India and Japan agree to increase air capacity from 2010

On 20 June 2008 the Government of India announced details of new air services arrangements that it has negotiated with Japan to provide for a doubling of airline capacity in 2010.

An extension of the second runway at Narita airport is planned to provide for increased capacity at Tokyo's main international airport from 2010.

Charter flights between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to increase

On 13 June 2008 Xinhua reported on the signing of an agreement between two NGOs, the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), that will see charter flights between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan substantially increased.

The United Arab Emirates concludes six new sets of air services arrangements

The United Arab Emirates has recently concluded new air services arrangements with Lithuania (announced 4 March 2008), Greece (announced 24 March 2008), Eritrea (announced 21 April 2008), Libya (announced 1 May 2008), Luxembourg (announced 24 May 2008) and Syria (announced 20 June 2008)(see previous post).

Canada reaches new air transport agreement with Panama

On 19 June 2008 the Canadian Ministers of Transport and Foreign Affairs announced that Canada had reached a new air transport agreement with Panama.

Forthcoming European Union - New Zealand air services negotiations welcomed

On 19 June 2008 media statements welcoming the forthcoming European Union-New Zealand air services negotiations were released by the New Zealand Minister of Transport, Hon. Annette King, and the Canberra-based European Union Ambassador to New Zealand, Bruno Julien (see previous post).

Transcripts of Air New Zealand's select committee appearances

The report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee of the New Zealand Parliament into the Financial Statements of Air New Zealand Limited for 2006/07 is available on the web as a .pdf file. Air New Zealand appeared before the Committee on 2 April 2008 and the report includes a full transcript of the hearing. I sat in on the public part of the meeting.

The previous appearance by Air New Zealand before the Committee was on 8 December 2004. The related report also includes a full transcript.

The second death of the US airlines

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. commenting in The Wall Street Journal of 18 June 2008 offers two solutions to the problems facing the US airline industry:

• Repeal the limit on foreign ownership.
  
• Admit ... anti trust laws don't have all the answers.

The world gets bigger

Economist Paul Krugman has a short commentary in the New York Times dated 17 June 2008 noting the likely negative impact of the high price of oil on transport costs and international trade.

European Commission mandated to negotiate air services agreement with New Zealand

The European Council announced that at its meeting on 13 June 2008, chaired by Slovenia, that it granted a mandate to the Commission to negotiate air services agreement with New Zealand and separately Australia:

"In addition, the Council of Ministers conferred a mandate to open negotiations with Australia and New Zealand on the conclusion of comprehensive agreements on air traffic, aiming at closer cooperation between the Community and these two countries. The mandate conferred today includes, for the first time in history, a stronger commitment by this sector to environmental issues; it also enhances cooperation between the EU and the third countries in the area of greenhouse gas emissions."

EU-New Zealand air services negotiations?

On the agenda for the Council meeting of European Union transport ministers in Luxembourg on Friday, 13 June 2008 is whether to grant the European Commission mandates to open negotiations with New Zealand and separately Australia on comprehensive air transport agreements.

Airline capacity changes in the USA

The news of late with respect to the US airline industry has generally been bleak. As the price of jet fuel keeps climbing, airlines are either announcing lay-offs and fleet groundings (for example, American, Continental, Delta and United), or in some cases their financial collapse (for example, Aloha and ATA Airlines).

USA Today has published an interactive graphic showing changes in airline seat capacity since October 2007 projecting forward to October 2008 on a states-by-state and airport-by-airport basis. The newspaper is keeping the graphic updated.

The sources for the data is OAG.

Three key US economic indicators

The Dallas Morning News has published excellent graphics highlighting three key economic indicators for the United States focused on the period from 1960 onwards (.pdf files):

• Trade deficit
• Budget deficit
  
• National debt
  

Kenya and the USA initial "open skies" agreement

On 30 May 2008 the US State Department announced that Kenya and the United States had initialled an "open skies" air transportation agreement, to be phased in over three years.

This will be the 91st such relationship for the United States.

ASEAN moves further towards a single aviation market

As the three-day 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Senior Transport Officials Meeting (STOM) reached its conclusion in Lapulapu City, Cebu, on 29 May 2008 the Philippine Information Agency announced that ASEAN senior transport officials had agreed to recommend signing the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on the Full Liberalization of Air Freight Services and Air Services.

