Legal news for aviation attorneys. The FAA proposed fines in connection with incorrect weight on board. Aviation attorneys alert- The FAA is proposing a $2.5 million fine against American Eagle Airlines.

Fort Worth, TX—The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) http://www.faa.gov/ have proposed to fine American Eagle Airlines, the sister carrier of American Airlines, nearly $2.5 million for failing to ensure the flight crew had the accurate weight of the baggage on board. The penalty was announced on Monday, February 1, 2010 against AMR Corporations American Eagle, as reported by USA Today.

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The 75-basis point increase in the CRR to 5.75% didn't dampen investor sentiment much, as the central bank also raised its economic-growth outlook for the fiscal year ending March, to 7.5% from 6%, underscoring optimism that the South Asian economy is recovering at a brisk pace.

The status-quo on key policy rates essentially gives lenders some more time to shore up their credit portfolios by as much possible while the low-interest-rate regime lasts. For the uninitiated, interest rates in India have been at their lowest ever since the RBI, like other central banks, cut rates aggressively in the wake of the global financial crisis that intensified after October 2008.

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Crude oil rose, limiting its first monthly drop since July, as advancing equity markets reaffirmed confidence in the economic recovery.  The U.S. Senate Thursday unanimously passed sanctions on foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran, holder of the world's second-largest crude reserves.

Oil has lost 6.7 percent this month on concern the U.S. government will limit trading by banks and that China will take further steps to cool its economy. Crude oil for March delivery increased as much as 45 cents, or 0.6 percent, to US$74.09 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded for US$73.90 at 10:09 a.m. local time.

The dollar was little changed at US$1.3975 against the euro after earlier reaching US$1.3913, the highest since July 14. Oil may fall next week as U.S. supplies increased and fuel demand lags behind year-earlier levels, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

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 Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora arrived here Tuesday evening for a 24-hour work visit to Angola to strengthen co-operation between the two countries.

Speaking to the press after his arrival at Luanda?s 4 de Fevereiro International Airport, he added that his visit was also aimed at reinforcing and consolidating the ties between the Angolan state-owned oil company (Sonangol) and the India’s national oil corporation.

He considered as enough reasons to establish a successful relations the fact that India imports 70 per cent of crude oil by-products which it consumes and Angola is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).The minister, who was accompanied by a 10-member delegation, was received Wednesday by his Angolan counterpart, Botelho de Vasconcelos. He also visit the Sonangol depot in Luanda.

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Air New Zealand said Tuesday it will set a new benchmark for longhaul flights by offering beds in economy class, but they come with a catch -- passengers need to buy three seats to enjoy lie-down travel. The airline's "Skycouch" will use three economy seats, folded flat to the seat-back in front, creating a space where children can play or people can relax and sleep, airline chief executive Rob Fyfe said. The Skycouch is aimed at couples and families, and will be the price of about two and a half seats.

"For those who choose, the days of sitting in economy and yearning to lie down and sleep are gone," Fyfe told reporters. "The dream is now a reality, one that you can even share with a traveling companion -- just keep your clothes on thanks."

Developed in-house by Air New Zealand designers and engineers, Fyfe said the Skycouch represents the first real improvement in comfort for economy travelers in more than 20 years and would help the airline set a new benchmark for international travel.

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Crude oil traded near a one-month low yesterday as sliding equity markets and expectations of interest-rate increases in China dented investor confidence in the strength of the global economic recovery. OPEC nations must improve their compliance with the group’s output quotas to prevent further pressure on oil prices, Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp., said yesterday. “We’ve seen a pretty significant turn in macro sentiment,’’ said Toby Hassall, commodity analyst at CWA Global Markets in Sydney.

Oil “was very much a forward-looking market last year pricing in a recovery. We’ve seen some encouraging signs, and the US certainly is looking a lot better than it was 12 months ago, but that’s a different thing to a material recovery.’’

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Crude oil fell to a one-month low in New York after equities dropped on President Barack Obama’s proposed restrictions on risk-taking at financial institutions and on speculation China will raise interest rates.

Oil fell as much as 2.3 percent as stocks tumbled on the administration’s plan to bar banks from trading for their own accounts. U.S. refineries ran at 78.4 percent of capacity last week, the lowest rate outside the Atlantic hurricane season since at least 1989, the Energy Department said yesterday.

“A general malaise has crept into all the markets because of uncertainty about the Obama administration’s proposals to regulate the financial industry,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Round Earth Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on food and energy commodities. “The Chinese news has also been an important factor this week.”

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China's stocks may drop as much as 10 percent over the next six months as the government curbs money supply growth to reduce liquidity and rein in property speculation, according to China International Capital Corp. “Stocks could fall 5 to 10 percent in the next three to six months as money supply growth reverts to the norm,” Hao Hong, global equity strategist for CICC in Beijing, said in a report.

China's M1 monthly money supply, which includes money in circulation and demand deposits, rose 32 percent in December from the previous year. While the level fell 6.6 percent from the previous month, the first time in 11 months, it's still “unsustainably high” compared with the average of 20 percent growth during previous peaks of China's monetary cycles, he said.

Hong recommends consumer and health-care companies, saying that they have “pricing power” and can pass off higher prices to consumers as inflation accelerates. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 3.8 percent this year on concern the government will tighten monetary policy to curb record loan growth and prevent bubbles in the nation's property and stock markets. Chinese property prices rose 7.8 percent in December, the fastest pace in 18 months, adding urgency to government efforts to rein in speculation.

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While commercial air travel to the Dominican Republic and airlift to Haiti is the only viable way for most American aid workers to get where they need to be, airlines are setting firm limits on the bags they’re permitted to bring even if that means leaving medicines behind as happened Monday in San Diego, and as SDNN reported.

Some tense hours greeted six volunteers with non-profit relief organization Rescue Task Force of Carlsbad at the San Diego International Airport when they checked in. With so many relief agencies flying to American Airlines’ Caribbean hub in the Dominican Republic, the airline was strictly enforcing a limit of two 50 pound bags plus a carry on for all relief workers.

These bags contained many life-saving, vital medications and first aid materials requested by their contacts on the ground in Haiti. This included 400 units of life-saving calcium chloride, a medicine which is given by injection to people for crush syndrome. Haiti is in desperate need of such medicines, and each dose was a potential life saved.

The team tried to pay for extra bags or an extra seat but the airline would not allow extra bags even for a fee and all seats were sold out. Ultimately, the group re-packed all of their supplies to fit what they could and left what they could not carry behind.

The Toronto Stock Exchange fell for the fourth day in five on Friday as commodity prices dropped and worries mounted about planned bank taxes in the United States. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 119.01 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 11,685.37, with the big three sectors of materials, financials and energy causing the most damage.

The most detrimental stocks to the TSX's performance on Friday were Royal Bank of Canada (down 1.69 per cent), Suncor Energy Inc. (down 2.16 per cent), Toronto-Dominion Bank (down 1.54 per cent) and Barrick Gold Corp. (down 2.08 per cent). 

For the week, the index was down 2.24 per cent, making for the biggest weekly loss since late October. During the last five-day period, the TSX gained only on Wednesday. It's now down 0.52 per cent for 2010, the only major North American stock market not to have gained so far in the new year.

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