An editorial in today’s New York Times points out that, despite being subjected to shirt-raising puffs of cold air, having to walk around shoe-free and all but forced to buy insanely expensive beverages because our water is no good, airplane travelers are still at serious risk. Not from each other mind you, but from airport employees. Because they don’t undergo the same rigorous screening as passengers, there’s little to stop them from bring dangerous materials into a secure area or onto a plane without detection.
The piece discusses last week’s security breach at the Orlando Airport in Florida, which was discovered only because of an anonymous tip. From the Times: “A customer service agent for Comair, a subsidiary of Delta, and another Comair employee used their work uniforms and identification badges to gain access to restricted areas, where they stored a duffle bag containing 13 handguns, an assault rifle and a stash of marijuana near the departure gates. One of the men later retrieved the bag and took it aboard a Delta flight to Puerto Rico as carry-on luggage. Based on the tip, authorities pulled one of the men off the plane before it took off and, disturbingly late, caught the other with the duffle bag in San Juan.”
Representative Nita Lowey of New York and Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi (both Democrats) have introduced a bill that would create a screening program at five airports for all workers with access to secure areas. While such a program would no doubt be costly and pose quite an inconvenience (darn), it seems far better than the alternative.
Source: www.nypress.com
March 17, 2007
Airports Are Still Easy Targets
Labels: Air Traffic, Airline
Raymond James Sees Growth for Southwest
Raymond James Upgrades Southwest Airlines on Expectations of Growing Ancillary Revenue
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. moved higher Friday, after Raymond James upgraded its stock on expectations of growing revenue from sales of items other than airplane seats.
The Dallas-based low-cost carrier's shares added 10 cents to $14.99 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It bucked an overall downward trend for airline stocks, as the Amex Airline Index dropped 1.1 percent due to rising crude oil prices and the effects of an East Coast snowstorm.
Raymond James analyst James D. Parker upgraded Southwest to "Outperform" from "Market Perform," writing in a research report that the company has great potential in marketing ancillary services, such as car rentals and hotels. It could also begin onboard sales of tickets for theater shows, museums or other items.
Such ancillary sales make up only about 2 percent of Southwest's revenue, compared with 15 percent for Europe's largest low-fare carrier, Ryanair, Parker wrote.
"Ancillary sales, we believe, are on the verge of becoming pervasive in the airline industry because it enables airlines to diversify their revenue bases away from the commodity pricing of airline seats and to take advantage of the leverage they have to sell higher margin items to captive audiences," he wrote.
Parker also cited Southwest's recent stock decline, saying it looks like a good company with its shares "on sale" after a 17 percent decline over the past nine months.
Source: Yahoo! Finance
Labels: Air Traffic, Airline
March 16, 2007
FAA to Reduce Air Traffic Controllers by 9 Percent
The Federal Aviation Administration revised a 9-year-old staffing plan and - through attrition - will trim air traffic controller staffing levels nationally by 9 percent.
Officials of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union say the change comes at a critical time. More than half of the nation's controllers are eligible for retirement in the next seven years. Union officials said replacing experienced controllers with inexperienced ones, coupled with increasing sky traffic, will mean a "fraying of the safety net" and more frequent flight delays.
But the FAA says improvements in technology and plans to step up hiring of new controllers will ease the transition. They also note that air traffic is still less than pre-Sept. 11 levels.
The 1998 figures were reached after months of study by a group consisting of FAA and union officials. NATCA President Pat Forrey of Avon Lake said the union had no input into these new levels.
"It's not staffing based on what you need, but what they can budget," Forrey said.
The FAA says the plan is not budget-driven. Spokeswoman Diane Spitalieri said the plan looked at air traffic patterns at facilities around the country and projected their needs. Also, employment levels would be evaluated annually.
It was crafted by experts throughout the air traffic community, including the National Academy of Science and FAA facility managers, she said.
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will examine the new staffing plans today in hearings that review the FAA's budget and biannual reauthorization, committee spokesman Jim Berard said.
FAA Great Lakes Region spokesman Tony Molinaro said air traffic diminished after Sept. 11, 2001. For example, 14,904 controllers handled 67.7 million flights in 2000. In 2006, 2 percent fewer controllers handled about 9 percent fewer flights.
However, Molinaro said air traffic is rising steadily and will continue to rise.
Forrey countered that more experienced controllers are needed, not fewer.
"Technological improvements help, but they don't replace people," he said. "You still need people in front of the monitors. I'm concerned because controllers are already working 10-hour days and six-day weeks in some facilities. Fewer experienced controllers mean more fatigue, less safety redundancy and more mistakes, which could mean air disasters. The FAA is playing a dangerous game."
Spitalieri agreed that some facilities are below the staffing numbers they would like and said the number of controllers would be increased.
"We do have overtime at some facilities, but it is strictly voluntary," she said.
The retirement issue is one that will not go away. In October, 14,618 controllers were working, with 1,200 eligible to retire by the end of 2007. The FAA plans to hire 1,300 in 2007 to replace them.
NATCA officials point out that it takes four years, or even five years, from the time an employee walks in the door before he's fully trained
Spitalieri said the FAA has upped its commitment to training new controllers and said they would be enough to replace the retiring controllers. The FAA claims advances in technology have reduced training time to about two years at an airport terminal and three years at a center, which NATCA denies.
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BOX
Fewer air-traffic controllers
Proposed changes in staffing levels would shrink the number of air-traffic controllers at some Northeast Ohio locations.
Location
Previous agreed-upon level
New level
Current work force
Loss
Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center (Oberlin)
467
374
440
66
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
67
63
61
None
SOURCE: Federal Aviation Administration
Source: www.amtonline.com
Labels: Air Traffic, Airline
