Around The World In A Balloon File

[Guest Nova Zemlya]

KEEPING WAGES DEPRESSED A PRIORITY OVER SECURITY

U.S. Agency Bungled Airport Hiring

* LAX and other major facilities move to recheck screeners for criminal backgrounds.

By Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer

In its rush to get a screener work force in place last fall, the federal aviation security agency lost background questionnaires, failed to run some employee fingerprints through a national crime database and was unable to complete background checks, according to interviews with airport and security officials.

As a result, Los Angeles International Airport and other major U.S. airports say they plan to recheck screeners to ensure that they don't have a criminal past.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?J13021C94

GOLD SPINNING BUSINESS YARNS BOOSTS PROFIT FOR AIRLINE RIP VAN WINKLES

Virgin Blue triples profit

Richard Branson's Australian budget airline, Virgin Blue, has beaten the worldwide travel slump and seen its pre-tax profits triple.

The good result has strengthened Mr Branson's resolve to float parts of the company on the Australian stock exchange soon.

"As much as anything is definite, it is very likely that we will float before the end of the year", Mr Branson said in Adelaide during a tour of his Australian operations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3029565.stm

NOTORIOUS BUREAUCRAT FINDS JOB IN AVIATION

Yahoo Photo

Iraqi former Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf gives a press conference in Baghdad. Said al-Sahhaf has found a new role in a bitter advertising war between rival airlines.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030423/241/3vlun.html

ECONOMIC REALITY SETS IN , DISRUPTS CORPORADO LUAU

Bankruptcy judge orders that trustee be appointed to run Hawaiian Airlines

JAYMES SONG, Associated Press Writer Friday, May 16, 2003

A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday ordered an independent trustee be appointed to run Hawaiian Airlines after one of its main creditors accused top executives of mismanagement.

Hawaiian, the nation's 12th-largest carrier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. The motion alleging mismanagement was filed by Boeing Capital Corp., which leases 16 aircraft to Hawaiian.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/16/national0036EDT0402.DTL

THE DARK SIDE OF LOW COST

Virgin Intent On Eliminating Jobs

Virgin Intent On Eliminating Freedom Air And New Zealand Jobs

Statement made by Ralph Norris, Managing Director and CEO,

Air New Zealand Limited

Virgin Blue has at last come clean on its real intentions in relation to Freedom Air, and that is the total elimination of a potential competitor.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/42/d4/200305141739.3b2317a2.html

GLOBALIZATION FILE

TRANSBORDER MERGERS OF NATIONAL CARRIERS DEFINES ECONOMIC TREND

Alitalia CEO Says Airline Must Merge

ROME -- Italy's struggling flagship carrier Alitalia SpA must merge and slash costs in order to survive the airline industry's slump, chief executive Francesco Mengozzi said Friday.

Alitalia, together with Germany's Lufthansa, warned earlier this week that it expects to plunge into loss this year as a host of negative factors hit Europe's big airlines. The companies cited competition from low-cost airlines, the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak.

In order to survive, Alitalia must "integrate and consolidate with other carriers, undertaking company mergers to develop cost and revenue synergies," Mengozzi told a shareholder's meeting.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Alitalia

FAMILIAR LANGUAGE OF ALLIANCE OBFUSCATES MERGER ACTIVITY

Substantial Concessions Made by Air NZ Qantas

13 May 2003, 1:33 pm

Press Release: Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand And Qantas Offer Substantial Concessions To Australian Competition Regulator

Air New Zealand and Qantas filed a submission with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Friday evening in response to the regulator's draft determination on the proposed Alliance between the two airlines.

Air New Zealand Managing Director and CEO, Ralph Norris said that the undertakings offered to the ACCC are significant and are a considerable expansion, in both extent and detail, on the proposed undertakings included in the original submissions.

"These new undertakings represent significant movement from both Air New Zealand and Qantas and should alleviate the concerns raised by the ACCC in its draft determination relating to possible anti-competitive activity, the ability of a new entrant to compete, and ensuring that the public benefits claimed by the airlines will eventuate.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/93/5c/200305131333.e8a3d402.html