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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Support from a commercial shipping line has helped Korean Air Lines climb into position as the secon</div>

Support from a commercial shipping line has helped Korean Air Lines climb into position as the secon

<div class="phx-topic">Support from a commercial shipping line has helped Korean Air Lines climb into position as the second-largest Asian air cargo carrier on the Pacific.In the last 18 years, KAL has risen to that status in large part because of its role as a major subsidiary of South Korea's Hanjin Group, an air-land- sea transportation giant with interests in airlines, containerships, trucking, banking, insurance, securities, construction and travel companies.''Hanjin guarantees loans to the airline at 1 percent to 2 percent above prime," said S.H. Rhee, general manager of cargo sales and marketing, during an interview in the airline's Seoul headquarters. "Being a subsidiary of Hanjin also means that we concentrate strongly on cargo."The connection also will result in new sea-air services involving Hanjin Container Lines and KAL this summer, he said.In 1986, low fuel prices and interest rates, along with a declining U.S. currency helped KAL show a $14 million (12.1 billion won) profit.Still, the carrier was hurt by a slackening of Middle East traffic and the rising yen, which increased some financing and operating costs, according to Mr. Rhee.Cargo produced 34.5 percent of the carrier's operating revenue. Worldwide, cargo weight increased 15 percent to 290,000 tons. Systemwide cargo load factors averaged 65.8 percent.KAL's U.S. cargo market grew 30 percent in 1986, Mr. Rhee said.''The U.S. market accounts for 60 percent of Korean's total cargo revenue," he said. "We have 60 percent of the South Korea-U.S. market but only 8 percent of the U.S.-South Korea market."Mr. Rhee said KAL can't make money on its westbound services from the United States.''Our load factors are over 85 percent going over and 40 percent coming back," he said.KAL operates 35 weekly flights from the United States to the Orient, with daily non-stop 747 service from New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu. It flies 13 747 freighters weekly to the Far East, seven from Los Angeles and sixfrom New York. In addition, one-third of its U.S.-South Korea air shipments move on passenger flights.To help KAL compete more effectively with U.S. airlines, Mr. Rhee said the airline believes additional U.S. destinations are needed. Negotiations thus far have been difficult.Talks on a new air services agreement between the United States and South Korea broke off last September when the United States refused to grant South Korea's request for landing rights in Chicago; Oakland, Calif.; and Anchorage, Alaska.U.S. negotiators said South Korea had failed to complete a cargo terminal at Kimpo Airport promised to Flying Tiger Line and Northwest Airlines.''I hope the problems can be solved," said Chung Sam Ko, KAL director and vice president, during an interview at the carrier's Seoul headquarters.Mr. Chung noted that the terminal was completed in January and said he hopes issues regarding computer reservations system listings and self-handling of less-than-containerload cargo could be resolved quickly so talks could resume.In April, KAL began flying twice-weekly public charters from Seoul to Chicago via San Francisco.''Tigers and Northwest want Korean to take any airport other than Chicago," said Mr. Rhee.''But for us New York is No. 1 and Chicago is No. 2," he said. "If we get rights, we will fly a 747 freighter from San Francisco to Chicago to serve (freight) customers at their two largest destinations."''Now we must truck freight between Chicago and New York City," he said. "Because of deregulation there are no domestic U.S. freighters and no one to interline with."KAL also is concerned with the country's need to redirect its exports to avoid protectionism in the United States.</div>

Air Cargo

SHIPPING LINE SUPPORT BOOSTS KAL'S RANKING

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">If there were an invasion of Earth from some distant warlike planet, all the diverse peoples would i</div>

If there were an invasion of Earth from some distant warlike planet, all the diverse peoples would i

