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Bizman gifts air travel to 120 elderly villagers

COIMBATORE: M Ravikumar, a successful textile businessman hailing from Devarayampalauam, a small village near Avinashi, was awestruck by his first flight journey five years ago.

“The whole experience, including entering the airport, sitting inside the flight, experiencing the take-off, flying among the clouds, looking down and seeing buildings looking like miniature toys and the landing stunned me,” the 44-year-old man said.

On that day, Ravikumar decided to gift his dear ones the thrill of flying. Thanks to him, 120 people from Devarayampalauam boarded the 3pm Air Indian flight to Chennai from the city airport on Saturday.

The airport wore a festive look when the group got down from two buses and stood in a queue for security clearance. “The group included six generations of my family. As I gave preference to old people, the group had people between the age of 50 and 101 years,” said the beaming businessmen, who could not stop smiling as he helped a 101-year-old grandmother walk into the airport.

The passengers told TOI that the entire village has been celebrating the trip like a festival from the last week. “When Ravi informed us about the trip three months ago, we could not believe our ears. Though he does a lot for us, this trip was something we never expected,” said 57-year-old Valliammal. “The trip is all the village has been talking about, including itinerary, what to expect and things to pack, among others. The whole village turned up to send us off.”

The group does not just include Ravikumar’s relatives, but some neighbours also. “I have no husband or children, who could give me such an experience. I was so scared of flying till I reached the airport. Now I am excited,” said 50-year-old Jamila, a family friend.

Sivagami, a 50-year-old farmer, said she never even dreamt of flying. “I never dreamt of even stepping into an airport.”

The trip cost Ravikumar Rs 4lakh. He struggled a lot to arrange the mammoth trip, he told TOI. “I began planning it five years ago, but because it was such a large group, the ticket prices shot up. Then my uncle, who is working at the airport, suggested this flight, helped apply for senior citizen concession for at least for 20 people,” he said.

The trip includes a visit to Kanchipuram, Vellore and Thiruvannamalai through Saturday evening and Sunday. The passengers will return to Avinashi by bus from Thiruvannamalai on Sunday night.

Boeing’s Sales Climb on Air-Travel Demand

Shares in the company rose 6.3% on Wednesday. Boeing’s bullish outlook reflects the continued growth of airlines, particularly in Asia, even as other sectors of the global economy show signs of strain. The World Bank this month cut its forecast for global growth in 2019, citing trade tensions and currency gyrations among other pressures. Slower economic growth, especially in China, is hurting some manufacturers and consumer-products companies.

Growth in air travel, by contrast, remains strong. World-wide passenger traffic increased 6.6% through November last year, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said Wednesday, more than double the rate at which the World Bank says the global economy expanded in 2018.

“We just see fundamental aerospace growth and air-traffic growth as a long-term, sustainable trend,” Mr. Muilenburg said Wednesday in a call with analysts and reporters.

Mr. Muilenburg said Boeing’s order volume could moderate this year, adding that the company expects customers in China to adjust the timing of some orders. “We continue to see strong demand in China overall,” he said.

Christian Scherer, chief salesman for Boeing rival

Airbus

SE, said this month that demand from China and India had moderated slightly, but pressure to boost production of Airbus’s popular A320 single-aisle jet persisted.

Mr. Muilenburg also said Wednesday that Boeing could decide in 2020 to launch its first newly designed jetliner since the 787 Dreamliner, after a potential move this year to start formal talks with customers. A separate deal to take over the commercial-jet business of

Embraer
SA

is expected to close this year, pushing Boeing into the market for making regional jets.

Boeing’s fourth-quarter profit rose 3% to $3.4 billion, or $5.93 a share, from $3.3 billion, or $5.49 a share, a year earlier. Excluding pension costs, per-share earnings of $5.48 beat estimates of $4.58, according to FactSet. Revenue of $101 billion in all of 2018 was a record high.

Boeing’s estimate-beating earnings and optimistic 2019 outlook reflected higher volumes across its airliner, defense and services businesses. They also signal that the Chicago-based manufacturer is confident it can overcome supplier constraints that at times hobbled production in 2018.

Boeing executives said they were still playing catch-up on 737 production after those delays. To help speed up engine deliveries, the manufacturer is dispatching staff to CFM International—the engine-making joint venture of

Safran
SA

and

General Electric
Co.

—and some of its suppliers to help get back on schedule.

“We still have work to do inside our own factories and in our supply chain,” Mr. Muilenburg said.

Boeing plans to increase production of the Dreamliner as well as its workhorse narrow-body 737 airliners as it addresses the supply bottlenecks.

Boeing’s overall operating-profit margin hit 14.7% in the fourth quarter, up from 12% a year earlier, in line with the company’s targets. Operating-profit margin in the commercial airplane business jumped 4 percentage points to 15.6%. Boeing’s backlog stood at 5,900 airplanes valued at $412 billion.

