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MacauHub- 2010-07-2010
Díli,Timor-Leste, 29 Jul – A companhia aérea Timor-Leste Airlines” (TLA) poderá iniciar a sua actividade no segundo semestre de 2011 com cinco aviões brasileiros "Embraer 190" e voos regionais de Díli para as principais cidades australianas e indonésias e para outras cidades da Ásia, nomeadamente Singapura e Manila.
Segundo Vasco Carrascalão da Silva, que juntamente com o luso moçambicano Mário Gonçalves, ambos radicados na Austrália, são os responsáveis pela TLA "o projecto aguarda apenas a aprovação do governo timorense".
“Temos negociações bastante adiantadas mas não posso neste momento revelar pormenores. A companhia só se pode concretizar com a participação do Estado timorense. E enquanto não houver uma aprovação formal, por parte do governo de Timor-Leste, não podemos adiantar mais sobre o projecto”, disse quarta-feira à Lusa - agência d enotícias de Portugal,Vasco Carrascalão.
Segundo explicou o empresário, a futura companhia timorense deverá ter capital misto, público e privado timorense, aberto à participação de investidores estrangeiros.
“Houve empresas de outros países convidadas, mas, em princípio, além de timorenses, só empresas portuguesas irão participar no capital”, adiantou.
"Foi convidada mais do que uma empresa portuguesa e uma delas está a trabalhar connosco no desenvolvimento do projecto, mas é possível que venham a participar mais empresas portuguesas”, adiantou.
“A ideia é que seja uma companhia de bandeira nacional “full service” e não uma “low cost”, disse Vasco Carrascalão.
A Lusa adianta que decorrem contactos em Lisboa com o presidente da EuroAtlantic Airways (EAA), Tomaz Metello, ligada ao grupo Pestana, para participar no projecto.
Vasco Carrascalão revelou que a TLA vai adquirir dois aparelhos pequenos, de fabrico australiano.
“Nós pretendemos relançar todas as pistas existentes no tempo em que Timor-Leste estava sob administração portuguesa e que são oito, incluindo Ataúro”, disse.
Vasco Carrascalão considerou ainda que o acordo aeronáutico assinado esta semana entre Timor-Leste e a Indonésia abre caminho para a criação da companhia aérea timorense.(macauhub)
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MacauHub- 2010-07-2010
Díli,Timor-Leste, 29 Jul – A companhia aérea Timor-Leste Airlines” (TLA) poderá iniciar a sua actividade no segundo semestre de 2011 com cinco aviões brasileiros "Embraer 190" e voos regionais de Díli para as principais cidades australianas e indonésias e para outras cidades da Ásia, nomeadamente Singapura e Manila.
Segundo Vasco Carrascalão da Silva, que juntamente com o luso moçambicano Mário Gonçalves, ambos radicados na Austrália, são os responsáveis pela TLA "o projecto aguarda apenas a aprovação do governo timorense".
“Temos negociações bastante adiantadas mas não posso neste momento revelar pormenores. A companhia só se pode concretizar com a participação do Estado timorense. E enquanto não houver uma aprovação formal, por parte do governo de Timor-Leste, não podemos adiantar mais sobre o projecto”, disse quarta-feira à Lusa - agência d enotícias de Portugal,Vasco Carrascalão.
Segundo explicou o empresário, a futura companhia timorense deverá ter capital misto, público e privado timorense, aberto à participação de investidores estrangeiros.
“Houve empresas de outros países convidadas, mas, em princípio, além de timorenses, só empresas portuguesas irão participar no capital”, adiantou.
"Foi convidada mais do que uma empresa portuguesa e uma delas está a trabalhar connosco no desenvolvimento do projecto, mas é possível que venham a participar mais empresas portuguesas”, adiantou.
“A ideia é que seja uma companhia de bandeira nacional “full service” e não uma “low cost”, disse Vasco Carrascalão.
A Lusa adianta que decorrem contactos em Lisboa com o presidente da EuroAtlantic Airways (EAA), Tomaz Metello, ligada ao grupo Pestana, para participar no projecto.
Vasco Carrascalão revelou que a TLA vai adquirir dois aparelhos pequenos, de fabrico australiano.
“Nós pretendemos relançar todas as pistas existentes no tempo em que Timor-Leste estava sob administração portuguesa e que são oito, incluindo Ataúro”, disse.
