Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said its domestic passengers have “told us that airport check-in today is nothing less than a major point of pain”. Joyce continued saying that “Check-in takes too long. It causes too much stress. Our customers know what they want: speed and ease”.

The proposed vision will see frequent flyers rated “silver” status or above issued with new smart card technology and computer chip embedded luggage tags. Travellers with the new system will be able to swipe their card across check-in readers througout the terminal and place their bags directly nto the baggage carousels.

Qantas have an ambitious timetable for roll out of the new $40 million venture between technology giant IBM and the airline, with the first trial at Perth Airport in mid-2010, Sydney Airport by the end of 2010 and Melbourne Airport by early 2011. Terminal floor plans will need to be remodeled to allow for the open plan design, card readers and new carousels.

[Source: http://www.theage.com.au]

Customs officers took a second look at the bottles of shampoo the 45 year old American was carrying, believed to be travelling from Nepal to Melbourne, after passing through an x-ray machine on October 13. Subsequent searches found two additional bottles in her possession, with the heroin totalling approximatey 1Kg.

Two days later a man was arrested from Sierra Leone when he allegedly tried to take possession ofthe shampoo bottles. He was later charged with attempting to possess a marketable amount of drugs and the woman with importing and possession of a marketable amount of drugs.

The pair made their first appearance in Melbourne Magistrates Court on October 16 and if convicted face up to 25 years in jail and a $550,000 fine.

[Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au]

New flight routes between Wellington and Canberra are already being considered, as it changes its business to adapt to the current market and beings competing with the traditional carriers in the business sector instead of focusing solely on the leisure market.

While addressing a Wellington business audience in New Zealand, Adrian Hamilton Manns, Pacific Blue’s Commercial General Manager, said that liberalization of travel regulations over the Tasman will lower airfares but not necessarily add additional routes. He noted that for every $100 in revenue they collect in airfares, approximately $35 goes to governments for border, aviation and immigration security and the like.

He continued saying that if Pacific Blue can find a way to overcome the stumbling blocks in cost structures domestically, that they would consider introducing a Brazilian manufactured 100 seat Embaerer 190 aircraft to fly daily services out of New Zealand into Australian destinations such as Adelaide, Darwin, Broome, Hobart, Launceston, Proserpine and Port Macquarie and Melbourne Airport.

[Source: http://www.nbr.co.nz]

RapiScan System naked full body airport security scanner

Airports around the world may soon be upgrading their existing metal detectors and shelving the manual pat downs or friskings for a new machine which is hoping to revolutionise airport security checkpoints.

RapiScan Systems of Torrence California created the new T-ray full body personal screening scanners, which have been undergoing a six month trial at Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia. With the successful test run at Kelowna International Airport, they are now looking to roll the security device out to larger airports throughout Canada.

The new scanner is strong enough to see through clothes and highlights hidden or concealed items but is approximately 1/20000 the strength of a traditional medical x-ray machine. The results of a ‘T-ray’ airport scanner produces a ghostly type figure without any distinguishing marks of the recipient, clearly identifying concealed items but also highlighting body features such as breasts and genitals.

There has been a lot of privacy concerns about a device which can see through clothing, however the images produced are not sexual or erotic and have been referred to as ‘dull’ or equivalent to a chalk drawing. While it will be possible to see breasts and genital areas through the scanner, same sex security officers will review the full body scans of passengers using the RapiScan system.

This type of security measure at an airport is intended to be a secondary line of defense, where a person can choose between a manual frisk or the T-ray security scanner. The majority of people questioned about the use of the scanner during the trial period at Kelowna International Airport said they preferred the scanner as it didn’t require someone to pat them down, which a lot of people consider to be a considerable invasion of personal space and privacy.

Australian airports are now beginning to run trials with the full body scanners, starting with Melbourne Airport, Sydney and Adelaide domestic terminals. George Brenan, the acting director for the Office of Airport Security in Australia has stated that the outcome of the tests at the three Australian airports will determine if the technology would replace existing screening systems, be used a secondary measure or not implemented at all.

Jetstar Melbourne Sydney flights will fly between Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport five times daily return on the familiar Airbus A320 that Australians have become so familiar within in recent times. While this is the first time that Jetstar have serviced Melbourne Airport, they have been flying into Avalon Airport approximately 5Km south of Melbourne Airport four times daily return for quite some time.

A statement from Jetstar notes that “the inaugural services have been well supported by the Australian travelling publish with all flightsoperating on Jetstar’s new route today completely sold-out”.

Bruce Buchanan, Jetstar chief executive said the new Sydney Melbourne flights would add to the Qantas Group’s existing high-frequency full service CityFlyer offering on the route.

The additional service from Jetstar on the busiest flight path between Australia’s two largest cities is going to be welcomed by those looking for cheap Melbourne Sydney flights as the new services will drive competition and price wars over an already competitive market place.

