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U.S. average regular gasoline and diesel prices rise

The U.S. average regular gasoline retail price rose 2 cents from the previous week to $2.47 per gallon on December 25, up 16 cents from the same time last year. The Midwest price climbed nearly nine cents to $2.41 per gallon, and the West Coast and Gulf Coast prices each rose nearly one cent to $2.97 per gallon and $2.17 per gallon, respectively. The Rocky Mountain price dropped nearly three cents to $2.45 per gallon, and the East Coast price fell one cent to $2.43 per gallon.

The U.S. average diesel fuel price rose slightly, remaining essentially unchanged at $2.90 per gallon on December 25, 36 cents higher than a year ago. The Gulf Coast price rose just over one cent to $2.71 per gallon, the East Coast price rose nearly one cent, remaining at $2.90 per gallon, and the Midwest price rose slightly, remaining at $2.85 per gallon. The West Coast price fell nearly two cents to $3.31 per gallon, and the Rocky Mountain price fell one cent to $2.95 per gallon.

Propane inventories decline

U.S. propane stocks decreased by 2.7 million barrels last week to 68.6 million barrels as of December 22, 2017, 8.2 million barrels (10.7%) lower than the five-year average inventory level for this same time of year. Midwest, Gulf Coast, East Coast, and Rocky Mountain/West Coast inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels, 0.5 million barrels, 0.4 million barrels, and 0.2 million barrels, respectively. Propylene non-fuel-use inventories represented 3.9% of total propane inventories.

Residential and wholesale heating fuel prices increase

As of December 25, 2017, residential heating oil prices averaged $2.92 per gallon, 3 cents per gallon more than last week and 33 cents per gallon higher than last year's price at this time. The average wholesale heating oil price for this week averaged $2.07 per gallon, almost 7 cents per gallon more than last week and 31 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

Residential propane prices averaged almost $2.50 per gallon, 1 cent per gallon more than last week and 28 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. Wholesale propane prices averaged $1.09 per gallon, almost 6 cents per gallon more than last week and 29 cents per gallon higher than last year's price.

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E.ON : PreussenElektra wins against Electrabel before a court of arbitration

E.ON :  PreussenElektra wins against Electrabel before a court of arbitration

An international court of arbitration decided almost entirely in favor of PreussenElektra GmbH, an E.ON subsidiary, based on legal actions between PreussenElektra and Electrabel S.A., Belgium, regarding payment obligations resulting from mutual electricity supply agreements concluded in 2009. PreussenElektra was not obliged to pay the Belgian nuclear tax in the amount of EUR 321 million.

The ruling will have a positive effect on consolidated net income, cashflow as well as economic net debt of E.ON SE. Given that this concerns an extraordinary non-operative subject, the performance indicators adjusted EBIT and adjusted net income will largely not be affected. Further information on the performance indicators adjusted EBIT and adjusted net income can be found in the latest annual report of E.ON SE.

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Ruim helft zzp’ers heeft ook andere inkomensbron

Ruim 55 procent van de 1,5 miljoen zzp’ers heeft naast een zzp-inkomen ook een andere bron van inkomsten, zoals loon, pensioen of een uitkering. Ruim zes op de tien zzp’ers haalden wel hun hoofdinkomen uit ondernemerschap, voor de overige zzp’ers was het zzp-schap een bijverdienste. Dit meldt het CBS op basis van nieuwe cijfers.

Ruim 650 duizend zzp’ers hebben alleen een zzp-inkomen. Daarmee verdienen ze in doorsnee 28 duizend euro per jaar. Voor zo’n 256 duizend zzp’ers is het inkomen uit hun ondernemerschap de voornaamste, maar niet de enige inkomensbron. Zij hebben ook nog inkomsten uit loon, pensioen of een uitkering. Het doorsnee zzp-inkomen van deze zelfstandigen bedroeg bijna 20 duizend euro, met 6,7 duizend euro aan andere inkomsten, ofwel neveninkomen.

Pensioenuitkering grootste neveninkomen

Van de zzp’ers met neveninkomen hadden degenen met pensioen niet alleen het hoogste zzp-inkomen (23,5 duizend euro), maar ook de hoogste neveninkomsten. In doorsnee ontvingen zij 10 duizend euro aan pensioen. De zzp’ers met bijverdiensten uit loon verdienden 6 duizend euro naast 16,7 duizend euro aan zzp-inkomen.

