AirTran Airways will celebrate carrying its one millionth passenger tomorrow with a ceremony at Orlando Airport. The passenger, who is expected to be on an Orlando-bound flight between 9:30 a.m. and 9:55 a.m., will receive a Florida Lottery ticket with the chance to win one million dollars, and free tickets to Disney World, Sea World of Florida and other area attractions. AirTran began service in October 1994.
Calgary-based WestJet Airlines flew 22.2 million revenue passenger miles in May, an 8.4% increase over April. Available seat miles totaled 34.6 million, up 4.5% from April, and the load factor improved to 64.1% from 60%. WestJet said the results are "significantly above" its business plan forecasts and are expected to grow. The carrier begins service to Regina June 13. It offers low-fare service between Calgary and Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria.
- In Federal Register dated May 31...Adopted an airworthiness directive on certain McDonnell Douglas DC-9-80 and MD-88 aircraft requiring inspection of fluorescent light ballasts in the cabin sidewall, and modifications...Adopted an AD on Saab 2000 aircraft requiring inspection for cracking of the lower rib of the rudder...Withdrew a proposed AD for certain Airbus Industrie A300-600 aircraft that would have required replacement of certain feel and limitation computers. Other rulemaking requires actions equivalent to and beyond those proposed.
Mesaba Airlines carried 155,000 passengers in May, its ninth consecutive month of record boardings, a 28.1% increase from May 1995. Revenue passenger miles grew 29.8% to 34.5 million from 26.3 million on 11.6% more capacity - 65.7 million available seat miles, compared with 58.8 million last May - for a load factor improvement of 7.4 points to 52.6%. Mesaba put its first two Saab 340s into scheduled service June 1. It expects to take delivery of two aircraft per month throughout its 50-aircraft order.
Western Pacific's traffic jumped 340% in May, from 27 million revenue passenger miles in May 1995 - its first full month of service - to 118.7 million. It carried 140,155 passengers during the month, up from 39,824. Available seat miles rose 374% to 210 million from 44.4 million, as the load factor fell 7.1 percentage points to 56.4%. from 60.7%. Tom DeNardin, VP-sales and marketing, said, "Our results are right on target and our summer bookings continue to be very strong."
Tower Air's May traffic increased 21.8% to 5,011 total block hours flown, compared with 4,115 in May 1995. For the first five months of the year, block hours rose 7.6%. In scheduled service, revenue passenger miles inched up to 220 million from 219 million last May, and available seat miles fell 1.3% to 306 million for a load factor increase to 71.9% from 70.6%. For the first five months, RPMs were up 11% to 1.2 billion, ASMs grew 10.3% to 1.7 billion, the load factor gained 0.5 points to 72.1% and the number of passengers rose 25.2% to 457,000.
Leaders of American's Allied Pilots Association have voted to give their president authority to conduct a membership strike ballot any time he deems fit and, if the vote is positive, call a strike. The APA board also passed a resolution that if the union calls a strike - the first in its history - any pilot who flies will be "branded a scab in perpetuity."
Indianapolis-based American Trans Air has introduced a toll-free reservations number, 1-800-I-FLY-ATA. The carrier, which calls itself the 10th largest U.S. airline, operates to 29 cities and has 5,100 employees and operates 49 aircraft.
Southern Air Transport pilots have voted for representation by the Teamsters Union. Of the 137 pilots eligible to vote, 62 opted for the Teamsters and 10 for the Air Line Pilots Association. The Columbus-based carrier often flies missions for the U.S. military, and Teamsters General President Ron Carey said, "Southern Air Transport pilots risk their lives flying missions all over the globe and deserve decent pay and work rules they can live with."
Rio Air Express, operating as Skyjet Brasil, asked that its exemption allowing it to provide charter combination service between Brazil and the U.S. be amended so it can operate other approved charter service. The carrier has applied to operate daily subservice from June 15 and Aug. 30 between Bogota, Colombia, and New York on behalf of Avianca, using DC-10-30 aircraft. (Dockets OST-95-921)
A series of procedural errors by commanders and pilots led to the fatal crash of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's CT-43 transport on April 3 in Croatia, accident investigators said in a report issued Friday. No equipment faults were found, but investigators said the aircraft was not adequately equipped for the low-accuracy ground beacon approach. The 22- volume report identified three causes that spread the blame among the pilots, their commanders and an improperly designed instrument approach.
KLM's passenger and cargo traffic for May gained 7% to 689.6 million revenue ton kilometers, while capacity rose 8% to 987 million available ton kilometers. The load factor was 69.9%, down from 70.2% in May 1995. Passenger traffic rose 13% during the month, to 3.9 billion revenue passenger kilometers and available seat kilometers were up 10% to 5.4 billion. The passenger load factor was up 1.5 points to 72%. KLM said the largest increase in passenger traffic was on Middle East/South Asia routes, which were up 26%, while North American traffic rose 11%.
The House Appropriations transportation subcommittee approved yesterday a fiscal 1997 DOT appropriations bill that includes $8.155 billion for FAA, $61.3 million below the fiscal 1996 level but $52.3 million above the President's request. The panel recommended $4.9 billion for FAA operations, an increase of $254.3 million over 1996 and $18.3 million below the request. Included in the operations account is $15.3 million to fund FAA's controller pay incentive program.
