May 2006 Archives

Never exactly straightforward, union-management relations sometimes produce curious alliances, and an odd pairing has emerged as the pilots union at Delta joins with the airline's management to fend off a longtime labour ally. Unions after all would seem a natural ally of the government's pensions watchdog, the federally backed Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, but Delta's union, the Air Line Pilots Association, has urged the retirement monitor to back off from protecting its retirement funds. Yes. The Air Line Pilots Association has told the federal government to go away and let its members give up those golden-year guarantees.

The pension agency says that the $285-million concessions deal that the unions agreed on with the airline to help it through bankruptcy reorgansation is not legal. The agreement, which was formally ratified on 31 May, will let Delta terminate their pension plan, and that even a promise of notes worth $650 million to compensate pilots for the termination violates employment and bankruptcy laws.

The pilots' position is that they weren't exactly eager to give Delta the power to end the pensions, knowing that the airline would in all likelihood have to do so to wipe some of its massive debt off the books, but its agreement to get something in return is a better deal than outright losing the funds. In this, Delta pilots are in a similar position to pilots at other troubled and bankrupt airlines such as united, where ALPA members in effect bargained away their retirements to keep their jobs and careers - and where PBGC objected. At Delta, ALPA leader Lee Moak, says, "It is unfortunate that this threat to our careers and our airline now comes from a government corporation created solely to protect the hard-earned benefits of American workers".

Delta chief executive Gerald Grinstein expressed similar sentiments. In a letter to pilots seeking to reassure them, Grinstein said, "Without this deal, Delta Air Lines is at grave risk and the PBGC - and potentially, the US taxpayer and all our employees - will lose out in the long run if this company is put in jeopardy as a result of their objection". But the PBGC, beyond its noble calling to protect pensions, has issues of its own:  thanks to a rash of bankruptcies by airlines, steel companies and others, it is under-funded by more than $20 billion. It could use its Delta opposition as leverage to recoup a greater recovery from Delta in its reorganisation. So, as in many other disputes in bankruptcy, maybe it's about the money.

Yogi Berra, the malapropos-prone baseball player, once declined an invitation to a popular New York restaurant because "it's so crowded, no one goes there any more." With airports, could that be the case? Not in Phoenix, where the main airport's getting crowded. But 'Don't build a new runway. Buy another airport,' was the idea city fathers and mothers at Phoenix had when they saw that Sky Harbor, the number seven US airport, was getting jammed up despite massive expansion plans that added terminals and taxiways. Surrounded on three sides by highways and railroads, the airport is instead going to rely on an airport about 30 miles way on the other side of town, the Williams Gateway Airport. Phoenix pledged to spend as much as $11.5 million on promoting and building up Williams through the government groups that own it. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon says the investment will "allow us to help make Gateway a successful reliever airport".

There's plenty of room at Williams Gateway, a converted former Air Force base that now has commercial flights only on tiny Vision, which flies Dornier turboprops to the Las Vegas area four days a week. It's a little unclear through just how the plan will work. How would Phoenix persuade a carrier to split its flights between the two airports? Or how would Phoenix persuade a carrier to fly only to Williams rather than to the larger and far better known Sky Harbor? The city fathers are hoping that the explosive population growth in the Phoenix area, supported by a recently opened highway adjacent to Williams, will eventually make it a logical choice and that niche carriers larger than Vision will choose it.

They point to the development of alternative airports in snarled Southern California, where a once under-used place like Ontario airport grew rapidly after its affiliation with the larger Los Angeles International (LAX). A cargo carrier's choice to operate there helped spur Ontario, and as Southern California's population multiplies, it eventually had enough of a catchments area to support its own flights, and add 'international' to its title. Along the way it's been using the hassles of LAX as a marketing tool, with slogans such as 'Fly Ontario. We won't gridlock you.' Perhaps eventually Phoenix could be paying for ads urging people not to use its airport ("Don't come here. It's nicer at our other airport").

As SN Brussels prepares to merge with Virgin Express and operate under a single brand in autumn, bets are on to guess the new airline's name (see also http://www.luchtzak.be/article11492.html). And, with SN retaining rights to the Sabena name, there's talk that the moniker might ride again. But some might question the wisdom of associating with a bankrupt carrier.

