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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 3358.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT United dominates at Dulles WASHINGTON D.C. Although only in operation since May 1, the hub oper ation established by United Airlines now dominates traf fic at Washington's Dulles International Airport. The'Dulles hub is working out so satisfactorily for United that schedules will be sharply increased starting next January 31 when 85 flights will operate daily, compared with the present 59 flights. Most of these flights are North-South schedules. The increases will be mainly to cities already served, accord ing to William C. Spiecher, senior vice-president and general manager of United's eastern division. "We're increasing frequency in key markets rather than adding a lot of new cities," he said. Additions include six flights between Dulles and New York LaGuardia, to make a total of nine each way daily. By increasing its service out of Dulles by 46 per cent, United is seriously chal lenging two smaller airlines that use Dulles as a principal hub: Presidential Air and New York Air. New York Air is owned by Texas Air, which will soon be the owner of Eastern and People Express, as well as of PE's subsidiary, Frontier. New York Air's future plans for Dulles will depend on the marketing strategy adopted by Frank Lorenzo, who controls Texas Air. Presi dential Air, a small start-up airline, has already cut a number of its schedules where they compete directly with United. To take up the slack, Presi dential is seeking routes not served by United, and is actively soliciting charter business. United is not inter ested in dedicating any of its aircraft to charter work, Spiecher said. Airline analysts believe that no airport can commercially support more than two active carriers which use it as a hub. The hub principle requires an airline to bring in its passengers from outlying cities, land, then redistribute them to its outgoing flights— as Delta does so successfully at Atlanta. None of the United officials who attended the Spiecher briefing would speculate about whether Dulles could support three hub operations, or about which two might be the survivors if one airline was forced out. It is a fact that no other single airport in the USA now supports more than two airline hub operations. US lawyer counters Avianca allegations WASHINGTON D.C. US lawyer Mark Corriea claims that some of the infor mation put out by Colombian airline Avianca about his firm and about ex-Avianca presi dent Andres Cornelissen (Flight, October 25, page 6) is inaccurate. Corriea's firm first made formal allegations against Avianca and Colombian Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who owns the airline, alleging defamation and interference with the firm's business. Avianca responded with a lawsuit in a Washington D.C. Federal court, and Corriea counter-claimed. Avianca is now trying to involve Cornelissen in the lawsuit, which it brought against Corriea's firm a year ago, Corriea says. No investigation has been carried out by the US Attorney General into either Corriea's firm or Cornelissen in relation to Avianca's alle gations in the Federal court lawsuit, which is civil in nature, Corriea stresses. The only action brought in Colombia has been by the Colombian Government on behalf of Cornelissen against certain Avianca officials. Although a Miami court ordered Cornelissen's arrest recently for contempt of court in connection with his objec tion to providing additional deposition testimony in the Washington action, Corriea says that Cornelissen had testified in that action but refused to disclose unrelated business activities. Cornel issen was not sacked by the airline, Corriea further says, but resigned after refusing to dismiss a colleague on orders from Santo Domingo without the approval of Avianca's board. It was in connection with Cornelissen's resignation in Colombia that the dispute between Cornelissen and Santo Domingo was kindled and as to which Avianca then sought to involve Corriea through the lawsuit in Washington. Corriea and his firm had served as counsel to the airline for over five years. Aerospatiale raises A320 credit PARIS ~ To finance its share in the production of the Airbus Industrie A320 and step up the production rate to eight a month with first deliveries in 1988, Aerospatiale is raising a $250 million seven-year revolving credit facility on the Eurodollar market, at less than 8 per cent interest rate, reports Gilbert Sedbon. The French state-owned aerospace group has mandated the Societe Gener ate banking organisation as lead manager. The credit carries a facility fee of four base points. Drawings will be at LIBOR (London inter bank offered rate) plus four points. If more than half the amount is drawn, Aero spatiale will pay a utilisation fee of an additional four points. There is no French Govern ment guarantee, countering Boeing criticism that the European consortium relies entirely on State subsidies. Shorts goes to Sweden Air Hudik, a Swedish regional carrier, has just taken delivery of its new Shorts 360. The airline's main route, on which the 360 will operate, runs from its base at Hudiksvall on the Gulf of Bothnia, southward via Soderhamn to Stockholm. Air Hudik also runs a night mail service between Sundsvall and Stockholm, so the aircraft is quickly convertible from passenger to cargo configuration. 6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 13 December 1986
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