Voor 548 duizend personen was het zzp-inkomen een bijverdienste. Het zijn vooral werknemers die naast hun loon extra inkomen vergaren als zzp’er. Van de ruim 6,2 miljoen werknemers in 2016 waren dat er bijna 330 duizend (5,3 procent). Met hun ondernemerschap verdienden zij in doorsnee 1,9 duizend euro per jaar bij.

Ruim 138 duizend mensen vulden hun pensioen aan met in doorsnee 2,8 duizend euro aan zzp-inkomen. Dit komt neer op 4,5 procent van alle gepensioneerden. Daarnaast waren er 46 duizend

uitkeringsontvangers die in doorsnee 1,4 duizend euro per jaar bijverdienden als zzp‘er. Het verdiende zzp-inkomen wordt verrekend met de ontvangen uitkering.

Zzp-inkomen in bouw is meestal het hoofdinkomen

De mate waarin het zzp-inkomen bepalend is voor het gehele inkomen van de zzp’er verschilt per bedrijfstak. Bij negen op de tien zzp’ers in de bouw is het zzp-inkomen het belangrijkste inkomen; bij zeven op de tien is het zelfs het enige inkomen. Bij zzp’ers die werkzaam zijn binnen de overheid, in het onderwijs en in de zorg is het zzp-inkomen in de helft van de gevallen een bijverdienste.

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Presdent Putin Meets with Head of Aeroflot Vitaly Savelyev

Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with General Director of the public joint-stock company Aeroflot – Russian Airlines Vitaly Savelyev to discuss the company's performance in the outgoing year, the situation concerning the air transport market, as well as further plans for expanding the holding company.

December 28, 2017 15:40The Kremlin, Moscow

With Head of Aeroflot Vitaly Savelyev.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: I am aware that you are prepared to report on your company’s performance in 2017, but let us begin with a subject that worries a great many of your passengers – rates, flat rates.

General Director of Aeroflot – Russian Airlines Vitaly Savelyev: Mr President, you are absolutely right.

First of all, allow me to report that Aeroflot is now well and truly back in the global civil aviation club 30 years on. In 2009, when I joined the company, Aeroflot ranked 68th internationally in terms of passenger traffic, and now we are in 20th place, that is, we have joined the top twenty international leading airlines. This is an important achievement not only for us but for our country too.

I will tell you a little later separately, if I may, about the current developments on the market. Pobeda, our low-cost carrier, which was created with your participation, has shown impressive results.

With regard to flat rates, in fact, they are very popular. We fly to five cities in the Russian Far East, Kaliningrad and Simferopol. Our passengers, the Russian people, really like it. This year, we carried 1.5 million passengers using flat rates and since the beginning of 2015, 4.5 million passengers.

Since the passengers are disappointed that we run out of flat rates fairly quickly, we have a proposal, if you agree, to transfer our airline Rossiya to flat-rate arrangements next year as well. That will provide about 75 percent of additional seats, and we will thus make an equivalent of 900,000 seats available on the market.

The only thing is, there will be a small difference in prices, considering that Aeroflot is a premium segment, and we will have to raise the rate to the Far East from 22,000 rubles to 25,000 rubles for a return trip. Rossiya airlines will then start flying at our current flat rate of 22,000 rubles for a round trip.

Aeroflot will leave flights to Kaliningrad and Simferopol without adjustment for inflation. If such a proposal is interesting, we are willing to consider it, and make it happen through our airline’s subsidies.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Let us do it.

Vitaly Savelyev: May I ask you my second question straight away? We want to suggest to you what we see as a good idea. Next year is very important for us – Russia will be hosting the FIFA World Cup.

Vladimir Putin: Will you let fans travel free of charge?

Vitaly Savelyev: We could but…

Vladimir Putin: I know this is a good idea – you will charge them one ruble.

Vitaly Savelyev: No, not free of charge Mr President. We will charge them five rubles. We want the World Cup to be a great success.

We will charge all the Russian fans five rubles (including all charges and fees) for a one-way trip on all Aeroflot routes to any city that is hosting the World Cup matches. To avoid hype, we will sell tickets three days before a match and three days after it.

We would like to ask you, as we noted in our letter, to instruct our partner Roscongress to help us distribute air tickets using FAN IDs and match tickets.

Vladimir Putin: Are you referring to the matches of the Russian team?

Vitaly Savelyev: Yes, the Russian team alone.

This amounts to about 70,000 seats for us. Naturally, we are pegging hopes on our team. If our team gets to the finals, this number will increase. This is why we proceed from this figure.

