McConnell claims HSBC has used Serco (formerly RCA GB 1929) to run the Northolt drug-hub operations since the late Black-Hand Prince of Wales (later Duke of Windsor) merged the King’s Flight into No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron, which, with 138 Squadron, was tasked with moving spies or killers with forged documents and equipment through Nazi-occupied Europe.
Black Hand* – Lloyd’s Register of captains or journeymen with Privy Seal "Licenses to Kill, Burn, Bribe" for the City of London's Honourable Artillery Company 1537; the Master Mariners and Air Pilots (formerly GAPAN) 1929, and The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts 1638 – whose alumni include U.S. Presidents James Monroe, Chester Alan Arthur, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy and – perhaps – Barack ‘Con Air Visa’ Obama.
McConnell believes that HSBC recruited Wallis Simpson in Hong Kong in 1924 and sent her to London to trap the then Prince of Wales (Black Hand founder of King's Flight) and extort him into setting up HSBC’s drug-hub operation with Serco (RCA) at RAF Northolt before WWII.
McConnell alleges that in 1962, HSBC ordered the late pedophile Lord Privy Seal and then Black Hand commander of the Honourable Artillery Company, Lt. Col. Edward Heath, to outsource the 4-minute warning system, NPL cesium clock and Telstar timing to Serco staff at Northolt who can now spot, shoot, snuff, spin and spoil drug operations in the United Kingdom and United States to within 1 μs of each other (previous efforts were only accurate to 2,000 μs).
McConnell claims that HSBC ordered his sister Kristine Marcy – the former Senior Counsel for the INS Detention and Deportation Program – to integrate Serco's National Visa Center and Con Air services with NetJets and the Queen's Flight at Northolt and prepare IAI drones and FAA Contract Towers to hijack droned Boeing aircraft for the 9/11 attacks on America.
McConnell notes that Serco's banker used accounts maintained in 2007 by Sinaloa front companies in the Cayman Islands to pay an aircraft company for the purchase of a plane later impounded by Mexican cops while being used fly in two tons of cocaine from Venezuela.
McConnell claims that HSBC Northolt's operatives ordered Serco to procure Con Air visas for Black Hand bombers who blew up the ATFE offices in the Murrah Federal Building in 1995 and the sniper team which killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010 where Obama appears to have invoked executive privilege to insulate HSBC and himself from the Fast and Furious gun-walking crimes.
McConnell invites rebuttal of his allegation that HSBC runs a drug-hub operation out of RAF Northolt where Serco provides Con-Air visa services to Black Hand contract killers booked on NetJets planes or The Queen's Flight – c.f. Fast and Furious murder of ATF agent Brian Terry.
Prequel 1: #2267: Marine Links Serco's Dirty Black-Hand Banker To Queen’s NetJets ConAir Flight, RAF Northolt Drug Cartel
Prequel 2: RAF Northolt
SWISSLEAKS - "HSBC developed dangerous clients: arms merchants, drug dealers, terrorism financers"
Fast and Furious - Brian Terry Death and Murder - Hero Tribute
Copy of SERCO GROUP PLC: List of Subsidiaries AND Shareholders! (Mobile Playback Version) [Note that HSBC is Serco’s banker and one of Serco’s major shareholders with
Her Majesty’s Government and its funds]
Wallis Simpson arrives in Hong Kong on USS Chaumont in 1924
Trailer - Con Air (1997) - YouTube
Serco... Would you like to know more?
"HSBC list shows names from David Bowie to drug lords held secret accounts
David
Kocieniewski, Bloomberg News | February 9, 2015 | Last
Updated: Feb 9 8:20 AM ET
More from Bloomberg News
More from Bloomberg News
The private-banking
unit of HSBC Holdings Plc made significant profits for years handling secret
accounts for an array of criminals, from drug cartels and arms dealers to tax
evaders and fugitive diamond merchants, according to a report released Sunday
by an international news organization.
