Qantas has announced it is still discussing the option of a joint venture for a brand new premium carrier service based in Asia.

The airline also announced that its domestic bookings have now recovered from a recent dip and continue to perform strongly following industrial action in October which led to the grounding of the entire fleet.

Chief Executive, Alan Joyce, said: "We have announced our plans to invest in a premium airline based in Asia. Talks continue, and it remains premature to make any announcements at this stage.

"Talks continue, and it remains premature to make any announcements at this stage.

"Our aim is to position ourselves within the South East Asian marketplace in advance of planned aviation liberalisation.''

In the next five years, Qantas plans to have a hub in Asia feeding traffic into the Qantas and Jetstar networks.

The new carrier is aimed to capture premium passengers that are frustrated with the currently limited flight operations into Asia. Also in line for the carrier is to undergo an ‘upgrade’ of its current fleet to a set of next-generation aircraft which are expected to drive down operation costs.

Joyce added: "In five years time, and always, the Qantas Group will call Australia home, but increasingly we will be an efficient, multi-brand enterprise that is a flagship for Australian expertise and quality around the world.”

Hong Kong Airlines has announced its plans for a major expansion scheme to take place over the next few years.

The airline plans to acquire more than 50 new aircraft to service both international and domestic routes.

Together with its sister carrier, Hong Kong Express, the airline currently operates a fleet of 18 aircraft across 23 destinations across China, Asia and Moscow.

Both airlines are operated by HNA Group of China, with the group now positioning itself to take advantage of increasing demand for air travel in both the Asia Pacific region – the fastest growing market for the airline industry.

Hong Kong Airlines is considering Australia as one of its new destinations in the expansion.

Between 2012 and 2015 the group will obtain 30 wide-bodied Airbus and Boeing jets for long-haul services and 21 narrow-bodied Airbus A320s for short-haul routes.

Just next year alone the airline plan to add eight to aircraft to the fleet.

Included among these aircraft will be three unique A330s, each configured to seat just 116 passengers in an all-Club Class layout.

From March, 2012, these special aircraft will be used to launch non-stop daily service between Hong Kong and London, offering ‘Club Premier’ and ‘Club Classic’, both of which have been created to deliver the airline’s exceptional signature service.

Photo by Miguel Paulo Riano

The quality and capability of pilots in the Arabian Gulf Region must not “degrade” if supply becomes limited. This is according to delegates at the 2011 Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE) held in November in Dubai. The event was held as part of the Dubai Airshow.

Delegates debated the state of aviation training in the Arabian Gulf region amid the looming shortage of flight crew in the Middle East.

GATE conference speaker and moderator, Captain Ed Davidson, a senior international aviation air transport operations consultant, advised AviationJobSearch.com delegates were concerned about the following issues:

• the future quality, standards and inspection of out-sourced pilot training the absence of an international and industry-recognised syllabus for pilot training
• the prospect that the cost of commercial licences could limit the availability of high-quality pilot candidates

According to delegates:

• outsourcing [of pilot training] is likely to increase due to the increasing demand on fixed airline training capacity
• civil air regulators are not presently staffed or funded to adequately oversee outsourced pilot training

Delegates advised there needed to be an industry-recognised and accepted system to certify the quality and standards of outsourced training providers.

They added that an industry body such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) may need to step in and provide that certification.

Davidson commented: “The concern of the GATE delegates in this recommendation was two-fold.

“1. There are already a number of third-party providers of out-sourced pilot training. The quality and standards of which must be inspected by the air carrier and the regulator. This is a significant burden on a resource-limited organisation such as the regulator – particularly when the provider can be on one continent and the regulator’s office on another. A means to establish standardised quality metrics recognised by regulators and airlines can reduce this requirement.

“2. As the need for pilots increases, some less than ethical providers may find that costs can be reduced and profits improved via lower training standards. To protect both ab initio, airline and recurrent/initial trainees from this practice, the industry would prefer to see a set international training syllabus ‘minimum standard’ that cannot be reduced or be absent prior to airline, trainee and/or regulatory approval as appropriate. “These actions need to be debated and agreed by a standard-setting organisation of international renown such as ICAO or IATA and placed into effect as soon as possible.”

Quality of pilot selection and training
Conference delegates also recommended that:

• The level of quality and capability of pilots should not be permitted to degrade just because supply may become limited. Training levels should not be reduced just to meet demand requirements.
• Due to increasing pilot demand, ab initio training will become a vital delivery channel for new pilots in the future. Therefore, the quality of ab initio pilot training and the facilities providing it then becomes increasingly important.
• Limited access and high cost of training may unduly limit the availability of ab initio pilot training to a small group of those candidates who can afford to undertake the debt. This will work to reduce the supply of new pilots in the future.

