Air New Zealand orders crew to stop drinking on job

Air New Zealand orders crew to stop drinking on job 

After boozy night led to 'intimate' video of Flight Attendant


Staff warned after a series of scandals involving intoxicated employees 

Four Flight attendants resigned after booze fuelled night in Wellington

One cabin crew member reportedly recorded in intimate video

Airline Investigated reports off duty worker straddled All Blacks member

Another employee resigned after failing a breath test before a Flight 

Air New Zealand has issued a stern warning to staff after a handful of employees created a scandal with a series of drunken episodes.

Four Flight attendants resigned last week after a booze fuelled night in Wellington reportedly led to one of the crew being recorded in an intimate video.
In the wake of employees’ well publicised exploits the airline has cracked down on drinking, punished those who breached its code of conduct and told remaining staff to be on their best behaviour.

Air New Zealand has been forced to deal with a series of incidents involving intoxicated employees,
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Missing Malaysian plane was 'hacked and shot down by US Air Force' claims former airline boss

Missing Flight MH370 was 'hacked and then shot down over the Indian Ocean by the US Air Force,' it has been claimed. The Malaysia Airlines plane was remotely hijacked by unknown persons before being blasted out of the sky by the American military, fearing a terrorist attack similar to 9/11, according to Mark Dugain.

The Frenchman, an author and the ex-head of the now-defunct Proteus Airlines, believes the Boeing 777 was downed by US Air Force assets from the British-controlled Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Mr Dugain said he had travelled to the Maldives and spoken to locals who claimed to have seen a "huge plane" flying overhead at low altitude in the direction of Diego Garcia.

According to an article penned by Dugan in French weekly magazine Paris Match, one fisherman told him: “I saw a huge plane fly over us at low altitude. “I saw red and blue stripes (the livery of Malaysia Airlines) on a white background."

Dugain said the man's account was supported by several other locals. He also wrote how he had met the mayor of Baarah island, who showed him photos of a device seized by the Maldives military after it was found on a beach two weeks after the tragedy. Dugain claimed the device was a fire extinguisher, citing two aviation experts and a local military officer, and pointed out that the extinguisher must have been empty to have floated.

This, Dugain claimed, was due to it being automatically triggered by a fire, even as all passengers and crew might have died from asphyxiation. In a separate radio interview, Dugain claimed that a British intelligence officer had warned him of the “risks” in investigating MH370’s disappearance, suggesting instead that he “let time do its work”.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

The search for the vanished jet is focused on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia. Officials had hoped to conclude the mission by May 2015, however a technical problem affecting equipment on board one of the search ships may mean that is no longer achievable

COURTESY: MIRROR

2014 is ending, but this wave of technology disruptions is just beginning

Changes in technology are happening at a scale which was unimaginable before and will cause disruption in industry after industry. This has really begun to worry me, because we are not ready for this change and most of our leading companies won’t exist 15–20 years from now. Here are five sectors to keep an eye on:

1. Let’s start with manufacturing.

Robotics and 3-D printing have made it cheaper to manufacture in the United States and Europe than in China. Robots such as Baxter, from Rethink Robotics, and UR10, from Universal Robots, have arms; screens which show you their emotions; and sensors that detect what is happening around them. The cost of operating these is less than the cost of human labor. We can now have robots working 24×7 and doing some of the work of humans. Over time, these robots will become ever more sophisticated and do most human jobs. The manufacturing industry is surely going to be disrupted in a very big way. This is good news for America, Europe, and parts of Asia, because it will become a local industry. But this will be bad for the Chinese economy — which is largely dependent on manufacturing jobs.

In the next decade, robots will likely go on strike, because we won’t need them anymore. They will be replaced by 3D printers. Within 15 to 20 years, we will even be able to 3D print electronics. Imagine being able to design your own iPhone and print it at home. This is what will become possible.

2. The reinvention of finance.

We are already witnessing a controversy over Bitcoin. Many technology and retail companies are supporting it. Crowdfunding is shaking up the venture-capital industry and making it less relevant because it provides start-ups with an alternative for raising seed capital. We will soon be able to crowdfund loans for houses, cars, and other goods. With cardless transactions for purchasing goods, we won’t need the types of physical banks and financial institutions that we presently have. Banks in the United States seem to be complacent because they have laws protecting them from competition. But our laws don’t apply in other countries. We will see innovations happening abroad which disrupt industries in the United States.