We think our team should perform well and its fans should be happy. This is why we are submitting this initiative to you. If you support it, we will start selling tickets to our fans as of January 1.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Vitaly Savelyev: If I may, I would like to say a few words about our company.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, go ahead please.

Vitaly Savelyev: Mr President, I told you that we have become one of the world’s top twenty companies ahead of time. We were supposed to reach the required parameters in 2025 but we did it this year. We carried over 50 million passengers, including 25 million in Russia.

Vladimir Putin: What place do you occupy in Europe?

Vitaly Savelyev: We are seventh in Europe. In 2009, we were 15th. Europe has major players but we have the time. We should be among the world’s top five companies by 2025. I hope that we can achieve this before that year.

This year was particularly generous to us in terms of awards. We received over 60 awards of all kinds, but I will focus on a few of the most interesting ones.

The first award concerns Aeroflot becoming the world’s and Russia’s strongest aviation brand. The strongest brand is also the most recognisable brand with particular customer loyalty. We are pleased to know that we represent Russia not only in the aviation business, but all other businesses as well.

With regard to the second, just a month ago, we received five stars from the US company APEX, which is comparable to Skytrax in Europe. We are a five-star company by American standards, and the decision was made by passengers.

We also confirmed our four-star rating assigned to us by Skytrax. It has to be confirmed annually, which we managed to accomplish this year.

On December 10, we received a World Travel Award, also known as the World Tourist Oscar. We are the world's leading aviation brand. This brand is indicative of loyalty as well. Importantly, we received this award up against Emirates.

We have also become China’s favourite foreign airline. We managed to achieve it this year. We outdid the five-star Qatar Airways, and this is also important for us.

The world’s largest traveller website recognised us as the best in Europe, and our business class as the best internationally.

A few words, if I may, about the Aeroflot Group. First, I would like to thank you for your support and signing the laws on black lists, which we discussed about a year ago, and the law on baggage-free rates. All of that makes it possible for the Aeroflot Group to develop on a fairly sustainable basis. Aeroflot remains a premium segment airline. We will have transported about 33 million passengers by the end of this year.

Rossiya Airlines, our subsidiary, works in the middle-class segment and will transport 11 million passengers; Pobeda will transport 4.7 million passengers, and Aurora Airline 1.5 million. In general, we will have transported over 50 million passengers by the end of 2017.

On a separate note, I would like to take a moment and say a few words about Pobeda. Initially, with your support, we created Dobrolet, which fell under sanctions later. We decided not to waste our time and just reformatted it by launching Pobeda. In fact, Pobeda turned out to be a victory for us [Pobeda means victory in Russian – Tr.]

This company is an absolutely independent market participant. We do not finance it, nor do we support it in any other way. It has been profitable for the second straight year. This year, we expect it to bring a net profit of 3.5 billion rubles, just like in previous years, half of which will be paid out as dividends.

In two years, Pobeda carried over 11 million passengers, including over a million that had never travelled by air. They were railway passengers on which we relied. The passengers are content with Pobeda.

There are many questions, but there is one good thing about Pobeda – it is the world champion in using American Boeings. It keeps them in the air for 16 hours. It takes at most 36 minutes to turn them around on the ground. They are 95 percent full.

The main point is that Pobeda does not depart from Vnukovo alone where it is based. It also flies from other Russian cities – St Petersburg and Sochi. We are moving it further into the central part of Russia. Today Pobeda makes half of its flights from cities outside the Moscow hub.

I think this is an interesting slide (showing slides) where we show the development of the European and US markets – from five to 6.8 percent. The figure for the world market is 6.8 percent.

Mr President, in our estimate, our market will grow by 21 percent for the first time. I am referring to the civil aviation market, which is very important because people primarily give up travel when they are running out of money and begin to save. As you can see, the decline started in 2015.

The Aeroflot Group was continuously growing. It was growing steadily but slowly. This year we see considerable growth, and if it proves that high, as we expect, it will reach 121 million, and this will be the biggest passenger traffic figure in the past nine years.

Vladimir Putin: I hope the purchasing power has grown a bit.

Vitaly Savelyev: The economy is doing better, and the purchasing power has grown. The airlines that openly engaged in dumping quit the market. In general, the situation is getting back to normal, and we are witnessing this. As I said, Aeroflot will carry 33 million, and the main point is that it is not a monopoly or dominant company in the market. Our flights make up just 41 percent of the market. We have competitors on every route.

