Archive for June, 2010
NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Arguing that the West Indies Cricket and regional politicians have so far failed to unite the region, Ian Brunton, chief executive officer of Caribbean Airlines is bubbling with confidence that the partnership forged between Caribbean Airline and Air Jamaica will “unite the Caribbean people” and hailed the move as a great accomplishment.
” It marked a beginning of a new day in Caribbean aviation that many had struggled for decades. The union of these two airlines is a win-win product,” Brunton noted.
The Caribbean Airlines boss was equally optimistic that the newly formed Trinidad and Tobago government, headed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar—whose coalition defeated the Patrick Mannings led People’s National Movement (PNM)— should not affect the arrangement between the Jamaican and Trinidad governments in which the Caribbean Airlines acquired the cash-strapped Air Jamaica.
The Caribbean Airlines boss was equally optimistic that the newly formed Trinidad and Tobago government, headed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar—whose coalition defeated the Patrick Mannings led People’s National Movement (PNM)— should not affect the arrangement between the Jamaican and Trinidad governments in which the Caribbean Airlines acquired the cash-strapped Air Jamaica. 1/1
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Airlines boss was equally optimistic that the newly formed Trinidad and Tobago government, headed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar — whose coalition defeated the Patrick Mannings led Peoples National Movement (PNM) — should not affect the arrangement between the Jamaican and Trinidad governments in which the Caribbean Airlines acquired the cash-strapped Air Jamaica.
” Nothing is going to change. What has happened in Trinidad… there has been a change in government. But it is a responsible, modern Government. What went on between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the Government of Jamaica is an international treaty. It is something that is good for both sides,” Brunton argued.
Brunton articulated his understanding for media speculation over the coalition government of the twin island republic’s intent to probe the deal inked between the former Patrick Mannings administration and Kingston.
” The talks in the paper….. what you read in the press is really something you should expect. If a new Government takes over and large commitments have been made to the treasury and so on they would want to look at it to make sure it was done right,” Brunton noted.
He further noted: “There was also an election promise it was all in the hustlings for the last couple of months while they were campaigning on the elections that they would investigate this and we welcome it that”.
Brunton was speaking Saturday night at the Negril Chamber of commerce annual grand gala dinner at Breezes Grand Hotel and Spa, Negril.
Brunton also argued that the alliance between the two Caribbean airlines, “allows us to defend against aggression by mega-carriers and other alliance airlines”
“The common problem suffered by airlines of the Caribbean is lack of critical mass. Airlines need huge sums of cash to exist and our islands simply cannot afford their own carrier. The only answer for them is consolidation. This is what we are doing together,” Brunton stated.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Wednesday June 16th, 2010 – Sickouts by LIAT pilots have caused major disruptions across the airline’s network, forcing cancellation of flights throughout the region and leaving passengers stranded.
The action represents the withdrawal of “work enthusiasm” which the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) had threatened if management of the Antigua-based airline did not retract and apologise for statements made in a Monday press release, by midnight Tuesday.
“LIAT wishes to advise that there has been a disruption in its service as pilots throughout the network called in sick this morning. This action has resulted in the cancellation of LIAT flights so far today,” an advisory from the airline said.
“Affected passengers will be allowed to rebook without any additional fees. Passengers who no longer wish to travel as planned, due to the disruption, will be issued a full credit for future travel on LIAT,” it added.
LIAT has apologised to affected passengers for the inconvenience caused as a result of the pilots’ action and said it will issue further advisories throughout the day.
The pilots had said since Monday that they would “withdraw work enthusiasm” until critical outstanding matters are addressed by the shareholders, Board and management of LIAT.
LIAT subsequently responded with a press release expressing disappointment at LIALPA’s pronouncements.Apture™
But the pilots took issue with LIAT’s statement that in July last year, “all disputed issues between LIAT and LIALPA, including that of retroactive pay were discussed at a meeting of the Company’s three shareholder Prime Ministers held in St Vincent”, in reference to the decision to take the dispute between the two to arbitration. It added that “an agreement was reached between the parties on a course of action for resolving them.”
LIALPA said the issue of retroactive pay was never included and the LIAT statement was therefore false.
“LIALPA…further challenged LIAT’s management at the Tuesday morning meeting in Barbados to produce the evidence that such agreement was reached with regarding to retroactive pay. As expected, the management could not provide such an agreement because no such agreement ever took place,” it said.