HSBC is among a handful
of banks to face criminal prosecution in recent years for its role in a Swiss
banking system that allowed depositors to conceal their identities, and in many
cases dodge taxes or launder ill-gotten cash. The report, prepared by the
Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
revealed for the first time the massive sweep of HSBC’s private-banking arm as
of 2007, when it controlled $100 billion in assets and served a swath of
wealthy depositors from the elite to the illicit.
HSBC shares fell 1.2%
to 613.3 pence at 8:26 a.m. in London. They have risen about 0.8% this year.
Related
The report is based on
a list of HSBC clients from around that time that a onetime employee took from
the bank and turned over to European officials, sparking tax investigations
from Argentina to France, Belgium and Greece. While some of the list’s names
have emerged before, Sunday’s report drew from a more comprehensive list of
accounts associated with more than 100,000 people and legal entities from more
than 200 nations.
‘Radical
Transformation’
Depositors included royal families and
convicted cocaine dealers, ambassadors and terror suspects, entertainers
and elected officials, corporate executives and athletes. To these and other clients, the bank
actively promoted its accounts as an efficient way to hide assets from tax
collectors, according to the report.
HSBC, in a written
response to the report, said its compliance efforts had been insufficient. It
pointed out that the bank had undergone “a radical transformation” since 2007
and now enforced far more stringent reporting requirements.
Stephen Green, former
chief executive officer and chairman of HSBC, told the BBC he won’t comment on
the bank.
“HSBC has initiated
numerous initiatives designed to ensure that its banking services are not used
to evade taxes or launder money,” the statement said. London-based HSBC
operates in more than 70 countries and has a private-banking unit located in
Geneva.
Putin Ties
The report said the
bank held deposits for controversial figures such as the political operative
for the late Haitian President Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who was accused
of embezzling hundreds of millions before fleeing his country, as well as
fugitives like diamond dealers Mozes Victor Konig and Kenneth Lee Akselrod,
whose names appear on the wanted list run by Interpol, the international police
agency.
Other depositors have
appeared on U.S. sanction lists, including Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko,
a billionaire whose close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin put him in
the U.S.’s sights after Russia annexed Crimea. Anton Kurevin, a spokesman for
Timchenko’s Volga Group, declined to comment.
Disclosures about
HSBC’s clients are the latest blow to the Swiss private banking system, which
once offered near- impenetrable privacy to depositors. Most countries don’t
forbid citizens from holding offshore accounts, and many are used for
legitimate purposes. Among many entertainers who held accounts, according to
the report, was rock star David Bowie, a Swiss citizen. It didn’t accuse him of
wrongdoing. A spokesman for Bowie didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment.
The accounts also
attracted depositors eager to shield their money from creditors, ex-spouses,
political opponents and law-enforcement agencies.
Diplomatic Pressure
Over the past several
years, investigations by the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Justice
Department have used the threat of criminal prosecution and financial sanctions
to pressure UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG to pay fines and turn over
the names of thousands of depositors. Diplomatic pressure persuaded the Swiss
government to enact stricter reporting regulations.
The HSBC leak began as
a rogue operation by a computer technician, Herve Falciani, who left the
company in 2008 with five disks of confidential information. A self-described
whistleblower, Falciani provided details on the 100,000-plus accounts to French
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary
Fund. She passed details from the cache — which came to be known as the
Falciani List or Lagarde List — to governments around the world.
Drug Cartels
When some
account-holders’ names emerged during the financial crisis, the narrative of
banks helping the wealthy avoid taxes fueled political tensions, especially in
Europe where many governments were preaching austerity and slashing social
services.
Investigators in
various European countries have said the information in the leaks has helped
them collect billions of dollars in unpaid taxes. The IRS, which according to
French officials also received the HSBC depositors lists, has declined to say
how much in unpaid taxes it has recovered from HSBC depositors. In 2013,
however, HSBC reached a $1.9 billion deferred-prosecution deal with the Justice
Department to resolve claims it enabled Latin American drug cartels to launder
money.
Royal Accounts
The ICIJ report also
found that HSBC was a popular bank among royalty. Its clients included King
Mohammed VI of Morocco, dozens of members of the Saudi royal family and Prince
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain.
Chakib Laroussi, a
media affairs adviser at Morocco’s court, said he wasn’t authorized to comment.
