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Stansted Airport expansion gets go-ahead
Controversial plans for an expansion of Stansted Airport in Essex have been given the go-ahead by the government.
Airport owner BAA wants to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million a year and flights leaving the airport from 241,000 to 264,000 a year.
Objectors said an expansion would damage the environment but some unions said the proposal could bring new jobs.
Uttlesford District Council leader Jim Ketteridge said the decision was a blow for the community.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon made the announcement in a written statement to Parliament on Thursday.
Mr Ketteridge said: "Residents already find the level of aircraft noise extremely disturbing and allowing BAA to increase the amount of air traffic marks a further erosion of our quality of life, particularly for all those living near Stansted Airport." Controversial plans for an expansion of Stansted Airport in Essex have been given the go-ahead by the government. ... more -
LA TRAGEDIA DEL 911 ANTICIPATA SEI MESI DA UNA SERIE TV!
LA TRAGEDIA DEL 911 ANTICIPATA SEI MESI DA UNA SERIE TV!
Il 4 Marzo 2001 (potete verificare la data ovunque) andò in onda sui network televisivi americani, il telefilm "The Lone Gunmen", i cui protagonisti principali sono i "consulenti" di Fox Mulder in "The X-Files", Langly, Byers e Frohike, i cosidetti "Pistoleri Solitari".
Ebbene in questo "spin-off" di X-Files, nella prima puntanta intitolata "Pilot" si trova la "profezia" di un atroce evento che sarebbe avvenuto qualche mese dopo. Nella puntata pilota si vede un Boeing 747 di una comune linea aerea, pieno di passeggeri, dirottato sul... Word Trade Center. Inoltre l’aereo è dirottato “da remoto” sfruttando il pilota automatico e la natura dei mandanti dell’attentato.
Nel telefilm l’attacco sarebbe organizzato da alcuni settori del Governo Federale allo scopo di “giustificare l’aumento delle spese militari e l’attacco ad un paese con un regime non affine agli Stati Uniti“.
E' solo una coincidenza oppure c'è davvero un sospetto (legittimo o meno che sia) che dietro le idee di Chris Carter (ideatore della serie "X Files" e di "The Lone Gunmen") ci sia la supervisione di qualche ente governativo e di "intelligence" USA?
Sopra alcuni spezzoni del telefilm RILEVANTI (in inglese con i sottotitoli in italiano) rispetto ai tragici eventi che sarebbero realmente accaduti 6 mesi dopo...
Commenti? LA TRAGEDIA DEL 911 ANTICIPATA SEI MESI DA UNA SERIE TV! ... more -
Chertoff Stole My Toothpaste
I was Armed to the Teeth!!
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JetBlue delays opening of new JFK terminal
JetBlue is delaying the public opening of their new terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport to Oct. 22 from Oct. 1.
JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Eshelman said the operational opening was delayed to give its Marketplace vendors more time to complete necessary work. The Forest Hills, N.Y.-based carrier said the construction of the terminal was on schedule.
JetBlue Airways Corp. currently operates out of JFK's Terminal 6. The new Terminal 5 is attached to the landmarked TWA terminal that closed in 2001. JetBlue is delaying the public opening of their new terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport to Oct. 22 from Oct. 1. ... more -
Quietest passenger jet on the planet
DESPITE it monstrous size and feted arrival, the latest addition to the Qantas family is the quietest passenger jet on the planet.
Australia welcomes Qantas A380
By Andrew Carswell DESPITE it monstrous size and feted arrival, the latest addition to the Qantas family is the quietest passenger jet on the planet. ... more -
Alitalia airline cancels flights
Alitalia has cancelled a number of flights from Rome's Fiumicino airport, increasing fears that the carrier may soon go into liquidation.
The airline confirmed that a number of flights have been cancelled, but denied it had run out of aviation fuel.
On Thursday, a consortium withdrew a rescue offer for Alitalia due to opposition from trade unions.
Alitalia, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, has warned it is low on cash to buy more fuel.
Reports say between 20 and 30 Alitalia flights have been cancelled.
