Airlines Business World

TSA chief: Resisting scanners just means delays

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:30:00 -0800

By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Ray Henry, Associated Press – Tue Nov 23, 8:58 am ET

ATLANTA – Despite tough talk on the Internet, there was little if any indication of a passenger revolt at many major U.S. airports, with very few people declining the X-ray scan that can peer through their clothes. Those who refuse the machines are subject to a pat-down search that includes the crotch and chest.
Many travelers said that the scans and the pat-down were not much of an inconvenience, and that the stepped-up measures made them feel safer and were, in any case, unavoidable.
"Whatever keeps the country safe, I just don't have a problem with," Leah Martin, 50, of Houston, said as she waited Monday to go through security at the Atlanta airport.
At New York's LaGuardia Airport early Tuesday, Jeannine St. Amand got a pat-down in front of her husband and two children. The 45-year-old from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, figured she got one because the underwire of her bra tripped the metal detector.
"It's hard to remember all the restrictions. Next time, I'll wear a different bra," she said.
She opted to have the pat-down in public rather than private and said it was professional and done by a female agent.
"She tells you ahead of time what she is going to do, which is a good thing because that could be awkward," St. Amand said.
Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole pleaded with Thanksgiving travelers for understanding and urged them not to boycott full-body scans on Wednesday. It would only snarl what is already one of the busiest, most stressful flying days of the and would only "tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones," he said.
"We all wish we lived in a world where security procedures at airports weren't necessary," he said, "but that just isn't the case."
He noted the alleged attempt by a Nigerian with explosives in his underwear to bring down a plane over Detroit last Christmas.
About two-thirds of Americans support using the full-body scanners to increase security, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll published Tuesday. But half of the 514 adults surveyed by phone said the more rigorous pat-downs go too far.
At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, Gehno Sanchez, a 38-year-old from San Francisco who works in marketing, said he doesn't mind the full-body scans. "I mean, they may make you feel like a criminal for a minute, but I'd rather do that than someone touching me," he said.
A loosely organized Internet campaign is urging people to refuse the scans on Wednesday in what is being called National Opt-Out Day. The extra time needed to pat down people could cause a cascade of delays at dozens of major airports, including those in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.
"Just one or two recalcitrant passengers at an airport is all it takes to cause huge delays," said Paul Ruden, a spokesman for the American Society of Travel Agents, which has warned its more than 8,000 members about delays. "It doesn't take much to mess things up anyway."
Most who don't like the screenings just grumble but don't really cause a big fuss, at least not that Cris Soulia, a TSA officer in San Diego and president of a local union, has heard or seen.
"We're not here groping people. We're not here molesting people. We're checking them for items and explosives. And yes, explosives can be hidden in the groin area," she said.
More than 400 imaging units are being used at about 70 airports. Since the new procedures began Nov. 1, 34 million travelers have gone through checkpoints and less than 3 percent are patted down, according to the TSA.
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said the government is "desperately" trying to balance security and privacy and will take the public's concerns and complaints into account as it evaluates the new, more stringent boarding checks.
The American Civil Liberties Union has received more than 600 complaints over three weeks from passengers who say they were subjected to humiliating pat-downs at U.S. airports, and the pace is accelerating, according to ACLU legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese.
"It really drives home how invasive it is and unhappy they are," he said.
Ricky D. McCoy, a TSA screener and president of a union local in Illinois and Wisconsin, said the atmosphere has changed in the past two weeks for officers in his region. Since word of the pat-downs hit the headlines, officers have been punched, pushed or shoved six times after they explained what would be happening, McCoy said.
"We have major problems because basically TSA never educated the public on what was going on," he said. "Our agency pretty much just threw the new search techniques out there."
Stories of alleged heavy-handed treatment by TSA agents captured people's imagination.
A bladder cancer survivor from Michigan who wears a bag that collects his urine said its contents spilled on his clothing after a security agent at a Detroit airport patted him down roughly.
Tom Sawyer, a 61-year-old retired special education teacher, said the Nov. 7 experience left him in tears. "I was absolutely humiliated. I couldn't even speak," he told MSNBC.com.
During an appearance on CBS, the TSA's Pistole expressed "great concern over anybody who feels like they have not been treated properly or had something embarrassing" happen.
A video showing a shirtless young boy resisting a pat-down at Salt Lake City's airport has become a YouTube sensation and led to demands for an investigation from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, an outspoken critic of TSA screening methods. The video of the unidentified boy was shot Friday by a bystander with a cell phone.
The TSA said in a blog posting that nobody has to disrobe at an airport checkpoint apart from removing shoes and jackets. According to the TSA, the boy was being searched because he triggered an alarm inside a metal detector, and his father removed the youngster's shirt to speed up the screening.
The boycott campaign was launched Nov. 8 by Brian Sodergren, who lives in Ashburn, Va., and works in the health care industry.
"I just don't think the government has the right to look under people's clothes with no reasonable cause, no suspicion other than purchasing a plane ticket," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
___
Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan, Julie Pace, Sarah Brumfield and Joan Lowy in Washington; Russell Contreras in Boston; Dan Elliott in Denver; Emily Fredrix and Karen Matthews in New York; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago also contributed to this report.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_airport_security