<div class="phx-topic">If there were an invasion of Earth from some distant warlike planet, all the diverse peoples would instantly bury their racial, religious and political differences and gather in a single global alliance for human defense.Common fear is a superb bonding agent. And Lufthansa's North American cargo chief, Klaus Zimmermann, makes a similar point as he suggests that shared concern about the immediate future in international air freight may bring the airlines and the forwarding agents closer to each other than they have ever been.Each is eying the expanding international activities of the vertically integrated and express operators, weighing the potential impact as they - as is anticipated by many industry sources - gradually encroach on the field of heavyweight shipments.It is known that the International Air Transport Association is considering a revision of its traditional relationship with its cargo agents, taking into account new competitive realities hastened by the advent of the United States' hub-oriented door-to-door services.Europe's forwarders are proposing their own version of what form airline- agent cooperation should take, meanwhile uttering warning sounds about the integrated carriers and their spreading web.But while all the logical elements for closer cooperation exist, Mr. Zimmermann says, he won ders about the dichotomous instincts of many forwarders who, for the offer of a more tempting rate, will divert their traffic to the very entities they claim to fear."It's like this," the West German airline's veteran cargo executive continues: "The agents are saying to them, 'I'm not your friend, but if I can make money from you, I can live with you for a while.' I call it shortsighted."In the broader picture he can see ultimate airline-forwarder relationships, but they will be different - perhaps radically different - from what the industry has been accustomed to work with.He observes that in Europe the airline cargo and freight forwarding communities appear to be more acutely alive to the altered competitive environment than their U.S. counterparts.On organizational levels they are analyzing the situation and planning possible methods of response. But he is not aware of similar activity in the United States. Attempting to puzzle things out, Mr. Zimmermann remarks that ''business is good, so they are sweeping their problems under the carpet for the time being."The traditional carriers are benefiting from the improved U.S. export market, but the same cannot be said about pricing. Lufthansa's North Atlantic freight volume, which in 1985 and 1986 had shown respective imbalances of 61 percent/39 percent and 55 percent/45 percent weighted toward U.S. imports has, in the first four months of 1987, tilted toward U.S. exports to the tune of a 51 percent/49 percent reading.This turnaround was paced by a 35 percent leap in export tonnage over last year's comparable period. Demand is "a little stronger" in the West Coast market than in other parts of the country. West Germany's flag carrier reportedly maintains its status as the world's largest carrier of air freight, a lead it enjoys in the North Atlantic market as well.Mr. Zimmermann is meticulous in expressing his admiration for the dramatic development of the courier and door-to-door small-package services."If they stick to their market, fine; nobody will be hurt," he states. ''But if they go one step further, if they move into our traditional business, that's when the battle will start."He disagrees with those who forecast European versions of U.S. integrated carriers, calling attention to the fact that these operators originally were beneficiaries of a vast domestic market on which it was possible to build power and wealth and use as a springboard to international expansion. The equivalent does not exist in Europe, and this inhibits development of similar enterprise.At the moment, the general situation is seen as a still amorphous one, with its various entities, large and small, jockeying for position or - to use a fashionable buzzword - seeking niches."The tracks in the tunnel are not running straight, therefore you can't see the end of the tunnel," Mr. Zimmermann says, characteristically falling back on metaphor.Reverting to airline-forwarder relations, he expresses regret that one of the spinoffs of deregulation has been a loosening of ties between IATA and its cargo agents. While he ardently supports the philosophical tenets of free enterprise and free trade, he balks at acceptance of liberalization as a true panacea for the industry.In an industry as widespread and complex as air transportation, "we need a framework for behavior in business practices, with a regulation or two to help us along."Asked whether he agrees with predictions that the major express/courier operators, which recently banded together in a representative international organization, may eventually borrow a leaf from IATA and offer agency appointments as a stepping stone to air freight, Mr. Zimmermann's response is that if it ever came to that it would be a meaningless exercise anyhow."What's the good of an agency appointment if the agent is going to accept the lowest rate regardless of who offers it?" he asks. "Loyalty is past history. The way the bird will sing depends on who is feeding it."At the moment it is a dilemma, but he believes that the more cargo- conscious airlines will of necessity draw together and develop a modus operandi of realistic involvement with the intermediary.The cargo executive doesn't attempt to forecast what form this will take, but it is possible to infer from earlier remarks that mutuality in professional standards and service concept will be important considerations in establishing stronger links.In his view, the carriers do a better job operating aircraft, and the forwarding agents do a better job gathering and delivering the goods - but the key question that remains is how to arrive at a reasonable balance in a valuable relationship that has been battered by striking changes that in turn have given rise to unprecedented challenges in the international marketplace.</div>

AIRLINE-AGENT RELATIONS CHANGING - BUT HOW?

