The US TSA (Transport Security Administration) is breathing new life into a plan to integrate shoe-scanning technologies into US airport security networks in coming months. Once these shoe-scanners are in place, passengers should no longer have to remove their shoes prior to being allowed on board airliners.
The administration intends to acquire 100 airport shoe-scanning machines by 2011, according to information provided at the beginning of 
March 2010.
Earlier airport shoe-scanning trials took place in 2007, but were not successful. They were carried out at Orlando International Airport but – after seven months of tests – were pulled when it was found that some weapons and parts used to make Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were not being detected.
The scanners involved in the 2007 trials also picked up on metal components in shoes that were part of the design (so entirely safe), and this proved alarming to some passengers.
Shoe Scanning Technologies
As of 2010, more than 10 firms have developed shoe scanning technologies for use in airports. All have raised the prospect of a more successful outcome than the 2007 tests yielded, while the TSA has highlighted the boost they will give US airport security.
What’s more – a spokesperson for the administration said – there would be further benefits to them, too. Allowing passengers to refrain from having to remove their shoes “would help checkpoints run more smoothly and allow our officers to focus on other aspects of security”, Sterling Payne told USA Today.
Airport Security: Shoe Removal
The requirement to remove shoes at airport security checkpoints was established in 2001, in light of an attempted mid-air terrorist act, in which infamous ’shoe bomber’ Richard Reid tried to detonate devices on an American Airlines flight between Paris and the US. Only certain passengers were made to do this at first but shoe-removal became a universal requirement in 2006, after a fresh attempt at causing mid-air terror was unwrapped.
The machines being developed are various sizes and work in different ways. Some of them employ electromagnetic technology, others employ chemical sensors.
Source Airport Internacional
Nine months after programme kick-off already 1,400 engineers at the SESAR member organisations took up the challenge and initiated 75% of the almost 300 projects equalling to €1.9 billion worth in contributions.
Considering the number of projects and actors involved, SESAR is one of the most ambitious and most innovative research and development projects ever launched by the European Union.
SESAR is the technological pillar of the European Unions Single European Sky legislative package. Given the complexity of the programme, since it includes the coordination of a wide range of actors, the European Union created a single management entity: the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU). Co-founded by Eurocontrol and the European Commission, the SJU is a public-private partnership in which 15 industry members perform the work necessary for the modernisation of the Air Traffic Management (ATM) in Europe.
In his opening speech at ATC Global, the largest international ATM/ATC Exhibition & Conference, Patrick KY, Executive Director of the SJU, started with a strong statement: The mindset of SESAR is crystal clear. We work with a distinct implementation goal in mind, in the short, medium and long term. For this reason end-users of the SESAR systems need to be involved in all the steps of the programme. Thanks to the 15 SESAR members and Eurocontrol, there is a large coverage of the skills on technical level within the programme. The SJU decided to go beyond its members and search for other types of actors, which, even if they do not perform directly ATM tasks themselves, have to be involved in the work programme like experts from airlines and air space users. The sum of these expertises makes SESAR a unique platform where the know-how of every single air transport actor in Europe is used to reform the ATM system.
Source JU
March 10, 2010
The chief executive of Air Canada accused Emirates on Tuesday of wanting to “flood” Canadian skies with airline seats so it can scoop up passengers and divert them through Dubai.
Such a move by the Dubai government-owned airline would be “severely damaging” to airports and airlines operating in Canada as it would steal away the connecting passengers they depend on to make their routes profitable, Calin Rovinescu, CEO of Canada’s biggest airline, said.
“While its argument may be seductive, what Emirates’ strategy will do is constrain the growth of Canadian airports by turning them from hubs into stubs at the end of a spoke that leads only to Emirates’ hub in Dubai,” Rovinescu said in a speech in Vancouver.
Emirates has been lobbying the Canadian government to allow it to expand its three-day-a-week Dubai-Toronto service. It also wants to fly to Calgary and Vancouver.
A study, commissioned by Emirates and released two weeks ago, concluded that Canada could reap economic benefits of CAD$480 million (USD$466 million) a year and create 2,800 jobs if the Mideast airline was given more flying slots.
“It is well known in the industry that Emirates is trying to push hard to divert as much global flow traffic via Dubai in order to deploy its massive fleet of wide-body aircraft, including A380s it has purchased or has on order,” Rovinescu said.
He said statistics showed that the number of people travelling daily to Dubai from Canada last year was “barely enough to fill a mid-size, 213-seat Boeing 767″.
Last month Emirates’ senior vice-president of international affairs, Andrew Parker, told Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper that Air Canada and its Star Alliance partner, Lufthansa, were unnecessarily worried about losing passengers to Emirates.
He said Emirates’ Toronto-Dubai flights have been more than 90 percent full.
(Reuters)
March 9, 2010
Continental Airlines said its strength in Latin America, Asia and New York poses a “big threat” to its larger rival and former alliance partner Delta Air Lines.
Continental, the world’s fifth-largest airline, was part of the SkyTeam alliance until last October, when it quit the airline network following Delta’s merger with Northwest.
“In our prior alliance, we were partners with somebody who wanted to kill us,” chief executive Jeff Smisek said on Tuesday. “And it was a lot like being married to a woman who wants to poison your food — it’s just generally not a good idea.”
Alliances allow airlines to share pricing and flight information, as well as save on costs. Smisek said Continental’s switch to Star Alliance was helping to drive passenger traffic.
He added that Continental’s operations in New York, Asia and Latin America were a looming threat to Delta’s network.
“We’re a growing threat to them in the Pacific,” Smisek said. “You watch the fight over JAL and they were taking out their cheque book and spinning like drunken sailors.”
