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Aviation News January 2006
Class action lawsuit against World Airways certified NEW
YORK, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- In a lawsuit seeking to protect the
rights of thousands of passengers stranded in Nigeria and the
United States, plaintiffs' counsel won a significant victory
against World Airways Holding Inc. operating as World Airways,
Inc., when Federal Judge Raymond J. Dearie, in an Order dated
February 1, 2006, granted nationwide class certification to the
suit. The lawsuit relates to World Airways' decision to cease
flight operations to Nigeria, abandoning thousands of passengers
with round trip tickets and leaving the majority of them
stranded in Lagos, Nigeria.
John
Doherty, a partner at Thacher Proffitt & Wood, LLP,
plaintiffs' co-lead counsel in the litigation, applauded the
ruling. "The court's ruling today is another important step
toward forcing World to honor its obligations to these
passengers," said Mr. Doherty. On November 1, 2005, the
United States Department of Transportation (DOT) determined that
World Airways Inc., violated United States laws and regulations
and engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in its conduct of
flights between the United States and Nigeria. The findings were
contained in a consent order entered between World and the DOT.
The consent order imposes a $350,000 fine on World Airways.
"We sought a DOT investigation because we were certain
World Airways had broken the law. We are happy to see that the
DOT has succeeded in getting World to accept legal
responsibility for its misconduct. After almost two years of
litigation, we expect that a jury will come to the same
conclusion as the DOT: World Airways violated the law and
engaged in unfair and deceptive practices," said John
Edozie, one of plaintiffs' counsel.
In
another development, World Airways, through its wholly owned
subsidiary, North American Airline, Inc. is currently seeking to
resume service to Nigeria. "I hope World is not trying to
sneak back into Nigeria without compensating the thousands of
passengers damaged by its conduct," said Mr. Edozie, one of
plaintiffs' counsel. "I expect that the people affected by
World's conduct and Nigerian public opinion will strongly oppose
any such effort.
Air Canada files to fly Los Angeles Sydney non-stop MONTREAL,
Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Air Canada today announced that
as a result of new market opportunities presented by the
recently expanded Open Skies Agreement for Canada and the United
States, the airline will apply to Canadian and Australian
authorities to commence daily Toronto- Los Angeles- Sydney
service. Flights would commence during the first half of 2007
with the delivery of Air Canada's new Boeing 777 fleet featuring
industry- leading lie-flat suites in the Executive First cabin
and personal entertainment systems at each customer's seat
throughout the aircraft. Air Canada already operates between the
U.S. and Australia on its Vancouver- Honolulu-Sydney service
using existing route authorities.
With
an elapsed westbound time of 21 hours and 15 minutes, Air
Canada's Toronto-Sydney flights via Los Angeles would offer the
fastest elapsed time of any airline from eastern Canada to
Australia, shaving three and a half hours off current Air Canada
routings and also offering one-stop service from all business
markets across Canada. The daily flights would serve Canadian,
American and Australian consumers as well as freight forwarders,
seeking convenient and competitive air transportation between
Canada and Australia, the United States and Australia, and
Canada and the United States. Air Canada plans to work with its
Star Alliance partners, Air New Zealand, United Airlines and US
Airways, through schedule coordination and codeshare services to
offer customers increased choice and convenience.
"The
recently concluded Open Skies Agreement for Canada and the
United States opens new opportunities for Air Canada to enhance
service for consumers and business in Canada, the United States
and international markets, such as Australia," said Ben
Smith, Vice President, Network Planning. "We look forward
to working with Canadian and Australian authorities to derive
maximum benefits for our customers in all three countries. Air
Canada has long advocated the further liberalization of our
shared skies so that we can better link our expanded North
American network to our growing international network, and
further capitalize on our cooperative agreements with our
commercial partners. In addition to offering all our customers
faster access to and from Australia, same plane service from our
main hub in Toronto will raise the bar in premium in-flight
comfort using our new 777 fleet."
