Sky Talk

Nippon Cargo to start cargo flights to DFW on November 5

Nippon Cargo Airlines will start new cargo service at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on November 5, the airport said on Friday.

The cargo service will be the first direct freighter connection between DFW and Japan. The flights will be twice a week.

"Opening more routes between Texas and Asia provides an excellent opportunity for regional businesses to ship goods quickly," said DFW Airport chief executive Jeff Fegan.

Nippon Cargo will operate the route from Narita, Japan, to Chicago O'Hare and then to DFW. The return route will fly from DFW to Anchorage, Alaska and then to Narita. The carrier said it will use a Boeing 747-400 on the route and eventually will use a Boeing 747-800 for the cargo service.

-Andrea Ahles

Did electric car batteries lead to fire and loss of 747?

That's certainly one possibility raised by this FlightGlobal piece on the demise of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400F and its crew on July 28, 2011.

The crew reported problems controlling the aircraft and from their first warning to loss of contract only 18 minutes passed. The story has this clue as to a possible origin of the fire that apparently brought down the freighter aircraft.

The main-deck pallets included two which were listed as containing dangerous goods, loaded into the positions designated ML and PR, adjacent to the rear freight door. Among these hazardous shipments were lithium-ion batteries - for use in hybrid electric vehicles - as well as highly-flammable and corrosive liquids, for integrated-circuit manufacture, plus lacquers and paints.

Lithium batteries have long been a concern to operators, and earlier this year the International Civil Aviation Organisation examined new safety standards in the wake of the Asiana crash and the loss of a UPS 747-400F in Dubai after an in-flight fire in September 2010.

- Bob Cox

 

Most TWU work groups approve American contract offer

Five of the seven American Airlines work groups represented by the Transport Workers Union of America have voted to approve the airline's final contract offer.

The full story is here at StarTelegram.com.

The five bargaining units ivoting yes include the fleet service clerks, dispatchers, ground school instructors, maintenance control technicians and simulator technicians.

Aircraft maintenance and stores clerks bargaining units voted to reject the terms in the company’s last offer. Each bargaining unit's vote is binding on the workers in that specific contract group.

Voting was conducted by Internet and telephone balloting and certified by the firm BallotPoint Election Services. TWU members began voting Thursday on a last offer from the bankrupt airline’s management. Voting concluded at midnight Monday.

TWU detalied its agreements and differences with American Airlines in a news release. Read it here.

- Bob Cox

 

 

 

About those "other creditors

In a big bankruptcy proceeding like AMR Corp.'s, all the focus tends to be on the big bucks owed to big creditors like banks and bondholders. But small trade creditors are generally overlooked, even though these scores, if not hundreds, of companies are owed amounts in the thousands or tens of thousands -- which might very well be big bucks to them. And they're unsecured, meaning they stand behind secured creditors like the banks, as well as behind government entities owed taxes. About the only class of creditors  they're ahead of is the shareholders.

Take Monday evening's filing by American Eagle Airlines, AMR's regional subsidiary, of its unsecured trade creditors owed money. Eagle owes $45,665.50 to Aero Parts Mart of Fort  Worth. Challenger Freight Systems of Grapevine is owed a similar amount. Calibration Specialist of Irving has $26,701.40 coming (maybe).  And what about the $102,871.73 owed CS Euless Hospitality, operator of a Comfort Suites in Euless? (Comfort Suites might be a big name, but in the hotel/motel business, most properties are independently owned and operated.)

You get the idea. It all comes to $35.6 million.

-- Jim Fuquay

Marines taking heavy-lift drone chopper to war

Marines on the ground in Afghanistan may soon be getting food and ammo delivered to them by helicopter, unmanned helicopter.

The Navy and Marines have decided to send the Kaman Aerospace and Lockheed Martin developed K- MAX unmanned cargo helicopter to the war zone and find out how it works in the real world.

The contractor team and the military recently wrapped operational evaluation in the Arizona desert and decided the drone chopper was ready for prime time.

K-MAX exceeded the Navy and Marines’ requirement to deliver 6,000 pounds of cargo per day. 

The military is looking closely at more unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) including an offering by Northrop Grumman and Bell Helicopter that would in theory at least be capable of delivering cargo, troops or even evacuating wounded.

- Bob Cox

 

IATA calls on regulators to modernize airport screening after Yemen cargo bombs

A bomb plot out of Yemen last week has prompted the air cargo industry to take a closer look at the screening processes currently in place.

The International Air Transport Association said regulators and the industry should work together to modernize the 40-year-old airport screening process, particularly since in 2009, airlines carried 20 million tons of international cargo.

"We are much more secure than in 2001, but there is room for improvement," said IATA's chief executive Giovanni Bisignani. "Belts, shoes and shampoos are not the problem. We must shift the screening focus from looking for bad objects to find terrorists."

IATA suggested on Tuesday that there should be a government-certified screening process to scan standard size pallets and large items and that freight documents should be converted into electronic documents to improve efficiency and accuracy.

In August, the Transportation Security Administration began requiring all cargo on international commercial flights in and out of the U.S. be screened prior to being loaded on the plane. However, that requirement has not been met as the TSA cannot control what type of cargo screening is performed in other countries.

