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Archive for February, 2012

Contract for Crossrail to benefit UK

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

In a bid to avoid the widespread anger which followed last year’s controversial decision to award a £1.6 billion contract to build British trains to a German manufacturer, the government has said it will be looking at how the UK benefits before awarding the Crossrail contract. Ministers said they will be looking closely at how companies intend to invest in Britain and how many new jobs will be created.

Last year Bombardier, the Derby-based manufacturer, said it would have to shed 1,400 jobs after it lost out on the Thameslink rolling stock contract to Siemens. There are reportedly three companies currently in the process of bidding for the Crossrail project.

Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, said that she wanted to make sure that when Crossrail is awarded it would be of maximum benefit to the UK economy and British workers. She added that 60 new trains would be capable of carrying around 1.5 million extra passengers.

She went on to say that the scheme presented an opportunity boost the economy and create apprenticeships and jobs. Maria Eagle, Shadow Transport Secretary, said that it was vital that such a large manufacturing project be used to benefit jobs and growth at a time when unemployment in the UK was continuing to rise.

RMT transport union boss, Bob Crow, said that in order to avoid the fiasco which surrounded the Thameslink contract the Crossrail process would be closely monitored. He added that he hoped that Bombardier would benefit from socio-economic factors and engineering excellence becoming priorities in the tendering process.

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Boris Johnson wants a driverless Underground

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Boris Johnson has said that if he continues in his role as Mayor of London he will fight to make a number of routes on the London Underground completely automated by the end of the decade. By 2014 he wants to see the Northern line operated by driverless trains with the same going for the Central, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines by 2018.

The announcement is likely to anger the unions. Mr Johnson has been faced with a series of strikes on the Tube over the past few years which have resulted in travel being disrupted for millions of passengers.

Aslef has already said that it will fight any plans by the government to reduce jobs for drivers on the London Underground and the RMT has slammed that idea of automated trains describing them as unworkable and deadly. Mr Johnson said that he believed that he could work with the unions on implementing the changes.

There are already some automated trains operating on the Central, Jubilee and Victoria lines, but these trains still have drivers present in the cab. The Docklands Light Railway is automated, and Mr Johnson said that without having to pay for workers the DLR was producing revenues which could be reinvested in the system

Although it is believed that Mr Johnson has his eye on the leadership of the Conservative Party he has not said that he will not be running for a third mayoral term.  

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Hong Kong Airlines angers animal welfare groups

Monday, February 27th, 2012

An online petition has been signed by nearly 3,000 people asking Hong Kong Airlines to stop transporting live dolphins. The airline found itself under heavy flack after a newspaper reported that the airline had carried five dolphins from Japan to Vietnam in January this year. A welfare group claims that they were being transported in cruel confinement.

It is thought that the mammals were captured off Taiji which is a town in Japan infamous for its annual slaughter of the creatures. The online petition claims that the incident took place on 16 January and that the dolphins spent around seven hours in flying coffins. It goes on to point out that dolphins are not cargo, commerce or entertainment.

According to the China Daily newspaper, Hong Kong Airlines issued a memo to staff congratulating them on making the company $110,000 by successfully transporting the live cargo. The memo continues to say that the carrier intends to develop business in the area as it had proven that it can carry vulnerable and time sensitive cargo successfully.

Although Hong Kong Airlines is still to make a full comment on the matter it has apparently said that it remains committed to ensuring the safety of all animals which it transports and would be happy to start a dialogue with animal welfare organisations.

The Animal Advocacy Examiner was another online group to be angered by the reports and is asking if the airline is profiting from the well documented misery of the Taiji dolphins.

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Argentine train crash leaves 49 dead

Friday, February 24th, 2012

A train crash in Argentina has resulted in at least 49 people losing their lives and 600 more being injured. Officials say that it is the worst rail crash to occur in the country in four decades. The incident occurred during the rush hour period at Once station in Buenos Aires, the country’s capital.

