Expedia - will they or won't they?

EXPEDIA.COM'S FIVE-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH SABRE, signed 14 months ago, under which Expedia was to move a substantial number of its transactions from Worldspan to Sabre, has yet to be implemented. And, Expedia appears to have no immediate plans to put the agreement into practice. "There are no segments going through Sabre," said an Expedia spokesman, who declined to cite a reason for the unrealized agreement. Henry Harteveldt, Forrester Research's vice president of travel research, noted that Expedia may have signed the deal in part because Sabre has more airline relationships than Worldspan, and might have decided to hold off implementation until there is more certainty regarding the distribution environment. With airline content agreements expiring over the next 18 months or so, none of the GDSs can guarantee which carriers will choose to distribute through them, Harteveldt noted. Another factor, he said, is that Expedia has never ruled out introducing airline direct-connects that bypass the GDSs. Dennis Schaal Travel Weekly Technology & Business Travel Editor

Farecast.com can stop the madness

FARECAST.COM, using data-mining technology, believes it can find a method to the seeming madness that characterizes ever-changing airline fares. The Seattle-based startup said it has a business plan that promises to help leisure travelers figure out when to book airfares online to get the lowest fares. Farecast, formerly known as Hamlet, said last week that it attracted $7 million in Series B funding from one new investor, Greylock Partners, and two existing backers, Madrona Venture Group and WRF Capital. The latter two companies led an initial round of $1.5 million in 2004. Farecast's technology concept, was developed by the company's founder, Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor. He was a co-founder of Netbot, a comparison shopping site acquired by Excite. The president and CEO of Farecast is Hugh Crean, previously senior vice president of business development at NLG and a former vice president of product development at Priceline. Farecast is being coy about its plans, saying it will provide more information in about three months. Dennis Schaal Travel Weekly Technology & Business Travel Editor

United flight attendants stage pension protests

United Airlines cabin staff, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants, went on the offensive yesterday with coordinated demonstrations at airports in the US, Europe and Asia, threatening to strike in protest over the termination of their pension plan."Current United management has held its employees and creditors hostage in Chapter 11 for nearly 1,000 days," union head Greg Davidowitch said. "We're hitting the streets around the globe to demonstrate our resolve. We want our pensions back, and we want this management team out." The flight attendants claim the right to strike owing to the termination of their pension plan, although management disputes this interpretation of the applicable federal labor law (ATWOnline, July 4). In a statement issued yesterday, the airline said, "The actions the AFA leadership has threatened are illegal and will not be tolerated. United will do whatever is necessary to ensure the continued smooth operations of the company for our customers." ----------- Here we go again - more labor unrest. Just what the airline industry does not need. One has to wonder when travelers are going to start reacting back. Flights are full and not as cheap as they were, in-flight service is generally awful - cabin crew are right to worry about air rage.

Asiana's Strike Cost Dear

Asiana Strike Costing Airline $3 Million a Day Meanwhile, unionized pilots at South Korea's Asiana have been on strike since July 17, a strike that is costing the airline $3 million a day, according to Singapore's Business Times. The pilots want their flying hours cut from 1,200 a year to 1,000 and an increase in their retirement age from 55 to 60. Asiana reportedly now has cancelled 60 international passenger flights through the end of July, according to Agence France Presse. Affected routes include Delhi, Guilin (China), Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sydney. Also affected are most of the company's cargo flights and about half of its domestic flights. The strike comes as Asiana last week posted a second quarter loss of $8.3 million --reversing the $25.5 million profit the company posted for the same quarter in 2004. ------ What's with the sudden airline labor action all over the place? Got to love a full time job that only uses 1,000 hours per year at the office.

SAA in safe hands?

South African Airways (SAA) has reached a pay deal with two unions, it said on Thursday, ending a strike which crippled Africa's largest airline for almost a week. "The decision here taken by the unions and management again confirms that this airline is in safe hands," SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula told reporters. Two unions representing SAA ground staff and cabin crew walked off the job last Friday, forcing the airline to cancel international flights and sharply scale back domestic flights. Economists had estimated the strike was costing the state-owned carrier about ZAR25 million rand (USD$3.8 million) per day, but Ngqula declined to give SAA's figures for its losses. --------- You read this and you have to laugh. All the CEO has to say is the company is in safe hands. What a stupid remark. SAA have lost a fortune on the strike and ruined their reputation. We think business travelers would think twice about flying SAA after this mess. Very safe hands indeed, when you are owned by the government.

UK travelers jumping online

KLM said it has seen a 45% increase in the usage of its website by UK passengers to book tickets and check in for flights over the past 12 months, and it now receives an average of 105,000 UK visitors per week. In addition, nearly 85% of UK flyers now travel on an e-ticket, the highest penetration in its network, the airline said.

Southwest Driving Lots of Politicos Crazy

Item 1 - Southwest Airlines on Thursday officially announced its intent to ditch Seattle's major hub at Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International and switch flights to the much smaller Boeing Field. Southwest says it's frustrated with rapidly rising user fees at Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International. Item 2 - If Southwest's moving to Boeing, then Alaska Air — which operates a hub at Sea-Tac — says it will move a matching number of flights to Boeing. Item 3 - Not happy to have the Dallas-Love airport flap overshadowed by Seattle matters, the Texas battle over the Wright Amendment restrictions at Love Field have been ratcheted up. There are separate bills in the House and Senate that would nullify the restrictions at Love Field, and that's not sitting well some legislators. Frustrated at the increasing momentum to overturn the Wright Amendment, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he is considering supporting a bill that would force Southwest's hand by ending all commercial flights at Love Field. That drew a sharp rebuke from House Majority Leader Tom Delay, who also says he'd vote to repeal Wright. Closing flights to Love "won't ever happen," Delay says. But, even at that level, the stakes were promptly raise. In what he termed a "lighthearted swipe," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has proposed a bill that would ban passenger flights at the commercial airports in Des Moines and Tulsa, reports The Dallas Morning News. Why those cities? It's legislators from the states those cities proposed the ban on commercial service at Love. --------- Wow, Southwest is having a great time.

Chirac Urges Air Tax To Fund Africa Aid - Today's Dumbest Idea

French President Jacques Chirac has again urged world leaders to impose a levy on airline tickets to finance extra aid for Africa, his office said on Tuesday. Chirac, who told the World Economic Forum in January that a tax of USD$1 per airline ticket could raise USD$10 billion a year to fund campaigns against diseases in Africa, pressed his case in a letter he wrote to more than 140 world leaders. "I offer you to associate yourselves with the establishment of an international solidarity contribution on plane tickets, aimed, particularly, at financing the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," he said in a letter dated Monday. In the letter addressed to state leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chirac said the tax would be imposed on tickets of planes leaving from airports in participating countries. Chirac urged world leaders to work on the proposal ahead of the United Nations' summit in September. "If the September summit allowed to launch this project, it would constitute a historic moment of hope, of mobilization and action, and I would be happy if your country could participate in this," Chirac wrote. The Group of Eight industrialized nations have decided to consider imposing a levy on airline tickets to finance extra aid for Africa, a proposal which has run into opposition in Europe and the United States. Chirac's idea has received support from Germany, but even though talks so far have centered on a voluntary tax, some other European governments, including tourist destinations Greece and Italy, have given the idea an icy reception. (Reuters) -------- What, another tax on tickets? What a dumb idea! Why should travelers’ money – note the idea is to tax all airline tickets – be sent as aid to Africa? It is well documented that up 40% of aid to Africa comes right back to the donor country within days to be banked in, shall we say, certain accounts that might (or might not be) for the nation granted this largesse. Africa is the poorest continent because it has more crooked and corrupt governments than any other continent. The best thing the West can provide that place is advice on implementing democracy and capitalism. This formula has worked wonders in other places – why not Africa? African nations and people need to stand up for themselves and quit this handout requirement every few years. Bob Geldorf should give up this gig – it is not working on anywhere near the scale he and others want. Only Africans can solve Africa’s manifest problems. Just leave them alone – and while Chirac is at it, leave us alone too. We think this idea of a ticket tax for Africa is the dumbest idea in a while.

LAX - Heathrow Flight Diverted

Via AP this morning:

BOSTON (AP) - A flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to Boston early Tuesday because three Pakistani passengers were acting suspiciously, but nothing amiss was found and the three were released after questioning, authorities said. United Airlines Flight 934 landed in Boston shortly before 3 a.m., Logan Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said. Three people he described as Pakistani citizens were taken into custody and questioned. All three were later released and no charges were filed, said Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Boston. "The flight crew made an observation of their behavior which caused the flight to be diverted to Boston," she said. "It's all being resolved. They will be on another flight this morning for Heathrow." Flight 934 is expected to depart for London later in the morning. Police searched the aircraft and found nothing suspicious, Orlandella said. State trooper Veronica Dalton said the three passengers had been "acting suspiciously and making the passengers nervous." "The crew made the determination that they were going to land the plane in Boston," she said. The three passengers were not identified.

I am waiting for eyewitness accounts to surface to better describe their "suspicous" activity.

The discomfort of strangers - great piece

By Sean Coughlan BBC News It's a crowded train in central London, and I'm sitting opposite an Asian man carrying what looks like a large laptop bag. Is it a coincidence that no one else is sitting near us? Is it an accident that he's pushed out his corporate ID card so that it's clearly visible over his jacket, hanging like the open page of a passport? Public transport can be a world of unspoken signals and gestures - but am I right in thinking that he looks self-conscious, sometimes burying his face in his arms as though asleep? When that woman getting into the carriage half-turned towards us and then moved away, was that a deliberate decision, or was it a random commuter choice? How would it feel to have someone literally turning their back on you? Mind-games I change Tube lines and in the next train I'm sitting close to a woman wearing Islamic dress. But this time, all the seats are filled around her, and the atmosphere feels relaxed. What's going on in the thoughts of passengers? What judgements are they making? It's a mind-game being played out all over the Tube network, and indeed on many trains and buses throughout the country. It's performed in silence, with people unsure of their neighbours' motives and guilty about their own feelings of suspicion. Following the London bomb attacks, there have been stories swapped all over the capital of people switching seats because of "suspicious" passengers. And targets of that suspicion have talked about their sense of frustration at the unsubtle attention of other travellers. Even though people say little when they're travelling, there's plenty going on inside - fears of danger, changed routes, calculations to avoid risks, guilt at making stereotypical assumptions, anger at being unfairly distrusted. Stopped carrying rucksacks In the rather unreal atmosphere of familiar places facing unfamiliar threats, people are taking note of actions and appearances they wouldn't usually see. Hundreds of e-mails sent in to the BBC News website show how, in the uneasy mood on public transport, we're thinking all kinds of unspoken thoughts. There are flickers of bigotry and thinly-disguised racism, but there are also convincingly understated descriptions of people's edginess - and examples of how it is changing people's behaviour, including a number who say they have stopped taking Tube trains. Marcus, who says his family are Greek-Cypriot, has devised a strategy to avoid "odd looks" on the Tube (which he attributes to his Mediterranean appearance). To make himself seem non-threatening, he now wears a Make Poverty History wristband and makes a point of reading the Economist. "Whilst this sounds ridiculous it does reassure people around me. Of course, the whole thing is ridiculous but these are ridiculous times we are living in," he writes. An Asian reader says fears about what people are thinking have stopped him carrying a rucksack. "I do not take my rucksack to work anymore, which had my lunch and work shirt. I would rather wear a dirty shirt left at work than be looked at suspiciously. I also wear a T-shirt to work now, as I am afraid to wear too much, after the shooting," he writes. There are also people who have stopped wearing their MP3 players or iPods because of worries about trailing wires or not hearing orders from the police. Empty seat Being on the receiving end of such a hostile atmosphere has persuaded Leila, a white convert to Islam, to stop travelling by Tube altogether. "I sensed people's fear of me because of my Muslim dress. Sometimes people even preferred to stand rather than sit by me, leaving an empty seat next to me." Hindu and Sikh readers have also written to say they have experienced the same sense of rejection. "As I got on the tube with my rucksack, a fellow passenger saw me, waited a second then got up, to wait on the platform for the next train," writes Dev. Violence This distrust between travellers is a phenomenon that feeds on itself, says psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon, from the north London-based consultancy, Fitzgibbon Associates. "You've got a strange effect here. Everybody's awareness of a threat is raised - and everyone is looking round suspiciously. So they're looking at each other - and what they observe is people looking at them suspiciously, which immediately raises their awareness that this person might be a threat. "You can get very anxious situations arising - and in the extreme it could lead to violence." Mr Fitzgibbon says fear is a natural response to a threat - but the prolonged media coverage, and the way that people continue to talk about the bombings, can generate a response that is greater than the actual threat that exists. And amid such fears, he says that people can tend to seek people more like themselves and to avoid those who are different. Such a reaction, already witnessed by people sending in e-mails, would threaten what a worried reader described as the capital's "multi-cultural mini-world". ------- And this is the outcome of terrorism - less tolerance and understanding. It seems counter-intuitive. Rather than a sympathetic view of the terrorists' world view, people are reacting quite rationally. We forget today's European tolerance of "others" is quite recent - the holocaust was only 50 some years ago. Threats like the London bombings might rekindle all kinds of behaviors.

