Cathay Pacific gets its first Airbus A350 on May 27

Cathay Pacific will take delivery of its first Airbus A350 model on May 27, with the advanced jet arriving into Hong Kong Airport on May 29.

The A350s will sport new-look seats fitted from tip to tail, starting with 38 business class seats based on the airline’s current highly-regarded business class (shown below) and in the same 1-2-1 layout – but with an updated design which CX is carefully positioning as a ‘refresh’ to improve the existing seat, based on extensive passenger surveys and in-person workshops.

Travellers can expect to see improvements in storage space, the ability to slide the meal table forward and back, and a degree of tilt for the large HD video screen.

The refreshed business class seat has been widely blamed for delays to the A350’s delivery, which was originally slated for March, with claims that seat supplier Zodiac fell far behind the schedule set by Airbus and Cathay Pacific.

There’s also a compact premium economy cabin of 28 seats in a 2-4-2 arrangement and an all-new design, followed by 214 new economy seats ranked in a 3-3-3 grid.

The Airbus A350 will also be fitted with inflight Internet, which is a first for Cathay Pacific’s international fleet and an overdue catch-up to competitors such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad.

Cathay Pacific will showcase the A350 to members of the media on Monday May 30, with the aircraft’s first commercial flight as CX907 to Manila on June 1.

it will then run a daily basis to Manila and Taipei until the second aircraft arrives in July, when fights will also commence to Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Kansai.

Cathay Pacific will swing the fuel-efficient jet onto longer-range international routes to Europe from September, beginning with Dusseldorf and London.

A350 flights between Hong Kong and Auckland will commence in the second half of the year.

Other likely starters for the A350’s route map include Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Milan and Zurich.

11 more A350-900s are due to be delivered this year, and another ten in 2017, to be followed by 26 of the larger and longer-range A350-1000s from 2018.

The A350-1000 fleet will feature an updated business class along with all-new premium economy and economy seats, although Cathay Pacific hasdecided against installing first class on the Airbus A350-1000, opting instead for a larger premium cabin featuring its new international business class seats.

Australian Business Traveller will travel to Hong Kong for the May 30 launch of the Airbus A350 as a guest of Cathay Pacific.

Source : Australian Business Traveller

Royal Australian Air Force investigating C-27J landing incident at Waco

Waco Regional Airport in Texas was closed for most of Tuesday after an RAAF C-27J Spartan suffered a reported double tyre blow-out while conducting touch-and-goes during a pilot training flight.

“The Royal Australian Air Force has commenced a safety investigation after a C-27J Spartan aircraft had an incident on landing at the conclusion of a routine training flight at Waco Airport, Texas, USA at approx 12am (local US time),” the Department of Defence confirmed in a media statement on Wednesday morning.

“No one was injured in the incident.”

Military airplane crash on runway at Waco Regional Airport. My flight cancelled. All survived, thankfully. https://t.co/734an5AbHm—
Jason Reynolds (@JasonReynolds) May 17, 2016

“An assistant Waco fire chief said the airplane’s crew had attempted a landing late Monday night, but the plane may have touched down short of the runway and damaged two tyres,” Waco television station KWTX reported.

The incident saw the runway at Waco closed until 7pm Tuesday evening, forcing the cancellation of a number flights into and out of the airport.

“The runway was temporarily closed to other aircraft so that the C-27J Spartan could be moved. Air Force thanks local airport, emergency services and security staff who are assisting with the recovery and apologises for the inconvenience to other airfield users,” Defence stated.

Defence said the aircraft was flying: “a pilot qualification flight for RAAF pilots converting to the new C-27J Spartan battlefield airlifter, flown alongside industry instructors”.

Ten C-27Js are on order for the RAAF, of which two have been delivered to Australia so far. The aircraft are built by Alenia (recently renamed Leonardo Aircraft) in Italy but L-3 Communications is the prime contractor for the aircraft under a US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) arrangement, modifying the C-27Js with mission systems and undertaking pilot conversion training at Waco.

 

Australian Aviation

Tomas Bastos faz o primeiro pelo Vozão e Ceará se classifica na Copa do Brasil

Na 3ª fase da competição, o Alvinegro enfrentará o vencedor de Botafogo/PB x Ríver/PI

Site do Ceará Sporting Club

Decon-CE entra com ação na Justiça contra cobrança de taxa por médicos

Médicos cobram taxa de disponibilidade para pacientes gestantes.
Taxa varia entre R$ 3,5 a R$ 10 mil de pacientes conveniadas a planos.

