GULF AIR LAYS OFF HUNDREDS AS SALES DROP

May 31, 2011


Gulf Air, Bahrain's loss-making national carrier, said it had laid off employees and bookings were down a quarter following political and social unrest in Bahrain and the region.


"Due to the situation in the region as a whole as well as the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf Air witnessed a 25 percent drop in bookings in the first five months of 2011," it said on Monday.


The company said 200 employees were laid off, adding 100 of the laid-off employees have appealed the decision at an internal appeals committee and 11 were reinstated.


Bahrain saw the worst sectarian clashes between its Shi'ite majority population and the Sunni-ruled security forces since the 1990s after Shi'ite protesters, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, took to the streets in February.


In a subsequent crackdown by the government hundreds of mostly Shi'ite Muslim workers were fired.


Gulf Air has struggled to find a niche after previous owners Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar gave up their stakes partly to establish their own carriers.


It now focuses on regional routes in the Middle East to compete with airlines such as Qatar Airways and Emirates that serve global traffic linking Asia and Europe.


(Reuters)

Baby' pilot at controls of doomed Air France Airbus

May 29, 2011

Sailors from Brazil's navy recover debris in June 2009 from the Air France flight 447 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. Picture: AP Source: AP
HE was one of Air France's "company babies": a dashing 32-year-old junior pilot - and a keen amateur yachtsman - who had been qualified to fly the airline's ultra-sophisticated Airbus A330 jet for barely a year.

Yet despite his inexperience, Pierre-Cedric Bonin found himself responsible for the lives of 228 passengers and crew members on June 1, 2009, when the cockpit of his $190 million aircraft lit up with terrifying and contradictory alarm signals en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

While Bonin held on to the plane's “side-stick” controller and looked at his instruments in disbelief, his co-pilot, David Robert, 37, began troubleshooting. The captain, Marc Dubois, 58, was napping outside the cockpit.

According to a newly-released report by French investigators - which finally answers some of the questions surrounding the mystery of Flight 447 - a fatal sequence of events had already been triggered when the plane's external speed sensors suddenly gave inconsistent readings, possibly because of ice.

This is thought to have caused the autopilot to disengage, which in turn brought warning of an “aerodynamic stall”.

That is when Bonin - who remained at the controls while Robert shouted with increasing desperation for the captain - did something that aviation experts have described as inexplicable: he pointed the nose of the Airbus upwards, causing it to slow down dramatically. He kept doing this for at least one minute until the plane had climbed 3,000ft to 38,000ft.

This one rudimentary mistake, according to the initial findings of France's aviation safety authority, might have been responsible for the aircraft no longer having enough air flow over its wings to remain aloft, although no blame has yet been officially assigned.

Regardless of fault, the aviation authority says data from Flight 447's “black box” recorders show it suffered an irrecoverable stall over the Atlantic, meaning the plane fell out of the sky after a sickening 40-degree roll.

Bonin's wife, Isabelle, was among those who died in the main cabin. Their two children were at home with their grandfather.

The question being asked in the industry is why, given that there was a 50,000ft thunderstorm near the plane's flight path, the youngest of the three pilots, with the least flying time, was at the controls.

“It seems as though they were just clueless,” says Mike Doerr, a former Airbus A320 captain who charters private jets in California. “The response to the invalid speed data doesn't make any sense unless they also had a Mach warning (that the plane was going faster than its mechanical limits).”

So far, there has been no such evidence. At night and in bad weather, however, there is also the possibility the pilots had become disoriented, or did not know which instruments to believe and therefore which warnings to prioritise.

“I don't have any more indications,”

“ Bonin is heard saying on the cockpit voice recorder, his voice still calm.

In a statement, Air France said its pilots “demonstrated a totally professional attitude and were committed to carrying out their task to the very end”.

Doerr said he doubted that American pilots, who typically come from military backgrounds, would have been overwhelmed. “The European airlines select people with virtually no flight time at all and train them pretty much from the ground up,” he said.

“They are 'company babies' who rise up through the organisation. Whereas if you get your experience in the navy or air force, there's an emphasis on trial by fire.”

Online criticism has been even blunter. “It seems reasonable to conclude that the instruments failed then the pilots screwed up,” wrote Henry Blodget, an influential former Wall Street analyst, on his US website Business Insider. “First thing you learn in flight school is when there is any question about having enough airspeed, you push the nose down.”

Others agreed. “An inexcusable, arrogant waste of life,” wrote one commentator, while another offered: “At 37,000ft, it shouldn't be terribly tough to recover from a stall. Push the nose down, gain some speed, then level the damn thing out and try to figure out what the hell just happened.”

Although Flight 447 plunged towards the Atlantic at almost 11,000ft per minute over 3 and a half minutes, some experts say that because the plane was relatively level and falling at a consistent speed, the doomed passengers might not have been aware they were experiencing anything worse than bad turbulence.

Others argue the rate of descent was so extreme that some on board would have lost consciousness before the impact, which scattered bodies and debris over 80 kilometres before they sank to the seabed far below.

“It's actually very comforting for me, knowing that they didn't suffer,” said Patricia Coakley, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, whose husband Arthur, an engineer, was killed while returning from working on a Brazilian oil rig.

“I don't feel anything either way in terms of who's to blame,” she said. “I'd rather have my husband here - but that's not going to happen.”

