Archive for June, 2012
Friday, June 29th, 2012
Japan Airlines has been ordered by the High Court in New Zealand to hand over a $2.3 million penalty for its involvement in a price fixing cartel with a number of other international carriers. The airline has admitted that it fixed security and fuel prices on cargo being flown into New Zealand from the United States, Europe and Asia. It also admitted that it was complicit in fixing prices on cargo being transported from the country to destinations in Asia.
Japan Airlines joins British Airways, Qantas and Cargolux International Airlines who have already admitted being involved and been fined. The fine imposed by the Auckland court was agreed to as part of a pre-trial settlement. Because Japan Airlines has been cooperative in the ongoing investigation it has been granted a 35 per cent discount on the penalty. The airline has also agreed to pay any costs which may have been incurred.
The Commerce Commission filed proceedings against a total of 13 airlines in 2008 for breach of the Commerce Act. The commission said that agreements on security and fuel surcharges had been going on between certain carriers for six years.
The other airlines accused of being involved in cartel activity include Cathay Pacific Airways, Air New Zealand, Korean Air Lines, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Malaysian Airlines System and Thai Airways International.
The case is due to resume in Auckland’s High Court in March 2013. A case against United Airlines was dropped last year as was a case against PT Garuda Indonesia.
Tags: Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Korean Air Lines, Malaysian Airlines Systems, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Thai Airways International
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Thursday, June 28th, 2012
The House of Lords has heard an appeal for a ferry service to run between the UK and the Isles of Scilly on a daily basis, all year round. Labour’s Lord Berkeley wants a similar system set up which the Scottish government has for services between Scotland and its islands.
However, transport spokesman for the government, Earl Attlee, said that although he realised that a ferry service was a lifeline for those living off the Cornish coast the ferry had not been able to function commercially and would need to be subsidised. He added that the Scilly ferry was only in operation for seven months out of the year and that a return trip costs £90.
Lord Berkeley said this is compared to services in Scotland which run several times a day, all year round and where a return journey cost £12.50. He added that the islands’ council could tap into funds supplied by the European Union’s regional development fund to keep a daily service running.
Liberal Democrat Lord Bradshaw warned that the ferry service serving Scilly as well as a helicopter service could soon be cancelled and that there might not be a way of replacing them commercially.
Earl Attlee said it was difficult to make a comparison between the Scilly service and the ferry services running to the islands off the Scottish mainland as they were run in very different ways. He pointed out that the Scottish ferries were managing to run as a commercial venture.
Tags: development fund, Earl Attlee, ferry, ferry services, House of Lords, Scilly
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Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
Chancellor George Osborne has decided to put off increasing the duty on fuel until next year to the relief of UK motorists and campaign groups. Up until the announcement was made yesterday drivers were facing a hike of 3p on every litre. Previously the Chancellor had insisted that the move was necessary as a way of combating the country’s deficit.
Although opponents are insisting that this is yet another U-turn by the government sources at the Treasury are denying the accusations by insisting that the policy was initiated by the last Labour government. Mr Osborne said that fuel was now 10p cheaper than it would have been had Labour remained in power.
The move has been welcomed by the AA. President Edmund King said that the news was good for motorists ahead of the summer holidays and that any hike in prices would have cast a shadow over the London Olympic Games.
RAC Foundation spokesman Professor Stephen Glaister said the decision was good for the UK economy and would help households struggling to cope with finances. FairFuel UK also said that the announcement would be welcomed by drivers and businesses.
However, some Tory ministers who supported the freeze are said to be angry that they were defending a decision which leaders were intending to give up. Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor called the announcement a U-turn adding that the budget was now in tatters following similar reversals over caravans, pasties, churches and charities.
Tags: AA, duty, Ed Balls, FairFuel UK, fuel, George Osborne, Olympic Games, RAC
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Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Airlines in the US have been told that they have to put emergency oxygen devices back into aircraft toilets having been told to remove them in February last year. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the removal because it feared that terrorists might use the chemical system to start a fire on board an airliner.