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An investor group led by Coniston Partners said it had acquired a 13 percent stake in Allegis Corp.,</div>

An investor group led by Coniston Partners said it had acquired a 13 percent stake in Allegis Corp.,

<div class="phx-topic">An investor group led by Coniston Partners said it had acquired a 13 percent stake in Allegis Corp., and is proposing to take control of the Allegis board of directors so it can sell all or part of the travel conglomerate.The group Tuesday also said it had filed a lawsuit to challenge the sale of $700 million in notes to Boeing Co. by Allegis' United Airlines unit, under which Boeing could take control of 16 percent of Allegis' common stock.Allegis shares rose $2.62 1/2 to $73.87 1/2 in active New York Stock Exchange trading following the group's announcement.Chicago-based Allegis, the parent of United Airlines, Hertz Corp., Westin Hotels &amp; Resorts and Hilton International Co., has been the topic of takeover rumors and speculation for some time.Allegis recently rejected a $4.5 billion bid by United's pilots union to acquire the airline.United May 12 placed a $2.1 billion aircraft order with Boeing, under which Boeing provided $700 million in financing in the form of notes convertible to Allegis common stock. The deal was widely seen as an anti- takeover move, because if converted the notes would make Boeing a major shareholder while increasing the number of shares a suitor would have to acquire.The Coniston group indicated in a filing with the Securities and ExchangeCommission that it had acquired more than 7.7 million shares of the travel and hotel company for a total investment of about $520 million.Allegis has about 55.7 million common shares outstanding.The group indicated it was soliciting stockholder consents in an effort to elect its nominees to the Allegis board. If successful, the group's nominees intended to implement a program to either sell one or more of Allegis' principal businesses and restructure the company, or to sell the company as a whole.Matthew Gonring, a spokesman for Allegis in Chicago, said he had not had a chance to review the filing and could not immediately comment on it.The investor group indicated that United, Hertz and the Westin and Hilton international operations would be stronger and more valuable as separate entities."The group believes that, as an independent entity, each could concentrate on providing better service to customers, fully exploit its growth potential and improve relations with its employees," the group stated.The lawsuit filed to challenge the sale of the notes to Boeing alleged that the sale was intended to protect Allegis' management and ensure its ability to defeat any shareholder attempts to change the composition of the board or "the direction of the company."The complaint stated that the anti-takeover protection afforded by the note sale "ceded to its principal supplier virtual veto power for five years over fundamental corporate decisions and has conferred on Boeing an extraordinary economic benefit at the dilutive expense of the company's stockholders."The investor group stated it had executed and delivered to Allegis a stockholders consent to remove 13 of the company's 16 incumbent directors, to reduce the size of the board to nine members and to elect six of its own nominees to the board.</div>

INVESTOR GROUP PLANS TO TAKE OVER ALLEGIS

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">"Australia is in the position of being in a David and Goliath fight against one of the world's large</div>

"Australia is in the position of being in a David and Goliath fight against one of the world's large

<div class="phx-topic">"Australia is in the position of being in a David and Goliath fight against one of the world's largest airlines and most powerful economies, trying to get a fair and sensible deal."That's how Australian Transport Minister Peter Morris described his country's ongoing fight with Continental Airlines and U.S. aviation authorities.He was commenting on the breakdown in negotiations to draft a new aviation agreement between the two countries and the request by Continental to use additional capacity on the trans-Pacific route.Talks to renegotiate the existing 40-year-old agreement have been proceeding on-and-off for the past 18 months.The Continental request became part of the latest round of talks in Canberra. Neither side now expects an early resolution.Mr. Morris said Australia was prepared to hold further talks. But he insisted that "what we want on behalf of Australia is some fair, sensible set of arrangements with some safety-valve provision to stop Australia's air services being swamped."Australia has long maintained that the existing agreement does not reflect the modern aviation environment and that it is used to the disadvantage of Australia's international airline, Qantas.Continental earlier this year sought to replace its DC-10 aircraft with bigger Boeing 747 jumbos. This would have increased the airline's capacity on the route between Australia and the United States by 60 percent.Australian aviation officials maintain that there is already too much capacity on the route.They claim that the two U.S. carriers - Continental and United - are nothelping travel and tourism between Australia and the United States as much as they are promoting services between the two countries.They contend that Continental and United are not interested in Australia's tourism industry, but instead want extra capacity to carry Australians and Americans to New Zealand, Fiji, Honolulu and Tahiti.According to figures released here, some 52 percent of seats on Qantas flights are filled by passengers traveling between Australia and the United States. But this type of passenger fills only 36 percent of seats on the aircraft of U.S. carriers.The figures show that Qantas carries more than twice as many U.S. tourists to Australia as the two U.S. airlines combined.Australian officials have made it clear that they are not prepared to agree to additional capacity to enable the U.S. airlines to subsidize their U.S.-Australia trade by carrying extra passengers to intermediate destinations.A statement issued by the United States Information Service here claimed Australia had renounced an understanding that carriers from both countries could increase services to meet increased demand.It stated that Australia had introduced a "destablizing new element of uncertainty into the tourism equation."</div>

