Aero Org News

A kerosene tax, “untimely, unhelpful and ineffective”
says Association of European Airlines

Reacting to the debate which started in Germany around the alleged Government’s intention to introduce a domestic tax on kerosene in support of the national railway company Deutsche Bahn, Mr. Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General of the Association of European Airlines, declared that “if confirmed, such an intention would of course worsen the situation of the airline industry, but also be bad news for the railway’s users in the long run, and indeed for German and European competitiveness”.

“The introduction of punitive kerosene taxation as a means to make rail travel more attractive is a red herring” added Mr. Schulte-Strathaus, “the UN aviation organisation ICAO has repeatedly maintained that a tax has marginal effects on the environment. It would dramatically increase the cost burden for German airlines, and lead to environmentally superfluous, but commercially necessary refuelling trips to neighbouring countries. Prime beneficiaries would be non-German airlines. If this was just a proposal for introduction at EU level, the prime beneficiaries would be non-EU airlines. Introducing additional burdens on an industry which has seen four consecutive years of losses is untimely and inappropriate because such a tax further undermines the airlines’ perspectives for recovery, and weakens the international competitiveness of European airlines.”

Mr. Schulte-Strathaus said that “the railways compete with the no-frills airlines, but so do the network carriers. If the objective is to make the railways more attractive to the customers, the addition of new costs to the airlines does not match the will of the European regulators to deregulate this industry. Railways will not become more efficient by penalising other transport modes, but only if and when proper market mechanisms are introduced within the railway sector allowing them to achieve and to provide borderless customer services”. Echoing the statement made yesterday by Mr. Clement, German Minister of economics and labour, Mr. Schulte-Strathaus concluded that “such measures would have a direct negative impact on economic growth, jobs and European competitiveness at a time when the European airlines are not only competing against each other, but are also competing in the world ”.

Important: For further reference to this press release Pr04-80 see :
http://www.aea.be/AEAWebsite/Presentation_Tier/Pr_PressReleases.aspx

For further information, please contact:
David Henderson - Manager Information
Phone: +32(0) 2 639 89 72
Email: [email protected]

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ATCA Commends FAA for Ambitious Approach
to Controller Workforce Development

Alexandria, Virginia -- After an initial review of the FAA’s recently released, “Plan for the Future: The FAA’s 10-Year Strategy for the Air Traffic Control Workforce,” the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) expressed its support and commended the Federal Aviation Administration for the comprehensive approach to one of the most critical issues facing the United State’s aviation industry.

ATCA President Paul P. Bollinger Jr. stated, “Never before have we seen in one document the problem and proposed solutions to the air traffic controller hiring situation so well articulated. The FAA is to be commended for this effort.” The Plan also calls for greater workforce flexibility and productivity that will serve to decrease costs while maintaining current staffing levels.

While the Plan offers information about the hiring of new controllers and their training, it appears that the FAA may have already made a decision about what organizations will be responsible for this major initiative. With respect to this news, Bollinger commented, “I think that while the FAA has incorporated this information into the Plan, it would be prudent not to make any premature decisions without fully discussing options with the industry. There are a number of firms and universities who have excellent training programs in place who would be strong candidates to support FAA’s controller training program.”

In a recent letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, ATCA has asked the FAA to consider extending the Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) candidate eligibility from two years to four due to the lack of recent hiring by the FAA. This waiver would ensure that the current CTI graduates, who made substantial investments in this training, are not “lost” when it comes to hiring of new controllers.

In addition, FAA’s stated objectives in the Plan include, “… deploying new technology. The FAA must continue to deploy new equipment to the field to accommodate this growth,” appears to run counter to the current funding of the FAA’s Facilities & Equipment program by the U.S. Congress. ATCA President Paul Bollinger remarked, “ATCA has worked with its members to communicate a positive and coherent message to Congress that funding of technology is an investment in the future. The U.S. aviation industry cannot expect to be leaders in this area if the investment is not made today to handle the 3X traffic increase in the future with an equal number of controllers as today.”

