Air News

No charges for price-fixing SIA Cargo staff

2011-03-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

SINGAPORE Airlines(SIA) Cargo - which was recently fined US$48 million by the US for its part in an international price-fixing cartel - will not take action against any of its staff for their part in the crime.
A spokesperson for the company said the airline's executives "have acted in good faith and without any personal gain".
The US Department of Justice confirmed that it would not charge any SIA Cargo employees.
The spokesperson stressed however that the carrier would fight similar charges brought by other countries and the EU. "SIA Cargo will not be pleading guilty in all other jurisdictions including Australia and New Zealand," he said.
SIA said during the release of its third quarter results last mouth that it has allocated $156 million for fines imposed by the EU and South Korea.

Finnair's Asian cargo on the up

2011-03-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

Finnair's Asian cargo operations grew 41 per cent in January compared with the same period of 2010.
A Pick-up in demand, between Europe and Asia and the impact of cargo aircraft traffic launched in May last year are evident in cargo growth, Finnair's chief financial officer, Erno Hilden said.
In 2010 the airline launched freighter flights to Hong Kong and Seoul in May after converting the last two MD-11s in its passenger fleet into freighter configuration.

Airlines appeal Euro cartel fine

2011-03-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

AIR Canada, British Airways World Cargo, Cargolux and Cathay Pacific have made an appeal against the European Commission's (EC) cargo price-fixing fine.
The four airlines and seven others - Air France-KLM, Japan Airlines, LAN, Martinair, SAS, Sinapore Airlines and Qantas - were fined a total of €799 million(US$1.09 billion) by the EC last November. The EC accused the airlines of "operating a worldwide cartel" from 2000 to 2006.
In a statement Catha, which was fined €57 million ($78 million), said: The appeal was filed with the General Court of the European Union, and follows an appeal Cathay Pacific filed in the Seoul High Court in December 2010 challenging a similar decision by the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
A Cathay spokesperson went on to comment: We believe we have good grounds for making these appeals, but, as these matters are being litigated, we are not in a position to provide additional information at this stage.
The EC reduced Cathay's fine by 20 per cent for its cooperation during the investigation. Lufthansa and its subsidiary Swiss were granted full immunity. Air France-KLM, British Airways, CargoLux, SAS and Singapore Airlines were those with the heaviest penalties.
Cargolux, recipient of last year's second-largest EC fine after Air France, filed an appeal on 25 January 2011 against its €79.9 million ($109.4 million) penalty.
At this stage Cargolux does not wish to make any further comments, the company said.

CIS approves AEI conversion imports

2011-02-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

THE Commonwealth of Independent States has given Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) its permission to import its 737-300SF and 737-400SF conversions. These are the first conversions. These are the first conversions of a Western company the CIS has approved.
Robert Convey, vice-president of sales and marketing, said that AEI's 737 conversions will provide CIS companies with alternatives to the ageing AN-12 freighter fleet and be used for growth opportunities.
There are currently no Russian-built freighters that can do what the 737 classics do in terms of payload and range so the competition is limited.

Based upon our analysis the CIS countries will surpass Chin in the number of registered 737 classic freighters by 2013. Unlike China, the CIS demand will be driven by the need for replacement of existing freighters rather than the organic growth currently being experienced in China he added.
Regarding what contracts had already been made for the conversions, Convey revealed We are currently in discussions with two customers for a total of 11 737-400 conversions. I will be make an announcement on 25 January regarding the award from the first customer in Russia.
Felix Minevich, president of Omega Worldwide, which helped AEI obtain the IAC approval, said The AEI freighters will open up a huge opportunity for cargo operators is Russia and CIS countries. The demand for these types of freighter aircraft is enormous and we expect to immediately see conversion orders.
Convey said that AEI will initially convert the aircraft at Commercial Jet in Miami, but that they will eventually be converted at Boeing Shanghai, which is a AEI-authorised conversion centre. Each conversion will take 90 days.

Quntas settles US cargo cartel case

2011-02-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

QANTAS has agreed to pay a US$26.5 million settlement for an air cargo price-fixing cartel.
The investigation into 19 airlines concerns their freight operations from 2006 and was initiated by Paradiso, a Californian women's clothing retailer. Paradiso, acting on behalf of itself and other importers of goods, claimed the carriers illegally conspired to fix, raise or maintain surcharges levied after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the first Iraq was in 2003.

