Cathay Pacific Airways included an environmental clause in a recent contract with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co., its fleet- and line- maintenance provider for many years. Contract language calls on the companies to review processes and practices regularly to reduce adverse environmental impacts whenever possible. Cathay said it wants similar language in contracts with its other vendors.
United will set up BoB teams this year at New York, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Santa Ana, Boston, Pittsburgh, Houston, San Diego, two not-yet- named international locations and the Chicago bag desk. A BoB team - Best of Best, aimed at better operations through employee involvement - has improved cooperation between United and United Express operator Air Wisconsin, implementing procedures that are limiting damage to baggage on the regional carrier's BAe 146s.
Air Line Pilots Association President Randolph Babbitt says union leaders are bracing for contentious contract negotiations at USAir and TWA. Talks at Atlantic Southeast and WestAir are proving to be extremely difficult, and the situation was "tumultuous" last week at Federal Express. On a brighter note, more than half of the 60 pilots furloughed at Business Express have been recalled.
Accident/incident data compiled by FAA indicate that without ValuJet, low- cost airlines, including Southwest, have an accident rate almost identical to that of the other jet carriers and a rate of serious accidents that is better than the other jet carriers'.Including Southwest among major airlines rather than low-cost airlines, however, produces accident rates substantially lower for majors than for smaller airlines.
TWA has gained authority to operate two daily roundtrips between St. Louis and Toronto, beginning June 1. Clearing the way for TWA, DOT redesignated USAir's Pittsburgh-Toronto service so it replaced Delta on U.S. Route A.8. That carrier had announced plans to discontinue the service June 1. Also, DOT tentatively selected Continental to operate twice-daily Newark-Toronto service.
John DeRose, founder and president of the Eastern Airlines Retirees Association, died in his sleep May 12 in Spring Hill, Fla. The association said his last request was that donations be made to the John DeRose Memorial, Eastern Airlines Retirees Association, 4491 N.W. 36th St., Suite B, Miami Springs, Fla. 33166.
United and Boeing are in the earliest stages of discussing increasing United's fleet by 32 aircraft, a mix of mostly 777s and 747-400s, and a handful of 767s and 757s, executives familiar with the talks said Friday. But they stressed that the fleet composition could change and that the mentioned aircraft types are merely a starting point for talks. United representatives would say only that the airline knows it must replace about 93 aircraft in the next five years as it phases out older aircraft. It would not say whether it has decided to talk to a single manufacturer.
Continental has promoted Ben Baldanza to senior VP-pricing and route scheduling. He has been VP-pricing and route scheduling and is credited with a major role in Continental's revenue improvements.
FAA is allowing parties an additional three months to comment on a recent advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding passenger facility charges. The ANPRM directed airlines seeking an increase in PFC collection and handling compensation to file detailed justification for the request, and the Air Transport Association asked for more time to compile the data.
DOT approved on Friday Continental's code-share pact with TACA Group carriers Taca and Lacsa and some service with Aviateca. The department deferred, however, a ruling on Continental's request to code share on some services with Aviateca, and on proposed code shares with Nica and Copa.
Saying resolution of FAA's concerns about it "appears to be imminent," HCL Aviation Inc., operating as Av Atlantic, asked DOT to move quickly to determine its continuing fitness - and grant it an exemption from the 45- day advance filing requirement to begin operations after suspension - so it can resume its planned operations as soon as possible. Citing discrepancies in flight attendant training, testing and qualification, FAA suspended the operating certificate of the Savannah, Ga.-based charter carrier May 13 (DAILY, May 15).
Granted orally to Japan Air Lines the rights to conduct its currently authorized all-cargo services to or from any point or points in Japan and co-terminalize all U.S. points for which JAL holds all-cargo authority.
The Airlines of Britain Group recorded a strong profit for 1995 despite a slightly weaker performance by British Midland against new competition from the Channel Tunnel. The group's pretax profit was 6.2 million, up from 300,000 in 1994. The British Midland unit accounted for 4.1 million of the total but fell off from a 4.4 million profit in 1994. Revenue increased 7% to 553.3 million from 518.8 million. The group's regional airlines posted a strong turnaround with a profit of 1.3 million for the year, compared with a loss of 5.1 million in 1994.
