Archive

BY MONICA DOBIE
MEMBERS of the USA House of Representatives have urged the Bush Administration to ease security measures at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, closed to most private planes since the September 11 attacks. This follows a terrorism alert including government building evacuations and scrambling fighter jets being sparked by the Kentucky governor’s unidentified plane flying to Ronald Reagan’s funeral.…

Keith Nuthall
AN UNUSUAL private-public transport fund, with money available for European airport projects, has gained support from the European Union. The Galaxy Fund – run by France’s Caisse des Dépôts, Italy’s Sanpaolo IMI Group and Germany’s KfW – has been given Euro 25 million by the European Commission, whose spending will be managed by the European Investment Bank.…

Keith Nuthall
GOVERNMENTS in south-eastern Europe have agreed it is “fundamentally important to increase and intensify interregional cooperation in air transport.” Such work, which would cover airport operations and air traffic control will be written into a detailed memorandum of understanding, with a detailed and timetabled work programme.…

Keith Nuthall
A EUROPEAN Commission regulation has told European Union (EU) member countries which airport zones must be deemed a high security, requiring routine checks on any staff gaining access. These include areas containing passengers and their cabin baggage, which have passed immigration, X ray and ticket controls and areas containing unsealed checked hold baggage.…

Keith Nuthall
THE USA’s Department of Homeland Security will in future favour fingerprints as the biometric of choice to incorporate into passports and other travel documents, having previously been lukewarm, preferring other images. The change followed a high-level security meeting with the European Union (EU), which wants to use digitally scanned fingerprints to control immigration, as suggested in a recently proposed technical regulation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BOOMING west African oil state Equatorial Guinea is pumping US$3.7 million into a four-year air traffic control and airport improvement project, with the help of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advisors. The plan will strengthen ATC, restructure the country’s civil aviation authority and improve documentation handling.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has followed up support from its sister European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for improving air traffic control in Serbia & Montenegro. The EIB is planning to lend the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency up to Euro 36 million for rehabilitating and modernising the country’s ATC networks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of a European Union (EU) ‘Community licence’ for air traffic controllers, awarded according to uniform rules and recognised across Europe, has been proposed. The European Commission wants a system guaranteeing high quality training across the EU, meeting Eurocontrol standards, notably dealing with “the complex and dense European air traffic environment, including linguistic and medical requirements.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNIFORM global rules on the market approval of internal combustion engines in non-road mobile machinery have been approved regarding the measurement of the net power. The standard – agreed by the United Nations’ World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations – is expected to encourage manufacturers to use net rather than gross power as a yardstick.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN EMERGENCY cash injection of Euro 400 million for Alitalia paid by the Italian government has been approved by the European Commission, although it could prove a short-term stay of execution for the ailing airline. The bridging loan – with short term market interest rates – must be repaid within a year, furthermore, Italy has promised Brussels it will produce a restructuring or liquidation plan for Alitalia within six months.…