Airline Affairs

hours, an Ansett First Officer and an Ansett Flight Engineer. The BASI preliminary report, which was published in late October, said, “The return flight was uneventful until the landing gear was selected down during the final approach. An unsafe landing gear indication was detected by the crew and actions were taken to identify and rectify the fault. The pilot in command subsequently reported that these actions satisfied them that all the landing gear was locked down and that the approach and landing could be continued.” Shortly after the main wheels settled on the runway, the copilot, who was the handling pilot, moved the power levers to the reverse thrust position. In normal sequence, this automatically deployed the ground spoilers and configured the engines for reverse thrust application. At this time, the tower controllers advised the crew that the aircraft’s nose wheel was not extended. Reverse thrust power had not yet been applied. However, since the ground spoilers were deployed and the engines were configured for reverse thrust application, there was no option for the crew to attempt a go-round. The pilots lowered the nose to the runway as the speed decreased and maintained directional control until the aircraft came to a halt. VH-INH slid on its nose section for approximately two aircraft lengths before a well managed evacuation of the aircraft was made via airstairs at the forward passenger door. With an investigation of the aircraft and negligible risk of fire, this was considered the safest means of deboarding passengers under the prevailing weather conditions and minimising the risk of injury. In subsequent examination of the nose landing gear, both BASI and Ansett have found no fault with the system. “Initial investigations have revealed that the nose gear had remained in the locked-up position when the main landing gear extended. These investigations have detected no fault with the landing gear and indication and warning systems,” the official Ansett report stated. “We believe the air driven pump was working. What we don’t know is how much pressure it generated and whether it generated enough pressure to drive the nosewheel down,” stated Ansett General Manager Mr Graeme McMahon in a special briefing to aviation journalists. “The most sensible conclusion we can come to at this present time, is that the (hydraulic) flow did not get to the levels needed after driving the body gear and flaps to get the nose gear down, because we can find nothing wrong with the nose gear system itself.” “Boeing has tested the undercarriage and found no serious fault, which is consistent with our own investigations beforehand,” he said. Graeme McMahon said that the airline’s own enquiries had been completed ‘as best we can’, in light of the fact it did not have access to vital information contained on the CVR. Legislation precludes operators from accessing the CVR as a result of a directive under ANO 27A, Part 5, which states that under court examination of a Cockpit Voice Recording, only court officials and legal parties to the proceedings may attend, with other persons invited only at the court’s discretion and following the approval of pilots and engineers. “Pilots and engineers have to approve the release, and at this point that has not been done,” Mr McMahon commented. “Neither the pilot’s union nor the flight engineer’s union has agreed to the Company having access to it any way, shape or form. We have conducted our investigations somewhat in a vacuum.” A large portion of Ansett’s investigation into the manner in which the flight crew handled the incident has been based on hearsay, with the actual conversations between the crew at the crucial moment of landing gear extension and the detection of a ‘gear unsafe’ warning light held in confidence by BASI unless allowed for release with the permission of the respective unions. “We do know that the crew satisfied themselves that the nosewheel was down. They could have been getting a false indication and as they went through check procedures the crew reached the conclusion that it was a faulty lighting system and that there was nothing wrong with the nosewheel – if that wasn’t the case, why the hell else would you land the aircraft?” Mr McMahon emphasised. It had been impossible to determine whether the lighting system was in fact faulty as a result of the damage sustained to the bulkhead where the systems are located during the accident. In discussing the finding of Ansett’s enquiries, Mr McMahon said that while the airline could find no single contributing factor to the incident, a number of measures had been taken to ensure that there was no recurrence of an accident that could have so significantly damaged the airline’s image at a crucial time in its expansion into the international market. “We’ve had the incident, we didn’t like it, and we don’t want another one.” Ansett has reinforced its cockpit resource management policies to ensure that human factors that may have contributed to the incident are addressed. “As a matter of caution, we have gone over everything we do at Ansett, from top to bottom, and we have reinforced and re-emphasised to our crew that they must do the things that they have been taught to do.” Ansett, under its company policy, requires that the senior captain take control of the aircraft in engine out or in the event of other abnormal situations, which was not the case during the landing of the 747 on this occasion when the First Officer was the manipulating pilot throughout the incident. VH-INH landed at Sydney without having final landing checks completed, resulting in a landing speed more than 20kt (37kmh) in excess of optimum landing speed. While this was not a contributing factor to the incident, it attests to the need for Ansett to tighten cockpit resource management. The airline has placed an additional senior flight officer aboard subsequent 747 flights in an observer capacity to monitor cockpit resource management and to ensure that pilots from differing doctrines and training backgrounds such as those in the case of VH-INH in October last year are able to effectively cooperate and comply with Ansett operating procedures. BASI’s final report is expected in the third quarter of this year.