Prosecutors will find plenty of interest in this weekend's report, which documents Bonin's repeated attempts to push the nose of the aircraft up even though it had slowed so much that the computer regarded the speed as “invalid”.

In the final chaotic moments, both Bonin and his co-pilot attempted to simultaneously operate their side-sticks, before the 32-year-old seemed to give up. “Go ahead, you have the controls,” were his last words, possibly directed to the captain, who had woken up and rushed into the cockpit, but was too late to do anything.


Chris Ayres The Sunday Times

KUWAIT SEIZES IRAQ AIRLINE ASSETS IN JORDAN

May 29, 2011


Kuwait has seized assets of Iraq's national airline in Jordan, Iraqi officials said on Saturday, the latest step in a row between the states over war reparations.


Iraqi Airways has filed an appeal against the decision in Jordan, said Karim al-Nuri, a media adviser to the Iraqi Transport Ministry.


He said Kuwaiti authorities seized the Iraqi Airways office in the Jordanian capital after obtaining a ruling from a court there.


"Two days ago, the Iraqi Airways' office in Amman has been seized (by Kuwait) and USD$1.5 million of its assets have been frozen," Nuri said.


Kuwaiti officials could not be reached for comment.


Baghdad and Kuwait have been locked in a long-running dispute over billions of dollars in reparations from Iraq, including some USD$1.2 billion related to aircraft and parts seized during former dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.


The dispute is between Kuwait Airways and Iraqi Airways, both of which are state owned.


"This a serious step, and it will legitimise unacceptable mistakes in the future," Nuri said, adding that Iraqi Airways will continue flying to Jordan despite the freeze.


Last year, Kuwait tried to seize one of the Iraqi carrier's planes in London after obtaining a High Court order against Iraqi Airways that included freezing its assets worldwide. The airline has halted flights to Britain and Sweden under threat that its planes would be seized by Kuwait.


"Unfortunately, so far talks with the Kuwaiti authorities have failed to resolve this issue," said Nasir al-Amiri, an advisor for the Iraqi Transport Ministry. "We cannot see a solution on the horizon."


In May last year, Iraq's government said it would dissolve Iraqi Airways over the next three years and pursue private options to dodge asset claims made by Kuwait over their 1990-91 war.


(Reuters)

PILOT ROLE IN FOCUS IN AIR FRANCE CRASH

May 27, 2011


Pilots wrestled with the controls of an Air France airliner for more than four minutes before it crashed into the Atlantic with its nose up, killing all 228 people on board, French investigators said on Friday.


Aviation industry sources said pilots appeared to have acted contrary to normal procedures in raising, rather than lowering, its nose in response to an alert that the plane was about to lose lift or, in technical terms, 'stall'.


But they said information from black boxes hauled up from the Atlantic floor earlier this month was still incomplete.


The 2009 emergency began with a stall warning two and a half hours into the Rio-Paris flight and nine minutes after the captain had left the cockpit for a rest period.


Shortly before, a junior pilot had told flight attendants to prepare for a "little bit of turbulence"


The Airbus A330 jet climbed to 38,000 feet and then began a dramatic three and a half minute descent, rolling from left to right, with the youngest of three pilots handing control to the second most senior pilot one minute before the crash.


The timeline was described in a note by France's BEA crash investigation authority, which said it was too early to give the causes of the crash ahead of a fuller report in the summer.


"These are so far just observations, not an understanding of the events," BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec told reporters.


The captain returned after "several attempts" to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments, according to information gleaned from black boxes.


By the time the 58-year-old returned, just over a minute into the emergency, the aircraft was plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle compared to the onrushing air to provide lift.


The BEA said the reading of the black boxes suggested the crew were not able to determine how fast the plane was flying.


That echoes earlier findings which suggest the pitot tubes or speed sensors on the plane may have become iced up.


The airline said in a statement that the crew had demonstrated a "totally professional attitude". France's pilots union declined to comment.


"It's very emotional to see the unrolling minute by minute or second by second at some points of what happened," said John Clemes, vice president of the families' support group.


"You automatically think of your family member and how they were living through this. It's the events that caused the deaths of 228 people so it's traumatic and moving.


France's BEA crash investigation agency said pilots pulled the nose up at crucial moments as the aircraft became unstable and the aircraft generated an audible stall warning.


"The inputs made by the pilot flying were mainly nose-up," the BEA said in a timeline based on initial examination of the cockpit voice and data recorders.


A senior aircraft industry safety consultant said the standard guidance in the Airbus pilot manual called for the pilot to push the control stick forward to force the plane's nose down in the event of a stall, which can lead to a loss of control.


"The BEA is now going to have to analyze and get to bottom of how crew handled this event," said Paul Hayes, safety director at Ascend Aviation, a UK-based aviation consultancy.


"The big question in my mind is why did the pilot flying (the aircraft) appear to continue to pull the nose up," he said.


"I must stress we are commenting and speculating on preliminary factual information, which will need analyzing."


ADVICE TO PILOTS


The BEA report was strictly factual and did not allocate any blame or cause of the crash on June 1, 2009.


"These are so far just observations, not an understanding of the events," BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec told reporters.


In a passage likely to attract scrutiny, the BEA said the pilot "maintained nose-up inputs" when a fresh stall warning went off 46 seconds after the autopilot disengaged itself.


The BEA declined to say whether this was the correct action to take and the information given so far does not give a complete picture of the information displayed to the crew.


