What's Up

All Nippon Airways - Japan’s Ministry of Transport has approved the carrier to begin daily service from Tokyo to Chicago on April 13. Authorized to launch new service under the terms of an aviation treaty signed by Japan and the U.S. in April, 1998, ANA has already begun daily service from Tokyo to both Honolulu and San Francisco. ANA will utilize B-747-400s on the route with A319 seats in First Class, Club ANA business class, and Economy Class. Currently, ANA has 42 flights each week to Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. (PRNewswire, Mar. 18)

America West - The airline will add four daily nonstop flights between Orange County, Calif. and Reno, Nev. on June 6. The new service from Orange County, offered in B-737s with eight first class and 126 coach class seats, will be to America West’s fourth nonstop destination from the field, joining Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Sacramento. (PRNewswire, Mar. 1)

American - On April 30 American will discontinue its nonstop service from New York to Rio de Janiero. In an indication of the weakening economy in Brazil, American is making the move "because the route was not performing as we would have liked," said spokeswoman Martha Pantin. American will still offer a daily nonstop to Rio from Miami. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 12)

American Eagle - The regional carrier for American plans to fly its 50-seat ERJ-145 regional jets to two new destinations from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The new scheduled service will offer three daily round-trips to both Memphis and Pittsburgh. The flights from O’Hare to Pittsburgh will begin on May 20. (Dow Jones News, Mar. 8)

American Trans Air - ATA announced that it will offer the only nonstop service between Chicago-Midway and Philadelphia, beginning May 1. Company officials said the service will consist of three flights each weekday and two daily weekend flights. "Philadelphia is a major market that is not currently served with non-stop flights to and from Chicago-Midway Airport," said ATA’s President and CEO, John Tague. "Over the past 25 years, ATA has built a reputation of providing the best value for vacation and business travelers, and, as we continue to grow, we believe that the addition of Philadelphia is the next logical step in reinforcing our commitment to providing the Chicago area market with the best service possible." (PRNewswire, Mar. 1)

Continental - The airline has asked the DOT for exemption authority to provide code-share service with Air France between points in the U.S. and points in Saudi Arabia. Continental wants to introduce competition on the route which it says is "presently dominated by foreign flag carriers." The bilateral treaty between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia does not provide for third-country code sharing and the government of Saudi Arabia has "refused" efforts by the U.S. to amend the bilateral to allow it, noted Continental. The carrier wants the DOT to grant it the underlying route authority "to assure that Continental has an equal opportunity" and that any interested U.S. carriers "will be on an equal footing when the government of Saudi Arabia begins to allow such services." Continental wants to provide service between Houston and Newark and Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via Paris.
(Aviation Daily, Mar. 23)

Continental has asked the DOT to slightly delay the startup date for Cleveland to London-Gatwick service. Having just received "suitable" Gatwick slots on February 25, after months of effort trying to obtain them, the airline said it could not market or sell the service until then. The carrier would like to begin serving the route on June 30, even though its route authority is scheduled to expire May 17 if it does not launch service by then. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 3)

Delta - The carrier will enhance its service to Spain on June 1. Seasonal summer daily nonstop flights from Atlanta to Barcelona will be introduced, while flights from New York-JFK to Barcelona will be expanded to year-round. Both routes will be flown in B-767-300ER aircraft. (Reuters, Mar. 4)

Kiwi - The FAA ordered the tiny discount carrier to stop today because "Kiwi is unable or unwilling to provide service with the highest possible degree of safety." The federal agency said that the airline had failed to adequately maintain aircraft and could not operate safely without constant monitoring. Kiwi pilot Robert Link, blaming a succession of poor managers, said he was not surprised. "The biggest problem is we were undercapitalized from day one and therefore we were handicapped." (Associated Press, Mar. 24)

Malaysia Airlines - As part of a plan to scale down operations, the carrier will sell ten A330s, one B-737-300F, one B-747-300, and one B-747-400. Market conditions, which have led to reduced travel in Asia, have prompted several airlines to ground aircraft, making them available for either lease or sale. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 23)

Midwest Express - Beginning May 10, the carrier will launch four Milwaukee-San Antonio flights by way of Kansas City. On the same date, Midwest Express will add a third Milwaukee-Toronto roundtrip and two Milwaukee-Kansas City weekday nonstops. On June 1, the airline will accommodate summer travel with a third weekday Milwaukee-Denver roundtrip. Seasonal service to San Francisco will resume April 19, and new Saturday service will begin April 24. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 2)

New Air - The prospective startup defended the absence of specific service proposals in its request for 75 slots at New York-JFK by saying that it needs flexibility to compete as a low-fare entrant against Delta and TWA. New Air said it needs the flexibility and responsiveness to "initiate or modify existing services as market conditions may warrant" - as other carriers do - "without the repeated trips to the DOT docket sections, public comment and/or processing by DOT. To grant route-specific exemptions, without any flexibility, will place this new entrant at a significant competitive disadvantage." (Aviation Daily, Mar. 4)

Northern Airlines - The prospective airline withdrew its application for DOT certification, Saying that the company was unable to secure its financing, a spokesman noted that Northern Airlines thought it best to refile when its financing package is complete. The startup, based in Syracuse, intended to serve major metropolitan areas and medium-sized cities from there with Fokker F28-4000s. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 3)

