With a public announcement on the potential American-British Airways alliance expected as early as today, American Chief Executive Robert Crandall was in Washington yesterday briefing DOT Secretary Federico Pena on details of the deal.
Air traffic control assets should be purchased from the federal government by a not-for-profit corporation, which would run the ATC system under a "user pay means user say" concept, according to a study by the Reason Foundation (DAILY, May 29, 30). The cost would be about $3.5 billion, the study estimates.
FAA, NASA, the Helicopter Association International and some Georgia agencies have formed a government/industry consortium to reduce traffic gridlock during the Olympics this summer in Atlanta. The Atlanta Short- Haul Transportation System Project will use 50 helicopters equipped with Global Positioning System navigation instruments to provide emergency services, transport cargo and ferry the media and others to the downtown area.
Federal Express plans to build a 400,000-square-foot technology complex on 70 acres in Collierville, Tenn., subject to zoning rule changes, near its headquarters in Memphis. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 1998. FedEx said it will move 1,300 current employees to the new complex, mostly programmers, software developers, project managers and technical support staff. The facility will include buildings for training, technology display, an auditorium and a visiting center.
A Northrop Grumman ASR-9 airport surveillance radar and a monopulse secondary surveillance radar were commissioned by FAA at Airborne Express's hub airport at Wilmington, Ohio. The company said the application at Wilmington is the first full operational use of the equipment by a non- government organization. Airborne also has added a $60 million parallel runway and new control tower at the airport. The radars cost about $5.4 million installed.
A draft FAA reauthorization bill prepared by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) essentially adopts concepts contained in House and Senate legislation already introduced, leaving out most of the controversial measures contained in both bills. The Pressler bill, expected to be introduced in time for committee markup Thursday, would reauthorize FAA programs for one year. About half the bill deals with commercial space transportation, which came under FAA's jurisdiction last year. Sen.
USAir launched nonstop service Sunday between Philadelphia and Rome. The carrier is serving the route six days a week with a 210-passenger, two- class 767-200ER.
FAA Administrator David Hinson said the agency agrees "with the thrust of the recommendations" on hazardous materials made Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board and "will now assess them in the context of the various actions" it already has taken, both before and after the ValuJet accident (DAILY, June 3). FAA and the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) will begin an "immediate review" of the recommendations, Hinson said.
Hawaiian Airlines plans to increase its frequency from Honolulu to Portland, Ore., from five flights per week to daily, starting Oct. 1. The carrier operates three daily roundtrips from between Honolulu and Los Angeles, serving San Francisco, Seattle and Las Vegas once a day via Los Angeles.
The National Transportation Safety Board, helping the Dominican Republic with its continuing investigation of the Birgenair 757 crash in the Caribbean Feb. 6, recommended that FAA require changes in 757/767 crew alerting systems, flight and operations manuals and the crew training syllabus on recognizing and dealing with malfunctioning airspeed indicators.
U.S. and Polish officials plan to meet in the fall to explore ways to broaden their countries' current bilateral air accord and possibly work out an incremental open skies agreement.
Frontier Airlines inaugurated service to St. Louis and San Diego from Denver, using 737s. It is operating two daily roundtrips to St. Louis with fares as low as $79 one way, and one to San Diego, beginning at $69 one way. It plans to add a second roundtrip to San Diego later this year if it acquires more aircraft. President Sam Addoms said the service will fill the void created when Continental dropped out of the markets in 1993 and 1994.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 Systemwide Aircraft Utilization Per Day 20 Fourth Quarter 1995 DC-9-30 Continental Northwest TWA Number of Aircraft Operated 31 98 35 Total Fleet Operations Departures 170 474 189 Block Hours 246 774 297
Comair has signed firm orders for five more Canadair Jets, bringing the number on order to 50. The Delta Connection carrier will use the aircraft to continue growth at its Cincinnati and Orlando hubs and to replace turboprop aircraft. It currently has 34 of the GE-powered aircraft in service and 16 scheduled for delivery through June 1997.