Alitalia told the AFP news agency that the move was caused by "technical reasons".
The CAI consortium's takeover offer was backed by three of Alitalia's nine unions, but six opposed the plans, due to plans to cut 3,000 jobs.
The Italian government insists that the CAI deal is the only way for Alitalia to avoid liquidation.
"There is no alternative to CAI," said Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi.
"We need to return to the negotiating table because there is no-one else in the race."
There is little the government can now do, as state aid for airlines is illegal under European Union rules.
There were also reports on Friday that Italy's civil aviation authority may ground all Alitalia planes within 10 days from Monday unless the airline can show a new rescue plan.
Under the CAI rescue proposal, the Italian consortium had put forward a 1bn euro ($1.4bn; £790m) offer for the airline.
It wanted Alitalia to merge with Air One, the country's second-largest airline, while its 1.2bn euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia, in which the Italian government holds a 49.9% stake.
In April, plans for the airline to be taken over by Air France-KLM collapsed when unions refused to accept the terms of the deal.
Alitalia shares were suspended in June and the airline is being run by a special administrator following its move into bankruptcy protection last month. Alitalia has cancelled a number of flights from Rome's Fiumicino airport, increasing fears that the carrier may soon go into liqu... more -
Meals on board the aircraft international airlines
German journalist, a professional traveler Till Bartels conducts most of his life in airplanes all kinds of international airlines.
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Will air fares fall as oil drops?
Don't count on it. It's not clear the price relief will last, and airlines are using fuel surcharges to repair their damaged balance sheets.
As crude oil prices jumped over the past two years, airlines and other fuel-dependent companies turned to surcharges as a way to cushion their balance sheets from higher costs. Now, however, crude oil is in the midst of a retreat, dropping briefly below $100 per barrel on Sept. 12. In the past two months, crude has declined by nearly one-third since topping $147 per barrel. In a Sept. 12 client note, Credit Suisse analyst Daniel McKenzie cited crude's "collapse" as one reason he's bullish on the airline industry's deeply discounted stocks.
Lower crude oil prices mean airlines will also drop fuel surcharges, right? Not quite. Jet fuel is still running 40 percent to 50 percent higher than a year ago -- and it's not clear if the price relief will last. "At the moment, airlines are in balance-sheet repair mode, and it is not likely we will see any fuel or base-airfare rollbacks until they recoup some of the major losses of the past year," air fare watcher Rick Seaney of travel site Farecompare.com said in an e-mail. He predicts crude would need to drop by another $20 a barrel or so before airlines begin rolling back fuel fees.
(continued at link) Don't count on it. It's not clear the price relief will last, and airlines are using fuel surcharges to repair their damaged... more -
Alitalia crisis meetings restart
Emergency talks to prevent the collapse of Alitalia have restarted in Rome after the airline warned it may have to start cancelling flights from Monday.
With the airline saying it is running out of money to buy aviation fuel, the government needs to persuade unions to back a deal that involves job cuts.
The only offer on the table is from Italian consortium CAI, which only wants Alitalia's profitable operations.
Unions have so far rejected this deal as it would mean major job losses.
Yet with the only alternative now increasingly looking like Alitalia's total collapse and the loss of all 20,000 jobs, the unions now appear more willing to back down.
(continued at link) Emergency talks to prevent the collapse of Alitalia have restarted in Rome after the airline warned it may have to start cancelling fl... more -
Another British holiday firm K&S Holidays has gone bust
British tourists faced more overseas chaos on Sunday after a travel company specialising in tours to Turkey collapsed and all holidays were cancelled.
The Civil Aviation Authority said K&S Travel, which also trades under the name Travel Turkey, had suspended operations as of Saturday night, affecting about 550 people who are either on vacation or due to depart shortly.
"It's a very small failure, but it's a failure all the same," said a spokesman for the CAA, confirming the closure of the travel company.
K&S Travel could not immediately be reached for comment.
The collapse follows that of XL Leisure Group, which grounded all its flights on Friday, stranding around 85,000 tourists in the United States, Europe, North Africa and the Caribbean.
