News From Around The World

Richard Maslen April 20, 2011

RYANAIR TO TRIAL RESERVED SEATING

Irish budget carrier Ryanair has announced that it will trial a reserved seating service on its Dublin - Malaga and Dublin - Gatwick routes from May 16. The pre-booked service will cost £10 (each way) including priority boarding, and will allow passengers to pre reserve seats in the front two rows, for a prompt exit on arrival, or in over wing rows (16 and 17) which provide greater leg-room. Alongside this option, Ryanair will continue to offer its Priority Boarding service for £4, with priority and reserved seating passengers requested to board the aircraft first. “If this new service proves popular with passengers then we will roll it out selectively on other Ryanair routes in the coming months,” said an airline spokesman.

MOZAMBIQUE CARRIERS BANNED FROM EUROPEAN AIRSPACE

The European Commission has this week adopted the 17th revision of its airline ‘blacklist’, removing four all-cargo air carriers from Indonesia and one air carrier from Ukraine but adding all operators from Mozambique and two aircraft of Air Madagascar. This update removes the previous ban on the operations of Cardig Air, Republic Express, Asia Link and Air Maleo. This is due, according to the Commission, “to solid enforcement action taken by the Indonesian authorities to ensure that their operations are safe”. Restrictions on Ukrainian airline UMAir have also been removed after “solid evidence showed its performance had improved”. However, all air carriers certified in Mozambique have been banned from flying into the EU, due to “significant deficiencies faced by the civil aviation authorities of this country”. The Commission has also imposed restrictions on the two Boeing 767s operated by Air Madagascar “given the persisting deficiencies in their operation and oversight”. The updated European list includes all carriers certified in 21 states, accounting for 269 known air carriers, whose operations are fully banned in the European Union: Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon (with the exception of three carriers which operate under restrictions and conditions), Indonesia (with the exception of six carriers), Kazakhstan (with the exception of one carrier which operates under restrictions and conditions), the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia. The list also includes three individual carriers: Blue Wing Airlines from Surinam, Meridian Airways from Ghana, and Silverback Cargo Freighters from Rwanda and ten air carriers which are allowed to operate into the EU under strict restrictions and subject to conditions: Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Air Koryo from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Airlift International from Ghana; Air Service Comores, Afrijet, Gabon Airlines and SN2AG from Gabon; Iran Air; TAAG Angolan Airlines; and Air Madagascar. “The Commission is ready to work together with the authorities of those countries which have safety problems to overcome them as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” said Siim Kallas, the Commission Vice-President, responsible for transport. “In the meantime, safety comes first. We cannot afford any compromise in this area. Where we have evidence inside or outside the European Union that air carriers are not performing safe operations we must act to exclude any risks to safety.” On a positive note, the Commission has acknowledged that the authorities of Angola, Cambodia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have intensified their efforts to enforce international safety standards.

NORWEGIAN REPORTS POSITIVE UPTAKE FOR IN-FLIGHT WIFI

Low-cost carrier Norwegian has revealed that it has received a warm welcome from passengers to its free in-flight WiFi offering. The airline is one of the first in its segment to offer such a service, introducing the high-speed broadband service in February this year. This summer it plans to have eleven aircraft ‘online’, rising to 21 by the end of the year, but all new aircraft will be enabled for the product. “We’re overwhelmed by the response among our passengers and are gradually installing WiFi on all of our new aircraft,” said Hans Petter Aanby, Chief Technology Officer, Norwegian. “This is a product that no other airline in Europe is currently offering, which gives us a huge competitive advantage.” Norwegian reports that on some flights more than half the passengers went online – simultaneously, with a record high on the Oslo-Alicante flight on April 14 when 87 passengers were logged on at 30,000 ft. Demand is very different according to route, says Norwegian, with WiFi well used on flights between Oslo and Geneva. However, Oslo-London, Oslo-Dubai, Oslo-Alicante, Stockholm-London and Las Palmas-Stockholm are other routes where the uptake his high. “Our passengers will soon be able to see in the booking process whether the aircraft has WiFi,” added Petter Aanby.

UK CAA SETS OUR PERFORMANCE BASED NAVIGATION POLICY

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has this week published proposed policy guidance on Performance-based Navigation (PBN) in UK and Irish Airspace. The document is a key component of the CAA’s Future Airspace Strategy, designed to help UK airspace evolve to meet future demands. The PBN concept was developed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and moves aviation away from the traditional use of aircraft navigating by ground based beacons to a system more reliant on airborne technology, including use of global navigation satellite systems. PBN sets the level of accuracy, integrity and availability that the aircraft’s navigation systems will have to meet as well as the required functionality. This will allow the implementation of airspace structures that takes advantage of more accurate navigation, meaning that aircraft will be able to fly more direct routes more efficiently, resulting in reduced delays and environmental gains. The new policy has been developed by an industry group led by the CAA, which includes the Irish Aviation Authority, NATS, MoD, Airport Operators Association, EuroControl and the major UK airlines, reflecting the joint working arrangements within the UK and Irish Functional Airspace Block. It sets the framework around which PBN can be applied as well as providing the regulatory framework to enable Air Navigation Service Providers to implement the system.

RECORD TRAFFIC AT HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL

Flight movements at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in March increased by 15.5 per cent compared with last year to a monthly high of 28,140, according to latest statistics from the Asian airport. Notably, a new single-day record of 971 flight movements was also set on March 31, breaking the previous record achieved on April 20, 2008. HKIA also handled a total of 4.2 million passengers and 369,000 tonnes of cargo during the month, representing increases of 1.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively compared to March 2010. The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by Hong Kong resident travel, which registered an increase of 6 per cent over the same period last year. Passenger traffic to/ from South East Asia and the Mainland also performed particularly well. The growth in cargo tonnage was attributed primarily to the respective 7 per cent and 8 per cent growth in exports and transshipments, while imports grew by 4 per cent in March. Cargo to and from North America continued its strong momentum with double-digit year-on-year growth. Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said the strong increase in flight movements was attributable to airlines increasing flights on the back of robust economy of the region, while the moderate growth in passenger traffic reflected partly the high growth rate in March last year and the immediate aftermath of the recent earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan, which has led airlines to reduce flights to Japan quickly. "Airlines around the world will continue to reduce flights to Japan until the nuclear threat is cleared. In the case of Hong Kong-based airlines, we have seen capacity being redeployed from Japan to other destinations in the region, which is why we continue to see reasonable increase in flight movements at HKIA. T he situation with Japan may persist for a while, but we remain cautiously optimistic that the aviation market in general will continue to grow," he added.