FAA continues to draw criticism for its handling of a report on new-entrant safety data as it proceeds with its expanded review of ValuJet. As of Friday afternoon, FAA had completed 1,050 special inspections or certification actions involving 2,700 labor hours, said FAA Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification Anthony Broderick. The number of inspectors assigned to the task will rise from 33 to 37 today, when the agency takes over the carrier's proficiency checks, he added. "I don't want to pretend this isn't a strain.
Air South is offering a two-for-one sale to all of its destinations for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons. Two travelers flying from Columbia, S.C., to New York can fly on fares as low as $69 one- way.
United will operate 295 daily flights to 60 cities from Denver this summer. The carrier will beef up service to Los Angeles, increasing daily departures from 14 to 16 on June 20, to 18 on July 1 and to 20 on July 9, using 737-300 aircraft for the new service. It will add flights to Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Des Moines, Kansas City, Minneapolis, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Tampa, and it will offer new, seasonal daily flights from Denver to Anchorage and Jackson Hole. United also will offer one-stop service to London Heathrow from Denver, using 777s.
U.S. National Carriers Traffic April, 4 Months 1996 April April % 1996 1995 Change Alaska Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 778,000 660,000 17.9 Available Seat Miles (000) 1,196,000 1,091,000 9.6 Load Factor (%) 65.1 60.5 Passengers 945,300 773,600 22.2
Proposed an airworthiness directive on certain Beech BAe 125-800A and -1000A aircraft and Hawker 800 and 1000 aircraft requiring modification of the TKS metering pump in the airframe ice protection system. Proposed an AD on certain Gates Learjet 35 and 36 aircraft requiring reduction of the maximum operating limit speed.
Northwest obtained authority to operate code-share services with Alaska Airlines between Anchorage, on the one hand, and Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, Russia, on the other. (Docket OST-96-1357)
Superseded an AD on McDonnell Douglas DC-9, DC-9-80, MD-88 and C-9 aircraft requiring additional aging aircraft inspections. Adopted an AD on certain Aviat S-1S, S-1T, S-2, S-2A, S-2S and S-2B aircraft requiring repetitive inspections of the flight control stick for cracks. Adopted an AD on McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft requiring inspection and eventual modification of the sidewall vent box diaphragms.
Oxygen canisters being transported in the cargo compartment of ValuJet Flight 592, which crashed shortly after takeoff on Saturday, were empty, according to a shipping ticket ValuJet Chairman Lewis Jordan presented at a news conference yesterday. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are looking at the canisters, trying to determine whether they were full or empty, and whether they contributed to the crash, which killed all 110 people aboard the DC-9.
Miami Springs, Fla.-based Gulfstream International Airlines continued its rapid traffic growth in April, reporting a 93.4% increase in revenue passenger miles to 9.6 million from just under 5 million. Capacity rose more quickly - 101.8% to 17.3 million available seat miles from 8.6 million in the prior period. The load factor was off 2.4 percentage points to 55.4% from 57.8%. Enplanements were up 72.3% to 48,905 from 28,377.
U.S. Major Carriers Traffic April, 4 Months 1996 (000) April April % 1996 1995 Change America West Revenue Passenger Miles 1,272,192 1,139,630 11.6 Available Seat Miles 1,744,701 1,574,404 10.8 Load Factor (%) 72.9 72.4 American
Fifteen of the nation's largest regional airlines posted an average increase in revenue passenger miles of 24.6% during April. That compared to a capacity increase of 16.4%. The carriers recorded 914.5 million RPMs during the month, versus 1.68 billion available seat miles. That compared with 767.8 million RPMs and 1.54 billion ASMs in April 1995. Gulfstream International of Miami, although next to the smallest of the 15 carriers, led the group in percentage growth with RPMs up 93.4% and ASMs up 101.8%.