On Wednesday, le360.ma, a Moroccan news site seen as aligned with royal
perspective, published LeMonde queries about the king’s accounts and cited a
foreign exchange regulator saying they are ’’perfectly legal and authorized.’’
Bahrain and Saudi
Arabia have no taxes to avoid, and it’s legal in both places to hold foreign
accounts. A spokesman for the Bahraini government said the crown prince’s only
connection to the HSBC account was through a minority investment in a regional
hedge fund that deposited money there. He didn’t control the fund’s financial
activities, and the Swiss account didn’t provide any tax advantage, the
spokesman said.
Industrial Espionage
Falciani has become a
divisive figure in Europe and is called “the man who makes the rich tremble” by
the French press. The Swiss government accuses him of trying to sell the
purloined account information in Lebanon and is attempting to extradite and
prosecute him on charges of industrial espionage and violating bank secrecy
laws. Falciani has said his prosecution was part of an “agenda” by the Swiss
government to protect banks.
The ICIJ, which
partners with publications around the world, said it got access to the
depositor list through its collaboration with the French newspaper LeMonde,
which obtained them from sources in the French government.
HSBC has said it now
accepts that part of its responsibility as a bank is to help ensure that its
clients are law abiding and paying taxes and to close the accounts of those who
aren’t. “As a result of this repositioning, HSBC’s Swiss private bank has
reduced its client base by almost 70% since 2007,” the bank’s written statement
said.”
“"Gunwalking", or "letting guns walk", was a tactic
of the Arizona Field Office of the United
States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),
which ran a series of sting
operations[2][3] between
2006[4] and
2011[2][5] in
the Tucson and Phoenix area where the ATF "purposely allowed licensed
firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegal straw
buyers, hoping to track the guns to Mexican drug cartel leaders and arrest
them."[6] These
operations were done under the umbrella of Project
Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow offirearms into Mexico by
interdicting straw purchasers and gun traffickers within the United States.[7] The
Chambers case[who?] began in
October 2009, and eventually became known in February 2010 as "Operation
Fast and Furious" after agents discovered some of the suspects under
investigation belonged to a car club.[1]
The stated goal of
allowing these purchases was to continue to track the firearms as they were
transferred to higher-level traffickers and key figures in Mexican cartels,
with the expectation that this would lead to their arrests and the dismantling
of the cartels.[6][8][9] The
tactic was questioned during the operations by a number of people, including
ATF field agents and cooperating licensed gun dealers.[10][11][12][13][14]
Guns tracked by the
ATF have been found at crime scenes on both sides of the Mexico–United States border, and the
scene whereUnited States Border Patrol Agent
Brian Terry was killed December 2010. The "gunwalking" operations
became public in the aftermath of Terry's murder.[2] Dissenting
ATF agents came forward to Congress in response.[16][17] According
to Humberto Benítez Treviño, former Mexican
Attorney General and chair of the justice committee in the Chamber of Deputies, related firearms
have been found at numerous crime scenes in Mexico where at least 150 Mexican
civilians were maimed or killed.[18] Revelations
of "gunwalking" led to controversy in both countries, and diplomatic
relations were damaged.[2]
As a result of a
dispute over the release of Justice Department documents
related to the scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder became
the first sitting member of the Cabinet of the United States to
be held in contempt of Congress on June 28, 2012.[19][20] Earlier that month, President (Black Hand?) Barack Obama had invoked executive privilege for the first time in
his presidency over the same documents.[21][22]”
“HSBC Got Away With Buying Cocaine Plane
While the Justice
Department was busy prosecuting American HSBC customers for tax evasion, it has
taken no action against the bank for nearly five years.
The U.S. Justice
Department is shocked, simply shocked by recent press reports that the
megabank HSBC aided Americans in
evading taxes.
..
This while the DOJ was
jailing non-bankers by the dozen for laundering drug money, including cash from
the Sinaloa cartel, which had been a prime HSBC co-conspirator.
Two men at a car
dealership who took cartel cash for automobiles got serious prison time.
