Archive for March, 2008
March 27, 2008
Passengers on UK-registered aircraft could soon be able to use their mobile phones to make calls and send text messages, the telecommunications regulator Ofcom said on Wednesday.
Ofcom, which had been examining the proposals since last year, said the plans would be subject to approval by the relevant UK and European aviation bodies.
The regulator said the decision had been developed with other European Union countries and the system could be used in European airspace.
Under the plans, airlines wishing to provide the service would allow passengers to use their own handsets once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 3,000 metres. They would not be allowed during take-off and landing for safety reasons.
The system would work by connecting the mobile phone to an onboard base station to make and receive calls which would then be billed through a passenger’s normal service provider.
“The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK,” Ofcom said.
“If such approval has been secured it will be a matter for individual airlines to judge whether there is consumer demand for these services.”
In responses to the consultation, British airline bmi said it was eager to offer its passengers a mobile service.
(Reuters)
KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 26, 2008 – Air Jamaica flight attendants were back on the job late yesterday after staging a sick out to protest a range of issues.
Their strike action which began around 6 a.m. and lasted most of the day forced the airline to cancel flights to New York, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Toronto and Curacao, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at the island’s two international airports – Norman Manley International and Sangster International. (Photo: www.caribbeanalpa.com)
Their strike action which began around 6 a.m. and lasted most of the day forced the airline to cancel flights to New York, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Toronto and Curacao, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at the island’s two international airports – Norman Manley International and Sangster International.
Management of the airline and officials of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) which is representing the workers, are expected to begin a series of meetings this afternoon aimed at resolving the issues, which include wages and fringe benefits.
The workers also complained about poor working conditions. According to BITU President, Kavan Gayle the living conditions at a hotel in New York where employees overnight while in the United States are unacceptable and the airline’s management has failed to address the problem despite numerous complaints.
He said the union was interesting in finding a resolution to the long-standing dispute, but claimed that Air Jamaica had been delaying the discussions. “The issues vary from operational issues that affect the flight attendants. The flight attendants are governed by certain rules and we have been trying to sort out these rules with the company,” he said.
“We have been trying to have discussions with the company but have failed, so the ministry has had to intervene to facilitate the negotiations and it is against that background that the workers have gone back to work,” he added.
March 26, 2008
Air France-KLM may have to raise its fuel surcharge again to take into account rising oil prices, a senior executive of the European airline told Les Echos in an interview published on Wednesday.
“Our last fuel surcharge was based on an oil price of USD$90 a barrel. So we might be forced to raise it,” Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told Les Echos.
Gourgeon also said that the weak US dollar was overall “good” for the airline and that Air-France KLM’s business remained “solid” despite the global credit crisis.
(Reuters)
March 24, 2008
The gun carried by a US Airways pilot accidentally went off on a flight from Denver to Charlotte on Saturday, causing the plane to be pulled from service, the airline said on Monday.
No one was injured by the shot, and the aircraft landed safely in Charlotte. Flight 1536 had 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, US Airways said.
The pilot was a Federal Flight Deck Officer, permitted by the US Transportation Security Administration to carry a firearm.
(Reuters)
March 21, 2008
Four years after its roof caved in, killing four people, the boarding area at Paris airport’s terminal 2E is reopening following a EUR150 million euro (USD$232 million) rebuilding project.
The first passengers will pass through its giant lounge on March 30, two weeks after a new terminal opened at Heathrow — highlighting efforts by Charles de Gaulle to oust London’s main airport as the top passenger hub in Europe.
“This project supports our ambition to expand because in two years we will have added capacity for 20 million passengers a year,” terminal director Franck Goldnagel said.
“I think we can catch up with London by 2011 or 2012. We are already ahead of Frankfurt.”
On Thursday, workers were putting finishing touches to the 660 metre long boarding jetty after transforming its original concrete-covered vault, criticized by many for being too gloomy, into an airy glass, steel and wooden chrysalis.
A 30 metre section of the original concrete roof collapsed in May 2004, just 11 months after 2E was opened. French judges are still trying to find out what caused the accident.
The reopening marks a return to business as usual for Air France-KLM which uses the terminal as part of its Paris hub. It transfers European Union passengers from 2F across the concourse to board flights to North America and Asia at 2E.
