09 SEP 2009 _______________________________________ *New tracker system to boost (North Sea) offshore air safety *NTSB Proposes Changes For Air Ambulances *Airbus Exec: No Major Plane Deferrals, Cancellations In China *Boeing Projects Asia Pacific Will Be Largest Aviation Market in World *NTSB tells workers to hang up cells *Avianca to retire last MD-80 in early 2010 *Turkish Airlines looks overseas to meet pilot demand **************************************** New tracker system to boost (North Sea) offshore air safety A new helicopter surveillance system will be installed on a number of offshore rigs to track aircrafts travelling over the North Sea. Oil & Gas UK has partnered with the National Air Traffic Services to launch the system, which will allow air-traffic controllers to monitor helicopters on their radar screens at Aberdeen Airport. It will enable the aircrafts to be tracked over a far greater distance from the shore than has previously been possible with shore-based radars. It is hoped that this will reduce the risk of near-miss incidents with other aircraft, and increase the speed and efficiency of search and rescue operations. Initially, the equipment will be installed on the platforms of 16 rigs, which have been divided into a cluster of four rigs, in four separate zones across the sea. Three of the four clusters are currently operational, and flight trials have begun to test the system. It is expected to be fully operational across all four clusters by June 2010. Helicopter Task Group chair, Bob Keiller, believes the system will dramatically improve helicopter safety. He said: "This new system, a key work area of the task group, is a breakthrough in helicopter safety, and it is encouraging to see it going live. Previously, helicopters were lost to land-based radar at about 80 miles from the coast because radar coverage doesn't extend beyond that distance. "The new system uses multilateration to allow flight paths to be tracked all the way to an installation in real time. It is designed to detect aircraft down to 500ft above sea level or better, depending on the helicopter position." RMT union regional organizer, Jake Molloy, welcomed the announcement and described it as an important safety step in the wake of the two North Sea helicopter crashes, which took place earlier this year. He told SHP: "This has got to be considered a positive step forwards and will enhance health and safety. The ability to track aircraft above current limits is welcome news in the wake of these two incidents. "There is a lot of open space in the North Sea and the ability to track the last known location of aircrafts has to be seen as an improvement and could prove crucial during rescue operations." http://www.shponline.co.uk/article.asp?pagename=news&article_id=9217 *************** NTSB Proposes Changes For Air Ambulances NTSB Gives Safety Recommendations For Air Ambulances Just how safe are air ambulances? A federal panel has just released a highly-touted list of ways it says will make the skies safer for helicopters that carry people to the hospital. Will the proposed changes really make a difference? They may. As consumer investigator Jennifer Kraus found, it will likely take a while. When seconds count, a medical helicopter can be the quickest way to get to the hospital. Last year was the deadliest year on record for medical helicopters -- 29 people died in 8 separate accidents across the country. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators studied what went wrong in these deadly crashes and came up with a list of safety recommendations. The NTSB uses medical helicopter services to conduct more pilot training, institute safety management programs, use flight data recorders, night vision goggles and autopilot systems in their choppers. Dr. John Morris heads up Vanderbilt's LifeFlight program which has not had a crash since it started 25 years ago. "The question is, 'How can we save more lives?'" said Morris. "Clearly it gets the entire industry focused on what can we do better and how can we make our industry safer." His concern though is that the NTSB's recommendations are simply recommendations. To make them requirements for all air ambulances, they have to be adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA which oversees all things relating to aviation is notoriously slow. In fact, industry insiders said it will likely be at least another year before the FAA takes action. There are no guarantees the FAA will even do anything with the recommendations. Three years ago, the NTSB came up with its first set of recommendations and the FAA still has not adopted them. Air Evac is another air ambulance service that operates in Middle Tennessee. The NTSB's latest recommendations came almost one year to the day after an Air Evac chopper crashed in Indiana, killing all three crew members. Air Evac's president, Seth Myers, said in the last year, his company has taken steps on its own to make its operation safer, and that it's already taking steps to implement some of the NTSB's ideas. "The NTSB is there to create awareness and, I believe, they've done that. That is their charge, is to make both Congress and the industry and the FAA aware. I believe they've done their part in doing that," said Myers. Others said while awareness is good, action is better and requiring everyone to follow the same rules will help save more lives. "I think these recommendations are a great first step. If we could get these recommendations into rule, we would have a much safer transportation environment nationwide," said Morris. The NTSB also recommended that Medicare only pay for flights run by air ambulance programs that meet certain safety standards established by Medicare. http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11093232 *************** Airbus Exec: No Major Plane Deferrals, Cancellations In China HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--European aircraft maker Airbus has received only "very minimal" requests from Chinese airlines to defer or cancel aircraft orders amid one of the worst ever downturns for the airline industry, a senior company executive said Wednesday. Laurent Rouaud, Airbus' senior vice president for market and product strategy, declined to elaborate on the company's discussions with Chinese airlines, but said order cancellations and deferrals from all its customers have been very low. He also said he believes Airbus' share of the commercial aircraft market in China will rise further from the current 40%, underpinned by its wide range of product offerings suitable for the Chinese market. China's aviation regulator in December urged its airlines to cancel or postpone aircraft deliveries scheduled for 2009 to counter weakening travel amid the global economic slowdown. The Civil Aviation Administration of China also urged Chinese airlines to let their aircraft leasing agreements with foreign companies run out. Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. (EAD.FR), had gross aircraft orders worldwide of 147 from January to August, while net orders during the period totaled 125, showing that "there was a very limited number of cancellations," Rouaud said on the sidelines of the Asian Aerospace conference in Hong Kong. Rouaud said Airbus is confident of meeting its target of signing 300 new orders for the full year, though he acknowledged that it would be a challenging task as the weak global economy continues to depress demand for air travel. By comparison, Airbus signed 900 new aircraft orders in 2008. "We see good signs for a recovery but we remain pretty cautious for 2010," said Rouaud, adding that the company will need to wait until some time next year for a clearer picture of the demand outlook. For this year, he said the manufacturer is on target to deliver 480 planes, after having delivered 320 in the first eight months of 2009. The manufacturer has a backlog of around 3,500 aircraft, translating to around seven years of production. Separately, Rouaud said the company expects to deliver China Southern Airlines Co.'s (1055.HK) first A380 Superjumbo aircraft in 2011. The airline, which is the only Chinese carrier to order the large jet, has five of the planes on order. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090909-702524.html ************* Boeing Projects Asia Pacific Will Be Largest Aviation Market in World Region will invest $1.1 trillion in new airplanes, 35 percent of world value HONG KONG, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) forecasts that the Asia Pacific region will rank as the world's largest aviation market over the next 20 years, requiring 8,960 new commercial jets valued at approximately $1.1 trillion. Asia Pacific is the largest market in the forecast for new airplanes in terms of both units required and market value. "Twenty years from now more than 40 percent of the world's airline traffic will begin, end or take place within the Asia Pacific region," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President - Marketing, Randy Tinseth. "That's a big leap for a region that was not even mentioned in our earliest Boeing market forecasts back in the 1950s." Tinseth said between now and 2028, Asia Pacific air travel will grow from 32 percent of the world market to 41 percent. The Asia Pacific region covers a broad area including Japan, Korea, China, Australia and India and currently accounts for more than 8,300 flights and 1.2 million travelers daily. In less than 10 years, it will be the largest air travel market in the world, according to the Boeing outlook released today in Hong Kong. Travel in the region is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent over the next 20 years. "This is clearly a difficult time in the aviation market, and today's challenges are reflected in the Boeing forecast, but we do expect the growing Asia markets to lead the industry into recovery," said Tinseth. Strong domestic growth in China, India and other emerging Asian nations will contribute to high demand for single-aisle airplanes. Over the 20-year forecast period, more than half of the deliveries, some 5,600, will be single-aisles. With just 330 deliveries, the percentage of the fleet's large category will decrease from 10 to 4 percent as airlines switch to more efficient mid-size twins and even larger single-aisle jets. Airlines in the Asia Pacific region will take delivery of 2,590 twin-aisle airplanes. Regional jet deliveries will total 440. The Asia Pacific fleet will nearly triple from 3,910 to a total of 11,170 airplanes. More than 80 percent of this demand will be for growth. Delivery of new, more fuel-efficient airplanes ensures the region's fleets will remain among the youngest in the world. Boeing's projection also shows the Asia Pacific region as a growth leader in the long-term global air cargo market, with routes within China, within Asia and those connecting Asia to other regions outpacing the global average growth annual rate of 5.4 percent over the next 20 years. "Despite an unprecedented contraction during 2008 and 2009, we remain confident in the strength of the global air cargo market over the long haul," said Jim Edgar, regional director, Cargo Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The air cargo industry is supported by sound fundamentals -- the imperative for speed, consumer product innovation and global industrial interdependence are key drivers -- as well as global GDP projections of about 3 percent annual growth." Asian carriers will add about 750 freighters to the region's fleet to accommodate growth and airplane retirements, about 27 percent of the world requirement - second only to the more mature, but slower growing, North America market. More information on the Asia Pacific market forecast can be found at: www.boeing.com/cmo http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS55364+09-Sep-2009+PRN2009090 9 *************** NTSB tells workers to hang up cells By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON - The people who investigate the nation's most high-profile transportation accidents must now practice what they preach: They will no longer be allowed to use cellphones while driving. Debbie Hersman, the new chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said Tuesday that employees of the agency are barred from using any wireless device behind the wheel while on duty. The restriction applies whether the device is hands-free or not. The action appears to make the NTSB the first federal agency to adopt an outright ban of wireless devices while driving, according to the agency and highway safety experts. It also puts stricter rules on NTSB employees than the citizens of all 50 states. The NTSB, which investigates accidents but has no regulatory authority, has issued several recommendations to state and federal agencies in recent years calling for restrictions on wireless devices for motor vehicle drivers and train operators. A collision last year between two trains in Chatsworth, Calif., has been linked to text messages sent by the conductor of one train. The crash killed 25 people. "Our own investigations have confirmed what safety researchers know," Hersman said in remarks delivered at her swearing in. "Using a telephone or other electronic device while driving, even with a hands-free kit, significantly increases the risk of an accident. ... We must lead by example." Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, called it "a best practice that we want to see emulated." Such bans make sense, but questions remain about how to enforce them, said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which studies how to reduce the risk of crashes. Seven states plus the District of Columbia ban use of handheld cellphones while driving, but drivers can make calls on hands-free devices. Research shows drivers talking on any type of cellphone are at greater risk of an accident, said Arthur Goodwin, senior research associate at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. Hersman said she had been an enthusiastic user of her cellphone in the car, but the growing number of accidents linked to the devices persuaded her to change. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2009-09-08-ntsb_N.htm ************** Avianca to retire last MD-80 in early 2010 Avianca is planning to phase out its last Boeing MD-80 in the first quarter of next year and will also retire its last Boeing 757 in 2010. When deciding in 2007 to replace its fleet of 16 MD-80s with new Airbus A320s the Colombian carrier set a retirement date of December 2010. This was moved up to December 2009 last year when Avianca decided to accelerate its A320 deliveries but CEO Fabio Villegas says the last three MD-80s will now be phased out in the first quarter of next year. Villegas says Avianca is now operating nine MD-80s and six of these will be replaced by A320s scheduled for delivery before the end of 2009. According to Flightglobal's ACAS database Avianca now operates four A319s and four A320s. Villegas says the carrier will have 16 A319/320s in its fleet by year-end and will receive 10 more next year, including seven for Avianca and three for Brazilian sister carrier OceanAir. As part of the same Airbus order placed in 2007, Avianca also now operates four A330s with a fifth to be delivered later this year and five more to be delivered from 2011. Villegas says under the original delivery schedule from the roughly 60-aircraft order placed with Airbus in 2007, Avianca was only going to take about five aircraft per year but was able to accelerate the intake to eight last year, 13 this year and 10 next year. "With the level of demand that Airbus had at that time they could only provide four or five airplanes per year. [But with the economic crisis] a lot of airlines have [deferred slots] and we have been able to accelerate dramatically the re-fleeting programme," Villegas told ATI sister publication Airline Business Magazine in an interview last month. "The case for us was clear. We are not growing and this is not additional fleet. What we are doing is changing old fleet for new fleet. The aim is basically to increase the financial operational margin and reduce the operational cost. Re-fleeting for us and accelerating the re-fleeting program is part of the solution itself to the crisis." Villegas says Avianca had the flexibility to accelerate A320 deliveries because it owned eight of its MD-80s. He says its leased MD-80s are being returned as originally scheduled at the expiration of their leases while the owned aircraft are now being phased out faster. Villegas says the eight owned aircraft will be sold. Avianca earlier this year announced a deal with BAE Systems' asset management arm to handle the remarketing of its MD-80s. Villegas says the accelerated A320 delivery schedule also has allowed Avianca to speed up the retirement of its 757s. ACAS lists Avianca as still operating six 757s. "Basically next year we'll get rid of them," Villegas says. He adds Avianca owns only one of its 757s. He says this aircraft will be sold or could be operated by another carrier in the Synergy Group. In addition to Avianca, Synergy owns OceanAir and Ecuador's VIPSA and has been negotiating a potential acquisition of a majority stake in 757 Ecuadorean operator AeroGal. Avianca for several years has been using MD-80s in two-class configuration on domestic trunk routes and short to medium-haul international routes while the 757s have been used mainly on medium-haul international routes. The MD-80s and 757s are being mainly replaced by A320s while A319s have been used to open new medium-haul international routes such as Bogota to Santo Domingo and Washington Dulles. The MD-80 has been the backbone to Colombia's air transport network for several years, operating most flights on the main domestic routes as well as several of the main international routes including Miami. Only three three years ago there were over 30 of the type operating in Colombia. But when the last Avianca MD-80 is retired early next year it will mark the end of an era in Colombia as the country's other major domestic carrier, Aero Republica, plans to retire its last MD-80 late this year. Aero Republica, which previously operated an all MD-80 fleet consisting of about 15 aircraft, will have an all E-190 fleet at year-end also consisting of 15 aircraft. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Turkish Airlines looks overseas to meet pilot demand Turkish Airlines has outlined a requirement for over 150 foreign pilots in order to meet expansion demands. The airline has around 1,500 pilots but the board is to allow foreign pilots to account for at least 10% of its crew complement. Turkish Airlines chairman of the board Candan Karlitekin says: "We need minimum 150 foreign captains and first officers to continue our growth." Captains will make up the greater proportion of hired pilots. Karlitekin says: "We could take pilots from the other carriers in Turkey. But this would affect other companies' operations." He adds that Turkish Airlines intends to expand the training capacity of its flight academy to assist with recruitment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC