Civil Aviation News

THE US has admitted that it will miss the August deadline to screen 100 per cent of bellyhold cargo on international flights.

Gale Rossides, acting director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that, at best, 65 per cent would be fully screened and that it would be two years before the 100 per cent target could be reached.

However, she said that they would be able to screen 100 per cent of all bellyhold cargo originating within the US.

The TSA has been telling the US government that the August deadline was not achievable but the issue has become both highly emotional and political both with the US public and its politicians. The TSA has therefore been reluctant to give any delay estimates. The two-year estimate is the longest given so far.

AMERICAN Airlines is negotiating with China Eastern Airlines to have it join the Oneworld alliance.

Tom Horton, chief financial officer of American’s parent company, AMR, also revealed that American is also in talks with a Brazilian carrier to do the same (probably Gol Linheas Aereas Inteligentes, which began code-sharing with American last year).

“There are some opportunities for cost savings, though not to the extent one might be able to achieve with a full merger. You can cooperate in areas such as procurement, co-locate at airports.”

Horton said the reason for increased alliances rather than mergers was primarily due to restrictions on foreign ownership of US airlines of only 25 per cent of voting stock.

“It is an impediment to cross-border mergers,” he said. “I think we are seeing an evolution, seeing these alliances become tighter-knit partnerships. They started as loose marketing agreements, for code-sharing, frequent linkages, emergence of global alliance groupings. We are now seeing those groupings forming tight economic relationships.”

American Airlines and British Airways have just been given permission from the US government to cooperate with Iberia on lucrative trans-Atlantic services, after trying and being denied twice before.

DEREK Kerr, US Airways’ chief financial officer has announced that the carrier is looking to merge with another US airline. It has yet to approach any other carrier as Kerr says, “it takes two to tango”.

According to Kerr, there are too many competing airlines for the US domestic market and consolidation is necessary to reduce capacity. This would therefore, he added, rule out merging with a foreign carrier, as that would not cut capacity.

“I don’t think that will make a difference,” he said. “Domestic is where there is too much fragmentation and there are too many airlines. It’s five major carriers; it’s too fragmented. We believe that it needs to be consolidated. Consolidation is one of the major ways this industry can become profitable.”

US Airways is the US’ fifth-largest airline, so when Kerr was asked why it was not approaching any other carrier, Kerr said: “It’s difficult for the number five player to make a move on numbers one through four.” The four being American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta and United Airlines.

Earlier in the week, United Airlines’ chief financial officer, Kathryn Mikells, also said that it was considering a merger.

US Airways tried to negotiate a merger with United in 2008, but this stalled when United went after an alliance with Continental instead.

United Airlines and US Airways are both part of Star Alliance, a global network of carriers that allows them to streamline costs while sharing revenue.

A DOMINICAN stowaway fell to his death from an Amerijet freighter as it left Santo Domingo on its way to Miami.

Air traffic controllers saw him fall, leading to a 45-minute shutdown of the runway, although the pilot, Felix Joseph Gruosso, did not immediately realise what had happened and continued onto Miami.

The young man hid himself in the aircraft’s wheel well as it was parked at Las Americas Airport’s Cabo Caucedo cargo terminal. The authorities are investigating how he managed to avoid being spotted by ramp personnel and the pilots’ preflight inspection.

The aircraft was on its third leg from Port of Spain (Venezuela).

The Department of Homeland Security has spent $40 billion rebuilding the aviation security system since the terror attacks of 2001. Congress pulled responsibility for aviation security out of the Federal Aviation Administration and created the Transportation Security Administration, which also assumed control of security for other modes of transportation. Much work that was formerly done by the airlines or private contractors is now done by federal employees.

The years of effort have created a security net that is much stronger in key areas, from simple things like secure cockpit doors to the routine inspections now done on checked baggage.

But a self-proclaimed terrorist’s attempt to bring down a passenger jet headed to Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, exposed gaps in the system. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged in the attempted attack, was able to board a plane even after his father was so alarmed by his son’s radical talk that he contacted U.S. officials after his son disappeared while studying abroad.

The incident led to an immediate increase in security efforts at airports. Less than two weeks after the attempted attack, the Obama administration mandated extra scrutiny – including full-body pat downs – for people flying into the United States from 14 mostly Muslim countries. Under the new rules, all citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen must receive a pat down and an extra check of their carry-on bags before boarding a plane bound for the United States, officials said. Citizens of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria – nations considered “state sponsors of terrorism” – face the same requirement.

ALONG with lighters, penknives and other forbidden objects on airplanes, you can now add something entirely new: T-shirts with objectionable messages.

On Tuesday, Lorrie Heasley was forced to leave Southwest Airlines Flight 219, departing Reno, Nev., because she was wearing a T-shirt that featured pictures of President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and an expletive phrase playing on the title of the popular movie, “Meet the Fockers.”

Ms. Heasley, 32, a lumber saleswoman who was traveling with her husband, said she bought the shirt as a gag while visiting Venice Beach, Calif.

So when can a T-shirt, admittedly vulgar, get you thrown off a plane?

It depends on the airline. When asked this week, many airlines said they must balance between protecting one passenger’s rights and making sure the comfort of other passengers is not compromised. Some, like United and Midwest Airlines, said they would not remove a passenger over language on a shirt. Others referred to their policies on passenger behavior and attire stated in “contracts of carriage” that many post on their Web sites.

In Southwest’s contract, passengers are forbidden from wearing clothing that is “lewd, obscene or patently offensive,” said Beth Harbin, a spokeswoman.

Who decides what’s offensive? At many airlines, like Southwest and JetBlue, it’s the job of flight crews.

It can be a nasty business. The crew of an American Airlines flight once removed a passenger after others complained of his strong body odor, said Tim Wagner, an airline spokesman. The passenger was given a voucher for a nearby hotel and returned for a later flight after he had bathed.

Either way, constitutional law experts say that as private companies, airlines are well within their rights.

“The Constitution only restricts the government,” said Geoffrey R. Stone, a law professor at the University of Chicago and the author of “Perilous Times: Free Speech in War Times.”

He added, “One of the most basic facts of the Constitution that the general public doesn’t understand is that the Constitution governs the government, so only the government can violate the Constitution.”

Unless Congress passes a law forbidding airlines from removing passengers because of messages on their T-shirts, no statute has been violated, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

For her part, Ms. Heasley said she and her husband, Ron, are currently seeking refund for their airfare from Reno to Portland, Ore., or the cost of their rental car, hotel and gas for what turned out to be a 10-hour drive home.

Incheon International Airport in Seoul offers a cultural experience for waiting passengers. Photo: Manfred Gottschalk/Lonely Planet

With the latest terrorist incident over US skies, air travellers are more on edge than usual and security lines are even longer.

But if you’re looking for something to distract yourself from all the worries and the waiting, a few airports actually offer unique attractions.

Not that it will make the lines shorter, but checking out the stuffed polar bear at the Anchorage airport in Alaska, playing slots at the Las Vegas airport or watching live music at the Austin airport might just bring a smile to your face on an otherwise stressful day.

A few airports around the world have their own unique attractions, from pop culture to high art to traditional culture.

In Taipei, Taiwan, the Taoyuan Airport has an entire gate area designed with a Hello Kitty motif, from the chairs and wall decorations to a children’s play area and shop.

Amsterdam’s famous Rijksmuseum has an annex at Schiphol Airport with a small collection of Golden Age masterpieces and a temporary exhibition that changes a few times a year. Admission is free.

At the Incheon International Airport serving Seoul, South Korea, travellers can visit the Traditional Korean Cultural Experience Zone on the third floor of the passenger terminal, near Gate 31 in the duty-free arcade.

The zone offers demonstrations of crafts such as making fans, kites, macrame and paper art, along with performances featuring traditional dances and instruments like bamboo flutes, harps and drums.

In the US, you don’t have to go all the way to the Strip to gamble in Las Vegas; you can start in as soon as your plane lands. McCarran Airport has nearly 1,300 slot machines, and they generated over $US30 million ($A32.6 million) in revenue for the airport in the last fiscal year, according to airport spokesman Chris Jones.

In Anchorage in Alaska ask for directions at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and somebody might just tell you to take a left at the polar bear.

The taxidermed animal, posed in an upright position, towers over passers-by in the North Terminal, and is just one of more than a half-dozen stuffed bears at the airport.

Other wildlife on display there includes a ram, a beaver, several geese, a deer, a fox, two wolves, a salmon and an 180-kilogram halibut, according to the Alaska Travel Industry Association.