Continental Returns With Micronesia/Sydney Service

Continental Airlines subsidiary Continental Micronesia will introduce a service between Guam and Sydney from April this year. The airline will operate three round trips per week between the two ports using McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. Continental Airlines itself operated a Guam/Sydney service before it withdrew from Australian routes in October 1993. Continental Micronesia is a consistently profitable offshoot of its parent operating to 26 destinations in the Pacific and will shortly increase this with the introduction of new Guam/Cebu (Philippines) and Seoul services.

World Scheduled Airline Traffic Shows Encouraging Growth

Total scheduled traffic of the world’s airlines in 1994 was 7% above the 1993 traffic and international scheduled traffic was up by 10%, according to preliminary estimates released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). These preliminary estimates indicate that total traffic (international domestic combined) performed by airlines of ICAO’s 183 Member States on scheduled services in 1994 was some 265 billion tonne kilometres. The airlines carried about 1,180 million passengers and nearly 19 million tonnes of freight. Passenger traffic in terms of passenger/kilometres performed rose by about 5% overall in 1994 with an increase of 3% on domestic services and 8% on international services. An encouraging feature of both domestic and international traffic growth was that capacity increases were kept in check and the overall passenger load factor rose significantly for the first time since 1988, reaching 67% though still below the peak level of 68% achieved in the years 1988 through 1990. Freight traffic growth continued to outpace that of passenger traffic, with a tonne-kilometre increase of 14% on international services and 12% overall.

Caledonian Sold

British Airways has sold its charter airline subsidiary Caledonian Airways (formerly British Caledonian) to package holiday company Inspirations. The $33.4m deal comes into effect from March 31 this year and includes Caledonian’s fleet of five Lockheed TriStars. Some of Caledonian’s other aircraft – including three Boeing 757s and two DC-10s – will temporarily remain with BA so its planned northern hemisphere schedules can be met. The BA/Caledonian connection will remain as BA will handle ground handling, engineering and flightcrew services and the two DC-10s will be used for scheduled services from Gatwick to Grand Cayman, Nassau, San Juan and Tampa on behalf of BA. Inspiration markets holidays from Britain to various European and Indian Ocean destinations. Caledonian’s name and golden lion logo will be retained, as will the cabin crews’ tartan uniforms.

Santa’s Propjet Sleigh

Ansett spread a bit of Christmas goodwill to drought stricken outback towns in Queensland and NSW late last year when it donated a Fokker 50 to act in the role of Santa’s sleigh. Crewed by volunteers, the aircraft delivered presents to children in Goondiwindi, Roma, Oakey, Coonabarabran, Walgett, Bourke and Moree. Uncle Reg was undoubtedly looking down with a smile on his face. Ansett’s Christmas benevolence didn’t end there, either, the airline donating $500,000 to the Salvation Army for distribution among needy families during the festive season. Nice one!

Hazelton Introduces Geelong/Sydney Service

Regional operator Hazelton Airlines has started a new service between Geelong (Avalon Airport) and Sydney. The service was jointly announced by the airline and Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), the operator of Avalon Airport. The new service will involve Hazelton basing an aircraft, aircrew plus marketing and passenger service personnel in Geelong and two return flights between the centres are initially scheduled each day. Hazelton believes the service will attract 60,000 passengers in its first year and a 36 passenger Saab 340B twin turboprop will be used.

Impulse Increases Melbourne/Newcastle Frequency

Rapidly expanding regional carrier Impulse Airlines has doubled its weekday flight frequency between Melbourne and Newcastle to four per day in response to strong demand from business travellers. Including its twice daily flights on weekends, Impulse now offers 24 flights per week in each direction on the Melbourne/Newcastle route, an increase of 10 flights or 290 seats (to a total of 1392 seats) each way. To help accommodate the increased frequency, the airline will base a Jetstream 41, four pilots and three flight attendants in Melbourne. The Impulse Transportation Group has also won a five year contract to operate air services for oil and gas producer Santos in South Australia and Queensland. The contract – previously held by National Jet Systems – means that Impulse will operate scheduled services for Santos and its partners using BAe 146, Jetstream and Beech King Air aircraft flying from Adelaide and Brisbane bases.