AUSTRALIA FIGHTING FOR AVIATION PACT

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Dole Warns '88 Budget Would Hurt Air ServiceTransportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole is warni</div>

Dole Warns '88 Budget Would Hurt Air ServiceTransportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole is warni

<div class="phx-topic">Dole Warns '88 BudgetWould Hurt Air ServiceTransportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole is warning that a 1988 budget about to clear Congress would seriously jeopardize attempts to modernize the nation's air traffic control system.The Senate and House have approved different versions of a $1 trillion fiscal 1988 budget that would keep Federal Aviation Administration spending at about the current level of $2.9 billion. The Reagan Administration has asked for $3.25 billion.Those limits would prohibit the FAA from hiring an expected 225 additional air traffic controllers next year despite increases in air traffic, Mrs. Dole said. She added the limits would force agency travel restrictions and a possible hiring freeze as early as July 1 and imperil plans to hire new inspectors and security personnel.FAA Administrator Donald Engen issued a similar warning earlier this month and predicted a serious disruption of air commerce if the additional funds for the FAA are not provided.Boeing Co. OpensSpare Parts CenterSEATTLE - The Boeing Co. opened a new spares distribution center at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta.The center, with an inventory of about 25,000 parts will serve carriers throughout the eastern United States, eastern Canada and South America, Boeing said.The company added it is the first Boeing spare parts center in the United States outside Seattle. Eventually, 50 air carriers will be served and 100,000 shipments will be made annually from the center, Boeing said.By the end of 1987, spare parts centers will be in full operation at Auburn, Wash., Atlanta, Singapore and Brussels, Boeing Co. said.Ex-Airborne PresidentJohn McPherson DiesBURLINGAME, Calif. - John D. McPherson, former president and chief executive officer of Airborne Freight Co., died Saturday night following a brief illness. He was 64.With $3,000 in life savings, Mr. McPherson started Airborne Freight in 1947 in a quonset hut at San Francisco International Airport and headed the firm for 22 years. Until late last year he remained an outside director and largest single shareholder of Airborne.Mr. McPherson was also president and chief executive officer of Star World Co. of LaGrange, Ky. Star World was formed last year to license Arabian horses for breeding purposes, semi-annual shows and auctions in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Louisville, Ky. He had been involved with Arabian horses since 1981 at his 700-acre ranch outside Petaluma, Calif.Columbia Airport Wins$300,000 in DamagesCOLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia Metropolitan Airport was awarded $300,000 in damages from a chemical company and its holding company.In the 1950s and 1960s, the Carolina Chemical Co., with permission of the airport at the time, dumped supposedly empty papers and cartons on airport property. However, the bags contained residue of 100 percent DDT, lindane and toxaphane, potentially dangerous compounds.Approximately 20 acres of fringe airport property were contaminated along with underlying ground water. The airport cleaned up the site two years ago and sued the company under the Federal Comprehensive Enforcement Response Compensation and Liability Act.Jetliner Hits BuildingWhile on the GroundLOS ANGELES - A China Airlines Boeing 747 jetliner scheduled to take off for Taiwan scraped a wing against a building and never got off the ground, a Los Angeles International Airport official said.A Pan Am tractor was towing the plane from its gate Monday afternoon when its left wing scraped a terminal building, Richard Davison, superintendent of airport operations, said Tuesday.</div>