Airport manager John Parrot says the two metre-tall polar bear is a “universal meeting point for that building. A few years ago we even had a couple get married at the polar bear”.

At Charlotte, North Carolina pull up a rocking chair, make yourself comfy and set awhile. That’s not the usual expectation at an airport, but the atrium at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina is lined with trees and white wooden rocking chairs, just like what you might find on a friendly Southern front porch.

The rockers were first placed in the atrium in 1997 as part of a photo exhibit called Porchsitting, but they were so popular that they became a permanent fixture.

The rockers, made by Portico Furniture, have now been installed in 16 other airports, including Seattle, San Diego and Dallas/Fort Worth.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport has been in the news because that’s where the plane landed after a passenger allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device onboard on Christmas Day.

But before that incident, the airport was famous among travellers for something beautiful, not something scary: a fountain designed to represent global travel routes.

The attraction includes 45 water jets choreographed in changing patterns to symbolise airline flight paths. Longitude and latitude lines are marked in black granite.

The water feature, located in Concourse A at the McNamara Terminal, was installed to offer a measure of tranquility in a hectic place. Tranquility is something jittery travellers need even more now than when it opened in 2002.

If you’re heading to a holiday in Austin, Texas chances are you’ll be checking out the music scene. But you don’t have to wait till you get into the city to hear a local band or singer. At the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, 11 live music performances are offered each week for ticketed passengers, located on a stage next to Ray Benson’s roadhouse in the centre of the terminal building on the concourse level.

The blue crab is Maryland’s official state crustacean. And there’s a big one on the upper level at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, but it didn’t crawl out of the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a colourful stained-glass sculpture, three metres long and 1.67 metres high, designed by Jackie Leatherbury Douglass, and beloved by locals.

The House of Blues store in Chicago’s Midway Airport’s Terminal A has a couple of life-size statues of the Blues Brothers, depicting John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

One set of statues shows them dancing in their black suits, sunglasses and hats; the other set shows them seated. Travellers love to pose for pictures with these guys.

AP

Kyla Ebbert, pictured with Richard Branson, was kicked off a Southwest flight due to her “skimpy” outfit / Reuters

FROM wearing skimpy outfits to sniffing fellow passengers, travellers have been removed from planes for some strange reasons.

Passengers won’t be surprised to find out that joining the mile-high club or reading porn will get them kicked off their flight. But did you know discussing the safest seat or asking for water are offences that could easily have you holed up in airport security?

Here are some actions that could get you kicked off your next flight:

Attempting to join the mile-high club
A flight between Las Vegas and Seattle was diverted in 2007 after passengers spotted a couple getting intimate mid-flight. The couple was allegedly “messing around” in the seats before taking the action to the bathroom. They were escorted off the plane after arguing with flight attendants.

Sniffing fellow passengers
Two men had to be removed from a flight between Dallas and Vegas last year due to their bizarre response to a woman’s perfume.

“The passengers smelled a ladies perfume, liked it and proceeded to lean over their seats and press their noses against her neck to smell it more. It was unreal,” flight attendant Bobby Laurie, from a major US airline, said.

Discussing which is the safest seat
A Muslim family was removed from an AirTran flight last month after passengers heard them discussing the safest place to sit and misconstrued the nature of the conversation.

The family was cleared of any wrongdoing but the airline refused to rebook them.

YOUR SAY: Have you been kicked off a plane, or have you seen someone be removed?

Sky-high breast feeding
A woman filed a complaint against Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines in 2006 claiming she was kicked off a plane because she was breast-feeding her baby.

Emily Gillette said she was discreetly breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter on a flight between Burlington and New York when she was approached by a flight attendant who then removed her from the plane.

The airline said she refused their request to use a blanket “to provide a little more discretion”.

Being too sexy to fly
A Hooters employee became the centre of attention on a Southwest flight when a crew member threatened to remove her due to her “skimpy” outfit.

Wearing a tight-fitting white top, green sweater and a white denim mini-skirt, Kyla Ebbert was desperate to remain on the flight and negotiated with the crew by offering to pull her top up and skirt down, and she was allowed to stay.

Reading porn
A man was thrown off a Nationwide Airlines flight in 2005 after a row over his right to read porn on the plane. A flight attendant told passenger AC Hoffman to put the pornographic magazine away but he refused.

