Airport Carbon Accreditation program grows in Europe

by Chris Owen on

Europe’s Airport Carbon Accreditation program is now boasting fifty-five major European airports as members and making a significant dent in carbon emissions. The voluntary program has a four-level rating system that assesses and recognizes the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions to achieve carbon neutral operations for all emissions over which the airport has control.

“It is clearly helping to move European aviation onto a more sustainable footing,” European Union Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told the Associated Press. “Genuine progress on greening transport … can only occur when the regulator’s work is complemented by citizens and businesses taking action of their own.”

Airports are changing airport vehicles to electric or hybrid power, installing solar panels to generate the airport’s own electricity, and involving the entire airport operation. Airlines, air traffic control, ground handlers, baggage handlers, catering companies, refueling trucks, passenger shuttle transport, airport maintenance services, emergency services, police, border control and retailers are all held accountable and encouraged to make a positive impact.

Aircraft engines are probably what we think of as major contributors to the carbon emission tally. At participating airports, specific taxiing techniques are used to reduce fuel burn. Apparently, common taxiing routes are not always the most fuel efficient, especially if the aircraft has to overcome steep taxiway elevations, sits still waiting for cross traffic to clear and/or many sharp turns.

Like some cruise ships, ground power is provided to parked aircraft. Instead of having them leave their engines running, aircraft plug in to land power, further reducing emissions and possibly making for more breathable cabin air quality too.

The 55 major European airports participating in the Airport Carbon Accreditation program account for over half of all passenger traffic from Europe’s 400 plus aviation facilities. That’s up from 43 accredited airports last year who achieved a reduction of 729,689 tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to removing around 180,000 cars from the roads.

Participating airports include London’s Gatwick and Heathrow; Frankfurt; Munich; Amsterdam; Brussels; Zurich; Geneva; and others.




Flickr photo by Christoph Mendt

American Airlines to cut jobs, work remaining force harder

by Chris Owen on

Update: 3:33PM EST: American expects to lay off “400 pilots, 2,300 flight attendants, 1,400 management and support staff positions and 8,800 ground workers and mechanics.” source

American Airlines parent company AMR is expected to lay out the company’s plan for moving forward from bankruptcy today and the news is not good. American Airlines may cut between 10,000 and 15,000 jobs across the company, outsourcing aircraft maintenance in a bid to keep flying.

“The surprise is going to be big and it’s going to be bloody and it’s going to be nasty,” Vicki Bryan, a bond analyst at Gimme Credit LLC in New York, told Business Week adding 10,000 jobs “is not unreasonable.” The airline will have to cut as much as $2 billion to gain competitive labor costs, more than the $800 million AMR estimated, she said.

Reporting a $904 million loss in December, American employs about 74,000 full- and part-time workers plus 14,000 at regional carrier American Eagle.

In December, Gadling noted the bankruptcy made American “among the last of the legacy carriers to finally concede to ultra-competitive pricing and sky high oil prices. It’s a sad day for stockholders, but like many of the fallen giants they’ll pick themselves up, dust off and continue to operate — albeit a little bit leaner.”

In addition to job cuts, American probably will want employees to work more hours and pay more for healthcare, while compensation stays the same or increases slightly,William Swelbar, an aviation research engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told Business Week.
“It’s clear we have to be a more nimble, flexible and efficient airline in order to compete successfully and be consistently profitable,” said Bruce Hicks, an AMR spokesman. “Before discussing publicly any of our proposed changes, we will first meet with the leaders of the unions.”

Union representatives have called a 4 p.m. news conference to discuss AMR’s plans.



[flickr image via ellenm1]

Disclosure rules have airlines mad with good reason

by Chris Owen on

New airfare disclosure rules from the U.S. Department of Transportation went into effect this week requiring airlines to include all taxes and mandatory fees in the quoted airfare price. The new transparency should not affect the end price airfare, but lets consumers know up front what the total price will be. Travelers like it. Airlines don’t and say the rule discriminates against air travel over other travel options.

“For the consumer, this is obviously very good,” travel consultant Monika Dysart told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s full disclosure of the fare upfront, instead of letting you get to the airport thinking you got a good deal and then having another $100 or $200 [added],”

Spirit Airlines, home of the $9 fare (which really is not once other fees are added) isn’t happy with the new rule and has a big “Warning!” sign that pops up on the carrier’s website making that quite clear.

“We’re against these new regulations because we actually think it reduces transparency,” Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza told Time this week. “We think it makes it harder for consumers to understand what they’re paying for.”Spirit believes that with the total price on display up front, it looks like airlines are raising their prices which could drive away consumers, something a low-cost airline can not afford.