Responding to LIAT CEO Brian Challenger questioning “the wisdom of initiating unwarranted industrial actions at a time when the regional and international economies are under such strains”, LIALPA pointed to strike action taken by Spirit Airlines workers over a three-year-old pay dispute; pending industrial action by pilots at Air Canada Jazz because pilots have been working for an entire year without a contract; strike action by British Airways cabin crew; and recent industrial action by air-traffic controllers in Barbados to protest retroactive pay and working conditions.
The pilots association noted that the problems that caused protests in those situations had existed for between one and three years. It said that in the case of LIAT pilots, disputes have being ongoing for some 12 years.
“The pilots are reminding the general public that they have showed restraint for far too long, especially in light of LIAT Management’s clear unwillingness to settle outstanding disputes amicably,” LIALPA said.
“Even the Company’s CEO acknowledged in his recent statement that the airline has ‘over the last few weeks been able to sustain enviable levels of on-time performance’. This clearly indicates the commitment being shown by the pilots, as they continued to go above and beyond the call of duty. However, this commitment is not forthcoming from LIAT’s Management.”
The association says it is “deeply saddened” at the CEO’s refusal yesterday to go back to the public and retract and apologise for the Monday statement.
LIALPA wants LIAT to pay all monies that are owed due to illegal deductions made from salaries, settle all retroactive public holiday payments, address concerns about the status of current pension deductions and sign off on a new contract immediately following the arbitration judgment.
“Anything less is unacceptable,” the pilots said.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BTA) — Barbados is poised to receive increased arrivals from Germany following confirmation from Condor that they will be doubling their flights to the island from November 2010.
BTA’s aviation consultant, Neville Boxill, explained that this will result in two flights arriving each Monday (Frankfurt – Tobago – Barbados – Frankfurt) and Friday (Frankfurt – Barbados – St. Lucia – Frankfurt) utilizing a 270-seat Boeing 767 aircraft. Prior to this the service operated via Frankfurt – Barbados – Porlamar – Frankfurt.
Robert Keysselitz
BTA representatives, lead by the President, David Rice and the Vice President Europe Robert Keysselitz (right), met with Condor in March of this year at Germany’s largest trade show, ITB, and these talks focused on how to make travel via Condor more affordable compared to competing outbound destinations in Germany and surrounding cities. Boxill commented that these talks have already begun to bear fruit.
“We are pleased also that Condor has revised its pricing model so consumers now have more competitive pricing and more travel options so that the flight overall will be more appealing coming out of Germany.” Boxill said.
Most importantly this arrangement is set to be year-round and will permit the creation of three, five, seven, 10 and 14-day packages, whereas before it would only have permitted 7 or 14-day packages. These flexible travel arrangements are expected to increase the appeal of the destination among consumers’ with variant travel windows.
Additionally, since natives to this region are accustomed to domestic air travel, it is expected that significant traffic from within Europe can also be fed to this gateway from neighbouring market segments. Where possible, traffic will also be driven through the UK via British Airways, Virgin or charters. Boxill confirmed further that discussions are also ongoing with other European carriers of note with the aim of providing even more convenient ways to visit Barbados.
Passenger operations ranked 13th in International Scheduled Passenger-Kilometres
New IATA statistics have shown that Korean Air maintained and improved top traffic records in 2009 despite the global challenges that have been affecting the industry.
According to World Air Transport Statistics compiled by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Korean Air topped the global rankings for commercial airline cargo operations for the sixth consecutive year securing first place, and also ranked the 13th for commercial airline international passenger operations in 2009.
During 2009, Korean Air recorded 8.225 billion FTK (Freight Tonne-Kilometres), topping the chart for International Scheduled Freight Tonne-Kilometres, followed by Cathay Pacific (7.722 billion FTK) and Lufthansa (6.660 billion FTK). Korean Air attained the number one spot for the first time in 2004 and has consistently been one of the world’s top three freight carriers since 1993.
For passenger operations, Korean Air was ranked 13th in the chart of International Scheduled Passenger-Kilometres by recording 52.086 billion RPK (Revenue Passenger-Kilometres) in 2009, from 17th (51.321 billion RPK) in 2008.
The airline has achieved the top result for the last six years in a number of ways. New market developments and excellent service management are two of the key drivers. Eying high-potential growth in the Central Asia market, Korean Air has been developing the Navoi International Airport, positioning the airport as a logistics hub for Central Asia and expanding its global cargo network. For more prompt and efficient operations, Korean Air has operated its freighter fleet of mainly B747-400F aircraft, and continued to boost customer satisfaction through rigid quality control.