HSBC got a pass on
helping the Sinaloa bunch acquire an airplane that was used to smuggle drugs by
the ton…
More than $1 billion
in cash was moved by HSBC from the cartel’s Mexican hometown of Culiacán to New
York between 2006 and 2008.
Sethi opened such an
account in India in 2001. He received a call the following year from someone
identified in the complaint as U.S. Banker A, a senior vice president at the
New York office of the International Bank.
U.S. Banker A
allegedly set up a meeting between Sethi and someone identified as U.K. Banker
A, a London-based “high-ranking executive of the International Bank” who headed
a division “focused on developing and serving clients worldwide with ties to
countries in south Asia.”
Not long afterward,
Sethi met with U.K. Banker A in the International Bank’s New York offices and
discussed opening another undeclared account, this one in Switzerland.
“U.K. Banker A told
Sethi that the undeclared account would allow Sethi’s assets to grow tax-free
and that the bank secrecy laws in Switzerland would allow Sethi to conceal the
existence of the account,” the complaint says.
Sethi proceeded to
stash $3.4 million in an HSBC account in Switzerland. Neither he nor the bank
could have foreseen that an HSBC computer analyst turned whistleblower in
Switzerland would hack into the bank’s computers in 2008.
This self-styled “Edward Snowden of bankers” subsequently furnished French authorities
with the details of thousands of secret accounts.
In 2010, then French
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde passed the pertinent information on to the
United States and other countries. The Americans on the “Lagarde list”
apparently included Sethi and Silva.
All this was known to
the U.S. Justice Department as it completed an unrelated money-laundering
investigation targeting HSBC.
The probe resulted in
a 13-page “criminal information” that actually named HSBC, charging it with
dodging sanctions against such countries as Iran and North Korea, as well as
laundering at least $881 million in drug proceeds.
Much of the narcotics
money originated with the Sinaloa cartel, and the total may be much higher.
More than $1 billion in cash was moved by HSBC from the cartel’s Mexican
hometown of Culiacán to New York between 2006 and 2008.
But while the
complaint named the bank, it made no reference at all to particular bankers.
And before the charges
were even filed the feds worked out a deferred prosecution agreement with HSBC.
The bank got off with
paying a $1.26 billon fine and agreeing to anti-money laundering precautions
overseen by a federal monitor.
Among the smaller
narco money transfers the bank facilitated was from a pair of HSBC accounts
maintained in 2007 by Sinaloa front companies in the Cayman Islands. The money
went to an Oklahoma aircraft company for the purchase of a Super King 200 plane
that was later impounded by Mexican cops while being used fly in two tons of
cocaine from Venezuela.
..
The ordained
Protestant priest who headed HSBC from 2006 to 2010, Stephen Green, was never
charged despite the mountains of drug money. He proceeded on as Lord Green to
become Britain’s trade minister and has written a book called Good Value:
Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World.
“The truth is that the
value of our business is dependent on the values with which we do our
business,” he actually opined. “Values go beyond ‘what you can get away with.’”
The criminal
information against HSBC was signed by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern
District, Loretta Lynch, who is now the nominee to become the next
attorney general.
But the deferred
prosecution agreement was marshaled by then-Assistant Attorney General Lanny
Breuer in Washington. Breuer subsequently acknowledged that in his view, HSBC
was essentially too big to jail.
“Had the U.S.
authorities decided to press criminal charges, HSBC would almost certainly have
lost its banking license in the U.S., the future of the institution would have
been under threat, and the entire banking system would have been destabilized,”
Breuer told a press conference.
His boss and the
person ultimately behind the settlement, Attorney General Eric Holder, said
much the same to a Senate panel three months later. He presented too big to
jail as a corollary of too big to fail.
“I am concerned that
the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become
difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you
do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact
on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy,” Holder said.
The continuing outrage
about the HSBC deal must have caused Holder to fret that if he was once known
as a champion of civil rights, he might go down in history as an abettor of
criminal wrongs by big banks.
He made a
pronouncement in a DOJ video.
“There’s no such thing
as ‘too big to jail,’” Holder declared.