But the response contrasts with the latest advice to pilots contained in an Airbus training seminar in October last year, according to a document obtained by Reuters.


In large red capital letters, the document says that in the event of a stall warning, pilots should "APPLY NOSE DOWN PITCH CONTROL TO REDUCE AOA (ANGLE OF ATTACK)".


Two aviation industry sources said the drill in force at the time of the accident was to apply full thrust and reduce the pitch attitude of the aircraft, which means lowering the nose.


Later guidance calls for pilots to push the nose down and adjust thrust as necessary, they said, asking not to be named.


The crew's response will be added to what is already known about probable icing of the aircraft's speed sensors, which Air France identified as the most likely cause of the crash.


Airbus said the report upheld earlier evidence which was based on automated maintenance messages relayed from the plane.


An aerodynamic stall is a loss of lift due to a high angle of attack, or angle between the plane and airflow. Pushing the control stick forward and lowering the nose adjusts for this.


It does not refer to a stall of the engines, which the BEA said had operated and responded throughout to crew actions.


The BEA dampened speculation that the jet may have been engulfed by a freak equatorial storm.


Pilots had decided without apparent stress to alter course slightly to avoid turbulence shortly beforehand. But the junior pilot told flight attendants to prepare for a "little bit of turbulence"


"In two minutes we should enter an area where it'll move about more than at the moment; you should watch out," he told cabin staff. "I'll call you back as soon as we're out of it."


(Reuters)

Australia gets first plane 'boneyard' outside US

May 27, 2011 - 10:42AM




Alice Springs has been selected to be the first aircraft "boneyard" outside the United States.
Similar to the massive Pinal Airpark in Arizona, it will take planes being decommissioned from service, which will be stripped of parts like engines, electronics and wiring to be re-cycled.
Airlines will also be able to store aircraft as big as the A380 when they are not being used.
Advertisement: Story continues below 
Dry, arid climates are best for the storage and preservation of aircraft. Photo: AP
"It's quite ground-breaking for this part of the world," Alice Springs Airport general manager Katie Cooper said.
"It will be the first one in the southern hemisphere of any significant scale. Our big market will be the Asia-Pacific carriers, because of the proximity."
Cooper said Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage Ltd (APAS) chose Alice Springs because its dry, arid climate was perfect for the storage and preservation of aircraft.
It also has runway that can cater to big planes and plenty of room to expand.
"This project represents the first Asia-Pacific based alternative for customers with aircraft based, or operating through, the region," said APAS managing director Tom Vincent.
Cooper said work on a taxiway would start later this year with the first planes expected to arrive early next year.
Initially the site will cover 110 hectares.
One of the best known aircraft storage areas is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, "The Boneyard", which stores 4200 US military aircraft on a 1000 hectare site. The nearby Pinal Airpark provides storage for civilian aircraft.
A similar facility exists in California's Mojave desert.




AFP

SINGAPORE AIR TO SET UP BUDGET LONG-HAUL CARRIER

May 25, 2011


Singapore Airlines said on Wednesday it will set up a low-fare airline operating wide-body aircraft on medium and long-haul routes within the next 12 months.


The move comes as the premium carrier faces competition from other players in Asia and the Middle East catering to high-end passengers as well fast-expanding budget airlines in Asia.


Singapore Airlines has a stake in Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger Airways and owns regional carrier SilkAir.


(Reuters)

ICELAND ERUPTION ENDING, GERMAN AIRPORTS REOPEN

May 25 2011


Iceland's volcanic eruption has died down and is no longer spewing out ash, officials said on Wednesday and airlines began to get back to normal after cancelling about 1,000 flights in northern Europe.


European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said it expected the ash cloud would dissipate overnight and did not see any significant disruption to travel in Europe on Thursday.


The explosion of the Grimsvotn volcano on Saturday caused much less chaos than an eruption last year at another Icelandic volcano thanks to new rules for airlines, but the incident showed problems remain with the regulations. Budget airline Ryanair was vocal in its criticism.


Hrafn Gudmundsson, a meteorologist at the Icelandic met office, said that mainly steam was coming from the crater, with no ash plume detected since 0300 GMT.


"There are indications that it's ceasing really," he said.


University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said it was unlikely, though not impossible, that the volcano would begin disgorging significant amounts of ash again.


"At this stage we can at least hope for the worst to be over in terms of ash production," he said.


"At the moment there is practically no ash being produced and what little there is being deposited on the glacier that is immediately around the crater."


After the eruption, the most powerful by Grimsvotn since 1873 and stronger than the one at Eyjafjallajokull that caused air traffic chaos last year, a massive plume of ash spread across northern Europe.


Flights in Scotland and northern England were cancelled on Tuesday, while four German airports -- Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin's Tegel and Schoenefeld -- closed on Wednesday only to be reopened hours later.


Dutch airline KLM resumed flights to affected destinations after a brief break.


Eurocontrol said about 450 flights were affected in Germany following a similar number of disruptions a day ago across northern Europe.


"Tomorrow, we do not expect any significant impact on European airspace," it said.


Eurocontrol had earlier said the ash could drift to Poland, but a Polish air traffic control official said no traffic limitations were due.


US President Barack Obama, who left Ireland early on Monday to travel to Britain to avoid being caught by the ash, is due to arrive in Poland later this week.


The ash cloud from Grimsvotn belched 20 km (12 miles) into the sky after the eruption, but did not trigger the kind of travel chaos caused by Eyjafjallajokull when more than 10 million people were hit by a six-day European airspace shutdown.