When the original Sabena finally gave into the inevitable and declared itself bankrupt in November 2001, it became Belgium's largest bankruptcy ever. SN Brussels emerged from the embers of the ill-fated Sabena and joined forces with Virgin Express in October 2004. The combined group is edging into profit, with 2005 revenues of €946 ($1,200) million and net profit of €12 million. 

Airline Business caught up with SN recently and asked if there was any truth in the rumours the new carrier could use the Sabena name. According to an official press release, the new group name and corporate identity would be announced at the appropriate time to "minimise customer confusion".

But we weren't to be deterred by such corporate-speak and pressed the SN spokesman for more details about the new identity. Apparently a name has been decided but it wouldn't be revealed until autumn. And yes, SN Brussels admitted that Sabena remains a possibility for the merged carrier.

Though SN was evasive on its future identity, it was more than happy to promote its new Airbus A330-300 which had completed a scheduled service from Africa that morning. SN now has a total of three of the type, and is looking to double this number within the next two years as it focuses on its long-haul routes. The aircraft feature SN Brussels' revamped in-flight product, including lie-flat beds (pictured) in business class.

This blog brings you news of two of the latest TV shows made by very different parts of the industry.

The first is our very own Flight Group's "Flight TV", which produced three pieces from the recent Berlin ILA Air Show covering commercial air transport, defence and business aviation. Rather good it is too, although I have an interest of course. Of particular interest for those with a general interest in things that take to the air are the photos of the replica Me-262 German World War II fighter built by a group of US enthusiasts.

The second show comes from Heathrow Television. The footage of the Airbus A380 coming in for its first appearance at the London hub is the main attraction. Unless, that is, you like to see "celebrities" like former Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne being driven on airport carts or Sir Cliff Richard putting a ceremonial spade into the earth for a new hotel at Terminal 5.

If you know of any other airport TV shows, or any links to interesting aviation-related TV on the web let us know.

Out in Southern California, where a historical site is anything older than the latest drive-through, they were getting nostalgic the other day. But this passage is noteworthy: production of commercial airliners in Long Beach, birthplace of the DC-3, has ended with the delivery of the last Boeing 717s from the old Douglas Aircraft Co. factory to Midwest Airlines and to AirTran. Douglas, which begat McDonnell Douglas, which begat the MD-95 a decade ago, had become Boeing territory in 1997. The then-recently launched little twin was the last model assembled in the same place that put together the entire DC jetliner series. Douglas opened the plant in 1941, delivering more than 10,000 aircraft for the war effort and another 5,000 for civil use, from the DC-8 on through the -10 series. Boeing did leave in place the big red fluorescent sign on the factory roof urging folks to FLY DC JETS.

The 717, a thoroughly modern version of the DC-9 that helped usher in the era of widespread domestic jet airline service in 1965, never enjoyed the success of its forbears, with only 156 examples in service.  But, said Alan Mulally, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, "The 717 has forever redefined how we build airplanes". Mulally said in a statement. "Our production system is an industry benchmark because of the lean manufacturing and employee involvement practices we pioneered on the 717 in Long Beach", he said. Boeing now uses up in Renton, Wash., on the 737 family. Boeing is transforming its 777 production line in Everett to use a moving line. Conspiracy theories abound to explain how the 717 fell short of estimates that the market for 100-seaters like the 717 would reach 2,000 aircraft. It's worth noting that it was, in the economic and labour sense, a little big airplane competing with bigger and bigger little airplanes, from the 50-seat regional jets that were transforming the industry just as the 717 came to market, to the larger and larger little airplanes, the regional jets that are economically big little airplanes. Still, for a city and a region associated with aviation since 1912, when Glenn Martin started an 'aeroplane and hydro-aeroplane' factory south of Los Angeles, it is a passage.

They call it the Newspaper of Record, or the Grey Lady, but they read it. The New York Times is in fact one of the most trusted papers in the world. So people paid attention when it ran a front-page story on a plan by airframers to get more revenue out of a large airliner by designing in 'seats' that were in fact nearly vertical boards, with the headline 'One Day that Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand'. An artist's conception or drawing of backboards or vertical seats in a sardine or herringbone pattern illustrated the story. Airbus had been "quietly pitching" the concept to Asian-Pacific airlines for an all-economy A380 configuration for use on shorter routes, wrote the newspaper that helped bring down the Nixon administration and more recently broke a story about secret US facilities for detainees in the depths of Europe.