After years of frowning on the tendency of other European airports to build shopping arcades, operator Aeroports de Paris has started to cash in on the association in most travellers’ minds between France and both food and fashion.
It added an extra 1,000 square metres of retail space in the new design for 2E, including luxury boutiques such as Prada and Dior, and top French chef Guy Martin of the Grand Vefour restaurant is responsible for the sandwiches’ recipe.
“We were looking for a French touch,” said Goldnagel. “We want passengers to remember they have been to Paris. Even in transit they will feel that they have seen a bit of Paris.”
Architect Paul Andreu, who also designed the dome-shaped Beijing Opera, had left ADP before the accident happened.
The redesigned building preserves the original elliptical or squashed cylinder shape pioneered by Andreu, but has been redesigned from the main floor upwards to bring in more light.
A 33,000 square metre glass outer casing on the old roof was preserved in a specially built airport hangar and became part of a new transparent roof stretched across a new metal framework.
Inside the terminal a wooden ceiling with plenty of gaps to allow in light creates a warm feeling while allowing passengers to watch planes take off or land on a nearby runway.
“We saved the glass but this is a new building calculated from scratch. The only special thing was the ‘deconstruction’ phase,” said project director Marie-Laure Kepeklian, a former roads and bridges engineer for the French government.
The terminal means big business for ADP and its main customer Air France-KLM and is regarded as crucial to restoring ADP’s reputation following the accident. ADP has a subsidiary which also builds airports abroad.
ADP, which also operates Orly, had the highest passenger traffic growth in Europe of 4.7 percent last year. It says Charles de Gaulle’s traffic of some 60 million passengers is about 10 percent below Heathrow’s, with runway capacity to spare.
“We were walking on eggshells during the reconstruction. We could not afford to have a single mishap,” said Romain Lochu, an operations executive on the rebuilding team.
“We put in lasers to spot the slightest bending of the roof so that we could evacuate if necessary. It only went off once when a bird got inside.”
(Reuters)
LIAT’s management is moving ahead with plans to open a third base in Trinidad considering it as an important development for the airline.
Chief Executive Officer of LIAT Mark Darby said the new base will help the airline to reduce its cost. He explained that LIAT has been spending a lot of money on hotel accommodation for its flight crews. “It will help us keep our cost down and if we can keep our cost down, then we can pass that on to the passengers in terms of low fares,” Darby said.
According to Darby, the airline spends between US$100,000 to US$200,000 per month just on hotels for its staff. “We feel that a change like this is important and it will save the company money,” Darby firmly stated. He said most of the airline’s pilots and cabin crews spend several nights at hotels in Trinidad and once the base is open, they would not have to do that.
Plans to open the new base within three months are being met with some resistance by workers based in Antigua and in Barbados.
Chairman of the Leeward Island Air Line Pilots Association (LIALPA) Captain Michael Blackburn recently said the body will not be supporting any arrangements for the establishment of a new base in Trinidad until the members get a chance to evaluate the relevant studies. Blackburn cited several reasons including the personal security of workers who would have to move to Trinidad and the cost of living in that country.
Commenting on this issue, the CEO said they began discussions with unions some months ago and talks are progressing. He said as far as the company is concerned, they have the right to open the base and their collective agreement speaks to that.
“We are just following the procedures within that collective agreement and with the support of the board which we have already been given; we’ll go ahead and do it,” Darby added. “At the same time, we have to be sensitive to the concerns of our staff, we are not callous people; we’ll look at their concerns.”
Forty-two members of crew (both pilots and cabin crew) will be based in Trinidad once all goes well with the new base.
March 19, 2008
Delta Air Lines on Wednesday said it added another USD$10 to US domestic round-trip fares to offset rising jet fuel prices.
A spokeswoman for Delta said the USD$10 is an increase to the fuel surcharge. The increase comes on the heels of one last week, when major carriers, including Delta, increased their fuel surcharges by up to $50 round-trip.
The increase reflects the pain that airlines are feeling as jet fuel prices, which rise with the price of oil, soar to record levels, and the US economy weakens. A barrel of crude touched a record high of USD$111.80 on Monday.