Continental Retires A300S

Continental Airlines is to immediately ground its fleet of 21 early model Airbus A300B4 widebody twins in an attempt to cut capacity by 10% compared with 1994 levels. The A300s will be replaced by Boeing 737s and MD-80s from the existing fleet. The move is all part of Continental’s desire to reduce capacity and also to save $US150m annually. Service reductions will also be introduced. The fourth quarter of 1994 saw the airline’s capacity increase by 10% but demand grew by under 5%.

Antirunway Politics

A new political party has been formed to oppose the major parties on the issue of Sydney Airport’s controversial new parallel runway. Called the No Aircraft Noise Party, the new organisation will not direct its preferences to any of the major parties but to minor parties and anti runway independent candidates instead. The party’s surveys indicate that up to half the voters in noise affected electorates are likely to vote for an independent who opposes the expansion of the airport. In the March NSW state election the new party could possibly garner a significant protest vote and upset the major parties in a number of key seats.

From A Bright Beginning, A Nightmare Unfolds – A Reader’S Tale

Friday November 4, 1994 – the day planned for the opening of Runway 16L/34R at Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith Airport. Having supported the construction of the third runway, as a frequent traveller, private pilot and aviation enthusiast, I checked my diary to see where I would be. My enthusiasm turned to disappointment as I realised that I would be away, as Chief Engineer of an oil tanker, and of course in all likelihood nowhere near Sydney. Towards the end of October, I flew to Townsville to join my ship. From there we headed south and, you guessed it, purely by coincidence ended up in Sydney on opening day. Not only in Sydney, but alongside the Caltex oil terminal in Botany Bay, aligned with 16L/34R. Armed with my ICOM IC-A20MkII, I was in a perfect position to watch the action. As the official party gathered beside the runway, the Vickers Vimy replica arrived, and was cleared to operate over the bay at 1000ft. After many circuits of the bay, while the tower controller and other traffic attempted to carry out business-as-usual on 07/25, the Vimy was cleared to land, Runway 16L. After a tight right circuit and with the ceremonies on the ground completed, Sydney finally had its much needed and bitterly fought over new runway. As the Vimy vacated via high speed taxiway T3, Qantas 737-476 VH-TJS lined up. There was a short delay while the FAC shepherded the official party back, then TJS made history by thundering down the runway and tracking out on assigned heading of 125 degrees, right over the top of my vantage point. The next morning, the ATIS announced that 34R would be in operation after 1100 LMT. Soon after that, I had a great view of Qantas A300 VH-TAA overhead. The tower broke the temporary airwave silence with; “TAA, the first arrival, welcome to the new runway, clear to land”. As TAA crabbed down to the threshold, fighting the stiff crosswind all the way, I had the feeling that the whingeing about aircraft noise might finally go quietly away. As we are all now painfully aware, I was very, very wrong.

Ansett To Expand International Operations

Ansett Australia is looking to expand its international network to another two key Asian destinations during the second half of this year and to increase frequency on existing services to Hong Kong and Osaka. The carrier is seeking approval from the International Air Services Commission to fly two 747 services a week to Taipei, and approval has already been granted to plan services to Seoul. In increasing its frequency of existing international operations, Hugh Thorburn, Executive Director, International, said that Ansett is seeking to operate an additional two services a week for a total of five to Hong Kong, and increasing the five weekly Osaka flights to daily. Additionally, Ansett has sought to retain the majority of rights previously awarded by the IASC to fly to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. This expansion of international services will require the addition of at least one more 747-300, and the airline is currently evaluating sources from which to draw the new aircraft. Besides Singapore Airlines, from whom it currently leases two Pratt & Whitney JT9D powered 747-300s, Ansett may also be considering Swissair and KLM for series 300 equipment, these airlines already having commercial agreements with the Australian carrier.