Grimsvotn's eruption did expose disarray among the authorities who decide on aviation safety as they try to apply new rules to avoid another mass closure of European airspace.


PATCHWORK


New procedures put the onus on airlines to make judgments on whether it is safe to fly through ash, in coordination with the forecasting authorities, particularly the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre at the British Met Office, and civil aviation bodies.


Sources said a British research plane designed to sample ash remained grounded for a second day in a wrangle over its deployment.


Ryanair on Tuesday said it had safely sent two planes into what authorities had deemed high ash zones over Scotland, and criticised "bureaucratic incompetence."


International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh also said his company had flown a plane into an ash zone. "The simple answer is we found nothing," he told BBC radio.


He called for the British authorities to use multiple sources of data when deciding on how to react to ash problems.


"The potential for a patchwork of inconsistent state decisions on airspace management still exists," IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement, calling on Tuesday for more coordination.


Grimsvotn is Iceland's most active volcano.


Though the Open University's David Rothery expressed optimism this eruption was over, he added: "However, it will be back - next week, next year, or more likely next decade."


(Reuters)

Flight disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano spread to Germany

May 25, 2011

ASH spewing from an Icelandic volcano is bringing disruption and days of uncertainty to more parts of Europe, as officials in Germany said dozens of flights will be grounded today.

Even though some say it's been a massive overreaction by badly prepared safety regulators - one airline even claims the official scientific findings are simply wrong - hundreds of flights were cancelled yesterday as winds blew the cloud of ash from the Grimsvotn volcano over Scotland and other parts of Europe.

Experts say that particles in the ash could stall jet engines and sandblast planes' windows.

The only comfort for frustrated passengers and airlines is that officials in Iceland said the amount of ash being released by the volcano is decreasing, and officials don't expect the disruption to be as bad as last year, when millions were stranded after the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

Travellers trying to go to or leave Scotland have been hit hardest, but the problem also began to affect Germany, where weather officials said it would not allow any takeoffs or landings at the northern Bremen and Hamburg airports early today due to increased levels of ash in the atmosphere.

Dozens of domestic and international flights were to be affected by the closure early today.

Authorities said it may be necessary to halt all air traffic coming and going from Berlin's airports, as well as Hannover, depending on the winds.

In Sweden, 10 domestic flights were canceled last night. The country's aviation officials said they expected medium concentrations of ash over its western coast, including over its second-largest city Goteborg.

Although British authorities said concentrations of ash in the skies over Scotland were too high to fly through, Irish budget airline Ryanair challenged the results, saying it had sent its own airplane into Scottish airspace and found no ash in the atmosphere.

“All the data we are receiving confirms our forecasts, that there is high-density ash over Scotland,” said Barry Grommett, spokesman for Britain's weather agency.

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary disagreed.

“Exactly as we predicted, we encountered absolutely no problems,” he said.

“There's no cloud over Scotland. There's no dusting of ash on the airframe or the wings. The airspace over Scotland should never have been restricted in the first place.”

Still, Ryanair was forced by Irish authorities to cancel all 68 flights in and out of Scotland for the rest of yesterday. Seven other airlines - most of them regional carriers - also grounded their Scottish flights.

The main international body representing carriers, the International Air Transport Association, complained to the British government about the way it had handled the issue, saying it should have had Cessna planes ready to carry out tests, instead of relying on the weather service.

British Airways said it sent its own verification flight, an Airbus A320, to Scotland late yesterday to assess the risk.

AP

EUROPE ON ALERT FOR ICELANDIC VOLCANIC ASH

May 23, 2011


An eruption by Iceland's most active volcano put Europe on high alert on Monday as a billowing ash cloud drifted towards Scotland and threatened to shut down airports across the northern edge of the continent.


Northern Europe looked set to be affected first, even though experts saw little chance of a repeat of last year's six-day travel chaos caused by the eruption of another Icelandic volcano which left thousands of people stranded across the region.


The Grimsvotn volcano burst into life on Saturday, with dark plumes of smoke shooting 20 km into the sky, forming a bubbling mass which seeped above the clouds high over the North Atlantic island.


"It's too early to tell if Europe will be affected. What's certain is that when it is affected, there will be flight cancellations," French transport minister Thierry Marianai told Europe 1radio.


Ash from the volcano could touch northwest Scotland as early as Monday evening, an Icelandic Met Official said.


Europe's air traffic control organisation has said that if volcanic emissions continued at the same rate then the cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday.


The agency, which set up a crisis unit after bad coordination was blamed for worsening last year's crisis, said no closures outside Iceland were expected on Monday or Tuesday. Airlines as far away as Australia were monitoring the situation.


Any decisions for other countries on flying restrictions will depend on wind direction and whether aviation authorities think the ash is a danger to engines.


Last year, airspace had to be closed due to worries that particles could get into aircraft engines and cause accidents. Some airlines complained that authorities had been excessively cautious in imposing blanket closures last year.


Norway's civil aviation body said the one or two flights a day to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard would shut tonight, and other countries were also preparing for the worst.


Iceland's aviation authority said however it hoped it might be able to re-open the island's main airport by the evening as the tower of smoke above the volcano appeared to have fallen slightly by Monday morning.


The Icelandic weather office said the plume of smoke and ash which is billowing out of Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, had fallen to just below 10 km, well below its maximum so far of 25 km.


