Hong Kong airport cancels outbound flights

TAIPEI – Hong Kong International Airport canceled all flights out of Hong Kong for the rest of the day, after thousands of anti-government protesters descended on the airport.

Demonstrators donned eye patches at Lantau Island hub, one of the world’s busiest international airports, in anger after a girl was allegedly hit with a police beanbag.

Airport chiefs said inbound flights already in the air would be allowed to land, but any flights which had not departed would be delayed.

This is the fourth straight day of protests as anti-government demonstrations have continued to escalate.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press (AP) reported that in Beijing, the Cabinet’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office issued a statement saying the situation in Hong Kong was “beginning to show the sprouts of terrorism” and constituted an “existential threat” to the population of Hong Kong.


“One must take resolute action toward this violent criminality, showing no leniency or mercy,” said the statement, attributed to spokesman Yang Guang. “Hong Kong has reached an inflection point where all those who are concerned about Hong Kong’s future must say ‘no,’ to law breakers and ‘no’ to those engaged in violence.”

Only flights that had already begun boarding or those cleared for landing were allowed to use runways at the airport.

“All other flights have been canceled for the rest of today,” the airport statement said.

A massive traffic jam soon formed on the highway leading back to Hong Kong’s city center. Some protesters were seen walking toward the airport amid the stifling heat.

Earlier Monday, Hong Kong police showed off water cannons that could be deployed in the case of future demonstrations, a development which Amnesty International has warned could lead to serious injuries if misused within the densely-populated city’s confined spaces.


Legislators and journalists were invited to witness the display of extreme crowd control tactics, which came after a weekend of protests at the airport and on the streets of one of the city’s main shopping districts.

During the weekend protests, website Hong Kong Free Press showed footage of one arrest that appeared to include officers in plain clothes pinning a demonstrator pressed to the ground. The young man, who said his name was Chow Ka-lok and asked for a lawyer, was shown with a bleeding head wound and said he had a broken tooth.

Police have also reported injuries among their ranks, including eye irritation from laser pointers, burns from petrol bombs and bruises and cuts from flying.

Protesters hurled bricks at officers and ignored warnings to leave before tear gas was deployed in the Sham Shui Po area, police said, calling a march there an “unauthorized assembly.”

Tear gas was also deployed in central Hong Kong on both sides of Victoria Harbour, in the Tsim Sha Tsui area on the Kowloon side and in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. At one point, protesters blocked the entrance to a plaza to prevent police from entering.

A train station in Kwai Fong filled with smoke after about a dozen police officers fired tear gas inside. It was not clear how many protesters were inside the station at the time, but it has been rare for officers to fire tear gas indoors.

Earlier, a large group of mostly young protesters marched down the middle of Hennessey Road, a main shopping drag in the Causeway Bay area, as a rally was held in nearby Victoria Park. Many wore face masks to shield their identities, and a few had helmets. Others just carried backpacks over the black T-shirts that have become their uniform.

The protest movement’s demands include the resignation of the Chinese territory’s leader, Carrie Lam, democratic elections for her successor, the release of those arrested in earlier protests and an investigation into police use of force.

A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems,” which promises the city certain democratic rights not afforded to people on the mainland. But in recent years, some have accused the Communist Party-ruled central government of steadily chipping away at their freedoms.

Banners at the rally in Victoria Park read “Give Hong Kong back to us” and “Withdraw the evil law,” the latter a reference to an extradition bill that was the original spark for the protests. A large crowd sat under umbrellas, which are both a protest symbol in Hong Kong and protection from the summer heat. 


At the airport, a flight attendant protesting on his day off, who gave only his surname, Lau, to avoid repercussions from his employer, said heavy-handed police tactics had alienated some people.

“The police have told a lot of lies to Hong Kong people. We cannot believe them anymore. We have to come here to protest,” Lau said. China has reportedly threatened to bar aircrew who take part in protests from its air space.

Another protester, who identified herself only as Bea, said she took the day off from work to express her outrage.

“I feel that I have to do something. … It’s just too sad to see what has happened. The police action has gone totally nonsensical,” she said. With a report from AP/ac

source: globalnation.inquirer.net

Virgin America computer systems hacked

SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines said it is taking precautions including requiring employees to change their passwords after Virgin America’s computer systems were hacked.

An Alaska Airlines spokeswoman said Monday that the company noticed unusual activity in Virgin’s systems in March and notified law enforcement and hired cybersecurity experts. She said customer information wasn’t affected but employees and contractors will be required to change passwords every 90 days.

About 3,100 employees may have had their login information stolen, the airline said. Another 110 also had personal information compromised, including addresses, Social Security numbers and health-related information. The airline is paying for credit-monitoring services for those 110 employees and contractors.