“Some things are just common sense – it is not a social norm to read that type of magazine with other passengers in the vicinity,” a spokesman for the South African airline said.

Having poor personal hygiene
A German man was chucked off a plane in Honolulu, US, back in 2006 for being excessively smelly. Fellow passengers had complained to the crew about his offensive body odour.

He tried to sue the airline but the case was thrown out.

Asking for water
A simple request for water resulted in a man being booted off a plane at La Guardia Airport, US. Mitchell Roslin said the water was for his wife, who was seven month pregnant.

The cabin had overheated after the Spirit Airlines plane experienced engine trouble. Mr Roslin was told it was “against corporate policy” to give out water before the plane took off.

He was asked to leave the plane, and his wife and two children got off with him.

Having a coughing fit
A teenage girl who caught a cold during a school trip was kicked off her flight home because she was coughing.

Rachel Collier was removed from the Continental Airlines plane, which was flying between New Jersey and Honolulu, US, when the captain became concerned about her coughing fit.

Flying with a cuddly crocodile
A woman found herself in hot water when she refused to move her metre-long cuddly toy crocodile, which the crew said was blocking the emergency exit. She was removed from the Ryanair flight, which was flying between Rome and Milan in 2007.

Wearing a rude T-shirt
A US woman was forced to leave a Southwest Airlines flight due to her “offensive” T-shirt. Featuring pictures of George Bush and friends, Lorrie Heasley’s T-shirt had a slogan based on the film Meet the Fockers – with one crucial vowel altered.

Flying with an autistic son
A mother and her autistic boy were kicked off an American Eagle flight at Raleigh-Durnham Airport, US. The two-and-a-half-year old was upset and could not be calmed down by his mother, so the pilot deemed him “uncontrollable” and removed them.

Chucking a hissy fit
A man was taken off a flight after becoming enraged and slapping his wife. The passenger became angered when told he wouldn’t be able to sit next to his wife.

“He started screaming and throwing items. When his wife tried to call him down, he slapped her. And it all started out with “Don’t you know who I am?” Shelby, who has been a flight attendant for a major US airline since 2001, said.

He spent the night in gaol, but his wife was allowed to fly home.

American Airlines has upped the ante in a bidding war with rival Delta Air Lines for a stake in Japan Airlines, which is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

American Airlines and its partners lifted their proposed investment in Asia’s biggest carrier to $US1.4 billion ($1.5 billion), from a previous offer of $US1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), the US carrier announced at a Tokyo news conference today.

In addition, they will guarantee $US2 billion in revenue over the next three years if JAL stays in the oneworld alliance.

American has teamed up with its Oneworld alliance partners – among them Qantas – and private equity company TPG to woo JAL, which has also been offered a $US1 billion financial package from Delta, the world’s largest carrier.

American and Delta are competing to tie-up with JAL and increase their share of the lucrative Asian market.

‘‘This proposal demonstrates Oneworld’s extraordinary commitment to JAL,’’ American Airlines executive vice president Thomas Horton said in the statement. ‘‘It brings stability and certainty to Japan Airlines at a time when it is most needed, as it faces turbulent times over the coming weeks and months.’’

Delta, which belongs to the SkyTeam airline alliance, is seeking to lure JAL away from the Oneworld grouping.

JAL delisting?

JAL shares dived almost 45 per cent in early trade on Tuesday, battered by deepening fears that investors will see their stakes wiped out under a widely expected bankruptcy filing.

Media reports said that the debt-ridden airline is likely to be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

JAL, which lost about $US1.5 billion in the six months to September, is seeking its fourth government bailout since 2001 to enable it to keep flying in the face of mounting debts.

Hatoyama, who ended half a century of near-continuous rule by the LDP last year, declined to comment on the possibility of JAL being delisted when speaking to reporters today in Tokyo. The government has previously said that JAL, unprofitable in three of the last four years, will continue flying. JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap declined to comment.

All Nippon Airways, Japan’s No.2 carrier, rose as much as 7.4 per cent in Tokyo trading, the most since July. Skymark Airlines Inc., the nation’s largest discount carrier, jumped as much as 21 per cent.

