will appear in the August issue. The comparison combines generic operating costs provided by the manufacturers and productivity factors derived for all regional aircraft in B/CA's annual May Planning and Purchasing handbook.
Air Littoral, Montpellier, France has placed a firm order for one additional Canadair Regional Jet in a transaction valued at about $19.8 million. Delivery is scheduled for this month. The carrier will take an additional two aircraft if it can arrange financing.
Alex Brown&Co. has sent a letter to potential investors in Business Express, initiating what amounts to an auction of the regional airline, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The investment banker is looking for either investment in the reorganization plan put forth by current management or a new reorganization plan offered by another airline or outside investor. Several airlines have expressed interest in Business Express, including Commutair, fellow Delta Connection Comair and former Continental Express President Jonathan Ornstein.
Nantes, France-based Regional Airlines will take delivery of its fifth Saab 2000 turboprop in October. The carrier, which also said recently it intends to purchase five 50-seat Embraer 145s (DAILY, July 8), will use one of its current Saab 2000s early in August on a new route linking Marseilles and Amsterdam.
KLM flew 4.13 billion revenue passenger kilometers last month, up 12%. Capacity increased 10% to 5.33 billion available seat kilometers, nudging the airline's load factor up to 77.4%. During the April-June period, traffic grew 10%, capacity increased 9% and the load factor reached 73.5%.
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin logged 48.1 million revenue passenger miles in June, a 5.8% increase from the same month a year ago. Capacity increased only slightly, however - 1.8%, to 75.2 million available seat miles from 73.9 million - permitting the load factor to gain 2.5 percentage points to 64% from 61.5%. Enplanements rose 4.8% to 149,664 from 142,750.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Income Statement October 1, 1995 - March 31, 1996 Current Month Year-to-Date RECEIPTS (Revenues) Revenues: Excise Taxes (Transferred from General Fund): Liquid Fuel other than Gas $ 12,681,000.00 $ 56,227,000.00 Transportation by Air, Seats, Berths, etc.
Las Vegas-based BAe 146 operator TriStar Airlines will not charge for transporting children ages 2 through 12 beginning Monday, the carrier announced. The program is effective systemwide on all flights, seven days a week. The "Kids Fly Free" promotion offers free flights for children traveling with a paying adult. Tickets are available up to the date of departure, with no advanced purchase required. Seats are limited. All travel and ticketing must be completed by Sunday, Sept. 1.
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR flew 14 million revenue passenger miles last month, a 12.7% increase from June 1995. Capacity for the month was virtually the same as the carrier offered in June 1995 - available seat miles rose just 0.1% to 27.005 million from 26.975 million. As a result, the load factor increased 5.8 percentage points to 52% from 46.2%.
Several members of Greece's Olympic basketball team came close to not making their New York Kennedy-Atlanta connection this week. Delta said it could have refused to take them - the Olympians allegedly refused to stop smoking on the Athens-New York segment, were "rude and obnoxious" to flight attendants and caused "other disruptions." Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police and airport customer service supervisors shuffled the team members to a room at JFK for a lecture before allowing them to reboard.
DOT has postponed sanctions against Colombia, scheduled to be imposed July 15, until after talks between the U.S. and Colombia July 16-17 in Washington. DOT tentatively proposed sanctions against a Colombian carrier, either Avianca or ACES, prohibiting daily nonstop service between New York or Miami and Bogota.
Continental's efforts the past year to become a more efficient operator has not only turned around its customer service but is having a positive impact on cargo revenues as well. While the industry as a whole posted only 1% growth in international revenue ton miles for the first five months, Continental's rose 14.8%. Jack Boisen, staff VP-cargo, said mail volume was up 40% for the same period. He added that domestic revenues exceeded 1995 results, even though capacity is down 15%.
Aided by the liberalization of the European Union's air transport market, Air Malta and Italian partners hope to set up a new carrier, called "Azzurra Air," in December. Air Malta Chairman Joe Tabone said the new company would be based in Bergamo, but he declined to name the Italian investors, with whom a final accord is close. Tabone said the new airline will buy three Avro RJ85 jets. Air Malta, which is owned by the Maltese state, would hold a 49% stake in the new carrier, which would thereby qualify as an EU airline.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund Balance Sheet as of April 30, 1996 ASSETS Undisbursed Balances: Available for Investment $ 1,128,707.49 TOTAL UNDISBURSED BALANCE (Cash in Account) $ 1,128,707.49 Receivables: Interest Receivables $ 214,199,242.36
Debonair, Britain's new low-cost startup, is growing. Yesterday the carrier put its third BAe 146-200 into service on its first domestic route between London Luton Airport and Newcastle. The new flights complement the carrier's recently started flights to Munich, Dusseldorf and Barcelona. The carrier also began service yesterday to Madrid, its second destination in Spain. Debonair plans to begin flights to Copenhagen from London in October with twice-daily service in that market.
Countering British Airways and American arguments, Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Richard Branson led off Tuesday what promises to be a steady assault on the proposed BA-American alliance in hearings before the U.K. House of Commons Transport Committee. TWA chipped in with a letter to the U.K. Office of Fair Trading, and TWA, Continental, United and Delta are scheduled to testify Monday. The committee has no jurisdiction over the proposed alliance, but its recommendations could affect the Office of Fair Trading's decision on whether the U.K.
Continental's flight attendants begin voting Monday on the tentative 3.5-year contract agreement reached recently with the Machinists union that would provide significant pay increases. Results of the ratification vote will be available July 22. A Machinists union representative who participated in the talks said if ratified, the contract will increase pay 13.5% in the first year, 6% in the second and 6% in the third. She also said the most senior workers will receive a larger portion of the increases, and some will receive more money at the outset.
Frontier Airlines took in $13.3 million from holders who converted their warrants for 2.67 million shares of common stock. President Sam Addoms said proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, mainly to acquire more 737s for growth. The carrier now operates nine jets linking 15 U.S. cities.
Wideroe Flyveselskap A/S of Norway has placed an order for one 70- passenger Dash 8 Series 400 and options for another three aircraft, Bombardier announced. The first -400 aircraft will be delivered in the fall of 1999. The carrier is the first European airline to announce its order for the model, the manufacturer said.
Northwest has postponed until Oct. 1 launch of service Jakarta because of continued refusal by Japan to allow it to operate fifth-freedom service between Osaka and Jakarta. Instead, the carrier said yesterday it would use the DC-10 designated for the Jakarta flights to expand Seattle-Osaka service from four times per week to daily between July 28 and Sept. 30. "We are disappointed that the Japanese government blocked our Jakarta service, which is permitted under the U.S.-Japan bilateral," said Richard Hirst, senior VP-corporate affairs.
Air Transport Association appointed Janet Thomas managing director- facilitation. Thomas, an attorney who practices immigration law in California, was with the Immigration and Naturalization Service for 15 years, including terms as assistant chief inspector and assistant commissioner.