Charles Pollard, president and chief executive of World Airways, responding to European travel press reports that his carrier intends to exit charter programs this summer, said yesterday World "has made no decision to curtail summer 1996 scheduled charter programs, for which it currently has over 60,000 bookings." The reports in Europe followed World's announcement this week that Philippine Airlines has expanded its wet-lease deal. World said this summer's Europe charter bookings are below expectations.
Taiwan's EVA Airways said it will purchase a 29.74% stake in domestic carrier Taiwan Airlines at a cost of US$5.6 million. EVA holds controlling positions in two other domestic carriers, Great China and Makung.
Australian carrier Qantas will restart services to India after a gap of nearly six years, Qantas sources said this week. The airline discontinued the flights in October 1990 as part of a corporate restructuring plan, they noted. Beginning July 3, Qantas will fly twice-weekly on the Mumbai- Australia route via Singapore, using Boeing 767 aircraft. The flights will depart from Sydney to arrive in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on Mondays and Thursdays.
Airbus Industrie will host an airline focus group during the Farnborough Air Show in September to help it decide whether to launch the A340-600 program and offer 27% more capacity and 4% more range. The A340-600 would carry 375 passengers as far as 7,000 nautical miles, compared with the high-gross-weight A340-300's 295 passengers and 7,300 nautical miles.
Air Wisconsin, operating as United Express, recorded a load factor of 55.5% in May, a 0.9 percentage point decline from May 1995, as traffic rose 5.3% to 42.9 million revenue passenger miles but capacity jumped 7% to 77.4 million available seat miles. Passenger boardings increased 15% to 136,670. (More regional aviation news follows Page 406 of the hard copy of this issue.) May 96 May 95 5 Mths 96 5 Mths 95 RPMs 42,923,403 40,783,879 200,383,365 172,907,634
New Regional Aircraft Orders And Options Firm Orders Options Carrier No. Type No. Type Engines Air Stord 2 Do 328 - - PW119B Cimber Air 3 AA ATR 42-500 - - PW127B Continental Exp. 8 AA ATR 42-500 12 AA ATR42-500 PW127E Mesaba 30 Saab 340 Plus 10 Saab 340B Plus CT7-98
Alex Brown&Co. is expected to make a recommendation by mid-summer concerning the disposition of USAir Express Chautauqua Airlines. The investment banking firm was retained early in the year by Guarantee Reassurance Corp. (GRC) of Jacksonville, Florida, owner of the Indianapolis-based regional. GRC was established in 1993 to "rehabilitate" Guarantee Security Life Insurance Co., the carrier's previous owner, which was in financial distress. Options are to take Chautauqua public, sell it to another airline or acquire another publicly held airline.
FAA has issued a final rule banning the use of booster seats and vest-type child restraint systems on all U.S. airlines. The agency said that tests by its Civil Aeromedical Institute in Oklahoma City showed that the restraints did not provide adequate protection for infants and toddlers during takeoffs, landings and while the aircraft is moving on the ground. Instead, FAA is recommending that all children use approved restraint systems appropriate to their weight and size.
FAA has raised its initial 10,000-foot altitude restriction to 20,000 feet under an emergency airworthiness directive issued May 24 on the 30- passenger Dornier 328 (DAILY, May 31). The altitude restriction was originally issued because foreign object damage was causing a new light- weight windscreen to crack or shatter during flight. The AD gave operators 45 days to replace the windscreens, which offered a 6.5-pound weight savings, with the original heavier windscreens. In the interim, flightcrews were restricted to 10,000 feet.
USAir's scheduled traffic rose 1.3% in May to 3.33 billion revenue passenger miles from last May's 3.28 billion. Available seat miles fell 5.2% to 4.76 billion from 5.02 billion, driving up the load factor 4.4 percentge points to 69.8%. Total traffic, including charters, was up 0.9%, and ASMs fell 5.4%. The load factor for scheduled service only was up 4.4 points to 69.8%. May 96 May 95 5 Mths 96 5 Mths 95 RPMs 3,325,215,000 3,283,157,000 15,336,283,000 15,768,785,000
Japan Airlines is seeking authority to resume flights to New Delhi, India, after a four-year absence. JAL asked the Ministry of Transport to approve its plan to operate two weekly flights - one from Tokyo Narita Airport beginning Oct. 3 and one from Osaka Kansai Airport Oct. 6. Both will be operated with MD-11s in a two-class configuration. JAL said its plan follows recent increased Japanese investment in India. Before the service suspension, the carrier operated one weekly DC-10 flight via Hong Kong.
Dubai-based Emirates Airlines began operating two additional flights to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) June 1, raising to 17 its total weekly frequencies to India, airline officials said. Emirates offers seven flights every week to and from New Delhi. The airline also will introduce first-class service on the sector in response to passenger demand, and it will operate all flights with Airbus aircraft, they added. The Dubai-Mumbai route, one of Emirates' oldest, started when the airline was launched in October 1985, officials said.
