Paris, France (AHN) – Twenty Airbus A380s will have to undergo checks for cracks in their wings, the safety regulator has said.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that 20 Airbus A380 planes would undergo a “visual inspection” for cracks.

That represents a third of the current fleet. The first concern is to inspect planes that have carried out more than 1,800 flights. Authorities will inspect planes that have flown from 1,300 to 1,800 flights within six weeks.

Inspections were prompted by the discovery of cracks on some A380 wings. Routine testing found cracks on a limited number of non-critical brackets inside the wings of some A380s. However, company officials say the cracks do not pose a safety hazard.

The agency said it had determined that the cracks might develop over a period after the planes were in service.

Moreover, if the cracks are not detected and corrected it could affect the structural integrity of the planes.

The problems could affect planes operated by Air France, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

This is the second time cracks were found on A380 wings. The first time was during repairs to a Qantas A380 following an engine blowout in November 2010.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Talks between the union representing transit workers at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were set to continue on Tuesday, a day after the three-year contract between the two parties expired.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 has rejected a proposal freezing wages for three years starting this year, demanding that wages keep pace with inflation.

Hundreds of workers marked Martin Luther King day on Monday with a rally outside the Sheraton Hotel, where negotiations between MTA officials and union president John Samuelsen were underway.

The MTA has implemented cost-cutting measures in the past two years, laying off workers, raising fares and cutting service under a legislative rescue package designed to close a budget gap caused by the weak economy.

The cost-cutting is expected to save $3.8 billion by 2014, savings the MTA, the biggest transport system in North America, has said will prevent further toll hikes this year.

The Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation, the two largest state unions in New York, each ratified a contract last year that similarly froze wage increases for three years.

Apart from a wage freeze, the MTA wants workers to pay more for health benefits, including 10 percent of insurance premiums, to agree to five unpaid furlough days in the first two years and policies limiting sick days and overtime.

In addition, the MTA plans to rely on part-time employees for some of its operations.

The union has called the demands “non-starters.” Last week, it added the reinstatement of 100 laid off transit workers to its list of demands.

“State employees accepted furloughs as an alternative to layoffs, whereas transit workers already took the layoffs,” the union said in a statement last week. “These giveback demands do not take account of the real conditions and real history of transit.”

Samuelsen used far more colorful language on Sunday, according to local reports quoting his remarks. But in a late Monday night update, the union assured it would continue with talks.

“Tentative progress has been made,” it said, citing issues such as sanitary facilities for women workers and promotion opportunities for trainees. “We do not intend to walk away from the table until we have a fair contract in hand.”

The union did not disclose details of the negotiations. According to the New York Daily News, Samuelsen has told the MTA he is open to wage hikes as low as 1 percent.

The union represents 38,000 workers in New York City who operate trains and buses, man token booths, clean platforms and maintain tracks.

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Beijing, China (AHN) – Less than a week after the European Union extended the Emissions Trading System (ETS) for another year to cut carbon emissions from power stations and industrial plants, Chinese airlines on Thursday said it would not pay any charges to the bloc.

The ETS was launched in 2005 and extended on Jan. 1. The carbon emissions charges force airlines to buy pollution permits to fly in Europe – a scheme strongly opposed by airlines in the U.S. and China.

“China, of course, will not cooperate with the EU on the ETS,” said Chai Haibo, deputy secretary general of the China Air Transport Association (CATA). “The CATA, on behalf of Chinese airlines, is strongly against the EU’s improper practice of unilaterally forcing international airlines into its ETS,” Chai said.

He added that his government is also mulling launching “counter-measures” against the bloc.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Federal Aviation Administration was expected on Wednesday to release new rules to prevent accidents in commercial airlines due to pilot fatigue.

The announcement comes four months after a congressionally prescribed deadline and more than a year after lawmakers passed legislation strengthening air safety, including a requirement that the FAA reform decades-old flight-and-duty time regulations and set minimum rest requirements for pilots.

The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act was enacted in August last year, largely in response to a crash near Buffalo, NY, in 2009 that killed 50 people. Under the measure, which passed by a unanimous House vote, commercial carriers have to submit and regularly update a fatigue risk management plan, which the FAA will approve every two years.