Alaska bought California-based Virgin America last year.

A letter to Virgin America employees from Kyle Levine, general counsel of Seattle-based Alaska Air Group Inc., was posted on the California attorney general’s website last week.

Levine said the hacker or hackers gained employees’ login information and passwords to Virgin America’s network. He offered advice for employees who think they might be victims of identity theft.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Want to escape traffic? Take a flying taxi

While Uber has changed ground transport in many cities, Sao Paulo’s infernal traffic jams have sparked a new app that opens the sky to commuters: Voom, a helicopter taxi service that charges according to distance and the passenger’s weight.

It’s a godsend for those in a rush — but only if the weather permits.

Gustavo Boyde, a Brazilian living in the United States who goes to Sao Paulo for business, is one of those who says the hops above the city are the only way to get around.

“I’ve opted for helicopters,” he said, pointing to the metropolis sprawling beyond the horizon as he choppered from a chic central district to the airport.

Sao Paulo — South America’s biggest city, home to 12 million residents within its municipal limits and millions more in satellite towns — is regularly choked by gargantuan traffic jams.

There are 5.9 million vehicles, or one for every two people. At peak hour, traffic can be backed up as much as 576 kilometers (358 miles).

Not so pricey

A new venture launched in April by Europe’s Airbus, Voom has taken a page out of Uber’s marketing manual to put clients above it all — at a competitive price.

The app asks passengers to enter their weight and that of any baggage, then immediately sends the calculated fare.

Boyde’s run, from the southeastern neighborhood of Itaim Bibi to the airport some 30 kilometers (20 miles) away, takes nine minutes and costs $150.

Compare that with the market rates before Voom became available. Individual helicopter companies wanted 10 times more — and trips needed to be booked at least two days in advance.

“Our goal is to make helicopter transport accessible to more people, so that the helicopter is seen as an alternative,” said Voom’s executive director, Uma Subramanian.

In Boyde’s case, taking a helicopter through the app was a no-brainer. Using a traditional taxi on the clogged roads would have cost him $50 and an hour and a half of frustrating stop-and-go.

“I chose Voom because it fits within my travel budget, it’s economical and it’s practical,” Boyde said.

“Those are two hours I can now use for work, which is handy given the tight schedule I have,” he said.

According to Subramanian, saturated roads in Latin America mean that “people lose up to 10 hours a week” stuck in traffic.

Biggest fleet

Sao Paulo topped a list of 500 cities Voom considered for its debut, for a variety of reasons.

The city, which sits in a state of the same name whose population exceeds 45 million, has the biggest fleet of helicopters in the world.

ANAC, the National Association for Civil Aviation, says 700 choppers, or nearly a third of Brazil’s total number, are located there, alongside 528 helipads.

Brazil’s deep recession also means that many in Sao Paulo’s aviation sector have embraced Voom.

“In the current situation of a contracting market, the arrival of this service is a positive,” said Arthur Fioratti, head of the ABRAPHE association of Brazilian helicopter pilots that covers some 2,000 professional flyers.

Back during Brazil’s boom time, between 2010 and 2013, the sector flourished. ABRAPHE said there were 2,000 helicopter flights a day in Sao Paulo state.

Today, there are 1,300.

Voom has deals with three helicopter companies which operate five helicopters in Sao Paulo’s metropolitan zone.

Business travelers are the company’s target clientele — an elite used to taking a lift to the top of a glass-and-steel tower to be picked up on the rooftop helipad.

But it hopes to eventually broaden the appeal of flitting across the sky by bringing fares down to below what a taxi would charge.

Eye on the weather

Currently, between six and 10 people use Voom’s service daily.

“When my friends saw me using a helicopter to get to the airport they asked if I’d become a millionaire. When I told them how much it cost, they were surprised,” said Lucas Amadeu, head of marketing for Voom.

“I think that once people know what it costs, the service will grow a lot,” he added.

But while market forces are one thing, Mother Nature is another, and the sometimes violent storms and tropical rain that lash Sao Paulo can ground Voom’s fleet.

At those times, users are forced to resort to ordinary taxis — and to confront road traffic made even more choked by the weather.

Within Brazil, the poor quality of public transport in Sao Paulo is well known. In 2013, the biggest protests the country has ever known erupted when authorities tried to raise fares for the creaking, overburdened network of buses and metros.

One risk for Voom is that it might become too popular. An abrupt rise in the number of helicopters flying above the city could prompt the same sort of response as in New York, where officials are considering ways to limit flights.

For now, though, the company has its view fixed on other horizons.

Its next city pegged for expansion is Mexico City, another badly choked megapolis.