Instituições de defesa do consumidor do Ceará ingressaram, na sexta-feira (13), com uma Ação Civil Pública (ACP) contra planos de saúde pela cobrança indevida de taxa de disponibilidade para a realização de partos cobertos pelos planos. A ação foi impetrada pelo Programa Estadual de Proteção e Defesa do Consumidor (Decon), Comissão de Defesa do Consumidor da Assembleia Legislativa e Comissão de Defesa do Consumidor da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil – Secção Ceará (OAB-CE).

Em procedimento administrativo, o Decon apurou que alguns médicos conveniados a planos de saúde estão cobrando das pacientes gestantes uma taxa de disponibilidade que varia de R$ 3,5 mil a R$ 10 mil para a realização de procedimentos obstétricos cobertos pelos planos.

De acordo com o Decon, a conduta praticada é ilegal e abusiva, pois explora a vulnerabilidade do consumidor/paciente, a relação de confiança, e, em especial, o contrato estabelecido com o plano de saúde, o qual prevê cobertura integral de gestação e parto.  Além disso, de acordo com a resolução da Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar (ANS), os planos de saúde são obrigados a oferecer aos consumidores as coberturas mínimas previstas na lei, dentre elas o pré-natal e o parto em qualquer de suas modalidades.

Responsabilidade
Segundo entendimento do Decon, cabe aos planos de saúde adotar medidas para evitar que as consumidoras sejam constrangidas ou coagidas a realizar pagamentos indevidos a seus prestadores de serviço. Ao permitir a cobrança de valores extras por parte de seus credenciados, os planos de saúde transferem às contratantes de seus serviços parte dos seus custos naturais, que já estão incluídos na composição da contraprestação paga pelas clientes.

Na ação, os órgões de defesa do consumidor requerem, dentre outras coisas, que não seja cobrada a taxa de disponibilidade ou qualquer taxa extracontratual para realização do parto, bem como seja fiscalizada a atuação dos médicos que praticam tal conduta, e não seja permita a atuação do cooperado que cobra remuneração adicional do consumidor na rede hospitalar do plano de saúde. Além disso, requer que, caso seja comprovado pagamento da taxa de disponibilidade, o consumidor seja ressarcido em dobro pelo pagamento indevido.

 

G1.COM.BR

Com vitória da oposição na Justiça, Pimentel exonera sua esposa do cargo de secretária de Estado

Ao manter a liminar que acolheu denúncia dos deputados de oposição, desembargadora do TJMG concedeu prazo de 48 horas para afastamento de Carolina

Os deputados da oposição na Assembleia Legislativa de Minas Gerais conseguiram barrar na Justiça a nomeação de Carolina de Oliveira, esposa do governador Fernando Pimentel, para o cargo de secretária de Estado de Trabalho e Desenvolvimento Social. Na segunda decisão do Tribunal de Justiça de Minas Gerais (TJMG), nesta segunda-feira (16/5), a desembargadora Hilda Teixeira da Costa manteve a liminar que determinava a suspensão da nomeação e estipulou prazo de 48 horas para que a primeira-dama fosse afastada. Com a derrota, o governo de Minas exonerou a primeira-dama, ato publicado nesta terça-feira (17/5) no Diário Oficial do Estado.

No despacho, a desembargadora indeferiu o agravo de instrumento interposto pelo governo de Minas em função da liminar concedida pelo juiz titular da 1ª Vara da Fazenda Pública e Autarquias de Belo Horizonte, Michel Curi e Silva, no dia 12 de maio, que acolheu denúncia da oposição e levou em consideração outras ações populares similares. Na ação popular, os parlamentares demonstraram que a indicação de Carolina para o cargo de secretária teve como único objetivo lhe conferir foro privilegiado e obstruir o trabalho da Justiça no andamento da Operação Acrônimo.

“A manobra de Pimentel para conferir foro privilegiado para sua esposa e tentar dificultar o trabalho da Justiça nas investigações da Acrônimo estava muito clara. Demonstramos isso na ação popular impetrada junto ao Tribunal de Justiça de Minas Gerais. Essa foi mais uma tentativa desesperada do governador para protelar o desfecho da Operação Acrônimo, que está próximo”, afirmou o deputado João Leite (PSDB).

Para o deputado Sargento Rodrigues (PDT), o governo Pimentel exonerou a primeira-dama logo após a manutenção da liminar porque sabia que perderia em todas as instâncias possíveis. A estratégia de nomear para conferir foro privilegiado é similar à adotada pela presidente afastada Dilma Rousseff para tentar proteger o ex-presidente Luís Inácio Lula da Silva.

