Flight Safety Information January 3, 2014 - No. 003 In This Issue 5 Things to Expect from the Aviation Industry in 2014 Chinese Copter Rescues 52 From Ship in Antarctic Ice New Year's Snowstorm Cripples Northeast Travel, Grounds Nearly 3,000 Flights Aircraft in 'hijack mode' lands safely in Aspen Twenty Advanced Aircraft To Join Saudia Fleet Think ARGUS PROS 5 Things to Expect from the Aviation Industry in 2014 If 2013 was the year of the world's largest airline merger, then 2014 will be the year of the Wright Amendment. The end of flight restrictions at Dallas Love Field will be among the top stories to watch in the local airline and aviation industry in 2014. Here's what we'll be watching. The Wright Amendment For 35 years, the Wright Amendment has restricted flights from Dallas Love Field to several nearby states. But starting in October, carriers can fly anywhere in the U.S. from Love. Southwest Airlines, which dominates the 20-gate airport, will likely alter its flight schedule to include trips to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles instead of flying a dozen times a day to Houston or San Antonio. Delta Air Lines has announced plans to add four cities to its operations at Love. But it remains to be seen how the changes will affect fares on competing flights at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. American merger The deal is finally done and now the hard work begins to bring together American Airlines and US Airways. The airlines, which completed their merger in December, are combining two operations into the world's largest carrier. US Airways is expected to drop out of United Airlines' Star Alliance and join American's Oneworld group in the first quarter. Customers will also be able to earn and burn frequent-flier miles on each airline this month. Most of the major technology integration is unlikely to happen until 2015, but the airline's new leadership will need to tackle thousands of policies and processes this year. New leader at DFW After 19 years of Jeff Fegan's steady leadership, DFW Airport has a new pilot at the helm. Former Virgin Australia executive Sean Donohue took over the top spot in late October and hasn't made any significant changes yet. But in 2014, Donohue will face renewed competition from Love Field when the Wright Amendment ends and will try to keep cost overruns in check on the airport's $2.3 billion terminal renovation project. Cellphones on planes The Federal Aviation Administration appears poised to allow fliers to make cellphone calls during flights. Several carriers, including Delta and Southwest, have publicly said they won't allow cellphone use. But if the government does allow calls, it will be interesting to see which carriers let their travelers yak all they want. Airline profits 2012 was a good year for airlines. 2013 was even better. Could 2014 be the best ever? The International Air Transport Association said it expects global airlines to earn a net profit of $19.7 billion in 2014 on revenue of $743 billion. If that occurs, it will be the largest profit for the airline industry, the association said. Passenger demand is expanding in the 5 to 6 percent range, and passengers are paying more in ancillary fees, which help boost revenue. http://skift.com/2014/01/02/5-things-to-expect-from-the-aviation-industry-in-2014/ Back to Top Chinese Copter Rescues 52 From Ship in Antarctic Ice A helicopter from the nearby Chinese icebreaker Xue Long arrived to pick up the first batch of passengers from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy. LONDON - In a dramatic operation displaying unusual international harmony in one of the world's most remote and inhospitable places, a red-and-white Chinese helicopter on Thursday rescued 52 passengers trapped for more than a week aboard an icebound Russian research ship in Antarctica, ferrying them a dozen at a time to an Australian icebreaker. Passengers linked arms and stamped out a helicopter landing site. The twin-rotor helicopter, based on a Chinese icebreaker, the Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, flew several sorties across miles of packed ice to pluck scientists, tourists and journalists from a landing zone next to the marooned vessel, the Akademik Shokalskiy. The blue-hulled Russian ship was surrounded by such dense and extensive pack ice that it could not move, and vessels designed to break through ice could not get near. Images from the people being rescued showed them smiling as they walked single file across the ice to a landing area that had been cleared by passengers and crew members to enable the helicopter to touch down. Other images on the Internet showed crew members hauling sleds with luggage. As the rescue got underway with the arrival of the Chinese helicopter, Chris Turney, a leader of the research expedition and a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said in a message on Twitter that the Chinese helicopter had arrived. "It's 100% we're off!" he wrote. "A huge thanks to all." The rescue was closely followed around the world by scientists and others, with journalists on board sending progress reports as the passengers were lifted to safety aboard the Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis. Before the operation began, rescuers