For Boyde, who goes to Mexico City almost as often as he does to Sao Paulo, that is good news.

“If they do the same thing over there, I’ll be their customer,” he said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Text of letter from United CEO defending employees

CHICAGO — Below is the text of the letter United Airlines’ parent company CEO Oscar Muñoz sent to employees after a passenger was dragged from a United plane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The summary below the letter was compiled by United:

    Dear Team,

    Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I’ve included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.


    As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

    I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.

    Oscar

Summary of Flight 3411

On Sunday, April 9, after United Express Flight 3411 was fully boarded, United’s gate agents were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.

We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.

He was approached a few more times after that in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft, and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent.

Our agents were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight. He repeatedly declined to leave.

Chicago Aviation Security Officers were unable to gain his cooperation and physically removed him from the flight as he continued to resist – running back onto the aircraft in defiance of both our crew and security officials.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

MH370 co-pilot made mid-flight phone call — report

KUALA LUMPUR — The co-pilot of missing Malaysian airliner MH370 attempted to make a mid-flight call from his mobile phone just before the plane vanished from radar screens, a report said Saturday citing unnamed investigators.

The call ended abruptly possibly "because the aircraft was fast moving away from the (telecommunications) tower," The New Straits Times quoted a source as saying.

But the Malaysian daily also quoted another source saying that while Fariq Abdul Hamid's "line was reattached," there was no certainty that a call was made from the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8.

The report -- titled a "desperate call for help" -- did not say who he was trying to contact.

Fariq and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah have come under intense scrutiny after the plane mysteriously vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Investigators last month indicated that the flight was deliberately diverted and its communication systems manually switched off as it was leaving Malaysian airspace, triggering a criminal investigation by police that has revealed little so far.

The fate of flight MH370 has been shrouded in mystery, with a number of theories put forward including a hijacking or terrorist attack and a pilot gone rogue.

There have been unconfirmed previous reports in the Malaysian media of calls by the captain before or during the flight but no details have been released.

The NST report said that Flight 370 flew low enough near Penang island on Malaysia's west coast -- after turning off course -- for a telecommunications tower to pick up the co-pilot's phone signal.

The phone line was "reattached" between the time the plane veered off course and blipped off the radar, the government-controlled paper quoted the second source as saying.

"A 'reattachment' does not necessarily mean that a call was made. It can also be the result of the phone being switched on again."

Malaysia's transport ministry told AFP that it was examining the NST report and will issue a response.

The Malaysian government and media have repeatedly contradicted each other and themselves over details of the search and criminal investigation. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

New images show more than 100 objects in Indian Ocean that could be MH370 debris

PERTH/KUALA LUMPUR - New satellite images have revealed more than 100 objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 18 days with 239 people on board, Malaysia's acting transport minister said on Wednesday.

The latest sighting came as searchers stepped up efforts to find some trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, thought to have crashed on March 8 after flying thousands of miles off course.

"It must be emphasized that we cannot tell whether the potential objects are from MH370," Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference. "Nevertheless, this is another new lead that will help direct the search operation."

The images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence & Space on Monday and showed 122 potential objects in a 400 sq km (155 sq mile) area of ocean, Hishammuddin said. The objects varied in size from one meter to 23 meters (75 ft) in length, he said.

A dozen aircraft from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, China, Japan and South Korea were once more scouring the seas some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth in the hunt for wreckage on Wednesday, after bad weather the previous day forced the suspension of the search.

"The crash zone is as close to nowhere as it's possible to be but it's closer to Australia than anywhere else," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, before leading the country's parliament in a moment's silence.

"A considerable amount of debris has been sighted in the area where the flight was last recorded. Bad weather and inaccessibility has so far prevented any of it from being recovered. But we are confident that it will be."

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak this week confirmed Flight MH370, which vanished while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Citing satellite-data analysis by British company Inmarsat, he said there was no doubt the Boeing 777 came down in one of the most remote places on Earth—an implicit admission that everyone on board had died.

Recovery of wreckage could unlock clues about why and how the plane had diverted so far off course in one of aviation's most puzzling mysteries. Theories range from a hijacking to sabotage or a possible suicide by one of the pilots, but investigators have not ruled out technical problems.

Australia, China and France have all released satellite images over the past week showing possible debris in the same general area as the latest sighting, but no confirmed wreckage has been located.

Passenger relatives distraught

An Australian navy ship returned to the area after being driven away by gale force winds and 20-meter (66 ft) waves on Tuesday, while a Chinese icebreaker and three Chinese navy vessels were now in the search zone.