In addition, the FAA is required to issue regulations within a year of the law’s enactment, limiting the number of flight and duty hours allowed for pilots based on the time of the flight and time zone. The new FAA regulations would remove distinctions between operations of domestic and flag carriers.

Budgetary considerations at the Transportation Department had delayed the release of new rules preventing sleepless pilots from going on duty.

Airlines for America, formerly the Air Transport Association of America, had lobbied against the regulations, saying these would “add significant operational and scheduling complexity that will adversely affect our crews and customers.” Officials belonging to the group testified before Congress against adopting a “one-size fits all” approach to the problem.

Pilot fatigue was found to have contributed to the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 in February 2009 into a home in Clarence Center, about five miles from Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 45 passengers and four crew members on the plane died, and another person on the ground was killed.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the captain of the aircraft operated by Colgan Air had inappropriately responded to a warning system that switches off autopilot and alerts the pilot that the plane is about to stall.

“Colgan Air did not proactively address the pilot fatigue hazards associated with operations at a predominantly commuter base,” the NTSB had said.

The agency found that the first officer who co-piloted the plane had “commuted through the night” from Seattle to Newark, from which flight 3407 departed. She sent “multiple texts” throughout the day of the crash, indicating that she may have not had adequate rest.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Federal Aviation Administration was expected on Wednesday to release new rules to prevent accidents in commercial airlines due to pilot fatigue.

The announcement comes four months after a congressionally prescribed deadline and more than a year after lawmakers passed legislation strengthening air safety, including a requirement that the FAA reform decades-old flight-and-duty time regulations and set minimum rest requirements for pilots.

The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act was enacted in August last year, largely in response to a crash near Buffalo, NY, in 2009 that killed 50 people. Under the measure, which passed by a unanimous House vote, commercial carriers have to submit and regularly update a fatigue risk management plan, which the FAA will approve every two years.

In addition, the FAA is required to issue regulations within a year of the law’s enactment, limiting the number of flight and duty hours allowed for pilots based on the time of the flight and time zone. The new FAA regulations would remove distinctions between operations of domestic and flag carriers.

Budgetary considerations at the Transportation Department had delayed the release of new rules preventing sleepless pilots from going on duty.

Airlines for America, formerly the Air Transport Association of America, had lobbied against the regulations, saying these would “add significant operational and scheduling complexity that will adversely affect our crews and customers.” Officials belonging to the group testified before Congress against adopting a “one-size fits all” approach to the problem.

Pilot fatigue was found to have contributed to the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 in February 2009 into a home in Clarence Center, about five miles from Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 45 passengers and four crew members on the plane died, and another person on the ground was killed.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the captain of the aircraft operated by Colgan Air had inappropriately responded to a warning system that switches off autopilot and alerts the pilot that the plane is about to stall.

“Colgan Air did not proactively address the pilot fatigue hazards associated with operations at a predominantly commuter base,” the NTSB had said.

The agency found that the first officer who co-piloted the plane had “commuted through the night” from Seattle to Newark, from which flight 3407 departed. She sent “multiple texts” throughout the day of the crash, indicating that she may have not had adequate rest.

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Renton, WA, United States (AHN) – One-third of the 28,000-strong Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and Kansas voted Wednesday to accept a four-year extension of their job contract to build 737 MAX planes.

Tom Wroblewski, Local 751 district president of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM), praised the approval.

“As a result of this vote, we have the strongest commitment to the future of aerospace jobs in Washington state that we’ve ever had. We’ve also preserved retiree medical and pensions for new hires. Those are things that very few working people in America have today,” he said in a message posted on iam751.org.

The extension of the contract expiring in September 2012 was welcomed by the aircraft maker.

“This contract will help secure a better future for our employees, our customers, our communities and our company,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, in the company’s website. “It’s a balanced agreement that makes us more competitive and ensures that the 737 – the best single-aisle airplane in the world – continues to be built by the people who know how to do it best.”