As a result of the defendants unlawful conduct and conspiracy, plaintiff and other members of the class paid artificially high surcharges and have been damaged thereby Paradiso said.
In return for agreeing to the settlement and for cooperating by providing documents and information to plaintiff counsel, Qantas was declared exempt from further claims from direct purchasers of its air cargo services to and from the US between 2001 and 2006.
Qantas also revealed the settlements agreed by the other airlines, namely: Air France - KLM $87 million, Lufthansa $85 million, Cargolux Airlines International $35.2 million, Scandinavian Airlines $13.9 million, Japan Airlines $12 million, All Nippon Airways $10.4 million and American Airlines will pay $5 million.
In a statement, Qantas said: Qantas continues to cooperate fully with global antitrust regulators and has resolved its liability(and that of its current employees) in the US, Australia, Canada, Korea and Europe for the improper conduct of its freight division. In each case the fine imposed on Qantas reflected a considerable cooperation discount.
Qantas is now free of such cases in the US but still faces a $200 million class action brought against it in Australia.

Disastrous delays: Guggenheim quits Boeing Deal

2011-02-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

Seattle's aviation asset manager Guggenheim Aviation Partners shows Boeing that time really is money after cancelling its order for two new 747-8 jumbo-freighters, which Boeing has seen delayed until mid-2011.
Boeing suffered an earlier cut in the deal with Guggenheim halving its original 2006 order of four freighters, which have current list prices of US$319.3 million each. Guggenheim reduced the order by 50 per cent in December 2009 because of uncertainty surrounding the timing of the deliveries.
In September 2010 the need to redesign components extended Boeing's year-wait to 18 mouths.
There were a few discoveries we encountered in the early stages of flight test, Bob Saling, commercial aviation services and cargo communications at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told AirCargo News. The programme worked through a buffet experienced at a certain flap setting, a low-frequency vibration within a limited portion of the flight envelope, and an under-performing actuator for the inboard aileron.
The new 747-8 freighter delivery schedule announced in September 2010 followed a thorough assessment of the expected cumulative impact of technical disruptions to certification testing, continues Saling. These technical discoveries, which do not require structural changes to the aircraft. led to disruptions to certification testing, which the programme was unable to offset within the prior schedule.
Boeing is now adding fifth test jet to speed up the work, boosting the initial fleet of three. Under the test programme one 747-8 freighter took to the sky for the first time in early February 2010.
The cancellation was a direct result of the delays and the commercial consequences of those delays, Guggenheim's chief executive officer Steve Rimmer remarks. It's very disappointing for us as we wanted to stay with the programme.
The fifth variant of the aircraft includes new General Electric GEnx-2B67 engines and the longest span Boeing has built to date, measuring 224 ft 7 in (68.5 m)
Boeing says the 747-8 freighter will give cargo operators the lowest operating costs and best economics of any freighter. The aircraft is 76.3m long, which is 5.6 m longer than the 747-400 freighter. The stretch, orginally to add passenger space, provides 16 per cent more revenue cargo volume compared with its predecessor, which translates to an additional four main-deck pallets and three lower-hold pallets.
Boeing originally launched the 747-8 on 14 November 2005 with firm orders for 18 747-8 freighters: 10 from Cargolux of Luxembourg and eight from Nippon Cargo Airlines of Japan.
Our freighter orders have been very stable considering the 2008-2009 air cargo industry downturn, Saling remarks. "The uptorn of 2010 has been very helpful in bringing back aeroplanes that were grounded during the recession and airlines now are returning to profitability. We have a solid backlog of about 140 freighter aircraft, which is a considerable amount of lift for the industry to absorb. In addition, we find that airlines tend to go through a period of profitability before they consider placing further orders.
In addition to Guggenheim well-known cargo movers such as AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Atlas Air, Cathay Pacific, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emirates SkyCargo and Korean Air have ordered the 747-8 freighter.
Boeing experienced a fiery start to the year with allegations from Wikileaks that US diplomats were acting like market agents in trying to get international governments to purchase Boeing aircraft over European rival Airbus.
More Recently Boeing was outpaced by Airbus, which shot to first place in terms of orders for 2010 totalling 644 with a delivery figure of 510, while Boeing reached 625 and 462 respectfully.

Kalitta syes United for negligence

2011-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

KALITTA Air is suing United Air Lines over negligence maintenance that caused one of its engines to break in mid-flight. However, the ownership history of the engine may cause problems to Kalitta's cause.

