USA: Facial Recognition Working Well And Fast At Mineta San Jose Airport

Mineta San Jose International Airport is one of several airports nationwide chosen by the United States Customs and Border Protection agency to use facial recognition to screen all arriving and departing international travelers.

The airport quietly began using the technology on arriving international flights June 25. International fliers leaving SJC will see it in use at departure gates in the coming months, according to the airport. The technology is also in use at airports in Orlando and San Diego.

Here's one of the biggest changes travelers can expect: all departing international passengers will be photographed at the gate before they board their flight.

The images give the government verifiable biometric proof that a U.S. visitor has left the country, and presumably, will also be used to match citizens when they re-enter the country.

When entering the United States off a flight, passengers are photographed at passport control.

Facial recognition software compares the image against passport or visa photos the federal government already has on file.

The process takes less than a second. It eliminates the need for agents to scan passports manually and visually compare travelers to their passport photos, both are time consuming tasks that slow down immigration queues.

Interviews and customs luggage inspections will still go ahead.

Travelers enrolled in Global Entry will see no changes in the way they enter the country since those kiosks already photograph and fingerprint arriving international passengers.

Travelers who use the Mobile Passport app to digitally fill-out immigration forms and customs declarations can continue to use it, but will also go through the same facial recognition process at passport control.

SJC will install biometric readers at each of the seven gates used for international departures to photograph travelers leaving the country. That's coming in the fall, we're told.

At SJC, the process has already expedited long passport screening lines which have grown to become unbearable for many travelers.

The airport has seen a staggering increase in the number of international flights in recent years such as Aeromexico, Air China, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, and Lufthansa have all launched flights to SJC in the last decade.

In 2017, the airport logged 438,800 international arrivals — more than double the number in 2015, when there were 199,900.

Simultaneously, airport officials said there has been a shortage of Customs and Border Patrol agents to staff passport control counters because the agency isn't able to recruit and retain enough people willing to put up with the Bay Area's high cost of living.

The airport hopes the new automated screening process will shorten wait times and put an end to a lot of the frustration.

The use of the technology has raised suspicions by civil liberties groups, which oppose the government's collection of the photographs of citizens.

The biggest danger is that this technology will be used for general, suspicionless surveillance systems, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.

State motor vehicles agencies possess high-quality photographs of most citizens that are a natural source for face recognition programs and could easily be combined with public surveillance or other cameras in the construction of a comprehensive system of identification and tracking.

Passengers who want to opt-out of the biometric screening will have the option to do so.

The federal government says photos of U.S. citizens might be stored for up to 14 days, but photos of non-U.S. citizens could be stored for decades.


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THAILAND: Thai Airways Grounds 4 Of 6 Boeing 787s Due To Engine Repair Problems

Thai Airways is grounding some of its Boeing 787-8s due to delays in repairing engine problems that have been affecting other operators of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

The carrier has not specified how long the aircraft will be parked, but stated the engine spare parts issues will be “alleviated” in August, with a return to normal in September.

Local media has reported that four of the airline’s six 787s have been grounded.

Other operators of 787s with the Trent 1000 engines are also having to replace engines or engine parts due to concerns about turbine blades.

The problem first arose with All Nippon Airways last year.

Thai Airways noted the problem may affect flight safety, so it removed engines from its 787s and sent them for repair at the Rolls-Royce technical maintenance center in Singapore.

Due to the large and increasing amount of engines that experienced problems worldwide, Rolls-Royce is unable to complete repair work in the established time frame, said Thai.

The carrier said it has arranged for other aircraft to fly the routes usually operated by the 787s, so there should be no impact on passenger service.

Thai said it has also negotiated with Rolls-Royce to provide compensation for expenses incurred as a result of this situation, although it has not specified an amount.

While the carrier has no more 787-8s on order, it is due to receive two of the -9 variant later this year.

Thai also operates Airbus A350s. An airline executive recently told Aviation Daily that 787-9s and A350s are contenders for another order for 17 widebody aircraft the carrier is considering.


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JAPAN: All Nippon Airways Adds Extra Flight From Jakarta To Tokyo

Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) is set to add one extra flight schedule to serve the Jakarta-Tokyo route.

Announced on Friday, the extra flight is slated to commence on Aug. 2 and will use a Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft departing from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, to Haneda International Airport in Tokyo.

The additional flight aimed to accommodate the increased demand of Indonesian tourists to Japan.