JP Schiavi, Transport Secretary, said the train hit a platform and that the cause was thought to be faulty brakes. Although many passengers were trapped for a number of hours within the wreckage all are now said to have been removed. The Argentine government said there would be at least two days of mourning and that carnival festivities will be called off.

According to one of the passengers the train was full when it hit the platform. He said that people were trying to get out by smashing the carriage windows, and medics were overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties at the scene.

Train accidents in Argentina last year were the cause of 23 deaths and around 300 injuries. The latest incident raises questions about the safety of the train network in the country. Former National Rail Authority director, Juan Alberto Roccatagliata, said that although it is safe accidents are inevitable.

He added that more investment and maintenance was however needed in order to push down the probability that similar incidents will occur. Around 400 million passengers travel each year on the Buenos Aires rail network which is South America’s largest.

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EU airline carbon scheme could result in sanctions

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

The ongoing dispute over the European Union’s airline emissions scheme has resulted in nearly 30 countries around the world meeting in Moscow to discuss how best to tackle the situation. The emissions trading scheme was introduced at the beginning of the year and means that all airlines flying to or from an airport in Europe have to offset the greenhouse gasses they produce.

Countries including Russia, India, China and the US have complained that the tax is not legal and goes against long standing international agreements. At the meeting it was decided that each country should be responsible for tackling the issue in the way they thought best. This could result in a trade war or sanctions being place on European carriers.

The meeting has been criticised by Connie Hedegarrd, the EU’s climate chief, for not putting forward any suggestions for alternative ways to combat the effects of pollution caused by the airline industry.

The EU is claiming that airlines from the countries present at the Moscow meeting were all currently complying with the rules. China recently told its carriers that they were forbidden from getting involved. Europe’s top court was approached at the end of last year by the US over the scheme’s legality, but failed to change its mind.

Hedegaard said that any ideas on how better to combat emissions would be welcome. The International Civil Aviation Organisation has been holding talks on the subject for years but has never been able to come up with an agreement between countries on how best to price carbon for airlines.  

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Kingfisher Airlines fights for survival

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

The future of Kingfisher Airlines remains uncertain as it looks to India’s banks for a bailout package. Although there are reports that several lenders have decided not to extend any more credit to the troubled carrier, there have also been reports that the State Bank of India could be preparing to come to the rescue.

There has been no comment from Diwaker Gupta, SBI’s chief financial officer, although reports are that a deal could be worth anywhere between 2 and 16.5 billion rupees. Up until last year, Kingfisher was India’s number two airline. Established in 2005 by drinks magnate Vijay Mallya, the carrier has never made a profit and reportedly has debts of $1.3 billion.

Over the past week, a number of Kingfisher pilots have resigned and passengers have been disrupted by cancelled services. According to a tax official, unpaid tax bills amount to 400 million rupees. Staff are currently not being paid and revenues are continuing to decline.

According to Ajit Singh, Civil Aviation Minister, Kingfisher will not be given the aid that state-owned Air India was given by the government because it is a private company. Mallya has said that Kingfisher’s financial problems are the fault of tax officials which have frozen the accounts.

S Gujral, Finance Minister, said that the accounts would remain blocked. Kingfisher said it would be reducing daily flights from 240 to 175 and only 28 of the airline’s 64 aircraft will take off.

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Death crash coach driver charged

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

The driver at the wheel of the coach that crashed in France at the weekend has been charged in connection with the death of one its passengers. Derek Thompson was driving a school ski party back from Italy to the UK when his vehicle ran off the road near Rheims early on Sunday morning.

School teacher, 59-year Peter Rippington, died in the accident and another 20 passengers including his wife Sharon were injured. Motorists on the A26 motorway told police that immediately prior to the point where the coach ran off the road it kept swerving in the direction of the hard shoulder.

Police tested Mr Thompson for alcohol and drug use at the scene of the accident, but both tests showed negative readings. A check of the tachograph on the coach revealed some fluctuations in speed in the 10 minutes ahead of the crash, but police said these did not show he was speeding or driving beyond his allotted hours.

