Chairman of the Board of the St Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority (SCASPA), Linkon Maynard (right) shakes hands with Veling Ltd Chairman Uday Nayak after signing the contract for the construction of a multi-million dollar jet facility that officials BASSETERRE, St Kitts, Thursday August 26, 2010 – Construction of St Kitts’ multi-million dollar private jet facility at the Robert L Bradshaw International Airport is set to begin in February next year.
And officials are expecting the new terminal – estimated to cost between US$15 million and US$20 million – to boost high end tourism in St Kitts and Nevis.
“It would make the country much more attractive to the high-end travelers, the celebrities, etc who…like to be pampered and like hassle free travel,” Chairman of the Board of the St Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority (SCASPA), Linkon Maynard, said at the recent contract signing ceremony . “I think that is what the Fixed Based Operations (FBO) facility guarantees to that type of traveler.”
The project is part of the general upgrade plans for the ports. Maynard disclosed that four proposals were submitted for the construction of the private terminal, and the bid by UK-based Veling Aviation Ltd was selected.
“Apart from the profit sharing arrangement to bring more revenue into SCASPA, it is also going to have significant spinoffs into the economy as a whole,” Maynard added, noting that the negotiated contract allows current FBOs access to the facility for their business and first class passengers.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Ricky Skerritt said the construction of the terminal is a significant step forward in the transformation of the country’s tourism product.
“With competition for the global private jet market so intense, this project is designed to facilitate the type of arrival and departure experience that discerning travelers, including entertainment celebrities, sports stars and international investors, expect,” he said. “This new private air terminal will enable St Kitts to deliver the highest quality of personalized service to passengers on private jets, as well as scheduled VIP arrivals, featuring our genuinely welcoming Kittitian hospitality.”
The terminal amenities will include an upscale lounge, bar, meeting room, business center, showers, open air plaza and other interactive features found in similar facilities. The designers have incorporated green areas that will feature plants, moats and a water fall.
Construction will be done in three phases and is scheduled to start in February 2011 with the first phase completed and operational by August 2012.
Veling consultant Michael Dingemans said the construction phase will provide work on site for locals while the FBO itself will employ a minimum of 10 full time persons, with the staff count increasing to 20.
The project is a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) project with a term of 30 years.
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA will host a Green Aviation Summit Sept. 8-9 to highlight the agency’s work to develop environmentally responsible aviation technologies.
The two-day meeting at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will bring together experts from NASA, other federal government organizations, industry and academia. They will discuss groundbreaking solutions that NASA and its research partners are developing to reduce aircraft noise, emissions and fuel consumption, and to ensure the safe and manageable growth of the aviation system.
The Green Aviation Summit will feature keynote presentations by leading policymakers as well as detailed technical presentations and panel discussions on the current state-of-the-art and emerging technologies. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will address the participants on Sept. 8.
Seating is limited. Journalists interested in attending the summit must register online by Aug. 31. Portions of the event will be broadcast live on NASA Television’s Education Channel.
For registration and more information, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/calendar/20100908.htm
Air travel between TT and India is expected to improve through an agreement between Caribbean Airlines and Air India.
This plan came about during a meeting on Tuesday between Works and Transport (MoWT) Minister Jack Warner and India’s High Commissioner to TT His Excellency Malay Mishra and Second Secretary Mahavir Bhardwaj at the Ministry, Port-of-Spain.
In a release, the MoWT said Warner recommended the bilaterial air service agreement and Mishra responded the Ministry would have his cooperation for it to be finalised.
According to the release, Mishra said when the agreement is reached passengers would travel from Trinidad to New York on Caribbean Airlines and then get a connecting flight to Mumbai or Dehli. Their luggage would go straight from Trinidad to India.
During the meeting, Mishra offered support to TT in the areas of agriculture, health care, food production and infrastructure.
He advised Warner of the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Project in India which dealt exclusively with rural development. This was of interest to Warner who spoke of the neglect of rural areas such as Siparia, Naparima, Barrackpore, Mamoral where no work was done on roads, bridges and drains. Warner hoped that TT could benefit from India’s knowledge and expertise to assist TT with flooding problems.
Mishra said his government was willing to assist the engineers of the Works Ministry and scholarships were being offered for engineers to be trained at the highest level so training and technology can be transferred.
The High Commissioner asked for a work plan to which Warner promised to have one prepared and dispatched next week.