Live TV on Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines became the first carrier to introduce live TV on international flights. The infotainment option was enabled by SIA's installation of Connexion by Boeing and TV is free for passengers paying for Connexion for their laptops. The airline is proceeding with plans to bring TV to seat-back IFE by 2006. The four international channels to be beamed live are BBC World, EuroNews, Eurosportnews and CNBC. ---- Slowly but surely we will see a migration away from stale and boring options offered today towards fresh content. The canned movies might be an option, but clearly live content is the way to go.

Airline Labor - is this going to get worse?

South African Airways (SAA) was forced to cancel dozens more flights as one of the worst strikes in the airline's history went to a fourth day on Monday, stranding travellers from London to Lusaka. Olympic is about the strike and Northwest is also facing action. What's going on here? In the US, we have just seen the AFL-CIO go through a split, which puts Northwest in a strong position becuase union labor is too busy with in-fighting. In Africa other carriers are scrambling to fill in the void created by SAA's mess. Similarly, we think that Olympic's strike will be handled by other carriers. What does this teach us? Worldwide there are more seats that passengers. Airlines can dissappear and people will find another way to get where they want to go. There too many airlines employing too many people. Excess capacity cannot be supported by strikes. Organized labor is going to destroy airlines - the bad news for travelers is that as capacity shrinks, choices decline and fares will go up. But the employees will have no where to go for jobs. Who is the bigger loser?

Olympic Cancels 50 Flights Due To Strike

Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines will cancel 50 flights on Tuesday because of a 24 hour strike as part of industrial action called by main trade union body GSEE against proposed government reforms. Olympic Airlines said on Monday it would fly to one domestic destination and one international on Tuesday. On Tuesday, parliament will debate reforms proposed by the New Democracy government intended to create more jobs and boost competitiveness. The proposed bill aims to introduce more flexible working hours and cheaper overtime pay. Unions said the proposed changes will trim workers' pay. Athens' transport system will ground to a halt on Tuesday as workers join in GSEE's strike. Public utility employees and bank workers will stay away from work while civil servants will hold a four hour work stoppage in the morning. GSEE will also stage a protest rally outside Parliament. Athens' determination to push through politically difficult reforms comes after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis easily won a parliamentary confidence vote last month. (Reuters) ----- And they wonder why there are no investors to buy the airline? Nuts!

US Government still not data sharing effectively

USA Today -- The federal government is awash in lists of all manner of criminals. Fugitives charged with child molestation or murder. The FBI's 10 Most Wanted. Illegal immigrants. And, most usefully, terrorists. Two of the 9/11 hijackers — Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Al-Midhar — were allowed to board the jetliner that was flown into the Pentagon, even though both were on a State Department list of 60,000 known or suspected terrorists. The Federal Aviation Administration might have stopped them before they boarded, had it been checking travelers against that list. Instead, it was using its own "no-fly" list of a mere 12 suspects, according to the 9/11 Commission. Nearly four years have passed since that debacle. Still, the federal government hasn't gotten its information-sharing act together. At times, one arm of government doesn't check lists kept by another. Often, agencies don't even know what they're missing. The latest revelation of a lapse came last month, when Congress's non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the State Department was issuing passports without systematically checking applicants against FBI lists of fugitives and against a new, consolidated terrorist list. The upshot? In a GAO test, 20 out of 43 federal fugitives weren't flagged by the State Department's system. One was on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Another had obtained an updated passport 17 months after the FBI listed that person as wanted. A U.S. passport is considered the gold standard of identity documents. It enables holders to travel freely into and out of the USA and gain visa-free passage into many countries. The State Department says it checks passport applicants against its own database filled with information from many agencies. State, however, wasn't aware that thousands of federal fugitives known to the FBI weren't included, until the GAO discovered it. The department lacked data from the terrorist watch list because it wasn't routinely receiving that information, according to the GAO. A department official said last week that the agency will get the watch list in coming weeks, and it has a deal with the FBI to get data on more fugitives. Despite some strides in sharing information, the lapses at State are emblematic of problems that remain across agencies. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, still doesn't scrutinize every government list in its screening of passengers. Concern about sharing intelligence information with private airlines, which still handle the checks, is one of the reasons, the 9/11 Commission found. For decades, U.S. agencies worked alone on their individual missions. They seldom looked across the government for help. That mindset is tough to change, but 9/11 certainly should have provided the impetus, and the 7/7 bombings in London last week underscored the continuing terrorist threat. Come next year, Americans will suddenly need passports to travel by air or sea from the Caribbean, Bermuda and other places where passports have not been required. Mexico and Canada will be added later. The goal is more secure borders. By then, it would be nice if the State Department could ensure that anyone getting a passport is not a fugitive or terrorist known to some other arm of the U.S. government. ----- This is simply outrageous! What are we paying taxes for? How can there be no data sharing of this type? Given the vast amounts of money poured into these agencies one would think that something as easy as this would have been done by now.

Scary Runways, Scary Skies

NYT -- For those of us who travel, reports of near collisions on the runway send a jolt up the spine. Such incidents are admittedly rare. But there is no such thing as rare enough when you're strapped into your seat and waiting for takeoff. Times article on Thursday by Matthew L. Wald reported that two weeks ago, a fully fueled wide-body Israir jet carrying an undetermined number of passengers wandered onto the wrong runway at Kennedy International Airport, smack into the path of a cargo plane accelerating for takeoff. Spotting the looming disaster, the pilot of the cargo plane got airborne early, skimming over the top of the passenger jet by less than 100 feet - the barest whisker by aviation standards. This was an avoidable crisis, and it should never have happened at all. Yet on June 9, the co-pilot of a US Airways Boeing 737 had to delay takeoff and keep the plane's nose down to avoid crashing into an Aer Lingus Airbus A330 taking off on an intersecting runway at Logan Airport in Boston. On Aug. 19 last year, a Boeing 747 flown by Asiana was cleared to land on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport at the same time that a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared to take off. Disaster was averted when the Asiana pilot spotted the Southwest plane as it swung into position for takeoff and turned the Asiana plane away at literally the last minute - with two seconds to spare. The Federal Aviation Administration has improved pilot training and equipment at some airports, but the National Transportation Safety Board still characterizes the F.A.A.'s actions on this issue as "unacceptable." Life is dangerous enough these days without adding avoidable accidents to the mix. It's past time to push everyone - including air traffic controllers, pilots and technicians - toward making these near-collisions a thing of the past. ------- Lets hear it for sharp eyed pilots! It is truly an act of faith when you sit down on an airplane and hope to get to the other side alive. Pilots have been called glorified bus drivers and it is clear from these few anecdotes that this is a very unfair statement.

CS Monitor on In-Flight Internet

Inflight Turbulence for the Net The Monitor's View The business of providing Internet services on airplanes is just taking off. Care to send e-mail, receive instant messages, or surf the web while in flight? The emerging technology will soon make doing so as easy as placing a phone call from a plane-seat or logging on in a hotel room. But like meals on most flights, the service won't be free. And like almost everything having to do with aviation, it must pass an antiterror filter. The FBI, along with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, wants to be able to read or block online communications to and from airplanes. They have applied to the Federal Communications Commission for this authority and would use it only after obtaining a court order for each case. They also want the airlines to be able to tell them electronically the seat numbers and itinerary of inflight Internet users as well as store records of all communications for 24 hours. Given the security concerns - that hijackers could communicate and coordinate actions at 30,000 feet, or an explosive device smuggled on a plane might be triggered remotely - the law enforcement request seems prudent and reasonable. But why make the request of the FCC? Congress is considering renewal of the Patriot Act. Certainly compromising Internet privacy rights inflight, and the potential for the same technology to find a landing pad on overall Internet use on the ground, should be debated and decided by legislators accountable to the citizens rather than by administrators appointed by the President. Public confidence in the security of airplanes is likely to trump private electronic communications every time. It would be best if the decision of privacy rights were part of a democratic process rather than a bureaucratic ruling. ---------- We especially take note of the part that says the Feds want to know which seat is accessing the web - PNR matching will answer the itinerary question. But the first part is silly - if you go online in-flight and you want to drive the Feds nuts, change your seat.

Flight Database Found to Violate Privacy Law

NYT - The Transportation Security Administration violated the federal Privacy Act by creating a database of aviation passenger records that merged airline records with commercial data in an improper way, government auditors said Friday. The violation did not result in the inappropriate release of personal data or wrongly prevent anyone from boarding a plane, the Government Accountability Office report said. But it still violated the law, the report said, because the database included biographical information on 43,000 passengers from private companies, contrary to the agency's promise not to collect and store commercial data. The database was used to test a new screening system known as Secure Flight that is due to be introduced by early next year. The agency issued a revised Privacy Act declaration to make public the way it uses the data in testing Secure Flight. Such disclosures are required by the 1974 privacy law. Secure Flight, as planned, should enhance the government's ability to find terrorists while reducing the frequency that passengers are delayed simply because a name is similar to that of a terror suspect on the watch list. Security agency officials did not dispute the findings, but some in Congress called them disappointing because they followed a similar privacy violation in which airlines turned over passenger data to government contractors. "Careless missteps such as this jeopardize the public trust and D.H.S.' ability to deploy a much-needed, new system," Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, wrote on Friday to Secretary Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security. ------- We remain amazed by the concern with privacy during a war on civilians. What does it take for people to back off and let the government do its main job - namely protecting its citizens?