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The world of LTL is slow to embrace change. Business anachronisms permeate current supply chain processes. These vestiges of the way things used to work define the LTL freight transportation procurement process of many modern shippers.David Knuth, logistics specialist at IEWC, a global supplier of cable and wire based in Wisconsin, is happy to have modernized the RFP process, automating the entire LTL bidding procedure with Bid$ense, SMC³’s automated truckload and LTL freight transportation sourcing solution. But when prompted, he can still recall what once was.In his previous job, a large part of his duties were consumed by creating an intermodal bid package for carriers. In a spreadsheet, Knuth detailed the company’s volumes lane by lane, taking care to delete any errant keystrokes or misleading data. He would then email out the information to each carrier, taking time to respond to detailed technical questions about the spreadsheet data. Finally, he had to compile all the results, create an algorithm that would compare the carriers on each lane, and award the business.“It was a huge undertaking. It took about four months to do,” Knuth said of the old process. “It was almost a full-time job for that part of the year, every year.”In his new job at IEWC, he sat down with Bid$ense on day one and was amazed at the capabilities. Knuth had never before used a bid tool. SMC³’s latest versions of Bid$ense automate the process even further, taking truckload and LTL RFPs entirely online. The tool draws on RFP best-practices protocols to streamline the bidding communication process, enabling bidding carriers to respond accurately and promptly to shipper requests. The solution also does all the distribution work automatically, electronically submitting shipper bid data to carriers based on their actual service capabilities and performance records. Carriers are alerted with timely prompts for RFP deliverables, so shippers aren’t waiting by the phone for responses.Another benefit of automating the process is the data-cleansing assistance. When Knuth sent spreadsheets to carriers, data errors might cloud the bidding process; he might have to resend data or simply accept a price that did not truly reflect the costs of doing business. Data cleansing is incredibly beneficial, he said.The spreadsheet technique also made bidding analysis an onerous task. Since Bid$ense automates and streamlines the entire RFP process, intensive examination is now simple. SMC³ knows that each bid has more than one best outcome. With uniform responses from each carrier, shippers can quickly rank results and create an unlimited quantity of what-if scenarios to make the optimal procurement decision.Jesse Burnett of Central Garden &amp; Pet experiences many of the same benefits. Founded in 1980, Central Garden &amp; Pet has spent the last three decades growing from a small garden supply company to a provider of a range of products from dog chews and bird seed to soil supplements and natural insecticides. For much of its life, the company shipped these disparate goods via LTL and truckload carriers to retailers throughout the country, relying on each business unit to negotiate directly with their freight transportation providers. This arrangement worked fairly well for a small company, but as Central Garden &amp; Pet expanded, leadership decided to consolidate decision making.Burnett helped centralize the transportation decision making in 2015 with SMC³’s Bid$ense. Before Bid$ense, every business unit operated independently as far as negotiating with carriers.“There were a lot of different things just floating around,” he said. “We didn’t have master agreements in place; no national pricing at all. The pricing from carriers was just all over the place, depending on where you were.”The transformations he saw with Bid$ense were immediate. Burnett has been using the tool about every other year since its implementation at the company. Central Garden and Pet’s $19.6 million 2019 LTL bid saved the company just more than 9 percent when compared to its historical average. For Burnett, though, bid automation extends far beyond savings.“We knew that we weren’t getting the best pricing offer from our carriers just because nothing was centralized,” he continued. “We knew that if we combined everything from all these business units and paired it with one corporate offering, then it would drive some cost benefit with it.”When the company initially decided to centralize bid procurement, executives researched a number of different methodologies and technologies. In the end, though, Burnett found that Bid$ense was both widespread and well known, and that his carrier partners already knew how to use the application. Burnett also highlighted the data-cleansing process as a major benefit, saying the rigorous process ensures that carriers always return the best price.“It definitely has helped drive savings,” he said. “Any time you go out there and you drive that competitiveness with the carriers and they know they’re in a bid environment, it seems to sharpen their pencils.”Transportation procurement is an integral part of the modern supply chain. With Bid$ense, shippers can develop a strategic implementation plan that saves them time and money, but also helps them create strong relationships with their carrier partners. These carriers appreciate the solution’s data-cleansing process; when carriers receive a complete shipment history and future volume forecast, they don’t have to guess on pricing. Carriers that receive more data from shippers get a complete picture of that shipper’s freight, allowing them to accurately plan instead of simply preparing for the worst-case scenario. Clean data presented through an automated system can lead to both bigger shipment savings and a lasting partnership between carrier and customer.Whether customers are looking to streamline over-the-road transportation bidding by automating the RFP process or create an entirely new, centralized sourcing process, Bid$ense has the analytical horsepower to get the job done.SMC³ 2020 Customer Case Study