The senior transport officials among the 10-member ASEAN nations will endorse the signing of the ASEAN multilateral agreement to the ASEAN transport leaders who will be meeting during the 14th ASEAN Transport Ministers (ATM) Meeting in November 2008 in Manila in time for the implementation of the regional integrated air transport services by December 2008.

The reported aim is to have a single aviation market for ASEAN by 2015.

Canada and the Philippines reach new air transport agreement

On 30 May 2008 at an APEC meeting in Peru the Canadian Government announced that it had reached a new air transport agreement with the Philippines.

India and Iran update air services arrangements

On 6 May 2008 the Government of India announced details of new air services arrangements that it had reached with Iran.

South Africa and Gambia sign new air services agreement

The Daily Observer reported on 12 May 2008 that Gambia and South Africa have signed a new air services agreement.

Review of Air Pacific

On 21 May 2008 the interim Fiji government announced that it was appointing a Cabinet Task Force to carry out a review of Air Pacific. The airline is 51% owned by the Fiji government, with Qantas holding a 46% stake.

Like many airlines, Fiji-based Air Pacific will be suffering from the impact of the rocketing price of oil and will be affected by the Boeing B787 delays (the airline has five on order), but the airline also has had other challenges.

On 26 May 2008 the Fiji government responded to criticism from the Association of South Pacific Airlines relating to the review by the Task Force.

The Task Force held its first meeting on 3 June 2008 and will be calling for public submissions.

My in-laws make the news

Auckland's morning daily, The New Zealand Herald, on 20 May 2008 carried an article on new immigrants to New Zealand that featured my wife's sister and her family. You can just see their new puppy in the photo.

We joined them in their house hunting in Auckland at the end of last year. Many real estate agents and vendors at that stage were not yet accepting that the house price boom was over. Added to that the UK pound was dropping in value against the NZ dollar. It was quite a stressful experience but fortunately it all turned out okay just in time for the start of the 2008 school year.

US proposes multilateral agreement on foreign investment in international airlines

In a speech to the European Aviation Club on 13 May 2008 looking to the second stage of air transport negotiations between the United States and the European Union, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Transportation Affairs, John Byerly, raised the idea of "an ancillary multilateral agreement that will be open to accession by other countries that are prepared to enter into reciprocal obligations to lift the barriers to cross-border investment by pledging to forgo recourse to the nationality clause."

The European Commission's chief negotiator, Daniel Calleja, was reported by Reuters to be surprised by the proposal. On 16 May 2008 Reuters also reported on the outcome of the first round of talks held between the EU and US in Slovenia.

The problem with allowing majority foreign investment in an international airline is that under traditional air services agreements (ASAs) another country may refuse to grant operating authorisation if the airline is not "substantially owned and effectively controlled" (SO&EC) by nationals of the country designating it. If an airline is operating a network of international services to a number of countries if the ASA with any one of those countries contains the traditional SO&EC criteria then the airline's network is put at risk.

The United States first moved to relax its approach on this point in the MALIAT (see Article 3).

For New Zealand this issue came up in the context of Singapore Airlines and then Qantas looking to take a stake in Air New Zealand (see the NZ Ministry of Transport report dated 16 July 2001). New Zealand has made great progress in removing the "substantial ownership" criterion from its ASAs but many still have it. Long standing New Zealand Government policy is that is will not designate as a New Zealand international airline any company that is not substantially owned and effectively controlled by New Zealand nationals.

An ICAO template ASA proposes that the criteria could now be "principal place of business and effective regulatory control" (see Fifth Worldwide Air Transport Conference papers from March 2003).

Graphic of inflation components in the USA

On 3 May 2008 the New York Times carried a graphic showing the components of consumer price inflation in the United States in the year to March 2008.

In a story similar to New Zealand, as might be expected oil and dairy price rises feature. What is not catching the headlines are the areas that are seeing price falls.

Contributing to the graphic was Michael Balzer at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

Fiji and Tonga agree to air capacity increase

The Fiji Times, in an article dated 7 May 2008, reports that Fiji and Tonga have agreed to a new Memorandum of Understanding increasing the capacity available to the airlines of each side to 1,000 seats per week. The previous limit had been 350. A report from Fijilive dated 7 May 2008 adds that the new arrangements are to include an exchange of fifth freedom rights.