Delta ultimately lost its bid to fold JAL into SkyTeam.
Continental’s switch also brought it closer to United Airlines, which is a founding member of the Star Alliance. The two talked extensively about merging until talks broke off two years ago.
Continental has said it would prefer to stay independent, rather than merge with another airline.
Smisek said the airline would continue to watch “the competitive dynamics” of the industry in the wake of Delta’s merger with Northwest Airlines. He added that the merger so far has gone smoothly, although it is “premature” to gauge its success.
“When we chose not to merge with United, it was a point in time decision,” Smisek said, adding that he voted against the merger at the time.
“If we think it’s in our best interest to bulk up defensively, we’ll do so,” Smisek said. “But I think it’s premature to make that decision at this time.”
(Reuters)
Air China is confident of better times ahead this year, after it recently returned to profits and signalled an emphasis on its cargo business and a partnership with Cathay Pacific.
The carrier also says it remains on the lookout for domestic and overseas acquisitions, but will be “cautious” to move due to local laws and unions.
“The past year of 2009 was the most difficult year, not just for us but for all airlines worldwide,” said Kong Dong, Air China Chairman, according several local reports.
“I believe our financial performance will be better than last year for sure… We will look for acquisition opportunities abroad. But top concerns are local laws and unions, so we must be very cautious.”
Late last month, Air China and Cathay Pacific set up an air-cargo joint venture in China and will make use of Air China Cargo’s existing operations as a platform for growth.
Source eTB
Boeing has released the video of a controlled explosion onboard its 747 aircraft, which was conducted to test the impact of a terrorist attack.
The experiment – organised as part of the BBC Two documentary ‘How Safe Are Our Skies?’ – used the same amount of explosive pentaerythritol (or PETN) that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was accused of smuggling onto a recent flight from Amsterdam to Detroit as part of a failed terrorist attack.
The results proved that the Boeing 747 would have still been able to land without bursting its fuselage, even if the bomb had successfully exploded.
“If it was a more rigid material then we might have seen a crack or breakthrough but this is actually quite a flexible material. I was extremely impressed by the aircraft structure. It can sustain quite a hefty thump,” commented Dr John Wyatt, an international terrorism and explosives adviser to the UN, who replicated the conditions onboard the Detroit flight on a decommissioned Boeing 747 at an aircraft graveyard in Gloucestershire, England.
The video: Boeing 747 survives bomb test
Source ASC
Profile America — Monday, March 8th. The first helicopter for commercial use was licensed on this day in 1946 — just seven months after the end of World War II. The Bell Model 47B was operated by the New York Journal — American newspaper for news coverage and to deliver photographs. The helicopter proved ideal for moving around the crowded metropolitan environment, with its ability to rise and descend vertically, hover, move sideways and even backwards. It could fly forward at speeds up to 100 miles an hour. Helicopters continue to grow in popularity. There are nearly 9,600 in the general aviation fleet today — up 25 percent since 2000. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, conducting the 2010 Census beginning April 1st.
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
March 8, 2010
China plans this year to buy 218 aircraft, including jumbo jets and regional planes, to meet surging demand, the head of the country’s civil aviation agency said.
There were 230 million air passenger trips last year and the number is expected to more than triple to 700 million by 2020, Li Jiaxiang, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, was cited as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
(Reuters)
March 8, 2010
A fire broke out at a power generation unit at Istanbul’s main Ataturk Airport on Sunday evening, state run news agency Anatolian reported.
The fire only affected generators at the airport’s natural gas-fired power unit, nearly 200 metres away from the airport terminal, and no flights were affected, said Transportation Under Secretary Habib Soluk.
Broadcaster CNN Turk said the fire had started at 22:00 local time (2000 GMT).
Firefighters were called to the airport to control the blaze. The cause of the fire was not known.
Turkey’s TAV Airports operates the airport, which is the hub of operations for Turkish Airlines.
(Reuters)
March 8, 2010
Iran has given Russian commercial pilots working in the Islamic Republic two months to leave the country as it has no need for them, Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said the idea to order the Russian pilots to leave the country gained momentum after a Russian-made aircraft caught fire as it landed in northeastern Iran in January, injuring more than 40 people.
The plane belonged to Iran’s Taban airline but the pilot was Russian, Fars said. It did not say how many Russians currently worked as pilots for Iranian carriers.
“Upon an order from the president (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad), the Road and Transport Ministry has set a two-month deadline, upon the expiry of which all Russian pilots will have to leave the country,” Behbahani said.
“When our country itself possesses plenty of professional and specialist pilots, there is no need to bring in pilots from abroad,” he told Fars.
Iran has suffered a string of crashes in the past few decades, many involving Russian-made aircraft.
In 2009 a Tupolev aircraft flying to Armenia caught fire in mid-air and crashed, killing all 168 people on board.
US sanctions against Iran have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spare parts from the West, forcing it to supplement its ageing fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from Russia and other former Soviet states.
Behbahani said about 120 aircraft out of 193 planes in Iran’s commercial fleet were currently active, with the rest grounded for one reason or another.
Russia, which has significant trade ties with Iran, is among six world powers trying to find a diplomatic solution to the long-running dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Moscow has indicated it could support new sanctions against Iran provided they are not too severe. Iran denies Western accusations that its nuclear work is aimed at developing bombs.
Iranian officials have voiced growing frustration at Russia’s failure to supply the advanced S-300 missile defence system, which Israel and the United States do not want Tehran to have. Russia last month said it would not sell weapons if it leads to destabilisation in any region.
(Reuters)