Vasco Carrascalão considerou ainda que o acordo aeronáutico assinado esta semana entre Timor-Leste e a Indonésia abre caminho para a criação da companhia aérea timorense.(macauhub)
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5 comentários:
Timor Leste nasceu á 8 anos, ficou independente como Nação Soberana de Direito Democratico. É um prazer para todos os investores que investem em Timor Leste para o desenvolvimento desta Nação. Em especial queria deixar umas mensagens aos Investores na area de Transportes aereas com a bandeira nacional. É um passo positivo para esta inciativa, mas o meu ponto de vista queria recomendar a este Governo de Facto para não fazer decisões precipitadas sem criar condições. Todos os Timorenses saibam que neste momento se encontra minimas condições na area de tranportes aereas. Para isso Governo precisa de fazer um plano integrado completo e investir na area de Infrastuturas antes de tomar decisão. Não só na area de Infrastruturas mas também o seu regime legal que é tão importante, para não deixar confusões no futuro. Precisa com muito cuidado e rigorosa antes de fazer uma decisão com genuino. Espero que toda a gente se compreendem e que se tenham paciencia para o bem do Futuro de Timor Leste. Abraos... Inacio F. Moreira. Deputado da Fretilin - Vice Presidente da Comissão das Infrastruturas. Abraços.
A Merry Tale of Air Nauru
by Captain John Laming
All ye sailors take warning before you set sail,
Way! Hey! Blow the man down!
If he's strong as an ox and big as a whale,
Think twice before you blow the man down.
From an old Pirate sea shanty.
-oOo-
The Republic of Nauru is a tiny once phosphate rich atoll - Jepessen chart co-ordinates S0032.7, E16655.1. When I was there in 1980, it was the home of Air Nauru, with its three Boeing 737-200s and two 727-100s. It takes just half an hour at easy speed to drive around the island, passing battered Landrovers cruising slowly in both directions, rap and heavy metal music blaring from a dozen amplifiers.
Powerful motor bikes take to the roads, their crouching owners oblivious to the presence of island graveyards with their dusty headstones marking the final resting place of so many of these alcohol fuelled young motor-cycle riders, and reflecting a national tragedy.
The sealed runway is 5700 feet long, and thirty-foot drops into the ocean at each end make a deadly stop-way. With strong west winds bringing shimmering mists of salt water spray from nearby big rollers, landings on Nauru are not for the inexperienced.
Today our crew is was waiting to fly to Hong Kong. The hand-written flight plan in my navigation bag shows refueling stops at Ponape, Guam, Saipan and Manila. There is a typhoon threatening Manila, but we will decide what to do about that after arrival at Guam. The noise of an approaching jet is heard and all eyes are turned to watch the incoming 737 as it appears on a close left base behind the phosphate pinnacles on Topside (the mining area).
A police motor-cycle rider stops traffic on the coast road that crosses just feet from the threshold of runway 12, and seconds later a well judged touch-down smack on the white 1000 ft markers sends up a blue puff of smoke from molten rubber, accompanied immediately by the shattering roar of full reverse thrust. Everyone cranes their necks to see if the 737 will pull up in time, then are visibly relieved to see it has stopped with feet to spare. Watching the Boeings take off and land is a national pastime on Nauru, there being little else to do for recreation.
After turning at full lock on the nose-wheel, the aircraft back-tracks towards the airport terminal - a scene repeated each day as Air Nauru Boeings pass through the hub which is Nauru Island. By any account the government of Nauru is not tourist friendly and visiting aircraft other than Air Nauru are regarded with some suspicion by the police, who double as Immigration. Elsewhere on the island, the locals are friendly and at your side in a flash to offer help if your car has broken down or you are hitch-hiking.
The public address system at the terminal announces that Air Nauru Flight 385 from Tarawa had landed. There is no mention of the aircraft being two hours late on schedule. Officialdom does not apologize on Nauru, and in any case, one hour late is considered an everyday event for this small Pacific operator, with even half a day late seldom raising eyebrows. As an aside and talking about eyebrows, these are used in many Pacific islands to signify a casual greeting or when talking to someone. While most Nauruans speak good English they choose words carefully, and sometimes acknowledge not by nodding, but by an upward twitch of bushy eyebrows. Now, I swear this is true as told to me by one of my colleagues, a captain with a keen sense of humour - often needed when flying with Air Nauru.
