Airlines' response to Japan eartquake, radiation fears

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Wed Mar 16, 2011 6:40am EDT


<SPAN class="articleLocatio</span>n">(Reuters) - Following are responses from airlines from several countries following Japan's earthquake and tsunami and subsequent crisis at a nuclear power complex.
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AUSTRALIA
-- Qantas (QAN.AX) will route its flights to Tokyo via Hong Kong from Wednesday evening so that the crew will not stay in Tokyo overnight, a spokesman said.
The change was for operational reasons and to ensure the crew is adequately rested given the situation in Japan, he said.
Qantas runs a daily service to Tokyo from Sydney and three services a week from Perth.

AUSTRIA
-- Austrian Airlines (0DNN.L) said all of its flights to Tokyo's Narita have making stopovers in Seoul since Tuesday.
BRITAIN
-- Virgin Atlantic said there were no changes to Tokyo flight schedules. The airline said it flies once a day to Narita and was monitoring the situation.
-- British Airways BAY.L said it has made no changes to schedules so far to Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports. It flies to Narita once a day and Haneda five times a week. BA is offering passengers who planned to travel before April 10 the option to change to change travel dates up to September 30.

CHINA
-- Air China (0753.HK) (601111.SS) said it had cancelled some flights to Tokyo from Beijing and Shanghai, mainly due to lack of operational capacity at some airports, but is still operating 30 round trip flights a day(www.airchina.com.cn).
-- China Eastern Airlines (0670.HK) (600115.SS) suspended flights from Shanghai to Fukushima, but other flights between China and Japan were still operating and it was adding an extra flight to Tokyo on Thursday to help Chinese citizens get home.
-- China South Airlines (1055.HK) (600029.SS) said it had cancelled one flight from Changchun to Sendai, which was badly hit by the tsunami, between March 14 and March 26. It added one more flight to Tokyo on Wednesday to get Chinese citizens back.

FRANCE/NETHERLANDS: Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) between Tuesday and Sunday has increased capacity on its two daily flights from Paris to Tokyo to 944 seats in total from the usual 871. In addition, these two flights make a stopover in Seoul. The airline moved all its crew out of Tokyo to Osaka on Monday.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/uk-japan-quake-airlines-factbox-idUSLNE72E05K20110316
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Re: Airlines' response to Japan eartquake, radiation fears

Increased screening on flights from Japan yields radiation blips

<!--endclickprintinclude--><!--startclickprintexclude-->By Marnie Hunter, CNN<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>cnnAuthor = "By Marnie Hunter, CNN";</SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>if(location.hostname.indexOf( 'edition.' ) > -1) {document.write('March 18, 2011 -- Updated 1350 GMT (2150 HKT)');} else {document.write('March 18, 2011 9:50 a.m. EDT');}</SCRIPT>March 18, 2011 9:50 a.m. EDTMarch 18, 2011 9:50 a.m. EDT


(CNN) -- Heightened radiation screening on flights arriving in the United States from Japan has triggered several low-level alerts.

An American Airlines plane that arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from Tokyo on Wednesday created a blip on equipment being used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to screen inbound flights for radioactivity.

Officials found a very low level of radiation in the plane's cargo compartment, with isotopes consistent with medical supplies, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith.

"We later came up with a pretty high certainty that it was related to a medical shipment headed to Mexico," Smith said.

Testing yielded no evidence of radiation on passengers or bags on that flight, and there was no indication of radioactivity on the next arrival at DFW from Japan, Smith said.

"No aircraft entering the United States has tested positive for radiation at harmful levels," according to a CBP statement Thursday.

More...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/03/17/japan.flights.radiation/index.html

 

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Re: Airlines' response to Japan eartquake, radiation fears

Radiation on O?Hare flights deemed no threat

By Julie Johnsson
Posted yesterday at 3:53 p.m.

Federal officials found traces of radiation on United and American airlines jets that arrived at Chicago?s O?Hare International Airport from Tokyo Wednesday, but later determined that the planes? cargo and passengers were not at risk.

As concerns mount about the radiation spewing into the atmosphere from Japan?s crippled nuclear reactors, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it had begun monitoring airline and maritime traffic for radiation contamination ?out of an abundance of caution.?

Mayor Richard Daley acknowledged Thursday that inbound flights from Tokyo had set off radiation detectors at O?Hare, but he offered no details and said federal officials will be handling the situation.

?Of course the protection of the person coming off the plane is very important in regards to any radiation, especially within their families and anything else,? Daley said at a news conference to discuss his trip to China this week.

Customs officials detected trace elements of radiation on cargo containers on two flights that landed at O?Hare from Tokyo?s Narita International Airport, Wednesday, and an additional flight operated by American Airlines into Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport.

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http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2011/03/tokyo-passengers-trigger-ohare-radiation-dectors.html