The reversal of that decision comes because of fears that not having emergency oxygen in toilets could endanger passengers in the event that the cabin loses pressure.
However, the FAA said that new systems will have to be designed in a way which makes them tamper proof. A design is still to be settled on, but it is likely that the new oxygen provider will be positioned in a part of the cabin which is visible rather than behind the closed door of a toilet.
It is estimated that some 5,500 planes will have to be refitted at a cost to airlines of $44.2 million. The removal of the emergency systems cost around $935,000 according to the FAA. The body explained that installing oxygen systems would cost $6,000 in parts and take 12 times the labour that disabling or removing them did.
The FAA originally gave airlines 24 months to comply with the refitting order. However, because a new design has still not been decided on, carriers including Delta, United, Southwest and American, and aircraft manufactures Airbus and Boeing, have asked for more time. The FAA has revised the time limit to 37 months.
Tags: airbus, airlines, American, boeing, Delta, FAA, southwest, United
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Monday, June 25th, 2012
Bosses at Gatwick are due to outline plans to take the airport into the next decade which include the possibility of expansion through building a second runway. Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s chief executive, hit out at the message coming from Heathrow that airports in the south east of the UK are at capacity. He said that it was irresponsible to suggest to foreign airlines and emerging economies that the country will soon be closed for business.
Mr Wingate said that there was still plenty of room left at both Stansted and Gatwick and that capacity could easily be increased by expansion at either airport. He added that another runway at Gatwick would be cheaper than expanding Heathrow or constructing an airport in the Thames Estuary.
The airport boss went on to say that less people would be affected by noise pollution if Gatwick got another runway than the number of people who would suffer if a third runway was given the go ahead at Heathrow.
A long-awaited white paper on aviation is due to be published by ministers. This has fuelled the capacity debate and prompted the Aviation Foundation to make a number of recommendations on how the government should evaluate its aviation policy. The organisation is made up of British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, BAA and Manchester Airports Group.
A spokesperson for BAA, owner of Heathrow Airport, said that although there was still capacity at point-to-point airports in the capital, businesses required a hub which provides daily flights to emerging markets.
Tags: baa, British Airways, Gatwick, Heathrow, stansted, Stewart Wingate, virgin atlantic
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Friday, June 22nd, 2012
Around 5,000 jobs are to go at Air France-KLM as the airline attempts to stem losses. The job losses are part of a plan to save the flag-carrier €2 billion. The announcement has been made as the carrier tries become more competitive with other international carriers. The new socialist government is likely to face similar announcements from other major corporations.
President Francois Hollande has already set up a specialist unit to combat company closures and redundancies which could hit as many as 45,000 employees. France’s unemployment is already at 10 per cent.
Air France said that it hoped that the job cuts would be made through part-time working, voluntary redundancies and natural attrition. However, the company has not ruled out compulsory job losses. The airline said that it had made a loss of €597 million in the first three months of the financial year.
A recent survey suggests that Air France has operating and fuel costs which are 30 per cent higher than most of its competitors. The airline will be hoping to avoid a conflict with the unions by making the redundancies voluntary.
The new French government is supporting the firm’s decision to make the job cuts voluntary. Labour minister Michel Sapin said the company needed to balance its finances or risk going down.
Tags: air france, airlines, Hollande, klm
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Thursday, June 21st, 2012
A 24-hour walkout by London’s bus drivers may have been averted after Boris Johnson announces that he has secured a fund of £8.3 million to cover bonuses being demanded by drivers who work during the Olympic Games. However, Mr Johnson has said that the money would only remain available if the strike, due to start on Friday, is called off.
Unite is demanding that its members are paid an additional £500 for agreeing to work during the Games. However, Transport for London and Mr Johnson have been arguing that the matter needs to be taken up with the private companies running the London bus network.
Mr Johnson confirmed that the Olympic Delivery Authority had put up the cash but that the offer may be withdrawn if disruption is caused in the capital by strike action. Although it welcomed the additional funds, Unite is angry that Mr Johnson had not become involved in the dispute sooner.