Sydney Airport Rail Link Approved

The $600m underground rail link between Sydney Airport and the city has finally got the green light following the successful conclusion of an environmental impact study. Work on the 10km New Southern Railway should begin during the course of this issue. The route is from Central Station via the airport to connect with the East Hills line near Torrella Station. The new line will greatly improve access to the airport as well as help stimulate urban renewal in Sydney’s central industrial areas and provide extra capacity for trains running from the East Hills Campbelltown line. In Melbourne, the proposed rail link between the city and Tullamarine Airport has now been virtually ruled out by the Victorian Government which says there would be insufficient passengers to justify it. Instead, it is proposing to widen the Tullamarine Freeway. The decision has been criticised by Federal Minister for Transport, Laurie Brereton, who wants the Victorian Government to keep its options open as part of an overall scheme to move Melbourne’s train and road freight terminal from Footscray to Tullamarine and to provide a rail link for that.

Quake To Hit Japanese Tourism

The earthquake which all but destroyed the Japanese city of Kobe in January this year is expected to have a serious impact on Japanese tourism to Australia over the next year. Almost half of the 700,000 Japanese tourists who visited Australia last year came from the Kansai region which was affected by the ‘quake and the Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) now expects a significant number of cancellations of individual and group travel plans plus a slowdown in student excursion visits. Company sponsored tours are also expected to be curtailed. According to the ATC, a large part of the impact would be because of the “Japanese tendency to observe restraint and social responsibility in times of need”. As a possible indication of future trends, 30% of passengers booked on outbound flights from Kansai Airport failed to turn up in the days following the disaster. Osaka’s man made island airport was less than 100km from the Kobe earthquake epicentre.

Expensive Mistake

The incident involving the Ansett Boeing 747-300 which landed with its nosewheel up at Sydney Airport last October has reportedly cost the company more than $5m in repairs and related costs. The aircraft was naturally insured but the policy’s excess was $974,000 while the cost of chartering a 747 from Malaysian Airlines for a month was $1.039m and three Qantas aircraft which were chartered in the first week after the crash cost $1.2m. To that must be added the expenses involved in reconfiguring these aircraft, rearranging staff and accommodating the 253 people aboard the 747. On a brighter note the airline reported that there were no international booking cancellations after the incident but says it can’t be sure what effect – if any – it had on domestic bookings.

Qantas Announces Freight Expansion

Qantas will spend $38.5m over the next three years building new freight terminals in Australia and the USA as well as commissioning new equipment and upgrading systems. A new $20m freight terminal at Brisbane will be built and the airline will develop its own $11m facilities at Los Angeles to handle the large number of its flights now arriving there. Los Angeles is rapidly becoming a key port on the alternate freight route to Europe, where Qantas can transfer to other airlines for transport to European cities from its flights. Another $5m will be spent upgrading the Sydney Freight Terminal export dock area, improving security by installing closed circuit television and new fencing and replacing the existing Elevated Track Vehicles (ETVs) for container handling. Qantas recently spent $1m on an express package handling centre at Sydney and will invest a further $2.5m upgrading the Melbourne Freight Terminal. Barcode handling and improved computer systems to track freight and containers will also be introduced.

Malaysia Airlines Expands In Australia

Malaysia Airlines has announced a series of major operational changes and upgrading of its Australian operations to take effect from this March. The changes are: commencement of weekly flights from Cairns to Kuala Lumpur via Darwin, an additional frequency to Perth as well as the phasing in of the new Airbus A330 on that route, upgrading Adelaide services to Boeing 747-400 aircraft and the scheduling of two weekly nonstop flights from Sydney to KL. These initiatives represent an overall increase of about 15% capacity across the company’s operations in the region and come at a time when the airline is celebrating 20 years of services to Australia. Malaysia has operated to all six Australian mainland capital cities since 1990. The upgrading of Adelaide services to the 747-400 is timely as it coincides with British Airways’ decision to withdraw from that city.

Ansett Drops Three Wa Routes

Ansett has abandoned three of its unprofitable WA routes in the face of competition from Qantas’ recently established Airlink operation in the state. Skywest Airlines took over the Perth to Geraldton, Carnarvon and Exmouth routes in late January using Fokker 50 turboprops. Ansett had previously used BAe 146 and Fokker F28 jets on these services.