Delegates added that airlines and training providers needed to mutually develop creative methods to improve the access to ab initio pilot training financing. This is so that cost does not become a limiting factor to the creation, training and availability of high quality pilot candidates.

Davidson commented: “Today’s fuel and overhead costs have driven the average cost for a commercial license for a new student pilot often into the six-figure range.

“The amount of debt and the credit scores necessary to qualify for that debt are now serving to limit the new students to only those with significant financial capabilities. Even then, the pay-back schemes often are so limited and restrictive that few are capable of managing them within the initial income levels of the airline pilot.

“This is serving to both restrict the size and quality of the potential commercial airline pilot pool going forward.

“The industry believes that creative means to provide both access to capital and reasonable pay-back schemes such as in place in some UK-based pilot training companies, allows for the improved levels of quality and quantity that will be required to staff the impending gap in pilots available versus pilots required.”

Photo by volodimer

According to the Guardian, the International Air Transport Association has warned that global airlines will plunge into combined losses of $8bn (£5.1bn) next year if the eurozone crisis turns into a full blown banking crisis and recession.

According to IATA the best possible outcome, based on the EU governments “muddling through” and resolving the eurozone crisis, would be for global airlines to generate total profits of $3.5bn next year.

Director General and chief executive of IATA, Tony Tyler, told the Guardian: "The only open question is how deep the losses will be."

IATA’s chief economist, Brian Pearce said that even though passenger numbers looked to be holding up surprisingly well in Europe, this was a “very fragile foundation” for future airline growth.

The struggling freight market is seen as a better indicator of what is ahead. Pearce continued: "While there isn't much sign that travellers are feeling the pinch, the situation is very different for the shippers." The biggest drop in the freight market is in Asia, down 15% over the last year, reflecting the fall of demand for Asia's manufactured goods in developed economies.

The Guardian continued saying that the airlines’ strong recovery since 2009 has faltered. Pearce said relatively high fuel costs – even with oil prices falling from their peak, they are 30% higher than this time last year – contribute to a squeeze on airline profits.

The air passenger duty increase confirmed on Tuesday by the Treasury would, he said, cost the UK economy £4bn and 80,000 jobs by 2015.

British Airways (BA) has axed plan to create 400 new jobs after the government announced Air Passenger Duty (APD) will rise next year.

BA will also have to delay plans to bring an extra plane into service due to the 8% rise in APD.

The tax rise will add hundreds of pounds to the cost of some journeys from next April and has prompted BA to scrap plans to create an extra 400 jobs next year.

BA’s chief executive Keith Williams said government policy was "uniquely hostile to aviation" and the tax rise left the company with "no alternative" but to cut back jobs, many of which would have gone to young people.

In the past the Treasury has considered abolishing the tax, however, on Monday 5 December it announced APD would not be scrapped or reduced. Airlines have strongly opposed the move.

Executives from easyJet, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways’ parent company IAG released a joint statement which said: ‘We are left with a tax that has already cost 25,000 jobs, is doing increasing damage to the prospects for economic recovery and sends a message to the world that Britain is a difficult and expensive place to do business.’

A spokesman for David Cameron said the Prime Minister was ‘disappointed’ by BA’s announcement and believed that APD was ‘an important part of the deficit reduction plan’.

Source: Metro

Picture by BA

The leading US aviation safety official, Randy Babbitt, has taken an immediate leave of absence after he was arrested on a drink driving charge over the weekend.

The Federal Aviation Administration said transport officials and lawyers were in talks over the status of Babbitt’s employment. Babbitt, who is part way through a five year contract as FAA administrator, asked to take leave following the incident and will be temporarily replaced by his deputy, Michael Huerta.

As FAA chief, Babbitt was responsible for more than 40,000 people and also oversees the US air traffic system and regulations which govern aircraft and cabin crew safety.

According to a police statement, the 65-year-old was pulled over on Saturday night in Fairfax, Virginia, for driving on the wrong side of the road.

He was apparently alone in the car and there was no accident. He was charged with driving while intoxicated and cooperated with the authorities.

It was Babbitt's second driving offense in Fairfax in five years. He was convicted of reckless driving for speeding in 2006 and paid a $500 fine, court records show.

The family of an American Airlines passenger is suing the carrier after a man died following an in-flight meal.

Orthon Cortes, 73, died after eating a contaminated chicken meal during the AA flight from Barcelona to New York on 18 May this year – according to his relatives.

This lawsuit is the latest in a string of negative news for the carrier which announced earlier this week it had filed for bankruptcy.

