OCTOBER 5, 2007 — PARTNER has welcomed three new member organizations to its Advisory Board: the Air Line Pilots Association, the International Airline Passengers Association, and Opportunities for Meeting the Environmental challenge of Growth in Aviation.
The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) http://www.alpa.org/ is the largest airline pilot union in the world. It represents 60,000 pilots who fly for 41 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Founded in 1931, ALPA is a member of the International Federation of Air Line Pilot Associations. Critical services it provides to its members focus on airline safety and security; representation on employment issues; and advocacy, representing pilots' views to industry decision-makers, including Congress, Parliament, the White House, and federal agencies. Captain Mary McMillan, ALPA Director of Environmental and Energy Programs and a United Airlines pilot, will represent the organization on the board.
Representing more than 400,000 members worldwide, the International Airline Passengers Association (IAPA) "represents the interests of frequent air travelers by providing them with special discounts on items such as hotel accommodation, car rental and insurance, in addition to protecting and promoting their rights as airline passengers." Nancy McKinley, IAPA Director of Consumer and Industry Affairs, said, "Until recently, IAPA's environmental concerns had covered aircraft engine noise and air quality from a cabin perspective only. That's changing as our members are becoming more concerned about the true impact of aviation on the environment. IAPA brings the perspective of the end users or passengers of the aviation system to the advisory board. We look forward to participating in this very important collaborative process that researches solutions for problems related to aviation noise and emissions."
The Omega partnership, brings the aviation, aeronautical engineering and air transport management communities together to deliver future environmental benefits and technological solutions. Omega is a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics from nine UK universities and is based at Manchester Metropolitan University. The partnership has been established to study the environmental, business and operational impacts of aviation and develop strategies to reduce environmental impacts and business risk. Omega Chief Executive Roger Gardner said, "Omega, like PARTNER, has a goal to help close the aviation sustainability gap. Collaboration within academia - the mantra for Omega - works as well across boundaries as it does domestically. In order to deliver the best evidence to the sector to address the aviation environmental challenge, joint working between Omega and PARTNER therefore is good sense, avoids duplication, and gets the gearing from different perspectives on the same mission."
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