Amp To Bid For Airports

The AMP Society has launched an infrastructure fund with an initial $600m cash which will see superannuation savings invested into long term (and high risk) investments including Australia’s airports. AMP will jointly bid for the airports in association with British airport operator BAA when they are offered for lease next year. AMP says the fund has the potential to grow to $1.5bn over the next couple of years and the Society also has plans to invest in the Melbourne City Link Tollway and Sydney’s Eastern Distributor.

Ansett Buys Out Flight Engineers

Part of world aviation folklore and one of the great anomalies of modern aviation – the ‘agreement for life’ under which Sir Peter Abeles succumbed to union pressure in the early eighties and declared that any Ansett airliner with more than 120 seats will be flown by a three man crew including a flight engineer – will now cost Ansett large amounts of money as the airline seeks to buy its way out of the agreement. Ansett has offered to buy out its flight engineers with substantial cash payments rather than fit the Boeing 767 it has just obtained from UK operator Britannia Airways with an expensive and unnecessary flight engineer’s station. Ansett’s existing 767-200s are the only ones in the world with this feature thanks to the agreement and as a result are something of a laughing stock in the industry. The flight engineers also wanted to fly on Ansett’s definitely two man Airbus A320s, even though there was absolutely nothing they could contribute to the flight!

Single Airline Pilots’ Union

One of Australia’s longest running industrial problems may soon be solved following the Australian Industrial Relations Commission’s recent decision to allow a single union to represent airline pilots. The situation developed from the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots (AFAP) dispute of 1989, after which pilots formed their own in-house associations. One of these was the Australian International Pilot’s Association (AIPA) formed by Qantas pilots after an internal dispute with the AFAP during the early eighties, and this is the organisation which has been given approval to now represent all pilots. AIPA now also represents Qantas domestic pilots following the merger of Qantas and Australian Airlines. Ansett’s pilots are expected to join the AIPA soon. The decision removes the right of the AFAP to represent mainstream airline pilots and also ends attempts by the Australian Services Union (ASU) to do so.

Air Fares Up Despite Lower Costs

Figures released by the Prices Surveillance Authority (PSA) have revealed that Australian domestic air fares increased by an average 6.3% over the 12 months to September 1994 while the airlines’ fuel prices and air service charges fell. The Sydney/Melbourne route – Australia’s busiest – saw a 9.1% increase in fares in the September 1994 quarter alone. Regardless, the Australian air traveller is still paying an average 23% (in real terms) less than was the case before deregulation and the airlines in turn are enjoying a period of higher yields. Passenger numbers continue to grow with 3.5 million people being carried in the September 1994 quarter, 72% more than in the same quarter of 1990, immediately before deregulation began.

Compass I Employees To Be Paid

Following the winning of a $10m Federal Court judgement by the liquidators of the original Compass Airlines which collapsed in December 1991, former employees are now likely to be paid the $3.5m in wages owing to them in full. The ruling overturns an appeal of an earlier ruling concerning payments made by Compass to the CAA for services between July and December 1991. Sufficient funds will be provided to satisfy the staff claims and the remainder will be distributed among other creditors.

Movement Tax Deferred

The Federal Government’s proposed ‘passenger movement tax’ (intended to replace the departure tax) has been postponed for six months until July this year. It has been realised that the January 1 1995 introduction date for the new tax was completely unrealistic, allowing no time for airlines to put the collection mechanism in place and creating havoc during the peak Christmas holiday period if it had been introduced when planned.

New Qantas Schedules

Qantas will introduce a wide range of changes to its schedules from late March in order to improve connections, relocate aircraft from financially marginal sectors and accommodate growth in other areas. Changes include: the introduction of three new direct services linking Melbourne with Osaka, Manila and Bangkok; six new Boeing 767 services per week between Perth and Sydney to boost capacity and to improve connections to other Australian ports and New Zealand; resume flights to China; end daily connecting flights from London to Manchester; cease the Frankfurt/Paris connecting flight on three days per week; defer plans to cancel one of the two daily flights between Perth and Singapore; and introduce larger capacity aircraft on key services linking Adelaide and Brisbane with Singapore and beyond.

Refurbished Newcastle Airport Opened

The Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe officially opened the refurbished Newcastle airport terminal and facilities in December. Government grants have allowed Newcastle Airport Ltd to completely rebuild and extend the existing terminal building, adding a number of new features including a luggage carousel, small retail and refreshment services and business lounge. Ownership of the airport passed from the Federal Government to the Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Shire in December 1992 who in May 1993 formed Newcastle Airport Limited. During FY91/92 Newcastle had 52,000 passenger movements, whereas in 1994/95 this figure is expected to be in excess of 100,000.