This is a great story, and woe on the reporters who 'missed' it. They had only one defence: the story wasn't actually true. Within hours of the NYT publication, Airbus was denying the story to anyone who'd listen. Problem was, few were listening, much less asking. Papers across the country and world ran stories about how the greedy price-gouging airlines were laughing all the way to the bank with this plan to keep people 'standing for hours on end with no food or drink.' (This line was from another Times that also has a great name, the one in London); other papers noted that it was just part of a trend such as charging for meals or in some cases charging for seat selection. 'Sardines get a Better Ride', bemoaned the Boston Herald.

It took about a week for The New York Times to run a note saying that Airbus had denied the report and that the paper was investigating. And a few days after that, an editors' note said the paper didn't know that the concept, if it had ever moved to the concept stage, had been abandoned several years back. And this week, the Times' in-house critic ran a critical piece, saying that the paper's "imprecise questions to Airbus elicited mushy responses," but that it should not have run the story with the standing-room only angle. It could have rune a solid story on new technology for seats, said the ombudsman or readers' editor. (http://www.nyt.com)    

We offer this not as schadenfreude, for clearly things like this can happen to the best of publications. We offer this as evidence that the public image of airlines is so low that almost any charge ('they're cheating on maintenance'; 'they're turning off the engines and coasting') can carry credibility. A few of the screed-writers acknowledged that airline profits are perhaps measurably less than those in the gasoline and refinery industry ('For money-losing airlines, no space is the final frontier,' chided the Seattle Post-Intelligencer), but most, as the same P-I scribe, stayed on the road to journalism through resentment. ("Airlines will always have the plush seats for the fat cats..." said Seattle's number-two daily). Yes, but when will airlines stop beating their wives?

Getting off the ground has never been easy for startup airlines, but a high-profile effort by friends of high-flying Virgin chief Richard Branson has been stalled at the regulatory gate. Now, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 'Terminator' of Hollywood fame, are involved in the long-running bid by Virgin America to get clearance to start a new low-fares airline.

A couple of stories about London City Airport, a neat east London gateway for a steadily rising number of business travellers, appeared at the outset of this week that give this editor the chance to get a little nostalgic. It's a trifle sad, I concede, to have a fondness for airports, but I admit that London City does it for me. And I have to declare that I have edited airport industry titles, for longer than I care to admit to be honest.

The stories first. My esteemed colleagues across the open plan office that is the Flight Group headquarters got a tip off that London's docklands would be a good place to secrete a photographer on Saturday morning who would be interested in a nice scoop. And behold, as Ian Billinghurst's photos atest, what some call a grown up aircraft (or a mainline jet) - none other than the Airbus A318 - made its first ever approach and landing at London City on Saturday 13^th May.

These flights are designed to prove the compatibility of the A318 for commercial flights at London City, which has hitherto solely been the home of regional types like Avro RJs and BAe 146s, ATRs and Bombardier Dash 8s. Even the smallest member of the A320 family at 107 seats will open up new longer range destinations, such as Rome, Madrid and eastern Europe, for London's downtown gateway.

This is a far cry from those heady days back in 1987 when the airport was opened. I was there reporting on the first commercial proving flight when London City was trapped in the east end of London, starved of any meaningful public transport and struggling for survival.

Four-engined Dash 7s, operated by carriers like Brymon Airways, were the main visitors, bringing the paltry few zealots who'd discovered that having a taxi pick-up or an obliging driver meant that the airport could be a dream for business travellers. It literally was a 10 minute, or even less, journey from terminal front to aircraft door.

So, it is even more interesting to read that this week has also brought news that the airport's owner, Irish investor Dermot Desmond, has appointed financial advisors Morgan Stanley to examine an unsolicited offer for the airport. Desmond bought London City, which lost money for years, from developer Mowlem Group in 1995.

Since then the airport has grown substantially. It handled two million passengers last year, a rise of 20% over 2004. A rail link opened in December.

And with the Olympic Games coming to the UK and London in 2012, with the main stadium and Olympic Village located a short distance from the airport, it seems as if the airport is finally coming of age.