Charges have weighed on the defense and space unit that generates about one-quarter of Boeing’s revenue as the company has invested to restore its growth potential, bidding aggressively to win three big Pentagon contests last year. Those contracts, its first victories since 2011, were to build refueling drones, trainer jets, and helicopters to protect nuclear bases.

Boeing is vying with

Northrop Grumman
Corp.

for a contract to replace the land-based U.S. intercontinental-missile fleet.

The Pentagon is expected to award a contract as early as this year.

Write to Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com and Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com

UK weather: Snow and ice causing delays to road, rail and air travel

Media captionAmbulance rescued on snowy road in Basingstoke

Travel by road, rail and air has been disrupted by snow and ice, with weather warnings issued for Friday and overnight.

The Met Office yellow warnings for snow and ice cover several areas of the UK, while a separate warning for ice is in place for southern England.

“Treacherous driving conditions” are hampering some southern areas, it said.

Highways England said delays had hit the M3, A303 and A34 in Hampshire and Wiltshire.

It later added work was continuing through the night to clear the M3 westbound.

Snow at a depth of 19cm (7.5in) was recorded at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, the Met Office said.

Hundreds of schools across Wales and southern parts of England were closed for the day due to the conditions.

At Bristol Airport most of the day’s flights were cancelled.

The airport advised passengers to check flight information with their airline but said they expected a normal service on Saturday.

London City Airport also cancelled or diverted several flights on Friday evening because of heavy snowfall.

The airport added it expected to the runway to be “open as normal” on Saturday morning but any concerned passengers should “check their flight status in advance” with their airline.

Highways England said there was only one lane open from junction 6 to junction 7 on the M3 westbound near Basingstoke, due to three stranded HGVs.

It said work was under way to recover those vehicles and clear the snow, with Hampshire Police co-ordinating traffic in single file through the clearance work. It warned that surrounding roads were also “treacherous”.

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Ian Crowder was stuck on the A339 for several hours as he travelled home from his last day working for the AA in Basingstoke.

“It’s very picturesque, I’m sure, but being here in the traffic, stationary for nearly five hours now, is not a huge amount of fun,” he said.

“The traffic is beginning to move again. The snow seems to be gathering pace but it looks as if we might be on our way very soon.”

Image copyright
Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Image caption

This was the scene for drivers on Ringway West in Basingstoke on Friday evening

Image copyright
Ian Crowder

Image caption

Traffic was at a standstill along the A339 near Basingstoke

Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital made an appeal for nursing staff within walking distance to help, as it faced staffing issues due to the gridlock.

Drivers in Surrey and Kent also face delays, with the A31, A3 and A21 among the major roads affected.

Salt-spreaders covered 80,000 miles of England’s motorways and major A roads through Thursday night to keep traffic moving, Highways England said.

Flight disruption at airports in Cardiff and Bristol affected rugby fans heading to Paris ahead of Friday’s France v Wales Six Nations opener, with ex-Wales captain Sam Warburton among those caught up in the chaos.

On the trains, Transport for Wales said services were now running as normal after some disruption in the morning, while Great Western Railway – which earlier warned of disruption until 12:00 – said a near-normal service had resumed.

Media captionZSL Whipsnade Zoo animals explore snowy conditions

Some Eurostar services were also cancelled on Friday.

The match between Port Vale and Tranmere Rovers was the first of the weekend’s English League fixtures to be postponed because of a frozen pitch, while five Scottish League One and Two matches were also postponed.

Several of Saturday’s matches will be subject to pitch inspections in the morning but fans heading for matches can check for the latest updates on postponements on the BBC Sport website.

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In Bath the Corridor shopping centre was closed on Friday after two separate roof collapses due to snow.

The weather meant few shoppers were around and no-one hurt.

In East Ham, east London, a baby girl was found abandoned in a shopping bag in park in near-freezing temperatures on Thursday evening.

Ovidijus Zvaliauskas found the baby with his mother, who was walking her dog.

He told BBC News it was so cold the baby had frost on her head. “There’s no words for it. It’s terrible,” he said.

The newborn girl was taken to hospital and is said to be in a stable condition. Medical staff have been calling her Roman, as the play area she was found was situated just off Roman Road.

Image copyright
Met Police

Image caption

The baby girl was discovered in a shopping bag next to a park bench

South-west England was worst affected on Thursday night, with snow depths of 12cm (5in) recorded in Bodmin, the Met Office said.

Parts of Cumbria saw 8cm of snow, while there was 7cm recorded in Inverness-shire and 5cm in Powys.

Image copyright
PA

Image caption

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the Bristol Old Vic theatre

Image copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

Children in Poundbury. Dorchester took advantage of the snowfall

Image copyright
Matt Argyle

Image caption

Drivers were stuck on the A30 in Cornwall overnight

Media captionThree easy tips for driving in the snow

Temperatures fell to their lowest level this winter, with Braemar, Aberdeenshire, dropping to -15.4C (6F) in the early hours of Friday.