We are trying to preserve our competitive advantage that is linked with the upgrading of our fleet. Our fleet is the youngest in the world (the average age of our aircraft is 4.1 years) among the companies with over 100 aircraft.

Mr President, this diagram shows (showing the diagram) the passenger loyalty index. We have measured it since 2009. We are behind Emirates only by two-tenths of a percentage point. Other European airlines are two or three times below us.

One percentage point of this index gives us the revenue of 1.3 billion rubles. In other words, Aeroflot is working well according to its own passengers.

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On behalf of the authors, support staff, and the many others at The Financial Journal GLOBAL, Best Wishes for a Safe and Happy New Year! 

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Barcelona:  MAYDAY Fuel Emergency Incident By Transavia 737-700 (investigation report d.d. December 28, 2017) 

April 17, 2016 Incident; Traffic Conflict Near Barcelona Airport

Improper coordination by the different ATS stations, which resulted in a head-on approach between two aircraft under their control.

Incident was orginally caused by Transavia crew’s improper planning of fuel consumption for the flight.

Transavia Airlines flight HV5133 landed at Barcelona Airport (BCN), Spain after declaring a fuel emergency (MAYDAY).

The aircraft, Boeing 737-700, operated on a flight from Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport, Netherlands.

After making an initial approach to runway 25R at the Barcelona Airport, a go-around was conducted due to a sudden change in wind direction and intensity which was in excess of the aircraft tailwind limitation. This meteorological phenomenon forced several other aircraft making the same approach to runway 25R to also execute go-around maneuvers, as a result of which ATC decided to place runway 07L/R in use.

After the go-around, the crew of PH-XRZ declared a fuel emergency (MAYDAY), as a result of which they received landing priority. They landed without further incident on runway 07L. When they reached the parking stand, they had a total of 1080 kg onboard, versus a stated final reserve of 1001 kg.

== Traffic conflict ==

The situation created a traffic conflict when the flight paths of aircraft on final approach crossed. The Transavia crew reported the fuel shortage as soon as they went around and requested priority. They were thus prompted by the controller to declare an emergency (MAYDAY) if required. Once the fuel emergency was declared, the crew received vectors to establish on final for runway 07L.

In the meantime, ATC arranged to remove two aircraft that were at the runway 25R localizer from the approach by ordering them to go around to the south of the airfield.

The second aircraft in the approach sequence, a Ryanair airplane, was taken out at the localizer while an EasyJet Airbus A319 (G-EZBY, flight EZY2267) airplane was kept on approach, the goal being to increase the separation between them.

On very short final, the EasyJet aircraft was instructed to go around and proceed south, but with no altitude restrictions. The crew began the go-around maneuver, but their proximity to the landing zone made the local arrivals controller for runway 25R think they were attempting to land, as a result of which he called the crew to clear the maneuver.

Eventually, due to the two conflicting clearances and to the adverse weather conditions, the EasyJet crew went around and was instructed to execute the standard go-around maneuver. At the same time, they were instructed to contact the approach sector, which at that time was handling the approach of HV5133.

This instruction directed the EasyJet aircraft in the opposite direction, toward the Transavia approaching on 07L.

Once in contact with the approach sector, the EasyJet aircraft was instructed to turn immediately to heading 130, which cleared the conflict.

Both aircraft reported having the other in sight. The minimum distance between the two was 2,2 NM and 500 ft, though this separation occurred after the EasyJet aircraft turned south and diverged from the flight path of the Transavia aircraft.

== Fuel emergency ==

Prior to departure from Amsterdam, the flight crew accepted 6100 kg fuel load specified in the flight plan. Although the weather was fine and no delays were expected, the captain thought this amount of fuel was a bit tight. He would probably have asked for a little more fuel, however, the flight crew was occupied with a medical emergency involving a passenger.

The flight plan assumed instrument departure LEKKO 1S from runway 24, but the flight was cleared to fly the instrument departure maneuver LEKKO 3V for runway 36L (locally also known as Polderbaan). This meant an extended period of taxiing (54 kg increase in fuel burn) and additional flying time to the LEKKO fix (168 kg increase).

The result of this was that the estimated fuel remaining on arrival was less than that required to proceed to the alternate airport. At the time when strong tailwinds were reported on the approach, the flight crew of HV5133 should have reported 'Minimum Fuel' to inform ATC in advance that any change (e.g. a go around) might result in a landing with less than final reserve fuel. Four minutes later a go-around was carried out.

When being prompted by ATC, a Fuel Emergency was declared, without reporting the number of minutes of usable fuel left.