Icelandic met office forecaster Teitur Arason said current wind conditions were spreading the ashes in separate directions.


"The winds high in the air, above 25,000 feet or thereabout, are southeasterly, so that ash is blown to the north and then later to the east," he said. "But at lower levels, the winds are northerly and therefore those ashes are blowing southward."


AIRLINE SHARES FALL


Last year, a pervasive and slow-moving cloud of ash from another volcano in Iceland forced a six-day shutdown of European airspace, stranded tens of thousands of people and damaged industries and economies.


On Monday, airline stocks fell as carriers braced for possible disruption with losses in heavyweights such as Lufthansa, Air France and Scandinavian SAS leading the European travel and leisure index down.


So far Iceland, particularly the towns and villages to the south and east of the Grimsvotn volcano, has suffered most. The volcano lies under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe.


Day turned into night when a thick cloud of ash descended on the area, smothering cars and buildings. The eruption was much stronger than the one at last year's volcano.


"It could lead to some disruption, but only for a very limited time and only over a very limited area," said University of Iceland Professor of Geophysics Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson.


"We see some signs that the (eruption's) power is declining a bit, but it is still quite powerful," he said, adding that the eruption was the most violent at the volcano since 1873.


Gudmundsson and other vulcanologists said the impact on air travel this time would be more limited as winds were more favourable, the plume's content was heavier and less likely to spread and authorities had a higher tolerance for ash levels.


(Reuters)

Ancillary revenues add to Jetstar earnings

May 18, 2011

JETSTAR now derives more of its profit from ancillary revenues than it does from tickets and the trend is expected to continue after the airline yesterday unveiled a streamlined fare structure that further unbundles its product.

The low-cost Qantas offshoot is collapsing its existing four fare types into one starter fare covering the seat and 10kg of carry-on luggage. Travellers can then add extras such as the ability to earn frequent-flyer points, seat selection or check-in baggage for a fee.

The new structure makes it easier for passengers to earn Qantas frequent-flyer and status points and, on Airbus A330 long-haul flights, will see the airline's Star Class replace Business Max fares. But premium passengers will also be able to reduce the price of the fares by removing benefits such as frequent-flyer points.

Jetstar group chief executive Bruce Buchanan said about 20 per cent of the airline's total income now came from ancillary charges -- equivalent to about $23-$24 a ticket -- but this was net profit that flowed straight through to the bottom line.



"If it wasn't for ancillary revenue, we wouldn't be making money in our business at the moment," he said. "It's that important."

Mr Buchanan said ancillary revenues had increased from $2-$3 per ticket to the mid-$20s in the space of a few years and were growing "very fast". "So, it's not inconceivable we'll get to a point where we can start to offer a considerable portion of the aircraft for very, very affordable airfares and still have a profitable business that we can grow and are viable," he said.

Mr Buchanan said the move was about both driving profitability and increasing market share. He said Virgin's move upmarket had opened up opportunities for Jetstar, which now had 60 per cent of the Gold Coast market compared with 45 per cent 18 months ago.

Mr Buchanan also revealed that the traditional link between leisure travel and retail sales appeared to have weakened as the services sector remained "pretty strong" while the goods sector suffered, possibly because of the high Australian dollar and the affordability of overseas goods online.

"But we're seeing a very robust services market in terms of leisure travel, holiday travel and just generally the 'visiting friends and relatives' market, which is a big part of our consumer base," he said.

"So we haven't seen the same sort of shift that a lot of our big retailers have been feeling over the past couple of months."

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said mainline operations were seeing continued strength in the business market, although key markets such as the US and Britain remained weak.



(Steve Creedy From: The Australian )

PRAYERS SPEED STRICKEN PLANE BACK TO SINGAPORE

May 16, 2011
Terrified passengers aboard a Cathay Pacific plane prayed together as their aircraft, one of its engines on fire, made its way back to Singapore on Monday, and their calm response earned praise from the captain.


Cathay Pacific Airways said the Airbus A330, bound for Jakarta with 136 passengers on board, landed back in Singapore "without incident" just before 2 am. It said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a "stall warning".


Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said it and engine maker Rolls-Royce were investigating the incident.


Reuters photographer Beawiharta was aboard the plane with his wife, two sons and daughter. About 20 minutes after take-off, there were two sharp bangs, sending cabin staff scurrying to retrieve the meals they had only just begun serving.


The plane began shaking violently, he said, and the lights went out. He could smell something burning.


His son, Pradipta, 15, said he saw nothing as he peered out the window.


"But I asked him to cup his hands to get a better view," Beawiharta said. "He shouted: 'I see fire! I see fire!'


"Panicked, he then asked: 'Will we die? Will we die?' I took his hand and told him firmly: 'No, we are going to live.'


"Behind us, passengers were praying: 'God, save our flight! Give us your protection!'"


The prayers got louder and louder pierced by only the occasional cry of panic.


"A stewardess told us an engine had caught fire and we were on our way back to Singapore.


"Glued to the window, my son said he could see lights, the sea and ships and then lights on the ground. We all grabbed life jackets from beneath our seats, but the plane landed smoothly."


"Within five minutes, as firefighters doused the damaged engine, we walked off the plane into the terminal."


In the waiting room, the pilot greeted assembled passengers.


"The best that we can ever ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm... which you did," he said. "And for that we thank you."


The plane was powered by Rolls-Royce's Trent 700 engines, which are specifically designed for Airbus' A330 family and captured the lion's share of that market in the past three years.


