Neha Jain: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

http://canadianaviationnews.blogspot.com/ 31

Porter Air at the Toronto Island Airport. - Air Canada is set to join Porter Airlines at the Toronto Island airport on May 1. | Peter Power/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

1. Tunnel would save island airport passengers four minutes, report says
A proposed $50-million pedestrian tunnel linking Toronto’s waterfront to the island airport will save air passengers about four minutes waiting time before their flights, compared with using the ferry.

That’s among the conclusions of a city-commissioned report into Billy Bishop airport, where growing business-commuter traffic is raising the hackles of some community activists.
The newly released report, by international aviation consultants Airbiz.aero, used computer modelling to determine that a passenger using the proposed underwater tunnel would wait just over five minutes for check-in and security screening, on average.

Passengers on the free ferry, which runs every 15 minutes, wait just over nine minutes at check-in and security.

“The ferry has the impact of accumulating passengers which then result in excessive wait times ... by creating artificial 15 minute peaks based on the arrival-departure of the ferry,” says a draft copy of the report, dated Feb. 3.

“A pedestrian tunnel would somewhat reduce congestion at the terminal by introducing a steady flow of passengers.”

The draft was obtained by The Canadian Press under Ontario’s freedom-of-information legislation.

2. Seeds of a new energy industry

New fuel standards are driving demand for biodiesel plants, but hopes hinge on subsidies

EDMONTON — Adding vegetable oil to diesel will soon be the law across Canada, and with millions of hectares planted in canola, Alberta stands to be a big winner in the push to produce the green fuel.

But backers of proposed plants in Vegreville and Lloydminster, two huge projects that could supply half the Canadian market, are still hoping to get production credits from a federal EcoEnergy program which was exhausted in October.

They and other proponents hope funds already set aside but not used — because the winners can’t get their projects launched — will become available under the March 22 federal budget and redistributed.

“I am optimistic something will happen to encourage new domestic production. Certainly farm groups and federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz have been huge supporters,” said Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.

“Since the announcement of the EcoEnergy program in 2007, not a single industrial-scale biodiesel facility (producing more than 100 million litres per year) has been built.”

The federal government intends to make a two-per-cent biodiesel (called B2) addition to petroleum diesel mandatory on July 1. Manitoba and B.C. already do that, and Alberta will insist on the B2 standard starting on April 1.

It’s a different story with ethanol added to gasoline. The demand created by the five-per-cent blend (which also comes into effect in Alberta on April 1) will be fully met by Canadian plants operating or under construction.

Alberta has biofuel production credits of between nine and 13 cents per litre under an extension of its biofuel program which also begins April 1. The federal EcoEnergy credits are 10 cents per litre.

Together, the federal/provincial aid would be enough to level the playing field with the United States, which offers its producers a $1-a-gallon blending credit (about 25 cents a litre).

Under free trade, U.S. biodiesel produced from American corn or soy can enter Canada, and it offers petroleum firms here a subsidized product for blending.

And that is what has been happening in B.C. and Manitoba, and will continue until Canada can supply its own market.

Many American plants are waiting to go online as more states enact biodiesel requirements. In 2009, U.S. production was 1.7 billion litres, but there was capacity for 5.9 billion litres. Canada will need one billion litres under the B2 blending standard, but currently produces only about 150 million litres in several small plants.

“The federal producer credits would be worth $100 million over five years to us,” said Darrell Michaels, president of Biostreet Canada Inc., which is ready to go with its 237-million-litre-a-year plant in Vegreville.

“So we might export, too. In Europe their biodiesel mandate is 10 per cent and there is a lot of demand, but they need their land for food production. In Alberta there is always lots of green (subgrade) canola available.”

With all its permits and engineering in place, Biostreet fully expected it would receive its EcoEnergy production credits last year, which would have allowed it to arrange financing and begin construction almost immediately.

“We were further down the road than anyone in Western Canada. The feds said they would tell us in April, then May, then in October they said they were out of money.”

