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Friday, January 27th, 2012
The intention of Egypt’s military government to introduce democratic reform in the country has been questioned after the son of a US cabinet minister was prevented from leaving the country recently. Transport Secretary Ray LaHood’s son Sam was stopped in Cairo and told that he would not be getting onto his plane.
Mr LaHood works for the International Republican Institute, a non-profit organisation funded by the US which encourages democratic governance. The Egyptian authorities have recently carried out raids on a number of similar organisations. The government is currently investigating the funding of human rights organisations after it declared that there would be no tolerance of any foreign institution intent on interfering with the country’s affairs.
At the end of last year a number of raids resulted in organisations having computers and documents confiscated by Egyptian officials.
Mr LaHood said that he had asked the official who informed him that he would not be flying out of the country why he was being detained. She apparently said that she did not know. Mr LaHood was allowed to hold on to his passport and told that he could leave the airport. He said that the issue was not just about his organisation because around 300 others were also being investigated.
US human rights official, Michael Posner, said that the situation was worrying for those who believed that the Egyptian authorities were working on a transition to democracy after last year’s uprising which saw the regime of Hosni Mubarak toppled.
Tags: Cairo, Hosni Mubarak, human rights, International Republican Institute, Ray LaHood
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Friday, January 20th, 2012
According to recent figures from the AA, the cost of insuring a car is continuing to rise rapidly. The annual cost of the average cheapest premium increased by 15 per cent last year to £971. In the last three months the price has gone up by 5 per cent. The AA said that the rise was unexpected as the cost of insurance had fallen during the third-quarter of 2011.
It is younger drivers who are being hit by the price rises and some companies are even refusing to sell them premiums. Director of AA Insurance, Simon Douglas, said that cheaper deals were rapidly disappearing and that young drivers appeared to be the biggest losers to the price hikes.
The Transport Committee last week agreed that one of the reasons that premiums are costing more is the increase in bogus whiplash claims. Mr Douglas said that it was wrong that the number of claims was on the increase when the number of accidents reported on the UK roads was continuing to drop.
MPs have also called for a ban on practices in the insurance such as providing information on customers who have had an accident to claims firms and solicitors in return for a referral fee.
An inquiry into why car insurance is still so expensive was launched at the end of last year by the Office of Fair Trading. The average cost is now three times what it was five years ago. However, the AA predicts that prices will fall in 2012.
Tags: AA, car insurance, office of fair trading, premiums, Transport Committee
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Friday, January 13th, 2012
An episode of the British motoring show Top Gear which was filmed in India has caused outrage because of its irreverent content. The High Commission of India in London has been in contact with the BBC to say that it is disappointed by presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s attempt at humour.
The show, which was broadcast just after Christmas, drew 188 complaints to the BBC. The broadcaster said that it would be reacting to the HCI’s complaint. Mr Clarkson is accused of cultural insensitivity because the show made jokes about India’s trains, food, and Jaguar cars.
According to the BBC, one Indian diplomat has said that it was inappropriate of the show to insult a whole culture, history and society. He admitted that India has its problems, which is fine, but toilet humour, such as was broadcast on one of the most popular television shows on the planet, is not.
One of the scenes cited in the complaint was Mr Clarkson taking off his trousers to show a room full of people how to use a trouser press. He also said that a toilet roll attached to a Jaguar motor car was ideal for those who have stomach problems when the come to the country.
In April 2012, the show received a number of complaints because of its comments about Mexican people. Ofcom said that it would not uphold the complaints because Top Gear is known for its irreverence and outspoken humour.
Tags: bbc, Jaguar, Jeremy Clarkson, Ofcom, top gear, trouser press
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Friday, January 6th, 2012
International Airlines Group, the airline formed by the merger of Iberia and British Airways at the beginning of last year, said that it has recorded a 7.2 per cent rise in passenger traffic. Traffic on British Airways rose by 10.6 per cent, which offset the 0.1 per cent gain by Iberia.
Through 2011, IAG carried 51.7 million customers, which was a 2.1 per cent increase on 2010. IAG is currently the third-largest carrier in Europe behind Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. During the year, British Airways achieved an increase in capacity of 9.8 per cent, where Iberia only pushed up its capacity by 1.2 per cent.