As Holder prepares to
depart, DOJ is pressuring four megabanks—but not HSBC—to plead guilty to felony
charges of manipulating foreign currency rates. There is talk of actual people
being indicted, but only relatively low-level traders. Holder will almost
certainly leave with a perfect record of not having busted a single senior
banker.
That is not a record
that Loretta Lynch would likely hope to match as she awaits her all but assured
confirmation.
Lynch has already
indicated the deferred prosecution agreement on the money laundering does not
preclude HSBC from being prosecuted for other crimes, tax evasion among them.
“I want to reiterate,
particularly in the context of recent media reports regarding the release of
HSBC files pertaining to its tax clients, that the Deferred Prosecution Agreement
reached with HSBC addresses only the charges filed in the criminal information,
which are limited to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failures to
maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program and for sanctions
violations,” Lynch said in a letter submitted Monday in response to a series of
written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
She went on, “The DPA
explicitly does not provide any protections against prosecution for conduct
beyond what was described.”
She added,
“Furthermore, I should note the DPA explicitly mentions that the agreement does
not bind the Department’s Tax Division, nor the Fraud Section of the Criminal
Division.”
Lynch seemed unaware
that only the news reports about the DOJ tax files are new and that the DOJ has
had the details since 2010.
Equally not in the
know was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who had been very vocal in her
disapproval when HSBC got off with only a fine for the massive money
laundering.
On Tuesday, Warren
spoke with renewed outrage in a statement to The
Guardian, one of the news
organizations at the forefront in reporting the tax-evasion charges.
“The new allegations
that HSBC colluded to help wealthy people and rich corporations hide money and
avoid taxes are very serious, and, if true, the Department of Justice should
reconsider the earlier deferred prosecution agreement it entered into with HSBC
and prosecute the new violations to the full extent of the law,” Warren told
the newspaper.
Wait until she and
everyone else find out that the DOJ has already prosecuted Dr. Silva and the
New Jersey businessman Sethi for tax evasion without moving on HSBC.”
“The background of Netjets: Netjets is based in Woodbridge, NJ.
Raynor B. Reavis joined NetJets Inc. in
September 1998 as Senior Vice President of Sales. In this position, he is
responsible for the sales of the NetJets ® fractional
ownership program in the U.S. Prior to joining Executive Jet, Mr. Reavis was
Vice President of Marketing and Sales Support at Gulfstream Aircraft, Inc.
Before joining Gulfstream, he was Senior Vice President of Sales at Raytheon
Aircraft (->) and British Aerospace, where he was responsible for worldwide
sales of the Hawker 800 and 1000 aircraft. Earlier in his career, he served as
Vice President of Sales for Simuflight Training International, which provides
advanced simulator-based training to pilots and maintenance technicians for
business jet aircraft. Reavis is a former United States Marine fighter pilot
who served in Vietnam and on both the East and West Coast in active duty
fighter squadrons. He is a graduate of Baylor University with a Bachelor's
degree in business administration and economics.." Sources: www.prweb.com/
“Brian J Walton Aviation Engineer & Expert Witness
1995 to date … Serco Group plc, RAF
Northolt
Senior BAe 146 Crew
Chief
Operate under The
Military Aviation Authority (MAA) & Maintenance Approved Organisation
Scheme (MAOS) rules.
Fly on the BAe 146 CC2
of No32 (TR) Squadron, RAF (an amalgamation of The Queen’s Flight and 32
Squadron RAF) as a civilian Engineering Specialist. Duties include setting up
the aircraft and testing all systems. Carry out all servicing and rectification
and solely responsible for engineering standards whilst away from base.
Fly worldwide on Royal/VVIP Tours, often for extended periods and was
the engineer on all of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s BAe 146 tasks for
approximately six years until his retirement from flying.
Responsible for
training and annual assessment of all the new BAe 146 Crew Chiefs, ensuring
they continue to meet exacting engineering standards. Accompany Test Pilots on
full Air Tests on an annual basis and on any Air Checks. Carry out diagnosis,
rectification and functionals of all systems, including ground running of the
engines and APU, also take part in hangar servicing of the BAe 146 at all
levels up to C check.