Seems he was in the cockpit of his 737 on the tarmac with a new first officer. The control tower on Nauru is situated close to the tarmac, and both pilot and tower operator can see each other. The first officer called ATC to obtain a radio check, but received no reply - so he called again. The captain waved at the tower operator who waved back - indicating he had received the transmission. Meanwhile the impatient first officer tried again to elicit a response from the controller. The captain smiled and pointing to the man in the tower said "He has acknowledged your radio call - can't you see he is raising his eyebrows?"
As people speculated the reason for the late arrival of the flight from Tarawa, the huge policeman on his equally huge Honda Goldwing, had by now left the road at the end of the runway, and missing a wandering pig by inches, scorched down the half-mile of parallel road that skirts the runway, just in time to stop traffic crossing the taxiway from the runway into the tarmac area.
Carefully negotiating the road crossing, the captain of the 737 waves a thank you to the policeman who gives a broad smile of recognition. The pilot is well known on Nauru as a popular figure who can match any local politician drink for drink. He makes a tight one-eighty on the tarmac and as the sound of the great turbines winds down, chocks are inserted under the wheels and the hot brakes released. Outside the air-conditioned cabin of the Boeing, the air temperature tops 30 Celsius, with humidity 90 percent. The island is, after all, only 29 miles from the Equator.
The cabin cleaners, a motley crew of large fat and expressionless ladies, waddle slowly towards the 737, their rubber thongs thwacking on the hot tarmac. No one hurries on Nauru. Eventually reaching the shade of the left wing, they watch in bored interest at the passengers stepping gingerly down the steep air-stairs. Large colourful bags masquerading as hand luggage are shouldered and heaved from the cabin and one can almost see the squat oleo struts of the 737 expanding in relief from the combined weight of 80 very heavy passengers, their bulging suitcases, and boxes of cargo.
Finally the two pilots appeared at the doorway, navigation bags in hand. The captain looks like he had been in a brawl with the Devil himself. He face shows signs of severe bruising and he was not in his usual good mood as he explained the cause of the delayed trip from Tarawa.
Tarawa, (INS coordinates N001.25, E1730.00) is 378 miles north-east of Nauru, and the scene of bitter fighting between Japanese and American forces in 1943. Known then as the Gilbert Islands, this area became the Republic of Kiribati in 1979. It was one of the early destinations of Air Nauru when the airline received its first F28 in 1974. A second was later added to the fleet, both eventually being replaced by three Boeing 737-200's. Two of the Boeings were fitted with gravel protect kits for operations into the coral runways of Tarawa, Ponape and Truk. In later years these names were changed to Pohnpei and Chuuk
Tarawa's Bonriki Airport was built after the war to replace the Japanese bomber airstrips on the atoll of Betio, where the battle for Tarawa took place. On the edge of the airstrip spring hundreds of coconut palms - their landowners living in thatched huts among the trees.
In those days, the Air Nauru flight departed from Nauru to Tarawa and return, with an hour turn-around time at Tarawa. Customs and Health officials would board the aircraft at Tarawa to spray the cabin and collect the ship's papers from the crew. A stop-watch would be started and five minutes later the sneezing passengers and crew would be allowed off the aircraft. Air Nauru pilots wore standard blue airline uniforms, while the government officials who met the aircraft wore Pacific island attire of shorts, shirts, rubber thongs for footware, but no identification cards.
After the airstrip was cleared of stray dogs and pigs by the one and only fire-tender, the 737 landed. Earlier, a visiting New Zealand inspection team discovered that this vehicle carried less than half a tank of water. When questioned, the local fire chief explained gravely that with less water in the tank, his charge could travel faster and thus arrive at the scene of a crash more quickly. He had a point there, of course.
After stopping outside the open air terminal, the pilot cut the engines and directed the senior air hostess to lower the air-stairs. Stepping carefully down to lock the handrails, she was astonished to see one of the waiting officials break away from the group, and yelling loudly rush up the stairs towards her. He knocked her sideways and burst into the cockpit where the two pilots, still strapped in, were completing their cockpit checks.
Both turned around at the intrusion only to be attacked by flying fists and unintelligible shouting in Gilbertese. The man was as strong as an ox, and, as described in the words of the pirates sea shanty - as big as a whale. Caught in their seats, the pilots were initially unable to defend themselves.