Also, ATC did not request this information when the crew failed to report it.

After landing the amount of fuel was still above Minimum Fuel (the amount needed for 30 minutes of flight at 1500 feet over the airport).

==Causes/contributing factors: ==

The incident was caused by the Transavia crew’s improper planning of the fuel consumption for the flight.

The following factors contributed to the incident:

The change in the preferred runway configuration at the Barcelona Airport as the result of an unpredicted sudden shift in wind direction.

Improper coordination by the different ATS stations, which resulted in a head-on approach between two aircraft under their control.

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United States is openly hunting Russian media about 2018 president election

Russia government spokeswoman blasts US remarks on 2018 election as direct meddling in Russia’s affairs

The US Department of State statement regarding ‘pressure’ on candidates and voters during the election campaign is direct intervention in Russia’s domestic affairs, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"Such statements by the Department of State are a direct intervention in the electoral process and the domestic affairs of a foreign country."

Zakharova noted that the United States is openly hunting Russian media. "Before saying anything about our system, they need to analyze their own first," the diplomat noted.

"If our counterparts in the Department of State or in other US agencies continue to make such statements, we will be commenting on them, we’ll remind Americans how their electoral processes work and provide the corresponding facts to you," she stressed.

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Euro vs. US-Dollar continued its side/upway movement in a trading range between $1.1550 and $1.2050

Euro rose 0.45% to $1.1945, after touching its highest at $1.1954 in a month, low: $1.1896

Euro Trend Neutral To Bullish

Resistance around $1.21-zone

Support around $1.16-area

The sideways move is likely consolidation of the uptrend from $1.0340 (Jan 3 low). As long as $1.1550 support holds, the uptrend could be expected to resume and another rise is still possible after the consolidation.

Near term resistance is at $1.1950, a breakout of this level could take price to next resistance level at $1.2050. Above here from $1.2100 could trigger further bullish movement towards $1.2500 and higher.

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Euro Markets: ECB Growth Stance Supports Euro (Yet); If we are not able to see a clear break above the $1,21-level, we will maintain a neutral bias on the  Euro.

At the macro level, we are still seeing several scenarios that support the bullish outlook in thes Euro area.  If you are an investor that is focused on the Eurozone region, it will be critical to watch for new developments (within the central bank).

At its most recent meeting, the European Central Bank (ECB) outlined its plans to continue with its monetary stimulus programs if it is found that there is still sufficient need for economic support.

Key indicators here will be the regional unemployment rate, as there is still limited reason to believe that we will see any material changes in the underlying consumer inflation level any time soon. 

Additional factors to watch will include industrial production, as this is a critical predictor of both the regional unemployment rate and the trend in consumer price pressures.

The ECB is in no position to begin raising interest rates at this stage, as overall growth figures remain tepid and most of the voting members within the central bank seem to be suggesting the need for more stimulus sometime later.

The ECB could be one of the most closely watched central banks in 2018 as there is still conflicting evidence that monetary stimulus is needed in the region. 

If this is the case, it will not likely help the positions for investors positioned with exposure in currency markets assets, if the ECB maintains its current outlook for the economy.

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Forex markets: more trust in Euro Area vs. US Trump and Associates. US-Dollar Sinks also on Thursday;

Euro rose 0.45% to $1.1945, after touching its highest at $1.1954 in a month, low: $1.1896

Euro Trend Neutral To Bullish

Resistance around $1.21-zone

Support around $1.16-area

The Greenback has gained more than 13% so far this year, well on the way to its best annual performance since 2003.

The US-Dollar earlier had gained on expectations of tax reform. Now that it's here, we are seeing it sold off," analysts said. The US-Dollar fell also the last days  on a less certain US economic outlook after the passage of major tax cuts.

Last week's passage of the biggest overhaul of the US tax code in 30 years gave the US-Dollar only little support, but markets are not confident that the tax reform will feed through quickly into increased consumer confidence.

The US-Dollar index has dropped more than 9 percent this year, putting it on track for its biggest annual slide since 2003. The greenback hit its strongest in 14 years at the start of 2017 on hopes that US President Donald Trump would implement pro-growth, pro-inflation measures.

But it has fallen on worries that Trump would not succeed in pushing through his economic agenda, and as other countries' central banks have moved towards tightening monetary conditions, lessening the divergence between their policies and that of the Federal Reserve.

Number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week and the underlying trend remained consistent with a tightening labor market. With 245.000 in the week ended December 23rd 2017, the same as in the previous period but slightly above market expectations of 240.000. 