3. Health care.

Apple recently announced Healthkit, its platform for health information. It wants to store data from the wearable sensors that will soon be monitoring our blood pressure, blood oxygenation, heart rhythms, temperature, activity levels, and other symptoms. Google, Microsoft, and Samsung will surely not be left behind and will all compete to provide the best health-data platforms. With these data, they will be able to warn us when we are about to get sick. AI-based physicians will advise us on what we need to do to get healthy.

Medical-test data, especially in fields such as oncology, is often so complex that human doctors cannot understand it. This will become even more difficult when they have genomics data to correlate. Over the last 15 years, the cost of human genome sequencing has dropped from the billions to about a thousand dollars. At the rate at which prices are dropping, the cost of sequencing will be close to zero in a few years and we will all have our genomes sequenced. When you combine these data with the medical-sensor data that the tech companies are collecting on their cloud platforms, we will have a medical revolution. We won’t need doctors for day-to-day medical advice any more. Robotic surgeons will also do the most sophisticated surgeries. We’re going to disrupt the entire health-care system.

4. Now take the energy industry.

Five years ago, we were worried about America running out of oil; today we’re talking about Saudi America — because of fracking. Yes, fracking is a harmful technology; nevertheless it has allowed America to become energy independent and will soon make it an energy exporter. And then there is solar energy, which some people have become negative about. But it is a fact solar prices have dropped about 97 percent over the past 35 years, and, at the rate at which solar is advancing, by the end of this decade we will achieve grid parity across the United States. Grid parity means it’s cheaper to produce energy at home on your solar cells than to buy it from utilities. Move forward another 10 or 20 years, and it will costs a fraction as much to produce your own energy as to buy it from the grid. This means that the utility companies will be in serious trouble. This is why they are beginning to fight the introduction of solar. If solar keeps advancing in the way it is, it will eclipse the fossil-fuel industry. Solar is only one of maybe a hundred advancing technologies that could disrupt the energy industry.

When we have unlimited energy, we can have unlimited clean water, because we can simply boil as much ocean water as we want. We can afford to grow food locally in vertical farms. This can be 100 percent organic, because we won’t need insecticides in the sealed farm buildings. Imagine also being able to 3D print meat and not having to slaughter animals. This will transform and disrupt agriculture and the entire food-production industry.

5. Communications.

Yes, even this industry will be disrupted. Note how AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have seen their landline businesses disappear. These were replaced by mobile—which is now being replaced by data. When I travel abroad, I don’t make long-distance calls any more, because I just call over Skype. Soon we will have WiFi everywhere, thanks to the competition between companies such as AT&T and Google to provide superfast Internet access. We will be able to make free calls over open WiFi networks.

***

In practically every industry that I look at, I see a major disruption happening. I know the world will be very different 15 to 20 years from now. The vast majority of companies who are presently the leaders in their industries will likely not even exist. That is because industry executives either are not aware of the changes that are coming, are reluctant to invest the type of money that is be required for them to reinvent themselves, or are protecting legacy businesses. Most are focused on short-term performance.

New trillion-dollar industries will come out of nowhere and wipe out existing trillion-dollar industries. This is the future we’re headed into, for better or for worse.

Vivek Wadhwa

Gain, shame or abstain – airline subsidization

Albeit already in the past, the latest scandal of the European low cost carriers has left a bitter aftertaste for many industry players. Lufthansa has managed to save face and avoid major losses, but Germanwings, Ryanair and TUIfly will have to pay back the previously received subsidies. The scandal spelled bad news not only to carriers, but also toairports now in risk of being dropped by many airlinesincapable to operate without the incentives. All is fair in love and war, but what about the airline business? Experts claim that even though unofficially, many of them do in fact take advantage of indirect government‘s support. How fair is it to decide which carriers should be helped out and which should be left to fend for themselves?