XL blamed the global economic downturn and volatile fuel prices for its sudden collapse, the latest in a series of failures in the travel industry.
Long queues and emotional scenes continued at airports around the world on Sunday as returning XL passengers tried to find out how they would get home and those due to start holidays realised their plans were in disarray.
The collapse of K&S had immediately affected about 150 tourists, the CAA said, most of them holidaying in the Turkish resort of Bodrum.
When their holidays are over, the CAA said it would charter an aircraft to fly them back to Britain.
A further 400 travellers due to depart on holidays booked through K&S in the coming days are also affected.
The CAA urged them not to travel to the airport to attempt to get flights as the bookings were cancelled, but said they would be entitled to a full refund. British tourists faced more overseas chaos on Sunday after a travel company specialising in tours to Turkey collapsed and all holidays... more -
Warning: 30 airlines will go bust this year
Up to 30 more airlines will go bankrupt before Christmas, the chief executive of British Airways warned yesterday, as the biggest rescue of stranded passengers in travel industry history began.
Willie Walsh said the scenes of chaos in which 85,000 passengers have been stranded at locations around the world after the collapse of XL, Britain's third largest holiday company, would become a familiar sight as the travel industry struggled with soaring fuel costs and the effects of a global economic downturn.
"We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever seen", said Mr Walsh. "We have already seen 30 or so airlines go bust this year and it would be fair to expect a similar number of casualties worldwide over the next three to four months."
Mr Walsh also announced up to 1,400 redundancies at his own airline yesterday.
Travel industry experts said smaller airlines and tour operators were most at risk and warned passengers to book in a way that ensured they got their money back if an airline went bankrupt.
Joseph Thomas, a travel and leisure analyst at Investec, the City stockbroker, said: "XL will not be the last: there have been a number of similar issues recently of smaller tour operators hitting financial difficulties."
John Strickland, an aviation consultant with JLS Consulting, added: "There are carriers in the UK that are not cash-rich like BA or Ryanair and who have not been able to hedge their oil costs. I think there will be other failures in coming months." Up to 30 more airlines will go bankrupt before Christmas, the chief executive of British Airways warned yesterday, as the biggest resc... more -
8-year-old on Terrorist Watchlist appears before Congress
This started when he was 5 years old.
The TSA and the resulting watch-list are complete shams which have no credible basis for selecting and assigning people as terrorists, other than being a costly political band-aid for the Bush administration to have appeared to be doing something to protect against further terror attacks. This started when he was 5 years old. ... more -
Bald-head adverts for NZ airline
New Zealand's national airline is looking for bald passengers to head up a new advertising campaign.
The carrier said it wanted 50 passengers to be "cranial billboards" and publicise a new check-in service on their heads.
The fliers will be offered money to have their pates temporarily tattooed with the message.
The airline said it would pay NZ$1,000 (£380; $666) per head, making it easy money for bald frequent fliers.
The airline's marketing manager Steve Bayliss said in a statement: "How better to tell our customers that Air New Zealand is going to do something about [long check-in queues]... than through messaging they can read while they're standing in a queue themselves?" New Zealand's national airline is looking for bald passengers to head up a new advertising campaign. ... more -
Frequent fliers no longer getting a free ride.
Even if it's their wedding day.
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Boeing Machinists on Strike
(Newser) – Some 27,000 Boeing machinists launched a strike early this morning after failing to reach an agreement with the company on a new contract, reports Reuters. A boisterous crowd of more than 100 workers gathered near the entrance of Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, whistling, honking and waving picket signs as the strike started. The action followed two days of fruitless emergency talks with a federal mediator after the union rejected Boeing's latest offer.
Boeing said it would keep its plants open, but its massive assembly lines and plane production will stop. The strike could cost the company about $100 million in revenue a day. No further talks are planned. Machinists earn about $65,000 a year with overtime. They're seeking a 13% wage hike over three years and a rollback of provisions that allow Boeing to outsource work.