Papers submitted to the local Michigan court reveal how in 1996 Polar Air contracted United to service repairs on one of its Pratt & Whitney engines. The maintenance also included repairing a high-pressure turbine module. In 1998, Polar placed the engine in storage for five years and then sold it to Kalitta in 2003. The next year, Kalitta removed the module from the engine and installed it on a second engine, which was then installed on one of Kalitta's 747 freighters. A month later, in October, the engine separated from the freighter after take-off from Chicago O'Hare Airport and fell into Lake Michigan, damaging the aircraft doing so.
United admits that its 1996 repairs to the module were negligent, but argues that it had no duty to parties other than Polar, nor any "separate and distinct" duty to subsequent owners.
Kalitta's defence instead claims that mechanic's certification of airworthiness is not valid for any particular period of time into the future."
It's chief mechanic said:"When you affix your signature with your A & P number to a tag or an item, you're saying that you're responsible for it through its life. If something happens to that piece you worked on...yet you still signed it as airworthy and serviceable, then they can come back and do a licensing action on you"

Transmile sells freigters to FedEx

2011-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

MALAYSIA'S Transmile Group is selling off four aircraft to FedEx while it negotiates debt restructuring.
The used aircraft sale and purchase agreement involves four 20-year-old MD-11F aircraft, which have been left idle since April 2008.

Transmile said that the idling of the widebody freighters was costing up to RM1.18 million(US$386,000) a year in parking, storage and maintenance costs.
The RM208.8 million($68.2 million) sale price of the four freighters will be used partially to settle the outstanding debt of the company, which amounted to RM528.9 million ($172.8 million) at 30 September 2010.
The airline reported a net loss of RM135.1 million($44.1 million) in the third quarter of 2010, down from a net profit of RM15 million ($4.9 million) in the same quarter last year when it failed to find buyers for its wide-body aircraft.
Transmile is unlikely to meet its 23 February regularisation-plan deadline although negotiations on debt restructuring by lenders is still some way off finalisation.

Atatürk Airport officials arrested

2011-02-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

FOLLOWING six mouths of police monitoring, Customs officials at Istanbul's main Atatürk Airport have been arrested on charges of bribery.
Police have so far arrested Customs department head Lutfi Ekinci and two other officials.
The Custom officials are charged with giving and receiving bribes and breaking smuggling laws at Atatürk Airport Cargo Customs Center, Ambarli Customs House and several other customs coordinators operating out of the international airport.
Police suspect that officials received kickback payments from companies to help them avoid tax. Another 41 people questioned by police also face prosecution but have been freed while awaiting trial. Detainees included the manager of the Istanbul Customs House, four high-level customs officers, 19 security guards and 10 customs agents.
Investigators say customs officials, both chiefs and petty officers, kept goods from importing companies waiting at the red zone, reserved for goods whose entry into Turkey are legal, and only processed and moved these to the green zone when the company paid. Investigators say each customs official had a minimum bribe quota to fill, assigned to them by their superiors. The money collected by customs officials would then be allocated on a rank bass every week.

Aircastle leases two 747-400Fs

2011-02-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

Two Boeing 747-400 production freighter aircraft bought by Aircastle in November last year have now been delivered on long-term leases.
Russia's AirBridgeCargo Airlines and South Korea's Asiana Airlines secured the leases in late December.
The 747-400F version has 30 pallets on the main deck and 32 LD1 containers in the lowee hold.
Aircastle acquires, leases and sells high-utility commercial jet aircraft to airlines throughout the world. As of 30 September Aircastle's aircraft portfolio consisted of 132 aircraft and had 63 lessees located in 36 countries.

Indian handling contracts labelled "scam"

2011-02-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

CHENNAI International Airport's cargo operations are to go to a private company - Bhadra International - in a move that many are calling a "scam".
"We suspect a huge scam behind this move, which is happening when a major modernisation project at Chennai air cargo, at a cost of US$32 million, is nearing completion," said an executive at the airport unhappy with the decision.
"We have in fact achieved a 15 per cent growth in import and 35 per cent growth in export of cargo consignments in the last 10 months."
He said it was highly suspicious that the former commercial executive director of Airports Authority of India(AAI), R Narayanan, who approved the contract, also happens to have become a vice-president of Bhadra after his retirement.
Another executive, S Basu, said: Higher officials...are literally selling out AAI for their personel benefits and better prospects after retirement.
The airport is undertaking a major modernisation project of its air cargo facilities, including the installation of an automatic storage and retrieval system, making the hub free of manual procedures.
Bhadra's recent award of ground handling at Kolkata airport has brought its own controversy with claims the tender was awarded "flouting all norms by planing fraud and misuse of power" according to an indian politician, Oveyam Ranjan.