All gains

The Airline Deregulation Act, passed in 1978, provided large carriers with a freedom to act in accordance with the market demands. During the prosperous times, airlines reached many regions and provided service even to the utmost remote airports. However, the latest economic crisis has forced airlines to rethink their cost control strategies, restrict domestic flights and abandon low-capacity planes (such as SAAB 340). Smaller regions which were physically incapable of generating enough traffic, for example Alaska, were the first ones to feel the impact. In such scenario the federal government can provide subsidies and support airlines to secure service. This way an airline receives payment if the actual revenue from the area does not reach the revenue projected. One of the best known examples of a prepaid commitment is the Essential Air Service Program. It is being used by every larger country. Currently there are 115 airports subsidized in the United States alone, for a total of $253 million. Furthermore, on 17 of December 2014, Federal Air Transport Agency has stated that allocation of more than $48 million for Russian carriers (Aeroflot, Transaero, Sibir, Ural airlines, Yakutiya and  UTair) to perform regional flights has been fully implemented.

But there are two sides to every coin. Subsidizing a carrier to serve a distant community may lead to an abuse of comfortable circumstances. A common situation would be a carrier serving an airport with more flights than necessary, effectively diminishing the benefit margin of investment in the service. To make the best use of the taxpayers’ money, serviceable areas are assessed regularly and the optimal plane models as well as number of flights are identified.

State aid = shame?

According to IATA, $1 invested in an airline creates a $3.25 worth of demand in the economy, while a single aviation employee translates into 6.1 jobs in other business segments within a region. Therefore, the disappearance of air service first strikes to the prosperity of local small businesses and, consequently, the wealth of the entire area. Essential Air Service, therefore, serves as a proof of the necessity of a carrier supporting an economy in a small region. However, from a wider perspective, what is the role of a carrier in the scope of an entire country? Many developing countries view their major carriers as a strategic element of their national economies. Understandably, weaker airlines are often unable to compete with large aviation enterprises.  Then they turn to governments for support, for example, Trinidad Express points that Caribbean Airlines received a $300m fuel subsidy in 2012, and Japan Airlines have received over $143bn of fresh capital in 2010, as Emirates have indicated in a report on airline subsidies. However, even upon being granted such benefits an airline subject to inefficient management may find itself in a situation requiring a much larger intervention. In this case the government is presented with a dilemma of whether to let the exhausted airline meet its end (and expect foreign or private carriers to take the goners’ place), or to bail it out and keep some control over the airline’s activities. For example, the Greek Government aided the country’s local carrier Olympic Airways by writing off €2.6 billion worth of debt in 2008. Malaysia airlines, on the other hand, had to undergo a major restructure and give up the ownership to the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia.

While the support for a national carrier may seem like an investment to some governments, others find it more adequate to allow the market regulate itself.  For instance, Qantas has repeatedly addressed the Australian government asking to provide a debt guarantee or lift foreign ownership restrictions. The Australian government refused to provide any direct support and was not willing to give up on the national airline. It did, however, consider and implement minor changes to the disadvantageous Sales Act, allowing up to 49% foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the situation is completely different in the Middle East and Turkey, where governments pursue an ambition to turn their aviation industry into one of the main provider of national income. Turkey, for example, appointed $29bn to Istanbul’s megaproject – the third airport, specifically aimed at growing Turkish Airlines, reports Today’s Zaman. In Middle East region, fuel subsidies, although applicable to the whole state, at a time allowed Gulf carriers up to $1000 savings per ton of fuel. Furthermore, in aid to decrease the time US tourists have to spend in queues, writes Arabian Business, Emirati airlines persuaded the government to open preclearance posts, allowing passengers to avoid customs upon arrival to US. Finally, non-existent corporate tax sustains the airlines’ ever increasing expansion. Combined with to-the-point management and a definite vision, major carriers of Middle East are the fastest developing competitors in the field of airlines. Unsurprisingly, the situation has been deemed unfair byby international carriers who find it hard to compete with the heavily supported Middle Eastern providers.  For example, Qantas used the situation in the region as a clear example of the necessity for governmental support, while other airlines have publically announced critical areas of fair competition infringement – different taxation, low airport fees, undeveloped environmental regulations and the inequality in labor markets.

Exporting the profit

Another problem comes up unexpectedly indirectly. Given the globalization, it is safe to say, that every industry player is connected. In markets as large as US, clashes happen even between sectors that would seemingly have no issue with each other. This situation comes into play, when an export credit agency subsidizes the purchase intents of foreign carriers, who can even be direct competitors of the national carriers. Recently, Delta’s Chief Executive Richard Anderson voiced his concerns over the insufficiently regulated Ex-Im’s financing practices, suggesting the agency should only support the airlines which truly have no other means to stay in business. Ex-Im Bank has financed deals involving Emirates Airline - one of the fiercest US carriers’ competitors, and has thus incurred a lawsuit from Delta, claiming the support has led to financial losses for the US carriers.

