DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS / JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: Factbox ~ Airlines' Response To Japan Quake, Radiation Fears

Defense News: DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS / JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: Factbox ~ Airlines' Response To Japan Quake, Radiation Fears

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters

(NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - March 16, 2011:

Following are responses from airlines from several countries followingJapan's earthquake and tsunami and subsequent crisis at a nuclear power complex.

Workers were briefly ordered to withdraw from a stricken nuclear power plant on Wednesday after radiation levels surged.

AUSTRALIA

-- Qantas said it was flying to Japan as normal.

CHINA

-- Air China said it had canceled some flights to Tokyo from Beijing and Shanghai, mainly due to lack of operational capacity at some airports(www.airchina.com.cn).

-- China Eastern Airlines suspended flights from Shanghai to Fukushima, but other flights between China and Japan were still operating and it was adding an extra flight to Tokyo on Thursday to help Chinese citizens get home.

-- China South Airlines said it had canceled one flight from Changchun to Sendai, which was badly hit by the tsunami, between March 14 and March 26. It added one more flight to Tokyo on Wednesday to get Chinese citizens back.

EUROPE

-- Deutsche Lufthansa said it was continuing to fly to Japan but was diverting flights away from Tokyo to Osaka and Nagoya via Seoul until at least the weekend.

-- Air France-KLM moved all its crew out of Tokyo to Osaka on Monday but a statement on its website on Wednesday said flights were continuing as normal.

-- British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Finnair said they were still flying to Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports.

HONG KONG

-- A Cathay Pacific spokesperson said in a statement: "We are monitoring the situation very carefully and so far there has been no authoritative suggestion that flight operations to Japan are likely to be affected."

MALAYSIA

-- Malaysia's AirAsia, Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size, and Malaysian Airline System, the country's national carrier, said they were flying to Tokyo without any disruptions to schedule yet. But they say they were monitoring the situation.

NEW ZEALAND

-- Air New Zealand flights to Tokyo were continuing as per schedule for the time being but were being reviewed in the light of new information.

PHILIPPINES

-- Cebu Air, operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, said it had no plans for now to cancel its three times weekly flights to Osaka.

-- Philippine Airlines said it was closely monitoring the situation in Japan, but at the moment its operations center had determined no threat to its operations. The airline flies to Narita, Kansai, Nagoya and Fukuoka 32 times weekly.

SINGAPORE

-- Singapore Airlines said on its website that it was closely monitoring developments in Japan but that at this point, all its flights to and from Japan are operating as scheduled.

TAIWAN

-- EVA Airways said it would cancel flights to Tokyo and Sapporo until the end of March.

THAILAND

-- Thai Airways International was still flying to Japan as normal.

TURKEY

Turkish airlines said on its website it was flying as normal to Japan.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

- Emirates said on its website it was flying as normal to Japan.

UNITED STATES

Factbox

• FACTBOX-Travel warnings after Japan's earthquake
  Tue, Mar 15 2011

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• UPDATE 3-Airlines, travelers avoid Tokyo, fearing radiation
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• Radiation fears spark panic, evacuations in Tokyo
  Tue, Mar 15 2011

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: ANA, JAL Cancel More Flights Despite Airports Reopening; Other Asian Airlines Resume Flights

Defense News: DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: ANA, JAL Cancel More Flights Despite Airports Reopening; Other Asian Airlines Resume Flights

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Hiroyuki Kachi - Dow Jones

(NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - March 12, 2011:

Flight cancellations by All Nippon Airways Co. (9202.TO) and Japan Airlines Corp. continued Saturday, after a massive earthquake struck northeast Japan, even as operations at Tokyo's main airports returned to normal with most other Asian carriers resuming scheduled flights.

Japan's air carriers cancelled flights due to difficulties with connecting flights to airports in quake-hit areas, and due to interruptions of ground transport to Tokyo's international airports of Narita and Haneda.

ANA said it is canceling 52 domestic flights Saturday, grounding 4,900 passengers. It is cancelling 18 international flights affecting 2,600 passengers.

JAL said 117 domestic flights have been cancelled with 20,140 passengers affected. A total of 14 international flights have been cancelled affecting 2,090 passengers.

Separately, the transport ministry said the total number of flight cancellations into and out of Japan by domestic and foreign carriers totaled 400 Saturday.

Several hundreds of international flights had already been cancelled Friday, grounding thousands of passengers following the massive 8.9-magnitude quake that struck off the northeast of Japan, temporarily halting operations at Tokyo's main airports and disrupting ground transportation, communications and power supply in Tokyo and around the quake-torn areas.