Airbus under fire in India

2011-02-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

INDIA'S anti-corruption organisation - the Central Vigilance Commission - has agreed to launch an investigation against Airbus for unfair business practices.
Failed cargo airline project - Flyington Freighters - is behind the commission's decision. The cargo airline was founded in 2006 in Hyderabad and was to be the launch customer of Airbus' new A330-200 freighter in July 2008, having 12 on order.
The freighter type suffered a string of delays and Flyington shut down while waiting. The first A330-200F was then only delivered this August to Etihad Crystal Cargo.
Flyington has been criticising Airbus for its actions ever since the project failed and has been lobbying hard for compensation, which it hopes to gain should the Commission rule in its favour.
An Airbus spokesperson commented We jointly agreed to postpone deliveries of aircraft. We are in ongoing dialogue with the customer.

Malaysia targets ex-MAS Tajuddin for corruption

2011-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

A New investigation is being launched into Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) ex-chairman Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli, over allegations of cargo corruption.
Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC), said: "In view of new evidence surfacing, investigations are under process."
He denied that MACC had "swept the matter under the carper" and confirmed new witness had come forward.
MACC has been trying to successfully prosecute the well-protected Tajuddin ever since MAS reported him to the MACC in 2005. MAS claims he, former MASkargo vice-president Ralph Manfred Gotz, ex-MAS consultant Uwe Juergen Beck and ex-director Wan Aishah Wan Hamid, had been involved i management and financial irregularities costing the company millions of dollars, notably at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport.
MAS lodged a police report against Tajuddin, chairman for seven years, in 2002 for allegedly causing the national carrier to suffer losses in excess of RM8billion(US$2.6 billion).
Part of this was due to the new cargo hub in Hahn, Germany, with losses of RM10-16 million a month.

EVA, China Eastern Cargo merger gets greenlight

2011-02-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

Taiwan's Eva Airways has agreed to buy 16 per cent of China Airlines' cargo division for 328 million yuan(US$49 million). China Eastern is restructuring its freight. operations after its takeover of Shangai Air in January 2010.
As part of the deal, EVA will stop its current joint operations with Shangai Air, of which it owns 25 per cent.
Nothing now stands in the way of the China Eastern consolidating the three airlines' cargo operations China Cargo, Shangai Air's freight business and Great Wall Airlines. China Eastern board secretary, Luo Zhuping, said final approval was expected without any problems but would not reveal any more details of the planned end operations.

"We are bullish about China's cargo market. China Cargo Airlines is a large-scale cargo service provider in China and will provide us an edge[that will benefit our growth in China],"an EVA company spoke person said.
Eva forecasts its cargo business revenue will grow 70 per cent this year. Last year. the carrier's cargo contributed 40 per cent of its total revenue, up from 33 per cent in 2009 from last year. Total revenue for the first three quarters of this year rose to NT$85.4 billion($2.8 billion) from NT$57.4 billion($1.9 billion) in 2009.
As part of its plans, EVA has promoted president James Jeng to vice-chairman and vice-president Chang kuo-Wei to company president.

Stolen Saudi Air Cargo recovered

2011-02-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

NIGERIAN security agents have recovered some of the cargo shipment stolen from a Saudi Air Cargo freighter last month.
The raid at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport, on 10 December, saw three gunmen threatening to shoot any of the ground handlers that resisted, loading the direct data capture (DDC) machines - to be used for the coming election - into jeeps and escaping.
Nigeria's government immediately issued a statement denying three was any political motive to the theft and blamed petty thieves.
"Theft in any airport is normal. It is not acceptable but it is common. What happened was that some petty criminals stole some computers," comments Nigerian politician Femi Fani-Kayode.
Security agents recovered 16 of the 20 stolen Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) DDC machines three days later.
The airport police commissioner blamed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria for not allowing officers to have access to the gate where the theft took palace.
The INEC has had replacement units successfully delivered and the government vowed to force all the relevant agencies to improve security.

Flight test resume on already delayed 787

2011-02-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

BOEING'S next-generation 787 dreamliner has resumed test flights after an electrical fault caused a fire during testing in November. Boeing has now found an "interim" solution to the problem by installing updated power distribution system software.

