Calendar of Events
June 14-15
Overview of Aviation Safety Management Systems Workshop
Tampa, FL
http://atcvantage.com/
June 20-22
Airfield Engineering and Asset Maintenance in 2012
Hong Kong
http://www.airfieldengineering.com/Event
July 23-29
EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh, WI
http://www.airventure.org/
Business Buzz
BBA Reports 1Q Revenue: BBA Aviation Plc said its first-quarter group revenue declined by 1 percent after adjusting for fuel prices. Revenue in Flight Support slid 8 percent after adjusting for fuel prices. The Flight Support unit, particularly ASIG, was negatively impacted by North America’s exceptionally warm winter resulting in limited de-icing revenue in the first quarter of 2012 compared with last year.
WestJet Shows Off Electric GSE: On Earth Day last month, WestJet showcased its baggage tug run on a lithium polymer battery system developed by Corvus Energy. The pilot program began last October at Calgary International Airport. This month, the airline will operate two more electric tugs at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport. Gas-powered tugs are not permitted in the airport's ground-level baggage areas.
Airlines Gain Confidence: Top managers at global airlines are confident of an uptick in demand for cargo and passenger business over the next 12 months, according to the survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association. Airline industry confidence improved slightly this month on better passenger traffic figures over the last quarter. Top management was less pessimistic because economic conditions had improved in the United States and emerging market economies remained robust.
Boeing Reports Big Profits: Airlines around the world are updating their fleets with new, more-fuel-efficient planes, and that helped Boeing post a 58 percent rise in profit for the first quarter on Wednesday. Boeing delivered 137 commercial airplanes in the quarter. Much of the demand came from emerging markets.
SITA Reports More Bags Delivered
On Time In 2011 Than Ever Before
The eighth annual SITA Baggage Report shows that 99.1 percent of checked baggage was delivered on time to the passenger during 2011. This is the highest rate of successful delivery since the report was first produced and represents a saving of $650 million to the air transport industry over 2010.
SITA’s report shows that the mishandled rate has more than halved since 2007, down 52.4 percent from 18.88 bags per thousand passengers in 2007 to 8.99 bags per thousand last year.
The main and growing problem forthe industry is transfer bags. The report says that transfer bags account for 53 percent of all delayed luggage and costs the industry at least $1.36 billion annually.
SITA is the IT provider for the air transport industry and operates WorldTracer, the global system that helps airlines track down mishandled luggage. Used by more than 450 airlines and ground handlers, WorldTracer collates reports of missing bags and delivers updated information on actual locations from more than 100 airports around the world.
Toyota Wins Best Product: Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc., was honored by Plant Engineering magazine’s annual “Product of the Year” awards program for Toyota’s 8-Series 4-Wheel AC electric lift truck. The product won the highest ranking award in the Material Handling Systems category.
ASIG Updates Luggage ID System: ASIG, helped oversee the installation of an ALIS400 manufactured by SICK AG at Guam’s A.B. Won Pat International Airport. ASIG has provided comprehensive maintenance and repair services for the airport’s baggage handling infrastructure since 2002. The new system was a complete retrofit to outdated, manual scanning technology.
PrimeFlight Lays Off 300: PrimeFlight Aviation Services will lay off about 64 people at San Antonio International Airport after losing a contract with Delta Air Lines. The company also expects to lay off 276 employees at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after United Airlines replaced it with another contractor there.
ASIG Receives Record Eight UK Safety Awards
ASIG received a record eight HSSE (Health, Safety, Security & Environmental) Awards under Shell Aviation’s Goal Zero Awards program. The awards cover ASIG fuel operations in the United Kingdom, where ASIG provides a combination of commercial aircraft refueling and fuel facility management and operation services on behalf of Shell Aviation.
To qualify for an award, an operation must meet compliance guidelines under the program. These include the following
- Competence and training.
- Corrective actions.
- Maintaining zero injuries, spills and accidents.
“We are extremely proud of our employees who have demonstrated a real commitment to achieve an incident-free work environment for ASIG and for our customers,” said Pat Pearse, managing director, ASIG Europe. “ASIG also has a program called ZIPP (Zero Incident Process + Philosophy) which is clearly aligned with the intention of Shell Aviation’s Goal Zero initiative.”
IATA Cargo Awards Schiphol: IATA Cargo presented a Certificate of Achievement to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in recognition of its “outstanding performance in supporting and helping to adopt e-freight in 2011.” South Korea’s Incheon Airport and Singapore Changi Airport – both of whom have signed memorandums of understanding with Schiphol for the joint promotion of e-freight – also received similar certificates.
Russian Safety Agency Blames
ATR Crash On Failure To Deice
United Press International reported that the Russian transportation safety agency blames icing for the crash of a passenger plane that killed 33 people on April 2.
A spokesman for Rostransnadzor told the Izvestiya newspaper, weather had caused icing on the UTair ATR 72 plane but it did not undergo deicing. Rostransnadzor said the plane waited for its flight for about 6 hours overnight on the apron at Tyumen's Roshchino airport. It had been snowing and raining at the time. A Rostransnadzor investigation found a number of UTair planes had not been deiced. Rostransnadzor also found violations of working time, training failures and lapses in maintenance.