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US FTC: Consumers who tried to exit the websites without purchasing a product were allegedly blocked with a series of pop-up messages.

US FTC Alleges Get-Rich-Quick Scheme Bilked Consumers out of Millions with Deceptive Claims

Operators claimed consumers could earn big money using “secret codes”

“Online Advertising and Marketing”

The Federal Trade Commission has charged the operators of a get-rich-quick scheme with deceiving consumers by falsely claiming they could earn big money working from home by using products marketed as “secret codes” that were actually generic software products.

In a complaint filed by the FTC, the Commission alleges that Ronnie Montano, Hyong Su Kim (also known as Jimmy Kim), Martin Schranz and their related companies bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by falsely promising they could earn hundreds to thousands of dollars a day using the defendants’ Mobile Money Code products. In reality, the Mobile Money Code products were generic software applications that could help the user make mobile-friendly websites.

The complaint alleges that the defendants primarily contacted consumers with spam emails sent by affiliate marketers.  For example, some emails cited in the complaint claimed that the products were a “secret method folks are using to make thousands of dollars per day (seriously!)” or that users can start “generating 60k a month on 100% autopilot.” The defendants allegedly sold their products through a variety of websites such as mobilemoneycode.com, automobilecode.com and secretmoneysystem.com.

In addition to the deceptive earnings claims, the defendants allegedly used misleading subject headings in the spam email they sent to consumers and failed to include a clear means to opt out of future messages. Consumers who went to the defendants’ websites were met with more deceptive claims, including online videos that featured individuals who claimed they made hundreds to thousands of dollars per day using the defendants’ products. In reality, these individuals were actors hired by the defendants to provide false testimonials.

Consumers who tried to exit the websites without purchasing a product were allegedly blocked with a series of pop-up messages. Even those consumers who agreed to make an initial purchase were asked to make additional purchases through upsells and add-ons, according to the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that the defendants did not honor their “60-day hassle-free money back guarantee” and made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a full or partial refund.

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St. Petersburg Airport Pulkovo Airport Welcomes 16 Million Passengers in 2017

On December 28, Pulkovo Airport welcomed its 16 millionth passenger in 2017, thus marking a historic record in passenger traffic figures of St. Petersburg airport for one calendar year. The previous highest number was 14.3 million people that Pulkovo greeted in 2014.

The lucky winner of the honorary 16-millionth status was Anna Tunikova. She arrived from Berlin with Pulkovo’ s home base carrier S7 Airlines flight 3082  to visit her parents in St. Petersburg for the winter holidays.

To celebrate the long-awaited achievement, St. Petersburg airport managing company Northern Capital Gateway (NCG) prepared a pleasant surprise for all passengers of the Berlin flight. Upon arrival they were greeted in the luggage claim area with sweets and beverages, while on the luggage belt along the suitcase the passengers found branded Pulkovo gifts.

The Chief Commercial Officer of NCG Oliver Weiss congratulated Anna on behalf of the airport and presented her with Pulkovo souvenirs and a certificate to the airport’s VIP lounge. Anna also received an A320 model in S7 Airlines livery from Sergey Zhukov, the head of the carrier’s station in St. Petersburg.

S7 Airlines has significantly expanded its presence in St. Petersburg airport in 2017. Throughout the year the carrier has added 10 new destinations to the historic two routes of Moscow and Novosibirsk in its schedule from Pulkovo: they are Berlin, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kaliningrad, Yaroslavl, Verona, Turin and flights to the renowned skiing resorts Innsbruck, Salzburg and Lion starting in next two days. In the summer 2018, the airline plans to launch more new routes from St. Petersburg including such cities as Alicante, Copenhagen, Pula, Pisa, and Stockholm.

S7 Group (S7 и Globus) is in the top three airlines at Pulkovo in terms of passenger figures. For the 11 months of 2017, S7 Group handled 1.1 million passengers at the airport. In 2016, S7 Airlines for the second time won Pulkovo’s annual LED Together award as “The Fastest Growing Carrier with over 300 000+ pax”. S7 is a member of oneworld alliance.

Pulkovo Airport is located in the Russian city of St. Petersburg and ranks fourth in Russia by passenger traffic. The route network of the airport includes 151 domestic and international destinations to which 72 airlines perform scheduled service.

Pulkovo is operated by Northern Capital Gateway LLC, an international consortium of Fraport AG, VTB Capital, Qatar Investment Authority and Russian Direct Investment Fund with a pool of international investors. In 2016 and 2017, Pulkovo won the national Air Gates of Russia Award: St. Petersburg Airport was voted by passengers Best Russian Airport with the annual passenger traffic of 10 million+ people.