But everyone does it

Should the government be allowed to support an airline directly? Maybe not, if we value fair global competition. But let’s face it – we live in a real world, and countries do support their carriers through all available means since aviation may do magic for national economies (e.g. Turkish economy growth rate has tripled thanks to the development of the aviation segment). And those countries which refuse to provide any support – they may eventually be left with no national regular airline at all, because it won’t be able to compete with foreign carriers. At the same time, even if we assume that many (if not all) governments do support their carriers in one way or another, one should also realize that, for example, UAE, Turkey, the USA, Poland, Belgium or Egypt – each country has different resources and capabilities (due to both legal and economic limitations) to provide such support.

In other words, if everyone does it, why everyone complains? Maybe because some airlines just receive smaller support than others?

Air India soars ahead with Star Alliance

Air India played host to the first-ever Star Alliance Chief Executive Board (CEB) meeting held in India. This follows the national carrier’s joining the world’s longest serving and most comprehensive airline alliance in July this year.

Speaking to both local and foreign media in New Delhi today, Mr Rohit Nandan, CMD Air India, thanked all CEOs for travelling to India and for a productive two-day meeting. He stressed upon the fact that for Air India has been vastly improving its performance parameters in all the areas by constantly upgrading its service standards in every area of its operation. Air India becoming a member of the prestigious Star Alliance is a key pillar of the airline’s turnaround strategy, along with the fleet renewal, network optimisation and an initiative to improve quality of service.

Mr Nandan added that the cooperation with the Star Alliance member airlines is of mutual interest and will grow from strength to strength. "We are looking at closer interaction with member airlines and have signed a code share agreement with Air Canada besides signing MOUs with Avianca and EVA Air recently. By March we aim at having code share agreements with most Star Alliance member airlines”. Speaking on Air India’s restructuring Mr Nandan reiterated that Air India is moving in the right direction and the benchmark set for Air India in the turn-around plan have been achieved and we hope to be cash positive by 2018.

Air India has witnessed an increase of 33% in the number of passengers transferring between Air India and other Star Alliance member carriers, mainly through Delhi or Mumbai but also at other airports such as London or Newark. Frequent Flyers are also taking advantage of the Alliance benefits, with over 80,000 having earned miles while flying on Air India since July and more than 20,000 Air India Flying Returns FFP members having miles credited for flights on other Star Alliance member carriers. With its 99-strong fleet, a mix of B787 Dreamliners, B777s, A330s and the A320 family, it is one of the youngest in the world. A key boost to the brand comes from the comfort that these aircraft offer.

severe turbulence.

The American Airlines plane was flying from the South Korean city of Incheon to Dallas when the turbulence hit.

Five people needed hospital treatment, the airline said, but none of the injuries were life-threatening.

The turbulence, which occurred about 75 minutes into the flight, caused food to be thrown around the cabin.

"Medical personnel have been able to evaluate all passengers and crew members asking for medical attention," the airline said.

"Four passengers and one crew member have been transported to local hospitals for further observation and treatment."

A male flight attendant was thrown to the ceiling, hitting his head, Kyodo news agency said, citing a passenger.

"We were eating and all the food just flew up in the air and pretty much bounced off and fell. There were carts all over the place," another passenger told local media.

The plane landed at Tokyo's Narita airport in the early hours of Wednesday. It was expected to continue on to the US later in the day.

Boeing increases share repurchase authorization to $12bn

Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney announced today that the Boeing board of directors increased the company's authorization for its share repurchase plan to $12 billion and declared that the company's regular quarterly dividend will increase by 25 percent to 91 cents per share.

The $12 billion repurchase authorization approved today replaces the authorization approved in 2013 of which approximately $4.8B was remaining. Repurchase activity for 2014 is now complete at $6B and is expected to resume in January 2015.

The timing and volume of repurchases are at the discretion of Boeing management, however it is currently expected that the share repurchases will be made over the next two to three years. Repurchases may be made on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.

Boeing's new dividend represents an 88 percent increase over the past two years.

The dividend declared today is payable March 6, 2015, to shareholders of record as of February 13, 2015.

Source and image: Boeing