Just as long as it keeps those swift check-in and boarding times.

It's been a decade since one of the worst airline disasters in modern US aviation, but in the 10 years since a ValuJet DC-9 plunged into the Florida Everglades just minutes after taking off from Miami's airport with flammable matter in its hold - oxygen canisters that burst into superheated flame that brought down the used planes, killing all 110 on board Flight 592 to Atlanta - much has changed. Since then, the FAA and the DoT authorities have changed the ways they review a new carrier's start-up application, the way they inspect all airlines, their rules for hazardous cargoes;  fewer new carriers are being proposed but those that are tend to be well capitalised, as was JetBlue and is Virgin America, they tend to have new fleets, as is the case with both JetBlue and Virgin, a and they tend to have highly focused business plans as its the case with the two transatlantic luxury Startups, Eos and Maxjet.

As for AirTran, the airline itself has survived and of course changed. After surviving an FAA-ordered grounding for three months, ValuJet flew again, by summer of 1997 changing its name to AirTran and attracting an entirely new management team. Today AirTran is usually profitable, always filled and attractive to investors and travellers. It has one of the youngest fleets in the industry, a transformation that it planned before the crash with a major order for the MD-95, later Boeing the 717, adding Boeing 737-700s in a later order. But the crash, which was laid chiefly to the fault of the now-defunct contractors who loaded the oxygen canisters, forced the FAA to transform its inspection procedures as public suspicion of low-fare carriers grew. 'They make money by cutting costs on maintenance and inspection,' was the popular belief, one that the media of the day enforced. The truth was different and certainly is now. One enterprising reporter at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale did some work and found that low-fare carriers "are less prone to mishandle baggage, have slightly better on-time records and have about the same accident rates as major airlines". As importantly, he notes that "low-cost carriers serving South Florida have a .021 fatal accident rate - a rate that's lower than but "statistically insignificant" from the .025 rate of the six major carriers".

However, this truth remains unquestionable over the decade: the FAA inspector workforce was stretched thin 10 years ago. The FAA's continuing problems with safety inspectors were highlighted as recently as late March when the acting inspector general of the DoT, Todd J. Zinser, told the Senate that the FAA was not hiring enough inspectors to make up for attrition. Zinser also repeated an IG finding from June 2005 that the inspectors "could not effectively use the (inspection) systems to monitor the rapidly occurring changes" in the airline industry. One change for the better: in the wake of the crash, Congress moved to forbid lawyers from soliciting relatives of crash victims in places like hospitals, morgues, and at crash sites themselves. The legislators also ordered the National Transportation Safety Board to set up a process for notifying kin of victims and ordered airlines to have disaster plans in place.

As for the airline itself, AirTran passengers flying the week of the tenth anniversary were mostly too young to have remembered that 1996 day, but a few who has time to talk at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the AirTran's hub, made it clear that to them, it is just another airline. Considering the media, congressional, and public outrage of 1996, that may not be such a bad thing.

Boston dignitaries are taking a second look at two airports in New England that aren't in Boston but want to use the name. First off was the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, about 55 miles northwest of Boston's Logan International Airport, and the site of one of the first forays more than a decade ago into the region by Southwest Airlines.

Manchester earlier this year became the Manchester Boston regional airport. At first, officials at the Massport agency in Boston (AKA the "Hub of the Universe") objected then took it as flattery, but now a smaller airport in Worcester, Mass, about 50 miles west of Boston, wants to become the Worcester-MetroWest-Boston airport.

Just what the Massport masters will say is unclear because they operate Worcester on behalf of the city of Worcester, the former factory town where the name idea started. Massport also owns and runs Logan, or more properly the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, presumably the loser in such a name game.

Despite the name, Logan is not a general aviation airport; Logan was a general in the Spanish-American War and WWI who went to Harvard but was still smart enough not to have gotten shot. The Massporters may make note of the fact that Worcester (pronounced somewhere between 'Wuster' and 'Wister') has but one scheduled service these days, and that's to another slightly optimistically named airport, Orlando-Sanford, which is about 20 miles from Florida's Orlando International Airport.

