All Networks news – Page 1304

  • News

    IPTN focuses on higher capacity for N2130 regional family

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    IPTN has dropped plans to develop a shortened, 80-seat, version of the planned N2130 short-haul jet-airliner and instead opted for a larger-aircraft family with six-abreast seating for between 104 and 132 passengers. The Indonesian manufacturer had intended building three different sizes of N2130, seating 80, 100 and 130 ...

  • News

    Lufthansa Cityline

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Lufthansa is fighting hub congestion by offering an increasing number of direct city-to-city flights, both within Germany and to destinations in Europe, avoiding its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. Flying 320 flights daily to European centres on routes for which traffic is too light for a 100-seat aircraft is the ...

  • News

    BA Levant deal

    1997-03-01T17:54:00Z

    British Airways has resurrected its franchise arrangement with its erstwhile UK rival British Mediterranean, for the routes from London to Beirut, Damascus and Amman. The carrier will also launch new BA routes to Tbilisi and Alexandria.   Source: Airline Business

  • News

    Foreign feat

    1997-03-01T10:30:00Z

    After completing a probationary period of charter flights, Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport plans to launch its first international scheduled services to Guam, with other Asian destinations to follow. The country's largest domestic carrier, which is controlled by China Airlines and the American International Group, is also seeking stock market ...

  • News

    Finnair merits a mention

    1997-03-01T10:17:00Z

    Your February feature on SAS included comments such as an SAS executive talking of 'a bunch of competitors snapping at SAS' heels'. I was surprised to find mention of smaller competitors at Stockholm, such as Braathens Safe, but no mention of Finnair. We established Arlanda as our second ...

  • News

    Why the customer must still be king

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Survival is key for airlines but their main focus should be on the passenger. British Airways' chief executive Bob Ayling was recently asked what he would do to change the aeronautical world were he given the power to do so. His answer went along these lines: 'It's flattering to be ...

  • News

    El Al tackles weekend trip

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The Israeli government is coming under fierce pressure to lift the ban on flag carrier El Al's operations on the Sabbath. The limitation of a six-day operation is blamed for $50 million of the airline's $120 million loss in 1996 and contributed to last year's shelving of its planned privatisation. ...

  • News

    Remarks

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Severe winter storms and high fuel prices helped to widen Alaska Air's fourth-quarter net loss; the airline had an $8.4m operating loss. A record load factor of 69.1% helped America West boost revenues by 11%, while unit costs fell 2.6% despite a 23% fuel cost increase. ...

  • News

    United target on legal front

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Low-fare carriers in the US are avidly watching how a predatory pricing complaint against United Airlines by one of their number, Frontier Airlines, pans out. A win for the minnow could encourage other no-frills operators to follow suit. Denver-based Frontier has asked the Department of Justice to investigate ...

  • News

    Surviving the customer

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Innovation has always been difficult in the airline business. The basic airline product is uniform throughout the industry, and any incremental change by one carrier is usually taken up by its competitors quickly - if it is successful. To survive and stay ahead of their competitors, airlines are constantly looking ...

  • News

    Startups slot into Japan

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Japan's incumbent carriers are bracing for their first tussle with new competition in four decades, though analysts doubt that air travellers' expectations of dramatically reduced fares will be met. The incumbents are also facing a battle for the 40 new slots that will be created at Tokyo/Haneda when ...

  • News

    Competition rules, ok?

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The buy/sell slot rules in the US are premised on the simple proposition that the market is better at determining the efficient use of a scarce resource than is an administrative or bureaucratic entity. Competition rules, however, are a different matter and properly the province of governments. To ...

  • News

    Alitalia in for a rough ride

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission has asked Alitalia to reassess its proposed restructuring plan and even then looks set to rule that the carrier's planned injection is state aid. It will also be looking at Alitalia's linkup with Air France, while both carriers suffer further industrial unrest. The revelation that ...

  • News

    BA-AA rivals round on DOT

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The posturing surrounding the proposed American Airlines-British Airways alliance has moved across the Atlantic with the US Department of Transportation coming under growing pressure from rivals to act. In the most extreme case, the outspoken chairman and chief executive of Continental Airlines, Gordon Bethune, is threatening to ask ...

  • News

    AA's China tie

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    American Airlines has signed an MoU with China Eastern Airlines envisaging codesharing on the Chinese carrier's services from Beijing and Shanghai to Los Angeles and its planned flights to San Francisco. China Eastern will also put its code on American domestic flights from the west coast.   ...

  • News

    Freight frighteners

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    After persistently failing to ensure on-time delivery of its product to Japan by air, a major European pharmaceutical company was forced to take a multi-million dollar stake in a local Japanese drug company to ensure consistency of supply in a last desperate bid to retain a foothold in this lucrative ...

  • News

    Shares rise in the east

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Four days before the Chinese New Year, China Eastern Airlines made an auspicious debut on the world's markets by raising an estimated US$250 million. The success of the issue should pave the way for the other Chinese majors to follow suit, although holding company China National Aviation Corp may well ...

  • News

    Global watch put on nations at risk

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    In these days of globalisation and robust economic growth in almost every region of the world, it is tempting to believe that nothing can go wrong. But in many respects this is the most dangerous phase of the economic cycle when businesses, whether they be banks, manufacturers or airlines, are ...

  • News

    People movers

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Hang on. The flight attendant in the blue Delta Air Lines uniform has an unmistakable Dublin accent, akin to that of her green-clad colleagues on the Aer Lingus Dublin-JFK flight. Either 100 years of Irish immigration to the US have failed to alter speech patterns or airline alliances are taking ...

  • News

    Easy ride on the Hill for mega-deal

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The face of special-interest politics in Washington is changing, and American Airlines is wearing a smile. An overhaul of the Senate Commerce Committee means the airline finds itself with new-found clout. The rise of Arizona Sen John McCain to chairmanship of the committee is a big win for American Airlines. ...