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London, Canary Wharf: woman injured after acid thrown on her.

UK Police officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service. The victim, aged 36, was taken to hospital with life-changing burn injuries to her leg and face. She had been walking alone when she was attacked.

The substance has been tested and confirmed as a strong acid solution.

No arrests; enquiries continue to establish the circumstances.

Officers are currently reviewing CCTV and pursuing a number of leads to identify the suspect.

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ACM: Euroma wil Intertaste overnemen (concentratiemelding)

Euroma Holding B.V. wil Clearwood Investment B.V. overnemen. Clearwood verkoopt onder de naam Intertaste. De bedrijven hebben op 22 december 2017 de Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM) om toestemming gevraagd voor de overname.

Euroma produceert, verwerkt en verkoopt kruiden, specerijen, kruidenmengsels, coatings, koude sauzen en dressings; biedt verpakkingsoplossingen en is actief in zowel de industriële sector als retail sector;

Intertaste produceert, verwerkt en verkoopt kruiden, specerijen, kruidenmengsels, coatings, warme en koude sauzen, dressings en droge soepen; biedt verpakkingsoplossingen en is actief in zowel de industriële sector als retail sector.

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AELS/APOC Acquired a KLM Boeing 747; It will will land at Twente Airport in a few weeks time

APOC acquired a Boeing 747-400 #27202 previously operated by KLM and fitted with CF6-80C2B1F engines.

The airframe, which was sold on to AELS, will land at Twente Airport in a few weeks. AELS will be responsible for the teardown of the airframe.

The former KLM aircraft PH-BFR will make its last flight early January to Twente Airport. The flight of the Boeing 747-400 will be executed by KLM on behalf of the new owner, APOC Aviation.

The aircraft will be disassembled by AELS according to the highest environmental standards. Bad weather might cause the flight to be delayed or rescheduled.

The engines were sold to one of APOC’s US clients and will be shipped after the teardown has been completed.

APOC Aviation is an innovative aircraft part-out company, located in Delft, the Netherlands, just between Rotterdam Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

Its recent acquisitions and a number of record-breaking crowdfunding campaigns have turned APOC into a key player in the Dutch market.

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Rechtbank: Ontnemingsvordering (cocaïne luchttransport) wordt voor ruim 9,5 miljoen euro toegewezen aan veroordeelde!

De rechtbank acht het aannemelijk dat met twaalf luchttransporten cocaïne is vervoerd en dat veroordeelde daaruit wederrechtelijk verkregen voordeel heeft verkregen.

De rechtbank vindt dat het dossier onvoldoende aanknopingspunten biedt voor de stelling van het Openbaar Ministerie dat veroordeelde 1/3 deel van de totale winst, een bedrag van 64 miljoen euro, heeft verdiend met de drugstransporten.

Maar, omdat de veroordeelde geen enkel inzicht heeft gegeven in welk bedrag hij heeft ontvangen, ziet de rechtbank geen andere mogelijkheid dan maar een schatting te maken hoeveel de veroordeelde per transport heeft verdiend.

Gelet op de essentiële rol die verdachte bij de transporten heeft gespeeld, maar ook gelet op zijn uitgavenpatroon, schat de rechtbank dat hij bij elk transport ten minste 5 % van de winst heeft ontvangen, zijnde € 9.604.452,25.

Vanwege de overschrijding van de redelijke termijn wordt de betalingsverplichting op € 9.599.452,25 gesteld.

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PRORAIL: proef met zelfrijdende treinen in 2018

De tijd van de goede voornemens is aangebroken. Een van de prestaties die ProRail zich voorneemt is het uitvoeren van tenminste een proef met een automatisch rijdende trein in 2018.

Normaal alleen goederentreinen, maar 25 november voor het eerst ICE reizigerstreinen op de Betuweroute Treinstel op Merwede-Lingelijn

ATO

ATO is de afkorting van Automatic Train Operation. Een systeem dat afhankelijk van het gekozen niveau de handelingen van de treinmachinist 'een beetje' (niveau 1) tot 'volledig' (niveau 4) automatiseert. Dit systeem heeft verschillende voordelen. Zo is de verwachting dat treinen die uitgerust zijn met ATO dichter op elkaar rijden waardoor de capaciteit op het spoor wordt vergroot. Daardoor daalt het energieverbruik, omdat treinen gelijkmatiger rijden en minder stops hoeven te maken. Geautomatiseerd rijden kan daarmee een verbetering zijn zonder dure infrastructurele wijzigingen uit te voeren. Een andere manier waarop dit van toegevoegde waarde kan zijn, is tijdens het rangeren. Denk aan goederentreinen in het Rotterdamse havengebied.