At the meeting Warner disclosed that he would take legislation to parliament to deal with littering. It will put the responsibility on citizens to clean the drains and roadways in front their homes and business places. The legislation was promoted by the clogging of rivers and drains which result in severe flooding in parts of TT.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s TAM Airlines and LAN of Chile announced plans Friday for a merger that would create Latin America’s largest airline.
The two airlines — both the biggest in their respective nations — said their memorandum of understanding was nonbinding, with approval needed from shareholders of both companies and regulatory agencies.
They said the two airlines would retain their individual identities, with TAM’s headquarters remaining in Sao Paulo and LAN’s in Santiago, Chile.
“The group would be among the leading airline groups in the world in terms of size, profitability and market reach,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The merged company, to be known as LATAM Airlines Group, would include LAN and its affiliates in Peru, Argentina and Ecuador; Lan Cargo and its affiliates; TAM Lineas Aereas SA; TAM Mercosur and all other holdings of LAN and TAM.
The airlines said the combined airline group would provide passenger services to more than 115 destinations in 23 countries. The airlines of the group would operate a fleet of more than 220 aircraft and have more than 40,000 employees.
Last year, the carriers had combined revenues of US$8.5 billion, carried more than 45 million passengers and transported 832,000 tons of cargo.
The statement said LAN Airlines SA would be renamed LATAM Airlines Group SA and absorb TAM. TAM’s shareholders would be offered 0.90 share of common stock of LATAM for each share of TAM.
Under the deal, TAM would continue to operate as a Brazilian company with its own structure. The current holdings of LAN Airlines SA would operate as an independent business unit within the group — and be referred to as LAN Airlines.
Mauricio Rolim Amaro, currently vice chairman of the board of directors at TAM, would be chairman of the board of directors of LATAM. Enrique Cueto, currently CEO of LAN, would serve as LATAM’s chief executive, the statement said.
“Together, LAN and TAM will be able to offer new destinations that neither company could have supported on its own,” said Marco Bologna, CEO of TAM. “This will position us to compete with the foreign carriers that continue to increase service to our region, while creating new jobs in our home countries.”
WILLEMSTAD–During
the fi rst half year of 2010,
the declining trend in Curaçao’s
air traffi c continued
in comparison with the
same period of the previous
year.
The total number of arrivals
and departures during
the fi rst six months of 2010
at Hato Airport amounted
to 658,966, of which 482,749
were international travellers
and 115,222 local passengers,
while the transit
traffi c amounted to 60,995.
From these fi gures, it appears
there was a decrease
of 49,237 passengers or 6.9
per cent, as 708,203 travellers
were registered during
the same period last year.
The number of transit passengers
at Hato did show
an increase of 15.9 per cent
compared to 2009.
Curaçao Airport Partners
(CAP) is of the opinion that
these developments can be
attributed to waves of recession
elsewhere that will
only affect Curaçao later
on. It could furthermore be
an indication that 2008 was
a peak year and that the air
traffi c gradually returned to
the normal number in 2009
and 2010.
The month of June showed
a decrease in passengers by
13,026, which is 11.36 per
cent compared to 2009,
when there were 6,918 arriving,
4,951 departing and
1,157 transit passengers.
This year’s month of June
registered 45,397 arriving,
48,854 departing and 7,397
transit passengers.
A number of matters struck
CAP when it compared this
year’s fi gures with those
of 2009. There was an increase
of 38.9 per cent in
arriving or transit travellers
from the United States and
27.5 per cent from South
America, but the latter percentage
does not include
Venezuelan travellers.
A decline of 16.4 per cent
was observed of arriving/
transit passengers from the
Caribbean area in comparison
with the same period
last year. A 55.8 per cent
decrease was registered for
Venezuelan travellers.
The numbers regarding
departures showed similar
trends as the number of
arriving and transit passengers.
CAP states that
Curaçao was mentioned
during the last meeting of
the Latin American & Caribbean
Air Transportation
Association (ALTA), with
the largest air traffi c growth
measured over the past ten
years.
In this regard, Curaçao
showed a 30 per cent
growth, followed by Aruba
with 20 per cent. During
aforementioned conference,
Curaçao was mentioned
as the sixth airport
regarding newly planned
fl ights in the year 2009.
Source: The Daily Herald
Hundreds of British families have complained to the European Commission and the Dutch authorities because they have not received compensation from KLM for delays caused by the vulcanic ash cloud earlier this year.
EU rules state that passengers must be compensated for the cost of hotels and meals during the whole period they are stranded. KLM has so far offered compensation for just the first 24 hours.
The EU has threatened to take legal action against KLM if it does not pay up, according to the BBC on Saturday.