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

If there’s one immutable truth in the world of logistics, it’s this: LTL is an inherently complex form of transportation. Tariffs, rates, DIM weights, transit times — it’s enough to confuse even seasoned logistics professionals. The solution to this knowledge gap has historically been on-the-job training or university supply chain education, but for a variety of reasons there is now a pressing need for third-party, remote LTL training that prepares logistics workers for transportation success. Global Scope Can Overlook Local Intricacies In the past, professionals looking to move into a supply chain career learned about the basics of supply chain from universities. However, many of these college supply chain programs are now global in scope, focusing on worldwide supply chain management instead of the intricacies of specialized domestic transportation. And even these programs, which used to be widespread, are becoming less common. LTL is not an industry of broad-brush strokes; supply chain professionals really need a pointillistic understanding of the logistics of LTL in order to excel in the industry. Accelerating Need for Dedicated LTL Education This lack of specified training put the onus on employers to prepare new hires with the LTL knowledge needed to do their jobs. Dedicated LTL study is a necessity, not a luxury. At the same time, changes in LTL and the broader supply chain world are accelerating. The reliance on e-commerce has ballooned since the start of the pandemic, and last-mile LTL shipments and related e-commerce strains on the supply chain won’t diminish once social distancing abates. That genie isn’t going back into the bottle. So supply chain employers need logistics workers that are fully versed in all aspects of the industry, ready to solve unique shipping and delivery problems based on their extensive supply chain knowledge But why care about LTL? It’s been reported that some shippers in today’s world are no longer concerned with what mode is used to ship their goods. A Multimodal Approach Ensures On-Time Delivery This mode agnosticism means supply chain stakeholders have to be well versed in all modes of transportation. As unforeseen weather events and other disruptions, such as protests, become more common, savvy logistics employees will need to be armed with familiarity of all modes, not just the most popular, to ensure that freight is delivered on time, without damage, and in the most financially expedient way possible. Offerings like SMC³’s LTL online education courses cover a wide range of topics from LTL basics and operations to more advanced concepts like pricing analytics and transportation law. The company also has plans to continually refresh content, adding new expert presenters and taking the feedback of students to make the courses even better as time goes on. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://logisticstrainingcenter.com/smc3-courses/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">SMC³’s LTL Online Education program</a>&nbsp;and view the 2021 hybrid schedule, featuring live industry experts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smc3.com/onlinelearning2021/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">here.</a>

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Quarterly Intelligence

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Half the flights by the French domestic airline Air Inter were expected to be grounded by a pilots' </div>

Half the flights by the French domestic airline Air Inter were expected to be grounded by a pilots'

<div class="phx-topic">Half the flights by the French domestic airline Air Inter were expected to be grounded by a pilots' strike today and Thursday, the airline said Tuesday.The schedules of Air Inter and Air France are already experiencing occasional disruptions by a job action by air traffic controllers, now in its sixth week. The controllers strike for two hours each morning between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.Air France said it maintained a normal schedule Tuesday and expected no changes today.The pilots are striking to press their demand that a flight engineer join two pilots in the cockpit of the future Airbus A 320s. The company says the aircraft are equipped for only a pilot and a co-pilot.</div>

AVIATION STRIKE WIDENS IN FRANCE

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">There is to be an increase in fines imposed on airlines whose planes are used to take narcotics into</div>

There is to be an increase in fines imposed on airlines whose planes are used to take narcotics into