On Tuesday, Delta unveiled plans to cut 2,000 jobs and scale back flights as it led efforts by US carriers to cut costs.
Delta, which has been unable to seal a merger with rival Northwest Airlines, will offer voluntary retirement and buyout packages to 30,000 employees.
It is aiming to cut 1,300 rank-and-file jobs and 700 administrative and management jobs, or more than 3 percent of its work force overall.
(Reuters)
March 18, 2008
Major US airlines are beginning to shrink their operations as they battle unrelenting increases in fuel prices, a weakening economy and a sharp decline in their share prices.
In an effort to staunch the financial bleeding, executives at carriers such as Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are looking at unprofitable routes to cut.
“The world they knew has vaporized,” said consultant Mike Boyd, of spiraling industry finances and how chief executives plan to deal with it.
The steps carriers will take to manage what some industry experts see as the next airline downturn are expected to feature on Tuesday at a JP Morgan aviation conference. “They are going to get questions on this,” said Boyd.
A sense of where airlines are heading has emerged in recent days.
Northwest, which slashed operations in bankruptcy, may shrink the airline even more if fuel prices erode travel demand, the carrier’s chief executive said.
In a recorded message to employees on Sunday, Doug Steenland did not specify what steps Northwest might take or how much smaller the airline might get, but he cautioned that higher fuel costs can lead to fewer passengers.
“With that in mind, we have to rethink the size of the airline we operate,” he said.
Oil prices, directly related to jet fuel costs, notched a record high of USD$111.80 in New York on Monday before slipping to near USD$105 in afternoon trade.
Although Northwest and other airlines have reported operating more flights and fuller planes at higher fares, Steenland said the industry “as a whole” appears headed back into some “very tough times.”
US Airways chief executive Doug Parker said last month that the industry was “a mess.”
Airlines are looking closely at regional jet operations — especially the smallest jets that more and more carriers are flying at a loss. Delta Air Lines has cut some of these flights where operations are limited and may chop again.
“We’ll make reductions when necessary,” Delta chief executive Richard Anderson said in a similar message to employees. “We’re going to manage prudently through this spike in fuel prices.”
The fuel price spike coupled with a steadily weakening US economy has stalled the industry’s modest recovery from the 2001-06 downturn. As a result, airlines have been pummeled on Wall Street with steep declines in their share prices.
Northwest shares, which have lost two thirds of their value since the company emerged from bankruptcy in May, fell 6.2 percent on Monday to USD$8.92.
Delta shares, which have lost more than half their value since emerging from bankruptcy last April, traded down 3.9 percent to USD$9.23 on Monday.
United Airlines fell 7.8 percent; US Airways fell 10.1 percent; American Airlines fell 3.2 percent and Southwest Airlines ended just 0.6 percent lower.
The previous downturn resulted in bankruptcies and unprecedented out-of-court restructurings. Carriers appear leaner and in better shape this time to weather the oncoming turbulence, experts say.
For example, Northwest, Delta, United and US Airways, while in bankruptcy, dumped many older, inefficient planes and reworked lease agreements for aircraft they are flying now. Their labor expenses are lower, as are a host of other operating costs.
“We need to find ways to preserve cash by reducing capital expenses and operating costs. Fortunately, we have over USD$3 billion of cash on hand,” Steenland told employees.
Other carriers also have healthy cash balances for now. United ended 2007, according to its most recent available regulatory filing, with unrestricted cash and short-term investments of USD$3.6 billion.
American had USD$5 billion in cash and short-term investments, including a restricted balance of USD$428 million.
Delta ended the year with USD$3.8 billion in unrestricted liquidity, including USD$1 billion in revolving credit.
Southwest, the biggest airline by market capitalization at USD$8.5 billion, reported USD$2.8 billion in cash and short-term investments. The company also had an unsecured revolving credit line of USD$600 million.
(Reuters)
March 10, 2008
The chief executive of Air France-KLM may retire in October but stay chairman of the Franco-Dutch airline, Le Figaro newspaper reported, without citing any sources for its information.
Le Figaro said Air France-KLM Chairman and Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta intended to quit as CEO after 10 years in October when he reaches the age of 65.
The newspaper said Air France managing director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon could succeed him.
The French government owns just under 18 percent of the airline.
(Reuters)