A spokesman for KLM rejected that claim and said the British transport ministry is looking into the case. ‘We have compensated passengers for the first 24 hours while new agreements are made,’ he said.
© DutchNews.nl
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has taken full ownership of Terminal 4 at JFK in New York. It is the first time a foreign company has had control of a terminal in the US.
The airport already owned 40% of the shares and has now bought the remaining 60% for €10.1 mln. The agreement includes a provision that any future financial set-backs will have no effect on the Schiphol Group.
New York and New Jersey Port Authority financed the construction of the terminal in the 1990s and will finance the current expansion by issuing fiscally attractive shares, reports NRC. The cost of the expansion is about €935 mln.
The airline industry experienced a double-digit increase in ancillary revenue last year, according to the preliminary results of the Amadeus Guide to Ancillary Revenue by IdeaWorks.
The financial reports of nearly 100 carriers were taken into consideration for the report and the growth – estimated at 43% compared to 2008 figures – highlighting the importance of ancillary revenue for all airlines – from major to small – worldwide to regional – LCC to full service.
Ancillary services can include baggage fees and food sold onboard aircraft, commissions from the sale of hotel accommodations, car rentals, and travel insurance at airline websites, and partner revenue generated by frequent flier programmes.
Philippe Chérèque, Executive Vice President Commercial, Amadeus, the sponsor of this analysis of ancillary revenue and the upcoming 3rd edition of the Guide, commented: “Amadeus is fully committed to helping airlines maximise revenues and profits and deliver unmatched levels of customer service with a comprehensive and multi-channel ancillary services solution.”
He continued: “This month we have announced major milestones to support this initiative including the launch of our comprehensive EMD solution with Finnair and an extensive pilot of a la carte pricing within the travel agency and direct channels with Corsairfly.”
Source ASC
ORANJESTAD — From now on, Columbian travelers will be able to travel to Aruba much easier. This is due to an adjustment in the visa policy. Minister Otmar Oduber (AVP) of Tourism is pleased with the changes and even wants to take this a step further by abolishing the visa requirement for Columbians.
According to Oduber the arguments with which the visa requirement for Columbians was introduced in 2003, are no longer valid. The objectives of the policy at the time are no longer applicable. Oduber states the tourism sector of Columbia looks forward to visa-free traveling to Aruba. In that connection, he refers to travel agents and other representatives in the branch besides tourists. The most recent change in the visa requirement for Columbians regards the abolishment of the regulation that a Columbian must first have traveled to a country with which the Kingdom has treaties, before he may enter Aruba. In that, it regards Canada, the United States and countries that have signed the Schengen Treaty. “That was a very inconvenient situation because it often meant that a group of travelers, for example family members, could not travel together as some people already had used their Canadian, American or Schengen visa, whilst others had not. In similar situations, many Columbians therefore choose a different destination than Aruba.”
Oduber estimates that the visa adjustment will bring 30 to 40 percent more Columbians to Aruba. “There are currently many wealthy people in Columbia who indeed have the other visa – the one of America, Canada and Schengen – but 35 percent of these people never use this visa, which doesn’t make it easy for them to visit Aruba.”
Oduber further states that one is currently viewing at Kingdom level whether the validity of the Columbian visa could be extended from one to three years. Another possible change is letting Columbians use their visa several times. The use of the visa is currently restricted to only a few times, which particularly impedes the business contact between the Aruban and Columbian tourism sector.
Oduber states he would gladly see that the visa requirement is abolished entirely. However, no political agreement has been reached just yet.
Source: Amigoe
Antigua-based Caribbean commuter airline LIAT is blaming utility service providers for negatively impacting its operations.
It says that as a direct result of recent technical failures, there have been difficulties in the airline’s communication network, affecting its operations and on-time performance.
There have been power outages and interruptions in service provided by the Antigua Public Utilities Authority and telecommunications providers recently.
LIAT did not identify any one of those companies, but pointed to at least three developments which it said had significantly affected its operations.
Those included the failure of a local loop, which is the link to LIAT’s distribution system; and a lightening strike which knocked out one company’s network, resulting in disruptions to access to LIAT’s ticketing and distribution system.
It added that fluctuation in the power supply at one company caused severe damage to one of the airline’s uninterruptible power supply systems, causing LIAT’s main servers to fail.
“In a number of instances its check-in operations and city offices were affected by the technical failures and this in turn negatively impacted the processing of passengers,” LIAT said in a statement.
The company’s management has indicated that LIAT is working with its utility suppliers to rectify the problems.