|

Continental Receives Top Honors in Business Travel News’ Annual Airline Survey

CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ —

Continental Airlines received top honors in Business Travel News’ (BTN) Annual Airline Survey for the third consecutive year. The recognition marks the sixth time Continental finished first in the 13 years BTN has measured corporate travel buyer perceptions of airline performance in delivering service and maintaining preferred relationships.

“We are honored to once again receive this recognition, which reflects the hard work of my co-workers over the past year,” said worldwide sales senior vice president Dave Hilfman. “We’re going to look top to bottom in our approach to the market to ensure the new airline continues to do those things that are appreciated and recognized by our key corporate buyers.”

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.

Similar Posts

  • |

    United Leads In On-Time Performance Among Peers For November 2010

    January 11, 2011

    CHICAGO, Jan. 11, 2011 – United Airlines today announced the company was first in on-time performance for domestic scheduled flights among America’s five largest global carriers* for November 2010, ending the month with 91.4 percent of flights arriving at their destinations within 14 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, according to data measured by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and published in the Air Travel Consumer report released today.

    The report released today also showed United ranked first among America’s five largest global carriers for the 12 months ending in November, and second overall for the month of November 2010 among all 18 carriers included in the Air Travel Consumer Report, irrespective of size.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Boeing and FAA to Team for Cleaner Skies, Quieter Airplanes

    WASHINGTON, June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced today that they will work together to speed the development and application of environmentally progressive technologies for cleaner and quieter jet aircraft.

    As part of the FAA’s Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) program, Boeing and the FAA each will contribute up to $25 million during the next five years to conduct flight demonstrations of emergent airframe and engine technologies that have the potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and community noise.

    “By combining our resources and expertise, we believe we can transition promising technologies from development into service more quickly to help reduce the environmental footprint of airplanes,” said Matt Ganz, vice president and general manager of Boeing Research & Technology, which is leading the program at Boeing. “We recognize the importance of protecting our ecosystem and are looking forward to working with the FAA on a variety of innovative solutions to help define the future.”

    The technologies being developed under the CLEEN program will be flight tested aboard two demonstration vehicles, a Next-Generation Boeing 737 in 2012, with a second series of test flights aboard a yet-to-be-determined twin-aisle airplane in 2013.

    This flight-test program builds on the success of the company’s Quiet Technology Demonstrators, which successfully highlighted a variety of noise reduction technologies during test flights aboard Boeing 777 aircraft from 2001 to 2005.

    According to Boeing CLEEN Program Manager Craig Wilsey, the technologies that will be developed and tested during demonstration flights include adaptive wing trailing edges and ceramic matrix composite acoustic engine nozzles.

    Adaptive trailing edges pertain to a collection of small controllable devices that are integrated into the aft portion of the wing. Most traditional wings are designed for best performance while at cruise, and have performance compromises during other flight phases. Adaptive trailing edges can help tailor the wing configuration to reduce fuel burn at takeoff, climb and cruise, and to reduce community noise at takeoff and landing.

    New-generation engines on commercial airplanes are more efficient, but require materials that are capable of withstanding higher temperatures than previous engines. Ceramic matrix composites offer the potential of better thermal and structural performance, while helping to reduce weight and acoustic footprint.

    In addition to Boeing Research & Technology, the company’s advanced central research, technology and innovation organization, Boeing’s CLEEN team is composed of engineers and support staff from Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Test & Evaluation.

    Boeing continues to take aggressive steps to improve the environmental performance of its products including:

    Producing the world’s newest commercial airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8, designed to be significantly more fuel-efficient and have lower emissions than earlier generation jetliners.

    Pioneering research into sustainable aviation biofuel made from biomass sources that do not compete with food crops or land or water use. Aviation biofuels have lower carbon emissions over their lifecycle and help lessen aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

    Developing ways to improve the efficiency of the global air traffic control network, which will enable passengers to arrive at their gates sooner and reduce the carbon footprint of commercial air travel.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | | | |

    David Disiere Southlake Aviation Awarded $32-Million Damages in Congo Gold Smuggling Case

    In a civil trial that sounded like a real life James Bond spy novel, a Dallas County Jury awarded Southlake Aviation, owned by Dallas business executive David Disiere, $32.4 million in damages against Houston based oil company, CAMAC International, its subsidiary CAMAC Aviation, and Mickey Lawal CAMAC’s Vice President of African Operations.
    The case stemmed from a scheme in which CAMAC International and its officers used a Gulfstream V jet leased from David Disiere’s Southlake Aviation to try to spirit more than ten thousands pounds of gold bullion out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with help from General Bosco Ntaganda, a notorious Congolese warlord.

    Following the verdict, Southlake Aviation’s President, David Disiere praised the jury’s decision, “twelve citizens saw through a smoke-and- mirrors defense put on by the CAMAC’s attorneys and clearly found that CAMAC caused my company to loose a $43 million dollar aircraft in a greedy scheme that violated the U.S. Trading With The Enemy Act.”
    The jury heard riveting testimony from a diamond trader involved in the scheme describing how CAMAC executives Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal arranged to exchange two-oversized suitcases stuffed with six-and-half million dollars in cash for ten boxes of gold delivered by General Bosco Ntaganda’s armed forces.

    An investigation of the smuggling incident by the United Nations Security Council found that CAMAC and its three top executives, Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal were dealing with “individuals operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and committing serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children or women in situations of armed conflict.”

    Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal who are Nigerian American brothers invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination hundreds of times during their testimony in the case.