[Source: http://www.anna.aero]

The increase in passenger numbers flowing through Melbourne Airport has been attributed to a strong 10% lift in the international market for the first quarter of 2009/2010, with passengers hailing from countries such as China and India. For the year ending September 2009, Melbourne Airport international passengers numbers rose to 5.03 million with overall passenger figures up by approximately 3%.

Chris Woodruff, Melbourne Airport chief executive, says that airlines are responding the increased demand already, with Singapore Airlines offering daily Melbourne-Singapore A380 flights which will be bolstered by Qatar Airways and V Australia set to offer services to Melbourne in December.

The plans outline an increase of more than double the number of passenger flights into Bankstown Airport to 32, up from the current 12 daily services. The 32 daily flights is a number based on what it’d require to create and sustain a commercial operation from Bankstown Airport, into Melbourne Airport, Brisbane Airport and regional New South Wales and not built around population growth and spread.

Bankstown Airport have said that there are no plans to bring in larger aircrafts, such as an Airbus A380 or to develop Bankstown Airport as Sydney’s second airport. The 20 year plans are to be submitted to the Federal Government early next year and the airport also held and information day on Sunday 25th October 2009 as well.

Melbourne Airport provides air transit for over 24 million people each year, nearly five million of which are international. With the increase in international passengers gaining momentum into Melbourne Airport and the inception of the Airbus A380 to contend with, Melbourne Airport required faster, more efficient methods of handling the increasing volume of passenger baggage to keep the overall efficiency of the airport at the required levels.

The newly redeveloped baggage handling facility replaces the existing inbound system with an inbound bag room located on the tarmac. Baggage carrying carts or ‘tugs’ transport baggage from aircrafts on the tarmac to the bag room where the baggage is manually loaded onto one of six single-line belt-conveyor bag lines and ultimately dropped off onto one of five baggage carousels for collection by disembarked passengers.

The latest BCS Group baggage landing system at Melbourne International Airport comprises over 600 metres of belt conveyors and transports baggage from the bag room on the tarmac over 100 metres to join existing baggage collection systems in the arrivals hall. Interestingly, one of the carousels is serviced by two bag lines to handle the additional baggage from incoming A380 flights.

At this stage, no information has been provided regarding the service improvements that the new baggage handling system has provided to Melbourne Airport.

The 31 year old from Vienna entered Melbourne Airport from Thailand on March 10 and was found with 0.2 grams of methamphetamine. Nicole Demirkiran was charged and released on bail however federal police later discovered over 1 kilogram of a white powder substance hidden within sealed Ferrero Rocher and Toberone chocolate. Further investigation showed that the drug was 78% pure methamphetamine.

Demirkiran initially told the County Court in Melbourne that she received the chocolates from an unknown source in Bangkok as a present for her four year old child but was unaware they contained drugs, however later admitted that she received them from two men involved in a large criminal network.

The court heard that Demirkiran got involved in the scheme because she was under financial pressure, with her husband currently without a job and she was on the pension and in severe debt. She feared that without drastic measures she would soon lose her home. Demirkiran confided in a women who said she could help and subsequently arrived in Bangkok as instructed to fly into Melbourne Airport. At that point she suspected that the chocolate probably contained drugs, which she knew was illegal to import into Australia and attempted to pull out of the deal only to be threatened at gun point to continue with the delivery.

Judge Barbara Cotterell accepted that she was sorry and understood the pressure she was being placed under, however handed down a five and a half year sentence on Thursday 8th October. Judge Cotterell said that the only deterrent available for other would be smugglers was immediate jail time, however in this case she would also consider the seven months behind bars as time served. Demirkiran will serve a minimum of three years jail time before she is eligible for parole and Cotterell believed that she had good prospects for rehabilitation.

When boarding the plane, the following actions annoy the vast majority of fellow travellers:

1. bring larger than allowed carry on luggage
2. crowd the boarding line
3. block the aisle

Once passengers have taken their seat for their flight, the most disliked passengers to be seated next to are:

1. passengers with poor hygiene
2. passengers who are sick, coughing or sneezing

The most inconsiderate in flight behaviours were:

1. having your seat kicked
2. loud talking
3. swearing

After surviving the the your coughing, smelly neighbour – people are most annoyed by the following when disembarking:

1. pushing to deplane out of turn
2. careless with luggage

It is also clear that people don’t appreciate being seated next to a large or overweight people either, with the majority agreeing that they should take up two seats to maintain the comfort levels of their fellow passengers. What wasn’t clear however, was whether or not they should be charged for their second seat or not.

Once arriving at your favourite holiday destination, the most bothersome holiday makers were:

1. arguing families
2. boisterous families
3. rowdy college students

Behaviour management of children was hotly contested also, with the majority of people agreeing that parents should remove their misbehaving children followed by reprimanding them. While other guests don’t approve of misbehaving children, for obvious reasons, the majority of people either ignore, avoid or do nothing about the misbehaving children either.