Northwest Airlink Mesaba Airlines and its pilots union have reached an amended collective bargaining agreement, Mesaba reported. The pact, ratified by the Air Line Pilots Association Master Executive Council at the regional, has a four-year term and will be phased in by July 1, the carrier said.
The Machinists union, representing Canadian Airlines International's maintenance and related workers, has ratified a 38-month contract that the airline said results in $34 million in savings for the company and enhances job security. The union, Canadian's largest, is the fifth to ratify an agreement providing productivity improvements and cost savings that will total $93 million annually. The carrier continues to negotiate with its flight attendants.
The BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 engine, which will power the new Gulfstream V and the Bombardier Global Express, is on schedule for European certification in August. The more powerful BR715 engine, the powerplant for Douglas Aircraft's MD-95-30, is on target for its first engine run next March. The BR710 completed its fan-blade-off test recently, demonstrating the effectiveness of the containment system. Tests in June confirmed that emissions were well below International Civil Aviation Organization requirements.
National Air Transportation Association is setting up a General Aviation Business Barometer to "allow us to confront wrongheaded bureaucrats with hardheaded statistical facts." The barometer will monitor Jet-A and Avgas fuel sales, charter sales, flight training hours and maintenance activity.
TWA and its pilots have settled their disagreement over using World Airways and Tower Air to fly some routes for TWA because it lacked the necessary aircraft, and they appear to have set the stage for more expeditious conflict resolution in the future. As a result, the Air Line Pilots Association unit at TWA has withdrawn a request for an injunction against the carrier, filed June 21 in a St. Louis court, and a contract grievance concerning the issue. TWA said it has taken delivery of "sufficient additional aircraft" to resume service in the St.
British Airways franchisee CityFlyer Express has placed an order for two Avro RJ100s and two options, Aero International (Regional) (AIR) announced. The aircraft will be delivered in March and April 1997.
Continental is beginning to reverse the trend of recent years of replacing jets on routes of under 300 miles with Continental Express turboprops. At its Newark hub, Continental has replaced two ATR 72s with jets to Portland; it has replaced three turboprops with two jets to Providence; three jets are now flying to Washington Dulles and one turboprop will be dropped in July; two ATRs were dropped in the Rochester market in favor of two jets; and seven turboprops and one jet to Baltimore were replaced by four turboprops and seven jets.
Pilots are superstitious. Some flight crews operating to Chicago O'Hare for AMR Eagle Simmons are shunning holding instructions for the Lucit intersection, 50 nm south of the airport - the same intersection at which American Eagle Flight 4184 was holding before its crash near Roselawn, Ind., Oct. 31, 1994. The aircraft was en route from Indianapolis. Flight 4184 no longer exists in the Eagle timetable. The comparable flight is 4296, which departs Indianapolis at 5:05 p.m. and arrives at O'Hare at 6:15 p.m. Those crews are especially wary of Lucit.
America West appointed Anthony Mule VP-inflight services. Mule has been president and chief operating officer of SuperShuttle in Phoenix and held positions with Pan Am and American earlier. He will be responsible for inflight operations, including flight attendants and system catering.
Executive Jet announced yesterday the launch of NetJets Europe, a fractional aircraft ownership program offered jointly by Executive Jet, Zimex Aviation and Air Luxor. Zimex will be responsible for marketing NetJets to customers in Europe and Air Luxor for flight management, scheduling and customer service. The initial aircraft offering will be the Citation S/II. As operated in the U.S., a NetJets participant purchases a portion of an aircraft based on the number of flight hours needed annually. The program provides aircraft management and operational services.
Embraer is revising upward the performance numbers for its new EMB-145 regional jet following the aircraft's one-month sales tour of the U.S. - both in terms of speed and fuel consumption. The airplane started out with a published maximum cruising speed of Mach 0.74. The manufacturer is now pushing that to Mach 0.78, although several regional-airline VPs for flight operations who flew the 145 said it is really a Mach 0.80 airplane, and they had to work to keep the speed down. In addition, fuel consumption is 7%-plus better than advertised.
Sabre Computer Services has signed a contract with global network services supplier SITA to enter into a seven-year, $400 million data network outsourcing relationship. Under the agreement, which becomes effective July 1, SITA will manage SABREnet, which connects the computer reservations system to 22,500 locations in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, including travel agencies, American, American Eagle, AA Cargo and airline customers.
