Alleged air cargo rate fixing case reaches court in New Zealand

The NZ Herald reported on court action taken by the Commerce Commission into alleged price fixing by nine international airlines serving the New Zealand market (see previous post) on:

9 May 2011 - "Airlines' price fix case starts in court"
11 May 2011 - "Air cargo cartel case opens in High Court"
12 May 2011 - "Qantas fined $6.5m for price fixing"
12 May 2011 - "Air NZ in court as price-fixing case gets under way"
13 May 2011 - "Qantas hit with record $6.5 million fine"
14 May 2011 - "Cartel case out of line, say airlines"

The Commerce Commission has made a number of media releases on the case:

20 March 2009 - "Commerce Commission procedure in accordance with standard best practice"
11 March 2011 - "Court of Appeal rules on use of confidentiality orders"
18 March 2011 - "Settlements in cartel case as Commerce Commission prepares for Court"
5 April 2011 - "$7.6 million imposed against two airlines in air cargo cartel case" - British Airways and Cargolux
20 April 2011 - "Commerce Commission narrows focus of air cargo cartel case before trial"
27 April 2011 - "Airlines' information request case resolved" - Singapore Airlines Cargo and Cathay Pacific
12 May 2011 - "Court awards highest penalty to date in price fixing" - this statement notes similar action taken in Australia, the United States, the European Union, Canada and South Korea

Air New Zealand has also issued related media statements:

18 March 2011 - in response to a Qantas media statement issued on the same day
20 April 2011

On 17 May 2010 the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it was taking action against Air New Zealand. On 18 May 2010 Air Transport World reported Air New Zealand's reaction.

On 11 November 2010 the NZ Herald reported that Air New Zealand had been dropped from similar action taken by the European Commission (see previous post).

Singapore concludes "open skies" agreement with Japan

On 2 February 2011 Airport News Japan reported on the 20 February 2011 announcement by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that an "open skies" agreement had been negotiated between Singapore and Japan.

Japan announces priorities for "open skies"

A 17 December 2011 story from AFP carried by channelnewsasia.com reported that Japan was giving priority to negotiating "open skies" agreements with South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Interesting is Japan's new willingness to cover access to Narita (NRT) in these agreements.

Singapore concludes "open skies" agreements with Barbados, Brazil, Jamaica and Rwanda

On 19 July 2010 the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced that Singapore had concluded "open skies" agreement with Barbados, Brazil, Jamaica and Rwanda at ICAN 2010.

Air services arrangements between Fiji and Singapore were also modified to create new opportunities.

Singapore and the Philippines expand their air services arrangements

On 13 May 2010 the Singapore Government's Ministry of Transport announced that it had agreed with the Philippines to expand their bilateral air services arrangements by allowing for greater capacity, measured by flights per week (see previous post).

Singapore announces new air services arrangements with Greece

On 17 June 2010 the Singapore Government's Ministry of Transport announced that the previous day it had agreed with Greece to expand their bilateral air services arrangements.

These new arrangements are another example of agreeing to take a more liberal approach to dedicated freighter services than to passenger services.

Singapore signs new air services agreement with Nepal

The Singapore Ministry of Transport announced on 2 February 2010 that Singapore had signed a new air services agreement with Nepal. The arrangements provide for capacity limited on the basis of service frequency and a limited exchange of fifth freedom rights for passenger services. Traffic rights for cargo services are more open.

Australian Aviation White Paper due out this month

On 30 November 2009 the ABC reported that the Australian Government is expected to release its National Aviation Policy Statement on 16 December 2009 (see previous post).

A key issue will be what comment is made about the location for a second major airport for Sydney. Given the rampant NIMBYism, I am not expecting a definitive long-term answer (NIMBY = not in my back yard).

The end of year release seems to have stirred the Singapore Airlines (SQ) public relations machine into further action with the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reporting on 2 November 2009 the airline's wish to be granted fifth freedom rights between Australia and the USA. One wonders if the situation will change should the US Department of Transportation grant anti-trust immunity for the V Australia/Delta tie up (see previous post).

Incidentally the SMH story contains a basic error in the second paragraph when it says "Because Australia and the US have an open-skies treaty, Singapore Airline's access hinges on the go-ahead only from the Rudd Government." The Australia-US treaty is irrelevant to a Singapore Airlines fifth freedom service beyond Australia to the USA. What the article should have said was "Because Singapore and the US are party to an open-skies treaty, ..."

Fiji negotiates air services arrangements with Turkey

On 5 October 2009 the Fiji Government announced that Fiji has negotiated an air services agreement with Turkey at the recent ICAO Air Services Negotiation Conference (see previous post). The Fiji Daily Post reported on this on 7 October 2009.

Fiji also held negotiations with the United Arab Emirates and informal talks with India, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The release refers to Fiji having a "Look North Policy".

Classic aeropolitics from the Australian archives

In the late 1970s Australia, with its International Civil Aviation Policy (ICAP), tried to reduce the share of the Australia-Europe market being taken by sixth freedom carrier Singapore Airlines by declining to allow it to match the cheapest tariffs for air travel on the route. The response was a heated dispute between Australia and ASEAN.