SAA Halts All Flights

South African Airways (SAA) has suspended all international and domestic flights until further notice as a strike by cabin and ground crew entered a second day, the company said on Saturday. SAA said in a statement that it had managed to get a significant number of travellers to their destinations on other carriers, despite the cancellation of domestic flights. It appealed to people planning to travel by SAA to postpone their travel plans and not to arrive at airports for check-in. Satawu, one of the unions leading the industrial action, said it hoped to meet with SAA on Saturday for talks. "We are hoping to have a meeting this afternoon... It is in the public interest for them to talk. We have to start today," Satawu general secretary Randall Howard told domestic news agency SAPA. Scores of passengers have been left stranded as flights were cancelled, including to other African cities like Lagos in Nigeria and Nairobi in Kenya. SAA cabin crew and ground staff went on strike from early on Friday after unions and management failed to reach agreement on wages at a final meeting on Thursday. The union is demanding an 8 percent annual wage increase while SAA is offering 5 percent. The other union involved, the United Association of South Africa, said it was seeking a meeting with SAA management and added that the strike would continue until an agreement was reached. The union's umbrella federation approached the national Ministry of Labour to facilitate a meeting with SAA management, but no talks were planned. The national Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said in a statement on Friday SAA management and the union had rejected intervention. The Australian national rugby team -- in South Africa to play the Springboks in the final game of the Mandela Charity Cup on Saturday -- had to charter a special flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg for the game due to the extensive delays. The unions argue that SAA can afford an 8 percent raise after it disclosed a ZAR966 million rand (USD$146.2 million) net profit for the 2004/05 financial year earlier this month. It suffered a ZAR8.6 billion (USD$1.3 billion) loss the previous period. Reuters) ------ Yes, you did read an earlier blog where airline management said everything would be normal. African aviation at its finest!

SAA Cancels Flights As Strike Starts

South African Airways (SAA) cancelled some domestic and international flights on Friday as ground staff began a strike over wages that caused chaos at major airports across the country. "SAA has cancelled some of its domestic flights following industrial action by cabin crew and ground staff from early this morning," SAA spokeswoman Sarah Uys said in a statement. Passengers were forced to wait for hours and many slept with baggage strewn across the floor as the national carrier attempted to get them on other airlines' flights. Flights to African cities including Lusaka in Zambia and Nairobi in Kenya were also cancelled but the airline said so far no flights to more distant destinations were affected. Union spokesman Leon Grobler of the United Association of South Africa (UASA) said the union was trying to facilitate a meeting with SAA management, and added that the strike would continue until an agreement was reached. "We will strike over the weekend. It's impossible to call off the strike at this stage when there is no reasonable offer on the table," Grobler said. SAA cabin crew and ground staff went on strike from early on Friday after unions and management failed to reach agreement on wages at a final meeting on Thursday. UASA is demanding an eight percent annual wage increase while SAA is offering five percent. The union gave the airline notice that it intended to go on strike from Wednesday, but the action was delayed by further negotiations. Local media reported that passengers waited in queues of up to 200 metres (yards) at Johannesburg Airport while at Cape Town some passengers took to sleeping on their luggage on the airport floor. All outbound SAA fights from Durban were cancelled, South African Press Association reported. "We have been waiting here since 7 o'clock this morning. The flight was supposed to leave at 9am but it hasn't gone yet," Emily Schwarz, a member of a British school netball team, said at Cape Town airport shortly before noon. "I am quite annoyed because we have a game tomorrow (in Durban) and now it doesn't even look like we will get there until tomorrow. Does this happen often?" The Australian national rugby team -- in South Africa to play the Springboks in the final game of the Mandela Charity Cup on Saturday -- had to charter a special flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg for the game due to the extensive delays. But others said they understood the SAA staff action. "It is quite annoying to have to stand here in queues but you can sympathize with the union... the company has just reported big profits," Manie Wessels said while waiting for a flight to Johannesburg. UASA argues that SAA can afford an eight percent raise after it disclosed a ZAR966 million rand (USD$146.2 million) net profit for the 2004/05 financial year earlier this month. It suffered a ZAR8.6 billion (USD$1.3 billion) loss the previous period. SAA said contingency plans were in place to minimize disruption, but passengers were advised to make alternative travel arrangements, Uys added. (Reuters) ------ Make alternative arrangements? Does this mean SAA will endorse its tickets to other carriers? What a preposterous statement. Earlier comments were that SAA thought everything would be normal, now we see what they mean by normal.

Southwest is serious about Boeing Field

ATW Online -- Southwest Airlines yesterday offered to spend $130 million to construct facilities at Seattle's King County International Airport--also known as Boeing Field--that would allow it to transfer its operations from Seattle-Tacoma International, where it claims that "ever-increasing costs have become an obstacle to growth." In addition to being the delivery site for Boeing narrowbodies, KCIA is served by a few small Regional airlines along with corporate and cargo operators. It has runways of 3,710 ft. and 10,001 ft. in length and is located 5 mi. from downtown Seattle. If the proposal is accepted, Southwest said it would launch operations in 2006 with 60 daily flights, increasing to 85, up from 35 today at SeaTac. The offer is opposed by SeaTac. In response, Alaska Airlines and affiliate Horizon Air notified King County of their request for "equal access" to the airport in order to remain competitive. Southwest wants to build an eight-gate facility at KCIA, a parking garage, passenger concessions, rental car provisions, special accommodations for cruise traffic and buses and the necessary facilities for its flight operations including gates, office space, baggage claim and baggage screening. Its lease at SeaTac expires at the end of December. Under the proposal, Southwest would own, manage, maintain and operate the terminal and it said it will pay King County landing fees and land rental rates stipulated by the county. After the 50-year agreement expires, ownership of the entire facility would transfer to King County. ------- This is really novel. Imagine this effort is successful and LUV grows its service to 85 daily flights. That is huge for the Seattle market. Presumably this will include flights from NY, New England and BWI. Also, such service might require larger aircraft like the 737-900. This move might presage quite a lot.

Air Zimbabwe Suspends Flights Amid Fuel Crisis

National airline Air Zimbabwe has been forced to suspend some domestic and international flights as a fuel crisis bites, state media reported on Thursday. The southern African nation is grappling with its worst fuel crisis in years with fuel stations remaining dry for weeks, forcing many urban commuters to walk to and from work. The crisis has also hit production in the manufacturing sector and slowed annual tobacco deliveries. "Some flights were suspended while some are operational as usual," the official Herald newspaper quoted Air Zimbabwe spokesman David Mwenga as saying. He did not give details on the suspended flights. The Herald quoted an official at the carrier as saying the cancelled flights included those to the resort town of Victoria Falls, South Africa and London. It said a London-bound flight was delayed on Wednesday for nearly seven hours as "officials ran around to find the scarce commodity". Airline officials were not immediately available for comment. ----- In case you think we are hammering this airline too hard, we are not. Actually the airline is reflecting the country as a whole. Please read this link to get a deeper appreciation of a once beautiful and productive country. http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air-zimb.htm

Companies get OK to run security screening

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY ORLANDO — The government will allow more airports to contract with private companies to administer its program of expedited security screening of trusted travelers. Justin Oberman, U.S. Transportation Security Administration assistant administrator, said here Tuesday the government's Registered Traveler program will "move a lot faster" with companies — not the government — running it. Registered Traveler allows people who have passed background checks to enter a special line at airport checkpoints. They go through a metal detector but are exempt from additional screening unless they trigger an alarm. At Orlando, nearly 4,000 people have paid $80 to enroll for a year with Verified Identity Pass, a Manhattan-based start-up the airport hired last month. The company gives TSA-approved members of its "Clear" program a plastic card embedded with a microchip that stores a fingerprint and an iris image. A member can go to either of Orlando's two checkpoints and slide that card into a kiosk, then press a finger onto an electronic print reader or look into a mirror for an iris scan. If the iris or the fingerprint match the biometric record, the traveler goes through a reserved security line. ----------- Cool! So MCO is one the places you can avoid the publically funded frisking by TSA's too-frisky-by-far security mavens.

Aer Lingus Jobs Memo Angers Union

Making its staff wear nasty uniforms and endure tedious training courses were among tactics discussed by Irish state airline Aer Lingus to speed up voluntary job cuts. In a leaked discussion document, outlined in the Irish Independent newspaper on Wednesday, the airline also considered changes to shift arrangements that would make life difficult, particularly for employees with families. Aer Lingus, which has shed jobs and cut costs since a brush with bankruptcy in 2001, confirmed the existence of such a discussion paper but said it had been taken out of context. "The alleged tactics outlined in the report have never been embraced by either the past or present management team," it said in a statement. According to the newspaper report, the memorandum refers to "environmental push factors" as being essential to the success of the airline's voluntary severance program, introduced last year to reduce the 4,000-strong workforce by 1,300. These "push factors" included suggestions that cabin crew abandon their current uniform for jump suits and T-shirts, the Irish Independent said, and that pilots be forced to attend long, involved training courses. Topping a list of 12 proposals was a "Tap on the shoulder", whereby certain employees would be approached by management and told they no longer had a future with the company. But Aer Lingus Chairman John Sharman reassured employees in a letter that the document had simply been a portion of a paper used in preparing a business plan, and that making life difficult for staff had never been part of management policy. "The paper in question listed a number of issues or circumstances that would arise as a result of items contained in the proposed business plan. It was not a list of proposed management actions," he wrote. "The company does not have and never did have a '12-point' plan of tactics aimed at 'persuading' staff towards the redundancy package as the article alleges, nor would it countenance or condone such an approach". Ireland's largest union SIPTU (Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union) said it would be seeking "full clarification" from management later on Wednesday. "As far as we're concerned the company really has to decide whether it's in a voluntary situation or not... because this document would seem to suggest they were quite prepared to ensure that it wasn't," SIPTU National Industrial Secretary Michael Halpenny said. He added the union had warned its members management might use "psychological factors" in the push for redundancies. The company's chairman said he remained committed to working closely with the unions to deliver necessary cost cuts. Aer Lingus was badly hit by the downturn in air travel following the September 2001 attacks in the United States and has since slimmed down to realign itself as a low-fares player. Earlier this year the Irish government announced it would offer a majority shareholding in the flag carrier, which requires a significant cash injection in order to expand its long-haul operations. (Reuters) ------ Readers of this blog know that we are generally not on the side of unions but this is over the top. Its no wonder airline staff stick with their unions with this type of action by management. We hope the union holds management's feet to the fire.

Delays In Olympic Air Talks Cast Doubts On Sale

Delays in privatization talks with the preferred bidder for Greek flagship carrier Olympic Airlines are raising doubts over whether the sale will go through, a source close to the sale said on Wednesday. "We had given a deadline to the end of last week to the bidder to submit a final offer. But there has been no major development," the source said. "The process is continuing, with developments to date not in the desired direction but nothing can be ruled out." In June, Athens picked Olympic Investors-York Capital to continue talks on the airline's sale. It has not ruled out other bidders. Greece is trying to sell Olympic Airlines as part of a EUR1.6 billion (USD$1.93 billion) state divestments agenda to pay down public debt. The head of the Federation of Greek Industries on Wednesday appeared gloomy on the airline's latest privatization attempt. "I think the tender did not bear fruit. There is no interest from investors," Odysseas Kyriakopoulos told reporters. Greek Transport Minister Michael Liapis has said the sale is the carrier's last chance for survival. --------- Is there any wonder why there is no investor interest? When did this airline last make money? This is another failed state enterprise and Greek tax payers should not have to keep it afloat. Europeans are over-taxed already.