SOURCE Reuters (Newser) – Some 27,000 Boeing machinists launched a strike early this morning after failing to reach an agreement with the company on ... more -
Alitalia has applied for bankruptcy
Troubled Italian airline Alitalia has applied for bankruptcy protection as it tries to agree a deal to ensure its long-term survival. The carrier has sought court protection from its creditors, effectively declaring itself insolvent.
An administrator will be appointed to handle the process, with flights continuing while the firm plans a radical overhaul of its operations.
Losing 2m euros a day, Alitalia has survived on a 300m-euro state loan.
Plans are being drawn up to split the carrier into two and to sell a stake in a new entity to a foreign airline. Troubled Italian airline Alitalia has applied for bankruptcy protection as it tries to agree a deal to ensure its long-term survival. ... more -
Airline removes life vests to save weight and fuel
TORONTO - Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.
Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday that government regulations set by Transport Canada allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests provided the planes remain within 50 nautical miles of shore.
Safety cards in the seat pockets of Jazz aircraft now direct passengers to use the seat cushions as floatation devices.
"The nature of our operations doesn't require that we carry both," Stuart said.
Stuart said Jazz is a transcontinental carrier that doesn't fly over the ocean.
Jazz planes do fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern seaboard from Halifax to Boston and New York.
Stuart said all of Jazz's flights operate within 50 nautical miles of shore. She said they operate 880 flights daily to 85 destinations in North America and that the number of flights operating over water are minimal.
A commercial-style life vest weighs roughly a half-kilogram (1.1 pound), meaning 25 kilograms (55 pounds) would be saved by removing them from a Dash-8 aircraft with 50 seats, the most common aircraft the company uses. TORONTO - Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel. ... more -
Zoom Airlines goes Bust!
The Scottish entrepreneur who founded the collapsed airline Zoom said "anxious" creditors had caused the carrier to fail.
Hugh Boyle, who set up Zoom with his brother John in 2002, said it was a "tragic day" for passengers and staff.
Mr Boyle said the airline had "left no stone unturned" to secure a refinancing package but the actions of creditors meant it could not continue flying.
He said a plane was seized which caused a "domino effect" leading to collapse.
Zoom was founded by Hugh Boyle, who relocated to Canada after making his fortune selling Direct Holidays in 1998.
Financial investment
The airline set up in 2002 as a low-fare transatlantic airline based in Canada's capital city, Ottawa.
It moved into the British market, initially specializing in cheap flights to Canada.
In June last year, the carrier began flights from London Gatwick to New York for as little as £130. In recent weeks, free flights for children were offered on some flights.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Hugh Boyle said: "Obviously it is a very difficult time for airlines as I think everybody will know.
"Zoom was in the process of having a restructuring and a financial investment into the company.
"This, unfortunately, took a bit longer than anticipated.
"Some of our creditors got very anxious and we had a plane seized, which resulted in a domino effect of having to suspend our services."
Separately in a statement, Mr Boyle added: "The collapse of Zoom is a result of matters beyond our control.
"Only last year Zoom Airlines made profit, but that turned into a loss in the last year due to the unprecedented increase in the price of aviation fuel and the economic climate.
"The price of oil resulted in our fuel bill jumping by nearly $50m in one year and we could not recover that from passengers who had already booked their flights." The Scottish entrepreneur who founded the collapsed airline Zoom said "anxious" creditors had caused the carrier to fail. ... more -
Airline removes life vests to save fuel
An official with Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz says the airline is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.
Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday Transport Canada regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests provided the planes remain within 50 miles of shore.
Safety cards in the seat pockets of Jazz aircraft now direct passengers to use the seat cushions as floatation devices.
Stuart says Jazz is a transcontinental carrier that doesn't fly over the ocean.
Jazz planes do fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern seaboard from Halifax to Boston to New York.
Stuart says all of Jazz's flights operate within 50 miles of shore. She says they operate 880 flights daily to 85 destinations in North America and says the number of flights that operate over water are minimal.
A commercial-style life vest weighs roughly a half-kilogram, meaning 25 kilograms would be saved by removing them from a Dash-8 aircraft with 50 seats.
Sounds risky, doesn't it? An official with Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz says the airline is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight an... more
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