A blow-out in a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore last November and prompted the temporary grounding of the Australian carrier's A380 fleet.


(Reuters)

CHINA SEEKS EXEMPTION FROM EU CARBON TRADE

May 10, 2011


China's aviation industry body has told the European Union it opposes the inclusion of Chinese airlines in the bloc's carbon emissions market from 2012, an EU source said on Tuesday.


"There were useful discussions with China's Air Transport Association on Friday, but they indicated they opposed being included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


"We had constructive and useful discussions, covering a wide range of issues of mutual interest. It was noted that Chinese carriers operate efficient aircraft and therefore are in a better competitive situation than companies with older fleets. We agreed to continue our dialogue," the source said.


About 4,000 aircraft operators will be included in the EU's ETS from January 1 next year. Most flights to and from EU airports will be covered, regardless of the operator's nationality.


Aviation is responsible for about 3 percent of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions, and its levels are growing at a faster rate than those of any other sector.


The airlines will join about 11,000 factories and power plants whose emissions are currently capped under the ETS, a system that forces polluters to buy permits for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit above a certain cap.


Three Chinese airlines -- Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines -- are challenging the EU regulations.


US AIRLINES IN COURT


The US industry group Air Transport Association of America and three major US-based carriers -- American Airlines and United and Continental, which merged last year to form United Continental Holdings -- are also challenging the EU's efforts to regulate long-haul flights into Europe.


US carriers whose long-haul flights cross EU airspace have filed a case with the European Court of Justice over the inclusion of their flights in the EU ETS, disputing the EU's right to regulate their emissions.


Should the US airlines win their case, the European Commission is expected to appeal. While the Chinese aviation industry opposes the EU regulations, it has not been as active as the US airlines in taking action.


"The Chinese aviation body still has to persuade the Chinese authorities to carry this through, so it is not necessarily a given that it will happen," said Andreas Arvanitakis, associate director of Point Carbon, a gas and carbon markets information provider.


"They are quite late in doing that and are several years behind the US," he said.


Airlines' entry to the EU's carbon market next year will add EUR€1 billion - EUR€1.4 billion (USD$1.4 billion - USD$2 billion) to their costs in the first year and ultimately lead to higher air fares and carbon prices, analysts say.


If US and Chinese carriers gain exemptions from the scheme, EU carriers could be at a significant disadvantage in the competition over the same international routes.


(Reuters)

AIRPORT TRAFFIC BACK TO PRE-CRISIS LEVELS - ACI

May 9, 2011
Traffic at the world's airports is back to pre-economic crisis levels, according to Angela Gittens the director general of the Airports Council International (ACI).


In a speech to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) council members Gittens said: "The time is right to pursue strategies that further strengthen the industry to withstand future shocks and ensure high quality service for consumers."


She highlighted the impact of two key business constraints – fixed operating costs and the high cost of capital.


She said: "In a downturn these stay constant whereas airports suffer revenue loss linked to fewer passengers resulting from reduced demand, carrier service and route adjustments, bankruptcies and mergers.


"During this latest economic downturn, the increasingly diversified portfolio of airport revenues served as a lifeline - a clear signal that airport entrepreneurship is critical in our very competitive global airport market.


She added: "We need better understanding from our airport partners so that we can put to rest misunderstanding and specious debate about user charges.


"Naturally, airports charge for the services that airlines require since they have to spend money provide and maintain facilities for aircraft to land and park. The global average airplane cost of USD$4 per passenger is a great bargain. Where can you even park a car for USD$4 today."


She referred to predictions that air traffic will double within 20 years. She said: "Airports must now build the capacity needed without further delay to plans for expansion and modernisation. Government and private investors must not be shy about committing to infrastructure that is so crucially linked to economic development."


She added that ACI expects a new wave of private investment in airports in both developing and advance markets at a time when government resources are limited.


(Airwise)

AT LEAST 15 DEAD IN INDONESIA CRASH

May 7, 2011
An Indonesian plane carrying 27 people crashed into the sea off the remote Papua province, the transport ministry said on Saturday, and media said at least 15 people were killed.


The Merpati propeller-driven plane was travelling to Kaimana in Papua, a forested and mountainous eastern province with among the worst infrastructure in the archipelago of over 17,000 islands.


"We're still checking on the passengers' situation," said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the transport ministry. "We also don't know what caused the accident, but the weather was pretty bad at the time."


Indonesian media, quoting airport officials, said the plane, an MA60 made by China's AVIC, had crashed 500 metres short of the runway and 15 bodies had been recovered so far.


Several small domestic carriers serve Indonesia and many have poor safety records. The European Commission, which had barred all Indonesian airlines from its airspace, lifted a ban in 2009 on Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia after it improved safety standards.

AMERICAN FLIGHT DIVERTED OVER SMOKE

May 7, 2011
An American Airlines flight bound for San Francisco with 166 people on board made an emergency landing in Las Vegas on Friday after the crew smelled smoke in the cockpit, officials said.

American Airlines Flight 431, carrying 159 passengers and seven crew members, was headed to San Francisco from Miami when it was diverted to Las Vegas, American Airlines spokesman Ed Martell said.

"The pilots noted a whiff of smoke in the cockpit and procedure says anything like that you put the plane down as quickly and safely as you can," Martell said.

Martell said the Boeing 757 landed without incident at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, where passengers were being accommodated on other flights.