New Product Enables Legacy IFE Systems

Delta Beta and IAG Jointly Developing Major Breakthrough for Airlines Palo Alto, CALIF and San Diego, CALIF - Many airlines face a marketing dilemma: passengers want interactive communications while in-flight but the airlines do not want to invest millions in new systems. High operational costs preclude carriers from taking any financial risks. Delta Beta In-Flight, Inc. (www.deltabeta.com) has developed a device that allows airlines with legacy in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems to leapfrog to the front of Internet-driven in-flight passenger communications. Using a small (measuring 3.5" x 4.5" and 1" thick) device, called the SCISE 9130, Delta Beta can upgrade older IFE systems to include Internet access, email, SMS, online shopping, games, travel information, airline Web site, customer feedback and much more. Integration with the Sagem RCOM-100 satellite transceiver provides inexpensive communications for all passengers, whether they travel with laptops or not. All 9130 units are connected via Wi-Fi meaning there is no need for additions or changes to aircraft wiring. For example, the solution enables an airline to install “virtual keyboards” on the small seatback tables. This enables every passenger to not only access the Internet, but to send emails and SMS messages. This innovation promises to catapult airlines into the live digital communications era. Delta Beta’s 9130 allows airlines to increase marginal revenue from their customers – something which has proven to be difficult in today’s competitive air fare environment. Once installed the 9130 provides airlines with new flexibility to provide Internet-powered content. For example, passengers can view the live news sites they prefer, browse the airline’s Web site to check seating on their next flight and give the airline real-time customer feedback. Delta Beta teamed with Innovation Analysis Group (IAG) to enable airlines to get live customer feedback – enabling the airline to respond immediately, if this is necessary. The airline will also be able to identify the passenger, and the feedback can be added to the airline’s customer relationship management (CRM) system. For pennies, the airline now has the power to understand its best customers on a much deeper level. This service will have the most impact on long-haul flights. Target clients for 3rd party surveys obviously include the travel industry as well as all the advertisers in the in-flight magazines. Delta Beta and IAG will provide airlines with a timely solution that cost-effectively solves the challenges of updating legacy IFE systems and simultaneously enables considerable improvements in customer service. IAG, Inc. is a San Diego based travel industry consultancy. The firm specializes in online market research with extensive experience in the airline industry. Web: www.iag-inc.com – Email: aschonland@iag-inc.com or bmainzer@iag-inc.com Delta Beta In-Flight, Inc. is based in the heart of Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, California where it develops and produces IFF systems for all aircraft sizes from regional jets through wide-bodied aircraft. Web: www.deltabeta.com -- Email: sales@deltabeta.com For further information please contact: Henry DeBey, +1 (650) 968-5300 Email: henry.debey@deltabeta.com

SAA stikes loom

Management refuses to go beyond its 5% offer and the union wants 8%. Starting at 4pm (local SA time) 500 ground & cabin crew will start a "grasshopper" stike. Yet the airline is planning for normal ops. Right.

747A about to get an order?

Rumors are that a Euro-freighter order is pending - up to 10. The 747 is a very popular freighter, and Boeing is planning a freight variant of the 747A which looks to be model launched. The freighter would be stretched 5.1m from the passenger model, with a 422 tonne maximum takeoff weight, which would allow it to carry 130 tonnes of cargo over 8,260 km. Four extra pallet spaces would be created on the main deck, while the lower deck would be able to hold 2 extra containers and 2 extra pallets.

Cellphones in-flight - rejoinder

The Christian Science Monitor: To Kevin Mitchell, allowing people to use cellphones in airplanes would "create insanity up there," with passengers jabbering away while their aisle mates sit helplessly by. But Greeley Koch counters it wouldn't be that bad. In fact, he thinks it would create a boon for business, producing millions of dollars for the economy as those hours spent flying are suddenly made more productive. But few groups are more opposed to allowing cellphone use than the airlines' own front-line personnel. Flight attendants are concerned not only about terrorists, but also about passengers' air rage if they're forced to sit and listen to someone else chatter for three or four hours. ---------- While the fears about terrorism are plausible one has to wonder why in-flight cell phones offer some special help to a terrorist. This debate is going round and round. Our surveys shows some people fear the noise (a valid fear) but most want to be productive. We believe that cell phone users will mainly be using SMS, e-mail and other data transfers. Of course you will get the loud jerk on flights - but that jerk is flying now and making a noise anyway speaking to other people on the flight.

Northwest Mechanics Authorize Strike

Mechanics at Northwest Airlines have authorized their union leader to call a strike, saying the carrier is demanding unreasonable concessions from the workers, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said on Tuesday. The union said 92.4 percent of its members working at Northwest voted to allow their national leader to call a strike. Northwest has replacement workers ready to take over if necessary. Steenland described them as "reputable brand name" mechanics who do similar work for other airlines. Analysts have said that, without the USD$1.1 billion in annual labor concessions, Northwest could be forced into bankruptcy. But they warned that a strike also could push the carrier into bankruptcy. (Reuters) ----- Chapter 11 is going to hurt the union more than the airline. Of course its tough losing positions, wages & benefits. But where else does the company geti the savings? Some the fleet that most needs maintenance is the ancient DC9s and as the compant retires these they will need less mechanics. At current fuel prices it makes sense to retire gas guzzlers.

Senate Bill To Lift Love Field Restrictions

Legislation aimed at lifting flight restrictions at Dallas Love Field, a move that could boost Southwest Airlines and hurt rival American Airlines, was introduced in the US Senate on Tuesday. Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada unveiled a measure that would lift the Wright Amendment restrictions that limit nonstop flights from Love Field to destinations within Texas or seven nearby states. The restrictions were put in place 26 years ago to help business prospects at newer Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where American is based and operates its largest hub. American has fought efforts to lift the prohibition. Southwest could gain substantial revenue if allowed to fly to cities like Las Vegas and Pittsburgh from Love Field, which is 10 miles closer to downtown Dallas than DFW. "The Wright Amendment is an idea whose time has gone. With approval of this bill, Americans will have more options and fares will be lower," Ensign said in a statement. A similar measure was introduced in the US House in May. Ensign was joined by fellow Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas in announcing the bill. Ensign said Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut had agreed to be the bill's Democratic co-sponsor. Southwest Airlines issued a statement applauding Ensign's bill while American Airlines criticized the measure for granting Southwest a monopoly at Love Field. Ensign said his bill would not affect the Love Field Master Plan, which controls the size of the airport and the number and times of flights. "There are no provisions in the bill that would facilitate the introduction of service by other carriers at Love, assure equal access to the airport, provide for the building of new gates or terminals, require Southwest to make facilities available to other carriers in the absence of new gates, or in any way encourage competitors to enter the market," said American. (Reuters) ------------ This is getting interesting. We have to wait and see how the House will react. We also believe there are a number of cities other that PIT and LAS that will benefit from the removal of the Wright Admendment. Like Chicago for example, a flight into Midway would be great for business travelers in Dallas.

Spirit gets a lift

Spirit Airlines is to announce that it has received $100 million in new financing to accelerate its expansion plans and help protect the carrier from volatile fuel prices. They plan to use the funds to retire MD80s and take delivery of new Airbus 320s faster. They also plan to hedge 100% of their fuel needs. Spirit said it bought fuel-hedge investments in April that cap 100% of the company's fuel purchases at prices below market oil prices that recently have hovered near $60 a barrel. -------- This little airline is doing great things. Plans are to increase the fleet to 35 'buses with orders for an additional 50 options. We already have a glut of seats in the US - so its going to get interesting. Their funding sources are big players. Even as Spirit focuses on the Carib market, they are going to run into Delta and jetBlue.

Alitalia strikes again

Alitalia was forced to cancel about 80 flights on Monday because of a 24 hour strike by a flight attendants' union, a company spokesman said. Alitalia had previously announced that just 59 flights -- 26 national and 33 international -- would be cancelled due to the strike. The small Sult union called the stoppage to protest Alitalia's move to cut the number of cabin staff and its use of short-term contracts. (Reuters) ------- Like Olympic, Alitalia really deserves to quietly go the way of Sabena. The employees simply don't (and won't) "get it". This is the way with government owned entities - ossified thinking is for dinosaurs. Commercial aviation cannot tolerate inflexibility. Airline managers need to be able to react to their commercial environment by using outsourcing and cutting staff. As is well known, government owned airlines have been wornderful places to reward loyalty with jobs.

Singapore LCCs merge

Two of three Singapore-based budget airlines, Valuair and Jetstar Asia, have agreed to merge in a first sign of consolidation among Southeast Asia's fledgling low-cost carriers, The Business Times reported on Tuesday. The merger will form a larger company that will receive a capital injection of more than SGD$50 million (USD$29.6 million) from Qantas Airways' associate Jetstar, the paper said, quoting sources. Valuair shareholders, including cruise operator Star Cruises and Asiatravel.com, will become minority shareholders of the enlarged airline. Singapore's state investment agency Temasek Holdings owns 19 percent of Jetstar. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the paper said. Tiger Airways, a third discount carrier based in the city-state, has said it will not break even this year and wants a partner to help it set up a second base outside of Singapore. (Reuters) --------- The typical outcome for LCCs is usually failure or merger. Few escape the startup period to live as independent entities. But that’s fine - the entrepreneurial spirit is important. Travelers need choice and kudos to those enterprising people who keep trying to build better airlines. As we can plainly see the market has a continual need for better airlines. The LCC poster child; jetBlue has done remarkably well and after five years in business is now the biggest airline at JFK.

Indians test Airbus again

NEW DELHI, JULY 12: The Finance Ministry today sent back the draft cabinet note on the Ministry of Civil Aviation's proposal to buy 43 Airbus aircraft for Indian Airlines, a deal that has been in the works for over five years. The $1.9-billion (Rs 10,000 crore) proposal which has been through several levels of decision-making -including pre-PIB (Public Investment Board), PIB as well as an overseeing committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Comptroller and Auditor General of India C G Somaiya - has been returned by North Block for the second time in the past few weeks. The proposal is being circulated among various ministries before it is sent to the Cabinet for final clearance. With the Finance Ministry raising objections for a second time, there is a big question mark over the proposal. The reason the Finance Ministry has turned down the proposal this time is the Ministry of Civil Aviation's inability to prove that the price was the lowest quoted by Airbus Industrie anywhere in the world. It was on this issue that it had raised objection last time, a month ago. The ministry asked the Indian Airlines to get a confirmation from Airbus Industrie that this was the ''best price''. Airbus confirmed this without disclosing the prices at which it had sold the aircraft to other global airline companies. It argued that this could not be disclosed as it was part of commercial negotiations with other customers. The Finance Ministry sought the information soon after a group of MPs questioned the Airbus deal in the light of the prices offered to Air Asia, a low-cost South East Asian carrier. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is surprised that the question is being raised now when the Finance Ministry's representatives were present at every level of clearance. In fact, officials from the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry were present at both the pre-PIB and PIB levels in 2004. In fact, the former Expenditure Secretary was also present. The Indian Airlines Airbus deal included the purchase of 19 A-319, four A-320 and 20 A-321 aircraft. The proposal was first mooted by the airline in 2001 at a time when the airlines industry was going through its worst phase post-9/11. Subsequent negotiations went on through a Price Negotiating Committee within the airline as well as an overseeing committee headed by Somaiya which also had on board officials from the Finance Ministry. ---- As the story states, the Indians have taken extraordinarily long to make the purchase - the decision dates back to 2001! This kind of haggling must drive Airbus nuts. One has to wonder if Airbus might not simply pull the deal and leave the airline to Boeing in a non-competitive situation. Boeing might be less inclined to offer its "best" price. After all Airbus has cleaned up among the other Indian carriers without having to be treated like this by the government. The Indians might want to reconsider this treatment of Airbus as there does come a time when you are too clever for your own good.

More on African Aviaton

Flying in Africa is not for the faint hearted - especially if you work on the ramp.

In-Flight Alcohol Thoughts

Sean Simon John Joyce, 38, is accused of becoming belligerent with the crew of a US Airways flight from North Carolina to London on Monday after taking sedatives and drinking wine. "He started slurring his speech and threw his cup at passengers in front of him," FBI agent Scott Dietsche said in an affidavit. "He pushed at least one flight attendant, took off his shirt and butted another crew member in the face." Joyce, a Londoner, then "swore repeatedly and threatened to kill those subduing him as well as all the passengers on the entire plane," Dietsche added. The Airbus A330 was diverted to Boston, where Joyce was arrested and charged with assaulting and intimidating a flight crew member. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. -------- Now this is not the first time we have seen such nasty behavior - alcohol induced of course. I recently flew from London to Cape Town and was seated in front of two UK-yobbos who drank freely from the open bar. You can imagine how matters progressed after 19 little bottles of whisky were downed. Their language became foul and behavior totally anti-social - which is not acceptable in a confined space of an aircraft. The very kind crew (SAA) had to be asked to stop serving them. The US airlines are smart in terms of charging for alcohol - not just because they need the money. It geberally limits what people consume. But perhaps we need another rule - airline crews simply MUST know when enough is enough. This occurs on some flights but on others obviously not. Flying is becoming less fun all the time. Passengers can help to slow the awful slide into a Greyhound-esque experience by helping crews identify those who should not get any alcohol in-flight. At cruising altitude an alcoholic beverage packs three times the punch it does on the ground. Smart travelers drink lots of water and no booze.

