Archive for March, 2010
Air Jamaica plane taking off. – file
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
National carrier Air Jamaica this week laid off 10 pilots and 100 flight attendants, but union representatives said Thursday that the cuts were expected and not directly associated with the pending deal with Caribbean Arlines Limited.
The jobs of the entire staff corps will be made redundant effective April 12.
Kavan Gayle, president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), told the Financial Gleaner that the redundancy was linked to the cut in routes, which was announced last month.
“This is just a layoff procedure because you don’t require the excess number to operate based on the present requirements,” he said.
The national carrier, whose profitable routes are being acquired by Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines, said February that it would cease flights to Grenada, Curaçoa, Nassau and Havana.
The airline said it would no longer service the New York/JFK to Grenada, and Jamaica to Orlando and Chicago, routes as of April 12.
Staff surplus
Gayle said the cuts were not a surprise because they were included in the company’s business plans.
“The fact that these changes come into effect, it does not require the number of crew to operate the new requirements,” he said.
The pilots and flight attendants started getting their job-cut letters on Wednesday, but Gayle said the distribution would continue into today.
But Bruce Nobles, president and chief executive officer of Air Jamaica, declined to speak of the layoffs.
“I am not commenting on that,” he said, when pressed by the Financial Gleaner.
Air Jamaica is less than two weeks away from closing the deal with Caribbean Airlines, assuming the March 31 deadline still holds.
The deal has its critics both in Jamaica and Trinidad, where media reports now are raising concerns about the transition costs that Trinidad could face because of the acquisition.
Air Jamaica, which is more than US$1 billion in debt, is expected to close down operations on April 12 for Caribbean Airlines to set up operations.
The Jamaican Government has said it will be paying out US$300 million, or J$27 billion, in redundancy payments as a result. Some of the staff are expected to be re-employed by Caribbean Airlines (see Page 5 for related story).
Gayle said the 110 workers laid off this week would get their severance pay on April 12, alongside the other staff.
But: “My understanding is, if they want it now, they can get their redundancy monies. They can apply for it,” he said.
He is also insisting that all outstanding payments to the National Housing Trust and National Insurance Scheme owed by the airline be paid over to the statutory agencies ahead of the winding up of the airline. The size of those liabilities was not disclosed, but Gayle said it amounted to “millions”.
“We are demanding that those payments must be brought in line. The contributions taken from the workers and also the employer’s contribution must be brought in line before the closure,” he said.
source: www.gleanerjm.com
THE first phase of the Caribbean Travel Pass (CARIPASS) will become operational by July. The agreement to bring the travel card into being was made at the just-concluded Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a CARICOM Secretariat release noted.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica and Chairman of the Conference, described the development as a “major step towards hassle free travel,” at a press conference hosted at the conclusion of the meeting which was held in Roseau, Dominica on March 11 and 12.
Ms. Lynne Ann Williams, Executive Director of the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) said that the treaty to establish the CARIPASS became effective following the signature of six Member States at the Intersessional Meeting.
The CARIPASS system will allow citizens of the Member States acceding to the treaty to travel using a travel card.
According to Ms Williams, equipment already was in some participating member states and the system would “go live” in July, after participating Member States would have put legislation in place to recognize the pass as a legitimate travel document.
The Travel Card, which was approved by the Twenty-Ninth CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government in July 2008, is a voluntary regime which will allow eligible CARICOM Nationals and legal residents to clear Immigration using designated electronic gates in Immigration halls.
A federal mandate that would require Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems in all emergency medical helicopters has been in the works for years, but it’s still not off the ground.
Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems are dashboard instruments that show pilots where obstacles are and alert them (through audible warnings) of imminent collisions.
The National Transportation Safety Board has been pushing for these systems in all emergency medical helicopters for years, and the family of Kirstin Blockinger, the 14-month-old girl killed in an Air Angels helicopter crash in Aurora in 2008, has also been urging the government to require them.
The NTSB first made this recommendation in February of 2006. Shortly after, the Federal Aviation Administration formed a committee to set standards for the systems in helicopters and in December of 2008 published those technical standards.