ATCA believes that this ambitious FAA Plan is a very good first step to communicate the problem and begin the planning and implementation of proper solutions. Working with FAA to ensure that the controller workforce is fully trained and staffed for the future increase in air traffic is one of the founding principles on which ATCA was created nearly 50 years ago. The association stands ready to work with FAA to accomplish this objective today as we did from the beginning.

For more information about the Air Traffic Control Association, www.atca.org

Contact for additional information:
December 21, 2004 Contact: Paul P. Bollinger Jr.
Telephone: 709-299-2430
Email: [email protected]

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Post 9/11 Security Impact Conference Hosted By ATCA with Participation
from FAA, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense

Alexandria, Virginia – The Air Traffic Control Association, with FAA, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, will convene a one-day symposium January 25 in Washington, DC, to assess the post 9/11 security impact on the global aviation industry.

The meeting will be held at the Renaissance Washington Hotel. Conference topics will include: Network and infrastructure defense, Border security and surveillance, Frequency spectrum Issues including deliberate interference, Surveillance and Intelligence data sharing and dissemination, Evolving ATC security procedures, Air traffic controller responsibilities and UAVs in the National Airspace System.

Technical sessions will explore:

The New Security Reality from a Users Perspective, in which speakers, including Ed Bolen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Business Aircraft Association and Andrew Cebula, Senior Vice President of AOPA, will review the new paradigm of constant vigilance by ATC and the military and the impacts the “new security reality” has had on their operations and future aviation growth;

Are we Really Secure? What More Can We do? In this session, speakers will review changes to the aviation system around the globe, among them airspace restrictions, sharing and improvements to surveillance and communication system, and will ask the question: Are we prepared for the next terrorist event? Also on the agenda will be a discussion of problems with ADIZ and TFR airspace restrictions;

The Evolution of Air Traffic Control and Aviation Security. Speakers will discuss how air traffic control operations have changed worldwide in the post 9/11 environment and how organizational roles and responsibilities have evolved a result. Air Traffic Controller and Managers are now working even closer with DOD and Law enforcement officials to prevent another security disaster.

The final session is on Integrating Security and Air Traffic Management Future Requirements. The aviation community needs to think about utilizing the best of both government and industry assets to study and analyze the future threat and not just the current security challenge. The speakers from both government and industry will discuss innovations in security, sharing of information, and new technologies and philosophies of managing security while maintaining optimum operational capabilities..

The complete program to date and registration materials can be found at www.atca.org, under events.

For additional information and registration
Gail Hanline, Director of Conference Services, ATCA.
Tél.703-299-2430
E-mail: [email protected]

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ATCA Praises JPDO Program Goals

In a statement issued today, The Air Traffic Controller Association praised the U.S. government on the release of “The Integrated National Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System.”

ATCA described the plan released by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta as one of the most significant developments ever for the U.S. Air Transportation System. ATCA said it was pleased and honored to have been a part of this effort and pledged to work towards the implementation of the plan’s goals. "The U.S. Government is to be commended for it's foresight in establishing a comprehensive planning process that addresses the needs of all aviation transportation interests with significant emphasis on the air traveler,” ATCA Chairman Lawrence C. Fortier Jr., said.

He continued: “The ATCA looks forward to working with the Joint Program Development Office toward the attainment of the goals stated in the National Plan.  The forecast three-fold increase in demand for air traffic services over the next twenty years dictates the need to initiate this essential undertaking now.
 
"The Integrated National Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System will harness the best and brightest of government and industry in a focused and coordinated effort toward meeting our future air transportation needs,” Fortier said. As the largest ATC organization in the world, ATCA pledges to continue its support of the JPDO in the future while taking steps to facilitate JPDO’s mission to develop the next generation air transportation system.

The Air Traffic Control Association, founded in 1956, is dedicated to the advancement of the science and profession of air traffic control and aviation safety. Its membership is worldwide. The association represents all aspects of the air traffic control discipline, from air traffic specialists and airway facilities technicians who operate and maintain the ATC system, to individuals and more than 200 companies who develop and supply air traffic control technology, as well as government agencies airlines and aircraft operators who use the system.