said they were worried that the weather would turn bad and prevent the helicopter from flying. The captain of the Snow Eagle, Jia Shuliang, told the Chinese state news agency Xinhua that the rescue would take five or six flights and last three or four hours if conditions were good. "We must be patient and wait until the adverse weather improves, as poor visibility could lead to tragedy under the current conditions of limited navigation," he said before the first flight. But, several hours later, Dr. Turney sent another message on Twitter saying, "We've made it to the Aurora Australis safe and sound." The Australian Maritime Safety Agency, which coordinated the rescue, said the crew of the Aurora Australis had confirmed that the 52 passengers were on board. The ship is to take the rescued passengers to the Australian island state of Tasmania, arriving there in mid- January. The 22 crew members of the Russian research ship planned to stay on board until the ice releases its grip. The ship is well stocked for a long voyage, passengers said. The 233-foot Russian research ship has been lodged in the ice since Dec. 24, when powerful winds encircled it with pack ice near Cape de la Motte, about 1,700 miles south of Hobart, Tasmania. The ship had set sail from Bluff, New Zealand, on Dec. 8, embarking on a planned monthlong voyage known as the Australasian Antarctic Expedition to study changes to the environment of East Antarctica since an Australian geologist, Douglas Mawson, surveyed the region a century ago. Efforts to rescue the passengers began when the Aurora Australis was diverted from a resupply operation at an Australian Antarctic base. But the ship was unable to break through and risked becoming stuck itself, according to Australian maritime authorities. The Xue Long failed in a similar attempt on Saturday but remained in the area. The Chinese ship was about two months into a five-month Antarctic expedition. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/world/antarctica-ship.html?_r=0 Back to Top New Year's Snowstorm Cripples Northeast Travel, Grounds Nearly 3,000 Flights A major New Year's snowstorm barreled across the Midwest Thursday and into the densely populated Northeast Corridor, carrying with it enough of a punch to blanket areas from New York to Boston with more than a foot of snow. "During Thursday and Thursday night, the storm will affect 20 states with more than 120 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined, and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities," Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist at Accuweather, noted Thursday afternoon. Sosnowski said that it would be far from the worst blizzard to ever hit the area, "but people should be prepared for flight delays and cancellations because of direct and indirect impacts from the far-reaching storm." Winter storm warnings and weather advisories stretched from Illinois to Georgia and up the Eastern Seaboard to Maine. While the worst of the storm is expected to be over by Friday morning, meteorologists said lingering winds and icy roads could muck up travel well into the evening. Blizzard conditions and wind gusts as high as 50 mph were pounding some spots Thursday afternoon, with several Massachusetts towns witnessing snow falling at a rate of two inches per hour. Over in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a statewide state of emergency Thursday, urging residents to stay off the roads. Many highways in New York like I-84, I-87 South and the Long Island Expressway will close from midnight until 5 a.m. Friday morning. Authorities elsewhere told drivers to expect low visibility and hazardous conditions on major roadways like I-90 and I-95. AAA estimated that 94.5 million Americans would journey 50 miles or more away from home for the year-end holiday season. More than 90 percent traveled by car, and many were expected to return home Thursday and Friday. Flight Cancellations And Airline Change Policies The powerful winter snowstorm had canceled more than 2,100 flights within, into or out of the United States by Thursday evening, according to Houston-based airline tracking service FlightAware. Regional carrier ExpressJet, which operates through capacity purchase agreements as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, reported the most cancellations, with 425 flights nixed from its schedule. American Eagle (325), Southwest Airlines (240), United Airlines (196) and Chautauqua Airlines (149) all showed more than one hundred cancellations due to the storm. Thursday's disruptions hit passengers flying out of Chicago O'Hare, Newark Liberty, Cleveland-Hopkins and Philadelphia the hardest. Airlines slashed another 840 flights scheduled for Friday, and those cancellations will also affect passengers flying out of Boston Logan and New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. As it has become an industry standard with most major storms, U.S. carriers are offering waivers that allow customers headed into and out of affected airports to change flights free of charge. U.S. Airways issued a travel advisory that covers 21 airports from Pennsylvania to Maine. Passengers scheduled to travel on Jan. 2 or Jan. 3 can make one fee-free change for dates through Jan. 