So Biostreet has gone back over its financial projections and, with the Alberta credit and more investors, it hopes to get the project underway this year.

It’s a similar story in Lloydminster. Canadian Bioenergy plans to build a plant to produce up to 265 million litres a year in a joint venture with agri-foods giant Archer Daniels Midland.

“Alberta is the most attractive place to build. On the ethanol side you have wheat supply, and on the biodiesel side you have canola and animal fat,” said Doug Hooper, chief executive of Bioenergy.

3. $50m tunnel to Tto island airport to save four minutes: report

OTTAWA - A proposed $50-million pedestrian tunnel linking Toronto's waterfront to the island airport will save air passengers about four minutes waiting time before their flights, compared with using the ferry.
That's among the conclusions of a city-commissioned report into Billy Bishop airport, where growing business-commuter traffic is raising the hackles of some community activists.
The newly released report, by international aviation consultants Airbiz.aero, used computer modelling to determine that a passenger using the proposed underwater tunnel would wait just over five minutes for check-in and security screening, on average.
Passengers on the free ferry, which runs every 15 minutes, wait just over nine minutes at check-in and security.
"The ferry has the impact of accumulating passengers which then result in excessive wait times ... by creating artificial 15 minute peaks based on the arrival-departure of the ferry," says a draft copy of the report, dated Feb. 3.
"A pedestrian tunnel would somewhat reduce congestion at the terminal by introducing a steady flow of passengers."
The draft was obtained by The Canadian Press under Ontario's freedom-of-information legislation.
To pay for the proposed tunnel, the airport last summer added $5 to the $15 fee it previously charged for each passenger on an outgoing flight. About 1.2 million people flew from Billy Bishop in 2010, almost all with Porter Airlines Inc. Air Canada is set to begin some competing flights to Montreal on May 1.
A spokesman for the federally operated Toronto Port Authority, which is responsible for the facility, defended the additional $5 charge to save four minutes.
"In the world of aviation every second counts, not least to our business travellers, who often fly specifically from our Billy Bishop (airport) so they can leave their meeting and get to their flights in a matter of minutes," said president and CEO Geoffrey Wilson.
"The ferry, while consistent, is currently the only method of accessing the airport and if there are inclement weather conditions it could, and on occasion has, been delayed."
The port authority plans to continue regular ferry service even after construction of the tunnel.
The head of a local group opposed to the island airport said the new report raises basic questions about the need for a tunnel.
"Spending what appears to be upwards of $50 million for a bit of smoothing of passenger flow to the island airport is an incredible waste of public assets," said Brian Iler, chairman of CommunityAir.
"Will passengers really use a facility that requires them to take an elevator down six stories, travel across through the tunnel, and take another elevator back up, when the ferry is right there — or will be in a few minutes?"
The Airbiz.aero report also endorsed the findings of a previous review, by Jacobs Consultancy Canada, that said a daily cap of 202 "slots" — that is, the right to land or take off 202 times in one day — was reasonable, based on noise-level restrictions and other factors.
Jets are not permitted at the airport, to help dampen noise in an area that's home to thousands of downtown residents.
Airbiz.aero said the pedestrian tunnel will not lead to expanded service at Billy Bishop, as community activists had claimed, because a restriction on the length of the main runway already sets a limit on the amount of air traffic.
The federal Transport Department last month introduced a draft regulation to expressly permit construction of a pedestrian tunnel, to eliminate any doubt about the current regulations, which prohibit a "fixed link." The deadline for feedback was March 4.
The current regulations date from May 2005, when the previous Liberal government acceded to local political opposition to a proposed bridge to the island airport, and prohibited construction of "a bridge or similar fixed link."
Newly elected Toronto mayor Rob Ford has said he supports construction of a pedestrian tunnel.
The Toronto Port Authority, which has said the tunnel could cost between $50 million and $60 million, has not yet hired a contractor as it awaits the new regulation from Transport Canada.
The Airbiz.aero report says the tunnel will require additional infrastructure at the waterfront to better accommodate the flow of pedestrians and other traffic.