Perhaps the moral is that some name changes are more informative than others: back in the 1970s, Dulles airport added the word 'Washington' after too many travellers landed instead at the Dallas airport, perplexed that men in cowboy boots and hats were at an airport they supposed to be near the capital.

Thai Airways has become the latest in a line of carriers to reinvent its premium classes, as the industry moves firmly into its biggest investment in the in-flight product and cabin environment cycle since the downturn caused by the terror attacks of September 2001. Eager to show off its new Royal First and Royal Silk classes in London, Thai Airways threw a gala dinner at Saran Rom - London's latest and greatest Thai restaurant in Chelsea.

Airline Business joined Thai Airways' UK and Ireland general manager Somchai Sukkhasantikul to find out more.

Thai is retrofitting its Boeing 747-400s with the new classes, taking out four seats in Royal First class to provide the space for its new lie-flat beds (pictured). In addition Royal First class, passengers will have LCD screens, telephone, computer access and PC outlet.

In Royal Silk class, 10 seats have been removed in the Airbus A340-500s, offering customers 167 degrees of recline and a 60-inch seat pitch. Royal Silk seats are set two abreast and feature audio video on demand.

Thai says they've been getting really positive feedback on the new classes.

As SAS faces increasing pressure from its flight deck and cabin crew unions for wage rises, its president and chief executive Joergen Lindegaard (pictured) is happy to listen to reasonable demands provided productivity improvements are part of the negotiation.

"I need more hours," he told Airline Business last week in an interview in London. "I don't mind paying more if I get more." Achieving these extra hours is likely to be more about getting more flexible working practices than anything else.

This means redesigning the Scandinavian carrier's flight programme to take into account seasonal differences in traffic demand. Amazingly, as little as five years ago, the rigid "round trip management programme" that pilots flew at SAS had exactly the same number of legs regardless of whether it was summer or winter.

"It's always embarrassing to talk about it," concedes Lindegaard, who is frustrated with how long it is taking to change such an inflexible system that meant his carrier was saddled with flying too many unprofitable routes. "What I would like to do is change the traffic programme every month," he says.

As an example of the carrier's inflexibility he cites a golf tournament in Malmo in Sweden which drew 70,000 visitors to this city on a quiet weekend. SAS did not response with extra flights to cater to the increased demand. In fact, because it was a Sunday it actually flew a lighter weekend programme. A good business opportunity was lost.

SAS is responding with its dynamic traffic planning, agreed in conjunction with unions, to become more agile in responding to demand. A couple of years ago subsidiary Spanair brought in more flexibility into its collective bargaining agreement. Talks with staff and unions are under way now. "We are now just starting in Sweden and are trying to penetrate this approach in all our companies," says Lindegaard.

But are unions listening? De-centralising the airline into regional parts, giving more autonomy to the SAS units in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, has helped, and Lindegaard is confident his message is getting through.

If the unions play ball they could be looking at their first real wage increases for four years.

It won the seal of approval from the Air Transport Association the other week as key to replace the FAA's ageing infrastructure of ground-based radars and other vacuum-tube era terrestrial technology. Now this new navigation and surveillance system, dubbed ADS-B, which relies on GPS satellites, has a firm commitment from the FAA itself. With ADS-B (or Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast), planes use Global Positioning Satellites to determine their exact position and then broadcast their position every second.  The position reports are broadcast to ground stations that cost about $500,000 a piece, a fraction of the cost of a full-scale radar installation, keeping controllers aware of the locations of planes. Pilots also receive the location information if their planes have the relatively inexpensive ADS-B equipment, so pilots can avoid or follow other planes.

The technology has been part of the FAA's suite of modernisation tools for years, but FAA Administrator Marion Blakey's endorsement of ADS-B as "the future of air traffic control" marks the agency's strongest commitment yet to the satellite system as "the backbone of a more automated" system. Without it, she said, "there is no next-generation system."

The FAA wants $80 million in its next budget for ADS-B but in this age of limited resources, the technology has a great advantage in competing for congressional funding: it will allow the FAA to set an aggressive schedule to tear down, remove or replace the ageing radar installations and other crumbling elements of its Air Traffic Organisation infrastructure while adding capacity to an already-burdened system. That was key in the Air Transport Association's recent endorsement of ADS-B as a cost-savings technology that proposed user fees could easily support.