Proef op de Betuweroute

De proef is gericht op de toepassingen bij goederenvervoer en zal plaatsvinden op de Betuweroute, de goederenlijn die is uitgerust met beveiligingssysteem ERTMS. ERTMS ondersteunt het automatisch rijden beter dan de klassieke beveiligingssystemen. In deze proef is Alstom onze partner. Zij werkt zelf aan de ontwikkeling van ATO voor rail, en kent de technische systemen van de Betuweroute goed. We werken intensief samen tijdens de proef. Overigens nodigen we ook andere marktpartijen en Europese collega’s uit om mee te kijken en met ons kennis op te doen. Voor een tweede proef vinden gesprekken plaats met de provincie Groningen. Deze proef zou zich richten op personenvervoer met als doel om na te gaan wat ATO betekent voor uitbreiding van capaciteit op het provinciale railnetwerk.

Nederland testland voor Railinnovatie

Doel van ProRail is om samen met de marktpartijen zoveel mogelijk te leren van deze proeven en deze kennis te delen met alle betrokken partijen. ProRail  is ervan overtuigd op deze wijze de innovatie rondom ATO een boost te kunnen geven. Niet alleen in Nederland staat het rijden met geautomatiseerde treinen op de innovatie-agenda, ook elders in Europa kijken partijen graag mee naar de ontwikkelingen in Nederland. Om ATO te implementeren, moet er flink wat gebeuren, zowel aan de wal kant, als in het materieel. Het gaat hier om een internationale ontwikkeling. Met de proeven brengen we geautomatiseerd rijden op het spoor dichterbij en gaan we veel leren. Natuurlijk worden machinisten en treindienstleiders nauw betrokken in deze testen en ontwikkeling. Net als op de weg zijn we hiermee in Nederland een vooroplopend testland voor geautomatiseerd rijden.

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UK, London: growth accelerates in the three months to December, but what brings 2018?

Private sector growth picked up in the quarter to December, according to the latest CBI Growth Indicator.

Growth accelerates in the three months to December

The composite measure based on 642 respondents across the distribution, manufacturing and service sectors showed the balance of firms reporting a rise in output at +19%, compared with +6% in the three months to November 2017. 

Growth was broad-based, with all sectors reporting robust output volumes growth last quarter at a pace above their long-run averages.

Looking ahead, private sector growth is set to return to a more moribund pace (+4%) over the next three months, with growth set to stall across the services sector and to slow in distribution and manufacturing.

Anna Leach, CBI Head of Economic Intelligence, said: “Private sector firms are enjoying healthy activity levels as we approach the year end, but mediocre expectations for growth underline the ongoing challenges facing companies. Persistent cost pressures will ensure that inflation remains at a high level, perpetuating the squeeze on household spending, particularly impacting consumer-facing firms and retailers.”

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UK Businesses Finish Year Well But See Slow Start To 2018

Services, manufacturing and retail companies all enjoyed better growth in the last quarter of 2017, according to a survey from the CBI released on Thursday, though growth is expected to be very slow in the coming quarter.

A composite view of UK private sector businesses showed 19% more firms report a rise in output volumes for the three months to December, up from the +6% balance reported a month ago. This was the strongest business growth shown in the survey since 2015.

The CBI survey, which was conducted among 642 companies, found output growth across all sectors at a pace above their long-run averages.

But for the coming three months, a balance of firms expecting output growth was just +4%, with growth set to stall across the services sector and to slow in distribution and manufacturing. The forward-looking measure was +6% a month ago and +12% in October.

“Private sector firms are enjoying healthy activity levels as we approach the year end, but mediocre expectations for growth underline the ongoing challenges facing companies," said Anna Leach, the CBI's economics chief.

“Persistent cost pressures will ensure that inflation remains at a high level, perpetuating the squeeze on household spending, particularly impacting consumer-facing firms and retailers.”

The CBI's last services sector survey found volume growth accelerated in the fourth quarter, with growth in business & professional services picked up after three months of no growth, while consumer services volumes recovered after a sharp decline in the three months to November. The start of 2018 is expected to be held back as the consumer services sub-sector is seen facing a decline.

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