Europe’s number-one budget carrier Ryanair managed to increase its passenger total by five per cent in 2011 compared to a year earlier. The Dublin-based airline sold 76.4 million seats compared to 72.7 million in 2010. However, its load factor remained at 82 per cent.
In December, Ryanair’s passenger numbers dropped by five per cent to 4.8 million because the airline decided that it would take 80 jets out of service for the winter season. The carrier did so because the high price of jet fuel meant that some routes were failing to turn a profit.
IAG is currently valued at £2.7 billion, and Ryanair has a 5.41 billion euros market value. Although many airlines have performed slightly better than expected over the past 12 months, the International Air Transport Association has said that 2012 is expected to be more difficult against still high oil prices and a backdrop of economic uncertainty.
Tags: Air France KLM, British Airways, IAG, Iberia, Lufthansa, Ryanair
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Friday, December 30th, 2011
On 1 January, the emissions trading scheme will begin across Europe as a way of offsetting the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by airlines. The scheme will apply to all airlines land or taking off from airports in the EU. Carriers will have a cap put on the amount of CO2 they are allowed to produce and will have to pay for credits.
In the UK a number of airline bosses have formed an alliance to demand the abolition of the controversial Air Passenger Duty. They are arguing that the tax was originally intended to offset emissions and now that ETS is being introduced it no longer has to serve that purpose.
In a statement IAG boss Willie Walsh, Carolyn McCall from easyJet, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary and Steve Ridgway of Virgin Atlantic explain that there is no proof that the government has ever used APD to pay for the environment. Currently the Exchequer receives £2.5 billion every year from APD and is hoping to ramp this up to £3.6 billion by the middle of the decade.
The group points out that according to figures compiled by the government, airlines in the UK were already contributing enough money to cover carbon emissions in 2008. APD since then has soared. By 2020 it is estimated that airlines in Britain will be paying around 400 million euros under ETS.
The scheme applies to all airlines visiting airports in Europe and has come under fire from foreign governments who feel the charges do not conform to international legislation.
Tags: airlines, APD, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Ryanair, ETS, IAG, michael o'leary, Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic, Willie Walsh
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Friday, December 23rd, 2011
British Airways parent International Airlines Group looks set to increase its dominance at Heathrow Airport after Lufthansa agrees a £172.5 million deal to sell BMI to the airline. The takeover will now be subject to an examination by the competition regulators, but if allowed, the deal will see IAG acquire an additional 56 landing slots at one of the world’s busiest airports.
Sir Richard Branson, boss of Virgin, has said that he will attempt to block the deal going ahead. Virgin had also signed an agreement with Lufthansa to bid for the troubled airline. Branson said that if IAG were to increase its monopoly at Heathrow it would be damaging, not only to the airline industry and consumer choice, but to the UK as a whole.
IAG chief, Willie Walsh, said that he intends to drastically restructure the airline over the next three years. He added that this would inevitably lead to some of BMI’s 3,600 workers becoming redundant.
Since acquiring BMI, Lufthansa has failed to turn a profit from the Castle Donington-based carrier, and said that in 2010 the airline made a loss of £153 million. Both AIG and Lufthansa are hoping that the tie-up will be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Although the competition authorities in Europe have blocked airline mergers in the past, they have usually done so because there is a potential loss of competition on routes, rather than an increased presence for a carrier at a particular airport. IAG will see its slot allocation rise well above 50 per cent at Heathrow if the deal goes ahead.
Tags: BMI, British Airways, Heathrow, IAG, Lufthansa, Richard Branson, virgin, Willie Walsh
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Friday, December 16th, 2011
The National Audit Office has been asked by the transport select committee to examine the details of the tender process which saw Derby-based Bombardier lose out to Germany’s Siemens over the contract to build rolling-stock for the Thameslink project in London. The deal is worth £1.4 billion.
The choice has caused a great deal of controversy, but the government has said that it is unable to reverse its decision because of EU regulations. The transport committee said that it was in the public interest to conduct an independent investigation into how the contract landed with a German company.
Because the contract also included a financing clause, it is believed that Siemens’ A+ credit rating helped to swing the decision in its direction. The loss of the contract has caused Bombardier to announce that it will be making 1,400 job cuts at the Derby plant. This amounts to about half the workforce, and could spell the demise of train manufacturing in the UK.