Delta Air Lines and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, which are competing to invest in Tokyo-based JAL, both said last week that a bankruptcy wouldn’t deter them as they want access to the airline’s networks in Japan and China. AMR Corp.’s American will meet the press today at 2 p.m. in Tokyo to discuss its plans, according to a statement.

Travel slump

JAL, which has at least 1.5 trillion yen ($18 billion) of liabilities, has struggled because of competition from All Nippon, Skymark and bullet trains. Worldwide international air travel also likely fell about 4.1 per cent last year, according to the International Air Transport Association, as the global recession sapped demand.

”Japanese airlines haven’t been doing well for a long time,” Tan Teng Boo, who oversees $US300 million as managing director at iCapital Global Fund, said from Singapore. ”They need some form of catalyst.” Tan said he has never owned JAL shares.

The global recession also caused General Motors Corp. and Chrysler to seek bankruptcy as consumers pared spending on job concerns. Mesa Air Group, which operates flights for major US carriers including Delta and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US earlier this month.

Restructuring plan

Under the proposed restructuring plan for JAL, Enterprise Turnaround Initiative of Corp. of Japan, a state-affiliated fund, will provide 300 billion yen of capital to JAL and a 400 billion yen credit line, the Yomiuri newspaper said last week. Creditors will be asked for about 350 billion yen in debt waivers and debt-for-equity swaps, the report said. An Enterprise Turnaround spokesman declined to comment.

The carrier plans to shed 13,000 jobs during a three-year restructuring by offering early retirements and shedding units, the Nikkei said today, without citing anyone. Haruka Nishimatsu, 62, chief executive of JAL since 2006, has already said he will step down.

JAL’s four biggest lenders, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and state-owned Development Bank of Japan were owed 429 billion yen at the end of March, according to the carrier.

JAL previously won emergency loans from Development Bank under LDP administrations following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the 2003 SARS outbreak and again last year as Japan suffered its worst postwar recession.

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June with $US172.8 billion of liabilities. A US government-backed restructuring allowed a smaller automaker to re-emerge the following month with about $11 billion in US debt and a focus on fewer brands.

Bloomberg News, with Reuters

MATT O’SULLIVAN

QANTAS expects the investigation into its Vietnamese joint venture, Jetstar Pacific, to run for months. It emerged that the interrogation of its two Australian executives is the latest in a string of concerns raised by authorities recently.

It has stoked suspicions that at least part of the communist-led Vietnamese Government opposes Qantas’s investment in the country’s second biggest airline.

However, it is understood that a clause in Qantas’s original contract in 2007 to buy into what was then Pacific Airlines could limit the financial impact on the Australian airline if it chooses to walk away from Vietnam.

The latest investigation comes after Vietnamese authorities began an inquiry into Jetstar Pacific’s maintenance practices in November. It was sparked by two former engineers, Bernard McCune and Digger King, raising concerns but found only minor problems.

That same month Vietnam’s Transport Ministry said the Jetstar brand did not conform to the country’s laws. Qantas remains in talks about the use of the star logo and may have to make changes to the branding by October.

Sources said the latest investigation into $31 million in fuel hedging losses at Jetstar Pacific in 2008 was ”going to take months, not weeks”. Qantas has largely been kept in the dark by Vietnamese authorities about the investigation.

The chief financial officer of Jetstar Pacific, Tristan Freeman, and its chief operating officer, Daniela Marsilli, have been barred from leaving Vietnam since December 19 while they face questioning in Ho Chi Minh City.

On Thursday Jetstar Pacific’s former chief executive, Luong Hoai Nam, was arrested over allegations he caused serious losses.

Qantas has insisted it remains committed to Vietnam but at the very least it will have to consider whether to raise its stake in Jetstar Pacific from 27 to 30 per cent.

Sources said the airline appeared to be caught between two ideologies in Vietnam: a pro-liberalisation agenda pushed by several senior ministers and those who oppose the pace and extent of the reform.

”When you go and play in Asia you need to know the rules,” the president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Barry Jackson, said yesterday.

But he believed Qantas would stay committed to Vietnam because it had the potential to become a large travel market. ”They will continue to forge the relationship. They need to make it work, and they may need to modify some things.”

Vietnam has been a key element in Qantas’s Asian expansion plans because it is a booming tourist destination and is close to China.

Ho Chi Minh City is also regarded as a potential hub for Jetstar flights between Australia and Europe.