CHARM OFFENSIVE - Orient Aviation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CHINA NEWSPlanes, new dealsfor China SouthernIt appears the log jam in China aircraft orders is about to be released by the BeijingGovernment. In the last two to three yearsOrient Aviation has been told on several occasionsa number of China’s airlines have wantedto order planes, but have been put in a holdingpattern by the authorities.Now, mainland sources have said, Chinais to take 36 new Boeing aircraft. Twenty twowill be leased by China Southern Airlines(CSA). Twenty will be B737-800s, taken on afinance lease to replace 20 B737s on operatingleases. The remaining two jets are B747-400s.Government approval is due to be announcedsoon and delivery of the first planes is expectedto start next year through 2005.Meanwhile CSA also has signed anagreement with China Post Airlines, the firstof its kind between a Chinese airline groupand the national postal service. CSA will carrymail through the China Post network whileChina Post Airlines will carry Southern AirlinesGroup cargo.China Northern and Xinjiang Airlines,which will be part of the CSA-led mergergroup, will form an important spoke in thedistribution network.Also, CSA and KLM Royal Dutch Airlineshave agreed to implement code-share serviceson the Beijing-Amsterdam and Shanghai-Amsterdam routes.GAMECOrevenue upThe Guangzhou Aircraft MaintenanceEngineering Company (GAMECO) increased sales revenue 7.64% in thefirst half of the year to June 30. The majorcontributors to sustained profitability wereline maintenance and component overhauland repair. Their revenue increased 18%and 5.7% respectively. GAMECO is lookingto expand its third party contract businessthroughout the second half of the year toachieve a 10% increase in sales.The maintenance company will breakground on a 900 million (US$102 million)four widebody bay hangar at Guangzhou’sNew Baiyun International Airport later thisyear. The hangar will accommodate sevenaircraft at one time and will be big enoughto house the A380 super jumbo.September 2001 | Orient Aviation | 15
m a i n s t o r yPEOPLE TRAFFICKERS COSTING AIRLINES MILLIONS OFDOLLARS A YEAR IN FINES AND COSTSThe airways and airports of the Asia-Pacific are among those most used by thepurveyors of human misery, the peoplesmugglers. It’s also a centre for passport andvisa forgery. The trade in ‘human cargo’ isescalating rapidly.The region’s major carriers are spendingvast amounts of money to train staff tocounter the sophisticated crime syndicatesat the heart of the operations. They are notalone, it’s a worldwide phenomenon and,says IATA, they should be treated as victims,not the problem. The problem should beshared.TOM BALLANTYNE reports.The cost to international airlines ofunknowingly carrying thousands ofillegal immigrants travelling on falsepassports is estimated at more than US$1billion in the last decade, with $250 millionpaid in government fines by the carriers.What’s more, people trafficking is escalatingat such an alarming pace, accordingto IATA’s assistant director facilitation services,Bob Davidson, that some carriers couldsuspend services through problem airportsbecause fines and costs imposed on them aretoo prohibitive.In October, as the airline industry attemptsto keep ahead of the increasingly sophisticatedcrime syndicates which use commercialflights to move their human “cargo” aroundthe world, IATA will hold the first seminaron the problem in Atlanta, Georgia, whereairlines, government officials and law enforcementagencies, including Interpol, willthrash out ways to keep one step ahead ofthe people smugglers.Davidson accused many governmentsof “giving up”, and deciding the only courseof action was to gather funds to pay forthe cost of handling refugees by dumpingresponsibility on airlines. Airlines should betreated as victims, not the problem, he said.He questioned the wisdom of imposing fineson airlines that already spend large amountsof money on training staff to counter peopletrafficking.Estimates given to Orient Aviation byvarious sources indicate the number of illegalson the move at any given time in the worldrange from 1.5 million to four million.The United Nations (UN) believes humantrafficking is a $7 billion a year business. TheSHARETHEBURDEN!IATA accuses governments of ‘giving up’and dumping responsibility on airlinesCrime syndicates keep a close watch on airline operations at airportsInternational Organisation of Migration (IOM)thinks global human smuggling is channellingclose to $10 billion annually into smugglers’deep pockets.Crime syndicates charge each migrant upto US$35,000 or more to be smuggled into anew country, depending on the country oforigin and destination.As a result, carriers are spending millionsof dollars annually either on training staff toidentify forged documents presented by airtravellers or hiring outside experts to do thejob for the airlines.Asian carriers are particularly vulnerablebecause the region’s major hubs are convenientlyplaced on some of the prime routesfavoured by the crime gangs as they moveillegals from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, theMiddle East, the former Russian FederationStates, the Balkans and China to Europe, NorthAmerica and Australasia.Law enforcement sources say Hong18 | Orient Aviation | September 2001
Page 1 and 2: VOL. 8 NO. 10 SEPTEMBER 2001MAGAZIN
Page 3 and 4: P U B L I S H E R ’ S L E T T E R
Page 5 and 6: N E W SRegional round-upSafety rati
Page 7: N E W SBUSINESS round-upQantas resu
Page 11 and 12: m a i n s t o r ytors, has been awa
Page 13 and 14: n e w sBy Tom BallantyneThe convolu
Page 15 and 16: ing partner Emirates to pick-up Sri
Page 17 and 18: carrier’s inflight training centr
Page 19 and 20: i n f l i g h tBy Jonathan SharpGra
Page 21 and 22: S p e c i a l R e p o r tAIRPORTSTh
Page 23 and 24: s p e c i a l r e p o r tTIME FOR A
Page 25 and 26: New Zealand’s biggest airport,Auc
Page 27 and 28: By Tom BallantyneThe new owner of A
Page 29 and 30: Schiphol boost for KLIA?By Tom Ball
Page 31 and 32: a deterioration in FLF as the decli
Page 33 and 34: Monthly international PAX statistic
Page 35 and 36: AAPA monthly international statisti

CHARM OFFENSIVE - Orient Aviation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?