The contract for the Crossrail project is due to come up, and the transport committee is recommending that the deal should separate the manufacturing and design of the trains from the financing as this would give Bombardier a better chance of securing the deal.
The report has been welcomed by the RMT and Unite unions. RMT general secretary, Bob Crow, said the paper could be used by the government to reverse its decision to betray British workers. Len McCluskey of Unite urged the government to put the contract for Thameslink on hold until an investigation had been completed.
Tags: Bombardier, Crossrail, National Audit Office, rmt, Siemens, Thameslink, Unite
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Friday, December 9th, 2011
A British scientist has developed a device which he hopes will allow airlines to avoid having to ground their fleets whenever there is volcanic ash in the atmosphere. The system works by using thermal imaging cameras which have been tuned to be able to identify silicates in the air, the product of volcanic eruptions. It then uses data from satellites and atmospheric models to let a pilot know which way the cloud is likely to head.
Dr Fred Prata said that his system was able to show where ash clouds were present at altitudes between 5,000ft and 50,000ft. Pilots will be told where the ash is 100kms before they hit it so that they can plan an alternative route.
Airlines have been looking for a way to detect ash since fleets were grounded last year for close to a week across Europe. Air space was closed after the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano. Dr Prata said that only a small area was actually too dangerous for jets to fly through and that his device would allow planes to stay airborne in the event of another eruption.
The project has been supplied with funding by easyJet, which said that the 2010 eruption cost it around £50 million.
The successful testing of the equipment has become more urgent as scientists are warning that the Katla volcano on Iceland is showing signs of activity which could result in an eruption. Katla is 10 times the size of Eyjafjallajokul, and lies beneath a massive glacier.
Tags: airlines, ash clouds, Easyjet, Eyjafjallajokul, volcanic ash
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Friday, December 2nd, 2011
An investigation is underway into why an Air France passenger jet was missing 30 screws in one of its protective panels, after it had undergone a thorough investigation in China. According to a spokesman for the airline, jets go through the process of a full service once every six years. The examination takes around a month to complete, and costs the company millions of dollars.
Taeco is a Xiamen-based firm which services jets belonging to airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Emirates and JAL. Alexandre de Juniac, the flag-carrier’s chief executive, said that the company would not be using Taeco again until the investigation into the missing screws was completed.
Taeco has announced that it will be conducting its own investigation into the situation. The process is expected to last a few days. The firm has been looking after Boeing 747s for Air France for around four years now, according to Juniac. He added that this represented around 10 per cent of the carrier’s long-haul fleet.
The problem was discovered on the second Airbus 340 to be sent to China for a service. In a previous statement, Air France said that it sent fewer than five planes a year to Taeco, that figure has now been changed to between five and seven aircraft.
In 2010, an Air France passenger plane was found to have been repainted in some areas with a paint which could potentially catch fire. The problem was uncovered after it had been in service for three weeks.
Tags: Air France, American Airlines, Boeing, British Airways, Emirates, JAL, Lufthansa, Taeco
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Friday, November 25th, 2011
Flybe has secured a deal with a Brazilian bank to raise £323 million in order to purchase new jets. The regional carrier will buy 20 planes from South America’s Embraer, and expects to take delivery before the middle of 2014. BNDES, the Brazilian-based export development bank, has agreed to put up 85 per cent of the financing.
Jim French, executive chairman of Flybe, said the loan would ensure that all of the carrier’s purchasing plans until July 2014 would be covered. He added that the deal also sent out the message that Flybe was in a strong financial position and a robust performer at a time when the airline industry was suffering from an unstable economic situation.
At the Farnborough Air Show last year, the company announced that it was ordering 35 aircraft from Embraer. The deal also gives the airline an option to place orders for another 105 planes. A batch of 15 planes is expected to be delivered before the end of 2016.
Flybe has said that six of the planes will be used to expand the airline, while 29 will be used to replace existing aircraft.
In the six months ending 30 September, Flybe announced that pre-tax profits had grown 74 per cent compared to the same half a year ago. The airline made £14.3 million.
Mr French said that it was unlikely that many other airlines in Europe would be announcing a deal of this size in the near future.
Tags: airline, BNDES, Embraer, Flybe
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