Quote of the Week: "We have more work to do," United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton comment in a telephone "hotline" message to employees where he called United's fourth-quarter performance "unsustainable." United's stock dropped $5.73 a share on Thursday
Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #309................................................January 30, 2005 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm The PASSUR airport flight tracking system at http://www.passur.com/sites.htm (you must have Java installed to view it) Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net
United
Airlines Stock Drops $5.72 On Thursday!!! 
As
Bill
Sees It: (Editorial)
United Airlines Has Lost $10 BILLION
Dollars Since 2000!!! If your complaining about the high cost of heating
your home this year, try looking at the silver lining. According to one story
this week the world's number two airline, United, scaled back capacity 3%
this year because of "high fuel costs and intense low-fare
competition." That means 3% more sleep and 3% less stress on their
victims whose sleep they disturb and who have to breath their air pollution. It
is good to hear a story about a REDUCTION in flights by a airline for a
change. I don't understand how a business that loses $10 Billion
dollars can still be operating. Just another story in the strange world of the
Aviation Cabal. Things are looking grimmer every day for this polluting
industry; and this is without there being a major crash or terrorist attack
in years!!! Little Press Coverage On The FAA's Reduction In Plane Separation Distances: It
was a relatively quiet news week for the Aviation Cabal. After the stories last week about plane separation safety distances being reduced,
snowed-in airports and the "outsourcing" of aircraft maintenance, I
guess they were in for a lull. I was surprised by how little the media focused
on the reduction, by half, of the allowable safety distances between planes
above 29 thousand feet. Maybe it
will take a collision before they think it is important. According to one
story, the reduced separation distance of planes will allow "more direct
routes at the most fuel-efficient altitudes." This will mean more
"chemtrail" visual pollution crisscrossing America's skies as planes
fly over new areas. The related story with this issue,
besides the reduction of safety, is that while the separation safety reduction allows
more planes in the air, it doesn't affect congested airports. I believe this
allowing more planes to be unsafely jammed into the sky will put more pressure
on airports to increase their capacity by building more runways and inflicting
more noise and air pollution on nearby residential communities. Even with the
eminent collapse of the American airline industry the government is continuing
with the O'Hare and Philadelphia Airport expansion atrocities.
United
Airlines Reduces Flights By 3%!!! Stubbornly high fuel costs and intense
low-fare competition pushed United Airlines to a $644 million loss last quarter.
In reporting the loss Thursday, the world's No. 2 airline said continuing
financial pressure will force it to scale back its capacity by 3% this year,
though the company did not provide specifics on where or how those cuts will be
made. CEO Glenn Tilton called the fourth-quarter performance
"unsustainable." "We have more work to do," he said in a
telephone hotline message to employees Thursday. United's $5.73 a share loss was
nearly 40% greater than the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, United's
loss was $553 million, a better performance than the analysts' consensus from
Thomson First Call. The airline's total loss since 2000: $10 billion. United
entered Chapter 11 in December 2002. Tilton initially predicted an 18-month
stay. Now he says he hopes United can emerge next fall, after what would be
nearly three years in bankruptcy protection. But several hurdles remain. http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2005-01-28-airlines-usat_x.htm
Business
Group
Warns About Airline Industry Collapse!!! 
RADNOR, PA., January 13,
2005-The Business Travel Coalition (BTC) today reiterated its call for the
U.S. DOT to recommend, and Congress to authorize, the National Academy of
Sciences Transportation Research Board (TRB) to vet policy options that could be
considered in the event of an airline industry collapse. BTC likewise called for
the TRB to put forth recommendations, within a framework of a national air
transportation policy, to more fully deregulate the industry for the purpose of
enabling greater airline efficiencies. BTC
chairman Kevin Mitchell stated, “No mass transportation system in the history
of mankind has been profitable over time. The low cost U.S. airline segment is
meeting customer needs, is profitable and is growing. However, the major network
airline segment, which comprises the major portion of a critical infrastructure
upon which virtually every other industry depends, is in a state of deepening
crisis. http://btcweb.biz/01-05crisisstatement.htm
Minneapolis-St. Paul
Airport Communities Prepare For "Annoying Neighbor's" New Runway:
For some Dakota County residents the opening of the airport’s new runway
will be like an annoying neighbor dropping in more often. For others it will be
as if an entirely new nuisance has moved in next door. The city of Eagan is
working to ensure residents who will be affected by the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport’s new runway, which is slated to open in October 2005,
know the impact it likely will have on their lives. Residents around Pinewood
Elementary School in southeast Eagan got a glimpse of that impact Jan. 20 in the
third of 10 open houses staged by the city. For Eagan and Burnsville residents
along Cedar Avenue and the Minnesota River, along with other Dakota County
communities stretching south from the airport, the new runway means the
introduction of airport noise to their lives. “This is one of the better parts
if you live in Eagan with the new runway opening,” Leqve told the Pinewood
Elementary neighborhood residents. “There are some people in Eagan where
that is a completely different story.” The residents in that central Eagan
neighborhood will be among those who will experience the noise levels for the
first time, she said. http://www.mnsun.com/story.asp?city=Eagan&story=151275
Editor's Note: They should be happy that their airport is getting (as the
Aviation Cabal likes to call it) an "improvement."
China
Buys New Boeing Jets: Aerospace giant Boeing signed a deal with China for
60 new 7E7 "Dreamliner" passenger jets, with a list price of 7.2
billion dollars. "The Boeing Company and officials from the People's
Republic of China signed a preliminary agreement for the purchase of 60 Boeing
7E7 Dreamliners by Chinese airlines," the US company said in a statement.