Flight delays in Europe increased nearly 50% in April after almost doubling in March, prompting IATA Director General Pierre Jeanniot to warn that "we must act now to ensure that the summer peaks do not impose major inconvenience to our customers." Jeanniot's remarks came on the eve of a meeting June 26-27 in Paris of European directors general of civil aviation. "We are pleased with the way that the Central Flow Management Unit is working," Jeanniot said.
Gulfstream said it received certification for its GIII, GIV and GIV-SP aircraft from the Aviation Register of the Interstate Aviation Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, a "first for a U.S.- designed and -manufactured business jet aircraft." It said the aircraft are the first approved under the new joint CIS certification rules for transport category aircraft (AP25). These rules have been harmonized with the U.S. FAA.
Northwest and NATCO, its pilot training facility, will conduct a three-day fearful flyers seminar July 19-21 in Minneapolis. The course fee is $450, which includes the graduation flight. Northwest offers special corporate seminars for groups of at least 10 participants. For more information, call 612-726-7733.
Air France posted an operating profit of 413 million French francs for 1995/96 - its first such profit since 1989 - but ended the year with a FF2.873 billion net loss due to restructuring charges. The deficit compares with a FF467 million net loss the year before. Because the 1994/95 financial year was 15 months long, figures are compared with those for April 1, 1994-March 31, 1995.
FAA will take over from the Defense Department the management of U.S. assistance for air traffic control modernization in China following several years in which ATC modernization was a key agenda item of the U.S./China Joint [Defense] Conversion Commission (JCC). DOD has been working closely with the Chinese military and the Commission of Science, Technology&Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). Now, according to DAILY affiliate ATC Market Report, the JCC is giving up its focus on ATC modernization. A U.S.
Fine Airlines applied for an exemption to conduct scheduled all-cargo service between points in the U.S. and points in Spain. The carrier proposes to begin once-weekly service from Miami to Vitoria, Spain, on July 22, making technical stops in Gander, Newfoundland, and Shannon, Ireland. It said it expects to offer direct service soon afterward to other points in Spain, including Madrid and Valencia.
Senate Commerce Committee has postponed the today's hearing on issues surrounding the grounding of ValuJet because it wants DOT Secretary Federico Pena to testify and he was unavailable. Panel Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) is working with Pena to reschedule the hearing.
American Society of Travel Agents has launched a summer getaway contest for consumers accessing its World Wide Web site. The grand prize is a 14-day cruise to the Orient on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and business-class tickets on British Airways; first prize is a Caribbean cruise, second price a Mexico/Baja cruise and third prize a set of Travelpro luggage. One contest sponsor, NETCOM also will give three months of free Internet access to 18 entrants. The contest, which runs until July 22, can be found at http ://www.astanet.com.
Nearly four in 10 adults living in the U.S. have visited Las Vegas at least once, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Data Center for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. More than 29 million travelers visited the city last year, breaking the 1994 record of 28.2 million. The visitors authority estimates 30.3 million people will visit Las Vegas this year.
Summary of U.S. National Carriers Systemwide Traffic The Year 1995 Revenue Average Revenue Passengers Length of Passenger Enplaned % Travel Miles Carriers (000) Change (Miles) (000) Alaska* 10,139 13.20 847 8,591,347 American Trans Air 4,594 15.34 1,973 9,064,239
Barrow House Inn, a small hotel in St. Francisville, La., will celebrate its 10th birthday July 4 by helping other small businesses. The Barrow House Inn will open a library of books, newsletters, cassettes and CD-ROM disks on how small businesses can improve their marketing. The inn, which has five rooms and three suites in two houses, is set in a neighborhood of antebellum residences 30 minutes from Baton Rouge.
Teamsters union says that more than 75% of the mechanics at America West have signed petitions forwarded to Chief Executive William Franke urging the company to "stop stalling and start negotiating" a new contract. The mechanics voted 587 to 135 - 82% - in favor of representation by the Teamsters April 17, but the company filed suit the same week in Phoenix, arguing the election should be ruled invalid because 400 fired employees were allowed to vote (DAILY, April 19).