A report from Fijilive on 9 May 2008 covers the possibility that Air Pacific is looking to start international services to Vava'u.

I have been fortunate enough to visit Vava'u twice. The island group really is a gem with good potential for tourism if reliable air transport links can be maintained. The current small airport, which lies in a shallow basin on the main island, has the most displaced landing thresholds I have ever seen on a runway.

Interactive graphic of UK constituencies

The UK Daily Telegraph has a great interactive graphic mapping all the constituencies in the United Kingdom based on the new electoral boundaries approved by Parliament on 27 June 2007. Each constituency is represented by a hexagon. The graphic interfaces with political opinion poll results and a "swingometer" to show scenarios for the outcome of the next British General Election. Currently the polls point to a wave of blue washing to the north.

UK Election Maps showing constituency boundaries are available from the Ordinance Survey.

Old New Zealand newspapers now available online

I have recently come across Papers Past from the National Library of New Zealand. It gives on-line access to scans of many provincial newspapers in the period up to 1915. Many are searchable.

Back in 1979 while at Otago University I did some historical research using old newspapers. It would have been so much easier, and less hit and miss, with this free resource.

Papers Past should be of great interest to history students and those researching their New Zealand ancestors.

I have already found the name of my great uncle, James Douglas, who in July 1903 as a young child fell through ice and drowned in the river at Waihao Downs (Otago Witness, 22 July 1903), as well as interviews with two of my great great grandfathers, John Douglas (Otago Witness, 22 February 1879) and William Mosley (Otago Witness, 4 May 1878), about their farming in Otago in the pioneering period of settlement.

Do-it-yourself Gapminder graphs

On 15 April 2008 Gapminder announced that Google had released Motion Chart which, when used with Google spreadsheet, enables the production of four-dimensional like bubble graphs - "a dynamic flash based chart to explore several indicators over time" (see previous post).

Australian Aviation Policy review started

On 10 April 2008 the Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Anthony Albanese, announced that the new Australian Government is developing a National Aviation Policy Statement.

An Issues Paper that was released provides a comprehensive list of the key issues facing aviation in Australia. Many of these issues are common to other countries.

Of note for those interested in Australia's approach to international air services negotiations is the following statement about exchanging fifth freedom rights:

"While access between Australia and our bilateral partners has been able to be increased in many cases, this is not always possible when seeking to fly beyond a second, partner country to other markets. Due to our geographical position, these rights are essential for Australian airlines to fly beyond hubs in Asia and the Middle East to key markets in Europe and North America. In these circumstances, and to enable the establishment of new Australian airlines on the Australia-US route, Australia has not traded access for foreign airlines beyond Australia to the US in recent years. However, the Australian Government may seek to trade such access in the future, if it is judged to be in the national interest to do so."

Also raised is the question about whether Australia should be prepared to exchange seventh freedom rights.

Submissions are due by Friday, 27 June 2008.

EU Transport Ministers grant EC mandate to negotiate ASA with Israel

At their 7 April 2007 Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE) Council meeting held in Luxembourg under the Slovenian Presidency, European Transport Ministers decided to grant the European Commission a mandate to open negotiations with Israel on a comprehensive air transport agreement (see previous post).

The European Commission has also been seeking a mandate to negotiate such agreements with Australia and New Zealand (see previous post).

EU-US "open skies" comes into effect

The "open skies" Air Transport Agreement between the European Union and the United States comes into effect today, replacing 21 bilateral agreements. This comes just after the opening of the new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow (LHR), the airport that will be the focus of new competition.

Media statements have been issued by the European Commission and US Department of State. Media coverage includes that by USA Today and the BBC. A story in the International Herald Tribune looks towards the next stage in the negotiations.

This is a historic day for international aviation (see previous post on its signing).

Australia adopting the Montreal Convention on air carrier liability

On 20 March 2008 the Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment (1999 Montreal Convention and Other Measures) Bill 2008, that will allow Australia to ratify the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (the Montreal Convention 1999) was introduced into the Australian Federal Parliament. The Montreal Convention covers air carrier liability and Australia will be the last OECD country to do so. The Australian Department of Infrastructure has a good page on the subject with links to details of what is happening.

