A bankruptcy court judge in Arizona has approved a settlement between Viscount Air and General Electric Aviation Services for the continued lease of nine of the 10 737s leased from clients of GE. Viscount rejected one lease for an airplane that has been out of service in maintenance for the past eight months. Viscount President Byron Ellison said the settlement is a major step forward in the carrier's Chapter 11 reorganization.
LTU International Airways is offering passengers low-cost roundtrip rail transfers to any city in Germany from its German gateways. The carrier has resumed seasonal air cargo service between New York Kennedy Airport and Dusseldorf, using an MD-11.
A resurgence in parts sales is likely to boost Allison Engine Company revenues by a double-digit percentage, according to Mike Hudson, its president and chief operating officer. The company lost money in 1994 but met expectations in 1995 following its acquisition by Rolls-Royce in March. In the nine months following the sale, Allison posted sales of $565 million with an operating profit of $59 million and a before-tax profit of $45 million.
Domenico Cempella, Alitalia's managing director, has developed a new restructuring plan for the airline that would reduce jobs by 11%, cut costs 10% and divide the company into subsidiaries responsible for portions of what is now an integrated operation. The plan, prepared for a shareholders meeting this week and aimed at profitability by 1998, revolves around an aid package of 3,000 billion lire, including an urgent capital increase of 1,000 billion-1,500 billion lire as soon as this year.
National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that FAA require immediate and recurring inspections of tail booms in certain Bell Helicopters following the April 4 crash of a Bell 206L-1 operated by the West Virginia State Police into a hillside near Yeager Airport, Charleston, W. Va. The pilot and passenger were killed in the crash. Examination of the wreckage showed that the tail assembly, tail rotor gear box and blades had separated from the tail boom, and laboratory examination of the tail boom revealed evidence of a pre-existing crack.
Chautauqua Airlines may be a prime candidate for Embraer's new 50- passenger EMB-145 regional jet, currently touring the country. "There are a number of routes we could put it on tomorrow," said President Ed London. Senior partner USAir has cranked down its Indianapolis hub, leaving many routes open to replacement or complementary service. The Indianapolis carrier's average segment is only 176 miles, including Toronto at 439. Washington, D.C., Boston, Greenville, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Omaha also might make sense, however.
Air France Europe, which operates as Air Inter Europe, wants to discuss "a modification of cockpit crews' salaries in exchange for a distribution of equity," General Manager Jean-Pierre Courcol said in a letter to pilots. The majority pilots' union, Union Syndicale des Personnels Navigants Techniques (USPNT), said it would be glad to be represented on the board, but only by purchasing equity of an independent company. Syndicat National de Pilotes de Ligne (SNPL) said management is trying to crack the cohesion of unions in upcoming talks about restructuring.
Aero International (Regional) shortly is expected to narrow a field of four potential powerplants for its new 70-passenger jet down to two. Contenders are the Allison AE3012, in the 12,000- to 15,000-pound-thrust range, the GE CF34, a proposed Pratt&Whitney/Snecma offering, and the BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 series, which some say would be too big for the airframe. AI(R) is talking to regional airlines about a proposed jet with engines mounted under-wing and a conventional tail that would meet most airline scope limits of 70 seats and 75,000 pounds.
British Airways will serve ostrich meat in first and business class on long-haul flights this summer. Low in cholesterol and fat, ostrich steaks will be offered on flights to North America, starting in July.
U.S. and U.K. negotiators plan informal discussions early next week in Washington about a framework for further bilateral talks. Some observers believe U.K. officials intend to scout out the price of obtaining U.S. clearance of a possible alliance between American and British Airways.
DOT granted Polar Air Cargo's request for an exemption from the 90-day startup requirement in its allocation of eight weekly U.S.-Russia all-cargo frequencies. The department gave the carrier 30 additional days, to June 15, to start up service in the market. Polar said it was "operationally positioned to make use of the frequencies immediately" but experienced delays in obtaining government approvals within Russia (DAILY, May 6). Polar plans to operate via routings of New York-Moscow via Prestwick and Anchorage-Khabarovsk via Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong.