Spirit Airlines is not the only airline that objected to the new regulations. Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air have also made legal appeals to have the new disclosure rule overturned saying the rule singles out airlines.

“Our main objection … is that there is no justification for treating air travel differently from just about everything else that consumers purchase, i.e. they pay for the price of goods and services and then pay tax. And that’s how everything is advertised, as the price of the item separately from the tax on that price,” Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King told CNN last month.

Before the new rule took effect this week, airlines could advertise the base fare of a ticket, adding in taxes and fees later in the shopping process, much like other travel options still do.

Cruise lines almost universally advertise “teaser” rates that represent the least expensive accommodations from a complex matrix of choices, difficult for consumers to sort out. Travel agents are commonly put in the position of explaining that the cruise fare a consumer wants is available on one particular sailing, on one ship, in accommodations they might not care for…and that taxes are not included in that price too.

Hotels commonly add other fees later in the buying process as well. Tour operators boast attractive low prices that are rarely the end price consumers pay.

Airlines surely have a point that they are indeed being singled out, but the new regulations have good intentions.

“Airline passengers have rights, and they should be able to expect fair and reasonable treatment when booking a trip and when they fly,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Outcomemag. “The new passenger protections taking effect this week are a continuation of our effort to help air travelers receive the respect they deserve.”

Image: Spirit Airlines


Presidential hopeful promises travel to the Moon, Mars

by Chris Owen on

Renewed interest in travel to the Moon and Mars? It was just the song that Florida voters wanted to hear. After a virtual grounding of the U.S. space program not long ago, the promise yesterday by republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich to bring multiple daily launches to Florida was music to their ears. A permanent base on the Moon and new technology that would enable quick flights to Mars sweetened the deal.

“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American,” said Gingrich at a rally in Cocoa on Florida’s Spacecoast reports Spaceflight Now.

To pay for that and more, Gingrich suggested setting aside 10 percent of NASA’s budget (about $1 billion) for prize incentives aimed at the commercial space sector with a focus on developing new technology (warp drive?) to make flight faster.

Continuing his grandiose plan, Gingrich added “We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism and manufacturing and are designed to create a robust industry precisely on the model of the development of the airlines in the 1930s because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and Russians will never come anywhere close to matching.”If that plan happens, there is no shortage of commercial operations that might be in line for that cash. But the space community, operating in the real world, has been headed in a different direction, already funding commercial space ventures.

In preparation for the future, NASA has awarded $millions to several private contractors in the last few years for the construction of space taxi’s able to fly to the International Space Station now that the shuttles have been retired.

Called the Commercial Crew Development Program, NASA’s goal in 2011’s round of grants was “to accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities and reduce the gap in American human spaceflight capability. Through this activity, NASA also may be able to spur economic growth as potential new space markets are created,” the space agency said in a press release at the time.

One such new market already has a player. Space Adventures already has experience as the only company to have booked and offered commercial space travel, delivering astronauts to the International Space Station for a round-trip price of $150 million.

“The moon holds a special place in all of our hearts. It’s a symbol of the space future that humanity wishes for, a symbol of our curiosity, and something that we see every night. When the private moon mission launches, the eyes of the world will truly be upon those people, and it will truly be an extraordinary event,” Eric Anderson of Space Adventures told International Business News.

Tapping that special place in our hearts, election year politics or a viable plan, fans of space travel liked what he had to say.

“I’m prepared to invest the prestige of the presidency in communicating and building a nationwide movement in favor of space,” Gingrich said at a meeting of aerospace executives and community leaders after the rally.

“If we do it right, it’ll be wild and it will be just the most fun you’ve ever seen,” he said.



Flickr photo by Gage Skidmore

Southwest airline interior evolves, gets planet-friendly

by Chris Owen on

Called Evolve: The New Southwest Interior, Southwest Airlines introduced a new cabin layout this week at their Dallas headquarters. Due to be rolled out fleet-wide over the next year, the plan will cut 635 pounds off each plane and add six seats per aircraft in an eco-friendly way.

Many of the new developments were fabricated using products and manufacturing processes that favor the environment and the initial environmental savings reach far into the future. Products used are significantly more durable and recyclable so less replacement and repair will be needed.

Rather than replace seats, new seating materials are fitted to the existing seat frames and traditional carpets are replaced easier-to-repair carpet tiles. Even new seat back trays are made of recyclable, durable aluminum.

Big win for passengers: New seats designs emphasize and increase personal space.

“A low profile cushion combined with fixed wing headrests are geared to position customers down and back into the seat, reducing the need to recline to begin with and provided better ergonomics,”reports NYC Aviation.




Photo: Southwest Airlines