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Aloha’s cargo pilots may walk off the job. Their union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) wants Aloha Airlines to reassign senior pilots to cargo flights, while the airline wants to use the current cadre of 25 or 30 cargo pilots. ALPA claims its contract with Aloha requires the airline to consider the entire 250-pilot pool.

This conflict may ground the Aloha’s cargo flights, which are still operating while the bankruptcy judge prepares to auction off the business. A walkout or contract dispute may delay or destroy the planned sale of Aloha’s cargo business. The Seattle-based parent of Superferry opponent Young Brothers is the only confirmed bidder, with a US$13 million offer. See this article in today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin for more details.

Check’s in the mail

Aloha Airlines flies the US mail flights to and from Maui and the big island of Hawaii. Aloha also delivers fresh bread and other perishable foods between the island, according to this Honolulu Advertiser article:

According to the latest available state statistics, in 2006 there was 47,000 tons of non-mail air cargo transported from Honolulu to the Neighbor Islands, and 22,000 tons from the Neighbor Islands to Honolulu.

Mail added another 16,500 tons to the Neighbor Islands and 2,200 tons to Honolulu.

State of shock

A long-term disruption in interisland shipping may trigger more layoffs at other companies, further weakening the state’s economy. As this article in the Star-Bulletin discusses, home prices have continued to drop on Oahu. Here’s a disturbing quote from today’s Advertiser article, and I hope it is not prophetic:

The economists doubt home prices will fall more than a few percentage points unless there’s a shock to the state economy that reverses job and income growth, creates a population exodus or boosts interest rates sharply.

Tomorrow, the Honolulu city council resumes its discussion of the rapid mass transit project. The city council has to make its decision: rail, bus or maglev. Bobbie Slater in the Hawaii Reporter has a good overview of what the meeting might be like.

Despite Todd Apo’s last-minute amendment, magnetic levitation may be eliminated. The German government canceled a major maglev train project in Munich last week, according to Wired. One of the lead contractors in the proposed project, ThyseenKrupp, may sell its maglev business unit to a Chinese company, according to Deutsche Welle. This Reuters article describes the controversy as German politicians and executives scurry to escape blame.

Nothing has been set in stone, of course. The location of the transit stations may shift for many reasons. This article in revealed that the UH-Weat Oahu train stop has been moved 1000 feet away from campus to accommodate existing roads and a planned housing development. Some Salt Lake residents are concerned with noise from the proposed train system. Councilman Romy Cachola managed to divert the system through his district, in exchange for his vote last year.

No Aloha

Mazie Hirono has already spoken to Jim Oberstar about Aloha Airlines. Dan Inouye may hold his own Senate hearing on Aloha. See today’s Advertiser for details.

The state cannot afford to build mass transit or highway systems on its own. Transportation is a public utility, much like the water, electric and telephone systems. As the state’s tax revenues dip, other companies like Hawaiian Telcom are struggling to preserve their revenues.

Federal money is the key

Jim Oberstar is chair of a powerful Congressional transportation committee, and he’s promised US$900M in Federal money for the Honolulu rapid mass transit project. He does like to use his power. It’s part of a long tradition of upper Midwestern congressmen like Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Jim Sensenbrenner and others.

Currying favor with Oberstar is smart lobbying. Without Federal funds, Honolulu can’t keep up with its traffic problem. The state cannot afford any sort of solution on its own.

I still prefer the big buses to trains. The lone dissenter on the technology panel, Panos Prevedouros, has an article in yesterday’s Hawaii Reporter about the panel’s abbreviated decision-making process.

The UH professor also notes that San Francisco’s BART system faces a US$11 billion bill to refurbish its trains and tracks. Honolulu would face a similar bill after 20 or 30 years of rail service, especially if the tracks start rusting like Aloha Stadium did.

Dksopedia’s article on Honolulu fixed rail has been updated recently, and it has a nice reference list and timeline.

Related articles

• 30 March 2008:Aloha Airlines shuts down
• 20 March 2008: Like a fifth wheel
• 21 February 2008: Delhi catches monorail fever: Is Honolulu next?
• 6 February 2008: Hawaii has highest car ownership costs in the USA
• 5 February 2008: HawTel replaces CEO with turnaround specialist
• 21 June 2007: Mayor: state could pay for airport mass transit line
• 19 June 2007: City council, planners still arguing over mass transit routes, modes

As bad as the Aloha Airlines passenger jet shutdown has been in Hawaii - see yesterday’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin for some details -  British Airways is facing a much larger problem with its new Terminal 5 in London’s Heathrow Airport. How bad is it?

The British Airways web site has a graphic on almost every page that says “We’re sorry”, and BA CEO Willie Walsh may be out of a job soon. Maybe BA executives shouldn’t have thrown that opening day party, as Jeff Nolan discussed here.

BA has called in FedEx to help deal with an estimated 28,000 bags because the entire bag handling system failed. Bags that were headed the the European continent have been diverted to Milan for sorting, according to this BBC article. See the BBC, Wired, Business Week and Bloomberg for more details.

Reliability is a key success factor

Air travelers want to get their baggage at their destination. BA has had baggage handling problems for years, according to an 21 August 2007 Wall Street Journal article.

This BBC article reveals that baggage handling personnel could not find parking spaces and were standing in line waiting for assignments as the bags started piling up. Workers struggled to use a scheduling system that should have assigned them to specific areas of the massive terminal, based upon flight activity and traffic patterns. A system that should have handled 12,000 bags per hour failed on its first morning because the staff didn’t know where to go in their new workplace.

The new £4.3 billion terminal, which was dedicated earlier this month and built specifically for BA, was supposed to help matters. Now thousands of travelers are marooned in Heathrow and neighboring hotels because the airline has canceled flights for the fifth consecutive day, according to another Bloomberg article. The BBC article said that 250 flights were canceled in the first 4 days alone.

Quite a shock

For those stranded in the new terminal, it’s a bit boring. BA does offer free WiFi in its Terminal 5 lounges, according to Jaunted. BoingBoing noted on 19 January 2008 that electrical outlets are hard to find in the new terminal. All in all, it’s worse than being fumigated in your seat.