    Houston energy executive, Kase Lawal the former CEO of CAMAC International and the current CEO of the publically traded CAMAC Energy Inc. was appointed to a White House Trade Advisory position by President Obama and serves on the boards of the Houston Port and Airport Authorities.

    David Disiere, the Dallas business executive and owner of Southlake Aviation, told the jury how he was shocked to get a call in the dead of night informing him that his company’s 43-million dollar Gulfstream V jet aircraft loaded with ten boxes of gold had been confiscated in Goma by authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on February 5, 2011. The jury’s verdict also included compensation of more than 535-thousand dollars for repairing damage done the to the aircraft’s interior passenger compartment during the loading of the gold.

    Because Southlake Aviation’s aircraft was confiscated in the Congo, VFS Financing a subsidiary of General Electric, automatically placed Southlake Aviation’s loan to purchase the Gulfstream V in default, accelerated the entire balance, and repossessed the aircraft.

    Testimony in the case and the investigation by the United Nations also indicated that former Houston Rocket’s basketball star Dikembe Mutombo acted as an intermediary in the gold smuggling scheme.

    Testimony in the case showed that David Disiere had never met the Lawal brothers. Disiere testified that CAMAC had signed a three-year lease for Southlake’s Gulfstream V jet and claiming it would use the jet was to travel between its Houston headquarters and oil operations in Nigeria.

    The jury agreed with David Disiere’s testimony that CAMAC and its officers violated the terms of the aircraft’s lease by using it in an outlaw region of Africa.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    NTSB SAFETY RECOMMENDATION

    The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that the Federal Aviation Administration:

    Amend 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 to require separate seats and restraints for every occupant. (A-10-121)

    Amend 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 to require each person who is less than 2 years of age to be restrained in a separate seat position by an appropriate child restraint system during takeoff, landing, and turbulence. (A-10-122)

    Amend 14 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 121 and 135 to require each person who is less than 2 years of age to be restrained in a separate seat position by an appropriate child restraint system during takeoff, landing, and turbulence. (A-10-123)

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Boeing, LAN Airlines Announce Order for Three 767s

    Additional 767-300ER airplanes part of the airline’s fleet expansion plans

    EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced today that Chile’s LAN Airlines ordered three additional 767-300ER airplanes valued at $493 million at today’s list prices. Today’s order brings the total number of 767s ordered from LAN to 33.

    “This order for additional 767s builds on the long-standing relationship between Boeing and LAN,” said Marlin Dailey, vice president of Sales & Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “LAN is one of the world’s premier airlines and we are happy to help them expand and grow their long-haul fleet.”

    The 767 family of airplanes is sized between the single-aisle 737 Next-Generation and the twin-aisle 777. As one of the most fuel-efficient airplanes in operation today, the 767 offers improved environmental performance and operating economics over competing jetliners.

    “The versatility, comfort, range and increased payload capabilities continue to make the 767 a staple in the fleets of today’s leading airlines,” said Dailey. “The 767 has benefited from years of technological improvements for greater efficiency and passenger comfort.”

    LAN’s fleet currently consists of 28 767-300ERs and 11 767-300 freighters. The airline has used Boeing’s product advancements to drive operational efficiencies into their long-haul fleet and increase passenger comfort including the passenger-pleasing Boeing Signature Interior.

    The Boeing 767 family is a complete family of clean, quiet, fuel-efficient airplanes that provide maximum market versatility in the 200- to 300-seat market. The Boeing 767 family includes three passenger models — the 767-200ER, 767-300ER and 767-400ER — and a medium-widebody freighter, which is based on the 767-300ER fuselage.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.

  • FAA OKs Four More Portable Oxygen Concentrators

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that passengers needing medical oxygen now have the option of using four additional portable oxygen concentrators while traveling, bringing the total number of approved units to 11.

    The newly authorized devices are DeVilbiss Healthcare’s iGo, International Biophysics Corporation’s LifeChoice, Inogen’s Inogen One G2 and Oxlife’s Independence Oxygen Concentrator.

    “This is our latest step toward making air travel more accessible for people who need medical oxygen,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “We want these passengers to have as many options as possible while ensuring all of our safety guidelines are being met.”

    Portable oxygen concentrators are small, portable devices that separate oxygen from nitrogen and other gases in the air and provide oxygen to users at greater than 90 percent concentration. They do not use compressed or liquid oxygen, which the government classifies as hazardous material.

    The Department of Transportation requires that U.S. carriers allow passengers to use portable oxygen concentrators approved by the FAA during all phases of a flight – including taxiing, takeoff and landing – if the unit displays a manufacturer’s label that indicates it meets FAA requirements for portable medical electronic devices, is properly stowed, and meets certain other applicable safety-related conditions.

    For example, passengers must ensure the unit is in good working order and must be able to respond to the unit’s warning alarms. They must protect extra batteries in carry-on baggage from short circuits and physical damage. Carriers also must let passengers operate these FAA-approved concentrators while moving about the cabin whenever the captain turns off the “Fasten Seat Belt” sign.

    Carriers can legally refuse to allow inflight use of an FAA-approved portable oxygen concentrator that does not have a manufacturer’s label indicating that the device complies with FAA requirements. However, the Department encourages airlines to voluntarily allow the inflight use of such devices. Inflight use of an FAA-approved portable oxygen concentrator, whether labeled or not, poses no safety danger so long as carriage of the device is in accordance with instructions provided by the FAA.

    The FAA previously approved these portable oxygen concentrators for use:

    Delphi Medical Systems RS-00400
    Invacare XPO2
    AirSep Lifestyle
    AirSep Freestyle
    Inogen One
    SeQual Eclipse
    Respironics EverGo
    ###

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.