World Airways intends to shift its resources from passenger service to the wet-lease business, military charters and possibly cargo this summer because of declining bookings for its scheduled charter passenger service to Europe.
Talks between the U.S. and Japan got off to a bad start Monday as the two sides were unable to get past initial issues. U.S. officials were looking to resolve and move beyond outstanding issues, such as Japan's approval of existing U.S. rights to operate beyond-Tokyo service to Jakarta for Northwest and United. Northwest has announced plans to begin July 1 three weekly flights from Seattle to Jakarta, via an intermediate stop at Osaka Kansai Airport (DAILY, May 31). Japan was not immediately amenable to the U.S.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants FAA to require immediate and periodic inspections of perhaps as many as 6,890 older Pratt&Whitney JT8D turbofan engines, to look for fatigue cracks similar to those that caused the uncontained failure of a JT8D-15 Jan. 30 on a Delta 727, forcing the crew to abort a takeoff. NTSB is particularly concerned with fourth-stage low-pressure turbine hubs manufactured before 1989 from a single-piece machined forging of Incoloy 901 alloy.
Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Fuji, ShinMaywa and Japan Aircraft Manufacturing Co. agreed on joint negotiations with Boeing on possible participation in developing the proposed 747-500 and 747-600. The Japanese aerospace industry has been involved in Boeing's commercial aircraft programs in the past, particularly on the 767, and participation into follow-ons to the 747 is considered likely. Collaborative negotiation by the "All-Japan team" is expected to ease the way for subsidy from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Delta has reduced fares between points in New York and California and Arizona with a 21-day advance purchase. The fares apply to travel from Albany, Buffalo, Newburg, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y., to Ontario, Tucson, Phoenix and San Diego. The biggest savings are for flights to Tucson, which are reduced from $718 roundtrip to $388 from Albany, $358 from Syracuse and $368 from Rochester.
Maverick Airways Corp., a Denver-based company that hopes to start offering regional air service in the western Rocky Mountains, is closing a $1 million commercial financing transaction. The company said the money is the first of $8.5 million it hopes to raise in startup capital. The funds will enable Maverick to obtain aircraft and ticket and gate facilities at the new Denver Airport, where it hopes to base its operations, and it would help secure final approval from the Department of Transportation and FAA to start flights.
SAS and Thai Airways began operating joint flights Saturday under the broad marketing and operations alliance they formed last fall. The airlines, part of a broader global alliance that includes United and Lufthansa, will code share on 14 flights per week out of Copenhagen and Stockholm.
British Airways has started flying three times per week between London Gatwick and Edinburgh, complementing its current shuttle flights from London Heathrow to Scotland. The carrier has focused recently on building service out of Gatwick, adding 11 new routes from London's "second" airport during the past year. The Edinburgh service launch coincides with the opening of a new $11.5 million U.K. arrivals and departures facility in Gatwick's North Terminal, which connects the airline's domestic operations with European and intercontinental services.
Delta, Swissair, Sabena and Austrian urged DOT to dismiss Justice Department criticisms and issue a final order affirming its show cause order tentatively granting antitrust immunity for the carriers' alliance. DOJ recommended that DOT modify its tentative order, withholding unlimited antitrust immunity for four New York city-pairs - New York-Zurich, New York-Geneva, New York-Brussels and New York-Vienna - as it did for Atlanta- Brussels, Atlanta-Zurich and Cincinnati-Zurich.
Delta Connection carrier Comair has introduced nonstop jet service between Miami and Tallahassee, Boston and Montreal, Cincinnati and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Cincinnati and Huntsville, Ala. Initially, it is offering four daily Tallahassee-Miami roundtrips and five daily roundtrips in the Boston- Montreal market, both with the Canadair Jet. It is upgrading one of its three current flights in the Cedar Rapids-Cincinnati market to the CRJ, and on July 1 another will be upgraded. The service to Huntsville will be operated with the 30-seat Embraer Brasilia.