The plane was taken out of service while the airline determined what caused the smoke.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would work with American Airlines to determine the cause of the smoke.


(Reuters)

AIR CANADA CUTS OPERATING LOSS

May 6, 2011

Air Canada narrowed its quarterly operating loss as higher passenger revenue helped offset a big rise in fuel costs, sending its shares up.

Canada's No. 1 airline said on Thursday that higher fuel expenses were a significant drag in the first quarter, rising CAD$120 million. For the full year, higher fuel charges are expected to add about CAD$800 million to operating costs.

Including foreign exchange gains, Air Canada's net loss for the quarter was CAD$19 million, compared with a loss of CAD$112 million a year earlier.

The airline's operating loss was CAD$66 million, compared with CAD$136 million a year earlier. Operating revenue rose 9 percent to CAD$2.75 billion.

"In an environment where fuel charges increase 20 percent quarter-over-quarter, the fact that they were actually able to reduce their loss per share... is quite significant," said Robert Kokonis, managing director of airline consulting company AirTrav.

The improved results came as a result of higher fares, fuel surcharges, flying smaller planes, and cost cuts, Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu said.

The higher fuel costs prompted Air Canada to lower its goals for capacity growth to a range of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent in 2011, down from 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent.

Air Canada, which is in the midst of a cost-cutting programme started last year, said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and aircraft rent (EBITDAR) were up 38 percent year over year.

The company raised its EBITDAR outlook for the first half of the year to a 5 percent increase over a year earlier. Last month, Air Canada had forecast EBITDAR to be flat for the first six months of the year.

LABOUR TALKS IN FOCUS

Air Canada is in talks with all five of its Canadian unions as all of its collective agreements expire this year. Those contract renewals, along with fuel price increases, are the main risks for the airline, Murray said.

Kokonis said that the chance of labour disruption has gone up with all of the contract talks, but added he is cautiously optimistic that Air Canada will reach deals with the unions.

Air Canada said it expects second-quarter operating expenses per available seat mile to fall by 0.5 to 1.5 percent, excluding fuel costs.

The carrier said system-wide passenger revenue rose 10 percent in the first quarter. Premium cabin revenue was up about 13 percent, helped by higher demand.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile rose 2.2 percent.

Rival WestJet Airlines reported a 20-fold jump in quarterly earnings on Tuesday, but hinted that its second-quarter performance may be muted.

Separately, Air Canada said its April system load factor fell to 81.9 percent from 82.4 percent a year earlier.

Kokonis said the lower load factors may be directly related to the higher ticket prices both airlines are charging to help offset fuel costs.

(Reuters)

AIR CANADA CUTS OPERATING LOSS

May 6, 2011

Air Canada narrowed its quarterly operating loss as higher passenger revenue helped offset a big rise in fuel costs, sending its shares up.

Canada's No. 1 airline said on Thursday that higher fuel expenses were a significant drag in the first quarter, rising CAD$120 million. For the full year, higher fuel charges are expected to add about CAD$800 million to operating costs.

Including foreign exchange gains, Air Canada's net loss for the quarter was CAD$19 million, compared with a loss of CAD$112 million a year earlier.

The airline's operating loss was CAD$66 million, compared with CAD$136 million a year earlier. Operating revenue rose 9 percent to CAD$2.75 billion.

"In an environment where fuel charges increase 20 percent quarter-over-quarter, the fact that they were actually able to reduce their loss per share... is quite significant," said Robert Kokonis, managing director of airline consulting company AirTrav.

The improved results came as a result of higher fares, fuel surcharges, flying smaller planes, and cost cuts, Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu said.

The higher fuel costs prompted Air Canada to lower its goals for capacity growth to a range of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent in 2011, down from 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent.

Air Canada, which is in the midst of a cost-cutting programme started last year, said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and aircraft rent (EBITDAR) were up 38 percent year over year.

The company raised its EBITDAR outlook for the first half of the year to a 5 percent increase over a year earlier. Last month, Air Canada had forecast EBITDAR to be flat for the first six months of the year.

LABOUR TALKS IN FOCUS

Air Canada is in talks with all five of its Canadian unions as all of its collective agreements expire this year. Those contract renewals, along with fuel price increases, are the main risks for the airline, Murray said.

Kokonis said that the chance of labour disruption has gone up with all of the contract talks, but added he is cautiously optimistic that Air Canada will reach deals with the unions.

Air Canada said it expects second-quarter operating expenses per available seat mile to fall by 0.5 to 1.5 percent, excluding fuel costs.

The carrier said system-wide passenger revenue rose 10 percent in the first quarter. Premium cabin revenue was up about 13 percent, helped by higher demand.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile rose 2.2 percent.

Rival WestJet Airlines reported a 20-fold jump in quarterly earnings on Tuesday, but hinted that its second-quarter performance may be muted.

Separately, Air Canada said its April system load factor fell to 81.9 percent from 82.4 percent a year earlier.

Kokonis said the lower load factors may be directly related to the higher ticket prices both airlines are charging to help offset fuel costs.

(Reuters)

Families split over retrieval of Air France bodies

ON the flat sandy floor of the deep Atlantic a submarine robot is about to begin lifting the remains of passengers and crew who died when an Air France jet crashed off Brazil two years ago.

The families of the victims, however, have contrasting feelings on the epilogue to the story of Flight 447; a disaster that has raised allegations of cover-ups as well as questions about the mix of high technology and human skills that govern airliners in the 21st century.

