http://atwonline.com/
European Parliament urges measures to boost EU aviation sector (1) European Union (EU) lawmakers have called for a series of measures to improve the position of the EU air transport economy. The European Parliament in Brussels passed a resolution— 428-149 (with 53 abstentions)—calling for a level playing field between airlines, while upholding high safety and social standards. The motion is intended to feed into the forthcoming “Future Aviation Package” of measures to improve the sector due to be issued by the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. Parliamentarians said that “comprehensive aviation agreements with the EU’s major trading partners must be negotiated,” and expressed concern at the loss of competitiveness of EU airlines and airports “vis-à-vis subsidized third-country carriers and airports.” To be effective, any such agreements must include a safeguard clause that defines an offense and the legal consequences of its violation, parliamentarians said. They also wanted the Commission to revise existing rules in order to tackle more effectively market-distorting unfair practices such as subsidies and state aid to airlines from non-EU countries.
http://atwonline.com/
(2) The resolution also urged rapid adoption by member states of the Single European Sky, to remove the expense and complexity of the current fragmented management of EU airspace. It also urged the Commission to clarify passenger rights rules. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) welcomed the resolution as “a step in the right direction,” CEO Athar Husain Khan said. It applauded the intention to tackle unfair competition and the need to reform the burdensome regulatory framework in Europe. However, AEA also said that other measures to improve airline competitiveness were required, such as regulation of airport charges; it also had reservations regarding proposals that the European Aviation Safety Agency’s remit should be expanded beyond that of safety. IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler said European airlines are struggling because of “unreasonable taxes, high costs for inefficient infrastructure and regulations unfit for purpose.” The Future Aviation Package must tackle those points, he said.
http://www.businessinsider.com/
Egypt has detained 2 airport employees in connection with the Russian jet crash
(1) CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities have detained two employees of Sharm al-Sheikh airport for questioning in connection with the downing of a Russian jet on Oct. 31 that killed all 224 people on board, two security officials and an airport employee said on Tuesday "Seventeen people are being held, two of them are suspected of helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane at Sharm alSheikh airport," said one of the security officials who both declined to be named. One of the security officials said CCTV footage showed a baggage handler carrying a suitcase from an airport building to another man, who was loading luggage onto the doomed airliner from beneath the plane on the runway. An employee at the airport media department, who also preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed two members of the ground crew had been detained for questioning on Monday night. The interior and civil aviation ministries' media departments denied in a statement that there had been any arrests. Russia's FSB security service said on Tuesday it was certain a bomb had brought down the plane, joining Britain and the United States in reaching that conclusion.
http://www.businessinsider.com/
(2) Egypt has not yet confirmed that a bomb was responsible, saying it wants to wait until all investigations are complete. It was not immediately clear what role the employees had at the airport, which is Egypt's third-busiest, handling a vast number of charter and budget flights for tourists seeking sea and sun in the southern Sinai peninsula. Separately, other sources at the airport said security forces were searching for two employees who are suspected of leaving a baggage-scanning machine unattended for a period of time while passengers were boarding the doomed Russian plane. CCTV footage was being examined to confirm what happened. The sources said investigators had questioned all the airport staff involved with handling the Russian airplane, its passengers and bags after the crash. No arrests had been made in the search for the two employees who were believed to have stepped away from the baggage-scanning machine. Since the disaster, many flights to and from Sharm al-Sheikh have been suspended, raising concerns that Egypt's tourism industry, worth about $7 billion a year and still a pillar of the economy despite having fallen sharply in recent years, will be further ravaged. Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's FSB, said the conclusion of Russian investigators was that a homemade bomb containing around 1 kg (2 lbs) of TNT had detonated during the flight, causing the plane to break up in mid-air. "We can unequivocally say it was a terrorist act," he said. Egyptian ministers were meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh on Tuesday, with a news conference expected later in the day.
http://www.ibtimes.com/
ISIS Planning Major Cyberattacks Against Airlines, Hospitals And Nuclear Power Plants (1) The U.K. government is worried that Islamic State hackers will target the country's critical national infrastructure, including hospitals, airlines and even nuclear power stations, and it will announce on Tuesday an investment in cyber security of £1.9 billion over the next five years to combat their efforts. The world is still coming to terms with the fallout from the unprecedented attack by the extremist group -- known also as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh -- on Friday which has left at least 129 people dead and dozens more fighting for their lives in Paris. In a widely distributed speech to be delivered Tuesday at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) -- the UK’s equivalent to the NSA -- in Cheltenham, Chancellor George Osborne will say the potential impact of a cyberattack by ISIS “could be measured not just in terms of economic damage but of lives lost.” ISIS has used the Internet, and social media in particular, as a highly effective way of spreading propaganda but to date its hacking efforts have been ineffectual and unsophisticated. While ISIS likes to proclaim that its Cyber Caliphate -- and other similar pro-ISIS hacking groups -- are waging cyberwar on the west, the truth is that, to date, it has had very limited success, something Osborne will recognize in his speech. “They do not yet have that capability. But we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it.” .
http://www.ibtimes.com/ (2) Threats to the critical national infrastructure of countries -- oil and gas pipelines, electricity grids, power stations, hospitals, airports and more -- that are increasingly being run by computers are on the rise, with most attacks carried out by well-funded and highly sophisticated nation state hacking outfits -- something ISIS aspires to become. “ISIS’s murderous brutality has a strong digital element. At a time when so many others are using the Internet to enhance freedom and give expression to liberal values and creativity, they are using it for evil," Osborne will say. "Let’s be clear. ISIS are already using the Internet for hideous propaganda purposes; for radicalization, for operational planning too. They have not been able to use it to kill people yet by attacking our infrastructure through cyber attack.” In the wake of the Paris atrocities, the U.K. has moved swiftly to reinforce its national security. On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the creation of 1,900 additional positions in the UK’s intelligence organizations (MI5, MI6 and GCHQ), admitting the country had stopped seven terror attacks in the last six month, with the most recent attack foiled in the last two weeks. Cameron also announced £2 billion in additional funding for the SAS and special forces as the country looks to bolster itself against expected increase in threats from ISIS and other terror groups as the country’s terror threat level remains at severe -- a position it has been at for more than a year. Cameron compared the threat from ISIS to that posed to the U.K. in the last century by Hitler and the Nazis in a speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London on Monday night, recalling the resolve of the U.K. in its defiance of Hitler. "It is that same resolve that will defeat this terrorism and ensure the values we believe in -- and the values we defend -- will again prevail," he said according to the Daily Mail.
ادارة العالقات العامة -الشركة القابضة لمصر للطيران