Posted by Joshua Hebert on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 @ 01:30 PM
Over 3,500 airlines and business jet operators globally will have to sign up to the new European Union Emissions Trading Scheme by 2012 or face either financial penalties or a ban, the EU has warned.
In its official gazette, the EU has published a list of operators, which includes the likes of Lufthansa, Qantas, KLM, Emirates and United, that could be penalised unless they comply.
The list in the Official Journal of the European Union also includes hundreds of private business jet operators, as well as European airplane manufacturers Airbus and Dassault.
Under the programme, operators will have to submit plans for monitoring their emissions by January 2010.
“Aviation has been included into the emissions trading scheme and this list is part of a directive that was adopted in 2008 to bring the aviation sector into that scheme,” EU spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein said.
The EU’s list of airlines that must take part in the programme has been controversial because, aside from European operators, it also includes scores of airlines from other parts of the world flying into Europe.
The International Air Transport Association said airlines should submit their EU emission reports “under protest” but should first consult their legal departments.
It said airlines should comply with the EU’s requirements to avoid being penalised when the European Emissions Trading Scheme comes into force in 2012.
breakingtravelnews.com
Posted by Joshua Hebert on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 @ 01:22 PM
Fractional aircraft provider NetJets’ second-quarter revenues fell 43 percent year-over-year to $550 million, and for the first half dropped $1.024 billion–or 42 percent–from the same six-month period last year. According to parent company Berkshire Hathaway, NetJets’ declines reflected an 81-percent dive in aircraft sales and a 22-percent reduction in flight operations revenues “primarily due to lower flight revenue hours.
NetJets reported pre-tax losses of $253 million for the second quarter and $349 million for the first six months, compared with gains of $192 million and $255 million, respectively, in the same time frames last year. Further, Berkshire said that NetJets owns more airplanes than it requires for its present level of operations “and further downsizing will be required unless demand rebounds.
NetJets founder and now former chairman and CEO Richard Santulli left the company last Tuesday, just three days before Berkshire released its second-quarter results.
AIN by Chad Trautvetter
Posted by Joshua Hebert on Tue, Aug 11, 2009 @ 02:10 PM
Feds want more info at booking to compare to terrorist watch lists
The Transportation Security Administration wants to know more about who's boarding commercial flights in the United States.
Beginning Saturday, the federal agency will begin collecting additional data from airline passengers at booking time, including full name, date of birth and gender. That data must match whatever is on the form of government-issued identification -- driver's licenses and passports are the most common -- that a passenger uses to check in and board the flight.
The new requirement will affect all airline bookings made beginning Saturday and is just the first phase of a larger program called Secure Flight. That program's goal is to vet 100 percent of airline passengers through the TSA's watch lists by next year. TSA's goal is to vet 100 percent of passengers on all domestic commercial flights by early next year, and all passengers on all international commercial flights by the end of 2010.
The agency, known best for its takeover of the airport security screening process following the Sept. 11 attacks, is touting the program as a better way to keep dangerous travelers from boarding planes, while preventing confusion for passengers with names similar to people on the government's "No Fly" and "Selectee" lists. Those lists bar some would-be fliers and mark others for "enhanced screenings" at airport security checkpoints.
Extra information helps
Because the government will have access to additional pieces of identifying information, the TSA says it will be better able to distinguish between, for example, a 25-year-old John A. Doe who is OK to fly and a 37-year-old John Z. Doe who is not. In addition to the data required of passengers, fliers who have had difficulty with watch list confusion can include a "redress" number. Those are issued to cleared passengers who have been stopped or delayed before because of similar names or other confusion. "By enhancing and streamlining the watch list matching process, the Secure Flight program makes travel safer and easier for millions of Americans," Gale Rossides, the TSA's acting administrator, said in a statement.
The Secure Flight program was born out of a Department of Homeland Security directive issued in 2006 that required the TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start working together to implement a system to make sure airline passengers have been cleared.
Aside from the additional information collected by the airline, Secure Flight will mean a closer relationship between those airlines serving the United States and the TSA. The new requirements call for passengers to provide the information to airlines when they book flights. The information, in turn, is sent to the Secure Flight system, which matches up names with watch lists, and determines whether the matches are legitimate or errors.Secure Flight then sends information back to the airlines, separating passengers into those who are cleared to fly, those who aren't and those who will be subjected to enhanced screening. Initially, Secure Flight requires passenger information to match up exactly with what's on the ID, so if a passenger's license says "Richard," for example, a ticket shouldn't be booked under "Dick."
Matching up names
"During this phase of the Secure Flight program, passengers are encouraged to book their reservations using their name as it appears on the government-issues ID they will use while traveling," Rossides said. Most airlines say they're implementing procedures to help passengers comply with the regulation so they're not delayed or denied boarding. Airlines have been preparing for the new requirements for months. Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest airline, which operates its second-largest hub at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, will roll out revamped online pages that will allow passengers booking tickets via the Internet to submit the required information beginning Saturday, said company spokeswoman Susan Elliott. Additionally, the airline will allow fee-free name changes on tickets, so names on reservations will match up with the documents passengers use to check in and clear security checkpoints.
By: Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News
Posted by Joshua Hebert on Thu, Aug 06, 2009 @ 01:13 PM
After a monthslong free fall, it feels like the business jet market is starting to stabilize, said Jack Pelton, head of Cessna Aircraft.
"At some point there, we'll be able to call the bottom," Pelton, the company's chairman, president and CEO, said of the drop in the market. "The negatives, like (order) cancellations are slowing down; we're starting to see orders start to rise again."
Aircraft deliveries are expected to hit their low next year, which will be followed by a steady climb, he said.
"The slope of that rise will be dependent on what the economy does," he said.
Pelton's boss, meanwhile, said Cessna's parent company is not interested in selling the Wichita company.
"I don't know where all the rumors come from," said Scott Donnelly, president and chief operating officer of Textron. "I think I can be clear that no one is interested in any way, shape or form in divesting Cessna out of Textron. It's a central asset of what Textron is."
- Molly McMilin - Kansas.com