NEHA JAIN

International Airlines Training Expo

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http://newzealandaviationnews.blogspot.com/31

1. Richard Simmons’ Air New Zealand Video Goes Viral

Most regular air travelers tune out when the safety briefing begins, but Air New Zealand is doing anything it can to keep passengers interested — even if that means neon lycra, nudity, celebrities and the company’s chief executive playing the fool.

The latest safety video from the airline, which is majority-owned by the government, features celebrity fitness guru Richard Simmons and the presenter of “The Amazing Race,” Phil Keoghan, and has become an Internet sensation, featuring in the YouTube charts since it was launched this week.

2. Hawaiian Airlines redesigning lobby, changing check-in process

Hawaiian Airlines is redesigning its two ticket lobbies at Honolulu Airport in a $6 million project that will expedite the check-in process and eliminate the need to wait in line for a separate baggage agricultural inspection.

The renovation, which already is under way, is being funded by Hawaiian and is not part of the state's 12-year, $2.3 billion renovation program. It is expected to be completed in June.

Hawaiian, the only occupant of the interisland terminal, is removing its traditional check-in counter in favor of six check-in islands in the middle of the lobbies. Each of the six islands has eight agent-assisted, self-service check-in stations for a total of 48. The stations can be used to check in for all interisland, mainland and international flights.

The check-in stations also provide for the weighing of luggage, payment of any fees for upgrades and other services, and printing of destination luggage tags with assistance from Hawaiian's customer service agents.

When the check-in process is complete, customers will place their checked luggage at one end of a single conveyor belt that is located behind the old check-in counter. That belt will incorporate U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection, baggage security screening and the loading of bags onto the customers' flight. The single belt eliminates the current requirement to have luggage being checked to destinations outside Hawaii pre-screened by USDA before starting the check-in process.

Each lobby also will have two special service desks that will be staffed for special needs or transactions.

"Hawaiian is bringing a dramatic transformation to the check-in process at our Honolulu hub that Hawaii residents and visitors alike will find to be a faster, easier and superior experience," Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said. "We have made it a priority to provide a standard of service that leads the airline industry, and this new lobby design is a quantum leap forward from the traditional check-in process that travelers are used to."

Hawaiian said the new design resulted from two years of industry research and motion studies that it conducted to find a solution to long lines and bottlenecks during busy periods and speed up the check-in process.

"Our design is patterned after one that was recently introduced by Air New Zealand in New Zealand," Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said. "The company spent two years studying the best practices and doing time and motion studies of the foot traffic in our own terminal in order to come up with the best design."

Even though check-in time will be faster, Wagner said the airline still encourages customers to give themselves ample time to complete the process and to allow for contingencies.

"With the open floor plan, customers have basically 48 options," Wagner said. "They walk up to the first available station and then they're off and running."

In the current configuration, customers have to line up for a particular flight and wait their turn to use anywhere from four to six kiosks for that flight.

"In the new design, any of the 48 is available to you," Wagner said. "It's just a matter of walking up to the first available station."