For further information:
Paul P. Bollinger Jr.,
President, ATCA
Tel: 703-299-2430

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FAI Centenary : Provisional program

On 14 October 2005, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) will celebrate its first century of existence.

The FAI was founded on 14 October 1905 in Paris, and its world headquarters was established in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital, in 1998. To mark its special connections with these cities, FAI will hold several events in 2005 in Paris and in Lausanne. But the centenary of FAI and air sports will of course also be celebrated in other parts of the world. You will find below the provisional program of the FAI Centenary to be finalised in the forthcoming months.

http://www.fai.org/centenary/

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Origins of the BEAP project and Company

The founders of BEAP Holding and its major investment group SIBIM are originating from an informal group of more than 1400 people, themselves originating from the Sabena airline falling.

The members of the informal group also called BEAP, standing for Belgian Employees Aviation Promotion, all registered voluntarily their experience, and skills in a joint profile data base. Later, part of them decided to formalise the organisation by investing and founding BEAP Holding SA.

Beap Holding SA was founded by 41 founders, followed by an investment of 183 investors in SIBIM acting as a single investor in BEAP Holding.

The mission of BEAP Holding is to study, define, facilitating the foundation of a new airline with the purpose of giving a maximum number of jobs to members of the BEAP group and others if the required skills are not present in the data base.

The mission also includes attempting to base the Belgian Hub of the future company on the Belgian international airport of Zaventem-Brussels, the original work place of Sabena employees which is a modern airport adjacent to the European Community administrative Capital.

Economical context

The fall of Sabena a couple of month after the September,11 2001 impact is undoubtedly related to that event, but the aftermath of the fall of one of the oldest, safest and reputed airlines in the world, clearly shows that the company had been weakened by problems unrelated to its fundamental competitiveness. Sabena flying literally world wide had one strong sector where it excelled, and where it did build up its experience and image, its Africa.

It makes no doubt in the mind of the BEAP project promoters that the Brussels airport, that the BEAP data base of Sabena employees skills, and the experience about the African continent are ingredients of a successful project.

The tragic events described above have left Africa and West Africa in particular as an INCREDIBLE NICHE. After the fall of Air Afrique, the withdrawal of KLM, the shrinking or the disappearance of a myriad of small/medium local airlines turned that area of the world in an extremely profitable “de facto” MONOPOLY for the remaining Air line which during the troubled period survived as one of the latest European government subsidised airlines.

Today West Africa is crying out for some genuine competition to this monopoly which is applying the “normal monopoly” punishing price attitude over the all region.

To be the challenger in this “Monopoly” market several criteria are necessary, understand the African customer requirements out of a long experience, supply bilingual or trilingual personnel, fly “on time” planes in not always coherent structures and maintain the highest safety standards.

We at BEAP, former Sabena employees, motivated, eager to demonstrate our know how, supported by the local authorities and people believe we are the only group capable to pick this challenger position and create a sizable and profitable airline covering large portions of Africa and linking it back to the world through Brussels.

The predominant position that the Togolese Civilian Aviation has taken in Africa with the presidency of a work group constituted of all African countries seeking standardisation and unification of sky rules and security, indicates also that our choice of Lomé as the second HUB is a prime choice.

This is the reason why we worked very hard with more than 40 people selected out of our own data base. The team worked over two years to study and prepare a business plan, to prepare a roll out plan, to develop the IT systems, prepare the Air Line licences requests, performed several study missions in all targeted countries, signed future cooperation agreements with local airlines and organisations, got acquainted with local civilian aviation and appropriate ministerial organisations.

We have reached a “ready to fly” airline organisation with an available team and this after investing over thousands of hours of work and research. An AOC is attached to a genuine OHADA company in Africa and at the same time to a team of management post holders. The post holders are well defined in a standard aviation organisation chart and accepted by the civilian aviation of that given country. This leads to the fact that the structure will be based on a company in Belgium and one in Togo.

