Airline and travel association representatives are mounting a furious offensive to fight potential passenger tax increases from being part of any budget deal on Capitol Hill. The second so-called super committee of lawmakers established to end the October government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight reportedly has been considering doubling the Transportation Security Administration passenger security tax, paid every time flyers step aboard, from $2.50 to $5.
A4A and ALPA can point to small progress elsewhere recently, with the introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives that would block Customs and Border Protection's planned preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The bill, pushed by Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Penn.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), would direct homeland security officials to assess the impact future preclearance facilities have on U.S. passengers, the economy and security and customs staffing at U.S.
True to her word, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) has reintroduced a bill that would require uniform fatigue standards for pilots. Reps. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) have already introduced companion legislation, the Safe Skies Act, on the House side (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 21). “Her unwavering commitment will end the cargo carve-out and bring Part 117 back in line with Congress's original intent, one level of safety for U.S. aviation,” touts Independent Pilots Association (IPA) President Robert Travis, whose group represents some UPS pilots.
Though the FAA in early November published a final rule requiring U.S. airline pilots to experience and recover from full stalls in the simulator, key details needed to put the training into practice within five years are as yet unfinished and the topic of continuing debate.
LONDON — Gulf Helicopters has signed the largest order by an offshore operator so far for the AgustaWestland AW189 eight-metric-ton helicopter. The Qatar-based operator will buy 15 of the aircraft, which is awaiting imminent certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency. The firm order, announced during the Dubai Airshow, is the second-largest for the new helicopter, behind Bristow Group’s, which has ordered six aircraft for offshore operations and a further 11 to support its U.K. search-and-rescue (SAR) contract awarded this year.
A recent study by the U.S. Navy sketches the time frame for the opening of the Arctic seaways due to melting ice and other related changes in the region. “For the near-term, defined as present to 2020, current trends are expected to continue, with major waterways becoming increasingly open,” Rear Adm. Jon White, Task Force Climate Change director, says in a recent online post.
BIDEN IN ASIA: Vice President Joe Biden embarks on a trip to Japan, China and South Korea Dec. 2-7. Although the trip is intended as a signal of the Obama administration’s commitment to the Pacific region and broadly encompasses many issues, China’s recent declaration of an air defense identification zone is an issue that looms over the visit.
The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon is slated to depart Nov. 29 for its first deployment, arriving in Japan Dec. 1, the U.S. Navy says. The deployment officially begins the aircraft’s initial operating capability (IOC), an important milestone for the Poseidon.
Winding down from war is taking just as big as a toll financially is it did to gear up for conflict, as logistics-related services have ranked high among U.S. Defense Department expenses, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis shows. Logistics support services ranked fourth among Pentagon expenses in 2011 with about $10.6 billion worth of contracts and contract modifications, according to the AWIN analysis of contracting data aggregated by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
The U.S. Navy wants a fleet of next-generation amphibious ships, the nation’s top military shipbuilder says, but funding the vessels is another matter. “Does the Navy want it? The answer is yes, the Navy wants it,” says Mike Petters, chief executive officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries. “The second question is: can they fit it into their budget? This has been the dilemma,” Petters said earlier this month during a phone call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the company’s quarterly results.
LONDON — Airbus Military has formally retired Grizzly 1, the first prototype A400M airlifter, from flight-test operations. The aircraft, MSN1, made its final flight on Nov. 4, having completed 1,448 flight hours in 475 flights. It was manned by the same crew that took it aloft for its first flight on Dec. 11, 2009. The aircraft is now in storage at Toulouse as Airbus decides what to do with it; discussions about a final display site are being undertaken by the company’s heritage department.
LONDON — A freak hailstorm in Afghanistan left five of the U.K. Royal Air Force’s Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules aircraft unavailable for operations, it has been revealed. Details of the incident, which occurred on April 23 at Kandahar airfield, were documented in a presentation by Marshall Aerospace at the Hercules Operators Council in Atlanta, Ga., in late October and in a citation of an award to the same company from the head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) failed to comply with interim federal regulations in granting recent cost-reimbursement contracts, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says. “Of the 88 contracts reviewed, valued at about $1.66 billion, MDA and DMEA contracting personnel did not consistently implement the interim rule for 72 contracts, valued at about $528 million,” the IG says in its report, released earlier this month.