The Toronto-originating flights would be timed to offer
convenient connection possibilities in Los Angeles to and from
Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as to and
from points throughout the United States via Los Angeles on
flights operated by Air Canada's Star Alliance partners, United
Airlines and US Airways. An Open Skies Agreement for Canada and
the United States was concluded November 10, 2005. The agreement
comes into effect September 2006. In addition to providing for
more choice and competitive pricing for consumers, the agreement
allows for carriers of each country to carry passengers via the
other country to third countries, referred to as "fifth
freedom" rights, such as Air Canada proposing to serve
Australia via the United States. Air Canada operates more
non-stop flights between Canada and the U.S. than any other
airline. Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and its commercial partners
operate more than 385 non-stop flights per day on 79 routes to
and from 50 U.S. and 6 Canadian destinations. Air Canada extends
its network within the United States even further with its Star
Alliance partners. In 2005, an independent survey of more than
12 million international air travelers ranked Air Canada as the
Best Airline in North America.
Motley Rice LLC files a law suit against Bombardier MT.
PLEASANT, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2006-- One of the
largest aviation litigation firms in the U.S., Motley Rice LLC,
today announced that it has filed two major lawsuits against
Canada-based Bombardier Inc., as well as U.S. companies General
Electric, Honeywell, Northwest Airlines and KGS Electronics, and
others, on behalf of the families of captain Jesse Rhodes and
first officer Richard Peter Cesarz, victims of the crash of
Pinnacle Airways Flight 708, a Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-200),
which took place on October 14, 2004 outside of Jefferson City,
Mo. The flight, a regularly scheduled repositioning flight, had
originated in Little Rock, Ark., and was enroute to
Minneapolis-St. Paul for use in commercial flights. No other
passengers were on board at the time of the incident.
Prior to the incident, the flight had already been postponed
once on the morning of October 14th, due to maintenance issues.
On-site technicians could not locate the problem, and
subsequently two Pinnacle mechanics flew in from Memphis,
Tennessee to identify and fix the aircraft. The mechanics
verified a fault in the right air duct sensing loop. The loop
was removed and replaced in the right engine. At approximately
9:21 p.m., the plane took off. During flight, the crew took the
aircraft to the manufacturer's authorized altitude ceiling of
41,000 feet. Flight at this altitude offers significantly better
fuel economy. Once at 41,000 feet, the aircraft was unable to
hold altitude. The crew immediately asked air traffic control
for permission to descend. While waiting for permission, the
plane experienced double engine failure. They repeatedly tried
to re-start the engines using the manufacturer's instructions,
but all attempts failed. The plane dropped at a rate of 2500 to
5000 feet per minute and was headed directly for a residential
area. In the final seconds of their lives, the pilots steered
the plane clear of homes sparing lives on the ground, but losing
their own.
A post crash investigation revealed that the Flight Data
Recorder (FDR) recovered from the scene recorded that the engine
core rotors (known as N2) did not begin to rotate with the
opening of pneumatic valves used for engine restarts. This
phenomenon is known as "core-lock". The post crash
investigation also revealed the GE CF-34-3B engines' oil pump
malfunctioned and that other components of the engines suffered
from extensive heat damage consistent with exposure to extreme
high temperatures during operation, resulting in the rotor
blades failing to rotate and suffering from the aforementioned
core-lock, causing both engines to fail all restart efforts by
the crew after numerous attempts to do so.
According to a March 2003 Boston Globe article regarding a
similar incident involving a Bombardier aircraft, GE had been
aware of the high-altitude, low oil pressure problem with the
engine but hid the information from Bombardier. "Our
clients, Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Cesarz, were operating under
approved guidelines at legal altitudes and did everything in
their power to restart the engines," stated Motley Rice
attorney and former U.S. Inspector General for the Department of
Transportation in Washington, D.C., Mary Schiavo "However,
this proved impossible because of core lock, oil pump
malfunction, faulty re-start instructions and other problems
with the aircraft. It is a horrible tragedy that they had to die
because of these known engine problems. With this litigation, we
intend to further the safety of our regional carriers, and
safeguard pilots and crew to enable the provision of safer
flights for their passengers." Unfortunately, this crash is
not an isolated incident for our country's regional carriers.
Regional carriers, while operating under the names of the larger
airlines, often employ foreign-built jets that may not receive
the same level of scrutiny as a major carrier aircraft.
"Examining all the problems on this aircraft and these
engines is very important not only to regional carriers, but
also to operators of private jets. The engines and other parts
and equipment on the CRJ are identical to the Challenger CL 600,
a very popular corporate jet," said Marlon Kimpson, another
of Motley Rice's aviation attorneys. "In recent years,
several Challengers have been involved in crashes."
