Runway Safety Benefits from Low-Cost System
The Federal Aviation Administration issued its first contract for a low-cost surface system, a system which promises to reduce runway hazards at the nations small and medium-sized airports. Top airports are slated to get the $5 million to $10 million ASDE-X system to improve runway safety, leaving smaller airports vulnerable but the new $500,000 system developed by Thales ATM is a radar-based system, according to Reason Foundation’s Airport Policy News. Although not as effective as ASDE-X, it is better than nothing, said the organization in its latest newsletter, which added that it provides alerts only to controllers rather than both controller and pilot. The agency is planning further contracts as well as field tests for competing systems.

Iberia.com Grows, Cyber Safety Important
Travel companies have three times the e-commerce than non-travel companies and while they may have harnessed the web, they have become vulnerable to cyberfraud. Even so, airline e-commerce is growing and now accounts for 33 percent of airline sales worldwide three times the proportion of sales transacted online by non-travel companies -- so efficient management of the problem is of critical concern to the airlines.

Iberia.com released its 2008 statistics, showing its sales grew 7.45 percent over the previous year earning 532 million euros in ticket sales with the largest growth coming from the international market. The site receives 335,000 average daily visits for its full-service travel offerings which include hotel bookings, insurance, day trips and local transport, and even wines. In 2008 the Iberia web site was used to book some 55,000 hotel rooms, 14,000 car rentals, and 315,000 travel insurance policies.

The carrier cited its 43 foreign-language and market-specific versions of its site, where the average increase was 17% in the year. Iberia’s Brazil site posted a sales rise of 119%, while the Russia site was close behind at 118%, followed by Argentina with 72%. In Europe, Iberia’s site for Italy showed a 47% increase, and that of the France site reached 23%.

As with all such sites, one of the most popular services is online check-in for flights which, since October has included PDA’s and Smart Phones. Every day more than 13,000 boarding cards are issued by the auto check-in online server.

The site has also become the communications channel of choice for members of the Iberia Plus frequent flyers program, where they can view and conduct transactions with their points, buy air tickets, and learn about the latest offers. Of today’s 3.84 million Iberia Plus members, 2.1 million now manage their accounts via Iberia Plus Online.

Among the additions and improvements made to www.iberia.com in 2008:
• Option to request electronic invoice (e-factura Iberia).
• Generation of duplicate boarding cards via auto check-in online.
• New options for customers using PDAs and Smart Phones to access the web site:
• Purchase of Madrid-Barcelona shuttle tickets
• View reservations
• View flight timetables
• View latest arrivals and departures
• View Iberia Plus account balance and movements
• Search from flights by maximum price set by customer.
• Search for weekend getaway flights.
• Special prices for fairs, congresses and events for which Iberia is an official carrier.
• Use Iberia Plus points for tickets on flights by British Airways and Qantas.

Despite e-commerce's success, CyberSource cautioned the airlines lost over $1.4 billion to online fraud last year, 1.3 percent of worldwide online revenue, according to a new independent Airline Online Fraud Survey commissioned by CyberSource Corporation in association with Airline Information LLC and completed January, 2009.

In 2008, business-class airlines, with higher-priced tickets to protect, typically embraced profit protection measures, whereas low-cost carriers tended to focus on revenue capture. On average, business airlines used the most fraud detection tools (6.5 tools per business-class airline), had the highest rate of manual review (47%), and rejected more bookings due to suspicion of fraud (3.6%). Conversely, low-cost carriers used the least number of automated screening tools (4.9 tools per low-cost carrier), were less likely to manually review bookings (13%), and rejected fewer bookings due to suspicion of fraud (2%). The result of these differing strategies is that in 2008 business airlines lost 1.1% of their revenues to fraud and low-cost carriers, by contrast, lost 1.6%.

"The good news is that solutions exist," said Christopher Staab, Managing Partner of Airline Information, an airline industry organization. "Improving the efficiency of fraud management is one of the quickest cost-cutting moves airlines have at their disposal."

Fraud management tactics vary widely by region. North American-based companies relied far more heavily on detection tools, employing an average of 7.5 tools vs. a European average of 5.4 – the overall world average is 5.8. North American airlines manually reviewed only 3% of their bookings whereas Middle Eastern-based airlines manually reviewed 81%. European and Asia Pacific-based airlines manually reviewed 22% and 49% of their bookings, respectively.