OUR BUSINESS - Management View

Rarely does a project like the BEAP project, initiated by 1400 people physically gathered together and voting on the go ahead of this venture.

Rarely does a project, or project manager, dispose of as many skilled people as required to study the problem with all the time to come to certitude of “feasibility”.
Nothing has been left aside, traffic statistics have been crosschecked with seven missions on the terrain.

Pre-agreement documents have been signed with the most performing local agencies and airlines. We can without doubts say that the market is there and that the market is expressing itself favourably for the coming of a class airline with short and long haul capacity you can trust. The long waiting times for an affordable ticket, the frustration of small dying companies cancelling two flights out of three, the systematic delays, the systematic loss of luggage, the scaring maintenance programs have left place only for Air France in the region sustaining its world wide financial results only on the African pillar.

Our business is to be the challenger that does better, because West Africa is not the loose end of our flight but the HUB for West Africa. In this way flight connections are seen starting from the West African HUB end and our mission is to connect this region strong of 15 developing countries to the rest of the world. Our mission is to be “The home company” connected to a very handy AOC in Belgium opening the world to this region.

The BEAP product and image will be to offer an equivalent flight comfort, but to pay much more attention to the real needs of the passengers in terms of connections when leaving or arriving in West Africa. We also will give inside of this network the extra link to the Middle East, the main commercial vector for the region. We will put more emphasis on individual cargo and cargo in general, a major concern for the moment for all Air France passengers. We will simply be the specialists of that niche, because we have staff people with ten to thirty years experience in the region.

BEAP phase I network operating 2 Boeing 767/300 and 2 Boeing 737/300

For further information:
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.beap.be


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Situation BEAP au 12-12-2004

La BEAP Holding (Belgian Employee Aviation Promotion) est depuis quelques mois en discussion avec un consortium de Banques africaines de développement qui a pour objectif le soutien des activités économiques dans les pays d’Afrique occidentale.

En même temps, le groupe néerlandais Exel Aviation, propriétaire de la compagnie aérienne Holland Exel s’est intéressé au projet BEAP.

Notre business plan, étudié de façon approfondie par un groupe de banques d’investissement africaines, attend l’approbation finale pour lancer un premier investissement et la décision est attendue fin mars 2005.

Suite à la collaboration intense entre Holland-Exel et la BEAP, il existe en outre un protocole d’accord prévoyant une participation importante dans le capital de départ de la nouvelle compagnie si un certain nombre de conditions sont satisfaites, notamment au niveau de la décision qui sera prise en Afrique occidentale. Le capital de lancement nécessaire s’élève à 25 millions d’euros.

Vu la présence du Groupe EA ainsi que du permis de vol néerlandais de Holland Exel, il a été décidé d’anticiper le lancement des opérations aériennes. C’est pourquoi nous sommes fiers vous annoncer que le but actuel est de faire décoller le premier vol à destination de Bamako (Mali) et Lome (Togo) le 22 décembre 2004.

Ceci aura été rendu possible grâce à l’accord formel signé entre BEAP et le Groupe EA pour l’exécution de 28 vols entre le 22 décembre 2004 et fin mars 2005. Il s’agit de 2 vols hebdomadaires, Bruxelles-Lome-Bruxelles et Bruxelles-Lome-Bamako-Bruxelles. Ces vols seront effectués avec un Boeing 767 de Holland Exel, en ACMI (aircraft + crew + maintenance + insurance) sous la tutelle de BEAP. Les engagements financiers pour l’exécution de ces vols initiaux seront totalement supportés par le Groupe EA.

Par ailleurs, ces vols serviront également de tremplin pour la phase finale décrite dans le business plan BEAP qui prévoit deux "hubs": un à Bruxelles (réseau long-courrier) et un à Lome (réseaux long et moyen-courrier sur l’Afrique occidentale). Ce ne sera qu’alors que l’identité de la BEAP aura pris forme, le but de cette compagnie étant d’offrir un produit de qualité intéressant aussi bien les vacanciers que l’homme d’affaire et ceci à des tarifs très attirants. La BEAP négociera par ailleurs avec les autorités compétentes l’introduction de permis d’exploitation togolais et belge, finalisant par là même l’exécution de son plan de vol en tant que tel.

