A bi-partisan body that promotes state-based initiatives to strengthen the nation’s aviation, aerospace and space development is about to resurface, and become a lot more vocal.
The Aerospace States Association (ASA), which is comprised of all the US States’ Lieutenant Governors and associate members including Rockwell, Gulfstream and Orbital, has been flying under the radar for some time (it's web site hasn't been updated for about 11 months).
The site, which on all accounts could use freshening up, will start posting new information in December, reveals an ASA spokeswoman. She insists that ASA remains "very, very active".
To that end, ASA’s Policy Committee is presently developing a Hearing on International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) that will be held at the Rayburn building on March 11, 2008 and will consist of testimony from three panel groupings that include industry, government, and academia. The agenda and speakers are in the process of being defined.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
From The Horse's Mouth: US Airways Confirms Plan To Scuttle Philadelphia-Beijing if Delta Makes Terminal Move
Lest there be any lingering doubt that US Airways has in fact threatened to scuttle plans for serving Philadelphia-Beijing, the carrier released the following statement to employees:
“…The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Wednesday [November 7] that US Airways may give back its authority to fly PHL-China because international gates may not be available. This is the result of decisions by PHL airport officials to boost domestic flying in Terminal A at the expense of international operations.
“These news reports are true, and may become an unfortunate reality. We’ve told the airport authority, city and Commonwealth officials that if the airport moves Delta domestic flights to three international gates, we will 1) have to reconsider international expansion from PHL next year, and 2) withdraw our authority for PHL-China service that we hoped to begin in spring of 2009.”
“We’ve pledged that we wouldn’t subject our customers or employees to an unreliable international operation again. We haven’t given up. US Airways and Philadelphia worked hard to win this award together, and in that spirit of partnership, we hope to find a solution.
“We’ll continue to work for an agreement right up until the time the airport finalizes its decision, and we’ll keep employees posted as these events unfold.”
US Airways’ threat is being made in response to Delta's move tomorrow from Philadelphia’s Terminal E to Terminal A-East, which will make more room for Southwest Airlines at Terminal E, and strip US Airways of three of 16 widebody gates at the international concourse.
Last week, during a heated joint press conference between Senator Arlen Specter and US Airways CEO Doug Parker, the former likened US Airways' threat to extortion. At that time, Parker did not outright confirm the accuracy of the Inquirer's report, but said: "What we have simply said, and very careful to say in a way that we’re not trying to threaten anybody, simply to give facts that if indeed we have fewer gates than we had last summer, not only can we not expand, we are going to have to contract on our international operations."
Delta confirmed today that it plans to move to Terminal A-East tomorrow.
“…The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Wednesday [November 7] that US Airways may give back its authority to fly PHL-China because international gates may not be available. This is the result of decisions by PHL airport officials to boost domestic flying in Terminal A at the expense of international operations.
“These news reports are true, and may become an unfortunate reality. We’ve told the airport authority, city and Commonwealth officials that if the airport moves Delta domestic flights to three international gates, we will 1) have to reconsider international expansion from PHL next year, and 2) withdraw our authority for PHL-China service that we hoped to begin in spring of 2009.”
“We’ve pledged that we wouldn’t subject our customers or employees to an unreliable international operation again. We haven’t given up. US Airways and Philadelphia worked hard to win this award together, and in that spirit of partnership, we hope to find a solution.
“We’ll continue to work for an agreement right up until the time the airport finalizes its decision, and we’ll keep employees posted as these events unfold.”
US Airways’ threat is being made in response to Delta's move tomorrow from Philadelphia’s Terminal E to Terminal A-East, which will make more room for Southwest Airlines at Terminal E, and strip US Airways of three of 16 widebody gates at the international concourse.
Last week, during a heated joint press conference between Senator Arlen Specter and US Airways CEO Doug Parker, the former likened US Airways' threat to extortion. At that time, Parker did not outright confirm the accuracy of the Inquirer's report, but said: "What we have simply said, and very careful to say in a way that we’re not trying to threaten anybody, simply to give facts that if indeed we have fewer gates than we had last summer, not only can we not expand, we are going to have to contract on our international operations."
Delta confirmed today that it plans to move to Terminal A-East tomorrow.
Friday, 9 November 2007
Could Air Canada Jazz Make an SAS Q400 Asset Grab?