"We want to bring to light systemic difficulties so
problems can be fixed and lives can be saved," added Motley
Rice attorney J.B. Harris. "We hope the manufacturers of
both the plane and engines will be forthcoming and responsive to
the problems, so more fine pilots like Rhodes and Cesarz do not
have to die trying to do the impossible; start an engine in
corelock." Both cases were filed in Circuit Court in
Broward County, Florida and included the following defendants:
Bombardier, Inc., Bombardier Aerospace Corporation, General
Electric Company, Honeywell International, Inc., Parker Hannafin
Corporation, Northwest Airlines, Inc., and KSG Electronics.
Air Canada offers non-stop flights to Shanghai MONTREAL,
Jan. 9 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada today announced that effective
June 16, 2006 it will introduce non-stop service between Toronto
and Shanghai. Air Canada will operate three non-stop flights per
week between Toronto and China's largest city, complementing its
Toronto-Beijing non-stop service launched in June 2005, and its
daily non-stop flights to both Shanghai and Beijing from
Vancouver. Air Canada also operates twice daily flights to Hong
Kong including non-stop service from Toronto.
"With the introduction of the only non-stop service to
Shanghai, Air Canada continues to expand its services to meet
the needs of travellers and freight forwarders in the fast
growing China market," said Ben Smith, Vice President,
Network Planning. "Together with our non-stop
Toronto-Beijing service and daily non-stop flights to China via
Vancouver, Air Canada is improving access to China for customers
throughout North and South America via our main Toronto
hub." Air Canada will be the only carrier offering non-stop service
between the largest commercial cities of Canada and China. With
an elapsed time of 14 hours 45 minutes westbound and 13 hours 40
minutes eastbound, Air Canada's new Toronto-Shanghai service
will save travellers more than 3 hours in each direction
compared to the Vancouver routing.
Air
Canada will operate the new route using 286-seat A340-300
aircraft. With a 10:15 departure from Toronto on Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday arriving in Shanghai at 13:00 the next day,
flight AC071 is timed to offer convenient morning connections
from points throughout Air Canada's extensive global network,
particularly in eastern Canada, the United States and Latin
America. The eastbound flight, AC072, leaves Shanghai at 14:45
on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and arrives in Toronto at 16:25
the same day, providing maximum connecting options throughout
the Americas.
With the addition of Toronto-Shanghai non-stop service, Air Canada
will offer customers up to 13 non-stop flights per day in each
direction between Canada and seven destinations in Asia. From
its main hub in Toronto, the carrier operates non-stop flights
to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul, and Delhi via Zurich.
From its Asia Pacific gateway in Vancouver, Air Canada serves
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul with daily
non- stop flights.
Canada's top two airlines fly fuller planes MONTREAL,
Jan 5 (Reuters) - ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. unit Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd., Canada's top two air carriers, flew fuller planes in December
even as both continued to expand their networks.
Air Canada said on Thursday its load factor, a measure of how
successfully it fills seats, was 77.3 percent last month, its
highest result for December and the 21st straight month of
record ratios. That compared with a load factor of 75.2 percent
in December 2004. Passenger traffic at Air Canada's mainline
carrier, measured as revenue passenger miles, rose 7.4 percent
while capacity, or available seat miles, increased 4.5 percent.
"Traffic exceeded 2004 levels over the same month in all
sectors except for Latin America, where it remained flat,"
said Montie Brewer, president and chief executive of Air Canada,
in a statement. At Jazz, Air Canada's regional carrier, the load
factor rose to 69.7 percent from 68.2 percent. Traffic at Jazz
jumped 86.1 percent, while capacity rose 82.1 percent as the
carrier added new regional jets to its fleet.
Calgary, Alberta-based WestJet said on Thursday its December
load factor was 78.2 percent, up from 74.7 percent in the
year-earlier month, when it was recovering from glitches in its
Internet-based reservations system. WestJet's passenger traffic
rose 15 percent against a 9.8 percent increase in fleet
capacity. "It is obvious from these results that WestJet's
added capacity is being well absorbed in the marketplace as both
our existing and new guests use our product," Sean Durfy,
executive vice-president, marketing and sales, said in a
statement. WestJet is adding 12 new Boeing 737 jets to its fleet
this year as it expands its schedule. At the end of September,
WestJet's fleet consisted of 57 Boeing 737 jets. ACE Aviation's
restricted voting shares rose 80 Canadian cents to close at
C$38.65 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, while WestJet
shares slipped 1 Canadian cent to C$12.45.
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