Boeing announced last week that the company would produce the 737 MAX in the existing Renton facility if IAM members ratified the tentative agreement.

According to Boeing, the new contract provides for annual wage and pension increases; a one-time ratification bonus of $5,000 to be paid on Dec. 15; productivity, quality and safety incentives; a new health care plan; and a joint panel to discuss labor-management issues.

Washington state also stands to gain from the extended contract as it will keep 8,000 direct jobs and 12,000 indirect jobs not to mention $500 million in annual tax payment from Boeing.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AHN) – In what could follow a trend of pink-colored buses, trains and autos aimed at protecting women from sexual harassment, Malaysia on Sunday launched women-only taxis.

The taxis will have women drivers and 50 such taxis, which can be booked on on-call basis. The government expects the fleet of taxis will be expanded to 400.

Heng Seai Kei, Deputy Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, said that this would not only make women safer while travelling but also give employment to aspirant women drivers.

“We hope it will reduce the number of rape and robbery cases involving taxi drivers and female victims,” Heng said at the launch of the service.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (IRIN) – Increasing traffic accident deaths are a likely consequence of economic and population growth in Africa unless leaders on the continent, already beset by the world’s worst road-safety record, implement a wide-ranging plan to address the second leading cause of deaths of young people, specialists at a major conference told IRIN.

“Africa has the worst road safety record in the world, despite the fact that it has fewer cars than other regions,” Robert Lisinge, an expert in transportation at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), told IRIN on the sidelines of the Second African Road Safety Conference held in Addis Ababa this month.

Between 10 and 20 people per 1,000 in Africa own a vehicle. In Western Europe and Canada, the figure is 600; in the United States, more than 800. Yet some 322,000 lives are lost in Africa every year in road traffic accidents, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), which said the phenomenon was robbing the continent of its “breadwinners” and reducing national GDPs by between 1 and 5 percent, or US$10 billion a year.

“We are losing more human capital now and it’s affecting our economies. African governments, as well as others who have a say in this, need to do more to curb this,” Taye Birhanu, an economist with the Transportation and Development Forum, an NGO, told IRIN.

Worse to come?

Increasing populations and an average economic growth of 5 percent make the need for action all the more urgent, said Lisinge.

“If nothing is done, the poor accident record in Africa will even worsen as African countries develop economically and have more vehicles,” he said.

According to the World Bank/WHO report, if the status quo continues, road deaths will soar by 30 percent by 2020.

There is a “need to awaken people’s consciousness, to stop this silent war often forgotten by society but one of the biggest wars, one that has claimed 10 million lives [worldwide] over the last decade,” says Sandra Vitale, a road traffic accident prevention campaigner, who lost a son in Addis Ababa while he was driving without wearing a seatbelt.

“Africa has the fastest-growing population statistics and, therefore, we also have to be fast and work as soon as possible by finding an efficient synergy between African nations to work on this issue,” she said.

Under the Accra Declaration signed in the Ghanaian capital in 2007, African transport and health ministers pledged to work to halve road deaths by 2015.

“The problem is that there were no action plans and clear strategies on how to implement the recommendations,” said Lisinge.

Now a more detailed way forward has been set out, in the form of the draft African Plan of Action for the Decade, a continentally tailored version of the WHO’s Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety [ http://www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/plan/en/ ]

The African plan, which was reviewed at the Addis Ababa conference, envisages the creation of a continental body to coordinate national strategies, especially with regard to ensuring safety is given more emphasis in the development of road construction. Safer vehicles, public education and post-crash response are other key elements of the African plan, which ministers are expected to endorse in Luanda, Angola, later in November.

“I think some countries have shown quite a lot of progress in terms of political will especially in establishing structures. One problem in Africa is that to prove you have improved your crash figures, you have to have a baseline,” said Elna van Niekerk, an adviser at the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) , which groups government agencies, the private sector and civil society organizations.

“So it’s very difficult to say that we have really improved on our statistics because we really have to establish that baseline,” she said, adding that the African plan could help further mobilize political leaders across the continent.

The plan calls for mechanisms to monitor activities, indicators and accomplishments.