This is the lowest in the UK since 2012 – when temperatures fell to -15.6C in Holbeach, Lincolnshire.

The cold start to the day saw hundreds of school closures in different parts of the UK. More than 500 schools were shut in Wales, with about 200 in Berkshire, 250 in Wiltshire and 300 in Buckinghamshire also closed.

What’s the forecast?

Media captionMore disruption is possible from ice but brighter weather is expected this weekend

BBC weather presenter Stav Danaos said travel disruption is likely throughout Friday night and into Saturday due to lying snow and ice.

It will remain cold on Saturday but wintry showers will become increasingly confined to the eastern coast of the UK, leaving some spells of sunshine.

What warnings are in place?

There are yellow warnings for snow and ice covering northern Scotland, most of Northern Ireland, the eastern coast of England and the west coast of Wales until 12:00 GMT on Saturday.

They warn of some snow showers, with heavier accumulations of up to 5cm possible in northern Scotland and up to 10cm over higher ground.

There is also a yellow warning for snow, covering parts of south-east England, between 16:00 GMT and midnight on Friday, with accumulations of 2-3cm likely and up to 7cm possible over higher ground.

A separate warning for ice is in place for southern England until 11:00 GMT on Saturday, as Friday’s snow gradually eases during the evening.

Yellow warnings are issued for low level impacts including some disruption to travel. People should check the latest forecast and check how they might be impacted.

You can read the Met Office guide to its warnings here or watch our handy breakdown.

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Carbon Emissions from Air Travel to Super Bowl LIII to Be Offset by Atlanta Airport, RMI

Carbon emissions from air travel to Super Bowl LIII on February 3 will be offset to the tune of 18,000 metric tons, or the equivalent of more than 1,600 air miles for each of the 71,000 seats at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is partnering with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and The Good Traveler on the initiative. It is the first time carbon emissions from the fans’ air travel to the big game will be offset.

Fan flights to the Super Bowl can account for over 80% of the direct emissions from the game, according to RMI. Carbon offsets are “verified to neutralize the impact of the use of fossil fuels, such as air travel or road travel, by keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere at a project site,” the organization says, adding that offsets are the only option today for air travelers to mitigate the CO2 impact of their flights.

RMI manages The Good Traveler program, which is the only airport-founded and aviation-focused carbon offset program that gives airports, organizations, cities, and individuals the ability to mitigate the climate impact of travel. In 2018, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport joined the program’s airport advisory board; other participating organizations include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Port of Seattle, The Port Authority of New York New Jersey, San Diego International Airport (the program’s founder) and San Francisco International Airport.

The aviation industry’s carbon emissions in the US grew by 3% last year and global aviation emissions have been growing at about 5% annually over the last four years, RMI says. Without intervention, aviation could comprise over 20% of the global carbon budget by mid-century.

For the foreseeable future, the aviation industry must rely on support from passengers, cities, and business to become sustainable through carbon offsets, RMI says. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – the world’s busiest airport – says it has offset over 60,000 tons of emissions since 2017 in its ongoing goal to reduce its environmental impact.

Aviation is considered a “harder to abate” sector and, along with other hard-to-abate sectors including steel, cement, plastics, trucking and shipping, could account for 60%of energy emissions by mid-century, according to a recent report from the Energy Transitions Commission.

In other Super Bowl-related news this week, Enel Green Power customer Anheuser-Busch announced that it would supply Atlanta’s Super Bowl Host Committee with renewable energy attributes to power the equivalent of the city’s energy consumption for six days — including Super Bowl LIII.

We are still accepting submissions for the 2019 Energy Manager Awards. Learn more and submit a project or product here.

Carbon Emissions from Air Travel to Super Bowl LIII to Be Offset by Atlanta Airport, RMI

Carbon emissions from air travel to Super Bowl LIII on February 3 will be offset to the tune of 18,000 metric tons, or the equivalent of more than 1,600 air miles for each of the 71,000 seats at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is partnering with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and The Good Traveler on the initiative. It is the first time carbon emissions from the fans’ air travel to the big game will be offset.

Fan flights to the Super Bowl can account for over 80% of the direct emissions from the game, according to RMI. Carbon offsets are “verified to neutralize the impact of the use of fossil fuels, such as air travel or road travel, by keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere at a project site,” the organization says, adding that offsets are the only option today for air travelers to mitigate the CO2 impact of their flights.

RMI manages The Good Traveler program, which is the only airport-founded and aviation-focused carbon offset program that gives airports, organizations, cities, and individuals the ability to mitigate the climate impact of travel. In 2018, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport joined the program’s airport advisory board; other participating organizations include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Port of Seattle, The Port Authority of New York New Jersey, San Diego International Airport (the program’s founder) and San Francisco International Airport.

