Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
EU-US PASSPORTS
Keith Nuthall
A HIGH-LEVEL group on trans-Atlantic travel security including top officials from the USA and the EU is discussing creating an international stolen passports database. The group – which involves the European Commission and the US Department for Homeland Security – is also discussing electronic standards for including digitalised photographs and fingerprints on passports and visas.…
SPAIN GROUNDHANDLING
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a joint venture involving national carrier Iberia and Cobra, (owned by Spanish construction group ACS). The venture Serpista will repair and maintain ground-handling equipment. Brussels said there were no serious competition concerns as rivals could “relatively easily enter the market.”…
EQUITORIAL GUINEA
Keith Nuthall
BOOMING west African oil state Equatorial Guinea is to pump US$3.7 million into a four-year airport and air traffic control improvement project. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping prepare the plan, which will ensure airports meet international standards, restructure the civil aviation authority, strengthen ATC, improve documentation handling, assess staff and upgrade skills.…
OPEN SKIES DELAY
Keith Nuthall
NEGOTIATIONS on a comprehensive open skies deal involving the European Union (EU) and the United States are being held up, with the US refusing to allow EU carriers cabotage rights within America. The European Commission also wants EU companies to be able to buy majority control of US airlines.…
PASSPORT BIOMETRICS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers is being pressed by the European Commission to swiftly agree a regulation that would insist that all new EU passports contain digital photographs and all visas and residence permits contain fingerprint records.…
AIRPORT MONITOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROTOTYPE of a three-dimensional monitoring system allowing airport managers to check all groundhandling movements on aircraft runways, taxiways, aprons and parking zones, is being developed by a European Union (EU) research consortium. Coordinated by French IT firm SILOGIC, it involves cameras creating digital images that identify individuals, objects and vehicles, whose movement can be interpreted by computers.…
ADS-B ICAO MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA will this year begin a trial of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology at three airports in the west of the country, it has told an Asia-Pacific region ADS-B meeting staged by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).…
EBRD - SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank are planning to lend Euro 36 million each to the Serbia-Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency to help modernise Belgrade and Podgorica ATC centres and related surveillance, navigation and communication networks.…
QANTAS LANDING SYSTEM
BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE AUSTRALIAN airline Qantas is trialling a new landing system that allows air traffic controllers to beam data directly to an aircraft flight computer.
The system is designed to eliminate the need for multiple vocal exchanges between controllers and pilots, and could lead to reduced aircraft noise and emissions.…
UNECE STANDARD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers is backing the creation of harmonised rules for the type approval of non-road mobile machinery engines (and tractors) manufactured in Europe, as regards their net power, net torque and specific fuel consumption.…