'Arabic Assassin' Fired As Baggage Screener

July 15, 2005 Bassam Khalaf was paid to help keep US air travel safe as a baggage screener. His alter ego, the Arabic Assassin, rapped about flying a plane into a building. The Transportation Security Administration could not reconcile the two and fired him last week, saying his free speech rights as an aspiring rap singer did not extend to his right to check luggage at Houston Intercontinental Airport. "I was one of the ones screening the bags thoroughly," Khalaf said on Friday. "I wouldn't let a bomb get on a plane." He also was the self-proclaimed "Arabic Assassin," who didn't do songs about love but preferred to sing about killing, raping and blowing things up. Khalaf, a Houston native of Palestinian descent, said the incendiary lyrics about rape, murder and mass attacks were meant only to get attention and help get his first album, "Terror Alert," a distribution deal. Instead, the TSA fired Khalaf, 21, after six months on the job and gave his name to other federal agencies for investigation, spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said. "There is a certain level of integrity employees are asked to maintain," she said. "He's been tasked with protecting the very people he's talking about harming. We wonder what the public would think if we didn't fire him." Khalaf believes his Arab-American ethnicity played a role in the firing, but McCauley said that was not true. Khalaf said publicity about his controversial rapping had brought lots of phone calls from both admirers and detractors, but none from record distributors. He also admitted to being a little worried about his future employment possibilities now that word is out about his music. "I better make it (as a rapper) now because there ain't no turning back," he said. (Reuters) --------- Oh my - what is this guy thinking? OK, he is obviously not thinking. But is there any wonder what happens next? The stereotyping becomes imbedded, namely Muslim/Arab = terrorist. How does this help anyone? It plainly does not. This foolish man deserves no record contract and no job either. Let's hope Khalaf's co-ethnics and co-religionists purge their communities of such fools from making things worse. Coming after the terrorism in London, these communities need to do serious in-house reviews because there is a clear and very disturbing pattern. We no longer live in a world that can tolerate these ravings as even vaguely entertaining.

FAA and Cell Phones - an update

FAA rules restricting the use of portable electronic devices on aircraft can be waived but a carrier would have to show that each model of phone posed no threat to aircraft navigation or communications systems, the agency's top air safety official said. "The FAA is not changing its rules," FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Nicholas Sabatini told the House aviation subcommittee. "If an air carrier is willing to take the time and incur the expense of testing and verifying that the cell phone usage presents no in-flight interference problems, our rules allow an air carrier to permit such devices," Sabatini testified. Sabatini also said in-flight use of mobile phones could annoy fellow passengers and lead to conflicts that could distract flight attendants from their safety duties. ------ Isn't this cute? The carriers have to test every cell phone. The FAA, which is making the restriction, should be forced to carry out such tests. They test everything else related to aviation. This seems flat out silly. Indeed the FAA is best qualified to do this since their function is aviation safety. The airlines suffer enough government imposed burdens already.

DCA's 30 Minute rule dropped

The regulation, which required passengers to stay in their seats while over Washington air space, was abolished last Friday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said earlier this week that the rule was no longer necessary because other security measures are now in place, such as hardened cockpit doors and armed federal air marshals aboard Washington flights. The high-priced shuttle route between Washington and New York is one of the most lucrative for Delta Air Lines Inc.and US Airways Group Inc. Demand, however, has declined 18 percent in the past four years, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Many passengers have shifted to the train or cut back on travel altogether. ------ How about some of the other inane security features? Like taking your laptop out for the x-ray - why do we have to endure this when other airports in the world (like Heathrow for example) do not require it? Surely TSA would not say that Heathrow's security is suspect and not up to TSA's standard. Indeed, that might be insulting to BAA's highly respected security operations.

Fly Me a River - A funny take on today's airline customer service.

National Review of June 20, 2005 has a very funny piece by Mark Steyn on the current airline state of customer service. For those of us who travel, this rings true and is highly entertaining. -------- happy warrior MARK STEYN Fly Me a River ‘The King Hussein Center happens to be stocked with lissome young ladies,” wrote Jay Nordlinger the other day. He was reporting for National Review Online from the Davos Middle Eastern confab in Jordan, and, although he had many insightful observations to make about the big geopolitical socioeconomic questions of our time, it was the “lissome young ladies” who caught my eye, as evidently they had caught his. Jay’s no slouch at the in-depth investigative-journalism stuff, so, warming to his theme, he went on to report that many of the “hostesses” were wearing the uniform of Royal Jordanian Airlines. Ah, yes, I sighed contentedly, as the memories came flooding back. In recent years, my flights to the Middle East have begun with a little US Airways twin-prop down to Boston or New York — no “cabin service” at all; they don’t have any on their bigger planes either, but at least on the twin-props there’s no hatchet-faced “flight attendant” in shiny stretch pants and flat shoes shuffling along the aisle doling out mini-bags of mini-pretzels to remind you of all the “cabin service” you’re not getting. In Boston or New York, I switch to Virgin — much better: proper “trolley dollies” in bright smart red skirts and heels and the best kind of peppy Estuary English accents that make you feel like you’re Austin Powers and they’re at least prepared to pretend you’re shagadelic. And then in London, for the final leg (as it were), it’s Royal Jordanian to Amman — bliss: “air hostesses” in dapper stylish uniforms that, like Singapore and the other great Asian airlines, are an artful combination of native elements from local culture and retro cool from our own. East is East and West is West and ne’er the twain shall meet, but on the best national carriers from east of Suez they come pretty close. The Royal Jordanian gals had our man Nordlinger waxing nostalgic. “These uniforms are a real throwback, to the America of the 1950s or so,” he wrote. “You remember that movie in which Leonardo DiCaprio played that conman, who posed as a pilot for Eastern or something? You remember that bevy of fresh, eager, fetching stewardesses (and in those days, you could use the word ‘stewardess’ — ‘flight attendant’ was a long way off)?” Catch Me If You Can, the DiCaprio caper in question, does a grand job of evoking that era — the jet-age glamour of the air terminals with the flying-saucer shapes; Sinatra singing “Come Fly with Me” with that marvelous Billy May intro that sounds like an orchestral Boeing taxi-ing down the runway and taking off into the blue; and, of course, the gals. Which begs the question: Where did it all go? In America, that is. U.S. air travel is the exception that proves the rule about American service: In a Welsh restaurant or Austrian department store, I long for American waitresses and sales clerks. But on USAir or Northwest or Continental, I pine fondly for Royal Jordanian or British or Thai Airways. I yield to no one in the amount of derision I’m willing to heap on “Old Europe,” but, if it’s a choice between Delta and Air France, or United and Lufthansa, I’m with Jacques and Gerhard in wanting to put as much distance as possible between me and the arrogant bullying unilateralist Yank, if only when airborne and pushing a cart of Clamato cans. Two years ago, an American Express survey revealed that 55 percent of customers had found a “noticeable decline” in cabin service since 9/11, which is pretty amazing because it was a good nine-tenths down the abyss before 9/11. The Wall Street Journal reported the dissatisfactions of “flight attendants” — “A lot of us,” said Glenda Talley of US Airways, “are in a terrible mood before we even set foot on the plane.” “There’s more stress to the job,” complained Kristi Tucker of Delta. “As human beings we can only take so much,” said someone from United. Yeah, fly me a river, baby. Or how about this? According to flight attendant René Foss, “It didn’t take long after Sept. 11 for people to start acting like complete idiots again.” The first sign you’re acting like a complete idiot is when you book a ticket with these guys. The Journal proposed eight improvements airlines could introduce — more legroom, junk the cart, predictable stuff. But no one thought to address the most obvious defect — that U.S. airlines look just awful, beginning with the shiny shapeless prison-warden garb of their staff, the product of some malign combination of unionization and feminism. I’m not being sexist here — if you want to see America’s worst-dressed gay men, take a plane; when the networks have exhausted every other lame makeover reality-show concept, they should do Queer Eye for the Fly Guy. But the point is, for many folks, an airline ticket is one of the biggest single payments we make other than for a car or house, and in return we get a grubby bus ride with seat restraints. True, many of those spiffy foreign airlines are either state-owned or de facto monopolies. But America’s federally-bailed-out basket-case carriers aren’t exactly shining exemplars of ruthless capitalism. And their government-subsidized contempt for the public starts with the look — the look of the planes and the look of the staff, the look that says, “Who needs a look?” When the Arabs understand customer service better than you do, you know you’ve got a problem.

Southwest & DFW

From USAToday - DFW pulls out all the stops to get Southwest Airlines The rhetoric continues in the Texas slugfest over the battle to repeal the Wright Amendment, which restricts long-distance flights at Dallas Love Field. The latest salvo in this increasingly contentious debate comes courtesy of Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, which claims 62% of fliers want Southwest to begin flights at DFW. Those findings come from a third-party group that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (free registration) says "intercepted" 2,714 passengers at the airport between July 2 and 5. The question asked was somewhat of a doozy: "Would you like to see Southwest Airlines fly out of DFW Airport?" Given that softball of a question, it may be surprising that more than 62% of those fliers people didn't cast a "yes" vote. DFW also hired a small plane to fly over the Love Field runways carrying a banner ad "Travelers Want Southwest at DFW NOW!" Three busloads of DFW workers also took up positions outside Love Field, chanting: "Who do we want? Southwest Airlines! When do we want them? Now!" The spin from DFW's executive vice president for marketing Joe Lopano: "We're not fighters; we're lovers," according to The Dallas Morning News. Southwest, whose "home airport" is Love Field, is having none of it. "We have said several times that we weren't interested in serving DFW because it doesn't make good business sense," Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin tells the Dallas Business Journal. "While we appreciate their (DFW's) costly efforts to make us feel otherwise, we're really not going to be changing our feelings on that." ---- Joe Lopano is, as you can plainly see, a clever marketing guy. But the idea is kind of silly because it only underlines how scared DFW is of Southwest's continuing success - and axiomatically, its nervousness with current legacy tenants. If you "lost" Delta at DFW, wouldn't you also be nervous? Southwest continues to show why it is a great company and possibly the only airline we would invest in.

Wear your seat belt - all the time

About 40 passengers and crew aboard a Korean Air jet were injured on Thursday when the plane hit severe turbulence and took a rapid dive, the airline said. Korean Air Flight 630, with 257 people aboard, hit the turbulence about 40 minutes after departing Indonesia's resort island of Bali bound for South Korea. A 35-year-old man suffered a severe head wound and 11 crew members were injured, it said. All were treated at a hospital near the South Korean capital Seoul and released, except for the man with a serious head injury. The airline said the Boeing 747 hit a patch of "clear air" turbulence, which does not appear on radar. It added that radar picks up most patches of air turbulence but that it has about 10 to 20 incidents of clear air turbulence a year, mostly minor. (Reuters)

US Fares go up again

Delta Air Lines on Thursday said it was raising the top level fare caps of its SimpliFares program by USD$100 to offset fuel price increases and United and Continental have matched the increases. The cap adjustment affects only full-fare walk-up and some three-day advance purchases, Delta said. Effective immediately, the fares are now capped each way at USD$599 for economy class and USD$699 for first class, Delta said. The move triggered fare increases by United Airlines and Continental Airlines, primarily in markets where they compete with Delta. Other carriers had yet to announce new fares. ------- Its about time the fares reflected the cost of fuel. Lets hope the fuel costs decline and people keep flying.