French police say Mr Thompson told them he could not recall the crash and at first denied he had fallen asleep, but later said it was possible he could have dropped off momentarily. The driver appeared in court late yesterday afternoon and was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Mr Thompson was given bail and can travel back to the UK, but must appear before French magistrates at a date still to be decided. There were 29 children and 20 adults on the coach. The group had been to Italy’s Val d’Aosta ski area and were returning to Alvechurch School in Worcestershire, where many of the youngsters were pupils.

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Man trapped in car survives for 60 days

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Swedish police say that a man has managed to survive for two months while trapped in his car in sub-zero temperatures. The 45-year-old man’s ordeal came to an end on Friday when snowmobilers checking what they thought was an abandoned vehicle spotted movement under a thick crust of snow.

The man told police officers who came to the vehicle on a forest track in the Umea region of northern Sweden that he had been stuck in the car since 19 December. When officers spoke to him, he was very weak and barely able to put together more than a few sentences.

Officer Ebbe Nyberg said when the snowmobilers found the stranded man, he was curled up in a sleeping bag on the rear seat of the vehicle. The policeman said the man was poorly and told him he had eaten little apart from snow since his ordeal had begun.

Weather charts for the region show that temperatures have been as low as -30°C recently. The car was stuck in the forest, more than one kilometre from a main highway. Police said the absence of tyre tracks and footprints in the snow around the man’s vehicle seemed to indicate nobody had been near it in a long time.

The man, who has just been named as Peter Skyllberg, was taken to Umea University Hospital. Doctors say he is slowly getting better, although it might take a while before he makes a full recovery. One doctor said the man might have lived so long without food by hibernating in a similar manner to a bear.

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Air Australia goes into administration

Friday, February 17th, 2012

Thousands of passengers have been left stranded as Air Australia goes into administration. The budget carrier has sold around 100,000 tickets for future flights which are now unlikely to get off the ground and there are around 4,000 passengers currently stuck in airports. A number of other airlines including Qantas and budget offshoot Jetstar have said that they will try to help get people home.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, said that his office was currently in contact with foreign consulates to work out the best way of getting passengers to where they need to be. He added that he was deeply concerned about the situation and that passengers holding Air Australia tickets should present them at Qantas desks.

Passengers are currently trying to get onto alternative flights in Phuket, Thailand. International flights from Phuket and Honolulu to Melbourne have been grounded because the airline has been unable to pay its fuel bills. A further five domestic services between Melbourne and Brisbane have also been cancelled.

According to Mark Korda of administrators KordaMentha the crisis occurred when an Air Australia plane in Phuket was refused the fuel it needed to take off. He added that the fuel supplier was owed money by the budget airline and refused to extend it any more credit. Mr Korda said that Phuket airport was likely to keep the plane grounded until the debts are paid.

It is not currently clear whether Air Australia was continuing to trade when it was aware that it was heading for a collapse.

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Japan Airlines outlines investment plans

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Following its emergence from bankruptcy protection, Japan Airlines has announced that it will be investing $6 billion in new planes. In an effort to cut down on fuel expenditure the carrier has placed an order with Boeing for its new Dreamliner 787 model which the manufacturer says is around 20 per cent more efficient than other planes of a similar size.

The airline is aggressively looking to improve its margins against increased competition. It has cut its workforce down by a third, pulled out of routes which were not making a profit, reduced operating expenses and modernised its fleet. The airline’s original operating profit target has now doubled to 180 billion yen.

Last month, JAL appointed a new president Yoshiharu Ueki. He said that he aims to have the company back into stable flight mode as soon as possible. Depending on the condition of the market, JAL could be in a position to raise as much as $6.5 billion if it relists in September.

However, experts predict that it could be difficult for the carrier to attract investors at a time when there is huge competition from rivals and attention remains focused on the problems in the eurozone. In order to tackle such challenges, JAL said it would be pushing 478 billion yen into investing in new aircraft and parts over the next five years.

The carrier is currently looking at replacing older planes with Boeing’s 737 and 787 models which the manufacturer claims are more fuel efficient than aircraft of a similar size currently in service.  

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