Swissair is discounting travel on midweek economy-class fares between some U.S. cities and Zurich, Geneva and Basel. Fares start at $590 roundtrip from the East Coast. Tickets must be purchased by May 25 for travel by June 30.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has ordered two more A340-300s, according to the manufacturer, Airbus Industrie. The aircraft, scheduled for delivery late next year, will give Virgin a total of eight of the long-range jets.
USAir has cut fares to the Caribbean for travel by Oct. 8 to Bermuda, St. Maarten, San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Croix and Grand Cayman. Tickets must be purchased by May 28. USAir said some of the lowest fares are $337 roundtrip between Charlotte and Grand Cayman, $303 roundtrip between Philadelphia and St. Croix and $326 between Baltimore and St. Thomas.
Air Canada's traffic was up 15.3% last month, compared with April 1995, on a capacity gain of 11.9%. The carrier logged 1.4 billion revenue passenger miles on capacity of 2.27 billion available seat miles. The load factor for the month was 61.7%, a gain of 1.9 percentage points. A 19.9% increase in international RPMs drove the overall traffic growth. For the first four months of the year, Air Canada's traffic was up 18.3%, capacity rose 11% and the load factor climbed 3.8 points to 62%.
FAA issued yesterday a detailed study of plans to revamp its Regulation and Certification program (AVR). "The FAA must prepare now to meet the combined challenges of rapidly changing technologies, and unprecedented growth in air travel in the future," said FAA Administrator David Hinson yesterday.
In the face of the continued stalemate between the U.S. and U.K., Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science&Transportation, has put on indefinite hold plans to introduce legislation increasing the permissible level of foreign ownership in U.S. carriers from 25% to 49%. Pressler said he announced the initiative several months ago hoping that it would "jump-start" the stalled U.S.-U.K. talks.
China Airlines has placed four firm orders and four options with Boeing for 747-400s, valued at about $1.4 billion. Deliveries will begin in May 1997 and will be completed in 2002. China Airlines currently operates 23 Boeing airliners, including 20 747s. It recently ordered six 737-800s. It has chosen Pratt&Whitney engines to power the new 747s.
The General Services Administration has awarded a contract, effective Aug. 16, to Federal Express to continue providing express transportation service for government agencies and cost-reimbursable government contractors, the carrier said yesterday. The contract has a one-year term, with GSA options to extend for up to four more one-year periods. The carrier has been providing contract express delivery services under a GSA contract since 1991.
Great Lakes Aviation will begin service at Muskegon and Flint, Mich., from Chicago Midway beginning June 17, the carrier announced. At Muskegon, the carrier will operate four roundtrips on weekdays with a reduced schedule on weekends, using Beech 1900Cs. The Flint service will consist of an extension of its Muskegon service from Midway, i.e., four daily roundtrips, with a stop at Muskegon, and a reduced schedule on weekends. American Eagle's Simmons unit will drop its Muskegon service from Chicago O'Hare July 1.
A DOT analysis of new-entrant airline safety data, dated May 2 and issued yesterday by FAA, shows that ValuJet clearly had the worst accident rate among the nation's low-cost new entrants. Prepared for DOT Secretary Federico Pena, the study focused on 10 low-cost carriers, including Southwest. "ValuJet dominates the accident data with five accidents and three serious accidents in the carrier's relatively short history," said the report, prepared by the Safety Analysis Branch office of Accident Investigation, which includes data through March 1996.
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer posted a loss of $26 million for the first quarter of 1996, compared with a loss of $114 million in the same 1995 period, the company reported yesterday. Operating revenues rose 41% to $76.3 million from $54.1 million in the prior period. Embraer President Mauricio Botelho said the company is "beginning to see the positive impact of the steps taken by Embraer to control costs and improve productivity beginning last year following the privatization" of the manufacturer.
The government of Switzerland, concerned about political problems arising from Swissair's decision to move international operations from Geneva to Zurich, has decided to end the carrier's monopoly on air transport in Switzerland and open Geneva to fifth-freedom operations by some non-Swiss carriers.
