Airline Division News Items
Airline Division Advisory Board of Directors Meeting Held in Washington
A two day meeting was held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Presentation were made to the group by several IBT departments including Capital Strategies, Organizing, Safety and Health, and Benefits describing their activities and support they are giving to the Airline Division. Presentations were also made regarding our new pilots group from Atlas and Polar airlines and a new state-of-the-art communications system named "Cubeless" that Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition is working on for us which will facilitate communication throughout the Airline Division membership. A number of other Airline Division issues were also discussed.
TSA to Require New Badges
Robert Rausch of Local 19 in Houston reported on new identification badges TSA will be requiring around the country. Currently four pilot airport authorities including Houston are involved with the new system known as the Customs and Border Protection Airport Security Access system. The badges will be required of all personnel working at airports and will be color coded to indicate to which areas access is allowed. (E.g. ramp, runway and taxiway, etc.) Applications for the badges which are good for two years will include a requirement that you provide information as to any arrests whether a conviction resulted or not in the U.S. or any other country after your 16th birthday.
Next Gen Funding Added at Last Minute
At the eleventh hour $200 million of funding was added to the stimulus bill. After the House and Senate came together in Conference to write the final stimulus bill that was passed last Friday, the conferees added the Next Gen funding. It was added at 10:20 PM and the bill was passed at 11:00 PM.
Colonial Life Voluntary Benefit Program Sign Up Will Be in March
US Airline Customer Service Agents will be able to sign up for short-term disability insurance at Phoenix during the month of March. Colonial Life benefits counselors will also be offering accident insurance, cancer insurance and life insurance. Look for posters in break areas for more specific meeting dates and times.
Week in Review News Items
Aviation Industry Job Losses
U.S. airlines shed nearly 28,000 jobs in 2008 as carriers reduced their flying, their airplane fleets and their workforces, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Wednesday. Delta Air Lines said this week it's giving buyouts to 2,100 workers who have applied, and may eliminate even more jobs. Last year, Delta cut 4,000 jobs. Things are getting so bad that the Business Travel Coalition is trying to help travel professionals who have lost jobs or think they are about to be laid off. "tVillage Talent Connections" is a service project to aid staffers around the world via the LinkedIn professional networking site, at no cost.
Outsourcing
Paul Ferber, a professor of political science at Rochester Institute of Technology, makes excellent points about the way major airlines have "outsourced" much of their flying to small regional and commuter airlines, some of which we board without having any idea of which corporate entity is actually flying the plane. He also has cogent things to say about the way the airlines have blithely cut service to many cities.
Aviation Safety
The recent crash of a Continental Connection flight near Buffalo and the water landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River in New York have a lot of travelers thinking more about safety these days. But while accidents involving passenger aircraft worldwide increased slightly last year, the rate of fatalities dropped. A re-creation of the last moments of the plane that crashed in Buffalo, based on data from the "black boxes," shows that the crew may have overreacted to an automatic system that was trying to protect the aircraft from flying too slowly and crashing from an aerodynamic stall. Unrelated to the accident, a problem with the instrument landing system at the Buffalo airport can cause airplanes to move suddenly to a nose-up position, a pilots' union warned on Thursday.
Business Class Demand Falloff
Airlines sold far fewer business and first class seats in December, though economy travel in the Christmas period was buoyed somewhat by tickets bought before economic gloom set in. The International Air Transport Association said premium traffic was 13.3 percent lower in December than the same month in 2007, following the 11.5 percent year-on-year drop seen in November. "This precipitous fall has been driven by the abrupt decline in business activity and international trade around the world," IATA said in its latest Premium Traffic Monitor.
Demand Deterioration Impacts Aircraft Manufacturing, Workers
Boeing and Airbus may not be able to deliver more than half of the aircraft they will produce in 2009. Airlines are struggling to secure financing for their 2009 deliveries and for many it no longer makes commercial sense to take delivery of additional aircraft. And Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer said on Thursday it will lay off about 20 percent of its workforce around the world and cut its delivery forecast for this year, citing a sharp downturn in the aviation market amid the global economic crisis.
Southwest Adds Boston
Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. said it plans to begin flying out of Logan International Airport by the fall, a long-awaited move that could drive down airfares for Boston passengers. In an interview with the Boston Globe, chief executive Gary Kelly said the airline is planning "a conservative launch" with between eight and 12 daily departures from Logan.
Bill of Rights for Fliers Still Stalled
This month marks the second anniversary of the Valentine's Day massacre for JetBlue Airways, which prompted demands for Uncle Sam to take airlines to task for mistreating travelers. JetBlue blundered into an operational meltdown during a blizzard at its John F. Kennedy International hub. More than 1,000 passengers on nine flights were stranded. The debacle gave momentum to advocates of a federal passenger bill of rights. The effort stalled in Congress, largely because of pushback from the airlines.