Taking an A380 for a spin - literally

These pics have Airbus logos so we assume they are not Photoshop creations. They appear to show the 380 after a to sharp turn while taxiing.

AA goes very long haul

American Airlines announced yesterday it will begin daily nonstop service between Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Delhi, on Nov. 15, subject to government approval. The airline also will begin codesharing with Air Sahara. Delhi is India’s capital and third-largest city. The route is nearly 7,500 miles and will be the longest nonstop route in American’s growing international network. The airline will fly the route with its 236-seat Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Serving the route is made possible by a new agreement between American and the Allied Pilots Association (APA) involving long-haul extended flying. The United States and India also announced in April an “Open Skies” agreement between the two nations. The tentative schedule for the flight is for American flight 292 to depart Chicago at 9:10 p.m. and arrive in Delhi at 11:05 p.m. the following day. The return flight 293 will depart Delhi at 1:30 a.m. and arrive at O'Hare at 5:55 a.m. In addition, following a similar announcement by fellow oneworld alliance member British Ariways, American also announced it has entered into a memorandum of understanding to negotiate codeshare and frequent flyer agreements with Air Sahara, which operates direct flights to 23 cities in India. The Air Sahara agreement, also subject to government approval, will allow American’s passengers to make connections throughout India. American will place its “AA” flight code on Air Sahara flights and Air Sahara will place its “S2” code on American’s new service to Chicago and beyond destinations within the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Members of American’s AAdvantage and Air Sahara’s Cosmos frequent flyer programs will be able to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles on both airlines’ networks. ---- Will AA need more 777s? We think their fleet is pretty tight now, where will these aircraft come from?

JetBlue and the Trans-Atlantic Market

We have stated on this blog that we see this as a distinct possibility, especially given JetBlue's move into Boston. However, we came a cross a compelling counter from an industry analysts, Paris Tyler at Chicago Transit. Here is his view. ---------- A320s cannot skip the pond unless configured with less than 70 seats. Now, yes that opens the door for a ton of amenities, and a lot of legroom, but I am guessing JetBlue would have to charge fares way above their perceived threshhold go be p/l positive on that kind of operation. The MTOW A320 has a 3,000 mile range. That gets you BOS-SNN, and that is about it. With Extra tanks you might be looking at 3,500 miles. But that doesn't add much outside of LON. If they are A319s, then we'll talk. JetBlue would be foolish to do trans-atlantic from Boston or JFK. Caribbean I can understand. Resort Mexico would be doable. But Europe just doesn't seem to be their market segment. Well, let me adjust that; the Europe they could serve with 320s from BOS and JFK is not where it will work. I think they will do better in the leisure and ethnic markets than they will in the true Biz markets. JetBlue needs to prove to me they can get the job done in a Houston or a Chicago before they start up London or Shannon or Copenhagen. The competition is stiff in Europe. Think about it, there is a lot of competition in Florida, but there are a lot of passengers. And almost any amount of capacity can be absorbed there. In LGB and SFO (SMF, SJC, OAK) they were and remain the only true discounter flying nonstop with a competitive product. They have done well where they are the only guy in town or it is a very big market, or they are the only discounter. Any given market in Europe will be smaller, have more competitors, already have a lower average fare, have carriers with the amenities better than currently offered in the US, and, and here is the key one, have much less flexibility in terms of what fares they can offer (except in open-skies markets). If JetBlue wants to go to Europe, they need a different plane so that they can offer the same INCREASE in product that they have when measured against domestic carriers. They offered a level of comfort, service, amentities, and price mix that is better than what the US carriers offered. To go to Europe, they would have to do the same for that level of competition. If you come to the party late, you better have a good reason. I argue that B6 in most European markets would be of minimal significance. Kind service (yes), Frequency (nope), amenities(good, but not great, and can they get the TV to work across the pond?), low fares (depends on the market, but trans atlantic yields in the open skies markets are pretty trashy). What else do the offer ? Image? interesting but not a deal-sealer on a ticket purchase. As I have said, none of this got people off WN in California, or off DL and FL in Atlanta, or onto the B6 flights to SDQ. And B6 has been cautious about going into other carrier hubs. And I won't even get into slots. Not just at JFK (we all know that the prime departure times for Europe are exactly the times they have to stay away from) but Europe too. Daylight departures burn up a lot of aircraft time and do not allow the kind of a/c productivity B6 likes to maintain. Think the folks at BRU are going to let a US discounter in?

LEAHY VS THE B787 - he's at it again!