Completed all the
manufacturers BAe 146 training courses, Airframe, Engine, Electrics, Avionic
and SEP10
Autopilot course.”
“The first aircraft ordered specifically for transportation of the Royal
Family, two Westland Wapitis,
were delivered to No. 24 Squadron at RAF
Northolt in April 1928.
Between 1929 and 1935 the Prince of Wales purchased 13 aircraft. Although the
RAF maintained at least one of these aircraft for a time the Prince of Wales
eventually became solely responsible for the aircraft. When the Prince ascended
to the throne in 1936 as Edward VIII, The King's Flight was formed as the world's first head of
state aircraft unit.[1] In contrast the first flight of a sitting U.S.
president was in January
1943. This unit initially used the King's own de Havilland DH.89
Dragon Rapide; however this was
replaced in May 1937 by an Airspeed AS.6J Envoy III.
The outbreak of World
War II in 1939 led to the replacement of the Envoy III with an armed Lockheed Hudson. A de
Havilland Flamingo was added
to The King's Flight in September 1940.
In 1942, The King's Flight was disbanded and its responsibilities
transferred to No. 161 Squadron. No. 161 Squadron was an operational military squadron,
involved in the dropping of supplies and agents over occupied Europe throughout
the War.[2] The King's Flight was reformed on 1
May 1946 at RAF Benson with a single aircraft, a de Havilland Dominie.
As The Queen's
Flight from 1952, the unit operated a variety of aircraft for the
transportation and pilot training of members of the Royal family,
including Vickers Viking, Avro York, de Havilland
Heron and Devon, Westland
Whirlwind (helicopter), Douglas Dakota (for Royal Visit to Nepal 1960), de
Havilland Canada Chipmunk, Beagle Basset and Hawker
Siddeley Andover aircraft.
On 2 November
1977, Queen Elizabeth II travelled for the first time aboard
Concorde (aircraft G-BOAE). Her Majesty then flew from theSir Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados, to London Heathrow, England.[3] That occasion was also the first visit by a Concorde aircraft to
Barbados.[4] The 'Alpha Echo' aircraft in which The Queen had travelled, was
the last Concorde to fly supersonic to Barbados on 17 November 2003; a delivery
flight to the Barbados Concorde Experience museum where it remains on display.[5][6]
In 1983 the RAF leased
two BAe 146 aircraft
to assess their suitability as replacements for The Queen's Flight's Andovers.[7] The trial was a success and three VIP-configured BAe 146-100s
entered service with The Queen's Flight (as BAe 146 CC.2s) from 1986 as the
flight's first jet aircraft. In 2002 one of these BAe 146s was sold as surplus.
These jets, also known as the BAe 146 Statesman, have a specially designed
Royal Suite cabin. Although the civilian BAe 146-100 has 70-94 seats, the two
BAe 146 CC.2 are configured for 19 or 26 passengers in comfort.[7] These aircraft have a large passenger space compared to a
mid-size business jet. The cabin space is over 700 square feet (65 m2) and
is almost as large as the smallest Boeing
Business Jet which has 809
square feet (75.2 m2). Most mid-size business jets have less than 200
square feet (19 m2) of cabin space. The 6'6" ceiling allows people to
comfortably stand, and because of the aircraft's size and defensive equipment,
this is the aircraft that is the first choice for domestic or European trips.[8]
The Royal Squadron[edit] On 1 April 1995 The Queen's Flight
was merged into No. 32
Squadron RAF to
become No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron. Its BAe 146s and two Westland Wessex HCC.4 helicopters moved from Benson to 32 Squadron's base
at RAF Northolt. This ended the RAF's provision of
dedicated VIP transport aircraft; the aircraft of 32 Squadron are only
available to VIP passengers if not needed for military operations. This was
declared officially in 1999, with the Ministry of Defence
stating "the principal purpose of 32 Squadron [is] to provide
communications and logistical support to military operations; the Squadron's
capacity should be based on military needs only; and any royal or other
non-military use of... spare capacity is secondary to its military
purpose."[9] The effect of this declaration was to radically reduce the charge
per hour to the royal travel grant-in-aid for flying in an RAF jet, because now
only the variable costs of the flight were expensed to the royal travel budget.