The bodies of 50 of the 228 people who died were found on the surface immediately after the crash of the Airbus A330 in June 2009.

Five Britons were on board the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that vanished at night after flying through a storm.

The skeletal remains of dozens of others were found last month, still strapped to their seats, almost two and a half miles under the waves. Two of the three pilots were among them.

After $38 million was spent over 18 months searching the wrong area, the wreck was found by the team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, which found the Titanic in 1985.

The operation to recover the bodies is upsetting some families. "I wanted Caroline to rest in peace on the bottom of the ocean," said Corinne Coquet, whose 24-year-old daughter died with her son-in-law, a steward. "Now they are going to sully this rest."

Robert Soulas, whose daughter and her husband were killed, agreed. "I was not favourable," he told The Times. "The idea that they are manipulating these bodies tied to their seats ... The ocean is their tomb, their destiny took them there."

However, others welcomed the development as a possible closure to their mourning.

In Brazil, Nelson Marinho, president of the local family support group, said that the effort was encouraging. "We will at last be able to bury them. We are going to reach a conclusion about what happened."

Jean-Baptiste Audoussey, 31, who lost his partner and is head of an association of Flight 447 families, had mixed feelings. "I would have preferred that they hadn't told us that there were bodies," he said.

The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), the air accident investigator, is ready to start unloading data from the flight recorders, which were recovered earlier this week and are to be brought to Paris.

Officials are optimistic that, despite spending two years in seawater under tonnes of pressure, the black boxes will give essential information on the chain of events that doomed the Airbus.

Huge stakes hang on the outcome, with Air France and Airbus facing charges of manslaughter in a separate judicial inquiry and the design of the Airbus family of highly automated jets under question.

The basic facts have long been understood, because the airliner transmitted data automatically to Paris in its final minutes. While crossing the storm its speed sensors, or pitot tubes, iced up.

Faulty data caused the automatic flight system to trip. The two pilots then failed to prevent the aircraft entering an uncontrollable dive, probably caused by an aerodynamic stall.

The BEA has said so far that the pitot failure was a factor, but not the sole cause of the crash.

Pilots and Air France accused Airbus of failing to remedy what it knew were unreliable sensors. Others blame the pilots for losing a still manageable airliner. Critics, including lawyers for one victim's family, accused the BEA of deliberately slowing the investigation.

James Healy-Pratt, of Stewarts Law in London, who represents a group of victims' families, said that he expects the investigation to confirm the results of simulations that his firm arranged.

"Entry into bad weather, pitot and computer malfunction and poor pilot response," he told The Times.

"Each link was of course entirely preventable. France and President Sarkozy now need to prove they are not partisan to French commercial interest."

The insurers of Air France face a huge bill, with compensation estimated at about $415m. The airline has settled with about 160 families but litigation is pending from many others.

The Times

SECOND AIR FRANCE BLACK BOX FOUND

May 3, 2011
Search parties scouring the sea bed off Brazil's northeast coast have recovered the second of two flight data recorders from the Air France aircraft that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, investigators said on Tuesday.


The discovery of the audio recorder, two days after the flight data recorder was fished up, brings investigators even closer to the reason for the crash as it should hold recordings of cockpit conversations during the flight's final moments.


"The investigation team localised and identified the Cockpit Voice Recorder at (2150 GMT) on Monday 2 May, 2011," France's BEA air accident inquiry office said. The device was hauled up to the team's ship at 0240 GMT on Tuesday.


A photograph of the recorder on BEA's website shows a bright orange cylindrical device that looks scuffed and battered but otherwise intact. So-called black boxes are painted orange so that they can be spotted more easily in wreckage.


The Airbus A330 airliner crashed into the sea off Brazil en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro in June 2009 after hitting stormy weather, killing all 228 passengers and crew.


The discovery of the two flight recorders follows nearly two years of on-off search efforts over a 10,000 square km area of seabed.


Crash theories have focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.


(Reuters)

EMIRATES HAD 'TOUGH' 2010, HURT BY UNREST

May 2, 2011


Emirates, the Arab world's largest carrier, had a 'tough' year in 2010 and has been hurt by political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, its president said on Monday.


Tim Clark said that Emirates, which reports its results for the second half of 2010 on May 10, still managed to stay "on course."


The airline was affected by last year's Icelandic volcano eruption and bad weather conditions in Europe last December which closed airports and disrupted travel.


Clark, speaking at a travel industry event in the Gulf Arab emirate, said fuel accounted for 43 percent of the Dubai government-owned airline's costs.


He added that airlines will face a big challenge if oil prices hover around the USD$130 a barrel mark until the end of the year. Last month, Brent crude hit a 32-month high above USD$127 a barrel.


In March, Clark said load factors were coming back up after being reduced by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.


The airline, the largest customer for the Airbus A380 super jumbo, said it carried 15.5 million passengers in the first half of the year and its passenger load factor stood at 81.2 percent for the period, its highest ever for a six month reporting period.


The carrier had scaled back flights in the wake of unrest in North Africa and Bahrain. It also dropped plans for a bond to finance expansion after the upheaval made rates more expensive.


"We tested the waters earlier but pulled it off the table. Maybe we will look at it again," Clark said on Monday. "Banks are a little more flushed with funds now. So maybe there's an indication to lend at rates that are attractive (to us)."


(Reuters)