"These findings highlight the need for airlines to adopt a more automated, holistic approach to fraud management--from initial screening through booking review and disposition,” said Dr. Akif Khan, head of client and technical services in the UK. “Improving the accuracy of automated screening is key. In doing so, they can reduce overhead costs associated with manual review, as well as improve revenue capture and lower fraud loss. With the right tools, airlines can realize these benefits in a matter of weeks--not years."

ATR for Air Botswana
Air Botswana is replacing its regional jets with ATRs, citing the unprofitability of the jets. The national-flag carrier today took delivery of its first new ATR 72-500 as part of a $37 million deal for two ATR 72-500s. Air Botswana is responding to air transport growth by increasing the passenger capacity of its current fleet of 3 ATR 42-500s.

“The introduction of these new ATR 72-500 aircraft responds to our need to increase our route coverage and to provide more frequencies to our passengers,” said L.M. Bantsi, cting gaeneral manager of the 21-year-old carrier. “There is a strong development of the regional air transportation in Botswana and we are committed to match this opportunity with larger capacity ATRs.”

ATR CEO Stéphane Mayer noted the ATR is playing an important role in the development of the regional air connectivity in the African continent. “We count today more than 80 aircraft being operated by some 25 carriers,” he said. “This reflects the suitability of the ATR aircraft for some specific operating conditions in the continent, including hot-and-high environments and small and remote airfields.” Since the beginning of the program, ATR has sold 979 aircraft (420 ATR 42s and 559 ATR 72s).

Based at Sir Seretse Khama Airport, the carrier launched a maintenance repair and overhaul service for other African carriers, and its latest acquisition, said the carrier would pave the way for contract work for other ATR operators in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania.

Take-Airway Menu at clickair
Even as Southwest Airlines toys with the idea of serving food, Spain’s clickair became the first airline in the world to offer a take-away menu (“Take Airway”) especially prepared for travellers planning a short stay in one of clickair’s destinations.

This innovative culinary option is part of the airline’s new on-board catering service which can be paid for by cash or credit/debit card. The onboard catering can be paid for in cash or by using a credit or debit card. It also added a new restaurant voucher payment method through Cheque Gourmet, Restaurante Pass and Tickets Restaurant.

“At clickair, we continually endeavour to develop innovative ideas based on what passengers want,” says Jaime Lloret, Marketing Director for clickair. “The new catering service is a reflection of our passengers’ requests. For example, many travellers, particularly business travellers, commented that during one-day business trips they often lack the time to even eat a meal. Accordingly, our in-flight menus may now be purchased as ‘take-airway’.

The Mediterranean flavor menu is in response to demand, according to the carrier, which launched the unique effort after receiving comments from more than 15,000 travellers surveyed over a period of six months. The collected data identified three types of flight ‘diners’: those travelling predominantly for leisure, often with children; those travelling with their partner; and those travelling for business purposes - on certain routes the latter category comprises more than 40% of passengers. Options include menus for two, an executive menu, an economy menu and a kid’s menu.

The airline has 45 destinations in Spain, Continental Europe, the British Isles and North Africa with a dedicated fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. Since it began operating in 2006, the airline has carried 11 million passengers from its main base in Barcelona, as well as in Seville, Malaga, Valencia and Bilbao. The company is currently undergoing a merger with the airline Vueling, an operation that is expected to be finalised during the summer of 2009.

Corporate Angels Flies 31,001 Pax
Corporate Angel Network flew its 31,000 and 31,001 passengers recently when it carried Winston Churchill, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, and Susan Polan, another cancer patient, home to Florida from treatment at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. Churchill was, at one time, a volunteer pilot in the St. John’s Ambulance Air Wing, providing rapid transport of organs.

Ruling in Embraer’s Labor Dispute
In a terse statement, Embraer reported that the the Regional Labor Court (Tribunal Regional doTrabalho – TRT) in Campinas, São Paulo, ruled, today, in favor of maintaining the lay-offs carried out by Embraer in February. It also determined the amount of compensation that include some of the proposals presented by the company during the hearing held last week. Embraer said it is awaiting the formal publication of this ruling, in order to determine its position.

CAAC May Bid for Eclipse
While it is far from clear what is going on with Eclipse Aviation now that it is in liquidation, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting the China Commercial Aircraft Company may bid on the remains of the now-defunct very light jet company. The move would be a departure for CAAC with its plans to launch mainline aircraft manufacturing to compete against Boeing and Airbus. While seeking the intellectual property and technology, the move faces the same hurdle that stood in the way of the ETIRC purchase that went south last month. The technology used in developing the little jet, is not allowed to be transferred for production off shore.