“Pimentel quis fazer aqui o mesmo que Dilma tentou em relação ao Lula, quando o nomeou para ministro. Tentou usar de forma escancarada a máquina pública para beneficiar companheiros, em claro desvio de finalidade. Essa é uma prática espúria e recorrente do PT. Felizmente nas duas situações, a Justiça prevaleceu para coibir essa ilegalidade”, afirma Sargento Rodrigues.

Imperador Romano

Na decisão liminar, mantida nesta segunda-feira pela desembargadora Hilda Teixeira da Costa, o juiz Michel Curi e Silva destacou os indícios de “desvio de finalidade” na nomeação e comparou Pimentel a um imperador romano. “Cabe relembrar a história envolvendo o Imperador Júlio César, sua esposa Pompeia e o sinistro Clódio, que deu origem ao seguinte provérbio: ‘A mulher de César não basta ser honesta, deve parecer honesta’”, diz trecho da decisão.

“Isso significa dizer que não basta que o administrador público seja honesto e honrado; é preciso que sobre ele não paire nenhuma suspeita. No caso vertente, tal premissa também se aplica a Carolina de Oliveira Pimentel”, completou o juiz.

Ele destacou ainda que o que lhe fez deferir o pedido de liminar foi a “sucessão e soma dos inquestionáveis fatos e acontecimentos que precederam a nomeação hostilizada pelos autores, a saber: o fato de tratar-se da mais próxima e íntima parente do Senhor Governador (sua esposa), somado aos fatos de que ela se encontra na situação de “alvo” em conhecida investigação da Polícia Federal e de que as diversas ações populares asseveraram que o intuito da nomeação foi o de tentar beneficiar a própria esposa, valendo-se de um mandato popular.”

A nomeação de Carolina foi publicada no dia 28 de abril e ela passaria a ter prerrogativa de foro no Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de Minas Gerais. Com a exoneração, as acusações contra Carolina voltam a ficar à cargo da Justiça Federal.

A operação Acrônimo investiga Pimentel e a primeira-dama por crimes como corrupção passiva, organização criminosa, lavagem de dinheiro e tráfico de influência, cometidos em campanhas eleitorais, no Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior (MDIC) e no Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), por meio do operador Benedito de Oliveira Neto, o Bené, e da agência de publicidade Pepper. A operação foi deflagrada em 2015 pela Polícia Federal.

 

Site Minas de Verdade

Justiça mantém liminar que suspende nomeação da esposa de Pimentel como secretária de Estado

Com decisão de desembargadora do TJMG, governo de Minas terá 48 horas para afastar Carolina de Oliveira da Secretaria de Trabalho e Desenvolvimento Social

A desembargadora Hilda Texeira da Costa, do Tribunal de Justiça de Minas Gerais, manteve, nesta segunda-feira (16.5) a liminar que determina a suspensão da nomeação de Carolina de Oliveira, esposa do governador petista Fernando Pimentel, para o cargo de secretária de Estado de Trabalho e Desenvolvimento Social. No despacho que indeferiu o agravo de instrumento interposto pelo governo de Minas, a desembargadora estipulou prazo de 48 horas para que a primeira-dama seja afastada do cargo.

Na decisão, a desembargadora afirmou que ”o princípio da moralidade administrativa deve nortear toda a administração pública, em qualquer esfera do poder”. Ela destacou ainda que o recurso apresentado pelo governo “faz mera menção da formação acadêmica da nomeada”, enfatizando, no entanto, que a competência de Carolina para o cargo não foi demonstrada no agravo apresentado pelo governo estadual.

A decisão reforça a argumentação apresentada pelos deputados de oposição na ação popular julgada, que aponta que a indicação de Carolina para o cargo de secretária teve por objetivo lhe conferir foro privilegiado e obstruir o trabalho da Justiça no andamento da Operação Acrônimo.

Para o líder da Minoria, deputado Gustavo Valadares, o governador tenta sobrepor seus interesses pessoais aos interesses do estado. “Na tentativa de manter seus interesses, o governador sequer se preocupou em citar quaisquer benefícios que a indicação ao cargo de secretária de estado deveria trazer para uma pasta tão importante quanto Trabalho e Desenvolvimento. Não se vê preocupação com o andamento do estado ou respeito pela máquina pública. O objetivo é apenas de conceder foro privilegiado e obstruir o trabalho da Justiça na Operação Acrônimo. Mas a justiça prevaleceu e a liminar foi mantida. Estamos vigilantes”, afirma Valadares.