The quake, Japan's strongest on record, triggered a devastating tsunami and claimed at least 433 lives with 784 people still missing, according to Kyodo News.

Elsewhere in Asia, most airlines were resuming flights as normal. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (0293.HK) said in a statement it would resume six scheduled flights to and from Narita and Haneda Saturday afternoon.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG) said it had canceled one flight that was to take off from Tokyo's Haneda Airport for Singapore shortly after midnight Saturday. Six flights either originating from Tokyo or flying into one of the city's two airports are flying on schedule on Saturday while another one had been rescheduled.

South Korea's two major airlines said they have resumed flights to Narita and Haneda Airports from Saturday, after they suspended flights Friday afternoon. Korean Air Lines Co. (003490.SE) said its flights to Narita airport will resume as normal from Saturday. It resumed its flights to Haneda airport from 0800 GMT Friday.

Asiana Airlines Inc. (020560.SE) has also resumed its regular flights to Narita and Haneda airports from Saturday, though its flights to Ibaraki and Sendai airports have been cancelled.

Thai Airways International PCL (THAI.TH) said it resumed Saturday flights from Bangkok to Narita and Haneda airports and from Narita to Phuket.

Thai Airways said it will waive all fees for passengers changing flights or seeking ticket refunds for the Thailand-Japan route during March 11-12.

PT Garuda Indonesia's flight from Bali to Tokyo arrived at Narita Airport Saturday morning. Meanwhile, another plane that departed late Friday from Jakarta landed in Tokyo early Saturday, Garuda said in a press release.

The Indonesian flag carrier flies daily to Tokyo from Jakarta and Denpasar, once a day to Osaka from Denpasar and three times a week to Nagoya from Denpasar.

Air New Zealand Ltd. (AIR.NZ) said it has resumed all flights in to Tokyo. Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said that one flight had to be re-routed Friday night into Osaka but normal operations had now resumed.

-By Hiroyuki Kachi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2789; Hiroyuki.Kachi@dowjones.com

-Joanne Chiu in Hong Kong, Gaurav Raghuvanshi in Singapore, Leigh Murray in Bangkok, Jieun Shin in Seoul, I Made Sentana in Jakarta and Lucy Cramer in Wellington contributed to this article.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Hiroyuki Kachi - Dow Jones

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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JAL seen posting loss of $1.7 billion: report

Defense News: TOKYO (Reuters) - Debt-ridden Japan Airlines (JAL) is forecast to have posted a group operating loss of about 160 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the financial year that ended in March, Japan's Sankei newspaper reported on Sunday.

JAL and two subsidiaries filed in January for bankruptcy protection with a combined $25 billion in debt -- on of the largest corporate failures in Japanese history.

A Japan Airlines aircraft takes off at Haneda airport in Tokyo January 13, 2010. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

JAL's results will be the worst since it had tied up with JapanAirlines System in 2002 as revenue dropped sharply due to a rapid slowdown in the Japanese economy, the newspaper reported without citing any sources.

The airline's subsidiary, Japan Airlines International, appears to have secured a small profit in March, Sankei reported.

But JAL continues to face difficulties in its business in April as volcanic eruptions in Iceland forced flight cancellations, the newspaper added.

JAL and the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan (ETIC) compiled a restructuring plan earlier in the month to reduce its workforce by a third, or more than 16,000 jobs, by the end of current financial year in March 2011, Sankei said.

(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Jerry Norton)

