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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0642.PDF
BUSINESS SECURITY Boeing and El Al abandon alliance plans Boeing and El Al have aban doned their plans for a joint venture on airport and airline security. In the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the USA, Boeing and El Al signed a memorandum of understanding as a first step towards establishing a joint avia tion security venture. Promoted by recently departed El Al chief executive David Hermesh, the venture would have acted as a consultancy to extend El Al's experience in security to US customers (Flight International, 15-21 January). However, according to Boeing's vice-president security Charles Higgins, many of the measures proposed were incompatible either with US air port operations or with civil rights laws there. In addition, US air port authorities are currently too focused on the immediate chal lenges of complying with new security rules to focus on long- range plans, says Higgins. RESULTS Defence deals lift Ultra sales Ultra Electronics Holdings, the UK-based aerospace and defence group, increased turnover by 5.6% to £239.5 mil lion ($341 million) and raised pre-tax profits by 5.6% to £27.1 million in the year ending 31 December 2001 as new defence contracts offset a fall in demand for civil aviation products. Sales were driven by naval systems, anti-submarine warfare products and the high-pressure pure air generators that have been selected by Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Subsidiary Ferranti Air Systems won fewer contracts for its airport systems products. Overall, orders grew by 15% to £315 million, largely due to defence deals. ALLIANCES MAX KINGSLEY-JONES / BANGKOK Star to integrate booking as members move closer Group is also looking to China, eastern Europe and India for potential members ern Europe and India. "Air China has the strongest relationship with Star and I hope we will have some good news to announce," says Albrecht. He adds that following the collapse of the Swissair-led Qualiflyer alliance "there are opportunities to do something in central and eastern Europe and we are talking to several carriers". These are believed to include LOT Polish Airlines, which expres sed interest in Star when it was still part of Swissair's Qualiflyer group last year (Flight International, 7-13 August 2001). Star is also studying Swissair's former subsidiary and now succes sor Crossair, reborn as Swiss. Albrecht says that Star is already purchasing fuel and other supplies centrally, and it is looking to ratio nalise its supplier base where possi ble. "The joint purchase of aircraft would be very ambitious...it is at least five years away. We are cur rently trying to define a common specification." As part of efforts to consolidate airport operations worldwide, Star has reached agreement with Aeroports de Paris to adopt Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle as the Star terminal when it is refur bished in 2005, it says. The joint purchase of aircraft by alliance partners is also being considered The Star Alliance, led by Lufthansa and United Airlines, will bring its 15 member airlines closer over the next year through integration of their computer reservation systems (CRS). The alliance is also eyeing new members to expand its coverage. The key to Star's more integrated structure is the completion last year of its StarNet system, a multi- million dollar project which provides a simplified interface between each member's CRS. "This enables our 15 [systems] to talk to each other - whether they are Amadeus or Apollo - and the infor mation to be displayed in the for mat and language of the airline accessing the data," says Star vice- president products and services Kristian Kirchheiner. He adds that a second phase, providing passenger name recogni tion ticketing across all the Star partners, will be in place within a year, enabling any Star member to access, modify or issue the tickets of any other member. The network will also enable new members to be integrated more rapidly into the alliance. StarNet has also allowed Star to offer corporate deals to multina tional corporations, whereby one carrier can negotiate alliance- wide contracts for all the other air lines. This programme is in the testing stage, and Star hopes to have it on the market next year, says the alliance's chief executive, Jaan Albrecht. He says that negotiations are complicated when an airline needs to share commercial data with another partner but lacks antitrust approval. "We have found a per fectly legal way around this, but I am not going to reveal what it is at the moment," he says. Meanwhile, Star continues to look for potential new members, currently focusing on China, east- ALLIANCES Oneworld to expand The American Airlines- and British Airways-led Oneworld alliance hopes to complete negotiations with several possible new members by early summer. After the failure of American and BA to secure antitrust approval for their transatlantic deal, members of the Oneworld alliance - which also include Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas - met late last month in Santiago, Chile, to discuss the alliance's next move. The alliance says it will take on "quality carriers who would add value to Oneworld, both in terms of network and business". It declines to name potential new partners until negotiations are completed. Oneworld also plans to tighten relationships between its existing members, by expanding codeshares, introducing joint use of facilities such as terminals and maintenance hangars, and encouraging joint purchasing deals. Recent improvements to the alliance's joint computer network will also allow easier passenger check-in, and reduce human error, by recognising passengers' names and allowing cross-check-in across the alliance. 30 5-11 MARCH 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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