Spirit Airlines

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:54:00 -0800

Spirit Airlines prepares for IPO
The low-cost airline hopes to raise $300 million by going public. Its debt load is considerable.
Posted by Kim Peterson Monday, September 20, 2010 12:55:39 PM
Air travel © Christie & Cole/Corbis Spirit Airlines has filed plans with the government to go public, hoping to sell some $300 million in shares later this year (the filing is here).

This marks a milestone of sorts. We haven't seen an airline go public in the U.S. since 2007, when Gulfstream International (GIA) hit the market, Bloomberg reports. By the way, GIA shares are now a whopping 68 cents.

Spirit gained notoriety this year when it started charging fees for carry-on bags. Yep, you read that right. A Spirit passenger will pay $45 per bag at the boarding gate, or $30 per bag when paying in advance (bags that can fit under a seat, however, get on for free).

The airline justified the fees by saying that its fares were already super-cheap. Spirit's average base fair is around $85.

Spirit has $264 million in debt, Bloomberg reported, and some of the IPO proceeds will likely go to pay that down. The company said it will retain $150 million in proceeds.

The airline mainly flies between Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America. In its filing, Spirit says it has been able to cut its operating costs significantly over the last few years. It uses an all-Airbus fleet with "high-density seating," it says, and uses less fuel per available seat mile than any other U.S. airline.

Spirit sees lots of opportunities to expand in the Caribbean and Latin American markets, and wants to grow by increasing routes and aircraft capacity.

source: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1806274

Philippine airlines

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 16:42:00 -0800

Cargo Classification In compliance with Republic Act No. 9337, an act amending the National Internal Revenue Code, a 12% VAT is added to the total amount on all transactions involving purely domestic services only. Special Cargo
Commodities that require special or advance arrangement, packing, handling and in certain cases, documentation. Acceptance of these type of cargo are subject to specific regulations.

Examples of Special Cargo are the following:

Baggage and special effects that are treated with special care and stored at a special location.
Perishables are shipments which are so labelled and are stored under specific temperature.

Valuable Cargo are shipments with very high commercial value.
Restricted Articles or Dangerous Goods like inflammables, explosives, radioactive materials and corrosive substances like acids that may endanger the safe operations of the flight.
Livestock, Live Animals and Plants are shipment that need special attention and care.
General Cargo
All articles or materials that are not included in the list of Special Cargo are considered General Cargo or General Commodity.

source: http://www.philippineairlines.com/home/home.jsp

Malaysia Airlines

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:52:00 -0800

Delta Air Lines

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:40:00 -0800

http://www.mainglobe.biz/category/Delta+Air+lines/

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) is an American airline headquartered in Atlanta. It is the world's largest airline – operating under a single operating certificate – in terms of passenger traffic, fleet size and destinations served. After the United-Continental merger is complete Delta will become the world's second largest airline in terms of passenger traffic. Delta operates an extensive domestic and international network, spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Australia. Delta and the Delta Connection carriers fly to 367 destinations in 66 countries (excluding codeshare), across six continents.Delta operates the world's largest hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Delta Air Lines is a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance.

On October 29, 2008, Delta completed its merger with Northwest Airlines to form the world's largest commercial carrier. In February 2009, the airline began consolidating gates and ticket counters at airports where both Delta and Northwest operate. The consolidation was completed February 2010.[12] On December 31, 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Delta's request to allow Delta and Northwest to operate under a single operating certificate

source: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Delta+Air+Lines

Cebu Pacific Air

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:38:00 -0800

he airline was established on August 26, 1988, and started operations on March 8, 1996. It was founded as Cebu Air, and subsequently acquired by JG Summit Holdings (owned by John Gokongwei). Domestic services commenced following market deregulation by the Philippine government. It temporarily ceased operations in February 1998 after being grounded by the government due to an accident, but resumed services later the next month following re-certification of its aircraft. It initially started with 24 domestic flights daily among Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao City. By the end of 2001, its operations had grown to about 80 daily flights to 18 domestic destinations.