Il est évident que sans l’engagement total des personnes de la BEAP ainsi que du Groupe EA, ce lancement anticipé des opérations aériennes entre Bruxelles, Lomé et Bamako n’auraît jamais été possible. En Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et au Togo, les derniers préparatifs sont en cours. Les informations concernant la réservation et la vente des tickets suivront dans les tous prochains jours.

L’équipe BEAP Communication

E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.beap.be

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Long-term growth in traffic: a challenge for European airports

Brussels, Belgium - If traffic demand keeps growing at 4.3% a year, airports will severely constrain traffic growth by 2025, according to the Challenges to Growth study released today by EUROCONTROL, in cooperation with the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).


With demand for flights expected to grow by a factor of up to 2.5 by 2025, a potential 3.7 million flights per annum will not be accommodated, even if the capacity of the airport network increases by 60%. This is explained by the fact that 75% of European airports see no possibility for building new runways in the next 20 years. Only limited capacity increases will be possible owing to physical site and infrastructure limitations, environmental issues and physical constraints related to surrounding airspace and geography. As a result, more than 60 airports will be congested and the top 20 European airports will be saturated at least eight to ten hours a day.

This scenario is further supported by the new EUROCONTROL long-term forecast that predicts the weakest growth to be in the North Atlantic, as airport capacity restrictions at hubs are likely to outweigh the increased number of flights that could be created by transatlantic deregulation, says David Marsh, Head of STATFOR, EUROCONTROL's statistics and forecast service. Over the last 6 years, the top 10 European airports have maintained their share of traffic at about 24%. In the long term, this dominance is expected to decline, owing to faster expansion elsewhere in Europe, particularly at the mediumsized airports and as airport constraints begin to bite.

The strongest growth is forecast to be in eastern Europe, for example with traffic in Romania tripling by 2025 in the highest-growth scenario; traffic to Asia is forecast to grow by up to 6.8% per annum, mainly because of China's strong growth.

The Challenges to Growth study reveals that on average, 30% of existing airport capacity remains unused at today¡¯s typical peak hour traffic levels. Under the highest-growth scenario (4.3% annual increase in demand), even with the implementation of maximum achievable capacity enhancements as reported by airports, this situation is expected to gradually deteriorate into a major capacity imbalance, with a shortage in some parts of the airport network and surplus in others. As a result, extra flights will only be possible at secondary airports, generally at less favourable times. There will also be strong pressure to accelerate the switch to larger aircraft, in order to accommodate more passengers while keeping the number of flights constant. In this way, the study reports, it could be possible to find capacity for up to 2.6 of the 3.7 million unaccommodated flights.

The Challenges to Growth study updates the ECAC-EUROCONTROL study on Constraints to Growth published in 2001. It is based inter alia on a new long-term demand forecast and updated airport capacity projections.

The study sheds light on the bottlenecks European air transport will face in the future. As such, it will be essential in supporting the development of the European ATM Master Plan to secure the long-term and sustainable viability of Europe’s ATM system”, says Mr Víctor M. Aguado, Director General of EUROCONTROL. “Air transport is a major engine for growth in Europe. That is why it is important for demand for air travel to be backed up by the appropriate air traffic management infrastructure and why we need to ensure that we can find cost-effective solutions to help airports meet the capacity challenge in the short, medium and long term.

For further information, please contact:
Lucia Pasquini or Kyla Evans
Tel. : +32 2 729 3420 / 5095
Email : [email protected]
Website: www.eurocontrol.int

Challenges to Growth 2004 Report: www.eurocontrol.int/eatm
EUROCONTROL Long-Term Forecast of Air Traffic (2004-2025): www.eurocontrol.int/statfor/forecasts

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