In order to enhance its global competency in passenger operations, Korean Air has continued to pursue change and innovation by expanding its global network, securing increasing transit demand and upgrading in-flight facilities. By 2014, Korean Air will have a fleet of more than 100 premium aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art new seats serving its mid and long-haul route, including environmentally- friendly next generation aircraft such as 10 A380s and 10 B787s.
By providing a customer-oriented premium service, diversifying business fields and advancing management systems, Korean Air is looking to achieve its goal as the number one cargo carrier for 15 years and a global top ten ranking in the passenger field by its 50th anniversary in 2019.
Source eTravelBlackboard
Pilots would work longer hours, pay more for health care in face of record profits
WASHINGTON – Spirit Airlines management continues to seriously misrepresent its latest pilot contract proposal, which would force pilots to work more hours and pay more to provide health care for their families, while company profits continue to soar and Spirit was ranked as the most profitable U.S. airline by pre-tax profit margin last year.
“We regret that Spirit management’s failure to take seriously its pilots’ contributions to the company has forced us to strike, but, one way or another, we will make our value clear,” said Capt. Andy Nelson, vice-chairman of the Spirit pilots’ unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA). “For the sake of the passengers who have been inconvenienced by this situation, we urge Spirit management to get serious and present a contract proposal that is fair and equitable for all of its pilots.
“Moreover, Spirit management should focus its energy at the bargaining table instead of negotiating in the news media,” continued Nelson. “Management has hampered our efforts to develop a deal by waiting until hours before the strike deadline to offer any contract increases at all.”
Management’s latest proposal is worth $62.5 million over five years, while Spirit earned a record $83 million profit in 2009 alone. Spirit’s ranking as the most profitable airline by pre-tax margin in the United States in 2009 is based on the Department of Transportation’s Form 41 data. Pre-tax margin, which is the profit made by a company calculated as a percentage of sales before taxes, is an important measure of the profitability of a company.
In the context of this strong profitability, management’s proposal would not bring Spirit pilots’ salaries up to industry standards for at least five years. The pilots’ pay has been frozen for almost four years, which would mean the pilots would wait a total of nearly nine years under management’s proposal before their salaries would match those of other pilots who fly similar aircraft elsewhere in the industry. The management proposal would also force pilots to work more hours and pay more for health care.
“We’ve witnessed massive support from Spirit pilots, pilots at other airlines, and labor across the industry,” said Capt. John Prater, ALPA’s president. “Spirit management should recognize that its pilots have powerful backing and an unshakable resolve to get a fair contract.”
“We were in talks with management and federal mediators for almost three years and in negotiations for nearly four years, yet management produced a serious proposal only in the final hours of negotiations at 3:00 a.m.,” said Nelson. “This company has made record profits based in large part on the professionalism of its employees. It’s time they gave back to the workers, who have given so much to the company, with a fair contract that brings our pilots up to industry-standard pay and benefits.”
Source ALPA
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing nearly 53,000 pilots at 38 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.
Jun 13, 2010
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been spelling out its vision of air travel in 2050, promising clean, safe and delay-free travel for the world’s travelers.
IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani, buoyed by new projections that suggest this year will see the first recovery in airline profitability after the recession, laid out his plans a day ahead of the ILA Berlin Air Show which begins June 8.
Under the organization’s Vision 2050 plan, in 40 years the world’s airlines will be “very close to zero accidents” and emitting half the carbon with the help of locally-produced biofuels from jatropha, camelina, algae or even urban waste, which could “break the tyranny of oil.”
“Today’s jet fuel cannot sustain our industry,” said Bisignani, “our biggest opportunity is biofuels with the potential to reduce our carbon footprint by 80 percent.”
After test flights from several airlines, certification of biofuel-powered flights is expected within a year, he added.
Consumers will also be traveling with almost no delays, he predicted, suggesting that a consolidation of air traffic control services (resulting in ten global organizations instead of 180 currently) will make air travel far more efficient.
IATA believes that the current system of air traffic control, where countries are responsible for their own airspace, wastes some 16 million tonnes of CO2 every year in delays and indirect routings in Europe alone.
Bisignani also described the recent disruption to global travel caused by ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano as a “wake-up call” and a “reminder that without air connectivity, modern life is not possible.”
Source: independent.co.uk
Jun 13, 2010
Airlines may soon be forced to ban peanuts on their flights due to passengers who may have a severe allergy. The ban is not in the hands of the airline operators but instead federal regulators will make the decision. Proponents for the ban say the 1.8 million Americans, who have a peanut allergy will feel safer and more comfortable without the fear of suffering a serious allergic reaction while in the air.