In the 2000s, Cebu Pacific was granted rights to operate international flights to the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam. International flights were launched on November 22, 2001, with a twice-daily service to Hong Kong. On March 1, 2002, it commenced thrice-weekly flights to Seoul. Other regional flights were introduced and suspended later; however, including flights to Singapore (from November 6, 2002, to January 2003) and from Manila via Subic to Seoul (from December 2002) due in part to the effects of the SARS epidemic
The airline resumed its Manila-to-Singapore flights on August 31, 2006 and launched its direct flight from Cebu to Singapore on October 23, 2006, the first low-cost airline to serve the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu sector, and in direct competition with Singapore Airlines' subsidiary SilkAir, CEB is now the only Philippine carrier serving the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service. The airline operates direct flights from Cebu to Hong Kong which commenced October 2, 2006, which also made CEB the only Philippine carrier to serve a Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service and is now code-sharing with Cathay Pacific for this route.
In May 2005, Cebu Pacific received two Airbus A320 aircraft on lease from CIT Leasing and operated its first service with the new aircraft on June 3, 2005, from Manila to Davao City.

In December 2006, after a month or two of operating the new direct flights, Cebu Pacific announced that it would increase flight frequency for its Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu from four to five times weekly and Cebu-Singapore-Cebu flights from four to six weekly effective January 25, 2007. As of January 2008, it operates regional flights to Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul-Incheon, Taipei and Bangkok beginning April 6, 2008 from its Cebu hub; and Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai and Xiamen from Manila.

Cebu Pacific's plans to begin international flights from Angeles-Clark Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) were initially unsuccessful when its request was denied. The nations involved came to an agreement that Cebu Pacific would be only allowed to operate charter flights from Clark to the respective countries' airport(s). Only Singapore initially agreed to allow Cebu Pacific to fly scheduled flights from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport to Singapore.Currently Cebu Pacific only operates a route from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport to Cebu, but has since announced that it will be commencing international flights from Manila- Clark to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore from November 2008 as well as domestic flights from Manila-Clark to Cebu.One of Cebu Pacific's ATR-72 aircraft at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In June 2007, Cebu Pacific announced an order of up to 14 brand-new ATR-72-500 aircraft, with six firm orders and eight options. It plans to initially offer flights to Boracay, using Boracay's Godofredo P. Ramos Airport.
On November 12, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced Davao's Francisco Bangoy International Airport as its fourth hub. Cebu Pacific announced that it would initially fly internationally from Davao to Singapore, Hong Kong and fly one domestic flight to Iloilo. Both direct services from Davao to Singapore and Iloilo commenced on May 8, 2008, while the service to Hong Kong commenced on May 9, 2008.
In late 2007, Cebu Pacific mentioned that it is aiming to cross the Pacific and launch non-stop flights to the United States West Coast, Houston, Texas and Chicago, Illinois by mid-2009.
On December 18, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced that it would exercise options on its recent ATR-72-500 turboprop order (initially six firm) to increase its firm order to
On February 19, 2008, Cebu Pacific Air received its first brand-new ATR 72-500 from Toulouse, France and expected to take delivery of another five ATRs from March to December 2008. The initial two ATRs fly on routes such as Cebu to Bacolod.

Cebu Pacific took delivery of its 16th brand-new, 179-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, from Toulouse, France, on March 20, 2008. The new aircraft supports CEB's expanding international and domestic operations which include flights to 12, soon to be 15, international destinations.
On May 28, 2008, Cebu Pacific was named as the world's number one airline in terms of growth. The airline was also ranked fifth in Asia for Budget Airline passengers transported and 23rd in the world. The airline carried a total of almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 57.4 per cent from 2006
On July 22, 2008, Cebu Pacific was the first airline to use the new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with its flight to Caticlan being the first to depart at 0515 local time. On August 1, 2008, it moved its international operations to the terminal; thus, becoming the first airline to have regular international commercial flights from the new terminal.

In August 2009, Cebu Pacific became the first airline in the Philippines to use social media, this is well ahead of legacy Singapore Airlines but behind carriers like Cathay Pacific or AirAsia. Their Twitter account is @CebuPacificAir.
In September 2010, a video surfaced on the popular video sharing website Youtube which showed three female flight attendants dancing along to two popular pop songs (Just Dance by Lady Gaga and California Gurls by Katy Perry) as they performed the safety demostration. The video subsequently became a viral video.

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Canada Air lines

versvall2008@yahoo.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:39:00 -0800

Canada Air Lines

Starting in 1945, TCA acquired thirty twin-engined ex military Douglas DC-3s for use on Canadian internal services and some of these remained in service until 1963 on shorter routes. A fleet of Merlin-powered Canadair North Stars was delivered from 1947 and these commenced services to several European countries, including the United Kingdom as well as to cities in the USA. The last of the North Stars was sold in 1961.
The Canadair North Stars were gradually replaced by longer range Lockheed Super Constellations from 1954 onwards, fourteen being operated on transatlantic routes extending as far as Vienna in Austria; also to Bermuda and several Caribbean destinations including Jamaica and Trinidad. The last Super Constellations were disposed of in 1963. A large fleet of Vickers Viscount turboprop airliners was built up from late 1954 and these were used on many intra-North American routes.source