<div class="phx-topic">There is to be an increase in fines imposed on airlines whose planes are used to take narcotics into the United States, according to a U.S. government official.The official has also defended the U.S. Customs against charges that it was acting illegally and pressuring airlines whose flights are found to be carrying drugs to the United States.I think we are going to see more fines and we are going to see more airlines getting more involved," said Paul Russo, U.S. ambassador to Barbados and the eastern Caribbean. We cannot stop it if you have free transportation."Mr. Russo's comment follows claims by representatives of state-owned Air Jamaica that fines imposed on it by U.S. Customs were illegal.Noel Hylton, president of the airline, charged U.S. Customs of exerting undue pressure" on the company in the imposition of fines before the impounded aircraft can be released.Mr. Hylton's accusations follow the recent seizure by U.S. Customs of an Airbus A300 aircraft operated by Air Jamaica, after Customs agents found 129 pounds of marijuana among the baggage when the plane landed at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport after a flight from Jamaica. It was the fifth time the company's aircraft were being impounded after marijuana was found.In the majority of these cases the seizures have been patently illegal based on U.S. drug legislation," Mr. Hylton had charged.Mr. Russo said, however, that there was justification in the action of the U.S. Customs in imposing stiff fines on Air Jamaica when the company's planes landed in the United States with drugs."In my opinion, surely if an airline is helping to traffic narcotics goingfrom Jamaica to the United States, to Europe or anywhere else for that matter, I believe they should be fined," the diplomat said.</div>

US TO INCREASE FINES FOR AIRLINES CARRYING DRUGS

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A State Department official said the United States is philosophically committed to a deregulated env</div>

A State Department official said the United States is philosophically committed to a deregulated env

<div class="phx-topic">A State Department official said the United States is philosophically committed to a deregulated environment for international airline services.But this country will move in that direction only if U.S. carriers obtain opportunities abroad comparable to those afforded foreign carriers in the U.S. market, added Jeffrey N. Shane, the department's chief aviation negotiator.Our partners should not think that, merely because they have couched a proposal in the language of liberalization, the United States will instantly sign on the dotted lines, Mr. Shane said in an address at an industry conference in Montreal, Canada.Reciprocity is the name of the game. We cannot simply open the doors of the vast U.S. market without getting something comparable in return, he said.He said the United States was heartened by recent moves toward airline deregulation in Europe and Canada.He expressed concern over reports from Europe that U.S. trans-Atlantic services might be curtailed in conjunction with deregulation of the European market.It would be ironic if the long-awaited liberalization of intra-European air services were accompanied by a net reduction in trans-Atlantic opportunities. What we should be doing right now is examining the implications of EC liberalization for intercontinental air services, and searching for ways to expand, not contract, the operating flexibility of the world's airlines, Mr. Shane said.Addressing the recent open skies proposal of three Scandinavian countries, Mr. Shane said the relative size of the U.S. and Scandinavian markets make a purely bilateral open-skies regime difficult to achieve, but the northern tier of Europe, taken as a whole, may offer more promising solutions.</div>

OPEN US AIR MART SEEN DEPENDING ON RECIPROCITY

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Massachusetts Port Authority officials deny that a noise level study at suburban Hanscom Field is a </div>

Massachusetts Port Authority officials deny that a noise level study at suburban Hanscom Field is a

<div class="phx-topic">Massachusetts Port Authority officials deny that a noise level study at suburban Hanscom Field is a prelude to any diversion of traffic from Boston's overloaded Logan International Airport.Massport has announced plans to monitor noise from June 1 through Aug. 3 at the small general aviation and military airfield. The study will use temporary noise monitors installed at several locations around the airport to assess the impact of particular types of aircraft and operations.Residents of surrounding communities are being encouraged through newspaper ads to report noisy operations to a 24-hour number being monitored by Massport.Francesca de Van, a Mass- port assistant director of public affairs, said the study is in no way connected to a failed initiative in the early 1980s to encourage traffic at small satellite airports around Boston in order to reduce congestion at Logan.At the time, Hanscom was seen as a possible alternative for business travelers from the area's high-tech Route 128 companies. But the plan met stiff resistance from politically active suburban groups.Ms. de Van indicated that private attempts to stimulate commuter business at Hanscom have failed due to lack of interest.Commuters have not been successful at all at Hanscom. Practically every operation that has started has died in the span of months or weeks," said Ms. de Van.</div>

MASSPORT DENIES STUDY PRELUDE TO DIVERSION

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