Liminar

A liminar, que acolheu a denúncia dos deputados, foi concedida no último dia 12 de maio pelo juiz titular da 1ª Vara da Fazenda Pública e Autarquias de Belo Horizonte, Michel Curi e Silva. As decisões – a liminar e o indeferimento do pedido do governo para suspender a decisão – levaram em consideração cinco ações populares que foram protocoladas contra a nomeação de Carolina nas Varas de Fazenda Pública Estadual.

Na peça, Michel Curi afirmou que o que lhe fez deferir o pedido liminar foi a “sucessão e soma dos inquestionáveis fatos e acontecimentos que precederam a nomeação hostilizada pelos autores, a saber: o fato de tratar-se da mais próxima e íntima parente do Senhor Governador (sua esposa), somado aos fatos de que ela se encontra na situação de “alvo” em conhecida investigação da Polícia Federal e de que as diversas ações populares asseveraram que o intuito da nomeação foi o de tentar beneficiar a própria esposa, valendo-se de um mandato popular.”

A nomeação de Carolina foi publicada no dia 28 de abril. Com o ato, a esposa de Pimentel passou a ter prerrogativa de foro no Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de Minas Gerais. Sem o status de secretária, as acusações contra Carolina voltam a ficar à cargo da Justiça Federal.

Pimentel e a primeira-dama são alvos da operação Acrônimo, que investiga crimes de lavagem de dinheiro no Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior (MDIC) e Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) por meio do operador Benedito de Oliveira Neto, o Bené, e da agência de publicidade Pepper. A operação foi deflagrada em 2015 pela Polícia Federal.

 

Site Minas de Verdade

Com Temer e Serra no governo, Palácio do Planalto terá trem-fantasma

Com objetivo de aumentar a arrecadação, o governo do presidente interino Michel Temer vem buscando alternativas. Algumas delas são bem vindas, como o corte de cargos da máquina pública, outros nem tanto, como reformas no Bolsa Família e no SUS e a volta de impostos como a CPMF.

Sob fortes críticas, portanto, Temer decidiu reagir de forma divertida. Vai abrir licitação para que uma empresa instale um trem fantasma, desses de parque de diversões, no Palácio do Planalto.

“O Planalto é aberto, é um prédio do povo. Então, para dar mais emoção às visitas, vamos colocar esse trenzinho, que vai gerar uma receita adicional. Ele vai passar pela sala do presidente Temer, que tem uma decoração super nesse clima halloween”, disse um assessor. “O ponto alto é a passagem pela sala de onde às vezes despacha o Serra, quando ele levanta do caixão e grita ‘Vamos invadir Cuba!’”

Sensacionalista

Election 2016: Julie Bishop backs Peter Dutton on ‘illiterate’ asylum seekers

May 18 2016 – 10:55AM

Matthew Knott

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has backed comments by her colleague Peter Dutton that “illiterate and innumerate” refugees would take Australian jobs or “languish” on the dole if Australia was to significantly increase its humanitarian intake.

Labor and the Greens have blasted the Immigration Minister’s comments as “deeply offensive” and “xenophobic”. But Ms Bishop said Mr Dutton was making the “self-evident” point that it is highly expensive to resettle refugees and that it is time for a “reality check” on the issue.

Facing demands to slap down his Immigration Minister, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull refused to comment on Mr Dutton’s statements at a press conference on Wednesday, saying he would only take questions from local journalists.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has backed Peter Dutton’s comments. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

The Greens have proposed increasing Australia’s refugee intake from around 13,700 currently to 50,000.

Asked about the proposal on Tuesday, Mr Dutton said: “They won’t be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English.

“These people would be taking Australian jobs, there’s no question about that.

“For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there’s no sense in sugar-coating that, that’s the scenario.”

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked repeatedly whether Mr Dutton’s comments were appropriate, Ms Bishop on Wednesday declined to criticise her colleague.

“Peter Dutton is pointing out the very real cost involved in issuing humanitarian and refugee visas,” she told Sky News.

“Often the people who come to Australia on these visas are from very troubled backgrounds – particularly from Afghanistan but also Pakistan and beyond – and there is an extremely high cost involved in ensuring they an be a contributing member of society.

“Let’s have a reality check here.

“Of course the cost of cost of ensuring people who come here to Australia as a refugee on a humanitarian visa is very high.”

