Fine Air voluntarily grounds itself
                    FAA finds cargo violations
     MIAMI -- Fine Air Services Inc., the operator of a cargo plane
 that crashed onto a Miami street last month and killed five people,
 has voluntarily ceased operations, the company and the Federal
 Aviation Administration said Thursday.
     The decision came at the end of a 10 day FAA inspection that
 determined the carrier had "inadequate control over its cargo oper-
 ation," the FAA said.
     The Miami-based airline agreed to the voluntary grounding in
 lieu of an immediate suspension, the FAA said. The FAA said it was
 negotiating the conditions for Fine Air to resume flying.
     The company's cargo operations came under scrutiny after the
 Aug. 7 crash of a company DC-8 shortly after takeoff. Four crew
 members and one person on the ground were killed.
     The FAA said its investigation revealed "significant violations"
 in cargo operations. It also showed that Pine Air improperly labeled
 hazardous materials and loaded them on planes with pilots' knowledge.
     The company said it was working to put in place new FAA cargo
 and hazardous materials procedures.
     Following the accident, current and former Fine Air pilots
 expressed concerns about overloaded planes and said the company's
 pilots believe a cargo shift on takeoff caused the plane bound for
 the Dominican Republic to crash.
     President Barry H. Fine had said in the days after the crash
 that the airline was safe and operating normally.
     The company had sold stock to the public just one day before the
 crash but rescinded the offering afterward and gave a full refund to
 all investors.
     Fine Air operated 11 DC-8s in the Caribbean, Central and South
 America, and was one of the largest freight carriers in Latin
 America.
 Knoxville News Sentinel 5 Sept 97
 ---------------------------------
     C H I C A G O _ The amount of money airlines spend on in-flight
 food varies widely, from as much as $9.59 per passenger (Midwest
 Express) to as little as 20 cents per customer (Southwest).
     That information comes from Consumer Reports Travel Letter,
 which, in its September issue, offers a thorough rundown on the
 hours at which various carriers serve meals or snacks, which ones
 offer special meals and what types, and trends in in-flight food.
     In general, the publication concludes, most of the emphasis has
 been on improving first and business-class food, though United and
 American have made moves to improve tourist-class fare as well.
     This comes after an era of food service cutbacks. In the case of
 Southwest, for instance, not serving meals has been a hallmark of
 its economy-minded sales pitches.
 Information on the Travel Letter may be obtained at 1-800-234-1970
                        More Happy Travelers
     Passenger complaints about airline travel were down from 759 in
 June to 680 in July. The latest figures from the U.S. Department of
 Transportation show that the rate of complaints per 100,000 passen-
 gers for the 10 biggest airlines dropped from one in July 1996 to
 0.87 this year.
     Topping the list in complaints was Northwest Airlines. Southwest
 had the best record.
 --------------------
   Washington, D.C.  Sept. 3 - South Korea plans to buy four Boeing
 E-767 military radar jets and 248 shoulder-fired Stinger antiaircraft
 missiles from the United States for more than $3 billion, the Penta-
 on said on Wednesday.
     The sophisticated airborne warning and control system (AWACS)
 jets would cost the Seoul government an estimated $3 billion and the
 mobile missiles and launchers, built by Hughes Missile System Co.,
 another $45 million.
     The Pentagon said in a notice to Congress that the weapons would
 improve both sea and air defense of a key ally against possible
 attack by North Korea. It did not say when the sales would be com-
 leted or when the radar planes would be delivered.
     There are 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, which has
 bought billions of dollars in American military hardware for its
 defense since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
     The sale of the missiles and jets, which keep defensive watch
 over wide expanses of land and sea and can direct fighter jet inter-
 eptors, is expected to be completed without opposition from
 Congress.
 ---------
      London  Sept. 3 - Federal Express Corp. said its first around
 the world flight was underway Tuesday in a move that will signifi-
 cantly reduce transit times from Europe to the Middle East, the
 Indian subcontinent and Asia.
     It also means the start of the first regular express service to
 Bombay, the company said. However, the inaugural flight skipped
 Bombay as bad weather delayed its departure from Dubai, and the
 company wanted to reach its other destinations on schedule.
     The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 freighter, with 64.4 metric tons
 cargo capacity, originates in Indianapolis and serves European
 customers through the FedEx hub in Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
     It then flies to Dubai to serve Middle Eastern customers, before
 continuing to Bombay, Bangkok, Subic Bay in the Philippines and re-
 turning to the United States via Anchorage.
     At the same time as the new flight, FedEx is introducing other
 service improvements for Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Lebanon, Oman,
 Pakistan, Qatar and Syria.
     FedEx, based in Memphis, Tenn., is the world's largest express
 transport company, carrying more than 2.8 million items to 212
 countries each working day, operating 582 aircraft and 38,000
 vehicles across the world.
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