London’s regional secretary, Peter Kavanagh, said it was disappointing that the mayor had waited so long to get involved pointing out that Mr Johnson had still not responded to requests for a meeting.
The union said that it would not be calling this Friday’s industrial action off until it was convinced that all of the capital’s bus companies were committed to a solution. TfL has consistently argued that because London buses are operated by private companies the argument over pay is a matter for workers and company bosses.
Tags: boris johnson, bus drivers, industrial action, Olympic Games, strike, Transport for London
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Wednesday, June 20th, 2012
ScotRail has launched a wireless internet service which will be made available to passengers travelling on trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Travellers will now find it easier to link up with the internet, social networking pages and email. If successful the pilot scheme will be expanded to other ScotRail services.
Managing director of ScotRail, Scott Montgomery, urged passengers to look for signs on carriage doors and windows to see where the new service is available. The wi fi service has been activated on one out of every 10 trains on Scotland’s busiest rail route.
Mr Montgomery said that a questionnaire was being handed out to customers so that ScotRail could get a better idea of how to expand the wi fi service across the rest of the rail network.
Keith Brown, minister for transport, launched the scheme and said transport operators were looking for better ways to implement new technologies to help passengers to remain in contact while travelling. He added that business organisations had been very clear on the fact that better internet connectivity on the transport networks would help Scotland to remain competitive and that the ScotRail initiative was a step towards delivering this connectivity.
Mr Brown went on to say that the aim was to deliver access to the net across the whole of the country so that people are able to get online whether they are travelling on business or for pleasure.
Tags: email, internet, Keith Brown, rail network, ScotRail, transport, Wi-Fi
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Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
Ministers and transport operators are due to meet next month to discuss how to introduce a nationwide system which will allow passengers to pay for journeys on trains and buses using smartcards or their mobile phones. The government eventually wants companies to comply with the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation which will become the industry standard.
Phones and cards containing chips could soon be used anywhere in the UK. Transport minister Norman Baker said he wanted passengers to be able to use one card to pay for a Bristol bus trip, a journey on the Metro in Newcastle and travel on the London Underground.
However, the challenge is getting a single system to work over longer journeys. Train companies including Virgin and the Heathrow Express may allow customers to buy and store tickets on their mobiles but other companies require customers to pick up a paper ticket from a staion.
The government hopes that interoperability will solve the problem. Companies would agree to use the same technology which would work out the route a customer needs to take and then divide the payment for the smart ticket between the operators on that route. The Rail Settlement Plan already does this for paper tickets.
Mr Baker said smart ticketing would not only make travelling around the country much simpler for passengers but would also keep costs down for the transport companies who would then be in a position to hand those savings on to their customers.
Tags: buses, Heathrow Express, London Underground, mobile phones, smartcards, trains, transport, Virgin
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Monday, June 18th, 2012
European planemaker Airbus has announced plans to fit wider aisle seats on its A320 aircraft to accommodate larger passengers. However, the move will reduce the width of seats for slimmer travellers. The idea is to add an extra two inches to the aisle seats and reduce to width of the window and middle seat by an inch.
Airbus said that it was reacting to airlines who say that the issue of obese passengers is becoming a real problem. They claim that the number one complaint made by customers is that larger passengers are invading their seat space.
Low budget carrier Ryanair has already said that it is considering levying a tax on larger passengers and a survey conducted recently found that around half of British travellers would be happy to see overweight customers charged more. It is likely that airlines operating the reconfigured A320s will charge extra for the wider seats.
Airbus estimates that over a period of 15 years extra charges could generate as much as £2 million which would go towards paying for the extra fuel needed to carry obese passengers. With an estimated 30 per cent of the population suffering from obesity it is likely that the first of the new planes will go to an American carrier.
Some US airlines already ask that overweight passengers purchase an additional seat at a discounted price. Air Travel Advisory Bureau spokesman, Sean Curtis-Ward said he supported the plans, but only if those travelling in the smaller seats saw the price of their tickets reduced.
Tags: A320, Air Travel Advisory Bureau, airbus, airlines, obese passengers, Ryanair, us airlines
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