The squadron also has
six smaller British
Aerospace BAe 125 CC3 jets,
which seat a maximum of six passengers.[10] The last of these jets was delivered in February 1984.
The squadron provides
air travel for members of the Royal Family. However, on 1 April 2010, the
hourly rate for journeys by HM The Queen and HRH The
Prince of Wales was
increased dramatically from £1,138 for a BAe125 and £1,846 for a BAe 146, to
£9,997 and £13,086 respectively.[8] No journeys were undertaken under these arrangements. After
alleged pressure from the Prince of Wales, on 1 December 2010, the rates were
reduced (BAe 125: £4,000 and BAe 146: £5,000 per flying hour).[11]
Under these higher
prices, the Royal Family only flew twice on military jets in fiscal year
2010-2011.[8] The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall flew the BAe 146 to
Madrid and Lisbon in March 2011 (4 flight hours), and one non-itemised flight
was taken on a BAe 125 (1 flight hour).[12]”
“RAF Northolt mulls plan to boost bizav activity
- January
8, 2008, 11:13 AM
Britain’s Ministry of
Defence (MoD) is considering plans to allow 30- or 40 percent more business
aviation traffic at the Royal Air Force’s London-area Northolt base. At the
same time, newly formed Northolt Business Aviation is preparing to offer unused
air force hangar space to corporate operators.
..
Maintenance for other based and transient civil aircraft is available
from Serco, which is bidding to provide support for the NetJets operations at Northolt.
The JAR 145-certified operation already provides support for the two BAE 146s
and six Hawkers operated by the Royal Air Force to transport members of
Britain’s royal family, as well as government ministers and officials. This
operation falls under the auspices of the RAF’s No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron,
which was formed from the 1997 amalgamation of the Queen’s Flight (then based
at RAF Benson) and 32 Squadron’s government flight department.
The MoD is planning to
build a new hangar next to the Northolt operations building, which doubles as a
terminal for business aviation. The new building would mainly house The Royal
Squadron’s aircraft, but will offer additional capacity for corporate
operators.
Separately, the RAF is
evaluating possible replacement aircraft for the 146s and Hawkers. Options
being considered include the Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express, both
of which could provide significantly greater range than is possible with the
existing fleet.
Ground handling for business aircraft is provided by Northolt Handling,
a joint venture between Regional Airports (owner of London-area Biggin Hill and
Southend Airports) and Serco under a four-year license that started in July 2001. It will provide handling for the NetJets
aircraft and already provides other visiting operators with ad hoc covered
aircraft parking in Northolt’s Hangars 5 and 6.
Slots at Northolt are
available strictly by prior arrangement, with the official deadline for
requests being 3:30 p.m. on the preceding day. In some instances, Northolt
Handling is able to secure slots on somewhat shorter notice since it works with
the RAF controllers on flight planning for civil movements.
Northolt Handling
manager Robert Walters told AIN that the average number of movements
each day is around 30, a number that peaked as high as 50 during busy periods
last year. The FBO now has almost 150 regular customers.
The airfield’s
official opening hours for civil flights are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.
Based operators can sometimes get permission for flights outside these hours
and on weekends, provided the airfield is open for military operations at the
time. When a slot is not available, Northolt Handling tries to redirect flights
to its sister airports at Biggin Hill (12 mi southeast of London) and Southend
(37 mi to the east and open 24/7).
Northolt’s main runway
is 5,525 ft long, which allows larger business jets such as the Falcon 900 to
take off fully loaded. Larger aircraft such as the Boeing Business Jet can also
use the airfield, but are limited by pavement-strength issues to around a dozen
movements per year.
Landing fees go
directly to the RAF and are among the most costly in the London area. A GIV
operator, for example, would pay around £1,100 ($1,700). RAF Northolt currently
collects almost $2 million in civil landing fees annually and is ranked as one
of Britain’s most commercially viable air force bases.