New U.S. security restrictions could hurt airlines

By Clare Baldwin and Jui Chakravorty
NEW YORK, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Tighter security measures at U.S. airports following an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound jet could dampen enthusiasm for air travel, hurting the airline industry just as it seemed poised to recover from a period of bruising losses, some industry experts say.
Airline passengers this weekend already faced tighter security after a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines (DAL.N) plane as it approached Detroit on a flight bound from Amsterdam on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was boosting airport security after the incident and advised passengers they may experience more scrutiny. One DHS official said available security measures that could be implemented range from bomb-sniffing dogs to behavior detection as well as other techniques.
And the tighter security is not being confined to U.S. airports. Passengers may also face pat-downs and are being ordered to stay seated during the last hour of flight with nothing on their laps, airlines and security officials said.
Though delays caused by the new measures might not dissuade international travelers who are already spending massive amounts of time in transit, it could put a significant dent in short hops by business travelers, some analysts said.
Robert Mann, an airline consultant at R.W. Mann & Company, said airlines must watch for the impact on business travelers, who pay higher fares and travel more frequently than leisure passengers.
"If it becomes something like a four-hour wait, business travelers aren't going to do that," Mann said. "They're either not going to travel or they're going to hire their own private lift, and just avoid scheduled transportation altogether."
The security changes come just as major U.S. airlines had been trumpeting the return of demand from well-heeled business travelers who pay full fare. Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), which merged with Northwest Airlines last year, in mid-December had said its fourth-quarter revenue trends had suggested a better 2010.
Delta, like other airlines, had responded to the huge drop in traffic as the recession sapped corporate and consumer demand by cutting capacity.
The U.S. airline industry, which lost $23.6 billion in 2008, has slashed capacity and increased fares to cope with weaker demand and higher fuel prices.
After Friday's attempted attack, Air Canada (ACa.TO) advised U.S.-bound travelers to expect flight delays, cancellations and missed connections, and limit themselves to a single piece of carry-on baggage.
Air Canada said on its website that new rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities in U.S. airspace that could adversely impact in-flight service.
"Among other things, during the final hour of flights, customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage or have personal belongings or other items on their laps," the airline said.
MORE HASSLES
Some airlines were going as far as shutting down in-flight entertainment systems, which include route-tracking maps.
Security measures are unlikely to have a major impact on earnings for this quarter, which will close in less than a week left, but could have longer-term repercussions.
Passengers who have already had to absorb at least five industrywide fare hikes from major U.S. airlines this year and faced additional fees for services such as bag checks or priority seating may find the new restrictions the last straw.
Michael Boyd, president of aviation research and consultancy firm Boyd Group International, said restrictions that include not being able to use laptops for the last hour of the flight could hurt domestic travel, where one hour could be a significant chunk of the entire flight.
Joseph Schwieterman, a professor of urban transportation issues at DePaul University, said the effects of new security regulations will likely be moderate. "There will be some effect, but we don't know how much."
"We again have a combination of a high fuel prices and heavy publicity on terrorism," he said. "That's a disturbing combination." (Additional reporting by John Crawley, Kyle Peterson and Michael Erman; Editing by Leslie Adler)

American Airlines in talks to invest in JAL: source

TOKYO (Reuters) - American Airlines is in talks to take a stake in Japan Airlines (Tokyo:9205.T - News) and to expand their business partnership, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Reuters - A Japan Airlines aircraft takes off at Haneda international airport in Tokyo September 13, 2009. REUTERS/Toru Hanai ...
The two sides have been talking for weeks about forming closer business ties that may include a revenue-sharing agreement and joint contracts for business clients, pending the enactment of an "open skies" agreement between Japan and the United States.
"I'm not talking about hugs and kisses. I'm talking about economic value to Japan Airlines," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are not public and nothing has been decided.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - News), the world's biggest carrier, is also in talks to invest in Japan Airlines, which has fallen deep into the red on a slump in revenue and a high cost base and is now restructuring with the help of state-backed loans.
A deal with Delta could cause headaches for American, including a possible defection by JAL to the SkyTeam network.
JAL is currently part of the Oneworld alliance along with American Airlines, British Airways (LSE:BAY.L - News) and others.
"We are ready to be overall competitive with Delta," the source said.
American Airlines is a unit of AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR - News).

JAL considers raising $2.76 bln by end March-Nikkei

TOKYO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) is considering raising about 250 billion yen ($2.76 billion) by March through measures including new shares issuances and borrowings, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), the world's largest carrier, is in talks to take a minority stake in JAL in a bid to expand its reach in Asia, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. [ID:nN11471217]
The newspaper reported, without citing any sources, that Japan's top airliner is also planning to seek capital injection from Delta Air and seek money from domestic trading houses and investment funds.
In addition, the cash-strapped airliner is considering raising cash by selling shares of its subsidiaries, Nikkei said.
Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday JAL is seeking a capital injection of about 50 billion yen from Delta, as well as several billion yen from Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA). [ID:nT104517]
Cash-strapped JAL is due to submit a restructuring plan to the government by the end of the month.
JAL secured a 100 billion yen government-backed loan in June and is widely expected to ask for more financial assistance to help it restructure.
JAL posted a 99 billion yen net loss for the April-June quarter and is headed for its second-straight annual loss this business year to March, hit by a downturn in travel and as it struggles to rein in costs. ($1 = 90.69 yen) (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Sugita Katyal)