AIRPORT NEWS

More drugs seized at Dublin

Irish customs officers at Dublin Airport yesterday (Thursday 14 February) seized 1kg of cocaine valued at US$100,000 (Euro 70,000) in a freight consignment from Canada. The drugs were reportedly concealed in a child’s toy house.

This latest seizure at the airport follows just one day after a 24 year-old UK national was arrested for trying to pass through the airport with 5.5kgs of cannabis, valued at US$97,000 (Euro 66,000). The passenger was remanded in custody.

Mysore upgrade in progress

The first phase of work to turn Mysore airport in India into an international facility will be completed by December this year, paving the way for international flights soon after. Civil works on the runways have already been completed and tenders have been invited for construction of the car parking area and terminal building.

The Karnataka state government has agreed to provide free electricity and water to the airport for the next five years, worth an estimated US$7.5million for the water supply and US$3.6million for the electricity.

The state will also provide the necessary 125-hectare of additional land required for the expansion and upgrading of the airport.

HKIA prepares gold depository

Right: Professor K. C. Chan

A gold depository being built at HongKong International airport will open later this year. According to Professor K. C. Chan, secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Of HongKong Special Administration Region, the facility will be the third major gold depository in the world following the ones in USA and the UK, and will serve to boost Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub.

The precious metals depository will provide a central, secure storage facility for traders, institutional investors, gold producers and refineries, and will serve as a physical settlement platform for trades made on the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange and other Asian markets. The depository will also minimise risk, and reduce settlement time, transportation and insurance costs for the industry.

The depository will initially be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the HongKong Airport Authority (AA), but the authority aims long-term to divest its holding to major users of the depository. To ensure that the depository’s services and physical infrastructure meet industry needs, the AA has established an advisory committee, which is chaired by AA finance director Raymond Lai.

HKIA officials claim the airport is well suited to the establishment of a precious metals depository because it has state-of-the-art security, handles a wide range of high-value cargo and serves 150 destinations worldwide, including 40 cities in mainland China, where demand for gold is expanding rapidly.

Left: A gold depository being built at HongKong International airport

Penang chooses SITA check-in

Penang International, Malaysia’s second largest airport has chosen SITA’s AirportConnect Open system for its passenger check-in service.

Dato’ Sri Chan Kong Choy, Malaysia’s transport minister says, “This agreement with SITA will ensure that our international airport in Penang – the pearl of the orient – will provide the highest levels of services not only to the passengers but to all the international airlines that use the airport.”

The installation at Penang International follows the introduction of advanced self-service facilities by SITA earlier this year at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysia welcomed a record figure of close to 20 million overseas visitors during 2007.

AirportConnect Open is SITA's latest generation IATA CUTE-compliant common use passenger-processing system, which supports CUTE, proprietary and web applications on common use check-in and boarding gate workstations, with shared peripherals.

Elyes M’Rad, regional vice president SITA, says, “The adoption of AirportConnect Open at Penang International Airport will provide not only the airport, but its airline partners, greater operational flexibility and cost reductions because it is a solution that is both cost-effective and scalable. It is the perfect choice for this growing airport.”

In 2007, Penang airport handled more than 3.1 million passengers.

Frankfurt makes good start to year

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) reports a good start to the 2008, with passenger traffic rising by 3.7% in January. A total of 3,957,951 passengers used the FRA international air transportation hub last month.

A 4.6% rise in European traffic proved to be the major force driving growth in FRA’s passenger figures.

The Fraport Group’s six majority-owned airports (Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Hahn, Antalya, Lima, Burgas and Varna) served a total of 5,190,131 passengers in January 2008 - 3.9% more than in the same month last year.

Fraport to take over Bulgarian JV

BM Star, Fraport’s Bulgarian partner in the concession for the Black Sea airports of Varna and Bourgas, has decided to withdraw from the consortium.

The company transferred its shares to majority shareholder Fraport yesterday (14 February 2008) and Tihomir Trifonov, the executive director of the Fraport Twin Star airport management consortium, has stood down from the role.

The consortium won the concession for the Bourgas and Varna airports’ in September 2006, and last month announced a record-breaking 323.2% growth in the number of passengers serviced at Bourgas Airport, compared to the same month of last year.

The increase was caused mainly by the fog problems at Sofia Airport and the re-direction of flights to Bourgas. Varna Airport registered a 3% increase.

Kuwait Airways provides Ground Handling services for Royal Aviation

Kuwait Airways signed an agreement to provide ground handling services for Royal Aviation at Kuwait International Airport, such as passenger and ramp services, engineering services, in addition to cargo handling services.

Kuwait Airways has also renewed some services at Kuwait International Airport, such as "Marahib" service, which provides a special service to travelers and starting from the arrival of the passenger to the airport, both during departures and arrivals.

Emirates invests in RFID trials at three airports

Emirates Airline announced it is partnering with London Heathrow, Dubai International and Hong Kong International airports, to trial the latest RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology in baggage handling. Emirates will be investing close to AED 2 million, to test the effectiveness and benefits of RFID against the existing barcode tracking system.