It also aims to bring down the continent’s average annual fatality rate from the current 32.2 per 100,000 people to 21.3.

“It’s generally accepted that if you put up some ambitious target, you will achieve a result. I am not saying we will exactly achieve halving this in time in each country but there will be significant results,” said Van Niekerk.

bt/am/mw

– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Seattle, WA, United States (AHN) – Several shipping containers from Vietnam have exploded at seaports around the globe recently, killing three mechanics.

U.S. maritime officials blame faulty refrigeration units processed at the Port of Kat Lai for the blasts.

The Pacific Maritime Association issued a statement saying that shipping industry officials and U.S. government agencies, including the Coast Guard, have “conducted a comprehensive review to determine the source of the problem and isolate and repair at-risk containers.”

The potential volatility of the containers, dubbed by those in the shipping industry as “reefers,” is not just a concern of those in the maritime shipping field.

Shipping officials also worry the containers could explode once they’re loaded onto a truck or a train and injure or kill someone on the road or in a warehouse.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – A House of Representatives vote Monday that seeks to prevent U.S. airlines from paying a European Union tax on their emissions is running headlong into a conflicting trade policy.

The House voted overwhelmingly against U.S. airline participation in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The ETS would impose taxes on any airline from the United States and other nations flying into or out of the European Union, beginning Jan. 1.

“Reducing aviation emissions is a goal that is worth pursuing, but the EU’s go-it-alone approach will fly in the face of the international community and is not the way to find an international solution to an international problem,” said Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV).

The emissions tax also is opposed by President Barack Obama, who is likely to sign any legislation Congress approves to ban U.S. airline participation in the European fees designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. government accuses the European Union of overstepping its sovereignty.

“This ill-conceived EU aviation tax scheme is a violation of international law,” said Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

He was a sponsor of HR 2594, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011.

The bill not only prohibits U.S. airlines from paying the European tax, it also instructs government officials to take action to prevent it from being levied in the first place.

The Air Transport Association, a trade group for airlines, estimates the tax would cost U.S. airlines $3.1 billion between 2012 and 2020.

The same amount of money supports about 39,200 U.S. airline jobs, the association says.

The European Union plans to require each airline to purchase permits to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. Airlines could buy additional credits if they exceed the limit or sell their credits if they emit less.

The European Union has operated its Emissions Trading System on factories and other polluting industries since 2005. Only now is the European Union extending the tax to airlines.

Air travel is responsible for about 3 percent of greenhouse gases, according to European Union estimates.

The European Commission says the new emissions tax would raise the price of airline tickets an average of $16.

However, U.S. airline officials say the impact would be much greater.

“If imposed on January 1st, this tax could close down direct travel from most central and western U.S. airports to Europe, and remaining airline ticket costs would skyrocket,” Mica said.

Last week, 26 countries outside the European Union filed a protest with the International Civil Aviation Organization opposing the emissions tax. They sent delegates to Montreal last week to meet with the organization’s chief.

They are trying to get the International Civil Aviation Organization to support a ban on the emissions tax. China, Russia, Japan, India and Brazil are among nations opposing the tax.

Aviation and maritime transport were the only industries excluded from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol treaty, which is the only binding treaty on limiting pollution.

European airlines are concerned they will get caught in the middle of a trade war if the emissions tax is forced on foreign airlines.

Previous trade reprisals have included levying tariffs on foreign countries that impose taxes on American goods or services. Other countries use the same trade war tactic.

Ten chief executive officers from the industry group Association of European Airlines met last week with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to voice their concerns.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of the parent company for British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, said he was concerned about “retaliation” that could hurt European airlines.

Nevertheless, the European Union shows no signs of backing down.

The advocate general of the European Court of Justice issued an opinion last week that said the emissions tax was within the authority of the European Union.

“The inclusion of international aviation in the EU emissions trading scheme is compatible with the provisions and principles of international law invoked,” the opinion says. The European Court of Justice usually follows advocate general opinions with final rulings.

The opinion was a response to a lawsuit filed by the Air Transport Association of America, American Airlines and United Continental.

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