Nashville, Tenn.-based FFV Aerotech, a subsidiary of Swedish high- technology industrial con-glomerate The Celsius Group, has won contracts from Saab Aircraft of America subsidiary Fair-brook Leasing and Atlantic Southeast Airlines for aircraft refurbishment work. Value of the contracts was placed at $4.8 million for work to be performed over the next year.
Lone Star Airlines Monday will begin direct service with Do 328 aircraft between Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and Torreon, Mexico, the Fort Worth-based regional announced. The carrier has scheduled a stopover in Del Rio/Acuna to allow Torreon passengers to clear U.S. Customs and proceed directly to their connecting flights once they reach DFW, Lone Star said.
Philippine carrier Grand Air launched service last week between Subic Bay and Hong Kong, offering initially a frequency of one roundtrip per week. Grand Air is the third Asian carrier to serve Subic Bay, joining two Taiwan airlines, Makung Airways and Far Eastern Air Transport, which fly between Subic Bay and Taiwan.
FAA's proposal to impose more stringent flight and duty time requirements on the air taxi industry provides no safety benefits, treats the on-demand air transportation industry unfairly and is misguided, House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) told the agency. Solomon is one of at least a dozen members of Congress who wrote FAA expressing concern that the rule could devastate the air charter industry.
Delta Connection Comair led six of nine publicly held regional airlines in common-stock gains during April. Overall, the nine stocks gained an average of 55 cents, from a March close of $12.98 per share to $13.52. Total market value of the nine issues increased nearly $115 million to $2.8 billion. Comair stock had jumped by $2.25 per share to $37 by the April 30 close after hitting a 52-week high of $39.25 the previous day. Fellow Delta Connection SkyWest followed with a gain of $1.75 per share to close at $14.88.
The State of Hawaii is urging DOT to approve Orient Avia Airlines' application to operate scheduled service between Honolulu and points in Russia. The privately owned Russian carrier seeks an operating permit and an exemption to perform the service using 132-seat Il-62M aircraft. "The service proposed by Orient will open an entirely new market for the State of Hawaii," said Hawaii.
Air 21, Fresno, Calif., will expand its route map to include Seattle, Eugene, Ore., and Redmond/Bend, Ore., beginning June 17, the carrier announced. Air 21, which is acquiring two more F28s, said it is targeting the Oregon points because they are medium-density cities lacking low-fare jet service. Air 21 now serves Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Fresno, Grand Junction, Las Vegas and Palm Springs.
Korea has approved an expanded code-share/blocked-space agreement with Delta, clearing the way for the carriers to begin the service June 1. Delta will purchase seats on KAL from Washington, New York and Honolulu to Seoul. Korean will buy seats on Delta between Honolulu and Los Angeles. Delta already buys space on KAL flights from Atlanta to Seoul via Chicago.
U.S. Major Carriers Operating and Net Profit Fourth Quarter 1995 Operating Net Profit/Loss Profit/Loss (000) (000) Fourth Quarter 1995 America West $ 22,721 $ 5,988 American (218,321) (252,132) Continental 74,596 41,028
FAA officials yesterday asked for proposals on ways to set up a privately owned worldwide network to share aviation safety information in an attempt to reach the agency's goal of zero accidents. The proposal is being placed on the Internet and will be published in the Federal Register today, and a notice will appear Monday in Commerce Business Daily.
United Express affiliate Great Lakes Aviation flew 87,300 passengers in April, a 54% increase from the same 1995 month. Revenue passenger miles also enjoyed a healthy gain, rising to 25.2 million from 17.5 million in April 1995. April 96 April 95 4 Mths 96 4 Mths 95 RPMs 25,206,000 17,538,000 91,145,000 67,670,000 ASMs 56,373,000 41,316,000 208,322,000 162,847,000 LoadFtr% 44.7 42.5 43.8 41.6
Iberia is holding talks with Lufthansa about a six billion pesetas contract for maintenance of the German airline's medium- and long-haul Boeing fleet. The Spanish flag carrier already is in charge of the maintenance of Lufthansa's 747 aircraft. The additional work being negotiated would be equivalent to one-third of Iberia's 1995 revenue in the maintenance sector, which employs 5,000 people.
FAA has failed to follow through on congressional mandates that certain safety-related systems and measures at airports be made a high priority, the Air Line Pilots Association said in comments on the Airport Improvement Program reauthorization. In a statement submitted for the record to the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, ALPA President Randolph Babbitt noted that 10 airport-related safety items are spelled out by statute (Section 47101(f) of Title 49) as warranting FAA's highest priority.
Investor Warren Buffett wants out of USAir now. Buffett, known as a shrewd investor who buys and holds stock for the long term, said in a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission that his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, tried to sell his 358,000 preferred shares back to the company. He also said he may try to sell the shares to a third party. Buffett threatened to liquidate his holding last year after airline employees failed to agree to concessions to help USAir lower its exorbitant costs. The holding represents about 10.5% of the USAir Group.
