Aviation News

Europe flies into China flak on emission charges

THE European Commission will continue charging airlines for their greenhouse gas emissions, despite an announcement from China that its carriers would be forbidden to pay without its permission.

The program, which began on January 1, requires airlines to account for all emissions on flights using European airports and represents Europe’s boldest move to protect the environment.

”We’re not backing down in our legislation,” said Isaac Valero-Ladron, a spokesman for the commission, the executive body of the European Union. ”We’ll apply this to companies operating in Europe.”

Europe says its system is less costly than portrayed and would speed up the adoption of greener technologies when air traffic, which represents about 3 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, is growing much faster than gains in efficiency.

On Monday, the Chinese air regulator effectively prohibited the country’s carriers from paying those charges or other fees or increasing ticket prices in response to Europe’s system without permission from the government.

The Chinese government said it was also considering unspecified measures to protect Chinese companies, which Europe can ill afford as it looks to China to help ease its debt crisis.

European countries also want access to China’s fast-growing economy, including free-spending Chinese tourists.

The intensifying dispute is another sign that European environmental regulations could lead to a trade war if governments start retaliating against carriers or products.

On Monday, Antony Tyler, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association, a body representing the global airline industry, warned that some airlines could face repercussions.

”We’re concerned also about retaliatory measures taken by non-EU governments against EU carriers,” Mr Tyler said. That was ”an increasingly possible outcome”, he said, since the United States, China, India and Russia could discuss such steps at a meeting on the policy in Moscow later this month.

The first payments by the airlines are due early next year, covering emissions from this year.

Another Indonesian Pilot Busted in Airline Drug Test

Another co-pilot failed to pass a drug test in a random check on crew members at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, an official said on Tuesday.

The co-pilot was the seventh crew member found possessing or having consumed drugs since September. Four pilots and two co-pilots have been arrested on drug charges since then.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said urine tests were conducted on 94 crew members at the airport on Monday afternoon. There were indications that one co-pilot could have consumed drugs.

“One co-pilot has been barred from flying because there was a positive indication [of drug consumption], so a more thorough drug test is needed,” he said.

Bambang declined to identify the co-pilot’s name or his airline but said he worked for an Indonesian aviation company.

The four pilots and two co-pilots arrested on suspicion of drug possession or consumption since September have been from the private air carrier Lion Air.

Bambang said the ministry and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) would continue holding random checks on crew to clean the sector of drug users.

“This is matter of safety, so we shouldn’t play around,” he said. “On the matter of sanctions for pilots, it is of course the revocation of their licenses and a strong reprimand for the airline.”

Herry Bakti Singayuda Gumay, the director general for air transportation, said a new civil aviation safety regulation would
require airlines to supervise the use of alcohol and illegal drugs among their employees. “It [the regulation] will be

issued in another two months, and part of it says that national airline companies are required to conduct drug tests for at least 50 percent of their air crew every year with a reliable method,” Bambang said.

Jan de Fretes, head of the East Java Anti-Narcotics Agency, said his office had to coordinate with the head office in Jakarta before implementing any drug tests on crew members.

Pilots, he said, “are not like bus drivers. Their schedules are really tight and we cannot just conduct random raids on these pilots.”

Thus far, he added, the agency had only been able to call on crew members to avoid drug consumption because it could affect their passengers.

Trikora Harjo, the general manager of Juanda International Airport operator Angkasa Pura I Juanda, said his institution could only test crew members for drugs if their airlines requested it. Otherwise, he said, Angkasa Pura I lacked the authority to conduct any tests.

He added that Juanda Airport had a medical facility that could be used to conduct drug tests and analyze the results, but so far none of the airlines operating out of the airport had requested those checks.

Aviation observer Dudi Sudibyo said pilots found to have consumed drugs should not just be dismissed from the airline.

“If they are proven guilty, they should have their flying licenses frozen,” Dudi said.
Stephanus Gerardus, president of the Garuda Pilots Association, said the use of drugs by pilot or co-pilots was strongly and absolutely prohibited.

“The professional punishment is the revocation of their pilot’s license, and that means everything,” he said.

On Monday, the Transportation Ministry announced that it had withdrawn the licenses of the four Lion Air pilots and two co-pilots who had tested positive for drugs. The airline said it would stick to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

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QANTAS has taken one of its jumbo jets out of action after hairline cracks were discovered in its wings.

The A380 plane has been grounded at the airline’s Mascot jet base since Sunday after engineers discovered 36 hairline cracks in its wings during inspections, Fairfax reported today.

The airline said the cracks were not as serious as those discovered by the manufacturer, Airbus, last month that prompted European regulators to order urgent inspections of almost a third of the worldwide fleet within six weeks.

Qantas has found cracks in two double-deck A380s it has inspected so far.

The latest cracks – none longer than two centimetres – were discovered during routine checks of the A380 after it hit severe turbulence above India on a flight from London to Singapore on January 7.

A Qantas spokesperson said the cracks were not related to the turbulence but had been traced to a manufacturing issue at Airbus.

source: www.news.com.au

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TRAVELLERS in Indonesia struggling with the usual rough landings and delayed flights now have a new cause for concern: was the pilot smoking crystal meth before take-off?

The arrest of a Lion Air pilot for possession of 0.4 grams of crystal methamphetamine over the weekend, the third such incident in the past seven months, has raised concern over just how widespread drug use is among Indonesian pilots.

A month earlier, another Lion Air pilot was arrested with an undisclosed amount of crystal meth in a karaoke bar in South Sulawesi, while two Lion Air co-pilots were arrested for possession of crystal meth and ecstasy last September.

The incidents have put pressure on the government to enforce stricter regulations, the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association said yesterday.

Manotar Napitupulu, an adviser from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, said the booming industry was fuelling the growing use of narcotics among pilots.

”Pilots make big money. The more they fly, the more money they earn. I think it’s more about lifestyle,” he said. ”The bigger the money, the more expensive your lifestyle will be. Methamphetamine is not cheap, you know.”

A pilot with national carrier Garuda Indonesia, Captain Napitupulu denied that drug use was widespread, but said it was time the Transportation Ministry started conducting random blood and urine tests on Indonesian pilots.

In line with Indonesia’s booming economy, the aviation sector has experienced strong growth over recent years, and Lion Air is one of the star players. Late last year the budget airline signed a $US21.7 billion deal with Boeing, the largest in the US company’s history.

From January to October 2011, Indonesian airlines flew 56 million passengers, with the International Air Transport Association forecasting passenger demand to rise 4.6 per cent this year.

”Airlines have become a big business, but unfortunately security and safety regulations have not been sufficiently enforced,” said Rizal Ramli, an economic adviser to former president Abdurrahman Wahid and part of the government’s first efforts to liberalise the aviation sector.

Despite its success, Lion Air is among several Indonesian carriers that are banned from flying to Europe due to safety concerns. The International Air Transport Association also rejected the airline’s membership application, citing safety issues.

Intense competition and rampant corruption, Dr Ramli said, were responsible for the dire state of safety and airport infrastructure. While Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was designed to handle 22 million passengers annually, analysts expect that figure will jump to 54 million in 2015 and 66 million by 2020.

Plans to revamp and upgrade airports across the country are under way, but poor enforcement of regulations continues to undermine Indonesia’s vast economic potential.

”Corruption is now decentralised, from the top ministers to the local bupatis [regents],” Dr Ramli said. ”Without major changes to this environment, infrastructure and corruption, Indonesia will become the next Philippines, not the next China.”