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Monday, May 26, 2003

Briefs

  • Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has now sent letters to 66 U.S. carriers advising them of their share of $2.3 billion in rebated security fees based on what the carriers have already paid to TSA since February 2002. TSA head James Loy cautioned that the program is "not simply a cash handout for airlines to restore them to economic health. In order to receive this money, Congress has required that the carriers report how they allocated the funds to offset operating expenses. In certain cases, air carriers must sign agreements with TSA limiting the amount of compensation their top executives receive. Congress also set aside $100 million to compensate carriers for costs associated with reinforcing cockpit doors, and suspended from June 1 through Sept. 30 the $5 per leg security fee that has been assessed on passenger tickets since February 2002.

 

  • Air Wisconsin President and CEO Geoff Crowley reported at the Regional Airline Association (RAA) conference last week that his airline will remove its last four Dornier 328 turboprops from the fleet by July. This will turn Air Wisconsin into an all-jet fleet operating 44 CRJ 200s and 17 BAe 146-200/300s. The airline has an additional 26 CRJ 200s on order with 20 conditional orders and 75 options. He also noted that Air Wisconsin's AirTran JetConnect operation will increase up to 10 destinations out of the Atlanta hub. It currently connects seven destinations to Atlanta.

 

  • SkyWest President Jerry Atkin said that he hopes to add a fourth code-share partner to the SkyWest stable by the end of the year. SkyWest is a long-time code-share partner with United and Delta, and recently signed with Continental for operation of its fleet of 10 Embraer Brasilias out of Houston.

 

  • Atlantic Southwest Airlines (ASA) president Skip Barnette said that he hopes to make a decision within the next 18 to 24 months on the future of the airline's 19 ATR 72s. The aircraft, which serves short-haul markets out of Atlanta, "is still a good aircraft for our mix of flights under 200 miles," he said. Options include renewing the leases on the aircraft, exchanging them for newer generation ATR 72s or selecting another turboprop.

 

  • Rich Leach, president of Trans States Airlines, said that his company would break the 1 billion ASM (available seat mile) barrier this year. The airline is also on track to carry 2.5 million passengers. Trans States currently operates a fleet of EMB-145s, Jetstream41s and ATR-72s, and is in discussion with Embraer for a package that could include the Embraer 170s, although he noted that Embraer's order book "is a bit full," referring to the recent 85 aircraft order by US Airways and 12 aircraft order by Republic Airways Holdings.

 

  • Ron Henson of Ford & Harrison, an Atlanta-based law firm, told attendees at the Regional Airline Association (RAA) conference that the recent loosening of scoop clause requirements by American, US Airways and United is creating a new labor negotiating climate. The economic realities and costs constraints of today's industry are major issues that need to be addressed if airlines are to maintain cost competitiveness, he said.

 

  • Sabre Airline Solutions announced contracts with two regionals to support automated pilot training and preferential bidding systems. Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) will use the Sabre CrewClass training scheduling system, a new module within the Sabre Flight Control Suite. This will allow ACA to match automatically the timing for scheduling of flight simulators, classrooms, instructors and the other training resources required for maintaining pilot qualifications. Major objectives of the automated process are to achieve maximum utilization of training resources while minimizing the time that pilots are unavailable for productive flying assignments. Chicago Express will use Sabre Flight Control Preferential Bidding system for its flight crewmembers. This will allow the airline's more than 200 crewmembers to submit their scheduling preferences via the Internet each month. The preferences are then entered into a proprietary lexicon and can include specific days off, generic days off such as weekends, specific trip assignments, generic assignments such as long trips, short trips or specific layover cities, or any daytime considerations such as no early starts or late returns. The system then processes each crew member's requests in seniority order, using a specialized integer programming algorithm. This ensures that each crewmember gets as many of his or her requests as seniority allows. The assignments are also audited to provide an explanation for the assignments in the event that the awards are challenged.
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