It didn't take long for operators to start sniffing around SAS Group's grounded Q400 fleet.
Air Canada Jazz officials revealed yesterday during an earnings conference call that they are checking out the goods.
It makes perfect sense. Well over two years ago, Jazz said it was looking to add 70-seat Q400s "at some point" possibly by trading in some older, 50-seat CRJ100s (it flies about 22 of the type).
At that time, Jazz said the Q400 would be useful for some of its high-frequency turboprop routes such as Vancouver-Victoria.
Toronto City Center-based newbie Porter Airlines - of which Jazz is locked in a fierce legal battle - also happens to operate Q400s and claims to be doing quite well after one year of service, thank you very much.
When SAS grounded its 27 Q400s in the wake of three landing-gear incidents (two related to corrosion, and the last revealed as a maintenance error), analysts predicted the turboprops wouldn't have a problem finding homes.
Looks like the talking-heads were right.
Air Canada Jazz officials revealed yesterday during an earnings conference call that they are checking out the goods.
It makes perfect sense. Well over two years ago, Jazz said it was looking to add 70-seat Q400s "at some point" possibly by trading in some older, 50-seat CRJ100s (it flies about 22 of the type).
At that time, Jazz said the Q400 would be useful for some of its high-frequency turboprop routes such as Vancouver-Victoria.
Toronto City Center-based newbie Porter Airlines - of which Jazz is locked in a fierce legal battle - also happens to operate Q400s and claims to be doing quite well after one year of service, thank you very much.
When SAS grounded its 27 Q400s in the wake of three landing-gear incidents (two related to corrosion, and the last revealed as a maintenance error), analysts predicted the turboprops wouldn't have a problem finding homes.
Looks like the talking-heads were right.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Parking in a Pile: US Airways CEO Faces the Specter of Common Sense
Every now and then, when I emerge from my home office in Lancaster County, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I catch a whiff of the Dairy Farm down the road. It’s a powerful scent, but it’s no longer entirely unpleasant. My tolerance for shit, it seems, has increased.
Why then did I find yesterday’s joint press conference of Senator Arlen Specter and US Airways CEO Doug Parker so uncomfortable to watch? Perhaps it’s because a 77-year lawmaker, who has battled a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and Hodgen’s Disease, with somewhat halting speech was able to back Parker into a corner, and make his carefully tailored explanation for why US Airways is threatening to withdraw plans for Philadelphia-Beijing service seem, well, foul-smelling.
US Airways’ threat, by the way, is being made in response to Delta Air Lines' move next week from Philadelphia’s Terminal E to Terminal A-East, which will make more room for Southwest Airlines at Terminal E, and strip US Airways of three of 16 widebody gates at the international concourse.
It’s a deal struck by Philadelphia a couple of years ago when US Airways was floundering under its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and made sense for the airport at the time, Parker admits. Now-profitable, the dominant carrier at Philadelphia doesn't quite see the sense anymore. In addition to its warning about Beijing, the carrier says it may have to shrink its entire international operation at Philly, and divert service to its Charlotte and Phoenix hubs.
The most-talked-about moment of the press conference came when Specter – still furious over US Airways’ planned draw-down at Pittsburgh – responded to the carrier's new Phillly threat by saying: “In talking to Mr Parker, I said to him, and I don’t use this word lightly, it sounds like extortion.”
But for me, things turned most interesting at the end.
Asked repeatedly by Specter if US Airways – which claims to have a bevy of solutions to solve the gate problem - has ever in fact offered to give up two or three of its total 67 domestic gates to facilitate Delta’s plans, Parker hemmed and hawed and finally said: “I don’t know that we said that specifically because there are other airlines flying less domestic than we do.”
Specter retorted: “You don’t know. That’s the answer.”
Why then did I find yesterday’s joint press conference of Senator Arlen Specter and US Airways CEO Doug Parker so uncomfortable to watch? Perhaps it’s because a 77-year lawmaker, who has battled a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and Hodgen’s Disease, with somewhat halting speech was able to back Parker into a corner, and make his carefully tailored explanation for why US Airways is threatening to withdraw plans for Philadelphia-Beijing service seem, well, foul-smelling.