Northwest has issued "Getting it Right: A Response to Factual Assertions in Expanding the U.S.-Japan Aviation Market," its own study rebutting in detail assertions made by ACCESS U.S.-Japan. Prepared by Roberts, Roach&Associates, the study maintains that "the ACCESS case rests on two faulting propositions: First, that air service between the United States and Japan in some way doesn't 'measure up' and that this 'fact' can be benchmarked by service in the U.S.-United Kingdom market.
United Express affiliate Atlantic Coast Airlines offered 65.7 million available seat miles last month, a 16.8% increase from the figure recorded in April 1995. Traffic rose 7.3% to nearly 31 million revenue passenger miles, as load factor dropped 4.1 percentage points to 47.2% from 51.3%. The number of passengers boarded rose 10.1% to 127,691 from 115,998. Chief Executive Kerry Skeen said, "The results for April reflect ACA's continued growth in traffic while at the same time succeeding in our strategy of maximizing yield potential.
Taiwan authorities have nearly completed their investigation of bid-rigging allegations in the project to construct a second terminal at the Chiang Kai-shek Airport, an official of Taiwan's Investigation Bureau said. "The bureau finished its investigation into the allegations on May 7th," he said, "and will soon transfer the case to prosecutors in order that indictments can be issued." According to the official, the bureau found irregularities during two procedures related to bidding for the contract to install air conditioning at the new facility.
Taiwan, troubled by increasing numbers of birds near its airports and the increasing risk of bird strikes, has approved a new form of predatory practice - a one-year experiment in which 15 crested goshawks and 10 Asiatic sparrow hawks will be trained to attack lesser birds. A National Pingtung Polytechnic Institute professor, Fei Chia-Chi, believes hawks can be trained to patrol specific areas.
American Eagle affiliate Simmons Airlines in 1995 enplaned the most passengers, nearly 5 million, among the 124 carriers classified as regional airlines in the Regional Airline Association annual traffic survey published this week (DAILY, May 8). Meanwhile, Saab's 30- to 37-seat Saab 340 accounted for the most regional lift capacity in the U.S. airlines' 2,138-unit fleet, with 13.8% of total seating capacity.
An asset utilization group at United Parcel Service is looking at providing weekend passenger charters. UPS has 51 727-100s that have or will get new Tay engines, new cockpits, GPS and headup displays. "We have a lot of money in our fleet, and those aircraft get very little utilization," a spokesman said. The aircraft are used about two hours a day, compared with eight or more for most passenger-carrying airline aircraft. "We have been looking at the concept of creating a quick-change kit to convert them to passenger use on weekends," the spokesman said.
Air Alliance, an Air Canada affiliate, has ordered five new Beech 1900Ds for delivery in June through September. The transaction includes options for another five aircraft. The contract, including aircraft, spares, training and product support, is worth more than $25 million.
Slot Watch - AMR Eagle carrier Simmons was the largest slot-holder at the four FAA-designated "high-density airports" as of Wednesday. According to the agency's slot office, Simmons controlled 204 slots - two at New York Kennedy and 202 at Chicago O'Hare. Delta Connection Business Express was next with 136 - 16 at Washington National, 26 at Kennedy and 94 at New York LaGuardia. United Express affiliate United Feeder Service and TWExpress affiliate Trans States, which are corporately linked, occupied 119 slots - 17 at Washington National, 44 at Kennedy and 58 at O'Hare.
Lufthansa will increase the frequency of its nonstop Frankfurt-Madras service from twice to three times a week, beginning June 8. Three flights per week are as many as are permitted under the 1994 Indo-German bilateral aviation agreement, which gives the German carrier a total of 15 frequencies per week: seven to New Delhi, five to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and three to Madras. Lufthansa plans to increase the number of Indian cabin crew members on Frankfurt-India flights.
Delta and Northwest have joined United in seeking third-country, code-share frequencies available to U.S. airlines under the recent U.S.-Poland agreement. Also applying for certificate authority, via intermediate European points, Delta has asked for one of the two available code-share designations and seven weekly frequencies. It would operate daily service, via Vienna, with its code-share partner Austrian Airlines between its U.S. gateways Atlanta and New York and Warsaw.
Atlantic Southeast flew 75.8 million revenue passenger miles in April 1996, a 19.9% jump from April 1995. Capacity rose 6.6% to 150.2 million available seat miles from 140.8 million, as load factor swelled 5.6 percentage points to 50.5%. Carrier President John Beiser said, "We are extremely pleased with our strong performance....Our traffic growth in April was highlighted by a new monthly boarding record set at our Atlanta hub, exceeding our previous high set in March despite one less day." April 96 April 95 4 Mths 96 4 Mths 95
