Transatlantic schedules back on track

TRANSATLANTIC flights are returning to normal as airlines resume flights to the US following last week's suicide hijackings. South African Airways said its schedules to the States were running as normal by Tuesday. A total of 15 SAA return flights between the US and SA were grounded last week. The first incoming service resumed on Thursday and the first outgoing flight departed again on Friday. "The flights are pretty full, but there are still seats available and the backlog isn't too bad," said spokesman Rich Mkhondo. He said it was too early to determine how much the crisis cost the airline. SAA code-share partner Delta Air Lines by Sunday operated 2 093 flights, representing 82% of its normal daily schedule. The airline said its operations continued to be affected by Federal Aviation Administration authorisations, plus operational and crew constraints, resulting in some last-minute schedule changes. Delta Connection carriers ACJet, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Comair (US) and SkyWest were flying more than 85% of their schedules. Delta Air Lines' local manager, Margaret Copeland, said there was no apparent immediate drop in passenger numbers to the US. "We're mostly dealing with Americans whose travel dates were interrupted and who are now trying to get back home to families and loved ones. Overall there has been calmness and acceptance of the interruption and inconvenience." Delta's other codeshare partner, Air France, was the first European airline to resume flights to the US on Friday. By yesterday, it had reinstated 15 services to the US and all flights to Israel and Canada. KLM resumed its US-bound flights on Sunday. Its code-share partner Northwest Airlines has reduced its flight schedule by 20% and is reviewing its overall staffing. Lufthansa said nine of its aircraft were returned to Germany, 15 were diverted to Canada and 75 US/Canada-bound flights were cancelled last week. Due to the political situation, flights to Tel Aviv, Amman and Beirut were grounded. Flight patterns to destinations in the Near East and North East Africa were changed and Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Damman, Sanaa and Khartoum were no longer served. Services to the US were resumed on Saturday, excepting flights to Washington DC, Houston and Boston. By Monday, all US services were operational. (Hilka Birns)