The largest-ever trial of its kind for the airline industry, some half a million bags on Emirates flights will be tagged with RFID chips over the 6-month duration of the trial.

The Dubai-based airline hopes its investment will help revolutionise the way bags are tracked and monitored, and present innovative solutions to handle the increasing volumes of baggage every year as more people around the world use air travel more frequently.

Dale Griffith, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President Airport Services said: "This is about embracing the latest technology for the benefit of our customers, and we are very glad to be able to embark on this extensive trial together with our airport partners. Our investment in this project is a small price to pay to give our customers greater peace of mind.

"Previous RFID trials by other parties on a smaller scale have shown that the technology almost eliminates scanner ‘misreads’, significantly improving the efficiency of the baggage system and customer experience. We are now applying this on a much larger scale at three major airport hubs, including Emirates’ Dubai home-base, thus allowing the trials to include most possible baggage handling scenarios, including international transit."

With 58 of the double-decked A380 aircraft entering Emirates’ service, each doubling the number of bags handled per aircraft, the airline is keen to find innovative technologies and new ways to improve baggage handling infrastructure and safeguard the level of trust of its customers.

Mr. Griffith added: "We look forward to sharing the results of this trial with IATA, who we know will be following developments closely. If this trial is as successful as we expect, Emirates will be encouraging airports across its network to embrace this technology. This could become a new industry standard for baggage handling."

RFID equipment has been installed at some of Emirates’ check-in desks at the three participating airports. During the trial, trained staff will apply tags containing RFID chips to bags as part of the normal check-in process. The chips contain stored information including the bag unique ID number and route. In addition to the embedded RFID chips, these tags will also continue to display the traditional bar code.

The chips are read as they pass through the airport’s baggage system, enabling effective sorting, security screening and delivery to the aircraft. Arriving bags are read on entry to the baggage system and receipted into the system for effective tracking. Essentially, the chips will enable bags to be tracked at every stage of their journey, and minimise the possibilities for mishandling baggage.

In the future, RFID technology could also make it possible for airlines to send a text-message alert to notify passengers the moment that their luggage has arrived on the baggage carousel - meaning customers will have one less thing to worry about as they begin their holiday or business trip.

Air India and Jet Airways in talks with Boeing for widebody aircraft orders

(XFN-ASIA) US aircraft maker Boeing Co is in talks with India's Jet Airways and Air India over the sale of 60 wide-bodied aircraft, the Business Standard reported quoting company officials. The deals is expected to be valued at USD15 billion.

Dinesh Keskar, Boeing's senior vice-president (sales), told Business Standard, Jet Airways and Air India have firm orders with Boeing for deliveries until 2011 and they are planning beyond that because of expected market growth.

Air India is studying how many aircraft it requires and Jet Airways plans to acquire more wide-bodied aircraft as its international network expands, Business Standard said.

S Venkat, executive director (finance), Air India, told Business Standard the carrier will finalise orders in the next three months.
Jet Airways executive director, Saroj Datta, said the company will take a decision on the number of aircraft it will buy after studying the market situation.

Australia and United States reaches historical “open skies” agreement

The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, announced that Australia and the United States have settled the terms of a new “open skies” air transport agreement.

Australian and US carriers will now be able to operate unlimited services between the two countries, via other countries and beyond to other countries without government interference.

Previously, new entrants to the route were only guaranteed four services weekly, making it difficult for new carriers to start services.

The new agreement will be effective immediately, pending formal approval of the new treaty by the respective Governments.

Key Features of the Agreement:
• Allow carriers unlimited number of services between any city in the two countries and beyond to other countries;
• Facilitate V-Australia’s plans to launch services on the route from late-08, subject to regulatory approvals. It will also make it easier for US carriers, or new Australian carriers, to enter the route, further building competition, and for Qantas and Jetstar to securely plan for future growth;
• Allow cargo only services to exercise seventh freedom rights, operating from the other country to a third country, without the need to pass through that carrier’s home country;
• Provide new opportunities for Australian carriers to transport US government travellers on certain categories of flights after Oct-08.

UK cuts visa price for Chinese tourists

BEIJING – British Ambassador to China, Sir William Ehrman, made a parallel announcement here yesterday as Immigration Minister Liam Byrne announced in London that the UK is to substantially lower the price of its group tourist visa in China. It will be reduce from GBP63 (US$123.60) to GBP44 (RMB660 or US$91.70) for a pilot period of three months from March 3, 2008.

“Our growing relationship with China is of critical importance to UK. Outbound Chinese tourism is growing rapidly and we want the UK to be the destination of choice,” Byrne said.

'The visas system has rigorous controls but we also want to make it as easy as possible for people to visit the UK legally. We are developing a new group tourist visa and it is fitting that we are trialling the lower cost aspects of this in China,' he added.