The hostess who had been knocked off the stairs quickly recovered and called to the remaining officials to help the pilots who were still battling the berserk local. Two island police were quickly summoned from the waiting crowd at the terminal but were too frightened to board the 737. As far as they were concerned this sort of thing was not in their duty statements and so they merely watched with interest as one of the passengers stood up in the cabin and launched himself at the crazy fellow who was still lashing out at the pilots.
After an almighty brawl, the intruder was unceremoniously thrown down the stairs on to the tarmac where, as a last gesture of defiance, he picked up some coral and hurled it back up the stairs. The now brave police stepped in and led him off the tarmac without further drama. After checking the that air hostess was unhurt, the dazed captain picked up a microphone and with a commendable sense of humour, apologized to the wide-eyed passengers, and assuring them that this was not the normal standard of Air Nauru's in-flight entertainment. Nevertheless, he said, it was an international incident and the flight would be delayed until things were sorted with the local gendarmerie.
To add insult to injury, spraying of the cabin went ahead regardless that the cabin door had been opened all this while, and finally the sneezing passengers were permitted to leave the aircraft. Freight trolleys shuttled to and fro, the fuel hose hooked up and meanwhile the battered chief pilot demanded to see the Police Commissioner who eventually arrived in a rusty Landrover. After the intruder was interviewed, the Commissioner offered the following explanation.
Yes, the intruder was a known nutcase but apart from chasing a local pilot with a knife a year ago, he was considered harmless. He had been allowed to wander around the tarmac as long as he didn't get in the way, although latterly he had shown a keen interest in the arrival and departure of the twice-weekly Air Nauru flight. He lived in a thatched hut among the coconut trees near the threshold of the runway and even played football with the many others on the runway when no aircraft were due.
After the airstrip was cleared of stray dogs and pigs by the one and only fire-tender, the 737 landed. Earlier, a visiting New Zealand inspection team discovered that this vehicle carried less than half a tank of water. When questioned, the local fire chief explained gravely that with less water in the tank, his charge could travel faster and thus arrive at the scene of a crash more quickly. He had a point there, of course.
After stopping outside the open air terminal, the pilot cut the engines and directed the senior air hostess to lower the air-stairs. Stepping carefully down to lock the handrails, she was astonished to see one of the waiting officials break away from the group, and yelling loudly rush up the stairs towards her. He knocked her sideways and burst into the cockpit where the two pilots, still strapped in, were completing their cockpit checks.
Both turned around at the intrusion only to be attacked by flying fists and unintelligible shouting in Gilbertese. The man was as strong as an ox, and, as described in the words of the pirates sea shanty - as big as a whale. Caught in their seats, the pilots were initially unable to defend themselves.
The hostess who had been knocked off the stairs quickly recovered and called to the remaining officials to help the pilots who were still battling the berserk local. Two island police were quickly summoned from the waiting crowd at the terminal but were too frightened to board the 737. As far as they were concerned this sort of thing was not in their duty statements and so they merely watched with interest as one of the passengers stood up in the cabin and launched himself at the crazy fellow who was still lashing out at the pilots.
After an almighty brawl, the intruder was unceremoniously thrown down the stairs on to the tarmac where, as a last gesture of defiance, he picked up some coral and hurled it back up the stairs. The now brave police stepped in and led him off the tarmac without further drama. After checking the that air hostess was unhurt, the dazed captain picked up a microphone and with a commendable sense of humour, apologized to the wide-eyed passengers, and assuring them that this was not the normal standard of Air Nauru's in-flight entertainment. Nevertheless, he said, it was an international incident and the flight would be delayed until things were sorted with the local gendarmerie.
To add insult to injury, spraying of the cabin went ahead regardless that the cabin door had been opened all this while, and finally the sneezing passengers were permitted to leave the aircraft. Freight trolleys shuttled to and fro, the fuel hose hooked up and meanwhile the battered chief pilot demanded to see the Police Commissioner who eventually arrived in a rusty Landrover. After the intruder was interviewed, the Commissioner offered the following explanation.
Yes, the intruder was a known nutcase but apart from chasing a local pilot with a knife a year ago, he was considered harmless. He had been allowed to wander around the tarmac as long as he didn't get in the way, although latterly he had shown a keen interest in the arrival and departure of the twice-weekly Air Nauru flight. He lived in a thatched hut among the coconut trees near the threshold of the runway and even played football with the many others on the runway when no aircraft were due.
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