"It's the way we're going to be addressing the horrific congestion we expect to see," Blakey told reporters, calling it "the FAA's moon shot". Blakey said the controller workforce - which was not represented at the announcement - strongly supported ADS-B because the new technology lightened their workload and would not infringe on their separation authority. FAA and its controllers are deadlocked in negotiations toward a new work contract, and the agency says it cannot afford their salary and benefit demands.

FAA official Vincent Capezzuto, the ADS-B programme manager, said the FAA plans a limited installation of the system in a few spots around the country by 2010 at a cost of $600 million to the FAA and airlines, but estimated that savings from lower fuel burn, more efficient routings, and terminal area capacity gains will save them $1.3 billion. She said that by 2014, the new system will cover all areas currently served by radar by 2014. UPS pilot and Director of Operations Karen Lee said the cargo hauler could save $2 million a year in fuel solely in its Louisville terminal area by using ads-b to help make more efficient landing approaches. UPS already uses the technology on 107 of its airplanes, and plans to equip 116 more of its fleet with ADS-B sets. The technology has also produced positive results in the Capstone tests in Alaska, and Australia's aviation authority plans to install it.

Amid all the hustle and bustle of carriers unveiling new first and business class products we are pleased to report that at least one - Australia's Qantas Airways - is investing in its economy cabin.

By definition, in these times of tight budgets, the investment is modest, but it's a good sign. For its international services Qantas is bringing in some personal touches: hot towels, warmed bakery items and a wider range of snacks. These will be available throughout the flight.

The choice will be tailored to different markets. A blackcurrent drink called Ribena will be available on London-Australia routes; cranberry juice will be served on flights to the US and lemon ice team will be served on routes to China and the US.

There will also be Customer Service Supervisors "who will ensure service standards are maintained throughout the economy class cabin". Why these "economy police" are needed we are not quite sure - it rather suggests the standards might not have been all that hot in the first place?

Another touch worth noting is the inflight announcements: they will be conversational and made in a "more natural, warm and engaging way". As this starts to roll out send us your best ones.

Manoeuvring to avoid a collapse in US/EU Open Skies efforts, Bush administration officials 'revised' their proposal to encourage foreign investment in US carriers - a change that the Europeans have insisted on before agreeing to any larger liberalisation of the regime for transatlantic flights. Saying it was "mindful of the strong interest in the proposal expressed by members of Congress," the Transportation Department said it was "clarifying" the ways in which it would determine the actual control of a US carrier - the nub of the issue and the focus of congressional and industry opposition. Opponents, both Republicans and Democrats, and some carriers, most notably Continental Airlines, argued strenuously that encouraging foreign investment in US-flag carriers would threaten national security. Most US-flag carriers can be nationalised or drafted into airlift duties in event of a national emergency.

The new rule, explained a DoT official, would "specifically prevent international investors from having the ability to hire, fire, or control the budgets of senior airline managers with direct responsibility for safety, security, and national-defense airlift commitments" and make clear that US citizens who are members of a domestic airline's "board or the voting shareholders must retain the authority to revoke decision-making authority that international investors may acquire". The official offered this as an example: "The domestic board members might decide to revoke international investors' decision-making authority over scheduling and fleet composition if they felt that those decisions were not in their airlines' best interests." You can find the text of docket here.

The Transportation Department relied on a relatively little-used regulatory process called a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, which gives the agency a 60-day window in which to solicit public comments; the agency can act after that or can draw out its consultations further. In any event, the DoT action, or inaction, likely makes it impossible for the EC's Council of Ministers to consider and approve the larger issue of open skies in time for the airlines' winter schedules of 2006-2007, as was originally envisioned. But the move certainly gives the DoT time to assuage continued congressional opposition and to seek to placate Continental and other opponents.

Although an EC official in Washington said he remained "hopeful" that an agreement could be reached this year, Continental attacked the DoT revisions and clarifications within minutes, saying the supplemental proposed rule "is a bad rule designed to clench a bad deal between the European Union and the US". The Houston-based carrier said: "The DOT has abdicated its responsibility to ensure actual control by US citizens, relying instead on the unreasonable hope that US shareholders and directors might reassert the very control DOT is unwilling to require."