The aviation industry’s carbon emissions in the US grew by 3% last year and global aviation emissions have been growing at about 5% annually over the last four years, RMI says. Without intervention, aviation could comprise over 20% of the global carbon budget by mid-century.

For the foreseeable future, the aviation industry must rely on support from passengers, cities, and business to become sustainable through carbon offsets, RMI says. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – the world’s busiest airport – says it has offset over 60,000 tons of emissions since 2017 in its ongoing goal to reduce its environmental impact.

Aviation is considered a “harder to abate” sector and, along with other hard-to-abate sectors including steel, cement, plastics, trucking and shipping, could account for 60%of energy emissions by mid-century, according to a recent report from the Energy Transitions Commission.

In other Super Bowl-related news this week, Enel Green Power customer Anheuser-Busch announced that it would supply Atlanta’s Super Bowl Host Committee with renewable energy attributes to power the equivalent of the city’s energy consumption for six days — including Super Bowl LIII.

We are still accepting submissions for the 2019 Energy Manager Awards. Learn more and submit a project or product here.

Air travel up at Cleveland Hopkins

Traffic continues on the upswing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

A press release from the city-owned airport said Thursday, Jan. 31, that the 94-year-old airport served 9,642,729 passengers in 2018, a 5.5% increase over 2017.

“The continued growth in passengers flying to and from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is a testament to the airport’s focus on growing air service and the quality of the traveling public’s experience,” said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

The release said Cleveland Hopkins is Ohio’s busiest commercial airport. Its closest competitor is John Glenn Columbus International Airport, which serves just under eight million passengers annually. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, in Hebron, Ky., serves just over eight million passengers annually.

Cleveland Hopkins has an average of 147 daily departures to 51 nonstop destinations.

Earlier this month, Robert Kennedy, the airport system’s director, predicted the airport would serve 10.1 million passengers in 2019. Kennedy attributed the growth in recent years in part to a 30% average decline in fares since 2014, the year United Airlines ended service from Hopkins to dozens of midsized and smaller cities when it closed its hub operation in Cleveland.

“The dynamics of our airport continue to change as we continue to grow,” said Kennedy in the release. “We continue to make necessary accommodations for our guests and add amenities to ensure not only are more people choosing CLE, but they are returning to CLE.”

Boeing’s Sales Climb on Air Travel Demand

Boeing Co. said it expects sales to rise as much as 10% this year as the aerospace giant ramps up production to meet soaring global demand for air travel and cargo.

The world’s No. 1 plane maker by revenue expects to send as many as 905 jetliners to customers around the world in 2019, up from the record 806 Boeing delivered last year. The delivery forecast includes military versions of commercial aircraft.

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Federal carbon tax to drive air travel costs up

OTTAWA, Jan. 30, 2019 /CNW/ – The cost of air travel in Canada will soar if the federal government imposes a backstop carbon tax on air travel in 2019, according to a new study released today by the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC).

The study, “Evaluation of Federal Carbon Tax Costs on Domestic Air Travel: 2019 -2030,” is the third in a series conducted for NACC by AirTrav, a Toronto-based international aviation industry consultancy.  

It examines the additional cost per passenger travelling domestically between city pairs in and from the backstop jurisdictions (Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick) as well as all other provincial jurisdictions.

“Our new study shows that a domestic carbon tax would add more than $800 million a year to the cost of air travel in Canada by 2030″ said Massimo Bergamini, President and CEO of NACC. “An increase that large would hurt individuals and families who rely on air travel for work, to visit family, and for basic necessities.”

“It would also hurt Canada’s visitor economy, encourage even more Canadians to consider lower cost US airports and travel destinations, and jeopardize the long-term sustainability of our aviation industry,” added Bergamini.

The first study in the series, “Carbon Pricing in the Canadian Aviation Sector,” published in May 2018, found that a carbon tax would not reduce carbon emissions in the medium term because the aviation industry has already reduced emissions as is possible with current technology.

The second study, “Impacts and Analysis of Carbon Pricing on Canada’s Trade Exposed Aviation Sector,” published in October 2018, examined some of the market distortions that a carbon tax on air travel would cause.

“When assessed against the federal government’s stated public policy goals, such as carbon-emission reduction, avoiding trade and emissions leakage, lowering the cost of air travel, growing consumer choice in commercial aviation, growing the visitor economy and tourism in general, a carbon tax on air travel would be a staggering failure,” added Bergamini. “We have an effective domestic alternative in the carbon-offset system adopted in 2016 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for international flights, and the federal government should adopt that model,”

Click here for the backgrounder on the evaluation of carbon tax backstop costs on domestic air travel: 2019 -2030

 

SOURCE National Airlines Council of Canada

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2019/30/c4389.html