Delta Agrees To OSHA Seat Belt Order
Delta Air Lines has agreed to install seat belts on airport vehicles under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, following the August 2010 death of a baggage tug vehicle driver who was ejected from his vehicle and was not wearing a seat belt.
OSHA said Delta violated a federal regulation that requires employers to provide employees with personal protective equipment, which in this case means seat belts. In the settlement, Delta agreed to pay an $8,500 penalty and install seat belts in vehicles that don't have them, train employees to use the seat belts, enforce the requirement and report results of a monitoring program back to OSHA.
The settlement covers 16,000 Delta employees, 6,000 baggage handling vehicles and Delta operations at 90 airports. Delta said it will extend the requirement to all employees and to international operations.
OSHA said it also sent a hazard alert letter to airlines across the nation reminding them of the seat belt requirement.
TIACA Condemns Frankfurt Night Flight Ban: The International Air Cargo Association condemned the verdict of a German judge who endorsed the flight ban for cargo carriers at the Frankfurt Airport during night. TIACA claims that the decision will damage the city’s reputation as one of the world’s premier gateways for international trade and harm the local and national economy.
New McCarran Terminal: McCarran International Airport’s new Terminal 3 building will open in next month. The $2.4 billion expansion project will increase capacity of the airport to 53 million passengers per year. The terminal will include 14 gates and additional baggage handling capacity.
DOE Announces $2.5 Million To Fund
Fuel Cell Electric GSE Projects
The Department of Energy will provide up to $2.5 million this year to demonstrate and deploy fuel cell-powered baggage tractors under real-world operating conditions, and collect and analyze data to test their performance and cost-effectiveness.
The department seeks applicants to demonstrate and test the performance and economic viability of advanced fuel cell systems for up to three years. The 50 percent cost-shared projects will supply information on fuel cell system operation and data on the economics of these vehicles to the Hydrogen Secure Data Center at the Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for analysis and comparison.
Partnerships/Acquisitions/Contracts
ATS Gets First Contract From Virgin Atlantic: Virgin Atlantic appointed Airport Terminal Services to provide passenger service at Vancouver International Airport. This new Virgin destination will see service launch commence on May 24, offering four weekly flights to London-Heathrow Airport. The deal is the first contract ATS has received from the airline.
Swissport Wins Moroccan Licenses: The Moroccan Airports Authority awarded Swissport International with handling licenses for the country’s international airports. The deal includes the Mohammed V International Airport, the country’s busiest, and such major tourist destinations, such as the Marrakech-Menara Airport.
Baltic Ground Services Signs With Aeroflot: Baltic Ground Services UAB signed a contract with Aeroflot to provide the airline with passenger and ground handling services at Vilnius International Airport and Sheremetyevo International Airport.
Swissport Adds To Its Schiphol Business
Swissport International will take over passenger and cargo service for Korean Air Lines at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The airline flies three weekly B747 freighter services to and from Schiphol, in addition to three weekly passenger services that also carry cargo.
Korean is the just the latest in a number of new cargo customers for Swissport at Amsterdam this year. Other customers include MNG Airlines; FlyBe; South American Airways; Germania; Sky Airlines; Gabon Airlines; Finnair; Stabo Air; Middle East Airlines; Imperial Cargo Airlines; and a trucking partnership with Egypt Air Cargo.
Another key customer, Jade Cargo International, is also set to return to Amsterdam shortly. The Shenzhen-based B747 freighter operator suspended flights last December in order to restructure its financial arrangements. A restructuring agreement has now been reached with UniTop Group, Chinese logistics and transport company.
ASIG At BWI: ASIG has commenced full ground handling operations for British Airways at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. ASIG is providing cabin cleaning, baggage handling and other ramp side services for the carrier’s weekly wide-body flights.
United Express Signs With Eagle: Eagle Ground Handling, American Eagle's ground handling business, was awarded a contract to handle United Express at nine U.S. locations. Currently, Eagle provides services for other airlines in Waco, College Station, Killeen/Fort Hood and Tyler, TX, as well as Monroe, LA. As a result of these awards, it will add ground handling services for United Express at those stations, along with Dallas Love Field, Del Rio and Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX, plus Binghamton, NY.
People In The News
Craig Smyth, managing director of Menzies Aviation received a $373,900 bonus to take his total compensation last year to $943,697 as earnings from his half of the business outstripped the company’s traditional distribution operations for the first time.
Robert Lewis was named president and CEO of Pentastar Aviation. He succeeds Rick Maloney, who retired from Pentastar last month after a four-decade aviation career. Lewis comes to Pentastar from an industrial services company, where he served as senior vice president of corporate development. Previously he was president of aviation contract fuel provider Everest Fuel Management, and before that he was a senior vice president at Sentient Flight Group.
Current Pinnacle Airlines COO John Spanjers will replace Sean Menke as chief executive of the Memphis, Tennessee-based regional airline group on June 1, Pinnacle said in a statement issued Thursday. Menke, who, according to Pinnacle, has chosen to resign from the company, has agreed to help with the leadership transition over the next five weeks.
Tom Wathen, chairman of The Wathen Center presented John Lyon with a Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes service to the Wathen Center and Flabob Airport. Lyon spent 12 years as the first president of the Wathen Foundation. During that time he also provided probono legal counsel for the foundation. As an additional form of recognition, the center’s growing library has been named the John and Melinda Lyon Library. The center is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to education through aviation.