Scott Fancher, vice-president of the 787 programme, said: Initially, we will resume a series of BOEING tests that remain to be completed in the flight test programme. That testing will be followed later by a resumption of certification testing.
Fancher said the revised delivery schedule for the already heavily delayed aircraft will be announced in January.
Although delayed, demand remains high for the new aircraft model

DoJ tries to block Air New Zealand's evidence

2011-02-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

AIR New Zealand ( Air NZ) is struggling to have evidence it collected from other airline's witnesses submitted in court, despite attempts from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to prevent it.
"Air New Zealand is opposing the department's application in view of the four years the department has already spent investigating and the right of the airline defendants in the civil action to progress their defence,"the company said.
Air NZ, like many other airlines, is alleged to have fixed prices on cargo to and from the US following the September 11 terrorist attack on New York. Some carriers raised fuel charges 1,000 per cent, the DoJ says.
Air New Zealand also faces similar lawsuits in Australia, for fuel surcharges, in the US and Canada for allegendly fixing prices on trans-Pacific routes.
The investigation has netted the US government US$1.6 billion in fines and brought criminal charges against at least 18 airlines and eight executives. China Airlines agreed on 27 September to plead quilty and pay a $40 million fine.
Other airlines that have agreed to pay fines in the investigation are Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, Martinair, Polar Air Cargo and SAS Cargo.

Whistleblower sues Atlas Air for unfair dismissal

2011-02-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

A FORMER Atlas Air executive is suing the airfreight company for allegedly being fired after he complained about illegal practices.

Todd Andaya, former project managing director, said the company dismissed him in November last year when he said the company's financial irregularities " violate federal and state law and constitutes fraud upon Atlas shareholders."
Andaya alleges that in October 2009, his boss, Richard Barnes, vice-president of information systems at Atlas told management, ahead of a public announcement that third-quarter earnings would be stronger than expected and managers could expect bonuses.
"Mr Andaya told Mr Barnes that his disclosure was inappropriate and violated federal securities regulations because managers could trade on this"inside information" prior to earnings call."the lawsuit said.
He had also complained that executives were making improper use of company funds for travel and being paid to work at home but not actually working full days.
Atlas Air spokeswoman Bonnie Rodney said: We take our obligation to abide by all applicable laws and regulations very seriously. We are committed to highest standards of ethics."

Chinese airlines make $1bn in September

2011-02-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

The recovery may be slowing down from its impressive initial gallop, but Chinese airlines are maintaining their lead, earning nearly US$1 billion in September.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), total operating revenue climbed 46 per cent to CNY 27.26 billion($4.1 billion).
September cargo traffic volume increased 9.1 per cent to 515,700 tonnes. This leaves the year-to-date cargo traffic volume up 29.9 per cent to 4.1 million tones.

Ex-JAL Freighters find new home

2011-02-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

LEASING specialist Aircastle has announced that one of its affiliates has agreed to acquire two Boeing 747-400 production freighter aircraft. The aircraft are currently being operated by Japan Airlines(JAL) but are expected to be delivered to Aircastle during the fourth quarter of 2010. Aircastle has already secured executed letters of intent for the lease of both aircraft.
Aircastle chief executive officer, Ron Wainshal, said We are adding two latest-generation freighter aircraft to our fleet to address the strong demand for modern, fuel-efficient cargo capacity. Importantly, we have signed letters of intent for long-term lease of both aircraft with industry-leading cargo carriers. This is a great example of the kind of transaction that allows Aircastle to maintain consistently strong portfolio utilisation and yield.
Meanwhile, it is believed that AirBridgeCargo(ABC) has also taken an ex-JAL B747-400F as part of its growing fleet.

TNT expands fleet with B777 lease deal

2011-02-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

TNT Airways and Guggenheim Aviation Partners have signed an agreement for the delivery and lease of three new Boeing 777-200LR freighters. The first aircraft will be delivered and enter service by July 2011. The other two will enter service by the end of 2011.
The 777 freighters will operate on long-haul routes between Europe and Asia. On these routes, TNT currently operates a fleet of two owned B747-400ERFs and two B747-400ERFs on short-term lease.
The new B777 freighters will reduce TNT's reliance on commercial line-haul and external short-term contract capacity, while providing the capacity required to support the company's growth in Asia.
"We are delighted to have concluded this agreement with Guggenheim for these aircraft and we are thrilled by the prospect of introducing the new type in our fleet," said Niky Terzakis, managing director, TNT Global Air Network. "Like the legacy B747, the B777 is a mature and very successful product and the most fuel-efficient freighter aircraft available, while offering near equivalent performance to our B747 capacity," he added.
"The B777LRF is proving to be a perfect fit for this area of the freight market and will be a great addition to support TNT's future plans," said Steve Rimmer, chief executive officer of Guggenheim.