Handling fees are
charged in the following four mtow categories: £90 ($140) for up to 10 metric
tons (22,046 lb); £120 ($186) for between 10 and 20 metric tons (up to 44,092
lb); £150 ($233) for between 20 and 40 metric tons (up to 88,184 lb); and £180
($279) for aircraft over 40 metric tons. The Northolt landing fee covers use of
a ground power unit and lavatory service for the aircraft. The handling fee
covers all other ground services.
Northolt Handling
currently has three staff members besides Walters, and it is about to add
another. Supplementary baggage handling can be provided by RAF personnel during
busy periods. In addition to Serco,
which now manages the RAF’s visiting aircraft servicing operation, line maintenance
and repairs can be conducted by Jet Aviation, which dispatches mechanics from
its Biggin Hill operation.
Visiting aircraft
generally have to purchase fuel from RAF supplies at somewhat elevated prices.
For based aircraft, and by special arrangement, fuel can be supplied by Air BP.”
26 January 2012
The Royal Air Force
and Naval Air Command have awarded service group Serco contracts worth £130
million.
The Multi-Activity
Contracts (MACs) are for a range of operational support, engineering and
training services.
Serco successfully rebid its RAF Northolt MAC to provide aviation and engineering facilities and logistics support. Included is maintenance and associated support for the 32 (The Royal) Squadron, as well as at various satellite stations in and around London.
The three-year Northolt MAC starts in April 2012 and has options to extend for a further four years. Total value if extended would be around £70 million.
Also successfully rebid is the contract for aviation and engineering facilities and aircraft support at Royal Navy Air Stations Yeovilton and Culdrose. The contract "complements our maintenance and support services currently provided under a separate contract to the Merlin helicopter fleet at RNAS Culdrose", Serco said in a written statement.
The three-year Yeovilton and Culdrose contract also starts in April, with a possible two-year extension. Total value over five years would be around £40 million.
Last November, Serco won a new MAC for RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, where the Navy and Air Force train jet pilots. RAF Valley is also the headquarters of the military’s Search and Rescue Force and the RAF Mountain Rescue Service.
The five-year RAF Valley contract starts in April and has a total value to Serco of over £20 million.
The recent contracts extend Serco’s operational support to cover 29 UK military bases, Christopher Hyman, chief executive of Serco Group, said. Services range from aircraft engineering and training programmes, as well as asset and infrastructure management.
Serco successfully rebid its RAF Northolt MAC to provide aviation and engineering facilities and logistics support. Included is maintenance and associated support for the 32 (The Royal) Squadron, as well as at various satellite stations in and around London.
The three-year Northolt MAC starts in April 2012 and has options to extend for a further four years. Total value if extended would be around £70 million.
Also successfully rebid is the contract for aviation and engineering facilities and aircraft support at Royal Navy Air Stations Yeovilton and Culdrose. The contract "complements our maintenance and support services currently provided under a separate contract to the Merlin helicopter fleet at RNAS Culdrose", Serco said in a written statement.
The three-year Yeovilton and Culdrose contract also starts in April, with a possible two-year extension. Total value over five years would be around £40 million.
Last November, Serco won a new MAC for RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, where the Navy and Air Force train jet pilots. RAF Valley is also the headquarters of the military’s Search and Rescue Force and the RAF Mountain Rescue Service.
The five-year RAF Valley contract starts in April and has a total value to Serco of over £20 million.
The recent contracts extend Serco’s operational support to cover 29 UK military bases, Christopher Hyman, chief executive of Serco Group, said. Services range from aircraft engineering and training programmes, as well as asset and infrastructure management.
Other news for
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Yours sincerely,
Field McConnell, United States Naval Academy, 1971; Forensic Economist; 30 year
airline and 22 year military pilot; 23,000 hours of safety; Tel: 715 307 8222
David Hawkins Tel: 604 542-0891 Forensic Economist; former leader of oil-well blow-out teams; now sponsors Grand Juries in CSI Crime and Safety Investigation
David Hawkins Tel: 604 542-0891 Forensic Economist; former leader of oil-well blow-out teams; now sponsors Grand Juries in CSI Crime and Safety Investigation
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