John Leahy at Airbus is their chief salesman and very good at his job. However, he is not infallible. Here is a list of quotes from him on Airbus and it response to the 7E7 which is now known as the 787. Read this and figure out if he has developed a credibility problem. If he applied the same math to the 380.... ------ "If [Boeing] do something that is a replacement for the B767, we will respond." But Leahy said he did not think there was any rush. If Airbus were to build an A330-200 replacement, he said, 2012 would be the logical timetable to enter service.' -- Quoted during 2002, Seattle Times, 15-Jun-03. "There's a 50% probability [that Boeing] won't product anything more than hype [with the 7E7] ... Airbus could offer the same engine [on the A330]. Instead of [the A330] having three engine choices, we'll have four." -- Aviation Daily, 16-Apr-03. "The 'dream machine' or whatever it's called? I couldn't have hoped for a better name, being their competitor. It's a PR man's dream, but an engineer's nightmare ... It's purely a PR man's dream. I think the travelling public knows that, too, which is probably why they voted [for the name 'Dreamliner']. In fact, it seems most of the people at Airbus who voted picked the 'Dreamliner'. Some of the traditionalists voted for 'Stratoclimber', which would have been a better name." "I was pretty much convinced that [Boeing] would do [the 7E7] in recent months. But now I'm convinced they're not going to do it. Why? Because now they're talking about the sexy shape of the windshield, the distinctive nose and the rake of the wingtip fences and how it will be distinguishable from other airplanes in the marketplace. And how people will just look at it and say: 'Wow!'" "When someone starts doing that, it's because they're saying to themselves: 'I've got a 'me-too' product. I'm trying to leapfrog the A330-200 and what the engineers have just come up with looks an awful lot like my competitor's airplane." "It is a bit like a bunch of guys in the 1960s in Detroit, saying: 'We can hold the Japanese off for a few more years. We've got to get those tailfins just a little bit higher, get a little bit more chrome, some really dynamite headlights, and the Japanese are going to be history, because everyone's going to want our new Cadillacs or whatever. And they went right off the cliff doing it." "I hate to say this, as we're spending a lot of money to be here, but we are machine-tool makers. These are the machine tools of the air transport industry. They're sold on seat-mile costs, ton-mile costs, range, payload, environmental efficiency and fuel burn [and not on their looks]. That's not the way you buy machine tools." 'Leahy said what convinced him that the Boeing project won't fly was Boeing's announcement that it was going to have a final assembly cycle of three days instead of 30 days, a reduction of 90% compared to the norm in the business. "Why would you do that? Because the business case isn't working."' 'Leahy says he's so convinced the Dreamliner will never fly that he's started taking wagers.' 'Leahy predicted that, if Boeing does launch the Dreamliner program, it will be a commercial flop as Airbus' competitor will have to amortize the US$8bn development cost, which he said would automatically ad $15m to the sticker price and give Airbus an advantage because the development cost of the A330-200, which it is supposed to kill, was only $400m as it is a derivative of the A330/340 Family.' "If [Boeing] bring out something that costs $8bn in 2008, they're not going to be around for the 2012-15 cycle." -- Dow Jones Newswires, 18- Jun-03. "[The 7E7] is more a marketing tool than an engineering reality ... It's guerilla marketing. It's an attempt to say, 'don't buy my competitor's product now, just sit around until I think of something else to do'." -- Associated Press, 19-Jun-03. "I think [the 7E7] is quite similar to the threat posed by the Sonic Cruiser ... [Boeing] basically told the airlines, there is something else coming. Spend the next couple of years studying it with us." 'However, "Boeing will eventually have to come up with a replacement for the B767. But, I don't think it will be anything along the lines of this 'Super Efficient' twin. What you will end up seeing is a relatively ordinary airplane similar to the B767 that will try and match the A330-200. They may get close, but it will be a plain vanilla competitor to what is a tough standard to topple -- the A330- 200."' "[Boeing] will have an US$8bn development program to make an airplane that except for the engines might be 1 or 2 percent more efficient than the A330-200. What's to keep us from taking that same engine and putting it on the A330-200? So, what [Boeing is] talking about is an $8bn development program to get, except for the engines, a couple percent improvement, if that, over the A330-200." 'Leahy [also] noted that fewer than 1,000 Boeing B767s have been sold since the plane entered service.' "So, 25 years and 900 planes. Figure out how you will get a payback on $8bn?" "I can wipe out that 2 percent very quickly by having a lower priced airplane because I don't have to amortize an $8bn program over 900 planes, if [Boeing] can ever get to 900 planes." -- Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 18-Jun-03. '...Airbus had proposed a shortened version of its A330-200, with fewer seats, but with 500nm more range. A lighter version, at 195t, was even under study to respond to regional requirements. The only problem was that the 'A330-500' kept the same wing as the A330-200, with, as a result, less performance and higher operating costs ... "Nobody has asked me about the A330-500 in the last 18 months," underlines Leahy. "The A330-500 was an effort made in good faith to satisfy an anticipated requirement, but the market said 'no'," added Airbus Marketing Director Alan Pardoe.' -- Interavia, 1-Jul-03. 'Leahy concentrated on competition between the 7E7 and A330. He also focused on bulk cargo rather than volume, saying the former is a more "real world" concern for airlines, and concluded that differences between the baseline 7E7 and A330-200 will be a wash. Leahy expressed skepticism that Boeing's initial specifications will hold once engineers eat up space for more equipment and systems and such heavy items as large-pallet cargo doors.' -- Aviation Week, 15- Sep-03. 'Leahy ... said he doesn't expect to see the 7E7 launch by year-end and that the plane would do no better than the existing Airbus product, the A330-200 ... "We've got about 85 percent of the market now compared with an airplane that used to dominate the market. But using today's technology, Boeing will build a plane that may be better than the B767, but that will be similar to the A330-200." -- Tulsa World, 26-Oct-03. "You can increase the hype, but you can't change the physics. The cabin will look like the A330, and the economics of the [7E7] will be similar as well." -- Wall Street Journal, 18-Nov-03. '[Leahy] said Airbus doesn't see the 7E7 as a threat because Airbus has boosted its share of the market for planes of that size in the last 10 years. "The 7E7 is a mistake; [Boeing]'re trying to catch up with our existing product."' -- Dow Jones Newswires, 17-Dec-03. "If the question is: if [Boeing] bring out the 7E7 what are we going to do? The answer is nothing. We are very content to stay with our A330-200." -- Reuters, 17-Dec-03. '"We welcome competition," [Leahy] said. But he added that Airbus believes the airplane will fall short of Boeing's promises. "It's a current-technology airplane. That doesn't set the world on fire." -- Wall Street Journal, 17-Dec-03. "I can't figure out who the customers are who are about to but the 7E7. As soon as I do, I'll go out and talk to them about the A330- 200." -- Associated Press, 17-Dec-03. '"As we look at the economics of the 7E7, 20 percent lower fuel consumption, [Boeing] say it'll have 214 seats, and we have 241 on the A330-200," Leahy said. Using Boeing's numbers, he said, the 7E7 will have operating costs per plane trip of a few percentage points lower than the A330-200. But, because the A330-200 has more seats, the Boeing plane will be 2 percent more expensive per passenger mile. "We don't see that as an overwhelming case for the airlines to switch to Boeing's plane." -- Toronto Star, 18-Dec-03. 'Over the past several months, Airbus officials have tweaked Boeing by suggesting they can easily adapt the new 7E7 engines to their A330- 200. But Leahy downplayed that possibility last week. "I am not sure that we would need new engines as they would enhance operating costs by no more than 2 percent."' "The proposed 7E7 is actually very similar to the A330-200 that is as good without the risks." -- Aviation Week, 22-Dec-03. '[Leahy] said Airbus isn't planning any moves or product changes to compete with the 7E7. "We don't feel that we need to do anything with the product right now." -- Dow Jones Newswires, 24-Mar-04. 'Airbus executivces have sought to minimize the 7E7's advantages, and yesterday they suggested ANA's order largely reflected its close ties with Boeing. "ANA did not ask for a proposal from Airbus and did not ask for performance information of any competing aircraft from Airbus," Leahy said. "This almost never happens." -- Wall Street Journal, 27-Apr-04. '"Except for the engines, the 7E7 is virtually the same aircraft" as the A330. He says that "one of the 7E7's Achilles' Heels" is that the baseline aircraft -- which has about 10-15% less capacity than the A330-200 -- is "too small." Leahy says given that the fuel represents about 30% of total cash operating costs (COC) and that, as the A330- 200 is a larger aircraft, the 7E7-8 only has a 4% advantage (in fuel costs) over the Airbus on a COC per seat basis. Overall, Airbus calculates that the smaller 7E7-8 will actually have a COC per seat 2.5% greater than the A330-200 when flight crew, maintenance and navigation costs are included. "At best, you see equal seat-mile costs," says Leahy.' 'He concedes that if an airline wants "7,000-8,000nm range", then the 7E7's longer legs give it an advantage, but Leahy sees this requirement as niche because "99% of the market is for 6,000nm". But he does not expect the 7E7's much-vaunted brand-awareness exterior shape to win it any extra orders. "Not once did an airline say to me: 'We'd buy your aircraft if it looked better'," says Leahy.' -- Flight International, 13-Jul-04. "[The Boeing claim that 200 7E7 orders by end-04 is possible is] typical hype. I've never seen an airplane where the market hype from the PR department is less in contact with the reality of the marketplace ... Those numbers are purely a figment of the imagination of Boeing's public relations department there in Seattle. We are in contact with the airlines. We talk to them on a daily basis. We know Boeing is going around and making lots of presentations, but we don't see anyone about to place orders." "In a wild attempt to try and keep the total trip costs down, Boeing made their airplane a little too small. If the B767-300 was the right size, then our A330-200 would not have 80 percent of the market ... when you do [long range] in a tiny airplane, you get into the economics of a corporate jet." "Unless [Boeing] have discovered some new law of physics or some new manufacturing process that nobody in the world has ever heard of -- and we know they have not -- then they either will be sub-optimal, in which case they will make an airplane and it will cost them a fortune to do it, or they will come back toward the best engineering and manufacturing standards and build a plane with less than 30 percent composites." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 19-Jul-04. "We are pleasantly surprised by the yawns [the 7E7] is getting in the marketplace." -- New York Times, 20-Jul-04. "I can't see where the big [7E7] demand is supposedly coming from. It may be more in the category of wishful thinking than firm orders." -- Seattle Times, 21-Jul-04. "They are talking about the 7E7, but the fact is all they do is talk about the 7E7. I see no customer raising their hand and saying they are going to buy it." -- Tribune Business News, 21-Jul-04. "Admittedly you could fly further in a 7E7-8 although a lot of airlines are saying 'I'm not quite sure I want to fly 7,500nm'. But, we are studying that extra range capability [Boeing] have." -- Flight International, 27-Jul-04. "We're not replacing the A330 [with the by-then announced A350] ... The A330 is optimized for regional flying and the A350 is optimized for long-range flying. The 7E7 is optimized for neither." -- Wall Street Journal, 30-Sep-04. 'Entry into service of the A350-800 would be a year after the 7E7, in 2009. "We haven't found any airline which is worried about the extra year. I haven't seen any great momentum for 7E7-8 sales to this point."' "We don't want to shoot ourselves in both feet to replace the [A330]- 200/300, which between them have 80% of this element of the market. Their Achilles' Heel is range. We solve that with the A350." -- Flight International, 19-Oct-04. "If we bring a new airplane to market ... it will be done in response to focus groups that we are now conducting around the industry telling us whether or not, as a member of the A330 Family, they would like to have an A330 with about 1,000 to 1,200 miles more range." -- Flight International, 21-Oct-04. "We are using a lot of composite work on the [A350] wing. The gross weight of the aircraft will be increased and it will have a 242t maximum take-off weight." -- Flight International, 30-Nov-04. "We are spending 128.4bn Euro developing [the A350] although about 128.8m Euro of that will be risk-sharing partners." "It is an all-new wing. If you had taken new-generation engines from GE and Rolls-Royce which are on the 7E7 -- we have the same engines on our aircraft -- and just added those on the A330, the weight would have been 8t higher than it is on the A350." "The fact that [Boeing] only have 52 [7E7 sales] means that there are a lot of those that are teetering on the edge that we believe are about to go in our direction. More than half of this market is going to go to a combination of the A330 and A350." "You will see a significant proportion of customers that Boeing thought that they might have for the 7E7 now switching to the A350 because of performance of the aircraft." -- Reuters, 11-Dec-04. "So far, after two years of some of the biggest market push I've ever seen, [Boeing] have two customers." -- Dow Jones Newswires, 11-Dec-04. 'Leahy ... said [Airbus] has decided to move ahead with the A350 after nine months of consultations with customers. He said it became clear that there was a market for a long-range lower-cost aircraft, and Airbus decided to improve on Boeing's plans.' -- International Herald Tribune, 11-Dec-04. "When we approached airlines, they told us not to change the A330 but they said they would be interested if the A330 can fly a little further. We came up with the A350, which provides more range than the 7E7 and can carry 10 percent more passengers." -- Business Times, 20- Dec-04. "We held focus group consultations with airline clients and found they were not particularly excited with the 7E7 because it had no commonality with other jets in the Boeing Family. So, when we proposed a longer-range version of the A330, they welcomed it. The A350 will belong to the same family, which means the same pilot who flies an A330 can also fly the A350." -- The Shipping Times, 20-Dec- 04. "Following authority-to-offer, we're out in the market talking to airlines. With the interest we've got we should have at least 50 orders by the Paris Air Show." -- Flight International, 21-Dec-04. "[Boeing] need a way to claw back into a market they once controlled [with the B767]." "Have you seen the B-2 fly-by at almost US$1bn a copy? It has only two seats." "I believe if [Boeing] say they're going to do it [7E7 composites], they will." "Boeing is in denial when they go around saying [the A350] is just a warmed over version of the A330. If that's what it was, they'd be selling a lot more 7E7s right now." -- Chicago Tribune, 12-Jan-05. "Objectively, [Boeing]'ve got the high ground right now. I wanted Korean and Northwest." "[Boeing] seem to be doing everything they can to stop the A350 from being an industrial launch. My job is to make sure that doesn't happen." "When [Boeing] say stuff like [they'll be on top in terms of orders earned in 2005], and they start to get very aggressive on pricing, all-of-a-sudden you get to a situation where these guys could really turn it around this year." "When you've got 80 percent of a given market, you aren't spending a lot of time thinking about how to improve that position." -- Seattle Times, 17-Apr-05. "If [Boeing] gets the first 100 [orders in the 220-300 seat segment] it doesn't bother me [as long as Airbus catches up in the long term]." "We have had a problem getting the plane refined and understood and out in the market." -- Aviation Daily, 19-May-05. "This [A350] is an all-new aircraft. Since December we improved width, range, seat costs, economics. We changed the aircraft three or four times in the past 90 days. We achieved an 8 tonne weight reduction through the use of new technologies. 60 percent of the A350 structure is in advanced materials." -- Daily Post, 23-May-05. "The fact is, it has taken us an awful long time to get the [A350] right. We've changed the airplane three to four times [in the last 90 days.]" -- Aviation Week, 23-May-05. "I'm now getting an airplane out there that is more than competitive with the B787 and you will see orders very soon." "Boeing argues they have a little more headroom on their plane, so we changed the shape of the sidewall to have similar width." "We have been listening to the airlines and going through the design loops. Our customers said we should have done this a year ago. But that's water over the dam." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3-Jun-05. "Basically, [Boeing]'ve won the PR game." "The guy who gets on the playing field first wins a few, [but the A350 is] about to take over the market." -- Wall Street Journal, 10- Jun-05.

Continental reacts to JetBlue at EWR

ATW Reports -- Continental Airlines reacted swiftly to JetBlue's plans to launch operations from Newark Liberty International Airport to five destinations in Florida and San Juan this fall (ATWOnline, July 14. Newark is Continental's most important hub, and just hours after JetBlue's Tuesday announcement CO announced it will increase service in all of the affected Florida markets beginning Oct. 1 and match JetBlue's $69 promotional fare. It will add three daily flights to Ft. Lauderdale, bringing its daily service to nine. Ft. Myers will go from one flight to four, Orlando from two to 10 and Tampa and West Palm Beach both from one daily flight to six. CO will operate three daily flights to San Juan in the fall, rising to four in the winter. With the launch of new services beginning in October and continuing in November, JetBlue will serve all three main New York-area airports. By mid-November it will operate 16 daily departures from EWR to Florida and Puerto Rico. --- You have to wonder about the wisdom of this move. Has JetBlue run out of options at JFK? Why would they do this? They could impact their own service at JFK. Its an odd move. why provoke Continental - the strongest of the legacy carriers in its most important hub? Very strange.

SIEMENS PROVIDES GSM PICO CELL TO ENABLE MOBILE PHONE USE IN-FLIGHT

Geneva – OnAir today welcomed Siemens as an important new partner in making mobile phone use a reality on short and long haul flights on both Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Siemens has been chosen to work with Airbus to provide a lightweight GSM pico cell and an on-board channel selector, major features of the OnAir passenger communications system that will ensure the safe and effective use of mobile phones on aircraft for the first time. George Cooper, OnAir CEO said, “This is a significant milestone. Siemens bring huge expertise to this ground-breaking business enterprise. We are very pleased that such a strong player in the telecom industry is taking on a critical role in making the OnAir vision happen.” Siemens is providing a lightweight GSM pico cell and on-board channel selector which will ensure that passengers are able to use their mobile phones during flights without generating interference to the aircraft systems or to the ground mobile networks and thereby complying with certification and regulatory requirements. Siemens will work with Airbus which is responsible for the overall design, development and certification of the OnAir passenger communications system which will be installed or retro-fitted on any of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft flying on routes in Western Europe by the second half of 2006. Cristoph Caselitz, President of the Mobile Networks Division at Siemens, said, “We are very pleased that we were chosen to partner with OnAir and Airbus in this high profile project. The development of this technology will have a very positive impact on the airline industry by meeting the communications needs of today’s airline passengers.” The aircraft crew will have access to a dedicated control panel for switching the system into the selected service mode (e.g. text-only) and monitoring the system status. This will ensure that “quiet” times are respected in the cabin. The full OnAir service portfolio will allow airline passengers to use their personal devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops, to communicate in a variety of ways during flights: to make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, read and send e-mails, access corporate networks, browse the internet or chat over the internet. OnAir in-seat SMS and mail services are already available on Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Eva Airways, Iberia, KLM, Lauda Italy, Malaysian Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic. OnAir is jointly owned by SITA INC (information Networking Computing) and Airbus. ------ It would seem at first glance that this is wonderful. However an important question remains - the system described above uses Inmarsat and this is means some speed issues. Its interesting that they don't talk about that. Moreover Qualcommhave demonstrated cell phones on American Airlines already so this is not a first. Also, AirCell in the US has similar technology they are rolling out.