-Andrea Ahles

Puppies on an American flight die after arrival at O'Hare

Seven puppies died after arriving at Chicago's O'Hare airport on Tuesday morning.

The puppies were on an American Airlines flight from Tulsa, Okla., and were going to make a connecting flight in Chicago, said American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

They were loaded into the cargo section of the plane and the flight departed Tulsa around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Chicago around 8:54 a.m. After arrival, seven of 14 puppies from the flight expired.

"We're sorry that we lost seven puppies," Fagan said, adding that American is actively investigating the incident and the cause of the puppies' death.

And Fagan said she did not know the breed of the puppies or if they were short or long-nosed dogs.

A study released by the Department of Transportation last month showed that short-nosed dogs were more prone to death on an airline than long-nosed dogs. During the last five years, 122 dogs have died while being transported in the cargo section of planes.

According to American's website, the Fort Worth-based carrier will not accept "warm-blooded" animals for transport "if the actual or forecasted temperature exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit at any city on the routing." The website continues to say that snub-nosed breeds of dogs or cats will not be shipped if it is over 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Tuesday, it was already 85 degrees in Tulsa at 5 a.m., the lowest temperature of the day. However, in Chicago, when the flight arrived, the temperature was in the upper 70s.

-Andrea Ahles

AMR agrees to pay $5 million to freight shippers in class-action suit

Bloomberg News is reporting that AMR Corp. has agreed to pay $5 million to freight shippers as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit

The lawsuit was related to the Fort Worth-based company's role in a global price-fixing cartel. The settlement agreement also says that AMR will provide evidence to help shippers in similar cases in other countries such as Canada and Australia.

"It is an important step forward for shippers in Europe and around the world and demonstrates that companies can act responsibly to resolve competition disputes without resorting to excessive or protracted litigation," said the shippers' lawyer Michael Hausfeld.

The Bloomberg article continues to say that the airlines' freight services have been investigated by U.S. and European regulators since 2006 and have lead to several settlements and fines. Air France-KLM agreed to pay $87 million to freight shippers in a class-action suit in the U.S. earlier this month. Bloomberg added that AMR had yet to return a call for comment.

UPDATE: Here is American's comment to the lawsuit from Bloomberg

American, based in Fort Worth, Texas, didn’t admit fault or liability and was only added as a defendant in the case in order to seek court approval of the proposed deal, spokesman Tim Wagner said today in an e-mail.

“American Airlines has done nothing wrong,” Wagner said. “Litigation is an expensive and uncertain proposition and avoiding the cost and inconvenience of trial made paying the settlement the best financial decision for American.”

-Andrea Ahles

A weekend of aviation articles

The Star-Telegram had several aviation-related articles this weekend that SkyTalk readers may want to check out.

-Today is the beginning of earnings week for the airline industry. Wall Street analysts expect everyone to post a profit, except American Airlines' parent, AMR Corp. The full story that appeared in Monday's edition is here.

-Since he didn't get to go to the Farnborough Air Show this year, Bob Cox took a look at what comes after the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320. Airlines are looking for the next generation of single-aisle jets that will be more fuel efficient. Check out the article from Sunday's edition.

-On Friday, I blogged about my visit to AA Cargo as they showed off new screening technology implemented to meet a TSA deadline of August 1 to screen all cargo put on passenger planes. Skeptics don't think cargo handlers will be able to realistically meet that deadline. Here's the story  from Saturday's edition, as well as a video of the cargo facility.

-Andrea Ahles

AA Cargo spent $10 million to screen 100 percent of its cargo by TSA's Aug. 1 deadline

American Airlines Cargo said it spent $10 million so it can screen 100 percent of the cargo it loads on passenger planes.

The 100 percent screening requirement by the Transportation Security Administration goes into effect on Aug. 1 and cargo handlers, like AA Cargo, have been adding screening equipment to meet the deadline.

On Friday morning, AA Cargo showed off its new equipment to the media at its Dallas/Fort Worth Airport facility.

"We've been stepping up the screening that we've been doing in the air freight environment for three years now, I don't expect life to be that much different August 1 or August 2," said Dave Brooks, president of American Airlines Cargo Division. "The only difference will be if we have freight that has not been screened for whatever reason, we won't be able to fly it until it's screened."

Some cargo companies who fly shipments on American Airlines participate in a "certified cargo screening" program in which they prescreen the cargo before it is dropped off at the AA Cargo facility. Those packages will go through an expedited process and have to arrive at the facility four hours before the flight.

Packages that are not prescreened must be at the facility six hours before a flight so American can screen the cargo, Brooks said. It will also cost more to air-freight those packages.

Below is a picture of AA Cargo's new Smiths Detection Hi-Scan180180, which can x-ray large pallets that are loaded on Boeing 777 flights. American bought these machines for its largest cargo hubs, D/FW, Miami, Los Angeles, New York-JFK and Chicago O'Hare airports. Its D/FW facility sometimes handles 750,000 pounds of cargo in a day, Brooks said.

 
  
-Andrea Ahles