Alaska Airlines has reduced its fares between Seattle and Reno to $39 on some evening flights. The carrier operates in the market five times per day with fares that have started at $59.
Southwest and officials in Salt Lake City will hold a press conference today to announce several ventures, believed to include a new Southwest reservations center. Neither city officials nor the airline would comment.
Six former South African Airways flight attendants have accused the airline of firing them unfairly after they reported to Taiwan officials that SAA extended their working hours illegally. The flight attendants, all Taiwanese, said they were suspended last December, immediately after they complained that they were allowed only a nine-hour rest period following a 22-hour flight from Taipei to Johannesburg. They were fired in April.
Business Express is rebounding nicely from its involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy woes. The carrier repaid its $4 million loan from Saab Aircraft April 30 - on schedule - and received a $3 million revolving credit in return, which it says it will not need. BizEx ended April with $6 million in cash, said Chief Financial Officer Lars-Erik Arnell. Although traffic is down year-over-year because BizEx is rationalizing its fleet and route structure, load factor was up 7.3 points in April to 46.4%.
Sabena has reached tentative agreement with its pilots union on pay and work conditions at Sabena and its subsidiaries, charter company Sobelair and regional carrier DAT. The pilots have opposed Sabena's attempt to develop DAT as a low-cost operator by paying DAT pilots less than it pays its own, fearing that Sabena would shift resources gradually into DAT, leaving Sabena less than an airline.
Code-Sharing Carrier Schedules Announced Or Implemented March 1996 Domestic City-Pairs Carriers Added Dropped American Airlines Simmons DFW-Amarillo DFW-Monroe, La. DFW-Baton Rouge, La. Wings West DFW-Amarillo DFW-Little Rock, Ark. Continental Airlines
House Ways and Means Committee voted 23 to 13 yesterday along party lines to repeal through Dec. 31 the 4.3 cents-per-gallon transportation fuel tax enacted in 1993. The short-term repeal would take effect seven days after enactment of the proposed legislation (H.R.3415). The bill includes language expressing the opinion of Congress that the full benefit of the repeal should flow to consumers, and it orders a General Accounting Office analysis of whether this has occurred.
...Delta has extended its code-sharing agreement with BizEx until Oct. 31. The previous agreement ended April 30, and negotiations are under way for a full five-year extension. Meanwhile, Arnell said he thinks the company will be able to raise the required capital to emerge from bankruptcy, but "who else will come to the table is not clear yet." The list of parties expressing "credible" interest - whether to invest in the existing company or submit their own reorganization plan - is up to eight. Arnell said the goal is to have an approved reorganization plan by Oct.
DOT's analysis that the development of low-fare airlines since deregulation is a "revolution" and has provided consumers with huge benefits is "flawed, inaccurate and misleading," said Aviation Systems Research Corp., of Golden, Colo. "The vast majority of carriers that started up before 1993 have failed and most of those started since that time are losing money," ASRP said. Of the 36 carriers that were launched between 1978 and 1992, only five remain. Of the 14 carriers started since 1992, only ValuJet has reported any quarterly profits, ASRC said.
United Express affiliate Air Wisconsin's traffic rose 21.2% last month to 40.7 million revenue passenger miles from 33.6 million in April 1995. Available seat miles for the BAe 146 operator increased 15.5% to 78.4 million from 67.9 million. The load factor was up 2.4 percentage points to 51.9%. Passenger enplanements jumped 25.6% to 141,560 from 112,727 in the prior-year month. April 96 April 95 4 Mths 96 4 Mths 95 RPMs 40,707,611 33,597,364 157,459,962 132,123,755
USAir Express affiliate CCAIR flew 13.4 million revenue passenger miles in April, a 16.3% increase from the same year-ago month, while capacity increased just 5.9% to 26.5 million available seat miles from 25.1 million. The load factor jumped 4.5 percentage points to 50.5%. The number of passengers boarded rose 5.6% to 72,671 from 68,825. April 96 April 95 4 Mths 96 4 Mths 95 RPMs 13,412,477 11,527,704 45,654,840 42,596,851 ASMs 26,546,006 25,070,217 98,965,530 100,656,471
Arriva Air International has applied for an operating certificate to provide on-demand domestic U.S. charter cargo service. Beginning July 10, the Mesa, Ariz.-based carrier proposes to operate a single Boeing 727-200 all-cargo aircraft over a Mesa-Memphis-Minneapolis/St. Paul-Mesa routing under an aircraft charter agreement with Kitty Hawk Air Cargo. (Docket OST-96-1334)
After years of salty, fatty peanuts, take it or leave it, Southwest is offering a healthier choice to passengers - raisins.On its handful of longer flights, such as Nashville-Las Vegas and Nashville-Phoenix, the carrier is giving passengers a snack pack with cheese, crackers and a fruit bar. It offers cookies on some of its morning flights.
FlightSafety International has introduced its first cabin trainer for business aircraft. The cabin and door/hatch trainer is 40 feet long and the correct height for training scenarios in a variety of conditions, FSI said. It can be used for passenger service and cabin management training as well as emergency procedure training.
American Eagle is negotiating with Northern Michigan officials to expand its Marquette, Mich., maintenance facility, even though it announced last week that it intends to cancel essential air service (EAS) operations to the community on Aug. 1. The carrier said this week it hopes to enlarge the maintenance operation by relocating it to existing facilities at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. The expansion would add 70 new jobs - all to be filled locally - increasing the facility's work force to 250 and its annual payroll beyond the current $4.5 million.
Pilots at Business Express will be the first to use a recently FAA- approved FlightSafety International crew resource management program for regional operators, FlightSafety said. More than 400 air crew members will take the CRM training at FlightSafety's New York LaGuardia when they undergo recurrent training for the Saab 340 aircraft. The LaGuardia center is equipped with a Saab 340 Level D simulator.
U.S. international air freight made up about 50% of the world's tonnage between 1990 and 1993, but freight growth pushed the U.S. share up to 56% in 1994, according to Patrick Murphy, DOT deputy assistant secretary for policy and international affairs. Murphy told an air cargo conference in Toledo, Ohio, that between 1990 and 1995, U.S. international freight grew by 49%. Latin America recorded the most impressive growth, 106%. Europe, Asia/Pacific and other regions - such as the Caribbean, Canada, Africa and the Middle East - posted increases of 34%, 40% and 47%.
U.S. Major Carriers Operating and Net Profit The Year 1995 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) The Year 1995 America West $ 154,733 $ 53,786 American 967,588 207,790 Continental 238,200 223,545
Traffic for Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air rose 2.3% in April to 66 million revenue passenger miles from 65 million in the prior April, although the regional offered identical capacity - 115 million available seat miles - for both periods. As a result, the load factor increased 1.6 percentage points to 57.7%. The number of passenger boardings dropped 1.4% to 292,400 from 296,500. April 96 April 95 4 Mths 96 4 Mths 95 RPMs 66,000,000 65,000,000 275,000,000 251,000,000
America West appointed Joette Schmidt senior director-passenger sales and Kevin Perkins senior director-cargo sales and marketing. Schmidt, to be responsible for all of America West's passenger sales activities, is from American. Perkins was a district sales manager for Federal Express.
The European Commission, preparing to rework its 1993 regulations on computer reservations systems, appears to be responding to pricing complaints raised by European Union airlines, especially passive booking charges, according to DAILY affiliate Aviation Europe. The commission, which plans to adopt revised regulations by the end of 1997, consulted travel agents, airlines and CRS companies last year and this year is circulating a "guidance note" that could lead to substantial changes in CRS pricing.