Continental and other opponents insist that a change of this magnitude can only be made by Congress, where members of the powerful appropriations committees have already moved to block any such changes. And that is not likely, to judge by continued congressional scepticism about foreign investment in the US, as evidenced by the xenophobia that erupted during the Dubai ports attempt to buy a UK based firm that owned parts of several US ports stevedoring firms and continued suspicion of the motives of investors in high-profile US properties and companies. Or, as one Republican congressman from the Houston area put it, "we can't have a US airline being bought by some people from Nigeria".

Etihad Airways surely gets the award for the most prolific issuer of press releases over the past year. Hardly a week seems to go by without a new route starting up or a new aircraft being delivered.

The latest is worth mentioning because it documents the fact that the Abu Dhabi upstart has brought on board 30 international destinations in as many months. Such frenetic growth is usually the preserve of low-cost players. Etihad is doing it with Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s.

This week alone the carrier begins new services to Paris and Dhaka, while routes to Islamabad, Jakarta, Lahore, Manila, Muscat and Peshawar have come on stream in the last six months. The past week have also seen it take delivery of its third A330-200 and fourth 777-300ER.

The carrier is on target to achieve its ambitions of flying to 70 destinations across the globe by 2010, says its chairman HH Dr Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saif Al Nahyan.

As the network spreads it will be fascinating to see if Etihad's traffic and yield manages to keep pace.

The irony of delegates flying in from all over the world to attend last week's conference on aviation and the environment in Geneva was not lost on Ken McAnergney, manager of airport planning at New Zealand's Christchurch Airport, who added that the volume of paperwork he had been given while at the conference would be adding considerably to his weight on the return trip. He was speaking at the second Aviation & Environment Summit that brought together air transport industry players with an interest in the environment including airlines, airports, airframe and engine manufacturers, air navigation services providers and fuel suppliers.
Air transport is generally accepted to contribute 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions at current rates and is a popular target for environmentalists. "Are we to be social outcasts just because we work for the aviation industry?" asks Alexander ter Kuile of air navigation service body CANSO.
Challenging times indeed for an industry that is enjoying a growth rate of 5% a year but is also facing increased pressure to improve its environmental performance.
Tim Johnson of the UK-based Aviation Environment Federation warns: "The rate of growth is the fundamental problem. Technological solutions measured over time are significant, but they do not offset the growth rate."
Emissions trading may be part of the solution, but as Giovanni Bisignani of IATA points out: "A global approach is essential and ICAO must take the lead. There is no time to get distracted by local schemes."
Eurocontrol director general Victor Aguado agrees that emissions trading is one way of controlling the effect of aviation on the environment, but sees network efficiency as another vital method. "Emissions trading is just one element in reducing CO2 emissions, but it doesn't solve the problem," he insists. "Network efficiency is the key action for the future."
For a  more detailed roundup of the views expressed at the conference look out for June's Airline Business Insight pages.

Giovanni Bisignani slipped the revelation that the world's airlines have taken none other than the French Government to court on page 5 of his recent speech to the UK's Aviation Club.

This piece of remarkable news was somewhat buried in a typically robust plea for more efficiency from suppliers and states alike. However, buried or not, it demonstrates an escalation in IATA's efforts to deal with what it sees are injustices when it comes to airport charges.

With the tacit backing of Air France, IATA's legal action is aimed at proving that the French Government's decision to allow Aeroports de Paris (ADP), which runs the Paris airports system, to raise charges by 5% per year for the next five years should be annulled. It is the first time the airline association has taken legal action against a national government.

Bisignani (above) is scathing about the charges imposed recently by ADP's Charles de Gaulle hub. It is currently IATA's "worst offender" having increased fees by 26.5% in the last five years, he said. "What businesses other than an un-regulated monopoly can plan such increases," he said.

After its recent lobbying to the European Commission about strengthening airport regulation on the charges front IATA felt it had little option but to challenge the French fee increase.

IATA wants regulations that take the politics out of airport management. It also wants it to ensure stakeholder engagement. "If we pay the bill, we need to have a say in what is being bought…at what price…and agree how it is financed," said Bisignani.

Finally it wants regulation that acts as a substitute for competition. Bisignani said he expects some follow up from the EC in the coming months.

The stakes are clearly rising in the feud between airlines and airports on the charges front.