NZ security chief gives insight into earthquake aftermath
31 Mar 2011
Doug Nancarrow
The head of New Zealand’s aviation security entity provided some insight into the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake when he was in Canberra for a conference this week.
CEO of Aviation Security Service of New Zealand, Mark Everitt, gave delegates some very human perspective:
Japan may have made us pale into insignificance somewhat, but the reality is this. We are a country of four and half million people and we’ve got to pay for a $16 billion earthquake to rebuild one of our cities. So for us the scale of change is probably very much the same.
I’ve got 164 staff at Christchurch airport, two on maternity leave, and I know each and very one of them now very well.
The earthquake hit just before one o’clock, the early shift was just finishing, a very busy time with international departures for us. The terminal was moderately damaged during the course of the earthquake and our base at the airport was quite extensively damaged. There were no injuries apart from one broken elbow of a security officer who was knocked to the ground in the terminal. ..
There was one air traffic controller killed. She was in a café in the city having lunch, the earthquake hit, she ran outside, she spoke to some people on the street, the earthquake stopped, she remembered her cell phone, she went back into the café and the café collapsed…
Of the 164 staff, 16 of them have lost their homes, totally destroyed, while the others have had varying amounts of damage to their houses. And the aftershocks, like a 5.1 last Sunday night, are continuing to erode people’s properties. And some of my staff say to me, Mark I haven’t bothered to claim yet because I’m watching my house being slowly destroyed by the aftershocks…
This is going to be five years. You think about when you smash a glass, you lament about that for a minute, then you clean it up and get on with life. But in Christchurch they don’t. In Christchurch if the sherry glasses are smashed on the floor, they did clean them up, but now they just sweep the glass into the corner, because it’s going to happen again. And they have little hangars of chairs where they put the crockery and favourite things underneath.
And of course some people are still going home at night to no power and no water.
So here is an old English city, with a very sophisticated lifestyle, and this is what they are going through at the moment.
I’ve given my staff earthquake leave. Who would ever think you’d be giving people earthquake leave? We’ve given then six days leave, forcing them away from the airport; and we’re bringing staff from other parts of New Zealand and that’s going to cost us over a million dollars. We are going to do it over a three-week cycle so that every shift gets six days off so they can go home and reflect on the things that they should be doing in their life rather than coming to work. And they have been coming to work. And the wives and partners of our people have been walking to the airport because they don’t feel safe in the home by themselves.
And now that our badly damaged base is half-repaired it’s turned into a community centre. We have campervans for the people whose homes have been destroyed and for those people who want to borrow them to take them away to get out of Christchurch for a little bit of time.
So there are these very simple welfare sorts of things that we are trying to achieve in the short term. But in the long term I don’t know some of the answers. We are obviously using psychologists to help us with that process…
With the airport itself, the priority immediately from the Government …was to get the airport open again. And security was a very big part of that.
There was water under the terminal… but it was decided within a couple of hours that the terminal could operate again, but in the international phase only. There were parts of the domestic terminal that were damaged sufficiently that it wasn’t good to operate from that location.
So we were operating in international mode, so passengers turning up for flights for several days, because Air New Zealand put 747s at Christchurch and just evacuated people for $50. If you wanted to get out of town, there was a 747 at the airport. If you didn’t have $50 you turned up to a community centre and you went on a bus to the airport and they flew you out on a Hercules. If you had 50 bucks and just wanted to go away for a holiday to Auckland for a weekend, you turned up at the airport and there was a 747 every couple of hours…
But these people had to operate in international mode, so we were applying the LAGs regime within a few hours of having a major earthquake, because that was the only way we could keep the terminal operating.
Interestingly enough it took several days for the passengers to say why are we having these international requirements when we’re only hopping on a plane to go to Auckland. It was because the structure couldn’t cope any other way…
So the airport was back up and running, it hasn’t closed since, hasn’t closed during all the aftershocks. The Airways Corporation got themselves going again in terms of the upper airspace management, although I think they are still operating at only about 75 per cent capacity.

3. Air New Zealand launches comedy inflight safety video

Air New Zealand passengers who weren’t scared of flying before certainly will be now after the airline released a cheesy safety film which lampoons the inflight safety protocols which will be overly familiar to anyone who has ever boarded a plane.

Produced by New Zealand based creative agency .99 “Fit to Fly” features US fitness personality Richard Simmons the three minute video depicts lycra clad stewards dancing to Yazz’s hit 1980’s song, ‘The Only Way is Up.”

Mike Tod, Air New Zealand’s marketing and communications manager, explained the unconventional piece: "Safety is paramount and non-negotiable at Air New Zealand, and 'Fit to Fly' will again get our passengers sitting up and taking notice of these important pre-flight messages in an engaging and fun way.

"Simmons' fitness moves will definitely ensure that all eyes are on the safety briefing."

Passengers will be able to ogle Simmonds antics for themselves from May when the dance based fun will be on the airlines inflight entertainment systems.

NEHA JAIN

International Airlines Training Expo