“The decision to add another flight was made during an internal meeting as we saw an increased demand of Indonesian tourists who want to visit Japan,” said the airline’s Jakarta office sales administrator Bradley Pardede.

Bradley explained that the airline’s occupancy for the Jakarta-Tokyo flight was considered good, especially during holiday seasons.

“In March or April, the occupancy could reach over 90 percent as it is a sakura season, which is a high season,” he added.

Mitsubishi Wants To Start US MRJ Flight Tests

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. is seeking permission from Japanese and US regulators to move the start of MRJ flight testing in the US from the end of this year to this summer.

The MRJ90 achieved first flight in Japan in November 2015, but in December Mitsubishi Aircraft announced a delay in the planned first delivery of the aircraft to All Nippon Airways (ANA) to mid-2018. Under the revised flight test schedule, the start of flight testing in the US—where four of five MRJ90s planned for the flight test program will conduct the vast majority of MRJ flying required to gain certification—was set for the fourth quarter of 2016 or the early part of the 2017 first quarter.

With the first MRJ flight test aircraft (FTA-1) having accumulated about 44 flight hours in 22 test flights in Japan, Mitsubishi Aircraft now wants to bring FTA-1 to the US about six months earlier. FTA-2, which is in the final stages of preparation for its first flight in Japan this month, could also come to the US this summer, according to Mitsubishi Aircraft officials. MRJ flight testing in the US will be based at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington.

Mitsubishi Aircraft head of strategic marketing Hideyuki Kamiya said the Japanese manufacturer wants to bring MRJ flight test aircraft to the US ahead of schedule to create a “schedule buffer” in case “unexpected things” are encountered in the flight test program.

Speaking to ATW on the sidelines of the Regional Airline Association (RAA) convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kamiya explained that a much higher frequency of flight testing can occur more quickly if FTA-1 and FTA-2 are brought to the US this summer because flight testing is far more restricted in Japan.

“We can have a high rate of flight tests in the US,” he said. “We can have several flight tests a day in the US, while we have a maximum of two flights a day [allowed] in Japan. We will have a much higher [flight test] frequency in the US.”
If the first two MRJ flight test aircraft come to the US this summer, Mitsubishi Aircraft hopes to bring FTA-3 and FTA-4 to the US by the end of 2016.

Mitsubishi Aircraft executives have said that flight testing has gone as expected so far, but the company has not yet released flight test data. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. America chairman and CEO Masao Yamagami, who is overseeing the company’s activities in the US, told ATW that flight test data will be released two to three months after flight testing starts in the US. The data “may drive more appetite from [potential airline] customers” for the MRJ, Yamagami said.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has secured 223 firm orders for the MRJ90 and is in the process of finalizing a letter of intent (LOI) with Florida-based lessor Aerolease Aviation for 10 firm aircraft plus 10 options.

Yamagami said there are “several [MRJ sales] campaigns [ongoing] in parallel,” but conceded that no orders are imminent. However, he noted that Mitsubishi Aircraft “felt a dramatic change” in discussions with airlines after the MRJ’s first flight. “Customers are now discussing the real airplane,” he explained. “Before that, it was a paper airplane.”

JAPAN: Skymark Emerges From Bankruptcy

On March 28th, Skymark Airlines [BC/SKY] announced that it had completed its corporation revitalization process and received approval to emerge from bankruptcy. At the same time, it also revealed its mid-term plan for FY2016-2018, which includes opening up international routes and targeting 80 billion JPY in total revenues to produce an operating profit of 7 billion JPY by FY2018. Japan's third largest carrier filed for bankruptcy protection on January 29th, 2015 with the Tokyo District Court.

Boeing 737-8HX(WL) JA73NP arrives at Sapporo New Chitose. What future for Skymark? The domestic market is shrinking, while regional international routes are now well-served by LCCs. One solution could be the combination of using midnight international routes at Haneda (which would increase utilization), coming up with a loyalty program, and upgrading their reservations system to enable code-shares with international carriers (which would allow them to leverage their domestic network), though the third would most likely be vetoed by ANA.

Once post-deregulation's most successful start-up to challenge the ANA/JAL duopoly, Skymark was re-launched on September 29th under new ownership (Skymark relaunched with ANA sponsorship.). Integral Corporation holds the majority 50.1%, ANA Holdings has a grip on 16.5%, and UDS Airlines Investment has 33.4%. UDS is a new investment firm jointly owned by Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, both loyal partners of ANA. ANA Holdings is the parent of Japan's now largest carrier All Nippon Airways [NH/ANA].