In November of last year, the FAA announced its intention to require TAWS in medical copters. However, that rule is still “in process,” according to FAA spokesman Elizabeth Cory. She said it must still be approved by the Department of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget.
The FAA has several concerns with installing TAWS in helicopters and has noted that the low altitudes of copter flights could cause the systems to give off false alarms.
However, Cory said, roughly 80 percent of the approximately 840 emergency medical helicopters currently flying already have the systems installed. And the FAA has taken several other steps, including launching task forces to reduce the number of emergency medical copter accidents and consistently revising standards for the operations of those vehicles.
In Aurora, the Air Angels helicopter hit a guy wire near the top of a 734-foot radio tower, causing the aircraft to crash.
The NTSB, in its final report on the accident, notes that Honeywell International performed a simulation using data from the crash and its own helicopter TAWS. According to Honeywell, the TAWS could have provided the pilot with a “caution obstacle” warning 34 seconds before impact, and a “warning obstacle” alert 23 seconds before impact.
TAWS units can cost between $11,000 and $30,000 to purchase and install.
Source The B-N
Airlines are pushing back against new rules that give fliers more rights.
They are threatening to cancel scores of flights in response to a new rule that would prohibit airlines from keeping passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours without giving travelers the opportunity to get off the plane. As of April 29, carriers that break the rule would face steep fines of up to $27,500 per passenger, or more than $4 million on a full Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.
Carriers say that to avoid those fines, they will aggressively cancel flights before and during storms — even if the bad weather never materializes. The threats could foreshadow significant changes in air travel, making it even less reliable for millions of road warriors and vacationers. By canceling flights, it could take days for all travelers to get home when storms strike.
Of course, the warnings from carriers could simply be posturing to pressure the government into leniency. Passenger-rights advocates say airlines are trying to scare fliers. And the Department of Transportation says carriers have other options to avoid fines.
Still, last Tuesday, Continental Airlines Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Smisek threw down the gauntlet, calling DOT’s rule “stupid.” Even though many passengers will risk long delays to get where they are going, “the government by God says, ‘We’re going to fine you $27,500,’” he said at an investor conference in New York. “Here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to cancel the flight.”
Other airlines have also raised warning flags. Both JetBlue Airways Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. have asked the DOT for waivers from the new rules at New York’s Kennedy International Airport, where the longest runway is now closed for resurfacing, adding to delays at one of the nation’s most-congested airports.
Airlines have already shown that they are willing to aggressively cancel flights. Amid record snowstorms — and in anticipation of the new rules — airlines canceled 34,588 flights in February, nearly four times as many as were canceled in February 2009, according to FlightStats.com. That meant some travelers who might have been able to fly ended up stuck for several days before empty seats opened up for them on other flights.
“This is real,” said James May, chief executive of the Air Transport Association, an airline industry group that lobbied against the tarmac delay limit. “It’s hard to predict right now how significant it’s going to be, but I don’t think there is any question we’ll see significantly more flights canceled because no one wants to subject their company to those fines.”
The DOT won’t comment on airline motives, but in a statement, spokesman Bill Mosley said airlines have options other than resorting to large-scale flight cancellations.
“Carriers have it within their power to schedule their flights more realistically, to have spare aircraft and crews available to avoid cancellations, to ensure that their crews do not come up against flight and duty time limitations when tarmac delays occur, and to place passengers on other carriers’ flights when flights must be canceled for whatever reason,” Mosley said. Travelers can always switch airlines if one carrier starts canceling too often, he adds.
When bad weather hits
Different airlines have always had different philosophies on handling severe weather, with some aggressively canceling all the time with stormy forecasts and others trying to operate every flight possible regardless of how late those trips might run.
Some carriers believe that canceling quickly offers customers more predictability, allowing them to stay home or hunker down in hotel rooms rather than wait (or sleep) at an airport. And those that try to wait out bad weather and operate as many flights as possible believe customers prefer airlines that make every effort to get you where you want to go, even if it means middle-of-the-night arrivals.