Fac’S Record Profit

The Federal Airports Corporation has posted a record $94m pretax profit on revenues of $457.2m for FY1993/94. The strong result comes from growth in revenue for the period of 6.4%, which after heavy investment in major capital works programmes, brought a 5% growth in pretax profit compared with the previous year. Revenue from commercial trading, including the growing number of airport shop tenants, increased by 7.4%, while income from aeronautical charges grew by 4.9%.

Qantas/Emirates Interline Agreement

Emirates (the international airline of the United Arab Emirates) and Qantas have signed a new agreement ratifying their interline partnership. Emirates has also released new combination fares in conjunction with Qantas from Australian ports to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent via Emirates’ four Asian gateways – Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Manila. The fares cover travel on Qantas to the Asian ports and then by Emirates to the Middle East, Colombo, Male (the Maldives), Cyprus and Istanbul.

Badgerys Vs Wilton – A Look Back In Time

With all the words now being expounded far and wide regarding Badgerys Creek and the Sydney airport fiasco, we thought it was worth reviewing the official DofA review study of 1985 that compared the two favoured sites, Badgerys Creek and Wilton. Other comparisons made interesting reading in hindsight – Badgerys site area is 1770ha against 1440ha for Wilton. Market value of land to be acquired at Badgerys was $31.5m as against just $1.5m for Wilton (1985 dollars). Badgerys displaced some 750 people as against less than 10 at Wilton. On the crucial issue of noise, the population within the 20 ANEF noise contour at Badgerys was 1951 as against 130 at Wilton. About the only areas where Wilton failed was in access to the Sydney CBD. The report estimating average peak hour travel by road from Badgerys to the CBD being 70 minutes against 102 from Wilton. With all of the above data at its fingertips the Government selected Badgerys Creek.

Animal Acts

It was W C Fields (we think) who suggested “never work with animals or children” but some recent incidents suggest that aviation has chosen to ignore his advice. Firstly, an investigation has been ordered by Indian authorities after a cow and buffalo created havoc after wandering onto the aircraft parking area at New Delhi Airport; secondly, a mouse was the cause of the cancellation of an SAS flight from Copenhagen to New York; and thirdly a humdinger regarding penguins. As a part of Qantas’ recent Antarctic trips it had to undertake a strict environmental impact study. Antarctic authorities felt that the penguins would hear the 747, peer up at it, overbalance and topple over onto their collective backs, so Qantas was forbidden to fly anywhere near the known penguin colonies.

Holiday Packages Booming

Ansett is experiencing a boom in package holiday travelling if sales in early 1995 are any indication. Overall, Ansett has reported a 47% increase in sales of the packages compared with last year. Among them: capital city holidays up 77%, Queensland coast up 63%, the Gold Coast up 60%, Adelaide 61%, Perth 33% and Tasmania 30%. Of the company’s 90 domestic holiday destinations, Kakadu is the fastest growing.

Fastest Hub In The West

London’s Gatwick Airport has launched a campaign to compete with European airports such as Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt International to become known as ‘the fastest hub in Europe’. Gatwick has teamed with British Airways and announced that the minimum connection time between BA’s European short haul services at the North Terminal has been cut from 45 to 26 minutes. Meanwhile at London’s other major airport, Heathrow’s fifth terminal is expected to open for business in 2001 or 2002. Construction starts in May this year.

Oaa Predicts Big Profit Rise

The Orient Airlines Association (the umbrella group of the region’s airlines) has predicted that the net profits of its members will increase by 25-35% in 1995. The Association also expects an 8.5 to 9.5% increase in passenger numbers during the year, thanks mainly to the US and European economies improving. The OAA’s 15 member airlines in the Asia-Pacific area now have just over 1000 jet airliners in service between them.

Delta Bans International Smoking

Delta Air Lines has joined a growing list of major airlines to ban smoking on all of its international flights and frequent flier lounges from January 1 this year. Delta took the smoke free step after passenger surveys revealed that four out of five passengers “favour a smoke free environment”. Delta said 24% of respondents who supported a ban were smokers