This action is of considerable significance for New Zealand as the trans-Tasman air transport market is our largest. New Zealand ratified the Convention on 18 November 2002. The relevant part of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 came into effect on 4 November 2003. The New Zealand National Interest Analysis of this treaty is available here.

The liability regime is a matter of private international law.

Wellington regional river flows

It has been a very dry summer here in the Wellington region with little rainfall. So much so that we can now only water our gardens with a hand-held hose every second day. For us this has caused some real difficulty as we are trying to get a new lawn established. We now have some brown patches that will need to be reseeded.

This weekend, however, we are enjoying steady rain and river flows in the east of region where we live are rapidly rising.

Korea and Macau open up new air routes

The Macau Daily Times reported on 28 February 2008 that Macau and Korea have agreed to amendments in their air services arrangements that will, among other things, see airlines from Macau permitted to operate to any point in South Korea.

United States negotiates 91st "Open Skies" partnership - with Croatia

The US Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, announced on 13 March 2008 that, after two days of negotiations in Zagreb, the United States had reached an "open skies' agreement with Croatia.

Canada and Barbados reach "Open Skies" agreement

On 4 March 2008 Canadian Ministers Cannon and Emerson announced that Canada had reached an "Open Skies-type" air transport agreement with Barbados.

Singapore concludes "Open Skies" agreement with Portugal

On 4 March 2008 the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced that Singapore had concluded an open skies agreement with Portugal following air services negotiations held in Lisbon on 26-27 February 2008. The agreement will become fully effective in 2010.

Singapore now states that it has open skies relationships with more than 25 countries, including 14 in the European Union.

India and China exchange fifth freedom rights

On 20 March 2008 India announced that, following negotiations in New Delhi on 19-20 March 2008, India and China reached an understanding exchanging fifth freedom rights.

The Economic Times reported on 21 March 2008 that this will allow Jet Airways to operate beyond Shanghai to San Francisco.

India and Pakistan negotiate an air routes and capacity expansion

On 15 February 2008 Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced details of new air services arrangements with India. This followed talks in Islamabad. Capacity is increased from 12 to 28 flights per week for each side, Indian carriers may now serve Islamabad and Pakistani carriers Chennai. The new arrangements also move from restricting each side to one airline to allowing each side to designate up to three airlines.

Australia and Malaysia expand available capacity for their airlines

The Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Hon Anthony Albanese, announced on 7 March 2008 that Australia has negotiated a phased increase in seat capacity with Malaysia.

One beneficiary of this should be Air Asia X, which commenced services to the Gold Coast (OOL) on 2 November 2007, and is understood to be planning to serve additional points in Australia.

New Zealand has had a bilateral "open skies" agreement with Malaysia since 1998.

Australia negotiates "open skies" agreement with the United States

The new Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Hon Anthony Albanese, announced on 15 February 2008 that Australia has negotiated an "open skies" agreement with the United States of America. The negotiations, which were held in Washington DC from 12 to 14 February 2008, on the Australian side were led by officials from the recently renamed Department of Infrastructure. The US Department for Transportation released a short statement on 14 February 2008 while the US State Department released a Media Note the same day as the Australians.

A notable feature is the agreement to relax the "Fly America" policy after October 2008. Also included is an exchange of seventh freedom cargo rights. It will be interesting to see to what extent the text of the new agreement differs from the new "model" text the US State Department has had since 10 January 2008.

A major beneficiary of the new agreement is expected to be Virgin Blue subsidiary, V Australia. The Minister is reported by the Sydney Morning Herald as specifically noting that the new Labor Government was not intending to grant fifth freedom access to either Singapore or Canada.

New Zealand first negotiated a bilateral "open skies" agreement with the United States back in 1997.

Singapore concludes "open skies" agreements with Denmark, Norway and Sweden

On 29 January 2008 Singapore announced that it had concluded "open skies" air services agreements with Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The three new agreements include an exchange of seventh freedom cargo rights.

Because of the unusual ownership of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS Group), these three countries negotiate air services arrangements as a bloc.

This brings the total number of "open skies" relationships Singapore has to 20, 13 of which are with European Union countries.

Hong Kong-Japan air services arrangements reformed

A 1 February 2008 press release from the Hong Kong Government announced the removal of capacity and frequency limits for all air services by the airlines of the two parties between Hong Kong and Japan (except Tokyo).