Two Chinese ships were looking for a two-meter floating object spotted earlier in the day by an aircraft, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States has sent an undersea Navy drone and a high-tech black box detector which will be fitted to an Australian Defense vessel due in Perth in the coming days.

The so-called black boxes—the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder—record what happens during flight, but time is running out to pick up locator beacons that stop about a month after a crash due to limited battery life.

Malaysia said on Tuesday that the US "Towed Pinger Locator" would not arrive in the search area until April 5, which would give it only a few days to find the black box before the beacon battery would be expected to run out.

The prolonged and so far fruitless search and investigation have taken a toll, with dozens of distraught relatives of Chinese passengers clashing with police in Beijing on Tuesday, accusing Malaysia of "delays and deception."

Malaysia's confused initial response to the plane's disappearance and a perception of poor communications have enraged many relatives of the more than 150 Chinese passengers and have strained ties between Beijing and Kuala Lumpur.

Chinese special envoy, Zhang Yesui, met Malaysia's Najib on Wednesday and called for "unremitting efforts" to find the plane, Xinhua said.

Multinational investigation

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off and investigators believe someone on the flight may have shut off the plane's communications systems.

Partial military radar tracking showed it turning west and re-crossing the Malay Peninsula, apparently under the control of a skilled pilot.

The air crash investigation is shaping up as one of the most costly and difficult ever. Normally, an official investigation can only begin once a crash site has been identified. That would give Malaysia power to coordinate and sift evidence.

A government source told Reuters that Malaysia would lead the investigation, but hoped other countries, especially Australia, would play a major role. —Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Disney reaches for the skies with 'Planes'

LOS ANGELES -- As a lifelong aviation enthusiast and qualified pilot, filmmaker Klay Hall was the logical choice when Disney was seeking a director for its latest animated offering, "Planes."

A spin-off of Pixar's phenomenally successful "Cars" franchise, "Planes" was initially envisioned as a video project, released through the Disney Toon Studios division.

However, Disney took the rare step of giving the movie a theatrical release, confident the film, which opens in the United States this week, has potential to be a commercial success at the box office.  



The sky-high hopes for the project are a testament to the work of Hall, a pilot who comes from a long line of aviators. Both Hall's father, a former US Navy pilot, and grandfather were fliers.

As a child growing up in California, Hall would accompany his father to a local airfield to watch planes taking off and landing, often sketching what he saw.

Decades later, Hall's affinity with aircraft meant the director was in his element as he got to work on "Planes."

While the project bears obvious similarities to "Cars," Disney's legendary animation chief John Lasseter -- who directed both "Cars" and "Cars 2" -- encouraged Hall to "create his own universe."

"John told me: 'Cars is established, we've got that whole world. That's all good. Learn from that world, learn what we did over there as far as personality and animation and then forget about it ... I want you now to go out and create a whole new world, a whole new universe,'" Hall told AFP in a recent interview.

"The aesthetics are the same. We have eyes and the characters talk, and it's a charming design of a vehicle. But that's where the similarities stop," the director added.

"Planes" follows the adventures of a feisty crop-dusting plane called Dusty who dreams of competing in a prestigious round-the-world race.

"I always loved the underdog stories, the little guy, the weak guy able to rise above. I think it's a classic story, it's universal," Hall said.

"I also like the idea that he's built one way but deep down he feels he can do more."

Hall paid particular attention to the mechanics of his characters' flying sequences.

"One of the hardest things is to make airplanes fly and make their flight believable," he said. "It took us at least six months to crack that code. We had aviation experts in, flight experts and consultants."

The other main challenge was deciding how to "humanize" the planes at the center of the action.

"A car is on the ground. Everyone knows how a car rolls and works -- they have a big windshield for the eyes, a big grill area for the mouth," he said.

"We have wings, that are constantly in the way, we have little windshields, the mouth is on the bottom. Then we have the propellers, always in the way of the camera. Tons of challenges," he added.

The last time Disney turned a plane into a cartoon character was way back in 1942, when the animated short "Pedro" was released in conjunction with "Saludos Amigos."

"That plane sort of bent and picked things up with its wings, it was really cartoony, charming in its own right," Hall said. "But we would never do anything like that. I don't think the audience would see them as real airplanes."

While perfecting the look of the aircraft in "Planes" was a lengthy process, it was second nature to Hall, who joined Disney as an animator when the studio's fabled founding fathers -- the so-called "Nine Old Men" -- were still around.

"Sometimes I would go back with a drawing and ask them 'What do you think about this?'" Hall recalled. "And they would ask 'How many times have you drawn this? Three or four times. Do it another 20 times and then come back.'"

"It was all about due diligence and put your very best foot forward before you show anything that represents yourself. Go for the gold, always." - Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com