8. The winter weather also prompted American Airlines to offer fee-free changes on flights into or out of 11 airports from Harrisburg, Pa., to Boston. Travelers can fly instead on any date through Jan. 8. Delta Air Lines will allow fliers headed into or out of airports in eight Northeastern states to reschedule flights at no charge for travel on or before Jan. 8. Changes to origins and destinations, however, may result in an increase in fare to include any difference in price between the original ticket and new ticket. Passengers scheduled to fly home from their year-end vacation on United Airlines through Jan. 5 can also rebook free of charge if departing from or arriving to one of nearly two-dozen airports from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Maine. Customers must complete their final travel by the end of the ticket's validity. JetBlue announced that it would waive change fees due to the inclement weather for flights Thursday and Friday into and out of 17 airports from Washington, D.C. to Buffalo. Customers must rebook for travel through Jan. 9 prior to the departure of their originally scheduled flight. Spirit Airlines initiated a "weather buster policy" for Atlantic City, Boston, New York, Latrobe, Niagara Falls and Philadelphia that allows customers holding reservations for travel to, from or through affected airports to change their reservations without fear of penalty for flights through Jan. 10. Southwest Airlines also issued a travel advisory for the winter storm, though the 17 affected airports all have separate policies for fee-free changes. All major carriers said Thursday that they would offer refunds to those whose flights are canceled outright or delayed significantly. They also advised travelers to check their respective websites and local weather forecasts before making the trip to the airport. http://www.ibtimes.com/new-years-snowstorm-cripples-northeast-travel-grounds-nearly-3000-flights- 1525476 Back to Top Aircraft in 'hijack mode' lands safely in Aspen ASPEN, Colo. - Pitkin County authorities said a private plane gave an indication it was in "hijack mode" shortly before it landed at Sardy Field Thursday afternoon. The airport control tower attempted to contact the aircraft before it landed, but the efforts were unsuccessful. Six Pitkin County deputies, an Airport Rescue Firefighting vehicle, and Aspen Airport Operations personnel were waiting when the Gulfstream aircraft touched down at about 1:30 p.m.. Three people were on board the aircraft: two pilots and a flight attendant. A search of the aircraft yielded no other individuals on board. The activation of the aircraft's transponder in "hijack mode" was found to be accidental, the sheriff's office said. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/aircraft-in-hijack-mode-lands-safely-in-aspen Back to Top Twenty Advanced Aircraft To Join Saudia Fleet Airline also plans to privitize serveral major divisions. Jan. 02--JEDDAH -- Efforts are underway to privatize four major sectors of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) this year, including Prince Sultan Aviation Academy and Saudia Private Airline. Abdullah Al-Ajhar, vice president for public relations, said two other units earmarked for privatization in 2014 include medical services, which include a 400-bed hospital, and Saudi Airlines Real Estate Development Company. Saudia has already privatized five units including catering, cargo, ground services and Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries. "This year will witness the privatization of about 70 to 80 percent of our strategic units." He said the privatization efforts have enabled the organization to increase its revenues. The profits of ground services reached SR600 million while the Catering Company makes a profit of SR400 to SR600 million. Saudia cargo makes similar profits. Speaking to Arab News, Al-Ajhar disclosed Saudia's plan to purchase 35 new aircraft to beef up services in the domestic sector. The airline aims to transport 22 million passengers between Saudi cities by 2020. "We are still in the planning stage. We have yet to determine the model and size of the new aircraft," he said. He said Saudia would receive the remaining 20 aircraft of a previous 90-plane order within two years. "These aircraft will have three classes and their business class will have sleeper beds." Al-Ajhar called 2013 a year of outstanding achievements for the company. "We have transported a record 25 million passengers in 2013 and expect to carry more than 26 million in 2014. The addition of 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft to the fleet is another major achievement," he said. He highlighted Saudia's efforts to improve services by upgrading its IT infrastructure and expanding self- service systems. "There has been a 300 percent increase in the number of website users while our electronic sales have grown to SR2.7 billion." Al-Ajhar said there were no serious complaints from customers about the airline's services. "A survey conducted among passengers last year found that customer satisfaction was above 90 percent," he said. Saudia's Facebook page reached 1 million hits this week. http://www.aviationpros.com/news/11287974/advanced-aircraft-to-join-saudia-fleet Curt Lewis