US Airways’ threat, by the way, is being made in response to Delta Air Lines' move next week from Philadelphia’s Terminal E to Terminal A-East, which will make more room for Southwest Airlines at Terminal E, and strip US Airways of three of 16 widebody gates at the international concourse.
It’s a deal struck by Philadelphia a couple of years ago when US Airways was floundering under its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and made sense for the airport at the time, Parker admits. Now-profitable, the dominant carrier at Philadelphia doesn't quite see the sense anymore. In addition to its warning about Beijing, the carrier says it may have to shrink its entire international operation at Philly, and divert service to its Charlotte and Phoenix hubs.
The most-talked-about moment of the press conference came when Specter – still furious over US Airways’ planned draw-down at Pittsburgh – responded to the carrier's new Phillly threat by saying: “In talking to Mr Parker, I said to him, and I don’t use this word lightly, it sounds like extortion.”
But for me, things turned most interesting at the end.
Asked repeatedly by Specter if US Airways – which claims to have a bevy of solutions to solve the gate problem - has ever in fact offered to give up two or three of its total 67 domestic gates to facilitate Delta’s plans, Parker hemmed and hawed and finally said: “I don’t know that we said that specifically because there are other airlines flying less domestic than we do.”
Specter retorted: “You don’t know. That’s the answer.”
Stating the Bleeding Obvious: SAS Won't Buy More Bombardier Q400s
This one gets filed in the "No Shit Sherlock" folder. SAS CEO Mats Jansson reportedly said today that the company will not buy a new generation of Q400 aircraft.
His last statement is a little curious, however. Referring to the fact that SAS will not rule out buying other aircraft types from Bombardier, Jansson is quoted by Dow Jones as saying: "This is about a long-term relation and then the recent accident isn't of major importance."
Say what? Has something been lost in translation here? Did Jansson actually say this? If so, is it safe to assume that the back-peddling has begun?
His last statement is a little curious, however. Referring to the fact that SAS will not rule out buying other aircraft types from Bombardier, Jansson is quoted by Dow Jones as saying: "This is about a long-term relation and then the recent accident isn't of major importance."
Say what? Has something been lost in translation here? Did Jansson actually say this? If so, is it safe to assume that the back-peddling has begun?
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Travel Detective Peter Greenberg has Strong Words About FAA's Response to SAS Q400 Incidents
Last night, I attended a party in DC to celebrate the launch of Today Show travel editor Peter Greenberg’s new Travel Detective Bible. After the event, I sat down with Peter (aka the Travel Detective) to discuss his take on the latest topic de jour – the spate of SAS Q400 landing-gear-related incidents, and the company’s subsequent decision to axe its entire Q400 fleet.
Of particular concern to Peter is the FAA’s decision to wait until October 30 to issue an airworthiness directive (effective November 14) covering Q400s certificated for operation in the USA - six weeks after seperate SAS Q400s suffered gear-collapses at Aalborg and Vilnius. Corroded retraction actuators, which had then disconnected, were found on the Q400s involved.
Horizon Air (sister to Alaska Airlines) operates a fleet of 33 of the type. Peter says he is “amazed that the FAA of this country did not ground these planes until their airworthiness could be proven. It’s more then just erring on the side of caution, it’s erring on the side of intelligence".
That the FAA has given operators so much time to complete the inspections “could border on what some might say is criminal negligence".
He later added: “If you have a problem which could jeopardize people’s lives and you make a conscious decision not to ground the aircraft immediately, then you are criminally negligent”.
Suffice it to say that a Travel Detective and a Runway Girl don’t always see eye-to-eye (actually, at 6ft tall, I don't see eye-to-eye with most folks, but that's beside the point).
While the FAA’s timeline for issuing it’s own AD does seem rather “Johnny come lately”, I think it’s important to note that, in the wake of the gear-collapse accidents at Aalborg and Vilnius, Horizon grounded its Q400 fleet and began conducting immediate landing-gear inspections in response to a Transport Canada airworthiness directive (which was preceded by Bombardier's own call for inspections).
Horizon gave all of it aircraft “a clean bill of health” and returned them to service on September 25.
The FAA's AD (released after reviewing Transport Canada's findings) does not address the Q400 accident on October 27 at Copenhagen. Danish investigators have indicated that a maintenance error led to that gear-up landing, and is unrelated to the accidents in Aalborg and Vilnius.
Additionally, the European Aviation Safety Agency today announced that the Q400 accident at Copenhagen was “not due to a design error” and adds that the airworthiness of the aircraft “is maintained”.
Nonetheless, Peter believes the FAA should be held to task for its response time to the initial two incidents, noting that the latest findings concerning the Copenhagen incident “still doesn’t get them off of the other two”.
Of particular concern to Peter is the FAA’s decision to wait until October 30 to issue an airworthiness directive (effective November 14) covering Q400s certificated for operation in the USA - six weeks after seperate SAS Q400s suffered gear-collapses at Aalborg and Vilnius. Corroded retraction actuators, which had then disconnected, were found on the Q400s involved.
Horizon Air (sister to Alaska Airlines) operates a fleet of 33 of the type. Peter says he is “amazed that the FAA of this country did not ground these planes until their airworthiness could be proven. It’s more then just erring on the side of caution, it’s erring on the side of intelligence".
That the FAA has given operators so much time to complete the inspections “could border on what some might say is criminal negligence".
He later added: “If you have a problem which could jeopardize people’s lives and you make a conscious decision not to ground the aircraft immediately, then you are criminally negligent”.
Suffice it to say that a Travel Detective and a Runway Girl don’t always see eye-to-eye (actually, at 6ft tall, I don't see eye-to-eye with most folks, but that's beside the point).
While the FAA’s timeline for issuing it’s own AD does seem rather “Johnny come lately”, I think it’s important to note that, in the wake of the gear-collapse accidents at Aalborg and Vilnius, Horizon grounded its Q400 fleet and began conducting immediate landing-gear inspections in response to a Transport Canada airworthiness directive (which was preceded by Bombardier's own call for inspections).
Horizon gave all of it aircraft “a clean bill of health” and returned them to service on September 25.
The FAA's AD (released after reviewing Transport Canada's findings) does not address the Q400 accident on October 27 at Copenhagen. Danish investigators have indicated that a maintenance error led to that gear-up landing, and is unrelated to the accidents in Aalborg and Vilnius.
Additionally, the European Aviation Safety Agency today announced that the Q400 accident at Copenhagen was “not due to a design error” and adds that the airworthiness of the aircraft “is maintained”.
Nonetheless, Peter believes the FAA should be held to task for its response time to the initial two incidents, noting that the latest findings concerning the Copenhagen incident “still doesn’t get them off of the other two”.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Mickeying Around: Maintenance Error on SAS Q400 Accident Aircraft
When my three year old daughter asked to ride a train on Saturday at Disney World and I responded by taking her on Thunder Mountain Railroad, it became pretty clear about 10 seconds into the ride that we were in fact on a roller coaster, and that mommy had made a big mistake (easily judged by my wee one's ghostly white complexion and insistence that she doesn't like trains anymore). I quickly regained ground by acquiescing to every whim and fancy for the rest of the day. But the fact remains: I could have avoided a lot of anguish (and money) had I not rushed headlong into a decision before becoming well-informed.
It's a lesson that SAS Group might be pondering right now, after Danish investigators indicated that a maintenance error led to the landing-gear actuator blockage which caused a Scandinavian Airlines Bombardier Q400 to conduct a gear-up landing at Copenhagen last month, and SAS to axe it entire Q400 fleet.
The hoopla and negative press that followed may prompt Bombardier to take legal action. But the Canadian manufacturer has received a resounding vote of confidence from the industry, which largely sees SAS's decision as a knee-jerk reaction. Should SAS start back-peddling like a apologetic mom at Disney World, or stand it's ground? The roller coaster ride is just beginning, me thinks.
It's a lesson that SAS Group might be pondering right now, after Danish investigators indicated that a maintenance error led to the landing-gear actuator blockage which caused a Scandinavian Airlines Bombardier Q400 to conduct a gear-up landing at Copenhagen last month, and SAS to axe it entire Q400 fleet.
The hoopla and negative press that followed may prompt Bombardier to take legal action. But the Canadian manufacturer has received a resounding vote of confidence from the industry, which largely sees SAS's decision as a knee-jerk reaction. Should SAS start back-peddling like a apologetic mom at Disney World, or stand it's ground? The roller coaster ride is just beginning, me thinks.
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