Peanut growers think otherwise. Peanuts are considered a staple on flights and the move to ban them would dramatically affect their business. The 84 page document was submitted for review and includes three options. The first would be to ban peanuts from all flights, period. The second, is to ban peanuts on a flight when a passenger requests it. Lastly, design a peanut free zone on all airplanes where those with allergies could sit and not worry about coming into contact with peanut dust. The U.S. Transportation Department is open to suggestions about how this delicate matter can be best handled for all parties.
The ban has been proposed because of the severe reactions that many peanut allergy sufferers can have. Anaphylactic shock or death is possible in some rare cases. People with children usually avoid flying because of the danger of peanut dust floating in the air when several bags are opened. Close quarters and recycled air make it a lethal combination for some allergy sufferers. The ban may be a disaster for peanut growers, but may potentially increase the client base for airlines.
Source: techjackal.net
By Wolfgang H. Thome, eTN | Jun 08, 2010
(eTN) – Information received from Lufthansa sources speaks of the development of a new surveillance system in commercial aircraft, developed by Lufthansa Technik, which is part of the Lufthansa Group. The new system will become available on the market in early 2011 when a launch customer will have it installed in the first of their aircraft before other customers can then also order the system.
It is understood that more than a dozen cameras will be monitoring the access to the cockpit, the passenger cabin, and the cargo holds, giving the pilots a detailed overview of what is happening behind and below.
It is not presently confirmed if air marshals deployed on mainly United States airlines and on aircraft of several other nations will be able to look into the camera feed. Once the technology is available and installed, it is likely that constant monitoring of this sort will also become available for security staff deployed on board and not just the pilots, so that all concerned with the safety of that particular flight will be constantly aware of movements of passengers in the cabin and even possible events in the cargo compartment.
(eTN) – It sounds like a bad joke or some kind of unwilling irony. As more than 700 aviation leaders gathered in Berlin for IATA’s (International Air Transport Association) Annual General Meeting on June 7 and 8, the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a series of austerity measures to reduce its deficit. Among them is a new tax, which will heavily burden the airline industry. Once more, the tax has been branded as an “environment tax,” modeled on the English one and introduced a year ago by the former UK Labour government. The tax is supposed to raise €1 billion per year.
The decision has, of course, infuriated IATA and its director general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani: “This is the worst kind of short-sighted policy irresponsibility. It’s a cash-grab by a cash-strapped government. Painting it green adds insult to injury. There will be no environmental benefit from the economic damage caused.”
Bisignani’s anger is largely shared by Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa chairman of the Board and CEO: “It is absolutely detrimental for a country like Germany, which depends so much on export. Putting one billion euro of taxes represents more than all profits from the entire German airlines’ industry,” he explained. “We are not the enemies of the German government. In contrary, I fully respect the state’s commitment for reducing the country’s debt. But the government should look at all negative aspects and look at similar initiatives taken before in the Netherlands or Belgium. The Dutch government finally withdrew its aviation tax once it realized that the Netherlands’ economy was losing €1.2 billion in revenues when the state was trying to raise €300 million.”
Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold could not agree more on the government’s initiative: “We do not understand our government’s vision. Our industry is useful to the community; it is an asset for all of us. We should be more vocal and lobby better all governments about the benefits of air transport for everybody,” he said.
Germany’s new tax arrives at one of the worst times for the European air transport industry. “European GDP is expected to grow this year by only 0.9 percent – the lowest among the world’s major regions. Operating in this environment, Europe’s airlines will be the only region in the red with losses of US$2.8 billion. This tax is a body blow to the weak economy and a fragile industry. And it is a kick in the teeth to travelers at a time when they can least afford it,” added Bisignani. According to Mayrhuber, the future departure tax should burden passengers by an estimated €16.
As part of our week-long coverage of the ninth annual SMART tradeshow in St. Maarten, Travel Agent sat down with JetBlue Airways’ manager for the Caribbean and Latin America and learned that the airline will continue its heavily aggressive expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America within the next few years.
Chad Meyerson told Travel Agent Wednesday that the carrier is looking into roughly 30 new destinations in both regions combined and should add some new destinations by 2011. From 2009-2010, JetBlue has already added Punta Cana, Kingston, Montego Bay, Barbados, Bogota and San Jose to its Caribbean/Latin America portfolio. In fact, JetBlue recently overtook American Airlines as the largest U.S. carrier in the Dominican Republic.
It has been approached by several other destinations looking to add the popular U.S. carrier. Of those, Meyerson says, are Turks and Caicos, Belize and Martinique. JetBlue currently serves 18 destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America.