But each strategy has its risks. Delta, for example, was criticized for canceling flights out of New Orleans early before Hurricane Katrina, leaving customers stranded at the airport for the storm. Delta still maintains early cancellations are preferred by customers.
On the other hand, JetBlue, which used to avoid cancellations to an extreme, found itself in a mess in 2007 when a Valentine’s Day ice storm left planes piled up for hours and hours at JFK.
Last year, Continental had the lowest percentage of canceled flights among major airlines, at 0.5 percent of departures, according to FlightStats, a flight-tracking service. But a regional airline flight on behalf of Continental that was left sitting overnight last summer in Rochester, Minn., so outraged the DOT that it fined Continental, its partner ExpressJet Inc., and Delta, whose agent refused to open a gate for the stranded plane. That incident also moved the DOT to enact its new rule.
Source: wsj.com
NEW YORK – An international airline group said Wednesday that airlines flew 5.7 percent more passengers in January than the same month a year earlier.
The International Air Transport Association said premium travel rose 5.5 percent in the first month of 2010, while economy travel rose 5.7 percent.
Compared with recent low points last year, first and business-class traffic has improved more than coach, IATA said. But premium traffic has much farther to climb to reach 2008 peaks. Premium traffic is now 16 percent under 2008 highs, while economy is just 3 percent under the best times of that year.
Fares are also rising and are up about 10 percent from mid-2009 lows, the trade group said. But fares for business and first class are still 30 percent lower than early 2008 highs, on average.
Source: AP
CHICAGO – Pilots from five airlines joined a picket line of union pilots at United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp., to protest job outsourcing by airlines around the world. Other United Airlines unions also formed a group of about 200 protesters Wednesday at UAL’s downtown Chicago headquarters.
Pilots are particularly concerned about a new joint venture between United and Aer Lingus Group PLC, which will begin flights between Dulles International Airport and Madrid late this month. Staffing for the flights will be outsourced, signaling a trend in the airline industry that provides profits for airlines, even as they cut jobs, said Wendy Morse, head of United’s Air Line Pilots’ Association union.
“Job outsourcing has become a global issue,” she said, noting that United sent a representative to support Lufthansa pilots in Germany during a work stoppage there last month.
United has also substantially increased contract flying with regional carriers, who fly under United’s name.
A spokeswoman from United said the joint venture with Aer Lingus will create 125 U.S. jobs, including for baggagge handlers at Dulles. “We do not consider this to be outsourcing, since we would not have had this business if we didn’t form the joint venture,” said Megan McCarthy.
Aer Lingus Wednesday announced details of cost-cutting measures aimed at its cabin crew, or flight attendants.
Pilots from Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc., Lufthansa, and regional U.S. airlines Mesa Air Group and Colgan Air, a unit of Pinnacle Airlines Corp., joined picketing United Airlines workers Wednesday.
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure last week began to look at limiting the scope of cooperative arrangements between two or more U.S. carriers, or between a U.S. and a foreign carrier. HR bill 4788 raised concerns about job outsourcing at airlines.
Also in Washington, D.C., representatives from British Airways PLC flight attendants’ union, UNITE, were set to meet Wednesday with members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters airline division, which represents workers at a number of U.S. carriers. UNITE is planning a strike at the British airline. “We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at UNITE who are fighting for a fair contract at British Airways,” the union said in a statement.
Two unions at American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. are moving closer to taking a strike vote, citing stalled federally-mediated contract talks.
Source: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
British Airways will launch its second weekly flight to St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport at the end of this month.
This was confirmed yesterday by the St. Kitts Tourism Authority’s Director of Communication’s Saju Ng’alla who said the flight would begin on 30 March.
The second flight was originally scheduled to start on 23 March, but was pushed back one week before the threat of the strike by BA’s cabin crew. British Airways began its first scheduled service on 10 Jan., 2009.
The new flight, tagged with Antigua, will immediately increase capacity to the St. Kitts/Nevis destination, while offering even greater flexibility to the duration of visitor nights.