Returning Garuda strengthens European business

2011-02-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

After a six-year gap in operations, Indonesia's national airline, Garuda Indonesia, has strengthened its foothold in the European air cargo market. Garuda returned to Europe in June with its daily Airbus A330 flights from Amsterdam to Jakarta via Dubai, which have generally been operation at full capacity of 15 tons, higher than forecast.
Mariet Zöllner, managing director of ECS in the Netherlands, Garuda's GSSA, said: We have received a great response form the freight forwarding industry to the opportunity of flying cargo again with Garuda Indonesia. Support for flights has grown since day one. Regular shipments include fresh salmon for both Dubai and Indonesia, mobile telephones, flowers and vegetables and biscuits for Australia!
"Despite its absence from the European market, Garuda has quickly proven it is a well organised airline with a highly educated and experienced team. We look forward to being part of the airline's continued network growth in Europe."
Europe banned all Indonesian airlines from flying within its airspace in June 2007, due to safety concerns, a ban that Garuda vigorously protested as being unwarrented. The ban was lifted in July 2009. Since then the airline has been expanding its global operations, ordering six A330-200s at the Farnborough Airshow in July.

MK Airlines liquidation

2011-02-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

UK-based MK Airlines, forced from the skies earlier this year, has entered liquidation. John Alexander of Carter Baker Winter and Stephen Katz of David Rubin & Partners being named joint liquidation.
The cargo carrier had been struggling financially for several years prior to entering administration for the second time earlier this year.
Launched in 1990, at the end of its life its fleet included eight 747s and three 727s.
Alexander said:"We will be moving quickly to ascertain the exact asset position and we are currently engaging with the secured creditors, airports/landlords and former insolvency office holders. Unsecured creditors will be contracted in due course."
Katz added: "This case represents an exceptionally complex challenge."

Ex-TradeWinds boss wants crooked politician's evidence

2011-02-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

Donald Watkins, former owner of cargo airline TradeWinds, is trying to question a corrupt former Detroit City council member for defending evidence in the ongoing lawsuit two pension boards brought against him.
The pension boards allege that Watkins and his financial advisor Donald Stukes convinced pension trustees to loan them US$30 million to buy TradeWinds, which subsequently went bust seven months later. About $27 million of the cash paid of TradeWinds'debts, $1 million went to Stukes' financial advisory company, ASI Advisors, leaving only $2 million to run the airline. TradeWinds was subsequently bought by Sky Lease One and renamed Sky Lease Cargo.
Now Watkins thinks that former council woman Monica Conyers and Dedan Milton a former aide to ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, have evidence that can help his defence. Both were pension trustees but equally both are currently serving 37 months in prison for bribery. Watkins claims the trustees tried to force him to fund and that he allow National Association for the Advancement of Colored People officials to use his private jet for free.
Although Watkins has a past as a civil rights lawyer he is also well-known for pitching large-scale business ventures only to have them collapse. Forbes magazine dedicated an investigative article on him back in 2002 questioning his claims that he was a billionaire.
Stukes also has a chequered business record.
Watkins denies the claims: The only blemish on my 36-year business career record is the TradeWinds dispute, which was precipitated by my refusal to participate in an unlawful pay-to-pay scheme forced upon me by certain trustees of the Retirement Systems of the City of Detroit and their surrogates.
"I'm not the bad guy in this thing," he added.

B747-8F hit by further delays

2010-11-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Boeing has now confirmed further delays for the 747-8 Freighter with first delivery now expected midyear 2011. The current plan had called for the first deliveries in late 2010 and customers will again be queuing for compensation for yet another delay.To help meet the revised schedule, Boeing has announced it plans to add a fifth airplane to the flight-test fleet.
The new delivery schedule follows an assessment of the expected cumulative impact of significant problems discovered during the initial flight test programme, which include a low-frequency vibration in certain flight conditions and an under performing aileron actuator.
Although Boeing states that neither issue will require structural changes to the airplane, it admits that they have led to disruptions to certification testing and the failure to meet the latest delivery schedule.
"We understand the issues encountered in flight test and are working through the solutions," said Pat Shanahan, vice-president and general manager, airplane programs, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We recognize our customers are eager to add the 747-8 Freighter to their fleets and we understand and regret any impact this schedule change may have on their plans to begin service with the airplane. With that said, the 747-8 Freighter is demonstrating the capabilities our customers need to be successful and we are confident in the value it will bring them upon certification and delivery next year."