The National Archives of Australia has released UPDATED a key 1978 Australian Cabinet paper from that time. It provides a classic case study in aeropolitics.

The 3 March 1979 issue of Flight International carried a report of what happened. Related documents from ASEAN, such as a record UPDATED of a special meeting of Economics Ministers held on 22 February 1979 held in response to ICAP, a press release UPDATED following that meeting which alludes to "retaliatory measures", and a joint press release UPDATED on a ministerial-level meeting held between ASEAN and Australia on 20-21 March 1979, are also now available on the web.

Today Australia still takes what some might describe as a protectionist approach to international air services having very few "open skies" agreements and declining to grant fifth freedom access for Singaporean and Canadian airlines to the Australia-Mainland USA market while V Australia establishes itself.

Singapore concludes new air services agreements with Peru, Colombia and Ecuador

On 26 August 2009 the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced that Singapore had concluded new air services agreements with Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. The new agreement with Peru is described as being "open skies" and includes seventh freedom rights for air cargo services. That with Ecuador has restrictions on the frequency of passenger but not cargo air services. The new arrangements with Colombia restrict both passenger and cargo frequency (to be increased in 2011).

McGill IASL holds Workshop and Conference in Abu Dhabi

The McGill Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) from Montreal has posted many of the presentations from a Workshop and Conference on Air Transport, Air & Space Law and Regulation that it held in Abu Dhabi on 12-16 April 2009.

From what one can tell from the inevitable .ppt slides, the basics seem to be well covered in the Workshop with, for example, the point being made that the US "open skies" model air services agreement lacks some features such as seventh freedom passenger rights and cabotage so it cannot really be described as totally open.

An interesting presentation from the Conference is that by Alan Khee-Jin Tan from the National University of Singapore on the proposed South East Asian Single Aviation Market.

Fuel prices bouncing back up

Around six months ago I posted graphs of the Singapore spot prices converted to New Zealand dollars of aviation jet fuel and residual fuel oil (RFO) used in ships. The updated graphs through to June 2009 that follow illustrate how these spot prices have been rising in recent months.

Again I have used monthly data from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand for the foreign exchange rates and from the US Energy Information Administration for the fuel spot prices.

Singapore expands air services opportunities with the Philippines

On 10 May 2009 the Business Mirror reported on a major expansion in the air services arrangements negotiated between the Philippines and Singapore. This includes a major capacity increase and agreement by the Philippines to grant Singaporean airlines fifth freedom rights beyond Clark for 14 flights per week in total to all countries except Canada and the United States.

Singapore and Malaysia agree on new air routes and increased capacity

On 14 April 2009 the Singapore Ministry of Transport announced that Malaysia and Singapore had agreed to new routes and increased frequency of air services opportunities for the airlines of their two countries under their bilateral air services agreement.

This followed an earlier 6 October 2008 announcement about the outcome of negotiations that created opportunities for the low-cost carriers of the two countries on three East Malaysia-Singapore routes.

Danish top visa-free entry to other countries

On 5 March 2009 The Economist carried a chart showing some countries ranked by how many other countries their citizens had travel visa free access to.

This index was compiled by Henley & Partners and their fuller listing is also available online. Denmark ranks number one while New Zealand ranks eighth equal with Singapore.

Australia grants Qatar access to SYD

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 7 March 2009 that Qatar has managed to negotiate with Australia immediate access to Sydney (SYD) for Qatar Airways. Further details were announced UPDATED by the Australian Minister for Infrastructure on 12 March 2009.

Qatar had originally be granted access to a number of other Australian cities, including Melbourne, but Qatar Airways had not used these rights (see previous post).

Meanwhile Singapore Airlines is reportedly continuing to feel frustrated by Australia's international air transport policy.

Singapore reaches "open skies" agreement with Oman

In a media statement on 11 February 2009 the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced that Singapore has negotiated an "open skies" type air services agreement with Oman (Straits Times report).

Singapore concludes "open skies" agreements with the Czech Republic and Iceland

In separate media statements the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced on 19 and 23 January 2009 that Singapore has negotiated "open skies" type air services agreements with the Czech Republic (Straits Times report) and separately with Iceland (Straits Times report). The latter includes an exchange of seventh freedom rights.

This brings the number of "open skies" partners Singapore has to more than 30, 16 of which are with European Union member states.

The fuel spot price "super spike" collapse

I have continued monitoring the Singapore spot prices of international bunker fuels (jet used in aircraft and residual fuel oil (RFO) used in ships) in US$ and NZ$. The following four graphs show the results for this decade including November 2008 (see previous post for data sources). The second and fourth of the graphs are indexed with a base on 100 in January 2000.

The term "super spike" in relation to oil price movements was reported on 21 May 2008 by the International Herald Tribune to have been used by a Goldman Sachs analyst, Arjun Murti, who was predicting that the price of oil could go as high as US$200 and would stay above US$100 into 2011. Bloomberg reported on 6 May 2008 that Murti first used the term "super spike" in March 2005.

Murti's latest views on the price of oil were covered in a 12 December 2008 post NEW on the Alphaville weblog from the Financial Times.