Ozark Air Lines - The Columbia, Mo.-based startup applied to the DOT for a certificate authorizing scheduled and charter combination service. The carrier, not connected with the Ozark Air Lines that became part of TWA in 1986, plans to serve Chicago and Dallas from Columbia Regional Airport with two 32-seat Dornier 328 jets. Ozark wants to offer three daily roundtrips to Chicago and two to Dallas, both six days a week. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 19)

Reno Air - Effective April 19, the carrier will add one daily roundtrip from Los Angeles each to San Francisco and San Jose. The expanded service will bring to nine the number of flights to San Francisco, and will increase the daily roundtrips to San Jose to eight. (PRNewswire, Mar. 1)

Shuttle America - The airline will begin service between Buffalo and Albany, offering three nonstop flights on 50-seat Dash-8-300 aircraft. Shuttle America, started by former Continental executives, had launched service in the Buffalo-Hartford market last November, and will boost its weekday service there to seven daily nonstops from three. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 5)

Southwest - On June 6, Southwest will begin daily nonstop service from Raleigh/Durham to Baltimore/Washington, Chicago Midway, Nashville, Orlando, and Tampa. The service to Baltimore and Nashville will be four flights per day, with two to Chicago, and one each to Orlando and Tampa. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 5)

Spirit Airlines - The Detroit-based airline plans to move its corporate headquarters to Miramar, Fla., in the Fort Lauderdale area, in April to accommodate growth and expansion plans. Spirit’s reservations center and maintenance facility will remain in Detroit and expand. Spirit founder and President Ned Homfeld said South Florida is "an important focal point to Spirit’s future growth within North America and presents interesting opportunities to the south and into the Caribbean." (Aviation Daily, Mar. 19)

Sun Country - The carrier has completed a reconfiguration of its DC10s, effectively removing twenty seats per plane to create three inches more of legroom per seat. "We cannot be characterized as a cattle car," said Lori Barghini, spokesperson for the airline. "Taking 20 seats out of each aircraft is another way of demonstrating our commitment to customer service." Sun Country, which has operated charter service since 1983, has announced that it will become a scheduled air carrier on June 1. (PRNewswire, Mar. 23)

TWA - The Board of Directors has elected Michael J. Palumbo, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Palumbo, who joined TWA as Treasurer in 1994, previously was Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer. (M2 Communications, Mar. 24)

TWA will launch seasonal service from Lambert/St. louis International Airport to Vancouver, British Columbia on May 15. The daily service, flown with Md-80 aircraft, will continue through October 31. (M2Communications, Mar. 23)

William F. Compton, TWA’s president and chief operating officer, will become chief executive officer at the company’s annual meeting on May 25. Gerald L. Gitner, currently chairman and CEO, said it was "my initiative" to "kick myself upstairs" and make way for Mr. Compton as CEO. Gitner said he hopes to spend time on TWA’s strategy and longer-term projects that have been lately ignored during the carrier’s recent struggles for survival. (The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 16)

Effective May 1, TWA will begin daily nonstop service from St. Louis to Richmond, Virginia. The two daily flights in each direction will be operated in DC-9 aircraft. (M2 Communications, Mar. 5)

United - The carrier will expand service to Asia by adding a seasonal daily nonstop between San Francisco and Hong Kong from June 10 to September 7. United currently flies nonstop to Hong Kong from Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bangkok, and Tokyo. (Dow Jones News, Mar. 15)

As part of a plan to eliminate "C" scale wages, United will increase Shuttle pilot pay rates to the same level as mainline B-737 pilots on April 12, 2000, or at the ratification of a new collective bargaining contract. (Aviation Daily, Mar. 15)

United will add three more daily nonstops from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles. The additional flights will begin on April 4, and bring the total number of daily flights between the two airports to twelve. (Business Wire, Mar. 12)

UAL Services, the worldwide support division for United, said it will allocate additional resources to meet the high demand for its "Pilot for A Day" Program. The program, which offers pilots and non-pilots the opportunity to experience some of the ways professional pilots are trained, has several packages available. Depending on the package chosen, the program includes a simulator briefing, a full flight simulator session, and a tour of the Flight Center. (Business Wire, Mar. 4)

United plans to construct a new Corporate Headquarters office development on vacant land at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The company will initially base 800 people at the new facility, but will retain its campus in Elk Grove Township. Prior to the move to Elk Grove Township nearly 40 years ago, United was based on city land at Midway Airport. (PRNewswire, Mar. 3)

Virgin Atlantic - The carrier has asked the DOT for an exemption from slot restrictions at Chicago O’Hare so it can operate daily nonstop flights to London-Heathrow beginning August 11 and continuing until October 31. Virgin did not participate in the slot-allocation process for this summer - held last year - because it thought "it would be premature" to do so "far in advance of its receipt from U.K. authorities of a formal designation." (Aviation Daily, Mar. 17)

Virgin has announced new routes and a new corporate look. A spokesperson for Virgin said the new corporate logo will include the "Virgin logo, the Virgin Red and the Union Jack and hopefully we won’t alienate passengers in the process." On June 9 Virgin will initiate a fifth daily flight from London-Heathrow to New York-JFK, and a new twice-weekly service to Shanghai from JFK on May 22. (M2 Communications, Mar. 3)