"The agreement, which will be finalized at a later date, is valued at
approximately 7.2 billion dollars, based on an average list price."
The deal provides a major boost for Boeing's efforts to launch its new
fuel-efficient jetliner in the global marketplace. However, the aircraft maker
fell short of its goal of getting 200 firm orders for the Dreamliner by the end
of 2004. Boeing received 126 orders for 7E7s, 56 of them firm by the end of last
year. The new deal with China would boost the total announced orders for the 7E7
to 186. http://servihoo.com/channels/kinews/v3news_details.php?id=66670&CategoryID=47
Noisier
Old England? Over half of the homes in England and Wales are thought to
be exposed to noise levels exceeding the World Health Organization’s
recommended daytime level of 55 decibels. Environmental noise can be described
as any unwanted sound. Noise from industry, traffic, homes and recreation can
cause annoyance, disturb sleep and affect health. In extreme cases it can make
communication difficult and affect concentration. The number of people who
reported hearing noise from their homes increased significantly in the last
decade. In 2000/2001, 88% of homes heard road traffic, 38% heard aircraft, and
11% heard trains. Local authorities in England and Wales
received five times as many complaints about noise in 2002/2003 than in
1982/1983, although monitoring methods have changed over this time. Since
1991, domestic noise complaints have more than doubled and industrial/commercial
noise complaints have risen by about 30% to 1,339 complaints per million people.
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/newbuilder/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=438
http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?brand=cmtonline&category=news&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newscomet&itemid=WEED13%20Jan%202005%2011%3A05%3A08%3A467
European
Airlines To Compensate Flying Public For Cancellations? A
EUROPEAN regulation coming into force next month could compel airlines to give
millions of pounds in compensation to passengers 
for flight delays and
cancellations. The cancellation of a flight with 180 passengers could cost an
airline over £100,000 under the new legislation. Sources said the new rule
could apply even to airlines like Air-India that are headquartered outside the
EU if the delays and cancellations affect passengers boarding from airports in
EU member states. Air-India could be badly bruised by this regulation. From
February 17, passengers will be able to demand compensation of up to £416 if a
flight of more than 1,800 miles is cancelled or overbooked. Passengers will also
be entitled to free meals, drinks and two free phone calls during long delays.
The airline will have to provide them with a hotel room if the delay continues
overnight. Various airline industry bodies have started legal challenges over
the regulation but they will not be heard by the European Court of Justice till
September. Editor's Note: No doubt this court will do the same thing that the
European Union Court of (In)Human Rights did last year; and that is cave in
to the Aviation Cabal lobbyists and rule in favor of the Aviation Cabal
polluters. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1459922,00.html
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Important Aviation News Stories This Week
A mere 1,000 feet of air now separate airplanes from other planes that are above and below at high altitudes in the United States. The change takes advantage of the pinpoint accuracy of modern avionics, almost doubling the number of corridors in the sky, the Federal Aviation Administration said last week.
The move will allow pilots to fly more direct routes, save airlines billions of dollars in fuel costs and improve safety, according to the FAA, pilots and air traffic controllers.
The vertical spacing between planes is being cut in half, from the longtime standard minimum of 2,000 feet at altitudes between 29,000 feet and 41,000 feet. While planes will be stacked closer together vertically, the horizontal spacing will remain at least 5.75 miles, as will the vertical spacing of 1,000 feet for aircraft flying at altitudes of 29,000 feet and below.
The FAA and other safety experts say passengers have no grounds to fear planes will stray off their assigned altitudes and collide with other aircraft. Advanced altimeters, which measure altitude, are required to be accurate to within less than 200 feet, and autopilots can hold the assigned altitude with little deviation, FAA spokesman William Shumann said.
Passengers hoping to be able to look out the window and wave to travelers in another plane will be disappointed.
"The change should be invisible to passengers," Shumann said.
He said the procedure, called Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum, enjoys a 100 percent safety record since it was first implemented on routes over the north Atlantic Ocean in 1997 and introduced in Europe in 2002. Expanding the procedure to the United States, Canada and Mexico was delayed to give airlines time to re-equip planes. All Western Hemisphere countries converted to the procedure Thursday.
The cockpit modernization cost U.S. carriers $839 million and cost the FAA about $30 million, Shumann said.
The FAA estimated in the summer of 2003, before jet fuel prices escalated to near-record levels, that the procedure would save the airlines $5.3 billion through 2016. FAA officials said the actual savings will be larger, but no updated estimates have been made.
Condensing traffic into streams that are 1,000 feet apart vertically expands the number of air corridors from seven to 13, and gives air traffic controllers more options to direct pilots through smoother air when weather is bad, officials said.
The increased flexibility will also help improve efficiency in congested airspace, possibly resulting in time savings that could make up for delays on the ground at busy airports and in crowded, low-altitude airspace where planes are approaching and departing airports.
"It doesn't solve the problem at the end of the pipeline at congested airports like O'Hare, but having six more altitudes to work with is a nice little efficiency gain," said Larry Newman, a captain for a major airline who is also the chairman of the air traffic services group at the Air Line Pilots Association.
Air traffic controllers, long accustomed to reassigning aircraft to different altitudes in intervals of 2,000 feet, will "need to unlearn years of habit," said Bryan Zilonis, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association at the FAA's Chicago Center in west suburban Aurora, which is one of the busiest FAA radar facilities that handle high-altitude traffic.
"I have some concerns whether the airlines will try to overload us with too much traffic since more airspace will be available, but overall I hope things will turn out great," he said.