The legal action taken by the widow and daughter of the late Mr Cortes claims that he was served food containing deadly bacteria called Clostridium Perfingens.

They claim that after landing in New York, Mr Cortes felt sharp stomach cramps and sudden thirst along with a ‘clear outward manifestation of severe physical illness’.

His condition worsened as Cortes, who was travelling with his wife, boarded the next leg of their trip from New York to Miami. His family claim Cortes suffered nausea, shortness of breath and a ‘cardiac event’ on the Miami-bound flight.

The aircraft made an emergency landing in Norfolk, VA, but Cortes was pronounced dead shortly after.

In the legal complaint his family claim that American Airlines and its catering company Sky Chefs failed to properly maintain or prepare his meal.

They added that the airline shouldn’t have allowed Mr Cortes access to the Miami flight without having him assessed by a medical professional prior to boarding.

The family are now seeking over $1m in damages but Sky Chefs are opposing the legal action as they say they did not cater that flight.

American Airlines filed for bankruptcy two days ago in a bid to offload substantial debts following a long term struggle of rising fuel prices and labour costs.

Photo by Krista

Top airline bosses are joining forces to campaign against the rise in Air Passenger Duty due to take place next year.

The steep rise in tax has been condemned by some of the top airlines in the UK.

The Treasury said the APD rate would go up from April 2012 in the new tax year after this year’s rise was deferred in the March budget meetings.

It means next year’s increase could be double the rate of inflation according to figures released by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The higher rate of tax will also be extended to private aircraft from April 2013.

Chief executives at the UK's biggest airlines joined forces to demonstrate their lack of support for the increase.

A joint statement released by bosses at easyJet, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Ryanair, said: "In the cause of the UK economy recovery, air passenger duty is an own goal and the Chancellor has just scored another one.

"By increasing this tax, he is further deterring inbound tourism and foreign investment and choking off yet more job opportunities for young people."

George Osborne's pledge that with the exception of another runway at Heathrow, the Government would look at "all options" to maintain the UK's status as an aviation hub received a warmer reception.

The Chancellor's comments raised hopes that the Government might throw its weight behind proposals for a Thames Estuary airport.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement has confirmed that the Government’s flight tax (APD), which is imposed on anyone flying from the UK, is set to be increased by 10% in April 2012.

According to FTN News, taxes also look set to be introduced on business jets, which will replace the shortfall from it being cut in Northern Ireland.

The CAA have indicated that in 2010 there were 7.4 million fewer UK passengers passing through UK airports and it is believed that APD is having a huge impact on the British economy.

The number of passengers passing through European airports has actually grown by 66.3million in 2010, which suggests the low UK growth is not solely to do with the economic downturn.

The Office of Budget Responsibility, which is the Treasury’s spending watchdog, cut the projections for APD income by £200 million in 2015/16,which clarifies the contradictory impact that the tax is having. Also, recent ABTA research revealed that 43% of passengers said that high taxes would put them off flying.

Mark Tanzer, CEO ABTA told FTN News: “At a time when the UK economy needs jobs and growth, hiking taxes on aviation, a catalyst of economic growth, flies in the face of basic economics. This double-inflation increase will damage UK growth and drive down UK air passenger numbers when we need to stimulate the economy. APD is a tax on tourism and a tax on business travel.

“The Chancellor said today that he wants to support British companies and not tax them out of business or the global economy but his actions on flight taxes do not match his words. The Chancellor’s decision is bad for jobs, bad for growth and bad for passengers – ABTA will continue to lobby against these damaging tax hikes.”

Picture: Daniel Lobo

British Airways (BA) has completed the latest phase of a multi-million pound redevelopment of its Heathrow engineering base as it prepares for the arrival of its new fleet of Airbus A380 super jumbos.

Two of the airline’s 23m high grade II listed hangars needed to be raised by 3.5m so they can accommodate the A380’s larger tail fin when the airline’s 12 aircraft come into service from 2013.

Due to the complexity of the lifting operation and the height of the crane, work took place overnight so it wouldn’t interfere with landings.

BA’s Head of Property Services Vance Williamson said: “This is an important step in converting our hangars ready for our new aircraft arriving in 2013, it could also allow British Airways to provide maintenance solutions to other A380 customers at Heathrow.

“The hangar modifications represent only part of a wider property plan that will ensure that our engineering base remains a world class maintenance facility able to accommodate the very latest aircraft.”

A spokesperson from BA said it was too early to say whether the arrival of the airline’s A380s would result in the creation of more jobs for aircraft mechanics, engineers or technicians.

BA said that over the next five years it would be investing £5bn in new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges, and new technologies to make life more comfortable in the air and on the ground.

Photo by British Airways