Nearly One in Ten U.S. Adults Use Wireless Phones Exclusively

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – June 27, 2005 – One in ten (9%) U.S. adults have abandoned their traditional telephone service completely and now use their wireless phone exclusively. This trend is expected to grow as five percent of all adults say they are "seriously considering" going exclusively wireless within one year. Another 47 percent say they are "somewhat considering" this switch. These are some of the results from The 2005 Telecommunications Report, a study conducted quarterly by Harris Interactive®. The most recent study was conducted online in April 2005 among a sample of 1,088 U.S. adults. Barriers to switching to wireless exclusively While the trend is expected to grow, there is still a segment of the population (39% of all adults) who say they will never abandon their traditional phone line. Among these adults, the top reasons given for never wanting to make this switch include: Safety of a traditional phone (26%) Need for Internet access (20%) Pricing not attractive enough (12%) Cell signal at home is weak or unreliable (7%) Coverage is not good enough (6%) Want/need multiple extensions/phones (6%) Factors that could influence exclusive wireless phone use Results show that there are steps that wireless providers can take to possibly change the minds of those who say they would never go exclusively wireless. These include: Reduced pricing plan (34%) Coverage improvement plan (30%) Money-back guarantee (24%) Wireless broadband for home or office (23%) Great deal on "multiple extension units" for home (20%) Free trial (30 days) (16%) Testimonials from friends and neighbors (10%) "These results show that many consumers are actively seeking out alternative telecommunications services and the options are out there," states Joe Porus, chief architect for the Technology Research Practice at Harris Interactive. "While the majority of consumers are happy with their landline service, the movement toward wireless replacement options clearly shows that consumer sentiment is changing. Telecommunications service providers (wired and wireless) need to be prepared!" ------ This results are no surprise to our readers. We beleive that a combination of WiFi and VOIP is where we are all headed. The traditional phone is toast and so are the phone companies if they don't switch to the newer ways to doing things.

Now a NW bankruptcy?

Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland yesterday uttered the dreaded b-word, saying the company may have to file for bankruptcy if it can't get the labor concessions he says the airline needs by the end of 2005. The statements came as Northwest mechanic's union joined the airline in asking to be released from federally mediated labor talks. ----- What does it take to get labort to realize what is going on? Is there a way to automate these jobs or functions? The frustration of running an airline is significant. Who would want such a job?

Brasil's GOL moves into Mexico

Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol yesterday announced that it has reached an agreement with a Mexican aviation entrepreneur to establish a low-cost carrier in Mexico, with plans to launch the airline by early next year. ------- This has big implications for the Mexican legacy carriers. They are trying to get going from state ownership and one has to wonder how they will compete. Also, a GOL-type service will want to enter the US market. This is great new for travelers. Canada's WestJet already is in the US market and might start offering connections.

African aviation in the news again....this is too much!

Air France Jet Hits Cow on Nigerian Runway Reuters reports that an Air France Airbus A330 collided with a cows on the runway in Port Harcourt, Nigeria Wednesday -- killing the cow and ensuring the return trip of the aircraft would be cancelled. According to the report, nobody aboard the aircraft was injured but the aircraft was kept in Port Harcourt. "This is the first time such an incident has happened to our airline in Nigeria," an Air France official told Reuters, apparently without clarifying if cow collisions had occurred to Air France in other nations. ------- Reports that these cows are there to scare away the birds or to keep the grass short are not to be taken seriously - or are they? Is it safe to faly anywhere in Africa? Your correspondent writes this from Cape Town and is thinking aloud to himself.

Aboulafia - Hysterically funny

July 2005 Dear Fellow Crypto-Anti-Xenophobes, Dislike Foreigners? Sadly, you’re not alone. Many people hate outsiders. Many outsiders hate them back. Ironically, it’s the biggest border-transcending theme that humanity has in common: hatred of other people. The aviation world is usually above this nonsense, but lately seems to be sinking below it. When I returned from the Paris Air Show, I found the sum of all fears had come true. US Representative and Miami-Dade Community College graduate John Mica (R-Florida) had managed to pass legislation requiring US carriers to tell the traveling public where their plane was built. Mica inserted this long-dormant atrocity into unrelated FAA legislation, like a computer virus downloaded with a pound cake recipe. This is bad. The danger is not that some passenger will reach for the sick bag and discover that, horror of horrors, his A319 was built in the land that created the Mercedes Benz. The problem is that this is a one-way ticket to protectionism-town. It’s a slippery slope (in this case, more of an oily and weasely slope) leading from “information” to “action.” In fact, emboldened by his covert success, Mica has now proposed legislation mandating that US-based A380s be equipped with costly anti-missile equipment. Not the 420-seat Boeing 747; just the 550-seat Airbus A380. This is protectionism in its most unappealing and naked form. Permit me to introduce you now to a close personal friend of mine. The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (ATCA) is a WTO component that allows airlines to select planes on the basis of airline requirements, without stupid political interference. It’s why Air France can buy the 777s it loves. It’s why America West can buy the A320s it loves. It’s why Air Canada can buy Embraer 190s, thereby annoying Bombardier, which it hates. If any US airlines want to buy A380s, ATCA lets them. Unless, that is, the US becomes the first signatory nation to openly violate ATCA. Mica’s anti-A380 proposal would do exactly that, which will certainly lead to similar anti-Boeing measures in Europe. [Shameless self-promotion: I recently wrote a chapter on ATCA and jetliner globalization in a Center for European Policy Studies/Johns Hopkins University Center for Transatlantic Relations book, Deep Integration: How Transatlantic Markets are Leading Globalization. (http://transatlantic.sais-jhu.edu/Publications/TEI/TEIpage)] Frequent readers might observe that I don’t think much of the A380’s relevance. It has the highest ratio of development costs to market size since Concorde. But protectionism, aside from its general counter productivity, also produces false conclusions. US anti-A380 measures mean we’ll be forever plagued by loopy conspiracy theories, as with Concorde (“Concorde wasn’t killed by $8,000 fares; it was killed by a US Government plot!”) If anyone at Boeing likes Mica’s proposals, they should reconsider. Crude protectionist measures like these undermine the US’s position in the WTO. One guess as to which the WTO hates more: (1) EU Government launch aid for Airbus, or (2) US Government active measures to keep Airbus planes out of the US market. Mica’s proposal could easily become a knife in Boe-ing/USTR’s back. Mica’s website, by the way, has numerous sections on his legislative accomplishments. All are “Currently Under Construction” (http://www.house.gov/mica/micaleg107.htm). And for a glimpse of how Washington works, consider: a few months ago I attended a dinner honoring ICAO Ambassador Ed Stimpson, by any measure a great and worthy man. Rep. Mica was a guest. Was Mica politely told that, while welcome to eat dinner, he was held responsible for undoing much of the good work done by people like Ambassador Stimpson? Was Mica forced to sit in the corner wearing a dunce cap? Nope. He was introduced as the honorable John Mica, House Transportation Committee Subcommittee on Aviation Chairman. Why? It’s Washington-town, Jake. We talk out of the sides of our mouths. Picking solely on Mica, of course, would make for a dull letter. Let’s turn to France for some serious entertainment. After the Paris Air Show, my wife and I decided to gauge the mood of the land. We took a not-at-all tax-deductible fact finding tour, hoping to meet ordinary Frenchmen in the usual places (cafés in Provence and the Cote d’Azur). As ever, the French are charming and engaging people, with superb taste. But living in paradise also produces fear, a fear of losing a cherished way of life. French politicians cheerfully take advantage of that fear. As a result, the French are dangerously preoccupied by the threat of Polish Plumbers, who apparently threaten their idyllic French lifestyle. There is no army of Polish Plumbers besieging Paris, of course. Those plumbers serve as metaphors. They represent globalization, liberalization, competition, and other words that translate to curses in French. In the aftermath of the failed EU Constitution vote, President Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin as the new Prime Minister, to tell the French exactly what they wanted to hear: that no Polish Plumbers would take their jobs. De Villepin is a highly educated Gauloise-smoking French intellectual, straight out of Central Casting. But ultimately, he’s also a French-speaking John Mica, scaled up into a national leader. Both have great hair, as defined in their own national ways. And they are both there to tell the electorate that their problems stem from foreigners. De Villepin’s signature quote: “Globalization is not an ideal; it cannot be our destiny.” His answer to France’s 10%+ unemployment problem: government-created jobs. De Villepin immediately promised over $5 billion in job creation cash for next year alone. Argentina’s Juan Peron could only dream of this strategy. Incidentally, the French themselves were dubious. In a poll, 65% were pessimistic about the country’s political situation, 79% thought the new government would be unable to do anything about unemployment in the near future, and 72% thought social unrest was “certain” or “likely” to occur over the next few months. This might just be typical French cynicism, or it might represent the wisdom to see through a con job. The Chirac/De Villepin plan wouldn’t be a big deal if the rest of Europe went along for the ride. But other countries have different ideas. The UK hates France’s economic direction, and wants some of its EU cash back. And Germany, the long-suffering bankroller of Europe’s economic dysfunctions, seems to be headed in a completely different direction. While nothing is certain, a future Angela Merkel government should mean de-regulation and more free trade, and greater antipathy towards France’s born-again socialism. Bringing this down to industry specifics, the battle over Airbus has acquired some cultural and ideological baggage. The EADS/Airbus leadership fight, unresolved until late June, wasn’t just people bickering over corporate logos. Rather, the two national factions have drastically different priorities. Germany wants EADS defense exports and US market access. France wants to help Airbus continue as national champion and jobs generator. Incoming EADS co-CEO Noël Forgeard, like De Villepin, is a close associate of Chirac, eager to capitalize on national glory at the expense of globalization. This is why the latest Buy American incarnation—threatening to withhold DoD contracts to foreign companies in the midst of a WTO dispute with the US—actually has traction. The phrase Buy American, for once, has been given a good name by this variant. It’s a clever way of exploiting divisions between France and Germany. It tells EADS to choose between a shot at an aerial refueling tanker contract and government launch aid for the A350. The German faction (and, of course, the UK) is willing to end government launch aid for Airbus; the French are not. After all, launch aid makes desperate governments look like they are helping people get jobs. I can’t wait to see what happens next. That tanker contract is enticing, and EADS does have a good chance (playing the Republican card is a smart move). They also claim to not actually need A350 launch aid, and given the A350’s strong start at Paris, they’re probably right. But the intra-EADS battle over A350 launch aid concerns more than just US market access. There is also the broader question of whether European governments will be willing to support a mature, market-leading company. It’s also clear that A350 development will disproportionately benefit the UK (the wingmaker for a new wing) and France (the final assembler). Will Germany pay its share? This French attitude towards Airbus also explains the rather magical first day of the Paris show. There was Chirac, watching the A380 fly, leading France into a glorious new age. It represented a third way, a government-directed state-sponsored approach towards planned capitalism, a move away from the dangers of unfettered globalization. The A380 wasn’t merely about prestige and technology; it was about jobs, just like the government promised. Chirac’s message: “We’re from the government and we’re here to help. And don’t trust those globalizing capitalists.” The French Government, sadly, looked at John Mica and saw something worth emulating. Back to the land of microeconomics, upcoming Teal aircraft updates include the A330/350, F/A-22. F-117, some Russian planes, the AB.139, and the military aircraft inventory appendix. Have a good summer. Yours, Until Everyone Gets Along, Richard Aboulafia