Two Emirates cabin crew have received a three month prison sentence in Dubai over sexually explicit text messages, the latest in a string of indecency cases against foreigners, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The pair, an Indian flight attendant and her cabin services supervisor, were convicted of “coercion to commit sin” over the messages and initially sentenced to six months in jail, The National newspaper said on its website, citing court documents.
The sentence was reduced on appeal last week to three months and deportation orders against the pair were lifted, it added. It did not reveal the content of the messages.
Dubai’s foreign population has expanded rapidly in recent years as expatriates flocked to the Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub for its tax-free earnings and year-round sunshine.
The changes have challenged the Emirati population, which is now vastly outnumbered by foreigners, raising concern that their emirate’s rapid pace of growth is a threat to their social and religious identity in what remains a deeply conservative region.
An Emirates spokeswoman declined to comment on the case as it was still ongoing.
The paper said the case emerged after the flight attendant’s husband filed a lawsuit against his wife a year ago accusing her of being in an illicit relationship with her supervisor. It said the couple had been embroiled in a divorce battle since 2007.
The case is the latest decency case against foreigners accused of not respecting local mores.
March 18, 2010
US aviation regulators required airlines to install new software on certain Boeing 777 jets to prevent possible runway overruns during takeoff.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the directive, covering more than 800 planes worldwide, is intended to prevent the autopilot from engaging inadvertently during the slower portion of the takeoff roll.
There are reports of nine aborted takeoffs related to the autopilot malfunction since 1995, two of them in January, the FAA said.
There have been no accidents or injuries related to the problem, but the FAA said the matter could cause a plane to run off the end of a runway, if not corrected.
Regulators and Boeing have agreed that airlines should comply with the directive over the next three months, the FAA said.
Boeing said it has already alerted airlines about the software fix.
The order affects about 145 777s in the United States. Another 650 planes would be covered if regulators overseas adopt the US directive for their airlines, which is a common practice.
(Reuters)
DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — DFW International Airport has earned the distinction of “Best cargo airport in North America” for 2010 from Air Cargo World, the air freight industry’s leading global publication.
The publication’s Air Cargo Excellence (ACE) survey asked cargo airlines to rate airports on performance, value, facilities and operations. DFW finished first in the half-million to one million ton category for North America. The recognition for DFW comes as the Airport’s international cargo business continues to grow in 2010.
“DFW works every day to bring new business opportunities to North Texas and to have our cargo customers call us the ‘best in North America‘ is truly gratifying,” said Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW. “The entire North Texas economy benefits from DFW’s cargo growth, and we continue to look for ways to expand our international cargo and passenger traffic to promote the region as a premiere international destination.”
The Air Cargo World survey results were announced March 10 at the Air Cargo Excellence Awards in Vancouver. Top finishers in DFW’s category included Newark Liberty International Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.
“Cargo carriers are learning every day just how profitable flying to DFW can be,” said Joe Lopano, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Terminal Management. “DFW offers so much more than other airports including seven unrestricted runways operating day and night in any weather condition, tremendous cargo warehousing, and the ability to have shipments on a major highway in a matter of minutes.”
DFW’s cargo service is seeing a big rebound in 2010, mainly from a rise in Asian cargo shipments. In 2009, Asian freight represented more than 25 percent of all cargo at DFW, and export freight from DFW to Asia is at its highest levels since 2007. Cargo tonnage from DFW to Asia topped 7,464 U.S. tons in December of 2009, a 38 percent increase from the previous year.
DFW currently has 12 air cargo carriers serving 14 global destinations in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Australia.
About DFW International Airport
Located halfway between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, DFW International Airport is the world’s third busiest, offering nearly 1,750 flights per day and serving 57 million passengers a year. DFW has been named “Best Airport for Customer Service in North America” by an Airports Council International survey of passengers in 2006 and 2007. DFW International Airport provides non-stop service to 140 domestic and 40 international destinations worldwide. For the latest news, real-time flight information, parking availability or further details regarding the many services provided at DFW International Airport, log on to www.dfwairport.com.
SOURCE DFW International Airport