Ms Bishop said the government’s plan to resettle 12,000 Syrian refugees had been costed at $700 million over four years, a significant amount of money.

“Peter Dutton is pointing out the self-evident fact that it costs a great deal of money to settle people in Australia,” she said.

Asked about Mr Dutton’s specific comments on literacy and numeracy, Ms Bishop said: “The costs involved are also education costs – teaching people English because they speak another language.

“These are all significant costs and we shouldn’t run away from it.”

Ms Bishop said it was easy for the Greens to propose vastly increasing Australia’s refugee intake because they are not a party of government and will never have to implement the policy.

Speaking in Cairns, Mr Turnbull said Australia has the most successful multicultural society in the world.

“We invest more in settlement than many other countries do,” he said.

“So it is, it’s very expensive.

“We don’t begrudge the money but it’s important to get it right.”

He then shut down questions on the topic, saying: “We are going to do have another doorstop in Townsville and this is really for the local Cairns media.”

Labor has vowed to increase Australia’s annual humanitarian refugee intake to 27,000 people by 2025.

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles accused Mr Dutton of using the asylum seeker issue for political advantage and trying to “fan the flames” of debate.

“This is very ugly indeed,’ he said.

“Malcolm Turnbull must reject it. He must come out and in unequivocal terms say that today.”

Unless Mr Turnbull does so, it will show he is leading the “Abbott government”, he said.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said: Peter Dutton’s scare mongering on refugees over jobs exposes the Liberal policy as being steeped not in care for people in need, but xenophobia.”

The Coalition has used the election campaign to hammer Labor about divisions over its asylum seeker policy – particularly boat turnbacks.

Mr Turnbull on Tuesday appeared in front of a Border Force patrol boat in Darwin to promote the government’s success at stopping the boats.

Last month, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection revealed the cost of Australia’s immigration detention policy.

A Senate estimates hearing heard Australian taxpayers fork out $1458 a night each for 167 men held at the Christmas Island detention centre, costing a staggering $243,000 a day.

This is on top of spending on mainland detention centres and the $1.2 billion cost of running offshore detention centres last financial year.

 

Source : The Canberra Times

Abolish Auckland city limits – Labour

11:00 AM Wednesday May 18, 2016

Phil Twyford has called on the Government to abolish Auckland’s city limits. Photo / Getty Images

Labour wants the Government to abolish Auckland’s city limits to get people out of cars, caravans, garages and tents.

Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the urban growth boundary had to go because it has fuelled the housing crisis and people would not be forced into bad circumstances if the Government acted.

“The Government should rule out any possibility of an urban growth boundary in Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan if it is serious about fixing the housing crisis,” Twyford said.

“Over 25 years the urban growth boundary hasn’t prevented sprawl, but it has helped drive land and housing costs through the roof. It has contributed to a housing crisis that has allowed speculators to feast off the misery of Generation Rent, and forced thousands of families to live in garages and campgrounds,” Twyford said.

“Labour’s plan will free up the restrictive land use rules that stop the city growing up and out. It will stop land prices skyrocketing, and put the kibosh on landbankers and speculators.”

But Housing Minister Nick Smith has expressed delight in the large number of new-house starts in Auckland.

“I am particularly encouraged by the progress being achieved in Auckland, where housing issues are the most acute. New home construction is now at 9566 for the year to March 2016, compared to 7940 in 2015, and the low point of only 3579 five years ago,” Smith said last month.

This is premature. It’s only six weeks until we get the report from the Independent Hearings Panel on the unitary plan.

Auckland councillor Chris Darby

Auckland councillor Chris Darby said politicians should stay out of the boundary issue.

Darby, one of four councillors assigned to the Proposed Unitary Plan and deputy chairman of the council’s development committee, said no politician should be interfering in the boundary issue.

“This is premature. It’s only six weeks until we get the report from the Independent Hearings Panel on the unitary plan. There are submissions to soften, abolish or strengthen the boundary. We don’t know what the panel will decide.

“But we as a city have gone through a long process and it’s out of order for any politician – myself included – to try to influence that decision. Why did we establish the Independent Hearings Panel to work for almost three years on this, receive thousands of public submissions, hear expert evidence, all put before highly qualified commissioners?” Darby asked.

It is not enough for the council to progressively add more land zoned for development here and there. That just feeds the speculation that is an inevitable result of having the boundary.

Phil Twyford

Twyford’s boundary abolition suggestion also ignored the Future Urban Land Supply Strategy which council confirmed earlier this year, Darby said.

