Thailand has "open skies" agreement with Switzerland

On 18 January 2010 the Bangkok Post reported that Thailand had signed an "open skies" agreement with Switzerland replacing an agreement from 1984.

Breakthrough for the Gotthard Base Tunnel Project

In a major civil engineering achievement, after 14 years on 15 October 2010 the boring of the 57km Gotthard Base Tunnel through the Swiss Alps was completed. swissinfo.ch carried a report on the breakthrough.

The new rail tunnel, the longest in the world, will not open until 2017 but will become a major transport between Germany and Italy when it does. The cost is expected to be US$10.6bn. The travel time by passenger train between Zurich and Milan will be reduced by one hour.

Canada updates air transport agreement with Switzerland

On 22 October 2010 the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, announced that Canada had negotiated an updated, more open air transport agreement with Switzerland. The Prime Minister's Office announced more details.

IATA "Agenda for Freedom" web site

The Geneva and Montreal based International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents most of the worlds international airlines, has established a dedicated web site for its Agenda for Freedom initiative (see previous post).

The site already contains a useful resource of information that is described as best practice on air services liberalisation from the European Commission, Switzerland, the United States of America and Chile.

Switzerland and Japan increase air services opportunities

Following negotiations held between Switzerland and Japan on 1-2 July 2009, on 3 July 2009 Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism NEW announced (in Japanese) that the routes and capacity for air services by the airlines of the two countries have been expanded (see previous post). Airline Route Updates provided a summary NEW in English.

Countdown to startup of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 kilometer-long particle accelerator straddling the border of Switzerland and France just outside Geneva, is nearly set to begin its first particle beam tests. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is preparing for its first small tests in early August, leading to a planned full-track test in September, and the first planned particle collisions before the end of the year. The final step before starting is the chilling of the entire collider to -271.25 C.

On 30 June 2008 The Guardian published a number of articles about the LHC and what it is hoped to discover. (See previous post.)

On 2 July 2008 Scientific American carried an article about what five physics Nobel prize winners thought about the LHC.

On 31 July 2008 The Economist ran an article, noting the LHC's US$10 billion cost.

On 1 August 2008 The Boston Globe had a story with a magnificent set of 27 photographs from CERN of the equipment that makes up the LHC.

By way of comparison, the London Underground's Circle line is 22.5 kilometers long.

New Zealand secured open air services arrangements with Switzerland

The Annual Report of the New Zealand Ministry of Transport for the year ended 30 June 2007 tabled in Parliament has on page 34 a brief report on New Zealand's progress in air services negotiations during the year.

During the year New Zealand "Secured open air services arrangements with Switzerland, finalised new arrangements with China and continued efforts to secure more open air services arrangements with other parties, including Canada, the European Union, Turkey, South Africa and the Philippines. Agreement was reached with Japan to permit the operation of B777 aircraft on routes to Japan."

This is the first time that news of the revised arrangements with Switzerland has been made public.

Separate public announcements have already been made on recent new air services arrangements with Canada, China and the Philippines.

Swissair Trial Verdicts

On 7 June 2007 the BBC reported that all 19 defendants in the Swissair collapse trial have been found not guilty. The court in Bülach near Zurich also announced damages of SFr3 million (US$2.45 million) in favour of the defendants.

I previously posted about the trial on 20 and 24 January and 10 March 2007.

New South Africa-Switzerland Air Services Agreement

On 8 May 2007 South Africa and Switzerland signed a new Air Services Agreement replacing one signed in 1959. A press statement from the South African Department of Transport gives some details.

South Africa is pursuing a new "Airlift Strategy" that was given Cabinet approval on 26 July 2006 (see posting on 18 March 2007).

Setback for CERN as Fermilab maths mistake causes explosion

In an 8 April 2007 article the Sunday Times reports on a small explosion on 27 March at CERN in Geneva that has possibly set back by months the multi-billion euro Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project to build an experiment to search for evidence of the Higgs Boson. The cause of the explosion was reportedly a miscalculation by staff at CERN's US rival, Fermilab. Official statements have been made by CERN and Fermilab.

I have been out to the visitor centre, Microcosm, at CERN. It is well worth a look. Ever since studying physics at high school I have retained a fascination for the subject reading popular accounts but thought that my maths skills were not up to taking the subject any further. Maybe they were!

In addition, understanding basic physics is very important for anyone involved in flying.

Swissair trial drawing to a close

Good English-language coverage of the Swissair trial is available on the swissinfo web site. We now await the verdicts, expected to be released in May.

I travelled on successor airline Swiss International (LX) this month between Bangkok and Switzerland. The standard of service was very good. Swiss is currently around one third the size of Swissair in terms of staff numbers.

Rail Photos taken in Geneva

I first visited Switzerland on holiday in 1986 and for part of my time there travelled around by train and boat using a Swiss Pass. I also travelled on the Glacier Express and the very expensive Jungfraubahnen. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to see the Swiss Alps. More recently my visits to Switzerland have been to attend World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Geneva.

Here are a few photos I took on different more recent visits to the main railway station in Geneva, Switzerland. The lighting conditions were sometimes less than ideal.

A modern electric Swiss Rail train with double-decked passenger carriages.

An older Swiss Rail electric engine pulling single-decked passenger carriages.

The RER operates local services as part of the Geneva public transport system.

A TGV that operates between Paris and Geneva is visible on the left of the photograph above.

Swissair trial continues

Further to my earlier post, the International Herald Tribune continues to carry wire agency coverage of the Swissair trial:

16 January 2007 - Swissair executives assert innocence at first day of Switzerland's biggest corporate trial
17 January 2007 - Former Swissair board member regrets damage caused by Swissair financial collapse
18 January 2007 - Swissair executive says he's innocent but answers questions
19 January 2007 - Another ex-Swissair executive denies wrongdoing in financial collapse
22 January 2007 - Former top Swissair executives say charges unfounded in trial on financial collapse and Swissair's last chief defends his tenure in court

Swissair trial

Articles in the International Herald Tribune, the Guardian and on Swissinfo report on the background to and 16 January 2007 start of the trial near Zurich of 19 Swissair board members and senior executives.

Swissair was grounded on 2 October 2001 shortly after the 11 September 2001 tragedy in the United States and three years after one of its MD-11 aircraft crashed off Nova Scotia. The airline had tried to execute a strategy of purchasing shares in foreign international airlines (the "hunter strategy"), something that is in effect generally restricted to minority stakes by the terms of international air services arrangements.

Around the same time in Australasia there was also a major airline financial collapse. Ansett Australia, which had been taken over the year before by Air New Zealand, was placed in voluntary administration on 13 September 2001.

The last similar court trial in New Zealand following an airline collapse was that of Ewan Wilson, the founder of short-lived Kiwi Travel International Airlines, which provided trans-Tasman services pioneering international operations out of New Zealand provincial airports. The short history of Kiwi, which ceased services on 9 September 1996, is now used as a case study in university courses.

Other recent airline financial collapses in New Zealand have included:

• Tasman Pacific Airlines, which purchased Ansett New Zealand and traded as Qantas New Zealand in a franchise arrangement (went into receivership on 21 April 2001); and
• Origin Pacific Airways (ceased operating passenger services on 10 August 2006)

Note: I have linked to the Wikipedia articles on the airlines concerned but none yet provide entirely satisfactory historical accounts.