Skymark's creditors initially demanded 308.9 billion JPY in total liabilities (Skymark's total debts skyrocket to 300 billion JPY.), however, that was reduced to 154.3 billion JPY after negotiations. Under court protection, the final repayment figure was settled at 16.1 billion JPY. Major creditors included Intrepid Aviation, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and CIT Aerospace. The U.S.-based aircraft lessor initially sought for 900 million USD for scrapping Airbus 330 leases (Skymark terminates all Airbus A330 leases.) and fought against ANA to sponsor Skymark with Delta Air Lines [DL/DAL] (Intrepid picks Delta to sponsor Skymark.). The European planemaker at first called for 700 million USD for the A380 cancellation (Skymark hopes to settle Airbus A380 penalty in October.), but drastically reduced the amount after ANA agreed to take those A380s (Bye-bye Skymark, Hello ANA Airbus A380?).

Skymark's financial performance is quickly improving, partly helped by lower fuel costs. FY2015 is expected to finish with revenues amounting to 70 billion JPY, producing an operating profit of 1.5 billion JPY. It reverses the airline's results for FY2014, which saw revenues totaling 80.9 billion JPY but translating to a 17.6 billion JPY operating loss. It now targets FY2018 with total revenues at 80 billion JPY with an operating profit of 7 billion JPY, calculating with crude oil at 50 USD per barrel. "We have 26 737s in our fleet, but only use 20 of them at once. Bringing utilization up to 24 aircraft will help increase revenue," said President Masahiko Ichie, adding "Our CASK (cost per available seat kilometer) is 8.5-8.6 JPY, and we're aiming for 8 JPY." During the time frame, a new future aircraft type will also be evaluated.

The revitalized airline also announced plans to go international by FY2018 starting with charter flights. "We need to use FY2016 to further strengthen our balance sheet. We'll carry out feasibility studies in FY2017, and hope to operate the first charters in FY2018," said Mr. Ichie, adding "East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Guam and Saipan are likely candidates." Skymark's President also said they are evaluating re-entering markets it withdrew from during its bankruptcy, mentioning Ishigaki [ISG/ROIG], Kumamoto [KMJ/RJFT], Miyako [MMY/ROMY] (Skymark to cut 15% of flights, ground all Airbus A330s.), Sendai [SDJ/RJSS] (Skymark to pull out of Sendai in October.), and Yonago [YGJ/RJOH] (Skymark decides to close Yonago, keep Ibaraki.). "We don't want to axe a new route after only one year," said Mr. Ichie, explaining new destinations would be carefully considered.

Meanwhile, Chairman Nobuo Sayama reiterated that code-sharing with ANA has been indefinitely postponed, as Skymark continues to refuse to adopt ANA's Able-D reservation system. Mr. Sayama believes retaining its own reservations system is key to keeping Skymark independent, and taking up Able-D would essentially relegate Skymark to a de facto puppet of ANA, joining the likes of AIRDO [HD/ADO] (d.b.a. Air Do), Solaseed Air [6J/SNJ], and Star Flyer [7G/SFJ]. "Our performance is improving, so there is no urgent need for code-sharing," said Mr. Sayama, adding "Our arms are open. We have proposed to code-share by placing an interface between ANA's and ours. We don't necessarily need to adopt their system. It's up to ANA."

Mr. Sayama, who also serves as the President of Skymark's largest shareholder Integral, is seemingly determined to limit ANA influence to only maintenance and operational issues, and not with business decisions. The conflict will continue between Integral and ANA as the former's interest lies in keeping Skymark operationally independent until its planned re-listing in 2020 or before, while the latter wants to keep Skymark under its influence for as long as possible to shut out true competition at bread-and-butter Tokyo/Haneda [HND/RJTT]. However, even if code-share talks do not bear fruit, for ANA its investment may have already been worth it, as otherwise a Delta-backed Skymark would have posed a much stronger threat to ANA.

JAPAN: Usain Bolt Is Now a Japanese Airline Promoter

Usain Bolt has endorsed some of the world’s biggest brands in his landmark sporting career, from Puma to Nissan.

Now, he has another brand: Japanese airline All Nippon Airways, or ANA.

The Jamaican superstar is now featuring in a new campaign for the airline, which will be the official airline partner of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The spot feature Bolt dancing in ANA’s “Hello Blue Hello Future” campaign.