“The IHP is considering in its evidence. I chaired that process,” Darby said.

But Twyford said the urban growth boundary created an artificial scarcity of land, driving up section costs. Land inside the boundary is up to ten times more valuable than rural land.

“It is not enough for the council to progressively add more land zoned for development here and there. That just feeds the speculation that is an inevitable result of having the boundary.

Phil Twyford has called on the Government to abolish Auckland’s city limits. Photo / John Borren

“There is a smarter way to manage growth on the city fringes by properly integrating land use with transport and infrastructure planning. There should be more intensive spatial planning of Auckland’s growth areas in the north, north-west and south. Land of special value can be set aside, like the northern coastal strip or Pukekohe’s horticulture soils. Corridors should be acquired and future networks mapped for transport and other infrastructure,” Twyford said.

“This requires bold reform. Freeing up growth on the fringes needs to go hand in hand with allowing more density – so people can build flats and apartments in parts of the city where people want to live, particularly around town centres and transport routes. It is also essential to reform the way infrastructure is financed.

Prime Minister John Key with Minister of Building & Housing Nick Smith at the launching of the new affordable housing development at Hobsonville Point, Auckland, last month. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“The cost of new infrastructure must rest with the property owners of new developments to prevent the ratepayer carrying the can for expensive infrastructure investment in places where it’s too expensive to build. Labour proposes using bond financing paid back by targeted rates over the life of the asset. This can range up to 50 years in some of the jurisdictions using this mechanism,” Twyford said.

“Fixing planning rules on their own won’t solve the housing crisis. It also needs to go alongside cracking down on property speculators, and a massive government-backed building programme.

Source :  New Zealand Herald

Timaru has the ‘worst level of air pollution’ in Oceania, figures reveal

By Gemma Hartley

10:04 AM Wednesday May 18, 2016

Stafford Street, the main street of Timaru, South Canterbury. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Timaru has been given the unhealthy title of having the “worst level of air pollution” in Oceania, according to new statistics.

Figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show the small Kiwi town contains more particles than the safety recommendation for air pollution.

Annual levels of PM10 particles and PM2.5 particles are used to measure air quality – these are so small that they can get into the lungs, potentially causing serious health problems.

Timaru had a PM2.5 annual mean level of 15 micrograms per cubic metre, and a PM10 level of 28 micrograms per cubic metre.

The WHO guidelines state that levels of 10 and 20 micrograms per cubic metre respectively are considered safe.

Christchurch was the worst of New Zealand’s major cities, while air in Wellington and Auckland was found to be much cleaner.

The figures come as New Zealand scientists test new technology in Canterbury that could revolutionise how centres can better monitor and control air pollution.

A new stage of a NIWA air quality project is about to get underway in Rangiora, as a World Health Organisation (WHO) index again highlights how some South Island towns have rated poorly for air pollution.

Last year, scientists installed and tested new hi-tech sensors in 14 Rangiora homes during September to detect when people were using their woodburners.

Each participant had since received an information pack with detailed information about the air quality in their home, temperature variations and dust peaks.

The scientists found that while it was easy to detect when a woodburner was lit, it was much harder to tell when the fire had stopped burning.

There were also big differences between homes, with some people lighting and boosting fires a lot and others lighting only once a day.

NIWA air quality scientist Dr Ian Longley said the new sensor technology trialled last year had the potential to provide lots of new and valuable information.

“This year we are planning to do some follow up testing with our existing participants as well as recruit more people in Rangiora to help us out,” he said.

“What we learn this year will then enable us to progress to a much larger study, perhaps in other towns, in 2017.”
NIWA has also developed the indoor state-of-the-art monitoring technology contained in small and low cost units, which contain sensors for particles (dust, smoke or soot) and carbon dioxide and can detect sudden increases in the levels of particles in the air.

The indoor data was combined with data from temporary weather stations set up around Rangiora, and from six of NIWA’s experimental outdoor air quality sensors placed around the town to determine whether different parts of the town had different air quality and how that varies from day to day and place to place.

Dr Longley said the units could make a huge difference to our understanding of what causes air quality problems.
“We suspect this could be a game changer in being able to identify problems and their causes and enable communities to work more constructively with councils on devising solutions.”

Despite the pollution levels recorded by WHO, a review by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright last year concluded that the state of New Zealand’s air quality was generally good, as could be expected in a windswept maritime country with a small population and little heavy industry.

While air quality was poorer in some towns and cities during cold calm days in winter, even in these places air quality is high on most days, she found.

Source :  New Zealand Herald